Few friends of mine raised an objection towards my criticism of Islam, and not being equally fair for Christianity or well my own religion- Hinduism. Some even started sharing me the "islam love" photos that how people should treat Muslims "well". I told them that criticizing a religion and hating a religion are two different things! Also, as some wise men correctly pointed out on twitter and later got shared with Dawkins, "If I hate cancer, it does not mean I hate people with cancer!" I promised to them that I will do a piece on Hinduism too so here it is!
In the rising wave of secularist world, it is now the trend to market "science" in the religion to make it sell to the gullible. Although there are also many books and lectures delivered to depict "science" in Christianity and Islam(Yeah its the Zakir Naik who will eat your head!), but in Hinduism it as at a completely different level.
A completely baseless opinion is established and then the all the 'facts' corresponding to the wishful thinking is first presented in a slow manner and suddenly a big leap is taken just right at the crucial point and the guillible falls prey. It is a matter of strong base that we should stand up to scrutinize these facts when it is thundered down upon us. I find a lot of bad science arguments put in the favor of Hinduism which steals away the spiritual treasure it contains and make it a mechanical practice which seriously needs to be addressed.
First of all, they contradicted their own title. The speed of light is NOT mentioned in the Vedas but the attempt of indicating it is done by Sayana who was a courtier in 14th century while commenting on the RigVeda.. Then, the source of "nimisharda" is questionable. One myth takes value from ArthaShastra and another like this takes from Mahabharata. BOTH are NOT mathematical textbooks. Plus, the value of the unit "Nimesha" is questionable. I literally spent 3 hours straight trying to figure out the mathematical values they derived from the scratch and found out that it gives out contradicting values. Also the blink of an eye is not 0.2112 s, it is around 300 milliseconds but ofcourse this value which is calculated by "modern science" will not be used because the desired result will not be obtained. They just knew the final value and then inserted back the units to as to come to "close enough" answer. Also, the value of "Nimesha" arrived through the system of Vedic units, the value is 0.43 s. Funny, because they are not using the value which is mentioned in Vedas(and Wikipedia) to derive at the conclusion of what Vedas say!
Then again, why on earth would Sayana state a fact of such high importance in a so casual manner? The whole context of the phrase also is not presented. Plus, the verse is about Sun, and not light. And Science have to declare what are the methods which were used to come at the value, rather than just dabbling with figures.
Before, my readers go further, I would like to go back and read the statement again. If you cannot point out the mitake, then either you are blind or didn't study Physics well. They multiplied time with distance to get distance! Jug is a unit of time(Also, the value 12000 is questionable because we don't know if it's Deva's years or human years) and Yojan is a unit of distance. They just multiplied them together because OH Why Not?
In the rising wave of secularist world, it is now the trend to market "science" in the religion to make it sell to the gullible. Although there are also many books and lectures delivered to depict "science" in Christianity and Islam(Yeah its the Zakir Naik who will eat your head!), but in Hinduism it as at a completely different level.
A completely baseless opinion is established and then the all the 'facts' corresponding to the wishful thinking is first presented in a slow manner and suddenly a big leap is taken just right at the crucial point and the guillible falls prey. It is a matter of strong base that we should stand up to scrutinize these facts when it is thundered down upon us. I find a lot of bad science arguments put in the favor of Hinduism which steals away the spiritual treasure it contains and make it a mechanical practice which seriously needs to be addressed.
Speed of Light is calculated in Vedas more accurately than Einstein did
This is literally the topic of an article. It takes special amount of guts to write, but it seems that the author don't give a damn about the modern science. The claim goes like this-
Ancient Vedic science “Nimisharda” is a phrase used in Indian languages of Sanskrit origin while referring to something that happens/moves instantly, similar to the ‘blink of an eye’. Nimisharda means half of a Nimesa, (Ardha is half).
In Sanskrit ‘Nimisha’ means ‘blink of an eye’ and Nimisharda implies within the blink of an eye. This phrase is commonly used to refer to instantaneous events.
Below is the mathematical calculations of a research done by S S De and P V Vartak on the speed of light calculated using the Rigvedic hymns and commentaries on them.
The fourth verse of the Rigvedic hymn 1:50 (50th hymn in book 1 of rigveda) is as follows:
तरणिर्विश्वदर्शतो जयोतिष्क्र्दसि सूर्य | विश्वमा भासिरोचनम |
taraNir vishvadarshato jyotishkrdasi surya | vishvamaa bhaasirochanam ||
which means:
“Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Surya (Surya=Sun), maker of the light, Illumining all the radiant realm.”
Commenting on this verse in his Rigvedic commentary, Sayana who was a minister in the court of Bukka of the great Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka in South India (in early 14th century) says:
“ tatha ca smaryate yojananam. sahasre dve dve sate dve ca yojane ekena nimishardhena kramaman.” which means “It is remembered here that Sun (light) traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimisha”
NOTE: Nimisharda= half of a nimisha.
In the vedas Yojana is a unit of distance and Nimisha is a unit of time.
Unit of Time: Nimesa.
The Moksha dharma parva of Shanti Parva in Mahabharata describes Nimisha as follows: 15 Nimisha = 1 Kastha.
30 Kashta = 1 Kala,
30.3 Kala = 1 Muhurta,
30 Muhurtas = 1 Diva-Ratri (Day-Night),
We know Day-Night is 24 hours So we get 24 hours = 30 x 30.3 x 30 x 15 nimisha, in other words 409050 nimisha.
We know 1 hour = 60 x 60 = 3600 seconds.
So 24 hours = 24 x 3600 seconds = 409050 nimisha.
409050 nimesa = 86,400 seconds,
1 nimesa = 0.2112 seconds (This is a recursive decimal! Wink of an eye=.2112 seconds!).
½ nimesa = 0.1056 seconds.
Unit of Distance:
Yojana Yojana is defined in Chapter 6 of Book 1 of the ancient vedic text “Vishnu Purana” as follows:-
10 ParamAnus = 1 Parasúkshma,
10 Parasúkshmas = 1 Trasarenu,
10 Trasarenus = 1 Mahírajas (particle of dust),
10 Mahírajas= 1 Bálágra (hair’s point),
10 Bálágra = 1 Likhsha,
10 Likhsha= 1 Yuka,
10 Yukas = 1 Yavodara (heart of barley),
10 Yavodaras = 1 Yava (barley grain of middle size),
10 Yava = 1 Angula (1.89 cm or approx ¾ inch),
6 fingers = 1 Pada (the breadth of it),
2 Padas = 1 Vitasti (span),
2 Vitasti = 1 Hasta (cubit),
4 Hastas = a Dhanu,
1 Danda, or paurusa (a man’s height),
or 2 Nárikás = 6 feet,
2000 Dhanus = 1 Gavyuti (distance to which a cow’s call or lowing can be heard) = 12000 feet 4 Gavyutis = 1 Yojana = 9.09 miles
Calculation: So now we can calculate what is the value of the speed of light in modern units based on the value given as 2202 Yojanas in ½ Nimesa = 2202 x 9.09 miles per 0.1056 seconds = 20016.18 miles per 0.1056 seconds = 189547 miles per second !!
Then again, why on earth would Sayana state a fact of such high importance in a so casual manner? The whole context of the phrase also is not presented. Plus, the verse is about Sun, and not light. And Science have to declare what are the methods which were used to come at the value, rather than just dabbling with figures.
Distance between Sun and Earth is Mentioned in “Hanuman Chalisa”- An Ancient Prayer
This is just a crazy one. Even Amitabh Bachchan tweeted about it once.
Two lines of Hindu Prayer ” Hanuman Chalisa” computes this distance with great simplicity.
“! जुग सहस्त्र योजन पर भानु, लील्यो ताहिमधुर फल जानू !”
This means that Sun (भानु) is at a distance of Juug Sahastra Yojans (जुग सहस्त्र योजन- Distance Unit in Hindi)
According to following conversion practices that are in use as per Hindu Vedic Literature-
1 Juug = 120001 Sahastra= 10001 Yojan = 8 MilesThus12000 X 1000 X 8 = 96,000,000 miles1 mile = 1.6 kms
This further implies that distance is 96,000,000 * 1.6 kms = 153,600,000 Kms
Also, funny that Yojana now became 8 miles. When they had to prove about the speed of light, Yojana was 9 miles.
Throwing coins in rivers
There is a tradition to throw coins in order to get your wish fullfilled. But may be these proponents have a rather brilliant wish- May people believe my nonsense.
The general reasoning given for this act is that it brings Good Luck. However, scientifically speaking, in the ancient times, most of the currency used was made of copper unlike the stainless steel coins of today. Copper is a vital metal very useful to the human body. Throwing coins in the river was one way our fore-fathers ensured we intake sufficient copper as part of the water as rivers were the only source of drinking water. Making it a custom ensured that all of us follow the practice.
Simple chemistry will tell you that Copper, like most metals undergo oxidation and it will form a protective layer over it so the coin won't let release copper for long time and it is a waste of- MONEY!. Also, I think drinking water in a copper vessel would be a lot useful method rather than making this stupid custom and wait for the lineages to realize the 'actual importance' of this years later!
Wait a second! They said river! River! River! River! How on Earth will throwing coins in the river which flows will make you intake the metal? Bad science as well as Bad logic Booooo........!
And this is just not it. They have all kinds of woo laden "Science" behind the namaskaram(acupressure for removing germs and also you can stay away from the germs of others ) , and by touching feet, how you can "transfer" the "energy" from one man to another(shaking hands gives germs but touching feet doesn't. Because "circuits" and "cosmic waves"), or whether kumkum is a sniper target for all the "peaceful energies" of the cosmos, and how we it turns out the plants and trees we worship like Tulsi and Peepal(Sorry, Neem bruh I feel for you!) are extremely important for their medicinal purposes(I thought ancient Hindus did it the other way around) and so on. Ayurveda propounders have practically convinced the public that everything which is natural is good for health and everything which is made through "western"(yeah in India we divide Science too!) science is bad and is a conspiracy to rob off the India from its wealth. In a lot of research conducted Ayurveda does not seems to be so effective anything more than a placebo. Yes, the herbs are of certain value and the credit seriously goes to the one who discovered them but Science actually works on them to tune up their qualities so that they are more beneficial. Although I don't see much harm in Ayurveda(and it is not as silly as Homeopathy) but blindly believing it will not take you anywhere. As I always point out, Hinduism is great, only if you care enough to understand it. It is vast and deep and magical. But I like to separate spiritual treasures like Upanishads and Geeta as Dharmic and Vedanta literature to not club them up with some nonsense like this.
Since the New Age people are more popular with their crap like The Secret and quantum woo, you probably won't find these myths in the Internet you use. But, due to some past life "Karma" if you happen to come across things like Vyamanika Shastra(inspite of being proven wrong again and again) you are aware.
No, I am not ridiculing any tradition nor undermining it. I consider that the tradition should be preserved through honest means and for it is, rather than being guided by magical thinking. One more thing, my dear friend has started a technical blog where he is writing about his projects and he will be sharing the Arduino cookbook by Jeremy Blum if you subscribe him here- The Free Electron
He he....please search value of yojana and why it fluctuates...then write this kind of article.....yug can be a number represents time but in poetry it couldrepresent just number which would have to multiply...first read and write
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