Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 2.12

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः।

न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्।।2.12।।

Never indeed at any time [in the past] did I not exist, nor you, nor these kings; and never shall we all not exist hereafter.

One of the first revelations appurtenant to the world we live in has been brought forth here. That our existence doesn’t depend merely on time is in itself a hard nut to crack. All of our assays germane to the human life germinate in the lap of time. Time girths around our discussions and ideologies, yet Lord says that time has been immaterial in our existence within the universe. Lord Krishna asks Arjuna not to be engulfed in the dilemma that his actions will destroy his gurus and beloved one and contrastingly tells him that nothing in this world can vanquish their existence from the universe. Each one of us was here in the past and will continue to be extant in the future and hence rather than making his heart look woebegone with the terrors of war, he should rather march ahead and fight for victory.

This discourse pertinent to the continuity of life forms the basic tenet of Hinduism. In fact, a very similar ideology is present in the field of Physics. Physics has seen quite a lot of ‘upheavals’ in the last century, Newtonian Mechanics has been left almost redundant in the microscopic world, wave-particle duality and de-Broglie’s hypothesis of matter waves opened a new realm of science which finally led to Quatum Mechanics and then in Quantum Mechanics too, phenomena like Quatum entanglement continue to bemuse physicist around the world; yet one principle that came purely unscathed out of all this churning is the principle of conservation of energy. Physics avers that no matter how you play with the system, energy remains constant: it can neither be created, nor be destroyed. We know this (in Physics) not because of some experiment, but because it has always been observed. Though some elementary proofs regarding basic energy forms are there, yet there stands no proof which coalesces all the different types of energies existing in the universe. Even a single contradictory datum can prove it wrong, yet in the whole history of science (in macroscopic as well as microscopic world), no such case has ever been observed.

In exactly the same terms, Sanatan Dharma avows that life (atman) remains constant, it can’t be impales, immured, destroyed or created. Its ostentatious apparels (our body, our thoughts) may be exuviated, yet its deep ingredients are perennial and will never cease to exist. It flows incessantly and relentlessly (just like energy) from one form to another, it can change its shape, structure or size, yet it will exist in the universe no matter what. It will continue to bear up new apparels, then add a bauble or too, yet beneath the surface it is same and has always been like that.

The only difference between the physical law of conservation of energy and the law of continuity of life is that the former exists in the dimensions of space while the latter exists in the dimensions of time and unfortunately, the human brain can only deal in the dimensions of space and hence energy laws are verifiable but those of life are not. But this should not detract from the immaculate analogy that exists between Physics and Dharma and how both stand on the shoulders of the same giant.

This is one the few shlokas in which Lord enunciates a revelation of universe, which can consume a deluge of descants, in such a terse yet exact manner. Yet, Lord is ineffable in his own ways and we, the mortals, can just try to decipher what he meant using the best of our mediocre senses.   

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI