The Big Bang , The Grand Design and The Bhagvad Gita

According to the Big Bang model, the universe, originally in an extremely hot and dense state that expanded rapidly, has since cooled by expanding to the present diluted state, and continues to expand today. Based on the best available measurements as of 2010, the original state of the universe existed around 13.7 billion years ago, which is often referred to as the time when the Big Bang occurred.The theory is the most comprehensive and accurate explanation supported by scientific evidence and observations

Stephen Hawking in his latest book 'The Grand Design' praises the M-theory , and states that the universe can create itself out of nothing without the requirement of the GOD because of the physical laws. He also that ours is only one of the universes. according to M-theory there could have been 10 to power of 500 universes created after big bang, each having its own rules!! . According to M-theory , there are many parallel universes. It talks about 11 dimensions, and strings and membranes.


Bhagvad Gita predicts a similar cosmos creation but the God has a role to play here :)
In fact it is mentioned in Gita exactly when the laws of physics come into existence, therefore , it seems that it is  theoretically impossible for physics to prove the existence of God. What it can do at most is hinted in the Grand Design.


Though it is spiritually possible to  prove the existence of  a God (or demi God as per Jainism, that's a different  story. Jainism does not believe in a creator. If you study carefully , the Jain and Bhagvad Gita theories are like two different sides of a coin - one has to apply anekantavada ). 


I list down some Bhagvad Gita shlokas (from Chapter 9) which mention about universe and its creation:


 1.Chapter 9 Verse 7 , Krishna says [Sanskrit]

[English Translation] - In the beginning of time or KALPA , I create everything and at the end of time  KALPA,  the whole creation merge in me.   By my will the whole universe  is created & annihilated again and again 

2. Chapter 9 Verse 10 , Krishna says [Sanskrit]

[English Translation] - Superintended by Me, the illusionary external energy manifest all living and non - living entities; for this reason O Arjuna, the universal manifestation is created repeatedly.

Another book Bhagvad Purana mentions creation of world in details [http://vedabase.net/sb/en].

One of the most famous pictures is that of infinite universes (from M-theory it would be 10 to the power of 500) emanating from Lord Vishnu.

[Images used above have been taken from the internet and are used only for the sake of explaination. No copyright violation is intended. In case of any issues please leave a comment]

Anekāntavāda - I

Jainism in its treatment of Being or Existence adopts Anekāntavāda. An adequate description of Anekāntavāda requires much space and a great deal of philosophical insight. This article is the first one in the series and here I use the famous story of 'An elephant and six blinds'

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. They had never seen or heard about elephant. One day, a king with an elephant happened to visit their village. The blind men went to see the animal. They happened, one after the other, to touch the trunk, tusk,ear,foot,stomach and tail respectively, of the elephant and returned home with the idea conceived by that touch as to be the form of the animal.

At home, they stared discussing the creature they had seen. To the one who touched the trunk , it was like a tree branch. To the one who touched the tusk, it was like a horn. And to others it was like a hand-fan (ear), a pillar (leg),a big jar(stomach) and a rope(tail). They started to quarrel.

Each one was confident of his statement and regarded that of the other as entirely wrong. A man passing by, heard them, and said : " Brothers, you all are fighting in vain . Each of you is correct from a certain point of view. You have touched different parts of an elephant and those parts are like what each of you describe. But the elephant as a whole has all the attributes that you describe." This resolved the conflict.

Jainism does not take one sided view; whatever it asserts it does so from a certain point of view."Peace for all" is its motto. It does not like to fight with any religion. It does not like to see various religions in discord with one another.The theory of every religion is true from a certain point of view and in a certain aspect.

Reality has infinite attributes and infinite conditions or aspects.