Death is equated with loss of form that may mean end of life, writes ANIL K RAJVANSHI
Living and nonliving entities are all identified by their physical forms. Our own body-form creates a memory map in our brain, and we identify ourselves and others with those memories.
If a simple physical and thermodynamic analysis is done on a system, then how can energy of form be put in it? For example, when an entity gets destroyed, its atoms and molecules get distributed in space since matter cannot be produced or destroyed except in nuclear fission or fusion or at very high temperatures when it becomes plasma. Similarly, the energy that goes into making its structure converts into heat and is also dissipated in space. But what happens to the energy of form? And also what happens to its space-time structure that it displaced for some time in that form? The fear of death is associated with the destruction of form. Hence, all living entities protect their forms and procreate to provide their continuity. Darwin in his Origin of Species talked about how all species and living organisms reproduce so that genetic information is passed from one generation to another and survival of the fittest is tied to this concept of propagation of genetic material. But the central question of why any species has this inbuilt mechanism to propagate the species or its form is still not answered.
Similarly, Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras says that the desire to have life and the fear of death is eternal but is silent on why it is so. Samkhya philosophy may have some answers. It says the interaction of Purusha and Prakriti produces matter and the worlds. Purusha is described as omniscient, omnipresent, and indivisible. Prakriti, nature, which is always active, interacts with Purusha to produce the worlds.
We can think of Purusha as multidimensional (MD) space and Prakriti as time. When they work together, creation and evolution of universe and the visible world take place. This is similar to modern scientists’ theories — Big Bang, multiverse, brane and so on — about the birth of universe. They say that in the beginning, time and MD space were in equilibrium. The universe came into being when that equilibrium was disturbed. Why that equilibrium was disturbed we do not know.
What if, after the space-time equilibrium was disturbed, time came out and MD space started ‘flowing’? This flow of space possibly produced gravity and eddies which are the cause of visible matter and galaxies. Eddies are small whirlpools formed when anything flows turbulently. These are clearly seen in the flow of water in rivers and canals. In air, they give rise to production of drag on airplanes that sometimes causes bumpy rides.
Formation of eddies is like a new structure being formed from the chaotic (turbulently) flowing material. According to chaos theory, order and form suddenly materialise out of chaos. These structures are called ‘attractors’ and probably gave rise to matter and form of the visible world. This is described as production of matter from vacuum. Thus, the visible world seems like a crystallisation of the higher dimensional space and is the basis of all forms. Eddy formation is a continuous process, and it is possible that with time more and more space is used up for these structures to form the visible world. The rest of the space could be filled with dark matter and dark energy.
Once the dark space is used up, the reverse cycle of converting visible world to invisible MD space will commence and lead to time and space coming back in equilibrium. This is the eternal Brahmakala cycle and when that ends, the universe is destroyed. Samkhya and Patanjali say this ‘exhaustion’ of space takes place since Purusha has ‘experienced’ and is satiated. Why does MD space go through the journey starting with inanimate celestial bodies, then to the humble living systems and the intelligent human brain and even beyond? It is because movement and ‘becoming’ is the only way consciousness can exist.
Just like the rainwater starts its journey with many small tributaries and goes through rivers and ultimately to an ocean, the MD space may go through innumerable life forms and may evolve through humans and other more evolved beings. This follows the laws of thermodynamics in which the system tries to maximise the flow of energy and materials through it with minimum resistance. MD space minimises this resistance by going through billions of life forms. These life forms fill up MD space and evolve till they obtain the power to change space-time fabric so that the closure of space takes place and the cycle continues. This force to fill up MD space rapidly is possibly the reason why living beings want to continuously replicate their forms and why they fear death as it would mean losing that form. ■
The author is director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, Phaltan, Maharashtra
COMMENT