The human quest to understand ourselves and the world around us is universal. The pursuit to find the answers to the big questions of life has always been there though the methods adopted may have been different in different ages. What we know today as modern science finds its roots just three to four centuries back. The legacy started off by the likes of Galileo and Newton has come a long way in this short span of time which is evident from the technologies and comforts the mankind is enjoying today. This journey has been fascinating and intriguing to say the least.
One of the subjects which has been of specific interest to physicists and which has drawn light upon the mysterious nature of our universe is light itself. Newton thought that light is made up of particles but phenomenon like diffraction and interference could be explained only by considering light as a wave. Later however Einstein explained the photoelectric effect by considering light to be made up of particles. This confusion regarding the dual nature of light led to the birth of quantum mechanics(QM). QM tells us that things on small scale do not behave like anything we have direct experience of. They do not behave like particles or waves or clouds or humans or anything that you have ever seen. Atomic behaviour is so strange that it is impossible, absolutely impossible to explain it in any known way.
Though QM provides a mathematical formulism to explain atomic behaviour but the mystery still remains. With the acceptance of QM, physics had to give up on the notions of causality and determinism and embrace the inherent uncertainty present in the theory. From Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle it seems that uncertainty is nature’s intrinsic nature, i.e. things become unknowable beyond a certain extent. Objects can no longer be defined by a rigid point in space and time. Material objects which had definite properties in classical physics now are said to be in a superposition of various states with different properties. QM draws a veil over our understating, on the other side of which things are fuzzy and our logical reasoning becomes futile. It’s a wonder how this mysterious intangible mechanics at atomic level creates a more tangible and conceivable world inhabited by us.
If inanimate things like photons and electrons can be so mysterious just imagine how mysterious life can be which pulsates within every human being. The world of thoughts and emotions which comes in the realm of the mind is no less fascinating than QM. Though on the surface we are just flesh and bones but our inner world is much subtler and is as intangible as QM. As QM provides a way to probe into the tiniest of particles, meditation and breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya give one a glimpse into the nature of mind and the self. QM describes every phenomenon in terms of wave functions of probability, likewise Sri Sri Ravishankar says that we all are part of just one consciousness i.e. Brahman, like waves in an ocean. People coming on to the spiritual path find their lives becoming a bit magical and exciting than before. By bringing meditation into their lives, they find the source of joy, love and peace within themselves. One realizes that nature is intelligent, and that one’s needs are being taken care of. Faith in the unknown gets strengthened and one gets confidence to live the mystery of life. Sri Sri says “Birth is a mystery, death is a mystery. If both birth and death are mysteries, then life is certainly a greater mystery. Being completely immersed in the mystery of life and in this creation is samadhi.” Just like light, life too is a mystery.
