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The Observer and the observed by Chandran Pillai, u.s.a,

The interconnectedness of everything in the universe is becoming an increasingly evident from scientific findings. This means that we can never separate the observer from the observed. The experimenter is part of the experiment. Hence, its outcome will depend on the observer or experimenter. In quantum mechanics, the wave function of an entity collapses only when someone observes it. Does this mean that the entity did not exist before the observation? Does this mean that the world has no objective reality? This is a controversial topic in quantum mechanics debates. This may be why, in quantum mechanics, the interplay between the observed and the observer has not been fully understood.

According to Vedanta, whenever we try to explain things, our past -- both from this life and from past lives -- comes into play. We are tapped into our conceptual outlook and by the laws of the nature. To break free from the bonds of karma and to see clearly, we must transcend space, time, words and explanations. We can never find the absolute truth as long as we are trapped in this endless cycle of karma.

Then who can? Only the observer who is completely detached from the situation. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says, “I pervade the whole universe in an unmanifest form. All beings dwell in me, but I do not dwell in them”(9.4). Only a self-realized master, who is completely detached from the world, like butter floating on water, and is a mere witness to all its activities, knows the Truth.

Quantum Vacuum, Nothingness and Brahman

Modern scientific theories that explain the forces of nature are edging closer to the conclusion that these forces all have an ‘energy field.’ For example, they speak of an electromagnetic field for electromagnetic interaction, a gravitational field for gravity, a quantum chromodynamic field for a strong nuclear force, and a Higgs field being the reason for particles having mass. Scientists believe that all these fields are different manifestations of the same field. Science is trying hard to find a unique theory -the theory of everything or the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) -- but all their attempts so far have run into roadblocks.

Still, their attempts have given them interesting insights. All evidence points to the existence of something unexplainable. Science calls it the ‘zero-point field.’ The energy associated with this field is called the ‘energy of the vacuum.’ Science is not sure what is really is. When scientists perform calculations using modern theories, they get unexplainable results like infinities. So, they resort the mathematical tricks such as the renormalization of the numbers in their theories to agree with experimental observations.

Science has named this unknown field the ‘quantum vacuum.’ However, this vacuum has turned out to be far from being empty. Particles known as ‘virtual particles’ can be observed popping in and out of it in a laboratory setting. Further research into this field shows that it is the source of all that we observe in the universe -- the visible and the invisible. Both matter and energy arise from this ‘vacuum’ and dissolve into it.

But we have no idea how and when this ever-present vacuum originated. Did it exist before the Big Bang or the emergence of space-time? Or did space-time originate from this nothingness? There are no theories yet that explain this nothingness. Everything in it is connected to everything else all the time, without there being any causality. Information can be transmitted instantaneously since space-time laws are not valid in this regime. The four-dimensional world described in Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity may only be a projection of this is zero-point field into our physical world. There might be different dimensions to this field, as its potential is infinite. As the renowned physicist Richard Feynman once said, in an attempt to give us some idea of its magnitude, the energy contained in a single cubic metre of vacuum space is enough to boil all the oceans of the world! In one explanation of the universe’s origin, the cause of The Big Bang is attributed to a quantum fluctuation in this field.

But the concept of vacuum in Vedanta has an entirely different meaning. It is not the absence of matter but a nothingness that is absolutely concise it cannot be perceived as it is too subtle for perception. In this work Raja yoga, Swami Vivekananda gives an account of this nothingness. He calls it akasha, the omnipresent and all-pervading field. Everything with form and everything that is composite has evolved from akasha. Akasha becomes the air, solids, liquids, the sun, the earth and the moon. Akasha becomes the human body, the animal body, plants, and every form that we see, everything we can sense, and everything that exists, both animate and inanimate.

According to the Vedic view, the reality underlying all phenomena is beyond form and defies all descriptions and specifications. Therefore, it is set to be formless, empty or void. But this voice is not to be taken for mere nothingness. On the contrary, it is the essence of all forms and the source of all life.

The sages of yore penetrated deeply into experience. They sought to find the truth, to discover the unity behind diversity. Their minds became so quiet and still that they went into a ‘deep sleep’ but were perfectly aware within. They were probably in the state of nothingness, the vacuum, or the zero-point energy field. They might have crossed the space-time boundary. The true nature of the reality was revealed to them. Their approach to truth was not through an investigation of external nature, which is the method of sciences. That approach has led to inconclusive conclusions on the meaning and mystery of existence; a greater mystery lines undiscovered. Unless we gain as much wisdom as we have knowledge, we will not discover the complete truth.

There is a famous Shiva temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, that features three deities of the Lord. One is Nataraja, Shiva as the king of dance. The second Shiva is in deep samadhi, the superconscious state. The third is ‘nothing,’ with just a black curtain hanging in front. It is considered the secret of Chidambaram. For many, this representation is intriguing, as they don't know what they are looking at, but for real seekers, it signifies the ultimate spiritual truth -- once the veil of Maya (cosmic delusion) has been lifted, we merge into nothingness, the source of eternal bliss. Shiva's cosmic dance represents perpetual dance of creation and destruction. His samadhi represents still mind. Nothingness denotes the realm beyond space and time, and realm that science has yet to reach.

Role of Faith in Spirituality and Modern Science

There is an age-old misconception that spirituality is solely based on faith and no proof, whereas science is based on facts that experimental evidence corroborate. This is true only in gross sense. Before embarking on an experiment, a scientist must have faith in the laws of nature and in the experiment’s ability to unveil at least a part of the mystery. Many of the greatest discoveries in science were sparked, not in a laboratory, but by revelations in the mind of the scientist when he or she was in a meditative state. This state of contemplation might take years. It is said that Einstein reflected for 15 years before coming up with the theory of relativity. When we are in a meditative state, we can tap into the infinite source of knowledge the ocean of nothingness.

Some remember those revelatory movements vividly. Take the case of Ramanujam from Madras, India, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He did not have any formal training in mathematics or access to international mathematical work. Yet he was able to come up with solutions to mathematical problems that have baffled mathematicians for 300 years before him. How? He said that a deity, the goddess of Namagiri (Namakkal-amma), would appear in his dreams and dictate theorems. When he woke up, he would transcribe what he had been told. These solutions are used even today in the fields of information technology and communication.

The rishis (ancient seers) derive their knowledge from meditative insights. They went even further and were able to perceive finer details of creation. The consciousness of a rishi pervades the universe, the universe becomes his body, his inner vision is an expression of the highest reality, and his speech is an expression of eternal truth and mantric power.

Physicists derive their knowledge from experiments and from the interpretations of their results based on certain theories. They begin their inquiry from the outside and go deeper into the material realm. The deeper they go, the more they realize the essential unity in all their observations. They see that their consciousness is an integral part of this unity. Thus, physicists are approaching the findings of an ancient rishis.

Many of the greatest discoveries in science were sparked, not in a laboratory, but by revelations in the mind of the scientist when he or she was in a meditative state.

Great minds, like those are Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger, have contributed a lot to our understanding of the physical universe. But their insights also point to something beyond, which is hard to comprehend. Some of them realized this but they were unable to go further because of lack of proper guidance. All of them were amazed and mystified by the grand complexity and yet the simple beauty of the universe, and this made them humbler. When some students asked them Noble Laureate Leon M. Lederman what his message to them was, he said, “I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!”

Others had inklings of the grandeur and sublimity of what lies beyond the Ken of perception. Albert Einstein wrote, “A human being is a part of the whole called by us ‘universe,’ apart limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings add something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. The delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a huma being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from this self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is survive.”

After formulating his theory of relativity, Einstein wrote, “A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty -- it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man… The most beautiful and most profound emotion we experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand raped in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of the true religiousness.”