Big Bang Theory: Big Bang Theory In Ancient India  

By K M Gupta  

Long before modern science came up with the idea of the Big Bang, India’s Sphota Vada said just what the Big Bang model says - that creation was born of one initial explosion.

Swami Vivekananda sums up the Indian Sphota Vada thus : “ Brahman first manifested itself as Sound, and then as Form. Sensible universe is the Form behind which stands the eternal inexpressible Sphota , the essential eternal material of all ideas or names. Sphota , the manifester as Logos or Word, is the power through which the Lord creates the universe. The Lord first becomes conditioned as the Sphota and then evolves himself as the more concrete sensible universe. In other words, Sphota is the fore- father of all ideas, it is their common basis and even the essence. If all the peculiarities which distinguish one word from another is removed, then what remains would be the Sphota.’’

Sphota Vada says that the very essence of the universe is Sphota . Every act of creation and every sound that issues forth in the universe is the duplication of the initial Big Bang. When we utter a sound or word - Om , for example, the Big Bang is duplicating itself in our mind. When a bird sings or a cow moos, a dog barks or a cat mews, or thunder issues forth from the sky, it is an imitation of the Big Bang. Einstein lamented about the fact that we have to purchase all the great edifices of science at the cost of emptiness of content. That is because, the substance of the world, is the Big Bang.

Vivekananda continues: “Man found the appropriate sound, language, to express particular ideas. But what form can express Sphota , which is inexpressible? If we express it, that is, if we give it a definition, a sound form, we shall thereby restrict it. Bhakti Yoga expresses Sphota by a sound which most approximately expressed its nature - the sound Om, which is intended as a generalised symbol of all possible sounds. Sphota is often referred to as Nada Brahman or Sound Brahman.”

Why is this Indian Sphota Vada not known to the larger world? Why was it not talked about much before modern science came up with the idea of the Big Bang? Why do we have to subject ourselves to the charge that Indians have a nasty habit of claiming that everything science discovers today has already been discovered by our ancestors?

The 'credit’ for Sphota Vada becoming obsolete should go to Acharya Upavarsha . He is a dark horse in the Indian scientific-philosophical scene, but he needs to be remembered for having been able to twist and turn the course of Indian mind for millennia to come. Nothing is known about this rebel intellectual. His works do not survive. We know of him only from references in the works of others, mostly of Shankara. It appears he was a great force in the Indian intellectual world.

Acharya Upavarsha can be described as the Fred Hoyle of ancient India - he rejected outright the Big Bang theory. A rebel intellectual, he was reverentially called Bhagavan , but not much is known about him as none of his works have survived. He seems to have wielded enormous clout in the intellectual world. Upavarsha influenced his peer group to not take the Sphota Vada seriously. Shabara and Shankara followed him faithfully. Shankara writes: “ Bhagavan Upavarsha takes his stand against this Sphota Vada and states that sounds are only varnas and there is no need for a concept like Sphota.” Since Shankara has dominated Indian thinking in many ways for the past 1,200 years, the Indian Big Bang theory became obsolete.

It would seem that the Indian mind was free and scientific until the time of Upavarsha. From Upavarsha onwards, it declined to narrow religiosity.

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See also: Big Bang Theory, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)