Saturday, March 13, 2010

Human Physiology and Veda




The Unified Field of Natural Law

From Prof.Tony Naders' book: Modern science has located the home of all of the Laws of Nature as a Unified Field, which gives rise to and administers the entire universe through its own self-interacting dynamics. It describes this field as the unified source of the four fundamental forces of Nature, from which all force fields throughout the universe are derived.


The above diagram shows the four fundamental forces of Nature, from which all force fields emerge. Modern science has discovered that these fundamental forces are unified on the level of the Unified Field.

 

The Unification of the Four 
Fundamental Forces of Nature
is the Unified Field of Natural Law

This discovery is described mathematically by the Lagrangian of Superstring Theory, which presents the detailed structure of the Unified Field.

Maharishi's Vedic Science identifies the Unified Field as an unbounded field of consciousness—an eternal, silent ocean of intelligence that underlies all forms and phenomena. This field of pure consciousness is the unified element in Nature on the ground of which the infinite variety of creation is continuously emerging, growing, and dissolving.

Maharishi has provided a profound account of how this purely abstract field expresses itself into material creation. In his description, he explains how fully awake, self-referral consciousness moves within itself, and in this self-interaction it unfolds its own, infinitely dynamic structure. This dynamic structure is the totality of all the Laws of Nature that create and administer creation; this same structure is found in the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature.

Veda and the Vedic Literature in Human Physiology

This historical discovery is that the human physiology, including the DNA at its core, has the same structure and function as the holistic, self-sufficient, self-referral reality expressed in the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature. He explains that each of the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature can be located in both structure and function in the human physiology.

Vyakaran

For example, Maharishi describes Vyakaran as the branch of the Vedic Literature that embodies the expanding quality of self-referral consciousness. The tendency of Veda to sequentially elaborate itself—to unfold from its first syllable to the forty branches of the Vedic Literature—is expressed by Vyakaran. Raja Raam locates the similarity between this expansive tendency and the function of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus releases factors that activate the pituitary gland, neurohypophysis, and the autonomic nervous system. These releasing factors represent the expansion necessary for the evolution of the endocrine and autonomic response, which leads to biochemical and physiological responses that bring the system to a new state of balance.

Structurally the Ashtadhyayi, the principle text of Vyakaran, is comprised of 8 Adhyayas (or chapters) of 4 Padas (a metrical unit) each, totaling 32 Padas. Similarly, the hypothalamus is comprised of 8 regions—anterior, posterior, middle, and lateral, right and left—with 4 nuclei each, making 32 nuclei, corresponding to the 32 Padas of the Ashtadhyayi. Raja Raam noted a correspondence between each Pada of the Ashtadhyayi and specific anatomical functions.

Vyakaran and the Hypothalamus

This diagram illustrates a cross section of the cerebral cortex and a highlight of the anterior hypothalamus areas, corresponding to the first and second chapters of Vyakaran. The 4 nucleii in each area correspond to the 4 divisions of each chapter. The other three chapters have been similarly correlated with different aspects of the hypothalamus.

Nyaya

A second example of the relationship between Veda and the human physiology is Nyaya, the branch of the Vedic Literature that Maharishi describes as the embodiment of the distinguishing and deciding quality of consciousness, which simultaneously comprehends opposite qualities of consciousness.

Nyaya corresponds functionally to the thalamus, which relays sensory inputs to the primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex, conveying information about motor behaviour to the motor areas of the cortex. Structurally, there are 10 Ahnika (chapters) of the Nyaya Sutras, and 10 areas of the thalamus: rostral, medial, lateral, caudal, and intralaminar, each found on both sides of the brain. Furthermore, while the Nyaya Sutras describe 16 topics of reasoning (PramanaPrameya, etc.), the thalamus functions through 16 groups of cells called nuclei.

The first of the 16 areas of Nyaya (Pramana) corresponds to the first nuclear group of the thalamus called the pulvinar. Pramanahas 4 subdivisions—Pratyaksha (direct perception), Anumana(inference), Upamana (comparison), and Shabda (verbal testimony)—which correspond respectively to the 4 subdivisions of the pulvinar. The first subdivision connects the superior colliculus with areas of the cortex and is responsible for higher order visual integration—i.e. perception (Pratyaksha). The second connects the superior colliculus and the temporal cortex with areas of the cortex and of the temporal cortex. These areas are involved in functions such as vision, hearing, memory, and language—together they are at the basis of processes of inference (Anumana). The third part of the pulvinar connects the parietal cortical areas back with other parietal cortical areas, and is responsible for polymodal sensory integration. This area gives a higher order perception about sensory inputs in relation of one with the other, serving the function of comparison (Upamana). The fourth connects the temporal cortex with the superior temporal gyrus and is responsible for memory, language, and speech. This is the basis of verbal testimony (Shabda). The fifteen following categories of Nyaya are similarly linked to different aspects of the thalamus, in structure and function.

Nyaya in the Thalamus

In this diagram, we see (on the right) a view of the thalamus with its 16 nuclei. On the left, we see the names of the nucleii and the 16 aspects of Nyaya to which they correspond.

Click for details of Prof.Tony Nader's book