Albert Einstein and Bhagawad Gita

Bhagwad Gita has been translated into 82 languages, at least 65 or more of these are foreign languages. There is no missionary zeal behind the publication of the Bhagavad-Gita. It has been done by the devotees out of their sheer love for the non-dogmatic philosophy and depiction.

Not many in Bharat are aware that Bhagwad Gita has played a dominant role in shaping the modern world.

The year 2005 A.D. was called the year of Physics since it marked the centenary year of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity that revolutionized the way we look at the universe today.  Einstein advanced a series of theories that proposed entirely new ways of thinking about space, time, and gravitation. His theories of relativity and gravitation were a profound advance over the old Newtonian physics and revolutionized scientific and philosophical inquiry. Not many know that in many of Einstein’s work Dr Satyendranath Bose played a very key role and we have the famous “Bose– Einstein Statistics”. 

Einstein is regarded by many as one of the greatest scientists of the 20^th century. But it is interesting to know what according to Einstein are some of the greatest inventions or discoveries of human race. The following statements of Einstein will explain his views on the scientific discoveries of the ancient Hindus.

Ø  “We owe a lot to Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”.

Ø  “When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous”.

When asked from where he drew inspiration for his scientific inventions, Einstein replied,

Ø  “I have made the Bhagwad Gita as the main source of my inspiration and guide for the purpose of scientific investigations and formation of my theories”.

Hindu Cosmology

Hindus believe that the world is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles.

In Hindu cosmology a universe endures for about 4,320,000,000 years (one day of Brahma or kalpa) and is then destroyed by fire or water. At his point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the day. This process, named pralaya, repeats for such 100 years, period that represents Brahma's lifespan.

After Brahma's "death", it is necessary that another 100 of his years pass until he is reborn and the whole creation begins anew. This process is repeated again and again, forever.

Brahma's life is divided in one thousand cycles (Maha Yuga, or the Great Year). Maha Yuga, during which the human race appears and then disappears, has 71 divisions, each made of 14 Manvantara (1000) years. Each Maha Yuga lasts for 4,320,000 years. Manvantara is Manu's cycle, the one who gives birth and govern human race.

Each Maha Yuga consists of a series of four shorter yugas, or ages. The yugas get progressively worse from a moral point of view as one proceeds from one yuga to another. As a result each yuga is of shorter duration than the age that preceded it.

Yuga	Duration (years)	God	Virtue
Kriti Yuga	1,728,000	Brahma	Meditation
Treta Yuga	1,296,000	Vishnu	Knowledge
Dvapara Yuga	864,000	Vishnu	Sacrifice
Kali Yuga	432,000	Vishnu Shiva-Rudra	Charity
	4,320,000

Kriti Yuga

Kriti Yuga is the first yuga of a Maha Yuga. This is the age of virtue and moral perfection. It is a bright, golden age on earth. The great god Vishnu, in his form of Brahma, the creator of the world, is the presiding god, and dharma (ideal, righteous behavior or moral duty) walks steadily and securely upon all four feet. 

The Krita Yuga lasts for 1,728,000 years. 

During Kritia Yuga, human beings need no shelters. There are no shortage of food.  Gift-giving trees provide them with an abundant supply of food, clothing, and decorative objects. Everyone is born good and lives a happy, contented, unselfish, and beautiful life. 

People are devoted to meditation, the highest virtue, and spend their lives being loyal to dharma. They work for the pleasure of it, rather than from necessity. Sorrow does not exist.

Treta Yuga

Treta Yuga is the second age in each Maha Yuga. 

Treta means three. During this yuga, dharma walks less steadily, on three of its four feet. Virtue and moral perfection still exist, but they have declined by one-fourth. The duration of the age has similarly declined by one-fourth to 1,296,000 years. 

Vishnu, the preserver of life on earth, is the presiding god during Treta Yuga. 

People are devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, which they consider the highest virtue.

As in Kriti Yuga, the gift-giving trees supply food and clothing to everyone in abundance during the Treta Yuga. But greedy people try to make the trees their private property. When that happens, the special trees disappear, and life on earth becomes difficult for the first time. Heavy rainfall creates rivers. The soil is fertile for the growth of many new kinds of trees. The new trees bear fruit; but as opposed to the gift giving trees, these are ordinary trees. People must work hard to acquire food and clothing. Because of the rain and severe changes in the weather, they also need to construct houses for shelter.

In the Treta Yuga people are more passionate and greedy. They are no longer happy with what they have. Dissatisfaction, resentment, and anger replace satisfaction, peace, and contentment in their hearts. They covet their neighbors' possessions. The strong take land from the weak in order to possess more food and greater wealth. Many men take the wives of others.

Dvapara Yuga

Dvapara Yuga is the third age in each Maha Yuga. 

As the name Dva suggests (Dva means two), eternal dharma now has to balance on two of its four feet, creating a precarious and shifting balance between good and evil. Virtue and moral perfection still exist, but they have declined to one-half of what they were in the Krita Yuga. As a result, the duration of this age is half that of the Krita Yuga (864,000 years). 

Vishnu, the preserver of life on earth, is still the presiding god during Dvapara yuga. People devote themselves to sacrifice, which they consider the highest virtue.

In the Dvapara Yuga, disease, misfortune, suffering, and death are part of everyone's existence. People have become more passionate and greedy, and war is commonplace. Religious doctrines are developed in an attempt to guide human behavior toward dharma, but the gradual process of moral deterioration continues. 

Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga is the fourth age in each Maha Yuga. Kali means quarrel and war. This is the dark age. Dharrna has to stand on only one of its four feet, and virtue barely exists. This age is only one-fourth the length of the Krita Yuga (432,000 years). 

Vishnu is still the presiding god, in his form of Shiva-Rudra, the destroyer of life on earth.

In the Kali Yuga people achieve noble rank in society based on the amount of money and property they own rather than their moral virtue. The quality of virtue is measured only in terms of material wealth. Sexual passion alone binds husband and wife together in marriage. People become successful in life through a succession of lies, and their only source of enjoyment is sex. They live with continuous fear of hunger, disease, and death.

In the Kali Yuga only the poor are honest, and the only remaining virtue is charity.

Harsh weather and primitive living conditions make them prey to devastating illnesses. One who attains the age of twenty-three is considered very old. 

A Honest Hindu's Answer to Evangelist Christians-Part 3

If you have not gone through the first and second part of these questions, I suggest you read them first before reading part 3. Here is the link for part 1
http://spiritofahindu.blogspot.com/2010/12/honest-hindus-answer-to-evangelist.html
link for part 2
http://spiritofahindu.blogspot.com/2010/12/honest-hindus-answer-to-evangelist_30.html

15) But what about wild animals? With the animals' natural predators gone, their populations must be curbed. Human hunters take up the ecological ‘niche' left behind by the disappearance of the predators."

Reply :- Human hunters hardly fill the ecological "niche" of the natural predators. Natural predators attempt "easy" kills, so they will automatically attack only the weak or the sickly prey, which leaves only the fittest and strongest of the preyed species to survive, passing on their genes for the benefit of the species. Human hunters, on the other hand, will invariably go after the "trophy", the biggest and strongest member of the herd. Thus they do not weed out the sickly members of the herd that a natural predator would target. This is entirely contrary to the laws of nature.

If hunters were truly sincere in their claims that they are doing this to help restore nature's balance, they would immediately stop their slaughter of the natural predators, and help restore areas for wildlife to flourish.

16) It seems to me that you Hindu's worship the creation and not the Creator.

Reply :- Both respect for the creation and the creator go hand in hand. It is said, "those who abuse the creation heap contempt on the Creator." How can you claim to worship someone if you scorn his creation? If you were to vandalize your landlord's property, what value is your claim that you respect and admire your landlord?

17) There is enough human misery in this world. Why waste the time and energy being concerned for animals? First, let's take care of our fellow man, and then we'll worry about the animals.

Reply :- First, it takes no time or energy to stop our abuse of animals. Second, this material world will always be a place of misery. You can attempt to minimize the suffering, but there will always be suffering here. So to say "wait until we have solved mankind's problems" is irresponsible because it will never happen. Third, it is quite clear that our use of animals for food is responsible for a tremendous amount of human misery (starvation, disease, etc.) Fourth; our abuse of our fellow creatures is also hurting us. For instance, wetlands are important in flood control (by acting as a giant "sponge" to absorb excess rain, and then slowly releasing the excess). By destroying the wetlands, we are only hurting ourselves. Man's tampering with nature only hurts mankind in the end. And finally, there is the subtle law of karma. Man's malicious treatment of other living entities will revisit him in the form of sinful reactions in the future. Therefore, anyone truly sincere in his desire to alleviate the suffering of his fellow man will avoid causing unnecessary pain to his fellow creatures.

18) How do you know your scriptures are valid? We say your scriptures are useless. And, apparently, you think our own Bible is worthless as well."

Reply :- Speaking for myself, I can say that following the Vedic principles has made me a better person. As for the Bible, we do not accept the Bible as a revealed scripture, but we most certainly do not consider it useless. It was valuable to help elevate the people of that ancient time and place to a higher level of consciousness. Basically, the Bible instructs, "Be good. Don't kill or steal. Worship God. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

But we believe that our own scriptures, the Vedic literature, being divinely transmitted to man, places us on a more direct path to God, on a higher level of consciousness, and on a far higher ethical and moral plane.

It is like the science of numbers: First you have arithmetic; then you move up to mathematics. Still higher is algebra, and higher still is calculus. The existence of calculus does not negate, contradict, or even minimize, the importance of basic arithmetic.

In the same way, Vedic scriptures are on a higher spiritual plane, they are the "calculus" of the spiritual realm. But that does not negate the lesser scriptures.

After all this ask the Christian to come to a temple and reconvert to Hinduism if he ever want to ever know who is god and what is his true message

                                                                                                            Shrinaath Paravasthu

A Honest Hindu's Answer to Evangelist Christians-Part 2

If you have not gone through the first part of these questions, I suggest you read them first before reading part 2. Here is the link for part 1
http://spiritofahindu.blogspot.com/2010/12/honest-hindus-answer-to-evangelist.html

8) But just look at the bounty with which God has blessed America! Surely that is a sign he favors us Christians.

Reply :-If that was the case, then God must really favor the Muslims, since many oil-rich Arab states have the highest per-capita income in the world. You cannot equate material happiness with God's blessings. Tyrants and ruthless kings have lived lives of luxury. It is important to understand that material wealth is not always in the living being's best interests. He may come under the spell of illusion, thinking, "The material world is not so bad. Who needs God?" Real wealth is spiritual wealth.

By the way, it is questionable to consider the United States "blessed". Drug use is rampant and crime haunts both the cities as well as the countryside. Millions of abortions are performed every year. In addition to these murders of the un-born, 45,000 adult murders occur each year on the street, in schoolyards and in private homes. Although Christianity has had a strong foothold here in the United States since the very beginning, it is still glaringly obvious that something has gone awry with the social fabric. And yet Christians criticize third world countries "backward ways" and want to export Western culture there? Even in your own Bible, Jesus admonished the sanctimonious hypocrites, saying, "Before you can remove the speck in your brother's eye, first remove the log in your own."

In Hindu's homes around the world, the center of the home is the family altar, where spiritual values are shared. In America, the center of the home is the family television set, where the favorite fare is sitcoms, where anti-social skills are learned (the favorite source of "humor" in sitcoms is usually insult and sexual innuendo).

It is the goal of every devout Hindu to visit the different places of pilgrimage (especially after retirement), such as Varanasi, Vrindavana, Badarikashrama, and great holy places of worship such as the temples of Venkateshwara, Jagannatha and Ranganath. In the United States, the places of pilgrimage are either Reno, Atlantic City, or Las Vegas, the Mecca's of gambling, meat eating, intoxication, and prostitution.

9) So if you say God is a God of love, why doesn't He take away everyone's opulence?

Reply:- It depends upon the individual's spiritual evolution. Taking away someone's opulence is beneficial only for the person is who ready to surrender to God. Other people would become angry and bitter at their misfortune.

10) If a person believes in reincarnation, he will think. Oh, I can enjoy this time... in the next lifetime I will become serious about God.

Reply :- Yes, he might think like that. But he may not be in a position next time around to become serious about God. If he has been extremely sinful in this life, his next body may be that of an animal or a flea... or even a bacterium inside the bowels of the flea. This human form of life is actually very rarely obtained. Instead of pursuing sense gratification, which is so easily obtainable in other life forms, we should fully utilize this human form of life for God realization.

11) So this concept of reincarnation in other species of life is related to your concept of non-violence and vegetarianism. But animals have no souls. According to Genesis in the Bible, man was given dominion over all the animals. So there is no sin in killing animals. Animals are here for our enjoyment.

Reply :- As for man being given "dominion over the animals", look in the dictionary for what the word "dominion" means. It means "authority or control". A man has "dominion" over his children, but that does not give him the right to kill and eat them! And as for the pernicious doctrine that "animals have no souls", there is absolutely NO place in the Bible where it is stated, or even hinted, that animals have no souls. This doctrine is not found in the Bible at all, but is derived from the speculations of Aquinas and Augustine who preferred meat eating. Animals feel pain, we feel pain. We fear death, animals fear death. Animals seek pleasure and warmth, and so do we. Even the ancient Greeks, such as Plato, observed that animals dream (as evidenced by dogs barking and twitching in their sleep).

12) But humans are extremely intelligent. That is what makes them special, that is evidence of their soul.

Reply :- baby child has less intelligence than a dog. Does that mean the child has no soul? What about people in a degenerative mental state or the retarded? Do they have no soul?

13) But if all life forms have the same quality of soul, why are not animals as intelligent as humans?

Reply :- Because they can express themselves only through the body they are in. Here is an example: suppose an expert computer programmer has to program two separate computers. One computer is an 8-bit, 1 mHz microcomputer, and the other is a 32-bit, 50 mHz mainframe. In this example, the programmer represents the soul, and the computers are the brains of the different bodies the soul may inhabit. If you were looking at the output of the two computers, you would see the output of the mainframe is much faster and more efficient than that of the smaller computer. So you might assume that the programmer of the mainframe is much smarter than the programmer of the micro-computer. But, in reality, it is the same programmer! He is just limited by the capacity of the computer he uses. In the same way, one may think that a human soul is different (and much more advanced) than an animal soul.

By the way, this analogy is also useful when explaining the results of brain injuries. After a brain injury, a person may act confused, or lose his ability to control his emotions, etc. But the soul is undamaged. It is just that the soul's mechanism for [removed]the body and brain) has been damaged. Just as a computer with a faulty keypad would seriously hamper the computer's efficiency, even though the programmer is unchanged.

The Bhagavad-gita explains it in this way: some embodied souls are compared to smoke-covered fire. These are the souls encased in human bodies, where a dim glimmer of God consciousness can be perceived. Other souls are compared to dust-covered mirrors, which are the souls in animals... the spiritual nature of these beings is almost imperceptible. And, finally, other embodied souls are compared to an embryo encased in a womb, which represents the souls in plants, where consciousness is so covered that it is imperceptible.

14) Speaking simply from a practical, realistic standpoint, if we did not eat the animals, they would overpopulate the Earth."

Reply :- This is nonsense, a truly narrow vision. Farm animals are forced to reproduce, especially by artificial insemination. To encourage the breeding of livestock, and at the same time, saying, "We have to eat them, or they will overrun the Earth" is truly demoniac thinking.

                                                                                                          Shrinaath Paravasthu

A Honest Hindu's Answer to Evangelist Christians-Part 1

Whenever you confront Christian Evangelists, they will first ask you 

1) Do you accept Jesus Christ as the son of God ?

Reply :- Of course i do! Now they may seem to be happy. After a Pause, tell them that Lord Krishna has told God is father of all including plants and insects . So for me jesus , if existed , is a son of God like you and me. Nothing more and nothing less

2) But do you accept Jesus as the only begotten son of God ?

Reply :- What do you think of god , is he so stingy to have just one son ? , Puranas tell of other sons of God too

3) But Jesus was special. He died for His people. Did others die for people?

Reply :- Sometimes God manifests Himself, and sometimes He is unmanifest (not visible to our eyes). He is like the sun... when the sun sets, does it die? No, it is just invisible to our material eyes. It is beyond the horizon, but it is still there.

This concept of Jesus "dying for his people" is a philosophic fallacy known as "argumentum ad misericordium", or "appeal to pity". This is committed when one appeals to another's pity rather than giving evidence to support a conclusion. Besides, many people die for their people, or for a cause, or for their country, or for their religion. Soldiers give up their lives for their people. Does that make them a divine savior?

4) Jesus' suffering and death on the cross expression of the love of God for the world. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son !!

Reply :- That sounds nice, but it does not answer the question. God is all-powerful. He can easily deliver everyone in an instant, if He so chooses, He has no need to send His son to his death.Furthermore, death does not exist for the soul always existed, and we will always continue to exist, says the Bhagavad-gita (2.12)

It is apparent that the supposed "miracle" of the resurrection is supposed to instill faith amongst the Christians. This is one of their main claims as to the "specialness" of their religion. Yet, what value are miracles in instilling faith? If you point out a miracle in Christianity, you say that it is the work of God. But if someone points out a miracle in another religion, you immediately brand it as "a trick of Satan."

5) Christianity has a solution to the problem of sin: Adam the first man sinned. Man, down to the present day, inherited this sin at birth. In other words, man is born in sin, and he is destined for an eternity in hell. But, just by having faith in Christ Jesus, you can be saved. This is an expression of the love and mercy of God Almighty."

Reply :- Threatening someone with an eternity of torment in hell is hardly an expression of love and mercy. We Hindus believe that God is a God of justice. No one is more just than God. This concept of "man inheriting the sins of Adam" does not speak of a God of justice. If a government were to arrest and punish citizens for their distant forefather's crimes, we would be outraged at such an exhibition of lawlessness and utter disregard for the most basic of human rights. Yet you ascribe this to God? How is that a "solution to the problem of sin"?

6) But God makes it easy to be free. Just have faith in Jesus. Jesus' grace is not earned, it's freely given. All we have to do is accept it. Those who don't are lost forever."

Reply :- It is becoming more and more obvious of the huge gulf of difference between the Christian conception of God and the Hindu perception of God. We believe that God is not only a God of justice, but also a God of unfathomable mercy, compassion, and love. Christians believe in an eternal hell of intense torment and pain. What value is punishment if there is no hope of it ending? What value is there in this, if the soul does not have a chance to mend his ways, and to apply the lessons he has learned? Such a concept of eternal punishment is not a concept of rehabilitation, but is a concept of pure, unadulterated vengeance. These are not the acts of a God of love, mercy, and compassion. Living for only a few, short years on this planet, and all of eternity depending upon these few years? And consider the inequity in this world: one child may be born in a comfortable home in a small town in America. Another may be born in a squalid crime-infested ghetto. One child obviously has the deck stacked against him, being born and raised in a climate of sin and hate. Are both judged equally? And what criterion is used to judge a person after death? Does a person who is 51% sinful and 49% pious burn in hell as much as a person who is 99% sinful? There are many, many inequities to the concept of endless punishment and eternal damnation. And that is not the hallmark of a God of justice.

7) You Hindus believe in reincarnation. So what is the value of reincarnation if you can't remember your past lives? There is no rehabilitation there, either."

Reply :- The ultimate purpose of reincarnation is not for punishment (although the embodied soul certainly receives his due share of miseries from his embodied existences). The soul transmigrates to other bodies simply because that is the soul's desire. Our God is very kind. If we want to live with Him, that is, if we truly desire to live with Him, we will be liberated from samsara, the cycle of birth and death. But if we want to remain here in the material world, trying our best to squeeze every possible drop of enjoyment from this world, trying to make a kingdom of God without God, then we will be given our desire... another material body. But, even when we receive another material body, we are given chance after chance to mend our ways and pursue our real self-interest... redeeming our relationship with God.

And after many, many millions of lifetimes, a wise person will begin to understand that no matter what material endeavors he makes, the results are finished at the time of death. He cannot take his wealth with him to his next body. Being materially exhausted, he can finally begin spiritual life. It is written that one can become serious about spiritual life only when he is materially frustrated. So, even material miseries can actually be a blessing in disguise. There is a Hindu saying that "if God likes you, He will give you everything, but if He loves you, He will take everything away." In this way, by showing His special mercy, the living being quickly realizes that our relationship with God is the only thing that really matters.

                                                                                                                   Shrinaath Paravasthu

Hinduism in the west

Hinduism in the West By Salil Gewali Do we know what most of the western eminent scholars have said about our Indian philosophies and the ancient seers? They have held them in the highest esteem. They have confessed the Vedic philosophies as the only transcendent knowledge that has no parallel in the whole universe.  But it is too reprehensible that all these truths have never been discussed or brought to light in India.  Have we ever been encouraged to learn in schools or colleges about the uncanny literatures as the Vedanta or the Bhagavat Gita in any manner which in fact had become the core source of inspiration for most of the western poets, philosophers, scientists et al? Nonetheless, we are made to believe that Socrates, Plato or Aristotle as the only fathers of ancient knowledge though they speculated far less perfect thoughts and ideas than our Vedic rishis.  Why are we not informed the truth that Pythagoras came to India to learn geometry and spiritualism all the way from Greece who was quite senior to Socrates and Plato? Why are we not allowed to know that Sayana is the first Indian to calculate the speed of light in about 1300 BC which was discovered in the West only in the 17th century?  We are made to commit to memory T.S. Eliot?s ?Wasteland? but never been told that he became powerful poet because he assimilated every sublime philosophy of the Gita and the Vedas which he himself has mentioned at several places. Who have suppressed these truths if not those so-called snobbish intellectuals in the chair of power? I find all those education policymakers in India are nothing more than treacherous hubris who are not letting to illuminate the world by the glitter of mystic Vedic age. For them even the bad smell from West seems like fragrance. Beware, they are murderously stooped to butcher the spiritual heart of Bharatvarsha. But will they be succeeding in their sinister plan if we join hands to spread the following quotations/thoughts in every nook and corner? Here they are:  Albert Einstein:'We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.' Mark Twain (1835-1910): 'Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that men with intellectual bent desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined.' Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) nuclear physicist, philosopher:'Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.' 'The Gita, the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.' T.S. Eliot: 'Indian philosophers' subtleties make most of the great European philosophers look like schoolboys.' George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1950) Dramatist, Nobel Laureate in literature: 'The Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We western veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the Creators hand.' 'This makes Hinduism the most tolerant religion in the world, because its one transcendent God includes all possible gods. In fact Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and crudest idolater, are equally at home with it.' H.G. Wells (1866-1946), English author and political philosopher: 'There is space in its philosophy for everyone, which is one reason why India is a home to every single religion in the world.' 'Hinduism is synonymous with humanism. That is its essence and its great liberating quality' Sir William Jones, English: 'Wherever we direct our attention to Hindu literature, the notion of infinity presents itself.'  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American author, essayist, lecturer, philosopher, Unitarian Minister: 'I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered over and thus disposed of of the same questions which exercise us'  Prof. F. Max Muller, German philosopher and philologist: 'In the history of the world, the Vedas fill a gap which no literary work in any other language could fill. I maintain that to everybody who cares for himself, for his ancestors, for his intellectual development, a study of the Vedic literature is indeed indispensable.' 'The Vedic literature opens to us a chapter in what has been called the education of the human race, to which we can find no parallel anywhere else.' Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher and writer: 'In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life; and it will be the solace of my death. They are the product of the highest wisdom.' 'How entirely does the Upanishad breathe throughout the holy spirit of the Vedas! How is every one, who by a diligent study of its Persian Latin has become familiar with that incomparable book, stirred by that spirit to the very depth of his soul!' Francois Marie Voltaire (1694-1774) France's greatest writer and philosopher: 'I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganga - astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc' 'It is very important to note that some 2,500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganga (Ganges) to learn geometry...But he would certainly not have undertaken such a strange journey had the reputation of the Brahmins' science not been long established in Europe...' 'The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East.' The Upanishads  As is the human body, so is the cosmic body  As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind.  As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.  As is the atom, so is the universe.  Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), German philosopher: India has created a special momentum in world history as a country to be searched for knowledge.  'It strikes everyone in beginning to form an acquaintance with the treasures of Indian literature, that a land so rich in intellectual products and those of the profoundest order of thought...' Roger-Pol Droit, French philosopher, and Le Monde journalist: 'The Greeks loved so much Indian philosophy that Demetrios Galianos had even translated the Bhagavad-Gita'. There is absolutely not a shadow of a doubt that the Greeks knew all about Indian philosophy.'  Frederich von Schlegel, (1772-1829), German philosopher, critic, and writer, the most prominent founder of German Romanticism: 'There is no language in the world, even Greek, which has the clarity and the philosophical precision of Sanskrit.' 'India is not only at the origin of everything she is superior in everything, intellectually, religiously or politically and even the Greek heritage seems pale in comparison.' Alfred North Whitehead, British Mathematician: 'The vastest knowledge of today cannot transcend the buddhi of the Rishis in ancient India; and science, in its most advanced stage now, is closer to Vedanta than ever before.' Dr Fritjof Capra, American: 'To the Indian Rishis the divine play was the evolution of the cosmos through countless aeons. There is an infinite number of creations in an infinite universe. The Rishis gave the name kalpa to the unimaginable span of time between the beginning and the end of creation.' Herman Hesse (1877-1962) German poet and novelist, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946 says: 'The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion' Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American philosopher, writer, unitarian, social critic, transcendentalist: 'In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny.' Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (1850-1919) famous American poet and journalist: 'In India, the land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all are known to the seers who founded the Veda.' Hans Torwesten, German philosopher and writer: 'The Vedas and the Upanishads are India's proudest and most ancient possessions. They are the world's oldest intellectual legacies. They are the only composition in the universe invested with Divine origin, and almost Divine sanctity. They are said to emanate from God, and are held to be the means for attaining God. Their beginnings are not known. They have been heirlooms of the Hindus from generation to generation from time immemorial.' Jean-Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer who calculated the orbit for the Halley's Comet: 'The motion of the stars calculated by the Hindus before some 4500 years vary not even a single minute from the tables of Cassine and Meyer (used in the 19th century). The Indian tables give the same annual variation of the moon as the discovered by Tycho Brahe' a variation unknown to the school of Alexandria and also to the Arabs who followed the calculations of the school...  'The Hindu systems of astronomy are by far the oldest and that from which the Egyptians, Greek, Romans and even the Jews derived from the Hindus their knowledge.' Aldous Huxley: 'Hinduism, the perennial philosophy, that is at the core of all religions.' Romain Rolland (1866-1944) French nobel laureate, historian: 'Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws, moreover the former is never made a condition for the knowledge they teach, but there are always scrupulously careful to take into consideration the possibility that by reason both the agnostic and atheist may attain truth in their own way. Such tolerance may be surprising to religious believers in the West, but it is an integral part of Vedantic belief.' Lord Curzon (1859-1925) British statesman, Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, and later became chancellor of Oxford University: 'India has left a deeper mark upon the history, the philosophy, and the religion of mankind, than any other terrestrial unit in the universe' William Butler Yeats (1856-1939) Irish poet, dramatist, and essayist and Nobel Laureate: 'It was only my first meeting with the Indian philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.' Mark Tully, former BBC correspondent in India: 'I do profoundly believe that India needs to be able to say with pride: Yes, our civilisation has a Hindu base to it.' Paul William Roberts, Prof. at Oxford, award-winning television writer, producer, journalist, critic and novelist: 'India is the only country that feels like home to me, the only country whose airport tarmac I have ever kissed upon landing.' Pierre Simon de Laplace (1749-1827) French mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer, a contemporary of Napoleon. Laplace is best known for his nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system: 'It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by ten symbols, each receiving a value of position as well as an absolute value, a profound and important idea which appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit. But its very simplicity, the great ease which it has lent to all computations, puts our arithmetic in the first rank of useful inventions, and we shall appreciate the grandeur of this achievement the more when we remember that it escaped the genius of Archimedes and Appollnius, two of the greatest men produced by antiquity'