After the story of God Particle, the next big cosmological story is,“Is the Universe Collapsing?”
From Expansion to Contraction
In the year 2011, the physicists, Adam Riess, Brian Schmidt and Saul Perlmutter were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery that the universe is expanding.
Quick on its heels, comes another research with the postulate that the universe is infact, contracting. This comes out from the calculations of Jens Frederik Colding Krog, the author of this research, at the Centre for Cosmology and Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Southern Denmark. His research comes up with the postulate that the universe is at a phase of transition from expansion to contraction. This transition has not set in, in just the few years between awarding the Nobel Prize for the theory of expansion of this universe and this new theory of contracting universe. This transition sets in over a window period of millions of earth years and is not limited just to the earth or solar system, but to the whole universe.
Quick on its heels, comes another research with the postulate that the universe is infact, contracting. This comes out from the calculations of Jens Frederik Colding Krog, the author of this research, at the Centre for Cosmology and Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Southern Denmark. His research comes up with the postulate that the universe is at a phase of transition from expansion to contraction. This transition has not set in, in just the few years between awarding the Nobel Prize for the theory of expansion of this universe and this new theory of contracting universe. This transition sets in over a window period of millions of earth years and is not limited just to the earth or solar system, but to the whole universe.
Indian Traditional View
A peep into the traditional Indian cosmology gives us an interesting insight. This is known as the subject of Brahmanda Parardha. Brahmanda meaning universe, Ardha is half, Para denotes the other, following, succeeding, previous. This term Brahmanda Parardha implies that the life span of this material universe comprises of 2 halves. The first half is the expansion of the universe from the moment of Big Bang, Brahmanda Visphotak. The second half is the contraction of the universe, finally ending in all constituents of matter merging back into one single unit.
Sesha
This single unit then forms the seed for the cosmic egg, Hiranyagarbha for the next cycle of the universe. This collapsed matter is Sesha, the balance and is known as Adi Sesha, the balance from which comes Adi, the beginnings for the next cycle sprout forth.
It is indeed interesting that the Indian thought not only speaks of the Big Bang, the expansion and then the Contraction, it also speaks about the residue becoming the seed for the next cycle. What a depth of knowledge!
From where do we learn of this contraction?
It is indeed interesting that the Indian thought not only speaks of the Big Bang, the expansion and then the Contraction, it also speaks about the residue becoming the seed for the next cycle. What a depth of knowledge!
From where do we learn of this contraction?
Sankalpa
Sankalpa is something that the learned recite every day. This Sankalpa is a calendar, an Astral Geo-Positioning calendar.
The first phrase of the Sankalpa is Brahma Dwitiya Parardhe, meaning, ‘Brahma, the creator, who personifies the expanding force of creation, has now entered Dwitiya, the second, Parardha, the material half’, implying that the first half of Brahma’s life, activity and expansion is over and the universe has entered the second phase, the contracting phase. This is the implied statement recited by the scholars of this land, every day when they start their Sankalpa. Thus, it is in the common knowledge of these traditional scholars that we are in the second phase, the concluding phase of the universe wherein the contraction is well on its path to Pralaya, dissolution.
This Sankalpa itself could be expressed as a mathematical formula for calculating elapse time, much like the way modern mathematical formulae are expressed.
The first phrase of the Sankalpa is Brahma Dwitiya Parardhe, meaning, ‘Brahma, the creator, who personifies the expanding force of creation, has now entered Dwitiya, the second, Parardha, the material half’, implying that the first half of Brahma’s life, activity and expansion is over and the universe has entered the second phase, the contracting phase. This is the implied statement recited by the scholars of this land, every day when they start their Sankalpa. Thus, it is in the common knowledge of these traditional scholars that we are in the second phase, the concluding phase of the universe wherein the contraction is well on its path to Pralaya, dissolution.
This Sankalpa itself could be expressed as a mathematical formula for calculating elapse time, much like the way modern mathematical formulae are expressed.
While it has always been held that traditional Indian sciences claim knowledge of something after it has been discovered, here is a case where the traditional Indian knowledge and its mathematical formulae can be used in expressing mathematically that the contraction, i.e from when the collapse of the universe has well and truly begun and the time left for it to contract fully and dissolve into nothingness. The next big milestone for the cosmos.
The next big step in cosmological research! Will we take it?
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