Scientific And Psychological Tour Through Bhagavad Gita

Introduction 

Where is the incentive to hunt for a well to quench thirst if an ocean is nearby? The Bhagavad Gita could be that ocean if the quench is to understand the psychological aspects of life and the science of self-realisation. This sacred text retells the story of how Lord Krishna, the ultimate embodiment of Godhead, first revealed the science of life to Arjun on the Mahabharata battlefield over 5000 years ago. Many philosophers and scientists have been influenced by and guided by Srimad Bhagavad Gita throughout the millennia. Its influence extends beyond its place of origin, India and has been translated into nearly every language in the globe, making it well-known and revered Internationally. The Bhagavad Gita can be viewed as the eternal science of the soul, not just the knowledge of those of the Hindu religion. The body of knowledge found in the Bhagavad Gita could be viewed as timeless and eternal if compared to other sources of information, which are subject to change.

According to some of the greatest personalities in the history of science, when you are perplexed in your pursuit of the truth, eliminating this perplexity will lead to the enlightenment of everyone, which could be achieved by reading the Bhagavad Gita Albert Einstein himself said, “When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.¹” Sir Isaac Newton, Aldous Huxley, and Herman Hesse also had different optimistic opinions about the Bhagavad Gita, which, according to them, helped them in numerous ways to proceed with their respective research.¹ This text can be viewed as a philosophical and psychological work that discusses many facets of existence, including ideas that can be understood from a scientific point of view. This book can be viewed as timeless due to the significance of its lessons no matter what stage of your life you are in.  

Psychological facts in bhagavad gita

Despite being a spiritual and philosophical text, the Bhagavad Gita contains teachings which have linked to human psychology. 

• These include Stress and Mitigating: The Gita discusses the idea of stress as well as coping mechanisms. A good understanding of stress management can be seen in the teachings on remaining calm when struggling with stress.
• Mindfulness and self-awareness: The Gita places a strong emphasis on awareness of oneself and mindfulness as being crucial to personal growth. These teachings are consistent with current concepts on self-awareness, self-control, and mindfulness exercises.
• Integrity and Mental Health: The Gita promotes a healthy lifestyle with mental stability. It implies that the key to happiness is a balanced way of living without becoming too connected or detached.
• Realisation of Oneself and Identity: The Gita's main idea is the realisation of one's inner self, or "atman." The psychological concepts of belonging, self-concept, and self-actualisation can be tied to this idea of self-realisation and comprehending one's identity.

Since the verses are fairly realistic and provide an interesting perspective i, to questions regarding the philosophy of life, you may be wondering what the explanation for this is. Many people also believe that science and spirituality conflict with each other. some who have read the text may have found the answers to some of the questions they had about themselves, their existence, and everything else associated with it. Now, I'll present another perspective on this sacred book, one in which it is seen as the pinnacle of science emerging from the vast spiritualism.

Although relatively little of what the Bhagavad Gita has said about science has been disproved, you may assume that scientific understanding has trumped this book's holiness at some point. This, however is not the case; to prove this, let's talk about two proven science concepts mentioned in this text, including the lotus flower effect and energy conservation.

Lotus flower effect

ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति य: | 

लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा || 10||

                                               (Chapter 5, Verse 10, Bhagavad Gita)

(brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ
lipyate na sa pāpena padma-patram ivāmbhasā)

The Meaning of the verse above: As a lotus petal is impervious to water, so are people who consecrate their acts to God while letting go of all attachment.

In Buddhist and Hindu rituals, the “holy” lotus plant plays a significant role. It is cherished for its pink or white colour. This conveys the fundamental idea of superhydrophobicity (the idea of repelling water) whilst also bringing up the philosophical idea of soul purity.  The lotus has a larger surface area due to its high surface tension with water, making it a nearly spherical shape, which differs from a normal sphere shape with a small surface area. This shape reduces the solid-liquid energy at the surface, meaning adhesion forces cause the surface to get moist when a liquid comes into contact. Depending on the design of the outermost layer and the liquid tension of the droplet, full or partial wetting may take place. The water-repellent waxy surface’s bilayer is the reason for its self-cleaning characteristics. This makes it possible to dramatically minimize the interaction area and its bonding force between the surface and droplet, leading to a self-cleaning process. The epicuticular waxes are placed on papillae that measure 10 to 20 mm in height and 10 to 15 mm in breadth on the lotus plant's epidermis. The additional layer of the dual structure is made up of these hydrophobic waxes that are overlaid. The additional resistance between droplets results in a contact angle greater than 150°. These are caused by nanosized air spaces within the waxy bumps attached, which allow the surface to reject water. Some plants exhibit contact angles of up to 160 degrees and are referred to as ultra-hydrophobic, meaning only 2 to 3% of a droplet's surface is in contact. The lotus and other plants with a double-structured surface can achieve an angle of contact of 170°, with the droplet's contact area being only 0.6%, which results in a self-cleaning process. Water droplets pick up particles of dirt with a very small contact area, making it simple to remove from the surface. When a drop of water travels across a polluted surface, there is greater adherence between the particles of dirt and the droplet than among the individual particles and the surface, regardless of the chemistry of the dirt.¹ The concept that has been described is known as the Lotus Leaf Effect, which has been mentioned by the Bhagavad Gita and is a well-established scientific concept. This effect is seen in common cleaning materials such as stainless steel.²

Energy conservation³

भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च |

अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा || 4||

                                                   (Chapter 7, Verse 4, Bhagavad Gita)

(bhumiraponalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva cha

Ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakritir ashtadha)

This means that my material energy is made up of eight different elements: earth, fire, water, air, time, mind, intellect, and ego.

Einstein first stated the mass-energy equivalence formula ) E = mc^2) in his 1905 work “Annus Mirabilis”. The idea of mass-energy equivalence in physics holds that an object or system's mass can be used as a gauge for how much energy it contains. The two qualities are equal in that they constantly exist within the consistent proportions of one and another. Energy and mass are two properties that make up physical systems. According to the classic equation E = mc2, the relationship between energy E and the mass m depends on the velocity of light c. Whereas according to this mass-energy relation, the speed of light squared represents the universal proportional constant between comparable quantities of mass and energy. Regardless of what system of units of measurement is being utilized, it additionally provides for converting units of matter to units of energy.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि

नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूय: |

अजो नित्य: शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो

न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे || 20||

                                                           (Chapter 2, Verse 20, Bhagavad Gita)

(na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre)

The text refers to the soul never giving birth or dying as well as being immortal. Whenever the body is destroyed, it is not also destroyed. This idea is similar to the Energy conservation law, which states that energy cannot be generated or destroyed it can change form. This is an established scientific fact highlighting the link between science and the Bhagavad Gita. According to this poem, the soul is merely energy that changes only at birth and death. This can be compared to the Principle of Conservation Energy, which states energy can only change its form and cannot be either created or destroyed in an isolated system. The concept is similar to what is stated in the Bhagavad Gita, which talks about how there is no birth, no death, and only transformation for the soul. This additionally represents the underlying principle of the universe's unity. The unchanging energy modifies itself to represent the diversity that is evident in our cosmos.²

Summary

From a holistic standpoint, the Bhagavad Gita is a comprehensive science of both spirit and matter. This book offers lessons and insights which can be useful to anyone, and some of these teachings are even linked to science. According to the Bhagavad Gita, we are minuscule divine particles with qualities identical to those of Lord Krishna, the Absolute deity. By immersing ourselves in the Bhagavad Gita's daily teachings, we can reawaken our spirituality and divinity. Intellectuals have disagreed about whether life originated chemically or if it is eternal; the Bhagavad Gita mentions the latter. The empirical findings demonstrate that life creates matter, not the other way around. result, the Bhagavad Gita represents an ageless science that provides the answers to all of your provocative questions.

From a scientific viewpoint, an important noticeable fact is that Bhagavad Gita is, therefore, not “just” a Hindu holy book; it is also a book that may contain many unexplored scientific concepts.