Cosmologists are often in error, but never in doubt!! Age of the universe has been a subject for speculation, mathematical deduction, physical experimentation and philosophical assumptions. It is a subject, when one discusses can very easily proclaim, “whatever you are going to hear is all wrong”!
My interest in this subject stems from my flirtation with Hindu scriptures, my knowledge and understanding of the subject being abysmally low; my toying with Zen philosophy, where my grasp is as strong as that of a paraplegic patient and my half-digested knowledge by reading of few best-selling books – by some of the most erudite scholars in this field. Writing on this subject is nothing short of audacity as I try to correlate the age of the Universe and that of Brahma!
Numbers reflect imagination of a thinking race. Realm of imagination has always expanded as civilization progressed. Different mythologies peg creation of the universe at different values.
Sumerian myths are known from the clay tablets dating to the beginning of the second millennium BC, discovered in the temple archives. According to them, when the world was first formed and generations of gods were born, each deity had a defined role, very much like Hindu or Greek gods and goddesses. However, their prowess was not any thing compared to the omnipotent gods in our mythology; rather, they had more human attributes, like herding cattle or ploughing land. Nammu, the god mother , wife of the sky god . wakes up Enki, from the watery depth and asks him to create man to do the menial labour. Another Goddess, Ninmah imposes hardwork upon mankind. On the contrary, Inanna, the goddess with more complex character was again known for her irascible nature. However, the sky god was supreme and there is no exact mention of age of the universe or even the gods in their mythology.
In the Babylonian mythology, Enuma Elish, the Babylonian text of twelfth century BC, there has been elaborate mention of Marduk, the National God of Babylon. However, the myths of creation involves Enlil and Ninurta. Before the earth and heaven were named, the primeval waters were mixed up. From this endless waters, three generations of gods emerged from Apsu. The new generation, like the gen-x Anu and Ea were restless.Ea puts a spell on Apsu to sleep and takes over the watery depth as his own kingdom and lives with his wife Damkina.Tiamat, Apsu’s consort is disturbed by Marduk, born to Ea and Damkina. Marduk and Tiamat enter into a fight and Marduk wins. He splits open the body of Tiamat whose upper part he fixes above to form the sky complete with stars and planets and the lower part becomes the earth. Tigris and Euphrates flow from her eye sockets; and solid pillars separate earth from the heaven.
In the Hittite mythology of Turkey, in the bronze age of third millennium BC mentions Inara, the mother goddess. She helps the weather god to kill Illuyanka, a dragon who had seized power from the weather god, by getting him drunk. The supreme God was the weather god and Sun Goddess Arinna.
In the Hurrian mythology of the third millennium BC, in northern Mesopotamia, the main Gods were the weather god Teshub, the goddess Shaushga, Sun God Shimegi, Moon God Kushu, and Kumarbi, the deity of agriculture. It is also said that Kumarbi gave birth to the weather god.
In Biblical mythology, the act of creation took place through the command of God. It begins with heaven and earth, with the earth being empty and dark. Then God causes light to appear creating day and night. He made a barrier between the waters from above and waters of the deep; the upper part becoming the sky and the lower part becoming the earth. The following day, he assembles the waters below the sky to form sea and land to be called the earth. He next makes earth to sprout vegetation and instigates the self-perpetuation of plants through seeds. On the fourth day, he fixed lights in the heavenly bodies and makes planets and sun regulate time. Then he fills the sea with aquatic animals and sky with birds followed by animals on land. Finally he creates human beings, both male and female and gives them dominion over all animals, making man with his own image. On the seventh day, tired of his labour, he goes to rest; satisfied with what he created. But over a period of time, god sees that mankind has only evil in his mind and regrets creating them. He makes up his mind to annihilate mankind. Noah builds his ark, takes his wife, sons and a pair of each animal as for 40 days and nights the world gets flooded. After the deluge, once the earth dried, Noah leaves the ark and his wife, sons and all animals restart populating the earth again.
In the Ugaritic mythology of mid-second millennium on the Syrian coast, El was the creator god, who rules with his son Baal, the god of storm with goddesses Astart and Anat.
In the Persian mythology, the history of the universe lasts for 12,000 years. This was collated in the early 10th century BC. At first Ohrmazd’s world of light coexists with the Ahriman’s world of darkness. After 3000 years Ohrmazd creates the physical world, the primal bull Gosh and the first living mortal Gayomard. Ahriman sets out to destroy the world, but Gayomard’s sperm is taken to the sun and Gosh’s to the moon. With rain from Tir; the preserved seeds populate the world from, the sun and the moon. After 40 years of underground existence, from androgynous rhubabrb, the first human couple Mashyagh and Mashyanagh are born. But Ahriman keeps making man greedy and evil, and again after another 3000 years, Zoroaster appears. Soshan, born with the sperm of Zoroaster miraculously fertilizes virgins in Lake of Hamun. A battle ensues between Ahriman and the progenies of Soshan, in which Ahriman is banished to the dark outer world for ever.
China has a rich tradition of cosmogonic myth.Different regions bred different myths about creation. One of them says, the Goddess Gua created all things through 70 transformation. There is also a creation of the earth from vapour, and the primeval earth is covered by a sky cupola fastened together by mountains or pillars. A third myth relates that the world was created from an egg . From Pan Gu myth to Yin and Tang, different regions in China offered different versions of creation, characterized by divine powers, deities, semi-divine beings and so on. However, in Chinese myth, there is no mention of a creator or a divine will as exist in biblical myth. The flood myth, the fire myth, the destruction of the world and survival of heroes and re-establishment of natural order exist in the Chinese mythology. However, it does not have any mention of a God’s favourite or any divine intervention as it exists in the genesis or the Hindu mythology. In the Chinese flood myth, the human hero, YU – son of Gun who stole cosmic soil to prevent flood and is executed – manages flood with his pwer, planning and aid of the dragon and the turtle. After controlling the flood, he divides the world into nine regions and becomes the founder of the Xia dynasty, the first golden age in China. The Sky God, Zhuan Xu commands his two grandsons Chong and Li to push the sky apart from the earth to maintain celestial order.
The Tibetan influence on the Chinese mythology probably is responsible for the egg theory, where after 18,000 years, the egg broke and the upper portion became the sky and the lower, the earth. Yang, the ethereal matter became the sky and the heavier Yin formed the earth. The universe is described as a shapeless primordial form full of chaos. The goddess figure Gua was the creatrix of all things in nature. But with time, her description was denigrated to more human form. There are about ten divine beings in the earlier mythology given the status of God in the orthodox pantheon.
The Japanese mythology begins with the arrival of Jomon people across Japan between 11,000 and 300 years BCE. The Japanese myth says, the universe existed as an unformed oily jelly like substance. A single God, Amanominakanushi-no-kami arose from this mass; followed by four more gods which formed a group of five primordial gods. Subsequently, seven more generations of gods came into being who inhabited the high plains of Heaven, Takama-gahara. The youngest of Gods, Izanami and Izanagi created Onogoro, from the murky depths below standing on the bridge of heaven and thus created the first island. Izanagi and Izanami built a palace for themselves and got married. Their first born, Hiruko was deformed and was abandoned as themarriage ritual was flawed with Goddess Izanami speaking girst. But after redoing the ritual again, they were blessed with groups of offspring who were linked to all natural phenomenon; including the youngest Kagutsuchi – the fire god. After Izanami’s death, Izanagi follows her to the underworld to bring her back; but was forbade to look at her. Curiosity and yearning to see his wife got the better of him and he lit the tooth of a comb to see her and was shocked to see her as a rotten maggot. Unable to bear this Izanagi returns, much to the chagrin of Izanami, who felt ditched as he broke his vow by looking at her. However, in the end, Izanagi escapes and puts a large boulder at the entrance of the underworld and finally dissolved their marriage.
Most mythologies mention about a creation, about supernatural power, about catastrophe and about nature and natural laws. Are mythologies only creations of man’s fertile imagination? How old is man? How old is this creation? How old is God if he really exists? How old is this universe? If God created man, who created him? Or did we actually conjure God??
No mythological concept had the imaginations of numbers as Hinduism had. For instance, let us look at the age of Brahma, the creator. Brahma is god of creation or life, and is different from the concept of Brahman.
As in Genesis, according to Hindu mythology, there was a deluge and like Noah, Manu sailed to safety with the seeds for future creation. As the dragon and the turtle helped in Chinese flood mythology, the Matsya (Fish) avatar of the Supreme lord, Vishnu helped Manu in steering the boat to safety.
Lord Brahma lives in Brahmalok, his abode where God’s one day is equal to man’s one year. That is, one divine year is equal to 360 human years. The entire time space is divided into four epochs or ages. Satya yuga lasts for 1,728,000 years; Treta yuga lasts for 1,296 years, Dwapar yug lasts for 864,000 years and the shortest of them all is Kali yug, the one we are living in, lasting for 432,000 years. All together, these four epochs are called one Maha yuga or one great epoch. Summation of all these years gives us 4,320,000 years. A thousand of these mahayugas or great epochs are called Kalpa, which is 4,320,000,000 years of human beings!!! One Kalpa of 4.32 billion years is one day of Brahma!! By the way, our creator Brahma is in his middle age!!! He is 50 year old now, and is expected to live upto hundred. So, in our calendar, he will live 311 trillion 40 million years! In Hindu mythology, the such imagination reflected the expanse of the universe.
But the universe we dwell in is much younger than Brahma! In fact, much much younger!!
When we talk of universe, we refer to the visible universe. With the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite sent in 2001 by NASA has been able to identify even the slightest of background radiation which still exists after the big bang and the inflation of the universe. The universe at the beginning, as described by The Rig Veda, was a unimaginably small structure without any form, filled with enormous energy. When big bang took place and the universe expanded, it left behind back ground microwave energy, which normally cannot be felt being on earth due to various other interfering powerful radiation. However, because of the specialized positioning of this satellite, with his unobstructed sensitive probe, it is able to capture this small amount of energy.
We are aware, light travels with a finite speed in vacuum. If we start calculating the radiation, and the distance which can be visualized or felt by this scope, we shall be very accurately able to predict the age of the universe we live in. However, the question is, how did the universe expand? Did it expand into some space which was hitherto void? On the contrary, it expanded carrying itself, as there was nothing, nor even space left to expand in!! This is much like the Zen thoughts or even the concept of the infinite or absolute which exists in our Vedas.
The WMAP satellite has been able to confirm that the universe is expanding, however, the acceleration or speed of expansion is probably slowing down. This can sense objects unto quasars, which are on the outer horizon of the visible universe. It has detected dark energy which accounts for almost two thirds of all energies and dark mass which accounts for one third of unidentifiable masses in the universe.
A more ambitious project, Laser interferometer Space Antenna, to measure the gravitational forces across the universe of even miniscule values which would have helped unravel far more mysteries was shelved due to funding issues with the European Space Mission’s limitations. But, as our interest keeps looming large in space science, it may be few more years, that once again similar probes would adorn the sky.
The milestones of creation of the universe found out by COBE, WMAP and other theories are:
13.71 billion years ago, for a period of 10^-43 seconds, it was Planck Era during which four forces of the universe was one single force, and the gravitational force was as strong as other quantum forces. The unified single superforce, which Rig Veda describes as “there was nothing but some thing stirred” was a time when no material existed in the universe, in a perfect phase of nothingness. There was a mysterious symmetry, which unified all the four forces, but for some reasons which remain unknown, or which the philosophers attribute to the divine will, the symmetry broke and a tiny bubble formed, which was the embryonic form of our present universe. This bubble, which today extends over unimaginable length was only 10^-32 cm.
After the Planck Era, ensued the Grand Unified theory Era. This lasted for 10^-43 seconds. With the symmetry in disarray, the expansion of the universe took place. The four unified forces separated from each other. Gravity being the first to split off, releasing a shockwave all across the universe. Probably, if LISA is put into action we would learn more about this. Even after the gravity split off from GUT, strong, weak and electromagnetic energy remained together. The universe expanded by an enormous factor, probably at a tune of 10^50. During this, space expanded, even faster than light. This phenomenon followed “universe expanding running away with itself”. The pervading temperature of the universe was 10^32 degrees, at which even the electrons could not be kept bound to the protons – and atomic structures did not exist.
Then inflation ended, after 10^34 seconds. This means, the big bang really did not occur as one single bang, but it actually was inflationary over a period of time. Though this period, was so small, lasting from 10^-43 seconds to 10^-34 seconds it might not have sounded as a long enough noise to our ears!!! The temperature dropped from 10^32 degrees to 10^27 degrees. The GUT symmetry broke. The forces got separated from one another. The maddening speed of expansion of the universe stopped and the universe relaxed to a cruise control following Friedman’s law of expansion on a more linear plane. That time, as the atoms were not formed due to the existing temperature, the universe was in a stage akin to soup!!! It consisted of a plasma state, of free quarks, gluons, and leptons. Free quarks condensed into protons and neutrons of today. Our universe was still quite small, at this point it was as bit as our own solar system now. There was matter and there was antimatter (does Yin and Yang of the Chinese mythology mean any thing here?). Matter was in excess of a very paltry one part in a billion. But as matter and antimatter annihilated each other, the excess matter – one part in a billion, remained untouched. Our universe, as we see today is a product of that remaining matter.
Following the end of inflation in geometric proportion, for a period of 3 minuted, the temperature dropped dramatically. Without the intense heat, which even did not allow atoms to form and left the universe in a plasma state, nuclei started forming. Hydrogen fused into Helium making the present ration of 3:1 of hydrogen and helium. Trace amount of lithium too was formed. But still, the temperature was high enough to allow any degree of stability of larger atoms with five nuclei. There were still free electrons all across the universe and the universe was opaque as light scattered through the electron clouds. This marks the end of the primeval fireball.
When the universe was 380,000 years old, atoms were born with the universe cooling gradually. The temperature dropped to about 3000 degrees. Electrons settled around nuclei without being ripped apart by the enormous heat as it happened earlier. Photons or light could travel freely as electron cloud settled down. This is the radiation which is measured by COBE and WMAP satellite. The sky was transparent now, but it was black!!
In the next billion years, the stars condensed. The temperature dropped to -255 degrees. Quasars, galaxies, galactic clusters were formed. Stars started making larger atoms like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Exploding stars emitted iron into the heavens. When the hubble telescope was employed, we could visualize unto this era, and not beyond; which was achieved by WMAP.
In the next 6.5 billion years, Friedman expansion ended. But antigravity force, etiology of which still remains a mystery, called de Sitter force made the universe accelerate in its growth.
In the next 13.7 billion years, the temperature dropped further to 2.7 degrees. And we see the present galaxies, stars and planets. The universe continues in its runaway expansion.....
But all these observation or scientific data are limited to the universe which is visible. But what lies beyond?
The inflationary universe, though is proven by WMAP, there remain so many questions unanswered. What caused the inflation? Why and how the antigravity force came into being? Can the inflationary process occur again?
According to Linde of Stanford, a tiny segment of the universe may suddenly inflate as a bud, or a baby universe. This budding process continues for ever. Universes are being probably created continuously. Probably big bangs are happening continually in this Universe, that is the universe which also includes the universe we cannot see. Probably, we live in a multiverse, where universes are budding like bubbles and bursting to an end as more and more universes are being created. We possibly live in a chaotic world of inflationary universe, which is eternal, and self-propagating.
Just as the mysterious antigravity forces pushed the galaxies apart, there is an accelerated expansion of the universe. Galaxies are getting farther and farther from one another. The dark energy, which accounts for 73%, over two third of the energy of the universe is pushing every thing apart at an increasing speed. Within about 150 billion years, because of other galaxies speeding away from us, we shall lose the proximity to the 100 billion galaxies which we can see. In 150 years, there will be few thousand galaxies which would remain visible as the galaxies turn too distant to be visible.Our local community of 36 galaxies will probably still be close enough to be in the neighbourbhood., the rest relocating beyond the visible horizon of the universe. Even, WMAP will fail to see them, as they will be beyond the horizon of the visible universe.
We will get lonelier.
With the antigravity force continuing, the universe will ultimately get into a big freeze. As the temperature in the space falls to absolute zero molecules themselves will be immobile. Trillions over trillions of years later, when the stars would have exhausted their nuclear fuel, there will only be a night sky, an all-enveloping darkness. The universe will be left with black dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Even further down in time, blackholes themselves will disintegrate their energy away. In such freezingly cold, deep dark universe, alas, we would be gone.
But the present universe is only 3 days old for Lord Brahma! And he is to live a hundred years! So, there will be more creations, more universes and probably, another Manu or Noah who will carry the seeds for the future. And even after Brahma dies, after the great annihilation, as the Vedas say, there will again be a new Brahma, and taking recluse in this thought, it at least gives hope that if our universe ends, there would be more in future.
My interest in this subject stems from my flirtation with Hindu scriptures, my knowledge and understanding of the subject being abysmally low; my toying with Zen philosophy, where my grasp is as strong as that of a paraplegic patient and my half-digested knowledge by reading of few best-selling books – by some of the most erudite scholars in this field. Writing on this subject is nothing short of audacity as I try to correlate the age of the Universe and that of Brahma!
Numbers reflect imagination of a thinking race. Realm of imagination has always expanded as civilization progressed. Different mythologies peg creation of the universe at different values.
Sumerian myths are known from the clay tablets dating to the beginning of the second millennium BC, discovered in the temple archives. According to them, when the world was first formed and generations of gods were born, each deity had a defined role, very much like Hindu or Greek gods and goddesses. However, their prowess was not any thing compared to the omnipotent gods in our mythology; rather, they had more human attributes, like herding cattle or ploughing land. Nammu, the god mother , wife of the sky god . wakes up Enki, from the watery depth and asks him to create man to do the menial labour. Another Goddess, Ninmah imposes hardwork upon mankind. On the contrary, Inanna, the goddess with more complex character was again known for her irascible nature. However, the sky god was supreme and there is no exact mention of age of the universe or even the gods in their mythology.
In the Babylonian mythology, Enuma Elish, the Babylonian text of twelfth century BC, there has been elaborate mention of Marduk, the National God of Babylon. However, the myths of creation involves Enlil and Ninurta. Before the earth and heaven were named, the primeval waters were mixed up. From this endless waters, three generations of gods emerged from Apsu. The new generation, like the gen-x Anu and Ea were restless.Ea puts a spell on Apsu to sleep and takes over the watery depth as his own kingdom and lives with his wife Damkina.Tiamat, Apsu’s consort is disturbed by Marduk, born to Ea and Damkina. Marduk and Tiamat enter into a fight and Marduk wins. He splits open the body of Tiamat whose upper part he fixes above to form the sky complete with stars and planets and the lower part becomes the earth. Tigris and Euphrates flow from her eye sockets; and solid pillars separate earth from the heaven.
In the Hittite mythology of Turkey, in the bronze age of third millennium BC mentions Inara, the mother goddess. She helps the weather god to kill Illuyanka, a dragon who had seized power from the weather god, by getting him drunk. The supreme God was the weather god and Sun Goddess Arinna.
In the Hurrian mythology of the third millennium BC, in northern Mesopotamia, the main Gods were the weather god Teshub, the goddess Shaushga, Sun God Shimegi, Moon God Kushu, and Kumarbi, the deity of agriculture. It is also said that Kumarbi gave birth to the weather god.
In Biblical mythology, the act of creation took place through the command of God. It begins with heaven and earth, with the earth being empty and dark. Then God causes light to appear creating day and night. He made a barrier between the waters from above and waters of the deep; the upper part becoming the sky and the lower part becoming the earth. The following day, he assembles the waters below the sky to form sea and land to be called the earth. He next makes earth to sprout vegetation and instigates the self-perpetuation of plants through seeds. On the fourth day, he fixed lights in the heavenly bodies and makes planets and sun regulate time. Then he fills the sea with aquatic animals and sky with birds followed by animals on land. Finally he creates human beings, both male and female and gives them dominion over all animals, making man with his own image. On the seventh day, tired of his labour, he goes to rest; satisfied with what he created. But over a period of time, god sees that mankind has only evil in his mind and regrets creating them. He makes up his mind to annihilate mankind. Noah builds his ark, takes his wife, sons and a pair of each animal as for 40 days and nights the world gets flooded. After the deluge, once the earth dried, Noah leaves the ark and his wife, sons and all animals restart populating the earth again.
In the Ugaritic mythology of mid-second millennium on the Syrian coast, El was the creator god, who rules with his son Baal, the god of storm with goddesses Astart and Anat.
In the Persian mythology, the history of the universe lasts for 12,000 years. This was collated in the early 10th century BC. At first Ohrmazd’s world of light coexists with the Ahriman’s world of darkness. After 3000 years Ohrmazd creates the physical world, the primal bull Gosh and the first living mortal Gayomard. Ahriman sets out to destroy the world, but Gayomard’s sperm is taken to the sun and Gosh’s to the moon. With rain from Tir; the preserved seeds populate the world from, the sun and the moon. After 40 years of underground existence, from androgynous rhubabrb, the first human couple Mashyagh and Mashyanagh are born. But Ahriman keeps making man greedy and evil, and again after another 3000 years, Zoroaster appears. Soshan, born with the sperm of Zoroaster miraculously fertilizes virgins in Lake of Hamun. A battle ensues between Ahriman and the progenies of Soshan, in which Ahriman is banished to the dark outer world for ever.
China has a rich tradition of cosmogonic myth.Different regions bred different myths about creation. One of them says, the Goddess Gua created all things through 70 transformation. There is also a creation of the earth from vapour, and the primeval earth is covered by a sky cupola fastened together by mountains or pillars. A third myth relates that the world was created from an egg . From Pan Gu myth to Yin and Tang, different regions in China offered different versions of creation, characterized by divine powers, deities, semi-divine beings and so on. However, in Chinese myth, there is no mention of a creator or a divine will as exist in biblical myth. The flood myth, the fire myth, the destruction of the world and survival of heroes and re-establishment of natural order exist in the Chinese mythology. However, it does not have any mention of a God’s favourite or any divine intervention as it exists in the genesis or the Hindu mythology. In the Chinese flood myth, the human hero, YU – son of Gun who stole cosmic soil to prevent flood and is executed – manages flood with his pwer, planning and aid of the dragon and the turtle. After controlling the flood, he divides the world into nine regions and becomes the founder of the Xia dynasty, the first golden age in China. The Sky God, Zhuan Xu commands his two grandsons Chong and Li to push the sky apart from the earth to maintain celestial order.
The Tibetan influence on the Chinese mythology probably is responsible for the egg theory, where after 18,000 years, the egg broke and the upper portion became the sky and the lower, the earth. Yang, the ethereal matter became the sky and the heavier Yin formed the earth. The universe is described as a shapeless primordial form full of chaos. The goddess figure Gua was the creatrix of all things in nature. But with time, her description was denigrated to more human form. There are about ten divine beings in the earlier mythology given the status of God in the orthodox pantheon.
The Japanese mythology begins with the arrival of Jomon people across Japan between 11,000 and 300 years BCE. The Japanese myth says, the universe existed as an unformed oily jelly like substance. A single God, Amanominakanushi-no-kami arose from this mass; followed by four more gods which formed a group of five primordial gods. Subsequently, seven more generations of gods came into being who inhabited the high plains of Heaven, Takama-gahara. The youngest of Gods, Izanami and Izanagi created Onogoro, from the murky depths below standing on the bridge of heaven and thus created the first island. Izanagi and Izanami built a palace for themselves and got married. Their first born, Hiruko was deformed and was abandoned as themarriage ritual was flawed with Goddess Izanami speaking girst. But after redoing the ritual again, they were blessed with groups of offspring who were linked to all natural phenomenon; including the youngest Kagutsuchi – the fire god. After Izanami’s death, Izanagi follows her to the underworld to bring her back; but was forbade to look at her. Curiosity and yearning to see his wife got the better of him and he lit the tooth of a comb to see her and was shocked to see her as a rotten maggot. Unable to bear this Izanagi returns, much to the chagrin of Izanami, who felt ditched as he broke his vow by looking at her. However, in the end, Izanagi escapes and puts a large boulder at the entrance of the underworld and finally dissolved their marriage.
Most mythologies mention about a creation, about supernatural power, about catastrophe and about nature and natural laws. Are mythologies only creations of man’s fertile imagination? How old is man? How old is this creation? How old is God if he really exists? How old is this universe? If God created man, who created him? Or did we actually conjure God??
No mythological concept had the imaginations of numbers as Hinduism had. For instance, let us look at the age of Brahma, the creator. Brahma is god of creation or life, and is different from the concept of Brahman.
As in Genesis, according to Hindu mythology, there was a deluge and like Noah, Manu sailed to safety with the seeds for future creation. As the dragon and the turtle helped in Chinese flood mythology, the Matsya (Fish) avatar of the Supreme lord, Vishnu helped Manu in steering the boat to safety.
Lord Brahma lives in Brahmalok, his abode where God’s one day is equal to man’s one year. That is, one divine year is equal to 360 human years. The entire time space is divided into four epochs or ages. Satya yuga lasts for 1,728,000 years; Treta yuga lasts for 1,296 years, Dwapar yug lasts for 864,000 years and the shortest of them all is Kali yug, the one we are living in, lasting for 432,000 years. All together, these four epochs are called one Maha yuga or one great epoch. Summation of all these years gives us 4,320,000 years. A thousand of these mahayugas or great epochs are called Kalpa, which is 4,320,000,000 years of human beings!!! One Kalpa of 4.32 billion years is one day of Brahma!! By the way, our creator Brahma is in his middle age!!! He is 50 year old now, and is expected to live upto hundred. So, in our calendar, he will live 311 trillion 40 million years! In Hindu mythology, the such imagination reflected the expanse of the universe.
But the universe we dwell in is much younger than Brahma! In fact, much much younger!!
When we talk of universe, we refer to the visible universe. With the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite sent in 2001 by NASA has been able to identify even the slightest of background radiation which still exists after the big bang and the inflation of the universe. The universe at the beginning, as described by The Rig Veda, was a unimaginably small structure without any form, filled with enormous energy. When big bang took place and the universe expanded, it left behind back ground microwave energy, which normally cannot be felt being on earth due to various other interfering powerful radiation. However, because of the specialized positioning of this satellite, with his unobstructed sensitive probe, it is able to capture this small amount of energy.
We are aware, light travels with a finite speed in vacuum. If we start calculating the radiation, and the distance which can be visualized or felt by this scope, we shall be very accurately able to predict the age of the universe we live in. However, the question is, how did the universe expand? Did it expand into some space which was hitherto void? On the contrary, it expanded carrying itself, as there was nothing, nor even space left to expand in!! This is much like the Zen thoughts or even the concept of the infinite or absolute which exists in our Vedas.
The WMAP satellite has been able to confirm that the universe is expanding, however, the acceleration or speed of expansion is probably slowing down. This can sense objects unto quasars, which are on the outer horizon of the visible universe. It has detected dark energy which accounts for almost two thirds of all energies and dark mass which accounts for one third of unidentifiable masses in the universe.
A more ambitious project, Laser interferometer Space Antenna, to measure the gravitational forces across the universe of even miniscule values which would have helped unravel far more mysteries was shelved due to funding issues with the European Space Mission’s limitations. But, as our interest keeps looming large in space science, it may be few more years, that once again similar probes would adorn the sky.
The milestones of creation of the universe found out by COBE, WMAP and other theories are:
13.71 billion years ago, for a period of 10^-43 seconds, it was Planck Era during which four forces of the universe was one single force, and the gravitational force was as strong as other quantum forces. The unified single superforce, which Rig Veda describes as “there was nothing but some thing stirred” was a time when no material existed in the universe, in a perfect phase of nothingness. There was a mysterious symmetry, which unified all the four forces, but for some reasons which remain unknown, or which the philosophers attribute to the divine will, the symmetry broke and a tiny bubble formed, which was the embryonic form of our present universe. This bubble, which today extends over unimaginable length was only 10^-32 cm.
After the Planck Era, ensued the Grand Unified theory Era. This lasted for 10^-43 seconds. With the symmetry in disarray, the expansion of the universe took place. The four unified forces separated from each other. Gravity being the first to split off, releasing a shockwave all across the universe. Probably, if LISA is put into action we would learn more about this. Even after the gravity split off from GUT, strong, weak and electromagnetic energy remained together. The universe expanded by an enormous factor, probably at a tune of 10^50. During this, space expanded, even faster than light. This phenomenon followed “universe expanding running away with itself”. The pervading temperature of the universe was 10^32 degrees, at which even the electrons could not be kept bound to the protons – and atomic structures did not exist.
Then inflation ended, after 10^34 seconds. This means, the big bang really did not occur as one single bang, but it actually was inflationary over a period of time. Though this period, was so small, lasting from 10^-43 seconds to 10^-34 seconds it might not have sounded as a long enough noise to our ears!!! The temperature dropped from 10^32 degrees to 10^27 degrees. The GUT symmetry broke. The forces got separated from one another. The maddening speed of expansion of the universe stopped and the universe relaxed to a cruise control following Friedman’s law of expansion on a more linear plane. That time, as the atoms were not formed due to the existing temperature, the universe was in a stage akin to soup!!! It consisted of a plasma state, of free quarks, gluons, and leptons. Free quarks condensed into protons and neutrons of today. Our universe was still quite small, at this point it was as bit as our own solar system now. There was matter and there was antimatter (does Yin and Yang of the Chinese mythology mean any thing here?). Matter was in excess of a very paltry one part in a billion. But as matter and antimatter annihilated each other, the excess matter – one part in a billion, remained untouched. Our universe, as we see today is a product of that remaining matter.
Following the end of inflation in geometric proportion, for a period of 3 minuted, the temperature dropped dramatically. Without the intense heat, which even did not allow atoms to form and left the universe in a plasma state, nuclei started forming. Hydrogen fused into Helium making the present ration of 3:1 of hydrogen and helium. Trace amount of lithium too was formed. But still, the temperature was high enough to allow any degree of stability of larger atoms with five nuclei. There were still free electrons all across the universe and the universe was opaque as light scattered through the electron clouds. This marks the end of the primeval fireball.
When the universe was 380,000 years old, atoms were born with the universe cooling gradually. The temperature dropped to about 3000 degrees. Electrons settled around nuclei without being ripped apart by the enormous heat as it happened earlier. Photons or light could travel freely as electron cloud settled down. This is the radiation which is measured by COBE and WMAP satellite. The sky was transparent now, but it was black!!
In the next billion years, the stars condensed. The temperature dropped to -255 degrees. Quasars, galaxies, galactic clusters were formed. Stars started making larger atoms like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Exploding stars emitted iron into the heavens. When the hubble telescope was employed, we could visualize unto this era, and not beyond; which was achieved by WMAP.
In the next 6.5 billion years, Friedman expansion ended. But antigravity force, etiology of which still remains a mystery, called de Sitter force made the universe accelerate in its growth.
In the next 13.7 billion years, the temperature dropped further to 2.7 degrees. And we see the present galaxies, stars and planets. The universe continues in its runaway expansion.....
But all these observation or scientific data are limited to the universe which is visible. But what lies beyond?
The inflationary universe, though is proven by WMAP, there remain so many questions unanswered. What caused the inflation? Why and how the antigravity force came into being? Can the inflationary process occur again?
According to Linde of Stanford, a tiny segment of the universe may suddenly inflate as a bud, or a baby universe. This budding process continues for ever. Universes are being probably created continuously. Probably big bangs are happening continually in this Universe, that is the universe which also includes the universe we cannot see. Probably, we live in a multiverse, where universes are budding like bubbles and bursting to an end as more and more universes are being created. We possibly live in a chaotic world of inflationary universe, which is eternal, and self-propagating.
Just as the mysterious antigravity forces pushed the galaxies apart, there is an accelerated expansion of the universe. Galaxies are getting farther and farther from one another. The dark energy, which accounts for 73%, over two third of the energy of the universe is pushing every thing apart at an increasing speed. Within about 150 billion years, because of other galaxies speeding away from us, we shall lose the proximity to the 100 billion galaxies which we can see. In 150 years, there will be few thousand galaxies which would remain visible as the galaxies turn too distant to be visible.Our local community of 36 galaxies will probably still be close enough to be in the neighbourbhood., the rest relocating beyond the visible horizon of the universe. Even, WMAP will fail to see them, as they will be beyond the horizon of the visible universe.
We will get lonelier.
With the antigravity force continuing, the universe will ultimately get into a big freeze. As the temperature in the space falls to absolute zero molecules themselves will be immobile. Trillions over trillions of years later, when the stars would have exhausted their nuclear fuel, there will only be a night sky, an all-enveloping darkness. The universe will be left with black dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Even further down in time, blackholes themselves will disintegrate their energy away. In such freezingly cold, deep dark universe, alas, we would be gone.
But the present universe is only 3 days old for Lord Brahma! And he is to live a hundred years! So, there will be more creations, more universes and probably, another Manu or Noah who will carry the seeds for the future. And even after Brahma dies, after the great annihilation, as the Vedas say, there will again be a new Brahma, and taking recluse in this thought, it at least gives hope that if our universe ends, there would be more in future.
No comments:
Post a Comment