THE EXISTENCE OF TRUTH

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

The realm of Truth is something that has always initiated deep thoughts in
man and has given way to numerous theories and hypothesis as an attempt to
explain the various realities that we experience.
Over that years there have been various attempts to explore this, but most
were purely based on many assumptions and therefore, couldnt pass the test
of time. Therefore, what must be done is to provide a scientific basis to the
explanation in order to reach out to a wider audience. The primary obstacle in
this task is the transiency in the theories of Science itself. It is a wide known
fact that most scientific theories have their limitations and thus, cant be used
as a basis to explain anything in its absolute nature. What can be done is
providing a direction or a way to the future researchers and thinkers to work
upon.
All throughout history, philosophical thoughts were generally left out for only a
small section of people in the society as they were of little relevance to the
masses. But as the age passed on, a larger section of the society started taking
interest in these matters. In todays date we therefore can even find people
from the scientific community, who earlier preferred to stay quite far from all
these matters, gathered into working in this field. This has allowed some
modern scientific discoveries to come and join hands with the deep knowledge
that is present in many of our historical texts and to provide a better and
clearer explanation to many of the topics written there.
Development in Modern Physics particularly the field of Quantum Physics and
Relativity has led to a great advancement in exploring the unknown and in
demystifying much of the works written in our ancient texts.
We first take quotes from the Mandukya Upanishad which is the shortest of
all the Upanishads. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktika canon of 108
Upanihads. It is in prose consisting of 12 terse verses, and is associated with a
Rig Vedic school of scholars. It discusses the syllable Om, presents the theory
of four states of consciousness and asserts the existence and nature of Atman.
What is of particular interest to us is the enumeration of the four states of
consciousness viz. wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma, which
is described in verses 3 to 6 of the Mandukya Upanishad.
The four states described are:
1. The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily
world (or the world which we are a part of right now!!). This is also
referred to the gross body.
2. The second state is of the dreams which too also constitutes a large
portion of our daily life. Dreams are an irreplaceable part of our lives and
none of us can deny witnessing them in our lives.
At first glance the above arguments might seem very absurd as it is very weird
to think our dreams to be anywhere near reality. But to put this in a different
perspective let us take the example of an instance from our mythological texts,
about a very wise king named Janaka.
One night the king had a very vivid dream where he dreamt of engaging
in a war which left him totally devastated, the king cried out in his pain
and tears ran down in his cheeks. And with that, he woke up!
There he was, in his royal bed in his royal palace. But for the king,
everything had changed.
Was that a dream, or is this a dream? - thought the king.
The story eventually lead to a character names Ashtavakra explaining
the king that All things change and that which remains true is within
us. He explains that neither the dream, nor the world that we see around
us are real if we lose the feeling of peace and contentment within us.
p.s. this is a very brief account of the story, for a more detailed narrative
refer to (http://www.lubish.com/ashtavakra-story.html)
What Ashtavakra explained can be found in more details in verses 3-6 of the
Mandukya Upanishad as is stated above.

3. The third state is the state of deep sleep. In this state the underlying
ground of consciousness is undistracted. This has been scientifically
proven beyond all doubt.
4. The fourth factor is Turiya, i.e. pure consciousness. It is the background
that underlines all the three states.
Another very common analogy i.e. drawn in order to explain the above
is the existence of ornaments made of a particular metal. It is said that
the ornament can exist in multiple shapes or uses, which may be very
different from each other, similar to the various states that exist (waking,
dreaming and deep sleep) but it is the metal (Turiya) which constitutes
the ornament in whichever share/size it might be.

We therefore have established a very basic framework behind conceptualising

the existence of a Soul as per the ancient texts particularly The Mandukya
Upanishad, now let us proceed towards directing a Scientific approach in
solving the problem.
A few preliminary ideas and thoughts are discussed in the next section.
Quantum Mechanics describes a wave function () as a variable quantity what
mathematically describes the wave characteristics of a particle. Ideally
speaking, the wave function is all that is required to express all associated
information about the system.
As per Q.M. every particle has an associated wave function and knowing about
the wave function is enough the get to know about all observable parameters
about the particle at any given point of time in probabilistic terms.
Now let us examine the behaviour of very simple systems:

1. Particle in a box problem: As the name suggests, this is the system when
a particle is kept in a box with infinitesimally hard walls meaning it is
impossible for the particle to escape out. Such a system is a very ideal
system and the wave functions can be solved analytically. On solving the
equations, we can obtain corresponding values for energy, momentum,
velocity of the particle at any given point of time. What is exciting here is
that on knowing about the wave function of the particle at any given
point of time, we can assert almost all the valuable information about
the particle in any point of time in the future (kind of future forecasting).
The Particle in a box problem is a very simple representation of the
world which has millions of particles and there arent any infinite
boundaries. Nevertheless, the principles remain the same.
2. Quantum Tunnelling: This refers to the Q.M. phenomenon where a
particle tunnels through a barrier even though classically it is not
expected to exhibit such behaviour. Such a system gives rise to the
concept of wave functions existing everywhere and even beyond all the
physical boundaries that we see in our daily life.
We can extend this thought to many of our physical systems as well and
wonder beyond imagination. Say for example it would be very disturbing
to imagine something we kept inside a closed box has escaped out on its
own without any opening within the box. Even though such effects arent
observed in the macroscopic domain, it doesnt mean they dont occur at
all.
3. Extending to Real World Systems: Real world systems are far more
complex than the cases discussed above. None of the barriers are
infinitesimally hard and there is always a Quantum Leak. Drawing ideas
from the previous section one can therefore relate the concepts of the
various states (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) and then relate it to
the concepts discussed now. As it has been explained, the Turiya can
travel between the various states just as wave functions travel through
walls which are not penetrable by physical means.