John Hagelin (Ph.D. Quantum Physics) addresses the International Conference to Re-Establish Vedic India, 20 February, 2015 on Veda and Physics: The Science and Technology of the Unified Field.

Summary points: Vedic Science in Our Modern World

Vedic Science is scientific, practical, and indispensable in this modern age. The Vedic tradition is founded upon the complete knowledge and practical application of the ultimate reality—the unified field.

Modern physics has systematically explored finer levels of creation, smaller and smaller time and distance scales, from the classical macroscopic world to the atomic and nuclear levels, culminating in the discovery of one underlying unified field of existence at the basis of all diversity in the universe.

Ancient Vedic science has likewise explored finer and finer levels of mind and matter, culminating in the discovery and direct experience of one unified field of life—the field of transcendental existence, or pure consciousness. This unbounded field of pure knowledge is known as Veda.

Are the unified field and Veda one and the same reality? Both sciences, one ancient and subjective and the other modern and objective, describe manifest creation as an expression of infinite dynamism embedded in the infinite silence of the underlying field. Physics describes this relationship in terms of the unified field and vacuum energy, and Vedic Science in terms of Shiva and Shakti.

Similarly, at every level of manifest creation, these two descriptions of nature’s functioning correspond exactly. Physics describes three superfields giving rise to the five spin types that characterize elementary particles, the resonant frequencies of the unified field and building blocks of creation; Vedic Science speaks of the three Prakritis or Doshas giving rise to the five Mahabhutas that structure the universe.

Moreover, this correspondence extends to the unmanifest level as well—the self-interacting dynamics of the underlying field. The structure of Rk Veda unfolds sequentially from initial wholeness to 8 to 24 to 64 to 192 elaborations. Similarly, superstring theory in physics describes 8 fundamental vibrational modes of the unified field, which unfold sequentially to 24, 64, and 192 degrees of freedom within the field.

This correspondence is intriguing, but how can it be practically applied? The ancient Vedic technologies of consciousness, revived by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, allow anyone to gain direct experiential access to the unified field on the level of consciousness and to apply this holistic experience to all aspects of daily life and living.

The process of transcending—moving from articulated thought (Vaikari) to abstract conceptual thought (Madhyama) to fine feeling (Pashyanti) to pure consciousness, the Self (Atma)—provides the experience of levels of mind at each level corresponding to mathematical structures that have evolved sequentially to describe these more abstract levels of existence.

Yoga, at its deepest level, is the experience of transcendence (Samadhi)—the union of individual awareness with cosmic intelligence through the effortless transcending process embodied in the TM technique.

This experience of transcendence is a fourth major state of consciousness, a “wakeful hypo-metabolic state” of profound EEG coherence and deep physiological rest, which has been shown through extensive scientific research to produce wide-ranging, measurable benefits for mental and physical health, as well as significant cost savings for health care.

Modern pharmacological approaches to health care operate on the chemical level, but Vedic approaches to health care (Ayurveda, Yoga) operate at the level of the unified field. These are Atma-based, unified field-based approaches, with correspondingly greater efficacy and power.

Similarly, Vedic approaches to education, defense, and civilization as a whole are Atma-based, unified field-based approaches, completely holistic and free from negative side effects. Thus the Vedic tradition is founded upon the complete knowledge and practical application of ultimate reality—the unified field.