I am glad I read this book. Mani Bhaumik's Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science (2005) has an astonishing central thesis: Modern day physics has aligned itself startlingly close to a position that is identified in the Vedas as Brahman - the One Source that created the universe and pervades all through it. Let me summarize his arguments.
After the advent of quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein was discomfited by it and wanted to come up with an alternative theory - the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) - that would, among other things, unify the then known forces of electromagnetism and gravity. He was unable to do it.
Quantum mechanics advanced with or without Einstein and a branch called quantum field theory sprouted in the 50s. According to quantum field theory, the primary elements of reality are not individual particles but underlying fields. Thus all electrons are excitations of an underlying field called the electron field, which fills all space and time. This holds for all fundamental particles.
The quantum field theory led to what is known as the standard model of particle physics which identifies four fundamental force fields: gravitation, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. These forces have disparate magnitudes (for instance, the weak nuclear force is a million billion billion billion times stronger than the force of gravity).
In 1960s, physicists Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam, and Sheldon Glashow showed that at very high temperatures or equivalently at very small distances, the distinction between electromagnetism and the weak force simply vanishes. Thus at small distances (distances of an order thousand times smaller than the proton) the weak force and the electromagnetic force behave similarly. In 1983, Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meek gave conclusive experimental verification of the electroweak unification. All these aforementioned scientists received Nobel prizes.
There is, according to Bhaumik, growing evidence that at scales called the Planck's dimensions ("Planck's length is to a single human cell as that cell is to the entire visible universe") all four forces become comparable. "Near Planck's scale, the strong force is presumed to be no longer stronger than the electroweak force or that of gravity".
Then all fields (including matter fields) can be believed to arise from a common source - the primary field. Cosmologists believe that as we move backwards towards the Big Bang, we would, at appropriate temperatures, witness the unification of all force fields into the primary field.
It is this primary field, that Bhaumik asserts, is the One Source whose after-effects pervade all of the universe, and that, perhaps, can be identified as the Brahman!
Then Bhaumik talks of what is known as the "weak anthropic cosmological principle" that is gaining slow acceptance. "The essence of the principle," Bhaumik states," is that if the initial conditions and the natural constants of our universe were not exactly what they are, there would be no one here to observe it, much less to inquire into its origin. The principle's corollary is awe-inspiring; it suggests that the conditions were such at the moment of the creation of our universe as to presage eventual emergence of intelligent life in it." Bhaumik even goes further to state that "consciousness" should be considered as fundamental in the universe as the other force fields. In other words, consciousness existed at the dawn of the universe and it pervades the entire universe!
Mani Bhaumik is an expert in lasers and uses a laser analogy to understand what happens during meditation. A laser is a product of what is called "quantum coherence" in which the photons move synchronously. It is possible, states Bhaumik, that such a coherence is achieved among mental states during meditation. During normal times, our thoughts are diffuse but during meditation they move in lockstep. After all, has not the British mathematician Roger Penrose opined that the brain's natural structure enfolds a quantum state at its most unimaginably submicroscopic level? This quantum state may lead to such coherence!
Bhaumik's book is not just about his spiritual odyssey but also provides glimpses into his life. Bhaumik was born in a small village in Bengal in pre-Independence India and his family suffered through the tragic famine in the 1940s. He studied physics at Calcutta University and later at IIT-Kharagpur. After that he went to UCLA for a postdoc position. He joined a laser company and was one of the pioneers of the excimer laser which made LASIK eye surgery possible. He became wealthy due to generous stock options and retired at the age of 55. He then toured the world as a millionaire playboy before he returned to physics and spirituality. I heard this book was well received in India as in the USA.
After the advent of quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein was discomfited by it and wanted to come up with an alternative theory - the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) - that would, among other things, unify the then known forces of electromagnetism and gravity. He was unable to do it.
Quantum mechanics advanced with or without Einstein and a branch called quantum field theory sprouted in the 50s. According to quantum field theory, the primary elements of reality are not individual particles but underlying fields. Thus all electrons are excitations of an underlying field called the electron field, which fills all space and time. This holds for all fundamental particles.
The quantum field theory led to what is known as the standard model of particle physics which identifies four fundamental force fields: gravitation, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. These forces have disparate magnitudes (for instance, the weak nuclear force is a million billion billion billion times stronger than the force of gravity).
In 1960s, physicists Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam, and Sheldon Glashow showed that at very high temperatures or equivalently at very small distances, the distinction between electromagnetism and the weak force simply vanishes. Thus at small distances (distances of an order thousand times smaller than the proton) the weak force and the electromagnetic force behave similarly. In 1983, Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meek gave conclusive experimental verification of the electroweak unification. All these aforementioned scientists received Nobel prizes.
There is, according to Bhaumik, growing evidence that at scales called the Planck's dimensions ("Planck's length is to a single human cell as that cell is to the entire visible universe") all four forces become comparable. "Near Planck's scale, the strong force is presumed to be no longer stronger than the electroweak force or that of gravity".
Then all fields (including matter fields) can be believed to arise from a common source - the primary field. Cosmologists believe that as we move backwards towards the Big Bang, we would, at appropriate temperatures, witness the unification of all force fields into the primary field.
It is this primary field, that Bhaumik asserts, is the One Source whose after-effects pervade all of the universe, and that, perhaps, can be identified as the Brahman!
Then Bhaumik talks of what is known as the "weak anthropic cosmological principle" that is gaining slow acceptance. "The essence of the principle," Bhaumik states," is that if the initial conditions and the natural constants of our universe were not exactly what they are, there would be no one here to observe it, much less to inquire into its origin. The principle's corollary is awe-inspiring; it suggests that the conditions were such at the moment of the creation of our universe as to presage eventual emergence of intelligent life in it." Bhaumik even goes further to state that "consciousness" should be considered as fundamental in the universe as the other force fields. In other words, consciousness existed at the dawn of the universe and it pervades the entire universe!
Mani Bhaumik is an expert in lasers and uses a laser analogy to understand what happens during meditation. A laser is a product of what is called "quantum coherence" in which the photons move synchronously. It is possible, states Bhaumik, that such a coherence is achieved among mental states during meditation. During normal times, our thoughts are diffuse but during meditation they move in lockstep. After all, has not the British mathematician Roger Penrose opined that the brain's natural structure enfolds a quantum state at its most unimaginably submicroscopic level? This quantum state may lead to such coherence!
Bhaumik's book is not just about his spiritual odyssey but also provides glimpses into his life. Bhaumik was born in a small village in Bengal in pre-Independence India and his family suffered through the tragic famine in the 1940s. He studied physics at Calcutta University and later at IIT-Kharagpur. After that he went to UCLA for a postdoc position. He joined a laser company and was one of the pioneers of the excimer laser which made LASIK eye surgery possible. He became wealthy due to generous stock options and retired at the age of 55. He then toured the world as a millionaire playboy before he returned to physics and spirituality. I heard this book was well received in India as in the USA.
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