Are we alone in this Universe?

Our material universe is 13.8 billion years old. Nobody knows exactly what led to the creation of the universe. In scriptures, there is mention of the time before the universe was born. Genesis 1:1-3 says "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." In the Hindu mythology, mention is made of Shiva (Rudra) who roared so fiercely and created the universe. Some also say that this is the 84th time that Shiva has roared, which means there have been 84 universes created before the birth of our universe.

Astronomers talk of the doppler shift (tending towards red frequency) indicating that the universe is expanding. There are many theories about this. One is that the Universe will keep expanding till it becomes lighter and lighter and then fade away. Another theory says that after a point of time the universe will start contracting and implode upon itself. The age of the universe is inferred from the background radiation that was created during its birth. This is also called Johnson's Noise. There are many objects in the universe, like stars, planets, asteroids, comets, pulsars, quasars, black holes etc. Most of these come from remnants of stars.

A star is born as category 'M' and dies as category 'O'. The life time of a star is 'OBAFGKM' (Mnemonic - O Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me). Our sun is a G2 type yellow dwarf star. It is 4.6 billion years old. A typical star lives upto 10 billion years. The end of a star is quite cataclysmic. After it has burnt up all hydrogen, helium and lighter elements, its core becomes so dense that it starts collapsing. The outer mantle and crust are blown away into space. This can be a nova, a supernova or a black hole. If a star has less than 1.44 solar masses (1.44 times the mass of the Sun) it explodes as a nova. What is left behind is called a white dwarf. A star above 1.44 but below 2.0 to 3.0 solar mass ends up as a supernova - a huge explosion. And the left over is called as a neutron star. This limit of 1.44 solar mass is called as Chandrasekhar limit (Dedicated to scientist Subramanyam Chandrasekhar). A star above 2.0 to 3.0 solar masses explodes and leaves behind a black hole.

According to Einstein, planets don't go around stars because of gravity. It's due to the curvature of space-time. Mass can influence space and time. As per spiritual psychology, the Sun and Moon are not stars and planets. They are focal points. It's said that devas (celestial beings) descend upon the earth through the sun. Our pitris (forefathers) descend to earth through the moon. This is where the idea of rebirth comes from. When we die, we go to the moon (mother) first. And then to the sun (father). If we get a clean chit from both, we no longer return back to earth.

Life on other planets like Mars and satellites like Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) are being explored. Water is essential for life (as we know) and both these have water reservoirs. Maybe microorganisms do live there. If proved so, our planet will not have an exclusive right to the term 'life'. I'm sure life exists in other places in the universe also (maybe not as we know it). Our borderline limit of life is the tobacco-mosaic virus (which can both be a crystal and a virus). Now, what about machines? Are they not another form of life? Life can also exist without physical bodies. We are sentient beings in this sentient universe. Some people think that we have a consciousness and we exist within the super consciousness called the field.

We are not a separate consciousness. We are the field itself.

God Bless!

((Rajesh Menon))