Scientific refferences in Mahabharata - Part - 3

 

*Scientific refferences in Mahabharata - Part - 3*

Let's learn more about the size of the Earth
In Mahabharata Bhishma Parva *Jambukhand Vinirman Parva* Sudarshan Dwipa, means *Earth is described*.

Sanjay tells Dhritarashtra -

🚩 सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन |
*परिमण्डलो* महाराज द्वीपोSसौ चक्रसंस्थितः ||१३ || 🚩

O Kurunandan (hey Dhritarashtra ) !  I describe the island called *Sudarshan i.e. Earth.*  hey king! The *Earth is round like a wheel (परिमण्डलः)*.

Veda Vyas, author of Mahabharata, has written the above dialogue between Sanjay and Dhritarashtra.  Here it says *Earth is round*.  Now to make such a precise statement that the earth is round requires full knowledge and it *was all known to Sanjay.* Google tells us that the earth was round *first known to the Greek philosophers around 500 BC*. But, in our book Mahabharata, not only this information, but also a full description of all the continents on earth is given. Mahabharata had been written approximately   5000 years ago BC. Hence, the Mahabharata and Vedavyas, Sanjay should get the credit for presenting the theory that the earth is round.  In my article series *Geographical and Scientific References in Ramayana*, I wrote that all the references to the fact that the earth is round are given in Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda and *Vanararaja Sugriva has presented the theory that the earth is round*.  Our *Vedas are the oldest written literature* in the world.  It also states that the earth is round. In these articles, have mentioned that the *earth is round* Mention of Earth's Rotation and Rotation in Vedas*.  In short, while the ancient texts like Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. clearly mention that the earth is round, the credit of this theory was given to foreign scientists.  Even after 75 years of our independence, we are still *in a slavery mentality*.  We do not bring forward *many scientific references* in our own books, we do not study all these books from a scientific point of view. Our *Sanatana Dharma is based on science and we find many scientific references while studying our scriptures and we are surprised*.  But, without studying it, we are happy to praise the *foreign scientists*.  Only if all this information is *included in the text book, the new generation will understand* and more research can be done on it.  *Government follow-up* is necessary for this.  Presently we should give all this information to our children and students and encourage them to read books like *Ramayana, Mahabharata with a scientific approach*.

Mahabharata gives very good information about *moon-earth and spots* on moon.  It is as follows

🚩 पश्यन्नपि यदा *लक्ष्म जगत् सोमे* न विन्दति
एवमस्ति न चोत्पन्नं न च तन्न परायणम् ||८|| 🚩

The *spot on the moon is a mark of the earth,*  but it is only a mark of the earth.  Not the actual earth.
Thus everyone has the knowledge of Atman (Soul) in the form of *I am* but not the real knowledge of the whole Atman.

The spots we see on the *moon are the map of the entire earth on the moon.* The spots on the moon are only a map of the earth but not the actual earth.  This means that everyone has a very little knowledge of self, that is, of the soul, from which one can imagine the soul.  But, it is very difficult to know the whole soul.  *A very beautiful philosophy using the metaphor of moon and earth* is told by Vyasa in Mahabharata.  Now how is the spot on the moon a map of the earth?  We will take interesting information about this in the next article.

*In the discourses of the Mahabharata only the story of Kaurava's and Pandav's is told.  It is our tragedy that the scientific references in Mahabharata do not come to light*

Thanks for reading this article. Will meet on next Wednesday with another interesting subject from Mahabharata

A humble request *send this article to all your groups*.
Those who want this *article series* should contact me ( *Mr. Vaibhav Datar* ) on the following what's app number *8898482382*
Compilation and Writing : Mr. Vaibhav Datar, Kalyan