We all are electrical and magnetic beings. In the literal sense. All our bodily functions are electrically operated, starting with the electrical components of our brains which take ‘data’ from out of our senses and elsewhere.
Magnetically we are aligned to Earth, which is a giant magnet itself. Earth’s hot liquid centre core contains iron, and as it moves, it creates an electric current that causes a magnetic field around the Earth. Earth’s rotation keeps the current on the surface consistent.
Our seers of old understood this and devised ways to affiliate, correlate and correspond our activities with the electrical and magnetic properties of Earth. They couched these devices in words that are called religious/mythological nowadays but were, in reality, the science of the day.
Either we call it vastu shastra or feng shui or astrology, the purpose remains the same: placing yourself and things around you (your home, your temple, your workplace) in alignment and relation to Earth’s magnetism or Earth’s place in the cosmic arrangement.
Let me introduce someone who defined electricity for mankind, who developed the alternating current and sought to power the globe with free electricity. His name was Nikola Tesla and the name is synonymous with electricity, more so than perhaps Thomas Edison.
Some ideas of Tesla, although demonstrated by him, reached in realms that were not understandable, even now. These ideas did not emanate from Western science but from the Vedas themselves. Tesla met and was influenced by Swami Vivekananda in the waning part of the 19th century when the Swami was travelling around the United States.
As early as 1891 Tesla described the universe as a kinetic system filled with energy. He used ancient Sanskrit terminology in his descriptions of natural phenomena, most notably Akasha, Prana, and the concept of a luminiferous ether to describe the source, existence and construction of matter.
"There manifests itself in the fully developed being , Man, a desire mysterious, inscrutable and irresistible: to imitate nature, to create, to work himself the wonders he perceives.... Long ago he recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the Akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never ending cycles all things and phenomena. The primary substance, thrown into infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance."
From article written May 13th, 1907 and included in a biography of Tesla by J. J. O'Neill (1968, repr. 1986).
In a letter to a friend, dated February 13th, 1896, Swami Vivekananda noted the following:
...Mr. Tesla was charmed to hear about the Vedantic Prana and Akasha and the Kalpas, which according to him are the only theories modern science can entertain.....Mr Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy.
The Swami later remarked during a lecture in India, "I myself have been told by some of the best scientific minds of the day, how wonderfully rational the conclusions of the Vedanta are. I know of one of them personally, who scarcely has time to eat his meal, or go out of his laboratory, but who would stand by the hour to attend my lectures on the Vedanta; for, as he expresses it, they are so scientific, they so exactly harmonize with the aspirations of the age and with the conclusions to which modern science is coming at the present time".
Tesla invented many useful devices: a system of arc lighting (1886), the alternating current motor, power generation and transmission systems (1888), systems of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges (1889), and a generator of high frequency currents (1890), including the basis for the wireless transmission of electrical power which is know as the Tesla Coil Transformer.
His understanding of Vedic terminology paved the way to greater understanding of electromagnetism and the nature of the universe. This included the controversial "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth.
The digression above is to demonstrate how Vedic thought influenced one of the greatest proponents of electricity generation and distribution. The fact that he died poor and distraught while Westinghouse went on to power America with Tesla’s technology is another story.
Our rishis understood where mankind stood in relation to the Earth and the universe and offered wisdom to ensure we, as a species, did not lose that connection. The most evident of the tools devised by the rishis is jyotish, the Hindu astrology ‘science’.
Some astronomers are looking into finding a scientific method to explain astrology and are also seeing tidal physics as the linchpin in astrology work. One of them is Astrophysicist Percy Seymour, author of The Scientific Proof of Astrology: Tuning to the Music of the Planets, who thinks parts of astrology work through four features of nature: magnetism, harmonic resonance, genetics and neurology.
Astrology, according to Seymour, is based on the alignment of planetary/solar magnetic fields which create a magnetic tonal chord on Earth. This tonal chord or harmony plays a part in the neurological development of the fetus. The moment of birth determines which special cosmic tone or rising planet the fetus is ‘born under’. The individual remains attuned to the particular planetary alignment for life.
The magnetic field of Earth reflects how the planets are moving around the sun and even how Earth is moving around the sun. And as the moon goes round Earth it affects the tides not only in the ocean but in the magnetosphere [Earth's magnetic field].
The ‘scientific’ approach to astrology works on the premises that material forces and arrangement of matter (gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear energies, sun/planets/earth/moon orbital relations) can cause a specific and predictable type of personality and life pattern. Dr. Seymour
Earth and other planets cause a very complex tune to be played on the magnetic field of Earth. The symphony, of course, is made up of tunes. The astrologer, if he is truly adept at what he does, would be able to identify these tunes separately and see how they affect an individual’s life at any given time, now and in the future, after working out the placement of planets.
This leads to the typecasting of personality by astrologers according to the twelve signs of the zodiac.
In an earlier book, "Astrology: The Evidence of Science", Dr. Seymour put forward the theory of “magneto-astrology", which supposes that human biological clocks keep time with the planets.
Not only the biological clock, but also most other aspects of life. Science can confirm now that sun flares affect life on Earth, largely in a tumultuous way. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Hindu rishis of yore knew of the planets affecting life and sought to understand this effect on the earth, and on our lives. Apart from astrology, they also devised vastu shastra, the traditional Hindu system of design based on directional alignments. Vastu shastra focuses on invisible and constant relation between all the five elements, earth, air, fire, water and space. It prescribes desirable characteristics for sites and buildings based on flow of energy (prana).
More individualised was the tool of meditation called raising the kundalini. This meditation works on the principle that there are energy centres within the body which need to be activated by concentrating electrical energy from within. These ‘chakras’, once ‘raised’ or activated, resulted in a harmony of self and the unlocking of powers in the individual.
Sadly the proponents of these and other ‘socio-religious’ practices have somehow lost sight of much of the depth of the practice and can now only offer a smattering of the actuality that was the science of the day. But that’s another issue.
The gauss, abbreviated as G, is the unit of measurement of a magnetic field (which is also known as the "magnetic flux density", or the "magnetic induction"), named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. One gauss is defined as one maxwell per square centimetre. The magnetic field magnitude measured at the surface of the Earth is about half a Gauss and dips toward Earth in the northern hemisphere. The magnitude varies over the surface of Earth in the range 0.3 to 0.6 Gauss.
Prana means energy (usually translated as life force) and Akasha means matter (usually translated as ether).
The Vedas are a collection of writings consisting of hymns, prayers, myths, historical accounting, dissertations on science, and the nature of reality, which date back at least 5,000 years. The nature of matter, antimatter, and the make up of atomic structure are described in the Vedas. The language of the Vedas is known as Sanskrit.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist, as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla.
Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
After Tesla’s death the US War Department declared his papers to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]".
Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943.
The United States Supreme Court, in 1943 held Marconi's patent of the wireless invalid, recognizing Tesla's more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology.
* Nalinesh Arun is a former Fiji journalist who lived in Indian for many years. He is now based in Christchurch