The Noumenon in Hinduism
_Ashish Sonig
We are all aware of "phenomenon" , which is essentially an explanation of our surroundings based on perception by senses. The work of aryabhatt, bhramagupta and other ancient scientists was based on it. The same rule follows for modern science.But it is equally important to know the followers of "Nounmenon" in hinduism. Nounmenon is to believe that a thing or situation exists , as is , which is beyond perception of human senses.
It is this philosophy of "noumenon" that gave the concept of , birth and rebirth of universe and humans. We not only talk about life after death of humans but also the cyclical nature of universe . If humans undergoes the cycle of life and death , so will the universe. This led to a very accurate prediction of age of the Universe age and that of "bhu lok" ( earth) in "Shrimad bhagwat" puran . Endorsed by Carl Sagan in his book cosmos "
"The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still."
This is difficult to believe as the modern science depends on human perception, everything needs to be perceived to be proven. Whether one is using telescope or microscope, infrared, X-rays or ordinary light. It has to be perceived by the eyes , felt by skin to prove that it exists. To understand the universe "Noumenon" is equally important as "phenomenon".
