"GURUTVAKARSHAN" - OUR VERSION OF "LAW OF GRAVITATION" -

I wanted to publish a quick post for today and hence I chose this topic "Gravity". In this post, I will briefly summarize the law of gravitation as given in modern science as well as what our ancient scriptures say about it. 

Going forward, I will be adding an ultra short version called as "Quick View" in all my posts. It is for those people who do not have time to read the entire post. This is based on the feed back of few readers. Many thanks to them for suggesting this idea....

QUICK VIEW :

Key concept	Law of Gravitation
Modern scientific version	Sir Isaac Newton
References from ancient scriptures	Rig Veda, Prasnopanishad, Surya Siddantha, Works of Brahmagupta and Varahamihira
Gravity is described as	Gurutvaakarshan, Aakarshana Sakthi, Apana Sakthi, Aakrushti Sakthi, Dharanatmika Sakthi

We all know the famous law of gravitation as given by Sir.Isaac Newton. His law states that "any two bodies in the Universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two bodies". There is a popular story which states that Newton was sitting under an apple tree and when he saw an apple falling from the tree, he got a thought about the law of gravitation. In layman's understanding, law of gravity is nothing but the pull force of Earth. The one which goes up, comes down due to this pull. But this is not limited to Earth alone. It is actually gravity which holds the Moon in orbit around the Earth, Earth around the Sun and Sun in its place in the Milky Way Galaxy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation#Newton.27s_theory_of_gravitation

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/what-is-microgravity-58.html#.VNlBDPnF-So

Since we already know about this scientific version of gravity, let us move on to the theories as per our scriptures now...... The Sanskrit term for gravity/attraction is Gurutvaakarshan, (Guru + tva + aakarshan) which means to be attracted by something big (Guru = Master)

Rig veda (10:149:1)

"savita yanraiah prithiveem aramnaat dyaam andahat attorte baddham ashvam adhukshat"

Meaning - The Sun has tied Earth and other Planets through attraction and moves them around itself as if a trainer moves newly trained horses around holding their reins"

Prasnopanishad (3.8) 

"Adityo ha vai bahyah prana udayatyesa hyenam caksusam pranamanugrhnanah prthivyam ya devata saisa purusasyapanama vastabhyantara yadakasah sa samano, vayur-vyanah"

Adi Sankara's commentary about the above - "Aakarshana Sakthi is the power of drawing or pulling something, The breath called Prana (which we inhale) goes up (in the body) and Apana (which we exhale) pulls it down (out of the body). The force which pulls something down is Apana. Earth has Apana sakthi. The deity of the Earth inspires the human body with Apana."

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part10/chap7.htm

Surya Siddantha (chapter 12) 

(It is a text about the Sun and it is composed by Mayasura also knows as Mamuni Mayan. The present day version of this is modified by Bhaskaracharya.

"Madhyesamantandasya bhugolo vyomni tisthati bibhranah paramam saktim brahmano dharanatmikam"

Meaning - In the midst of Universe, the spherical Earth stands firm in its space without falling away, because of the Dharanatmika Sakthi"

"Akrsta saktisca mahi taya yat svastham guru svabhimukham svasaktya akrsyate tatpatativa bhati same samantat kva patatviyam khe" 

Meaning - Objects fall on Earth due to a force of attraction by Earth. Earth, Planets, Constelations, Moon and Sun are held in Orbit due to this force.

The energy within the ball of Earth is Aakrushti sakthi (attraction). Because of this, Earth pulls a piece of anything in/on her (svastham) towards herself and this power is her own and natural to her. Because of this pull, every object on this Earth appears to be falling down.

http://veda.wikidot.com/bhaskaracharya

http://www.serveveda.org/documents/vedic_reflections.pdf

Brahmasphutasiddhanta :

This is a text written by Brahmagupta (a mathematician) in 628 C E. He states that "Bodies fall towards the Earth as it is in the nature of the Earth to attract bodies, just as it is in the nature of water to flow".

Varahamihira - an astronomer of 6th Century A D "

The ball of the Earth which is made up of five fundamental elements, is placed in the center of a cage

which is made up of the Stars of the Galaxy and hence it is hanging in the sky, like an iron ball in the center of a cage of magnetic balls.

It is no wonder that Dick Teresi, an American writer, wrote in his book "Lost Discoveries - The Ancient Roots of Modern Science" as follows :

• The Indians came closest to the modern ideas of atomism, quantum physics and other current theories.
• Two thousand years before Pythagoras, philosophers in India had understood that gravitation held the Solar System together, and that therefore the Sun, the most massive object had to be at its center. Twenty-four centuries before Isaac Newton, The Hindu Rig-Veda asserted that gravitation held the Universe together. The Sanskrit speaking Aryans subscribed to the idea of a Spherical Earth in an era when the Greeks believed in a flat one. The Indians of the fifth century A.D. calculated the age of Earth as 4.3 billion years where Scientists in 19th Century England were convinced it was 100 million years.