Travelling through time
- POSTED ON: 5 Jan, 2022
- TOTAL VIEWS: 851 Views
- POSTED BY: Story: Jagadeesh Kanna| Article: Madhuvanti S. Krishnan
- ARTICLE POINTS: 150 Points
The story so far: Sukracharya tells Meghnath about wormholes and how they were used to communicate with ethereal beings.
Illustration: Sahil Upalekar
Meghnath has shot down 27 fruits with his agni astra and lined them all up. He is deep in thought, wondering why Brahma laughed when he saw King Kakudmi.
He sees Sukracharya watching.
Meghnath: Guru, please tell me why Brahma laughed when he learnt that Kakudmi and his daughter had been waiting for 27 minutes.
Sukracharya: They waited 27 minutes in Brahmaloka. Actually, 27 Chatur Yugas had passed. Which means 116,640,000 years.
Meghnath: A yuga is 4,320,000 years. So that’s 27×4,320,000. But the average lifespan of a human is only 70 to 80 years.
Sukracharya: Brahmaloka is designed in such a way that it moves at speed of light. For people there, it is normal.
Meghnath: How is that possible?
Sukracharya: Like Einstein’s explanation of Special Relativity.
Experiment time
Sukracharya takes Meghnath to one of the glass-enclosed chariots. He also takes a bowl of water and a bee with him. He orders the charioteer to drive the horses as fast as he can.
Sukracharya: Now look outside. What do you see? And how do you feel inside the chariot?
Meghnath: Things seem to be moving fast outside but, inside, it feels normal.
Sukracharya: The bowl of water, the bee, you and I are all moving at the speed of the chariot but feel as if we are standing still.
After few rounds, Sukracharya drops Meghanth at one spot and again makes the chariot move fast. After few rounds, he gets down.
Sukracharya: Now after I dropped you, you observed the chariot. What did you see?
Meghnath: The chariot was travelling at a very high speed.
Sukracharya: So you observed the movement from two perspectives. Think of the chariot as Brahmaloka. Standing outside it is like being on Earth. This relative motion happens throughout the universe.
Meghnath: Got it. Brahmaloka moves at the speed of light, like the chariot at high speed. For people inside, it is still. For people from Earth, one minute in Brahmaloka is equal to 27 minutes.
Sukracharya: Exactly. So what will Kakudmi find if he returns to Earth?
Meghanth: Several yugas have passed, the Earth will be different. He won’t find his country or his people.
Sukrachraya: That is why Brahma laughed.
Meghanth: But Brahma is a god. Can’t he take Kakudmi back in time?
Sukrachraya: Humans can only go to the future by travelling fast. We can’t go back to the past. Brahma had a better solution.
Meghnath: Even after he lost his kingdom?
Sukracharya: The Bhagavata Purana mentions that Vishnu’s incarnation marries Revathi in Treta Yuga.
Meghnath: Basically Revathi time travelled to the future to marry an incarnation of God.
Sukracharya: Yes, and the same can happen now. To avoid these issues, we can pass information as audio and images using electro-magnetic waves. What other explanation can you give for your dreams, Meghnath?
Meghnath: This is really exciting, Guru. Please teach me to travel at the speed of light and pass/get information.
Sukracharya: Of course, Prince of Lanka. That’s why your father brought you here. But, first, you need to learn about electromagnetic waves and antenna.
Sukracharya leaves Meghanth trying to relate his dreams with science.
The author is the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace, an IIT-Madras incubated ed-tech startup that offers Air Science workshops for children between five and 14 years.
Based on what you have read, here is a little game. How many of the words from the story can you spot?