When we think calmly and carefully about this wonderful universe, we can see that everything is working under the control of a supreme brain. The arrangements in nature are perfectly ordered. Things would be at random without the careful planning of a scientific and engineering brain. It is a common understanding that there is a cause behind each action. A machine cannot run without an operator.
Modern scientists are very proud of automation, but there is a scientific brain behind automation also. Even Albert Einstein agreed that there is a perfect brain behind all the natural physical laws. When we talk about “brain” and “operator”, these terms imply a person. They cannot be impersonal. One may inquire who this person is. He is Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Scientist and Supreme Engineer, under whose kind will the whole cosmos is working.
Sri Krishna says: “The whole cosmic order is under Me. By My will, it is manifested again and again, and by My will, it is annihilated at the end.”
prakrtim svam avastabhya
visrjami punah punah
bhuta-gramam imam krtsnam
avasam prakrter vasat
(Bhagavad-gita 9.8)
Now let us look into a few samples from the Lord’s creation, and upon contemplating these exemplary aspects, one should develop a better understanding and appreciation of the existence of the most powerful brain, Lord Sri Krishna. The sun that we see daily is the nearest star. It is 100 earth diameters across and is 99 million miles away from the earth. Every day the sun supplies the solar system with a tremendous amount of heat, light and energy.
“The very tiny fraction of the sun’s energy that falls on the earth – estimated at about five parts in a 100 million – is about 100,000 times greater than all the energy used in the world’s industries. The total energy the sun emits in a single second would be sufficient to keep a one-kilowatt electric fire burning for 10,000 million years. Put in a different way, the energy the sun emits in one second is greater than the whole amount of energy the human species has consumed throughout its entire history” – Fred Hoyle, Astronomy (Garden City, New York Doubleday and Company, 1962, p. 232).
Yet it is only one of the countless number of stars floating in the sky in every direction. With the material scientific brain, the thermal, electrical and nuclear powerhouses have been made. These can supply heat, light and energy to a small, limited extent, but Lord Krishna is supplying the whole planet with an unlimited source of energy just from one sun. Krishna says: “The splendour of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendour of the moon and the splendour of the fire are also from Me.”
yad aditya-gatam tejo
jagad bhasayate ‘khilam
yac candramasi yac cagnau
tat tejo viddhi mamakam
(Bhagavad-gita 15.12)
The planets are revolving in a systematic path around the sun. Even within the smallest atom, the electrons and the protons are orbiting around the nucleus in a perfect manner.
Thus, from the submicroscopic realm of the atom to the expanding reaches of the galactic objects, this material universe is running like intricate, well-oiled clockwork according to great natural physical laws and principles.
Scientists have gained great acclaim for making a few spaceships, whereas Krishna effortlessly produces gigantic spaceships, such as planets and stars, which are perfectly equipped and maintained. In Bhagavad-gita 15.13, Krishna says, gam avisya ca bhutani dharayamy aham ojasa (“I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit”). The laws made by the Supreme Brain always remain perfect; they are never violated. We never see the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. The colourful rainbow that we observe when the sun is shining during a shower is only visible when the sun is behind the observer, due to the laws of refraction. Also, each year the seasons change quite periodically, producing symptoms unique to each season.
Now let us look into some aspects of the Lord’s creation at the molecular level. Chemists find that the different colours in flowers are due to chemicals called anthocyanins, and the different aromas are mostly due to chemicals called terpenes and terpenoid compounds. The molecular frameworks for these compounds range from very simple structures to very complex networks. Camphor, for example, is a terpenoid compound, and the characteristic odour of lemons is due to the molecule called limonene, which is one of the simple terpenes. Similarly, the characteristic colours in carrots and tomatoes are due to molecules called carotenoids, which are higher forms of terpenes. The molecular framework for each definite colour or aroma is wonderfully unique. A little change in position of a few atoms in the molecule, a little variation in the geometry of the molecule or a slight change in the size of the molecule can cause a colour to change from orange to red; a mild, pleasing aroma to become repellent and pungent, and a flavour to change from sweet to bitter.
On one extreme, we find the smallest molecule, the hydrogen molecule, which contains only two atoms. On the other extreme, we find giant molecules such as the proteins and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), the building blocks of all living material bodies, which contain innumerable atoms made for a definite function. Similarly, the crystalline pattern of each different molecule is unique. The geometrical shape for sodium chloride (common salt), for example, is cubical. Charcoal, graphite and diamonds are all derived from the same element, carbon, and yet the shining and transparent diamond is extremely hard, whereas graphite is soft, black and opaque. This is due to the difference in the crystalline forms of these molecules. In the crystal lattice of the diamond, each carbon atom is tetrahedrally surrounded by four other carbon atoms at a distance of 1.54 angstroms (one angstrom =10-8 cm). In graphite, by contrast, the three bonds of each carbon atom are distorted, so as to lie in the same plane, the fourth bond being directed perpendicularly to this plane to link with a carbon atom of the neighbouring layer.
In this way, we can cite innumerable examples of molecular networks so fantastically and delicately arranged that chemists cannot but wonder about the most expert hand and brain who is making all these wonderful artistic arrangements in His laboratory. Indeed, the intelligence and ability of the supreme scientist, Sri Krishna, are inconceivable (acintya). There is no scientist who can deny it. How then can any chemist abstain from appreciating the wonderful works of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna? In Bhagavad-gita we find: “One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the Controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the Maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.” (Bg. 8.9)