Albert Einstein, that genial, avuncular old man who liked to stick his tongue out for photographers and had a penchant for going sockless, spent the decades after the seminal achievements that had made him a scientific immortal, lost in a fruitless search for a unified theory of everything. Coupled with the fact that he disliked the vision of nature offered by quantum mechanics, this made him, despite all that he had achieved, an isolated figure toiling away outside the mainstream of physics.
Today, of course, unification is the guiding theme of theoretical physics. Various approaches, some more promising than others, but all speculative nonetheless, are in currency. The whole business of searching for the Higgs boson was in pursuit of taking another step forwards in the quest for unification.
The physicists, alas, need not have bothered toiling for decades and spending billions of dollars constructing ever more complicated machines to probe matter and energy at the tiniest of scales. Because they’ve been beaten to the post by Swami Isa. I learned of his “I theory”, a unified Theory of Everything on the 20th of March, 2014. For that was the day the good swami was invited to give a talk on “Science and Happiness” here at insti, under the auspices of the enigmatically named “Reflections DHRUVA” club. The talk promised “scientific definitions” of happiness and suggestions on how to achieve it through “I theory”, thereby bringing “scientific clarity and illuminated wisdom to both where modern science is and where we ought to go from here”.
Allow me to share with you, with humility and gratefulness, the state of profound enlightenment those in attendance were fortunate to experience.
The fundamental constituent of matter, energy — and every other concept whose meaning you thought had been carefully defined and refined over three-and-a-half centuries of relentless progress in physics — is the “I particle”. No, it’s not even the poor, much-misunderstood Higgs boson. “The so-called God particle is not a fundamental particle,” swamiji says, “it is a subtle air particle, traveling at the speed of light to the 100th degree.” One can almost see particle physicists at CERN returning to their detectors, grateful for this pearl of knowledge plucked from thin air. And Einstein, of course, would be just a little tickled in his grave.
Because his “I particles”, like those that are everywhere else, are vibrating. An “I particle” is a tiny unit of vibration, whose various frequencies give rise to all matter and energy, including dark matter and dark energy, which were unknown to physics just a couple of decades ago. One of the hallmarks of a good scientific theory is that it spits out more than what you put in. The “I theory” wins hands down in this regard. Because it predicts a hitherto unsuspected type of matter, called “red matter”. One awaits, with bated breath, the confirmation of its existence by cosmologists. Or particle physicists, for that matter.
Space and time were believed to be the stage on which the grand play of nature was held. That was until Einstein made us realize that space and time are not absolute — that they are as much a part of the play as the cast, those twins, matter and energy. Swami Isa, however, has gone much further. He has had the pathbreaking, remarkable insight that the vibration of the “I particle” is what gives rise to space and time. Physicists take note. The “I theory” even provides for the “connection” of the universe to the “inner and outer worlds of the individual”.
But it would be a merely interesting theory if it stopped at that. It goes much further. In the hierarchy of organization of matter in the universe, there are particles which have eluded particle physicists — the S infinity and the A1. On the other extreme, cosmologists who claim that ours is a mere speck in a multiverse teeming with parallel universes, can take heart from Swami Isa’s theory which agrees that the universe is part of a “gross body”. Which is itself part of a “liquid body”. Which, in turn, is part of “heat body”. What comes next, you wonder, in this Russian doll scenario, one which is sure to impress even those hard-headed, sceptical scientists who doubt the existence of anything supernatural? What comes next is, in fact, quite natural and obvious to anyone who has eaten a little too much beans for dinner.
It’s the “gas body”.
One wouldn’t want to be caught standing next to a “gas body”, let alone be inside one of course, which is why one can happily escape its supernatural flatulence by moving on to the next higher realm, that of the “ether body”. No wonder those foolish physicists at the turn of the 19th century failed to pin down the ether. We are all immersed in it, yet it is beyond us, larger than us.
If that were all that there is to “I theory” one would still be in danger of being a little less than overwhelmed. Thankfully, there’s more. This Unified Theory of Everything “has implications for clarifying” many disparate areas, such as, “evolution, healthcare, power, environment”. It promises us “energy medicine”, which we are informed, is straight from Germany, lest you wonder about its credibility. It may be worth noting that that great, scientific system of medicine, homoeopathy, also traces its roots back to the same land.
Beyond such illuminating cosmic knowledge, Swami Isa has much more earthly things to promise us too. He has convened a Global Energy Parliament (GEP), whose mission “is to provide scientific research, recommendations and strategies with the objective of ensuring a self-sustaining, peaceful existence for human beings and the universe.” That’s right. Such is the munificence of Swami Isa, that he is concerned about the peaceful existence of the universe. After all, one must feel sorry for those stars which go supernova and end their lives with a blaze of glory. Not to mention those evil black holes which gobble up innocent matter. And gas of the interstellar variety.
Such is the miraculous power of “I theory” that it promises to solve all our energy problems in one stroke. To hell with all those physicists who are desperately trying to harness nuclear fusion in ever more expensive and fruitless experiments. It turns out there is a much more ubiquitous, instantly available, infinitely replenishing source of energy right below your nose — sound energy. This, alas, is under development, so one has to wait a little to exploit this stunningly ingenious idea. This does not explain, however, for a man of such infinite energy, Swami Isa’s soft, caressing voice. Perhaps it is a mark of great men.
Fittingly, Swami Isa’s reach is universal. The GEP annual sessions have been held in Germany, France, and the UK. There is also a monthly public lecture series “to increase scientific literacy”, in Germany. How they need it, those Germans. And it all started in Kerala, a fitting riposte to all those pesky rationalists who hail from that state — Abraham Kovoor, Basava Premanand, and more recently, Sanal Edamaruku.
His reach among the higher echelons of our society is no less impressive. He counts, among his supporters, people belonging to opposite factions of the ruling party in Kerala — no mean achievement that, and this demonstrates, if more proof were needed, the power of the great man whom my eyes were fortunate to glimpse. One of them is famous for being famous and is always in the news for all manner of reasons. I am, of course, talking of the inimitable Shashi Tharoor, who reveals himself, as he has on plenty of other occasions, to be a man of refined taste and admirable intellect by saying,”It is courageous to come up with such a notion that can actually inspire people into looking at the entire order of the universe in a different way.” There are several other distinguished Members of Parliament to give him company. (No aam aadmis, mind.) One of them, P. J. Kurien, in saying that “in each one of you, the real source of energy is there”, clearly shows why he was once the Union Minister for Non-conventional Energy Resources.
An account of the profoundly transforming experience that this correspondent underwent cannot be complete without a description of the peace and serenity that the great man radiated. He was seated on a pedestal, in an admirably perfect lotus position, deep in meditation. Surrounding and attending to him in suitable servility were a few white women, clad in white saris (with nearly-white hair). One of them, in her devotion, prostrated before the swami before speaking in a surprisingly desi accent.
Swami Isa exhorted those in rapt attention to “move science beyond its current limitation of the speed of light to find answers to many of our present mysteries.” At this point, however, my “I particles” started vibrating a little too feverishly, giving rise to a few inexplicable aches on that part of my body which had to process all these breathtaking revelations in matter of minutes. Thus, I had to leave, without finding out what any of this had to do with happiness, scarcely able to believe that such a man had been invited to speak at this “prestigious” institute of “national importance”.
