Nature`s I.Q. film trailer
Prabhupada, July 11, 1975, Chicago:…Darwin’s theory. Wherefrom he begins?
Jayatirtha: He begins in the ocean. He says that some fish-type animal climbed out of the ocean and began to breathe the air.
Prabhupada: Then wherefrom the ocean came?
Devotee: He doesn’t say.
Sri Govinda: In the beginning on the planet there was great turbulence and the oceans were stirring, and then there was some lightning charge.
Prabhupada: Wherefrom the lightning came? And wherefrom the ocean came? Where his philosophy is? It is a speculation.
Sri Govinda: It all began from a primeval explosion.
Prabhupada: Then same question, wherefrom the explosion came?
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Dandavat pranams, Jaya Sri Guru & Sri Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
I’m really interested in the specific Vedic explanation for lightning and electricity, anyone esle?
Subal Krishna das on 2. September 2011 at 2:42 pm said:
“I’m really interested in the specific Vedic explanation for lightning and electricity..”
Both are considered manifestations of fire. Electricity is a manifestation (energy) of fire and lightning is a manifestation of electricity.
pavakah—fire, electricity; (Bg 15.6)
“In Vaikuntha, the spiritual sky, there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, electricity or fire.” (SB 3.20.16)
“Thus Lord Siva, being extremely angry, pressed his lips with his teeth and immediately snatched from his head a strand of hair which blazed like electricity or fire.” (SB 4.5.2)
The meaning of the word “fire” in Vedic culture differs from the Western convention. It denotes a primordial energy state, rather than simply the combustion of organic matter. Within it are contained all forms of fiery, glowing, and heat-generating “fires”, which also include electricity and lightning (which is a manifestation of electricity):
“We cannot imagine how beautiful they are but we can have an idea which may be compared with clouds in the sky accompanied by the silver linings of electricity lightning.”
(EA 4: Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 5 [Handwritten])
A non-mechanistic explanation regarding why lightning strikes:
“The Padma Purana explains that karmic reactions to activities exist in the form of seeds stored within the heart, or subtle mind, of an individual. In due course of time, these seeds fructify in the form of specific physical events.
This is the Vedic explanation of why lightning strikes. Darwin’s “innocent and good man” standing beneath a tree. The lightning stroke is not delivered whimsically by a wrathful God; it comes naturally as a reaction to the man’s past actions. But the natural system that brings about this reaction is designed by God for the explicit purpose of administering divine justice.
(Sadaputa dasa – Science: The Vedic View The Seeds of Reason)