The discovery of "God Particle" is a breakthrough for science. For a knower of Hindu Thought, it is a confirmation of a part of the Creation theory of Brahman. This God particle is not actually the God factor according to the scientists. So too for the Vedanthin. This particle named as Higgs Boson is only a crucial factor that comes into being after Creation had started. But without it, further creation through variation is not possible.
The description and work of the God particle is similar to the Purusha coupling with Prakruthi in the initial stages of Creation. Prakruthi is matter and Purusha is energy or mind. The ultimate God particle is the Thought or Will of Brahman (Supreme Energy) that started expanding. That state is completely unfathomable and non-detectable by material science because creation at that level happened in a non material level. From then Creation proceeded into a differentiation as two factors – as Prakruthi and Purusha. My article written in 2008 on the unfathomable First Thought as the seed of creation can be read before proceeding with the current article. It can be read here:-
If at all a factor deserves to be called as God particle or God factor, it is that Initial Thought or Energy. That Energy expanded and got self manifested as Prakruthi and Purusha. Initially there was no differentiation in Prakruthi and it kept expanding with no further differentiation. This resulted in a state of no-events and therefore no variation which is necessary for further creation. Both Prakruthi and Purusha travelled endlessly. But at some point the coupling of Prakruthi and Purusha happened and it gave rise to variations and differentiations thereby paving way for further creation. A similar version is told of the Higgs Boson. When the elementary forms of matter come in contact with Higgs Boson, they gain mass.
This particle gives mass to the elementary particle (Prakruthi) that further goes on to make the building blocks of this Universe. Science does not know what more this God particle does and how many types of such God particles are there. According to Vedantha, the God particle known as Purusha are many and they couple with matter in infinite number of ways at many layers of creation. This purusha is also equated with jivas who have the innate nature of the Supreme God known as Supreme Purusha, but get coupled with Prakruthi and be born as animate or inanimate beings. The coupling happens at different levels. When it happens at the trillionth of a second after Big Bang (initial expansion of the supreme Thought or Will), it is known as Higgs Boson. At the final levels of Creation it gives rise to the birth of life.
At the level of birth of humans, the purusha triggers the formation of embryo! Let me recall the explanation I gave in another article :-
Though embryo is formed by the union of 2 seeds one from male and another from female, the shape, the attributes and everything of the baby that is going to be formed by further development of the embryo is dictated by the Purusha and not by anything else. To quote from my article :-
"Even though the formation of organs is programmed and is almost mechanical in development, how a child gets the organs and its functions is determined by the soul and not by the physical components themselves. To explain this better, let us imagine that a couple get a number of children. Though the basic components come from the same parents, no two children are the same. They differ in appearance and in faculties. The physical features are not the same. The mental capabilities also are not the same for all the children of the same parents. One of them may have the eye, but may be born blind. One of them may have the ears but may be born deaf. How does this happen, unless such a deficiency is determined by the Prarabhda karma that the soul (jiva) carries along from previous births?
It is the prarabhda karma (the result of one's past actions that must be manifest in the current birth ) that makes one have vision or lose vision, have hearing sense or be born deaf and so on. How such a deficiency (or efficiency) gets manifest in the developing stage inside womb is determined by the soul or the consciousness that has pervaded the foetus. That soul is the purusha of the foetus. In other words, the soul or consciousness or purusha is the determinant of the kind of physical shape and the mental faculty of anything or any manifestation in this Universe." (end quote)
The Jiva or Purusha at the level of manifestation in a body by becoming the cause for creation of mass along with its attributes (to use the language of what Higgs Boson does) is known as the 25th factor or principle. The 24th principle is the Prakruthi or matter. This matter when it undergoes further modification as part of creation has 23 principles which are as follows:
(1) Mahat,
(2) Ahankara,
(3) Manas
(4) 5 sense organs
(5) 5 sensory perceptions
(6) 5 subtle elements of nature
(7) 5 gross elements of nature
The 24th element is Prakruthi from which all the above are derived by coupling with Purusha at different levels.
So the 24th element is Prakruthi- proper (let us call so) having in it the seeds of all the above principles. It is similar to the primary elements of matter used in CERN experiment. If we look at the 23 elements we find that initially they are subtle (Mahat, ahankara or ego and manas) but as creation proceeds, the gross elements are born.
The 25th element is Purusha, the energy that is similar to the male factor which is responsible for germination when it couples with Prakruthi.
The 26th element is God – the Supreme Purusha who has in him the 24th and the 25th elements and from whom these 2 elements are projected as an act of Creation.
By this we say that Higgs Boson is not the God factor / particle. It is one of the many ways of the manifestation of the 25th factor in the scheme of Creation of the Supreme Brahman. Without this 25th factor, the 23 factors cannot get manifest as projections from the 24th factor. That is why the importance to the Higgs Boson.
Before closing this article, let me quote some interesting passages on Prakruthi and Purusha from Hindu texts.
From Mahabharata, Shanti parva, chapter 318:-
In the words of sage Yajnavalkya
"The Gandharva Viswavasu, well-conversant with the Vedanta scriptures, desirous, O king, of ascertaining what is beneficial for the Brahmanas in this knowledge and what truth occurs in it, and what is the excellent object of this knowledge, one questioned me. He put to me altogether four and twenty questions, O king, relating to the Vedas. Finally, he asked me a question, numbered twenty-fifth which relates to that branch of knowledge which is concerned with the inferences of ratiocination. Those questions are as follows: What is universe and what is not-universe? What is Aswa and what Aswa?
What is Mitra? What is Varuna? What is Knowledge? What is Object of knowledge? What is Unintelligent? What is Intelligent? Who is Kah? Who is possessed of the principle of change? Who is not possessed of the same? What is he that devours the Sun and what is the Sun?
What is Vidya and what is Avidya? What is Immobile and what Mobile? What is without beginning, what is Indestructible, and what is Destructible? These were the excellent questions put to me by that foremost of Gandharvas. After king Viswavasu, that foremost of Gandharvas, had asked me these questions one after another, I answered them properly. At first, however, I told him, Wait for a brief space of time, till I reflect on thy questions! So be it, Gandharva said, and sat in silence. I then thought once again of the goddess Saraswati in my mind. The replies then to those questions naturally arose in my mind like butter from curds. Keeping in view the high science of inferential ratiocination, I churned with my mind, O monarch, the Upanishads and the supplementary scriptures relating to the Vedas.
The fourth science then that treats of Emancipation, O foremost of kings, and on which I have already discoursed to thee, and which is based upon the twenty-fifth, viz, Jiva, I then expounded to him Having said all this, O monarch, to king Viswavasu, I then addressed him, saying, Listen now to the answers that I give unto the several questions that thou hast put to me. I now turn to the question, which, O Gandharva, thou askest, viz, What is Universe and what is not-universe? The Universe is Unmanifest and original Prakriti endued with the principles of birth and death which are terrible to those that are desirous of Emancipation. It is, besides, possessed of the three attributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, in consequence of its producing principles all of which are fraught with those attributes That which is Not-universe is Purusha divested of all attributes. By Aswa and Aswa are meant the female and the male, ie, the former is Prakriti and the latter is Purusha. Similarly, Mitra is Purusha, and Varuna is Prakriti Knowledge, again, is said to be Prakriti, while the object to be known is called Purusha. The Ignorant Jiva, and the Knowing or Intelligent are both Purusha without attributes for it is Purusha that becomes Jiva when invested with Ignorance.
Thou hast asked what is Kah, who is endued with change and who is unendued therewith. I answer, Kah is Purusha That which is endued with change is Prakriti. He that is not endued therewith is Purusha. Similarly, that which is called Avidya the unknowable is Prakriti; and that which is called Vidya is Purusha. Thou hast asked me about the Mobile and the Immobile. Listen to what my answer is. That which is mobile is Prakriti, which undergoing modification, constitutes the cause of Creation and Destruction. The Immobile is Purusha, for without himself undergoing modifications he assists at Creation and Destruction. According to a different system of philosophy that which is Vedya is Prakriti; while that which is Avedya is Purusha.
Both Prakriti and Purusha are said to be unintelligent, stable, indestructible, unborn, and eternal, according to the conclusions arrived at by philosophers conversant with the topics included in the name of Adhyatma. In consequence of the indestructibility of Prakriti in the matter of Creation, Prakriti, which is unborn, is regarded as not subject to decay or destruction. Purusha, again, is indestructible and unchangeable, for change it has none. The attributes that reside in Prakriti are destructible, but not Prakriti herself. The learned, therefore, call Prakriti indestructible. Prakriti also, by undergoing modifications, operates as the cause of Creation. The created results appear and disappear, but not original Prakriti. Hence also is Prakriti called indestructible. Thus have I told thee conclusions of the Fourth Science based on the principles of ratiocinative inference and having Emancipation for its end. Having acquired by the science of ratiocinative inference and by waiting upon preceptors, the Rich, the Samans, and the Yajushes, all the obligatory practices should be observed and all the Vedas studied with reverence, O Viswavasu!"
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From chapter 315 of Shanti Parva, Mahabharata :-
"..it is Prakriti which is One but Purushas are many As a matter of fact, Purusha is different from Prakriti which though unstable, still appears as stable. As a blade of reed is different from its outer cover, even so is Purusha different from Prakriti. Indeed, the worm that is ensconced within the Udumvara should be known as different from the Udumvara. Though existing with the Udumvara, the worm is not to be regarded as forming a portion of the Udumvara. The fish is distinct from the water in which it lives, and the water is distinct from the fish that lives in it.
Though the fish and water exist together, yet it is never drenched by water. The fire that is contained in an earthen sauce pan is distinct from the earthen sauce pan, and the sauce pan is distinct from the fire it contains. Although the fire exists in and with the sauce pan, yet it is not to be regarded as forming any part of it. The lotus-leaf that floats on a piece of water is distinct from the piece of water on which it floats. Its co-existence with water does not make it a portion of the water. The perennial existence of those objects in and with those mentioned, is never correctly understood by ordinary people. They who behold Prakriti and Purusha in any other light are said to possess a vision that is incorrect. It is certain that they have repeatedly to sink into terrible hell."
