Srimad Bhagavatam & the Gravitational Force
karoti viśva-sthiti-saṁyamodayaṁ yasyepsitaṁ nepsitam īkṣitur guṇaiḥ
māyā yathāyo bhramate tad-āśrayaṁ grāvṇo namas te guṇa-karma-sākṣiṇe
SB 5.18.38: O Lord, You do not desire the creation, maintenance or annihilation of this material worlds, but You perform these activities for the conditioned souls by Your creative energy. Exactly as a piece of iron moves under the influence of a lodestone (magnet), inert matter moves when You glance over the total material energy.
Gravitation and electromagnetism act over potentially infinite distance — across the universe — and mediate everyday phenomena of human experience.
Next Verse:
SB 5.18.39 — My Lord, as the original boar within this universe, You fought and killed the great demon Hiranyaksa. Then You lifted me [the earth] from the Garbhodaka Ocean on the end of Your tusk, exactly as a sporting elephant plucks a lotus flower from the water. I bow down before You.
Conclusion?
The Supreme Lord has both impersonal forms (i.e., forces, energies) and personal forms (i.e., Syamasundara, Varaha).
Among his “impersonal” forms and features the Gravitational force was of major importance to the Sages who understood the Lord on the Macrocosmic level. As Gravity He supports and maintains all the worlds. It can also be said and demonstrated that gravity is crucial to creation and destruction on the large-scale cosmos.
Gravity is one the four fundamental forces of the universe and is considered a non-contact force. It is what holds the planets in orbit as well as the very universe itself. It is what keeps us from floating off into space and plays a crucial role in almost every nature process from the ocean tides to the body’s circulatory system. However what causes gravity? What is the mechanism that makes it work? Physicists have only partially answered this question.
FROM: http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/gravity_of_gravity
Gravity is integral to Varaha Lila (and many others) because Varaha is the personal form of gravity lifting the earth out of the muck of the Garbhodak Ocean and placing her gently back into “proper” orbit.
More about that “proper orbit” later when I delve into the Lords pastime of Precession: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_precession which is elaborated in Dhruva Lila and connected to the Yuga system and Brahma’s cyclical “regulation of mental virtue” here on earth. Science is emerging on on all these topics.
But who really cares about gravity?
The scientific nature of Srimad Bhagavatam is giving us encouragement to see the Gravitation force as something entirely spiritual — the Supreme Person, in a non-personal form, attracting everything and literally making this planet and all celestial bodies go round.
You are reading this also thanks to this transcendental force called Gravity! Without gravity the earth would fly off into darkness and probably disintegrate. Gravity is intimately connected to the geometry of space and time. Gravity makes no distinctions and is equal to all matter. Gravity turns cosmic chaos into harmony.
The Vaishnava calendar is lunar and based on moon phases because the gravitational effects of the moon on earth exert influence over our biology and consciousness. We’re supposed to regulate our daily life according to a deep understanding of the Supreme Causes & their effects.
Gravity pervades everything, and can be experienced every second of our life, yet we rarely stop to think about or notice it. It’s one of the most fundamental “causes” of everything in our manifest reality.
There’s even a branch of research and study on Gravitational biology:
Gravitational biology is the study of the effects gravity has on living organisms. Throughout the history of the Earth life has evolved to survive changing conditions, such as changes in the climate and habitat. However, one constant factor in evolution since life first began on Earth is the force of gravity. As a consequence, all biological processes are accustomed to the ever-present force of gravity and even small variations in this force can have significant impact on the health and function of organisms.[1]
The force of gravity on the surface of the Earth, normally denoted g, has remained constant in both direction and magnitude since the formation of the planet.[citation needed] As a result, both plant and animal life have evolved to rely upon and cope with it in various ways.
Recent experiments have proven that alterations in metabolism, immune cell function, cell division, and cell attachment all occur in the hypogravity of space. For example, after a matter of days in microgravity (< 10–3 g), human immune cells were unable to differentiate into mature cells. One of the large implications of this is that if certain cells cannot differentiate in space, organisms may not be able to reproduce successfully after exposure to zero gravity.
Life, Love and Gravity
Love would not have a heart to reside in if not for the force of Gravity. In fact Gravity is fundamental to the hearts and cores of all things from humans and insects, to planets and stars and ultimately to the Black Holes that shape our magnificent universe and spin trillions of Galactic discs.
The Lord exists and manifests as the Attractive Center of All things, as if it say “come here matter (stars and planets like surya and bhu-devi), I wish to play, I want to dance!”
In Krishna-Lila, the great Risis and Deva’s (Stars) were reborn as Gopis. On earth Krishna danced with His Gopis for His Supreme Pleasure and to please His Devotees, and also to exemplify his cosmic dance.
Above: An elliptical Galaxy, likely containing millions of stars and planets, orbit a Central Supermassive Black Hole, which we know is anything but a Hole. It should be called a Supermassive Black “Whole.”
Gaudiya Vaishnavas especially should be familiar with the nomencalture and concept of Sri Krishna being the supreme attractor, the all-attractive or the supreme center.
Does Gravity has an ultimate state? Yes, I believe so and that is called Gravitational Collapse, which is essential to large-scale creation of Stars and and Supermassive Black Holes and such.
Gravitational collapse is at the heart of structure formation in the universe. An initial smooth distribution of matter will eventually collapse and cause a hierarchy of structures, such as clusters of galaxies (brahmas), stellar groups (societies of devas), stars (devas) and planets (devis like our sri “bhu” devi or mother earth). For example, a star is born through the gradual gravitational collapse of a cloud of interstellar matter.
If you wish to read more, I have written more extensively about that in this article, “Krishna’s Milky Way Galaxy”: https://medium.com/galactic-cosmology-and-theology-of-the-holy-vedas/sri-krishnas-milky-way-galaxy-809a55b12ffa
