Do higher dimensions in scriptures refer to higher spatial dimensions or higher levels of consciousness?
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Question from Mayur Prathoon. Do Vedas refer to higher dimensions as higher levels of consciousness as well in terms of subtle space? He also explained with the help of an analogy point A in one building, point B and C about another vertical dimension etc. Is there only one vertical dimension or more? Suppose we think of this material world to be limited to three spatial dimensions plus one time dimension.
Mathematically fourth, fifth and higher spatial dimensions are possible. In reality if we consider the fourth and higher dimensions, are these subtle physical space dimensions or just higher levels of consciousness or a combination of both? And what about multiple time dimensions? Does Brahma having four heads indicate that he has access to these higher dimensions? How many? In Satyaloka, what about the hundred headed to million headed Brahmas in their universes that we read in teachings of Lord Chaitanya? Do their universes have millions of dimensions? So there should be trillions and quadrillion headed Brahmas and universes with exceedingly higher dimensions too. Answer, the word dimensions when it is used with respect to the Vedic context is in a generic sense not in a specific or a technical sense.
It basically indicates higher levels of reality, higher levels of existence. So, what do these higher levels refer to? Even matter, basically there are two elements, two aspects to existence, there is matter and spirit. So, when we use the word higher, it raises the question higher to what? So, in general, the word higher dimensions is used or higher levels is used, referred to higher means something which is beyond our immediate perception.
So, there is matter which is beyond our perception also, there is ether, mind, intelligence and ego which are material which are beyond our perception and there is consciousness also which we experience firsthand as a reality. But we cannot directly perceive consciousness, we are conscious and at a higher level when we look at the spiritual world, we cannot perceive that right now, we cannot perceive the whole spiritual, anything of the spiritual reality right now with our material senses. So, in a broad sense, the higher levels or higher dimensions refers to those which are beyond our perception.
Now, most scientific research focuses on conceptions about perceptions. Generally, perceptions refer to what we do with our, what is possible with our senses and conceptions refer to what we think of with our mind. In what we observe, we try to find patterns and based on those patterns, there are conceptions that we create in our minds.
So, a fundamental principle of Krishna conscious philosophy is that the Vedic teachings or not the Vedic teachings, the supreme Lord who is the goal of the Vedic teachings is not just beyond perception but is also beyond conception. That is the meaning of the word achintya. Achintya is not just invisible or unperceivable but it is inconceivable.
That means that there is something which we can't perceive, that means we can't see with our senses, there's something which we cannot think about with our mind. That doesn't mean that is unthinkable, there's a difference between unthinkable and inconceivable. Unthinkable means we just, it is in common parlance the word unthinkable is used, that this is unthinkable possibility.
It's so, something is so horrible or something is so fantastic, something is so unbelievable, has to be unthinkable but unthinkable in the, when it is used in this context now, what it means is that it is beyond our thinking capacity. So, we can surely think about Krishna, in fact that is the injunction of the scriptures but Krishna is not, it is not possible for us to completely understand Krishna with our thinking capacity. So, when we think about Krishna, it is not to understand Krishna primarily, it is to serve Krishna and when we serve him by thinking about him over a period of time with purification and with grace, we understand him as he reveals himself.
So, with respect to material space, yes, there are higher levels of material reality and there are higher levels of conscious experience corresponding to both the higher levels of material reality and the higher levels of spiritual reality. So, before I address the specifics of the question, in the Vedic scriptures, there are two models of cosmology, there is the Jyotisha cosmology which is given in Surya Siddhanta and the other scriptures which are called Siddhanta Shastras or Jyotisha Shastras and there is the Puranic cosmology. So, it is described in the Varaha Puran in the 75th chapter, Agastya Muni describes how he was given a higher vision to see the Bhu Mandala.
So, an effulgent sage appeared to him and by the grace of that sage, Agastya Muni described that he was transported to the top of Mount Meru and from there he had a vision of Bhu Mandala with its oceans, islands and mountains. So, this is an example of not just a yogic travel from one loka to another loka which is often talked about in the scriptures. The rishis like Narad Muni say travel between various planets but here it is talked about a travel that offered a different perception.
What this indicates is that there are, the reality that is there in the material world is multi-layered. Multi-layered means that there are different layers of experience to be had at different levels of consciousness. So, to make this a little more clear, first is that there is initially when I explained about achintya, there is more to the reality than what we can see.
That means there is the gross matter and beyond that there is subtle matter and then there is spirit. So, that is one kind of higher level of reality. Second is that the gross matter itself or the material world rather than using the word gross matter, the material world itself that we see that itself can be perceived entirely differently at from a different scale of, from a different plane of existence from say the top of Mount Meru as I described in the Varaha Puran.
This indicates now it was not just a physical travel that was there. Physical travel was also there no doubt but there was also a perception from a higher realm that happened along with the physical travel. That means the same thing which we see right now can also be perceived differently depending on the level of consciousness that we have.
So, this is the second aspect of higher dimensions. The first aspect is to reality itself in gross and subtle matter and spirit, there is more than what we can see and then whatever we can see right now, we can see more in that or we can see it from a different perspective depending on the level of our consciousness. So, this is of course not a unfamiliar fact to our day-to-day science just as we can see our hand in a particular way with lines on it, our palm in our normal vision under a microscope we can see differently.
So, here it is not that we have elevated our consciousness rather we have put a instrument in between which is enabling us to see something more within the same hand that we were seeing earlier. So, just as we could put an instrument externally physically that can enhance our perception to some extent, in the same way there can be development of consciousness which can enhance our perception in a far more penetrating and dramatic way. So, both kinds of higher levels are valid.
Now, beyond this, what about multiple time dimensions? First point in this is that time itself is quite complex for us to understand by our normal perceptions. So, although time is called as a fourth dimension, but physicists also know that time is not like the other three dimensions in the sense that in an xyz axis one can move forward and backwards, but as of now we do not know about time moving backwards because of various aspects like the grandfather paradox that if I go into my past and I kill my grandfather before he gets married then my father will not be born and if my father is not born then I will not be born. But then how can I go into the past and kill my grandfather? It's called the grandfather paradox which precludes time travel in the past.
So, now if you want to talk about time as an arrow that is going through some substratum, what is that substratum through which it is going? So, the Bhagavatam explains that time is Krishna itself, Krishna himself in an unmanifest form. Kunti Maharani describes in one 828 in the Bhagavatam that I consider that you yourself are time. So, now when we say that Krishna is time, what exactly does that mean? That Krishna is, Krishna's omnipotence is manifested in this world through time.
Time is an energy of Krishna and that time acts according to Krishna's will, does Krishna's will. These are just three relevant aspects of Krishna as being time, but Krishna is one. So, if time is a manifestation of Krishna, then when we talk about multiple dimensions of time, if we are referring that to the way time flows, then yes, there we can say that the time flows faster in the lower planets, slower in the higher planets.
In that sense we can say that time has multiple levels but multiple time dimensions itself is a complex concept that we can't conceive of with our minds and in general in the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam when the cosmology is described, Shukadeva Goswami mentions that actually, oh Parishit Maharaj, that even Brahmaji cannot understand this cosmos fully. So, although Brahmaji has created it, he has actually rochitam rochayam yaham, the seed that was there earlier, he has just caused that seed to grow like a gardener, just as a gardener, does not know everything about the seeds in the garden that he has grown. He primarily knows, okay, from this seed, if this is cultivated this way, this grows, but he doesn't know everything about the internal structure of either the seed or the tree.
Similarly, even Brahmaji doesn't know everything. So, for us, to know everything will be much more difficult if even Brahmaji can't know that. Now, regarding the aspect of whether there are higher dimensions corresponding to higher levels of Brahmaji's with more heads, certainly the more heads are not just for ornamental purposes, they have a functional purpose.
They enable Brahmaji to administer those universes accordingly. But even our universe itself is difficult for us to understand. So, how exactly other universes are administered and how all those heads contribute to helping administer those universes, that is quite complex for us to understand again.
So, in general, if we want to use the word higher dimensions, yes, there is certainly much higher reality in this universe as well as in other universes and in the spiritual world. And there are higher levels of consciousness from which we can perceive even the reality that we are perceiving right now and we will see it much better. So, in these two ways, there is higher level, they can say that there are higher dimensions, higher levels and corresponding to the higher levels and those who have that higher perception or higher level of consciousness to perceive the higher realities, there are higher levels of complexity.
So, in general, the principle for a devotee is that the scriptures talk about Athato Brahma Jijnasa. They do not recommend Athato Prakriti Jijnasa or Athato Jagat Jijnasa. This is not to mean that we should not inquire about material existence or matter in general, but that should not be the focus of our inquiry.
Because it is like a prisoner in a jail trying to find out how everything about the jail, how is it constructed and what are the, what is its dimensions and all such study is relevant if the prisoner is trying to get out of the jail. Otherwise, all that study does not really help the prisoner much in bringing the incarceration to the end. So, similarly, if we study matter just for the sake of matter knowing, then that is not a very productive use of our time and energy.
This material world is Durga, it is a prison and we study matter so that we can disentangle ourselves from matter. And whatever curiosity we have about material world, we can harmonize it with our spiritual quest. That means that if we study the devotional literature systematically and practice devotional service diligently, then we will ourselves become purified and get clearer understanding by that sattva guna and by Krishna's mercy.
So, you can read Sadaput Prabhu's book, two books are there, Vedic Cosmography and Mysteries of the Sacred Universe for understanding various concepts better. And he has also written a book called Maya, the world as a virtual reality, which is also quite relevant for understanding this further. But overall, in these two ways, one is by intensifying our devotional practice and second by reading the literature by devotees about our area of interest, we can both dovetail and transcend our curiosity about material things, material aspects of Krishna's creation.
Thank you.