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Time of India
14 hours ago
- Science
- Time of India
Becoming Zero: The Spiritual and Scientific Power of Nothingness
Something plus zero remains the same, something times zero becomes zero, and something divided by zero spirals towards the undefined. These simple mathematical truths hide a profound spiritual metaphor. Zero – that symbol of nothing – holds up a mirror to the cosmos and to our inner selves. In the spiritual lexicon of India, zero is shunya ( emptiness ), often equated with Shiva , the divine embodiment of nothingness. Blending insights from mathematics , spirituality , and science, let's explore how becoming 'zero' might be the key to understanding everything. The Enigma of Zero in Mathematics Mathematically, zero is both humble and extraordinary. Add zero to any number and nothing changes; multiply a number by zero and its identity vanishes. Try to divide by zero, and mathematics breaks down, hinting at infinity. These operations serve as metaphors for the spiritual journey. Ancient Indian mathematicians recognized zero as a number in its own right, calling it shunya ('void' or 'nothing'). This concept revolutionized mathematics and paved the way for modern science. Beyond its practical use, zero is profoundly paradoxical: it represents nothing, yet it makes everything possible. Without zero, we could not express vast numbers or have a placeholder for value; similarly, without the emptiness of space, form could not manifest. The symbol for zero – a circle – has no beginning or end, hinting at infinity and the wholeness of existence. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AirSense 11 – Smart tech for deep sleep ResMed Buy Now Undo Shunya and Shiva: The Spiritual Symbolism of Nothingness In Indian spiritual thought, Shiva is described as 'that which is not,' the boundless emptiness from which creation arises. This phrase denotes the ultimate reality as a formless essence beyond name and form. Shiva's very being is like a cosmic zero: the silent, unchanging backdrop behind the drama of life. In Tantra, Shiva symbolizes pure consciousness (still and empty), while Shakti symbolizes dynamic creative energy; their union shows that emptiness and form are two sides of one divine reality. Advaita Vedanta echoes this idea, describing the absolute truth (Brahman) as an infinite, indivisible whole – the zero behind all apparent things. The arithmetic analogies of zero reflect spiritual approaches: - Adding zero to oneself – adopting spirituality superficially – leaves the ego unchanged; one remains 'something' separate. - Multiplying by zero – complete surrender – dissolves the ego into the divine emptiness, making one with the infinite. - Dividing by zero – trying to intellectually grasp the infinite – yields nothing but paradox and confusion. Only by surrendering the illusion of separateness can one experience unity with the divine. Sages advise negating all false identifications – saying 'neti, neti' ('not this, not that') to everything impermanent – until only pure awareness remains. When all transient attributes are stripped away, what remains is that pure consciousness: an emptiness brimming with potential. Meditators who touch this inner void report a state of blissful stillness. Far from bleak, this nothingness is the womb of all existence. Science and the Void: When Nothing Becomes Everything Modern physics offers parallels: even 'empty' space isn't truly empty – particles flicker in and out of the vacuum, making nothingness a seething field of potential. Some cosmologists even speculate that our entire universe sprang from an initial void, a quantum fluctuation that became the Big Bang. The notion that something can emerge from nothing is now taken seriously in science. Black holes : when a massive star dies, it can collapse to an almost zero-sized point of infinite density – a cosmic 'divide by zero' where space and time break down. Yet even this ultimate nothingness may hide new beginnings – from the death of a star can arise the seeds of new worlds, mirroring Shiva's cosmic dance of creation and dissolution. Becoming One with the Infinite Ultimately, the spiritual journey invites us to multiply ourselves by zero – to surrender the ego and merge into the infinite essence that Shiva represents. In doing so, we find that becoming nothing makes us one with everything. Science, mathematics, and mysticism all hint at this truth. Though zero symbolizes 'nothing,' it is the source of endless potential – like the quiet void before creation holding the universe in seed form. Embracing the spirit of zero in our lives fosters humility and openness, encouraging us to let go of rigid identities. After all, we come from nothing and return to nothing, tracing a cosmic circle. By becoming zero – entering Shiva's state of pure being – we complete that circle and realize our true nature. In that realization, the drop and the ocean are one; the finite and the infinite unite; emptiness reveals its fullness. Such is the power of zero: the sacred nothingness that is the wellspring of all existence. Authors: Shambo Samrat Samajdar and Shashank R Joshi Chandra Namaskar: Yogic Secret for Sleep & Fertility- A Step-by-Step Guide
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
Facing maya within
Maya is real. It is as real as it is misunderstood. One can contend that it is less real than the absolute reality, that which Vedanta calls Brahman, but even such gradations are open to question. Swami Vivekananda has given a felicitous definition of maya—what we are and what we see around us. One can understand it simply as the manifold world we all know as 'our world'. And as much spirituality seeks to cut through maya to expose the absolute, the fact is that its tenacity remains scandalously underappreciated, precisely why most spiritual expeditions fall short of the finishing line. Its roots run into the greatest depths of psychology and preponderate on the unconscious, which makes it crucial to adopt a scientific approach towards countering it. More often than not, something of such extraordinary psychological tenacity has evolutionary underpinnings, which means that they would have been favoured along the course of the natural evolution of our species due to conferring a prominent survival advantage. And it isn't hard to imagine how maya would have been favoured by evolution. The idea and experience of Brahman did little to improve the reproductive fitness of the primaeval human. All that they needed to perpetuate themselves—from invading neighbouring chiefdoms to warding off assailants—only made sense in the presence of maya, and it is the world of maya that our innate faculties needed to master. And maya remains as relevant to us today in our lives as it ever did, which effectively rules out the possibility of us ever losing this embedded mental programme.
Business Upturn
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
Tokyo Revengers Season 4: Release date speculation, cast and plot details – Everything we know so far
By Aman Shukla Published on July 19, 2025, 18:00 IST Last updated July 19, 2025, 10:12 IST If you're as hooked on Tokyo Revengers as we are, you're probably counting the days until Season 4 drops. This anime's wild mix of time travel, gang drama, and gut-punching moments has kept us all on edge. After Season 3's emotional rollercoaster, we're dying to know what's next for Takemichi and the crew. So, let's dive into everything we've got so far—release date guesses, cast updates, and what the plot might throw at us. When Can We Expect Tokyo Revengers Season 4? No official release date has been locked in yet, but the folks behind Tokyo Revengers dropped some big news in June 2024: Season 4 is officially happening! Word is, we're looking at a 2026 premiere, though nothing's set in stone. Looking back, Season 1 hit screens in 2021, Season 2 rolled out in January 2023, and Season 3 landed in October 2023. The gaps between seasons have been all over the place, so pinning this down is tricky. Some fans were hoping for a 2025 release—maybe even as early as March or April—but that feels like a stretch now. Liden Films kicked off production in summer 2024, and with animation, voice work, and all the polishing that goes into a season, 2026 makes more sense. My guess? We might see it in early to mid-2026, maybe even at a big event like Anime Expo 2025, where they could drop a firm date or another trailer. For now, we're just keeping our fingers crossed and checking X for updates. What's the Story in Season 4? Season 3 wrapped up the Tenjiku Arc with some major feels—Takemichi spilling his time-travel secret to Mikey, Toman breaking up, and all sorts of fallout. So, what's next? Season 4 will likely dive into the Bonten Arc and possibly the Three Deities Arc (sometimes called the War of the Three Titans Arc ) from Ken Wakui's manga. Here's the lowdown on what's coming. The Bonten Arc The Bonten Arc (chapters 186–206) picks up where Season 3 left off, throwing Takemichi into a grim future. He's still fighting to save Mikey, who's spiraling down a dark path. This arc's shorter—about 21 chapters—so it might only take up 6 or 7 episodes. It's packed with heavy moments as Takemichi wrestles with the consequences of his time leaps and tries to keep his friends from breaking apart. The Three Deities Arc Then there's the Three Deities Arc (chapters 207–235), which ramps things up with a massive gang clash between Rokuhara Tandai, Brahman, and the Kanto Manji Gang. Takemichi's back in the past, trying to fix the future, but Mikey's nowhere to be found, and new players shake things up. A Season 4 visual dropped recently, showing Takemichi grabbing Mikey's hand with the line 'I won't let you die.' That alone has me hyped—it's gonna be intense. There's some chatter about whether they'll skip the Bonten Arc to focus on the Three Deities Arc , especially since the trailer leaned hard into the latter. But I think they'll cover both. The Bonten Arc sets up too much to skip, and with maybe 24 episodes like Season 1, there's room to tackle both arcs. Could this be the final season? It's possible if they wrap up the Final Arc too, but nothing's confirmed yet. Who's Coming Back? Cast and Characters The voice cast is a big part of what makes Tokyo Revengers hit so hard, and we're expecting most of the gang to return. Here's who's likely to be back, based on the Japanese dub: Takemichi Hanagaki (Yuuki Shin): Our crybaby hero, still leaping through time to save everyone. (Yuuki Shin): Our crybaby hero, still leaping through time to save everyone. Manjiro 'Mikey' Sano (Yu Hayashi): Toman's leader, whose fate is at the heart of Season 4. (Yu Hayashi): Toman's leader, whose fate is at the heart of Season 4. Ken 'Draken' Ryuguji (Tatsuhisa Suzuki/Masaya Fukunishi): Mikey's rock, always bringing the calm to the storm. (Tatsuhisa Suzuki/Masaya Fukunishi): Mikey's rock, always bringing the calm to the storm. Hinata Tachibana (Azumi Waki): Takemichi's girlfriend and the reason he keeps fighting. (Azumi Waki): Takemichi's girlfriend and the reason he keeps fighting. Naoto Tachibana (Ryota Ohsaka): Hinata's brother, helping Takemichi navigate time. (Ryota Ohsaka): Hinata's brother, helping Takemichi navigate time. Chifuyu Matsuno (Adam McArthur): A loyal Toman member and Takemichi's ride-or-die. A big addition is Senju Kawaragi (Mariya Ise), a key player in the Three Deities Arc and part of the Brahman gang. Mariya Ise's voice work in Hunter x Hunter has me stoked to hear her as Senju. While Tetta Kisaki (Nicolas Roye) bit the dust in Season 3, don't be surprised if he pops up in flashbacks. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Scroll.in
16-07-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
‘At his feet I pay homage, cupping my hands in reverence': The Buddha as man, animal, and god
Homage to the Bhagavan, the enlightened one, the fully awakened Buddha. For many hundreds of thousands of births, immeasurable benefit to the world has been brought about by the leader of the world: the great sage. At his feet I pay homage, cupping my hands in reverence to the teaching, and bowing down to the Sangha, the vessel of all honour! I have cut through obstacles by the great power resulting from the merit of this homage to the three jewels: For the birth stories, starting with 'The True Story Jataka,' taught long ago by the brilliant sage, act by act, births in which, for a long time, the Teacher, the guide dedicated to the salvation of the world, brought the ingredients for awakening to ripeness – for acquiring all these birth stories, long recited together under the name of 'Jataka' by the chanters and compilers of the Buddha's teaching, the Elder Atthadassina approached me and inquired, hoping to preserve this lineage story of the Buddha. Atthadassina lives apart from the world, always in the company of other monks; I was also asked in the same way by the wise and calm Buddhamitta, who was born in the lineage of mahimsasaka, and is knowledgable in method; and in the same way by Buddhadeva, also a wise monk. So, this commentary on the birth stories, which illustrates the splendour of the inconceivable actions of a great man, I will recite, in the way those who live in the Great Monastery explain it. May good people grasp fully what I am saying! And this commentary on the birth stories will be comprehensible to listeners when I have explained the far origin, the near origin, and the recent origin – so long as they have understood it from its beginning. So, I will recount it, after explaining and making clear the three origins. The division into these three origins from the beginning should be understood as follows: The course of the story of the Great Being's existence, from the time that he made a resolution to become a Buddha at the feet of Dipankara to his appearance in the Tusita heaven after falling away from his life as Vessantara, is called the far origin. The course of the story from his falling away from the Tusita to his attainment of awakening on the ground by the Bodhi Tree is called the near origin. And the recent origin is found in all the various places at which he stayed on his travels, in this place and that. Now follows the far origin. The story of Sumedha They say that a hundred thousand eons and four incalculable epochs ago, there was a city called Amaravati. In that city lived a Brahman called Sumedha. He was respected, being of irreproachable birth, completely pure descent on both mother's and father's side for seven generations: a man of a noble line, of handsome appearance, good-looking, friendly, and endowed with an excellent, lotus-like complexion. He applied himself only to his Brahmanic studies, not taking on anything else. While he was still young, his parents died. Then, a minister who was in charge of his wealth brought the accounts book and opened the rooms filled with gold, silver, jewels, pearls, and other valuables. He said: 'Young man, so much belonged to your mother, so much to your father, so much to your grandparents and great-grandparents.' Pointing out to him the wealth inherited from seven generations, he said: 'Guard this well.' The wise Sumedha reflected, 'When my parents and all the rest of my ancestors passed on to another world, they could not take even one little coin with them. Is it right for me to try to take it with me?' So, after telling the king, he had a drum beaten around the city, gave his wealth to the people at large, and went out into homelessness as an ascetic. To make this matter clear, the story of Sumedha needs to be told. Although it is given in full in the Buddhavamsa, it is not so clearly explained because it is in verse. I will tell it here, with sentences at intervals explaining the verses. Four incalculable epochs and a hundred thousand eons ago, there was a city, resounding with ten sounds, called Amaravati or Amara, about which this is said in the Buddhavamsa: A hundred thousand eons and four incalculable epochs ago, there was a city called Amara – Deathless – beautiful and delightful. It was filled with the ten sounds and was abundant in food and drink combined: The trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, drums, conches, carriages, and the shouting of offers of food and drink: 'Eat! Drink!'
The Hindu
13-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
God kindles your quest
Knowledge is power, but what is the use of acquiring it without letting go of worldly pleasures? One will keep repeating the cycle of births and rebirths, with no lasting peace or true realisation. Knowledge alone is not enough to bring inner peace, rather it will become a mental burden, said Ramanacharana Tirtha Swami (Nochur). Plants have life, as do birds, but what is the use of living like that? Man, who alone among creation has the ability to discern, should nurture the thirst for knowledge and moksha and seek the company of sages in order to be instructed on truth. Only then will such a person's life be fulfilled. This Brahma Gnanam of realisation of the Lord is hidden inside the human mind. Great souls attain this knowledge of Brahman by focusing their minds on God, and distancing themselves from the clutter of a material world. In Vivekachudamani, Adi Sankara emphasises this, saying, 'Jantu nam nara janmam dhurlabam..'. To be born as a human being is a rare gift and one should utilise it for spiritual progress and not misspend it in chasing impermanent goals that gratify only the senses and do nothing to uplift the soul. Ramana Maharshi had attained that inner peace and detachment, when very young. The Maharshi famously said, 'Pazhiyil vizhadha Ezhaiai Kaathu un padhathil niruthiveithanaye, azhiyaam karunai vallale Arunachaleswara.' (You saved me from falling into the pit, and kept me close to you, Arunachaleswara, Oh ocean of kindness). Such was the enlightenment achieved by this great soul who knew that the only purpose of human life is self-realisation. When one turns one's mind towards higher things, God Himself steps up to help such a person. As Krishna says in the Gita, 'I will kindle the quest for Brahma Gnanam in those who repose faith in me.'
