Empirical Data To Prove History

“Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvan is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.4)

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अर्जुन उवाच
अपरं भवतो जन्म
परं जन्म विवस्वतः
कथम् एतद् विजानीयां
त्वम् आदौ प्रोक्तवान् इति

arjuna uvāca
aparaṁ bhavato janma
paraṁ janma vivasvataḥ
katham etad vijānīyāṁ
tvam ādau proktavān iti

There has been this sort of internal struggle persistent throughout history, particularly among the rational and the honest. On the one side, such individuals are ready to accept the idea of a central controller. They agree with the proposal of a single person who commands the highest authority, coordinating outcomes such that they arrive at precisely the right moment. The good guys finally prevailing. Justice winning out over evil. Validation for the principle described by Shri Rama to the Rakshasa named Khara.

अवश्यं लभते जन्तुः फलं पापस्य कर्मणः
घोरं पर्यागते काले द्रुमाः पुष्पमिवार्तवम्

avaśyaṃ labhate jantuḥ phalaṃ pāpasya karmaṇaḥ
ghoraṃ paryāgate kāle drumāḥ puṣpamivārtavam

“Just as a tree starts to blossom during the proper season, so the doer of sinful deeds inevitably reaps the horrible fruit of their actions at the appropriate time.” (Lord Rama speaking to Khara, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 29.8)

People tend to gravitate towards the Sanskrit concept of Ishvara. This is the highest controller. Honest people believe that there is a Supreme Divine Being, that God exists, but at the same time there are doubts. For instance, if offering a prayer, there is no immediate validation that the prayer has been heard. When voting in an election, in the modern day a voter places their ballot into a scanning machine at their local precinct. If everything looks good, if the selections for the various races have been filled out properly, the machine will display a confirmation message. This assures the voter that their ballot has been processed. What happens from there is anyone’s guess, but there is nothing more required from the voter.

There is no such assurance when praying to God. At least in the obvious sense. The wise tend to understand the truth, tattva, based on perception. They can feel the presence of God. They know that His Divine will ultimately prevails. They believe with certainty that the precise configuration required in the seed of a plant to only produce fruits of that particular plant in the future could never be due to randomness, chance, or accident. Otherwise, the same chance would cause the seed to deviate from that precise configuration. The preciseness would be lost.

When caught in this tug of war between faith and rational thought, toggling between belief and doubt due to lack of empirical evidence, the only option is to extend some grace to a figure of authority. This was how Arjuna behaved in the famous Bhagavad-gita conversation. The teacher declared that the knowledge being shared was spoken previously. Way back at the beginning of time, per our understanding, the same Krishna instructed the sun-god, Vivasvan. That began what is known as the disciplic succession, or parampara. The original knowledge flows downwards. This is what His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada refers to as the “descending process” of knowledge gathering. It is said that we can only achieve perfection, siddhi, through this method.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
इमं विवस्वते योगं
प्रोक्तवान् अहम् अव्ययम्
विवस्वान् मनवे प्राह
मनुर् इक्ष्वाकवे ’ब्रवीत्

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt

“The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikshvaku.” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.1)

Arjuna was paying attention. He noticed a paradox to this recounting of history. How could Krishna have spoken Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god? The sun has been around forever. At the time, Krishna was a contemporary. He was not old enough to be around at the beginning of the creation. How could such a conversation have taken place, then?

Krishna explained that both He and Arjuna had many previous births. The difference was that Krishna could remember those past experiences, while Arjuna could not. This is sufficient for validating history. A mother explains to the child what happened prior to their arrival in this world. The child otherwise has no idea. They have to accept the information on faith.

Arjuna took this path. It is the path that all of us must take. There is simply no other way. Our perception is limited based on the time factor. Moreover, we do not remember everything that we perceive. We might even make mistakes in our observation, such as thinking that a rope is actually a snake.

Arjuna did not insist upon further evidence. The word of Krishna was enough. Moreover, what scientific experiment could anyone conduct to provide empirical data? No such experiment exists. There never will be a way to gather empirical data of the past since travelling back in time is not possible. There is always an element of faith involved, and fortunately by putting faith in the highest authority figure, of the highest character, who carries the widest distribution in terms of influence, there is everything to be gained, up to the ceiling of the perfection of living.

In Closing:

Perfection as the ceiling,
When presentation unsealing.

Between Krishna and Arjuna found,
Preserved is that sacred sound.

No empirical evidence to take,
Since time travel cannot make.

Some faith in the beginning required,
To understanding of truth transpired.