Who made who

Samarjit Kambam *

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by the vast expanse of the universe. I would gaze at the countless billions and billions of stars on a clear night and ponder to myself as why they are hanging on the sky and not falling, where they come from or who made them.

I was always intrigued by the “Big Bang Theory”, a breathtaking cosmic expansion doubling in times at least 80 times in a fraction of a second which created billions and billions of galaxies. But before the big explosion what was there ? Was there endless expanse of nothingness ? Was there time before the explosion ? Time is to the universe, what a ruler is to the objects in your living room. It’s just a point of reference we can use.

This is possible because we create seconds, minutes, hours just as we create centimetres and inches to measure something. The thing is, none of these measurements really exist. They only become relevant because they create a point of reference, and allow for comparison. Because in reality, there is no time. It is the moment that exist.

The past moments become yesterdays and the moment that hasn’t arrived is the future. Confusing eh ? And who made the primordial cosmic matters? Do they really come out of nowhere? Then, from where did they come ? Energy and matter are equivalent, and the total energy content of the universe may be zero.

If the total energy content was zero then for the big bang where did the energy come from ?

We humans are a young species. It will take millions of years to know even partially about our universe. Those who believe in God have the notion there is an entity, a maker who made the universe, who made earth–our world and all those living and non-living things on it.

When we were kids we would gaze at the full moon asking to ourselves where the light from the moon come from and why it has got so many pimple like spots.

Later on, as we accrued knowledge through schooling, we found out that the light from the moon is only a reflection of the Sun’s light. As for the pimples, we found out that the moon has no atmosphere like our earth, so it can’t protect itself from the impact of various meteors and asteroids that land on its surface.

I could re-collect one funny incident where we wanted to see the moon more clearly. Just like using a telescope, we used our battery-torch and pointed its beam of light towards the moon. A stupid and infructuous idea of course. But still we relish that moment and fill ourselves with laughter whenever we talk about that moment.

Till now, I can’t forget that moment and wears smile on my lips whenever I remember it. Such was my fascination for the celestial objects.

Gradually, we began to know about the North Pole Star, the Proxima Centauri and other constellations of stars. I am really wonderstruck to find out how great voyagers and discoverers carried out their voyages half-way round the world on land or sea just by looking at the celestial object as source of navigation when compass was not invented.

Then we came to know about the Milky Way, part of our own galaxy and spent nights in awe as it stretches across the sky like a river made of small diamonds. As we delve deeper and deeper the mystery grow more and more intense.

It is said that all those that twinkles at night are stars, ie suns of solar systems like ours and those that do not glitter are planets. We were even more awed to know that it took thousands of light years for the lights of those stars to reach us. If there are new solar systems, there may be light of stars that hasn’t still reached earth.

As, there are countless number of stars, there definitely must be billions and billions of countless solar systems. In our solar system, the biosphere of our earth is life supporting. What about the countless solar systems in the universe. I am really sanguine that many solar systems may have life supporting planets like ours. And if there are life forms on such solar systems, what kind of life forms could they be?

Could they be carbon-based, silicon-based or made up of other based matters. Could they be breathing like us, could they survive without oxygen, could they be immortals or could they be communicating through telepathy. Could they be asexual, many times more intelligent than us or stupider than us ? The more we ask ourselves such questions, the less answer we find getting us intrigued and wanting us to know more.

Then we begin to know of dwarf stars, nebulas, dying stars and many others.

What really fills us with awe are the black holes which literally absorbs everything on its way as its pull of gravity is so great that even light cannot emerge out from it.

What if we get sucked in a black hole? What will become of our bodies. Since our knowledge of the universe is too shallow, the contradiction between science and religion arises. Science is based on facts while religion is based on faith.

Since the facts on our universe is too miniscule, religion has gained more ground and has impacted many. That there is a creator which comes by different names as per the religions and established customs of various societies. If there is really a creator, the mammoth question is “Who created the creator”.

The quest for answers of the universe is like an endless Domino’s Effect. Then, there is the concept of parallel universe which makes us all the more crazy and the theory of folding of space really drives us nuts.

So, the more you think about the universe, the question “Who made Who” will hover around your head till you get dizzy.