Stephen William Hawking & God
Free Thinker *
The man who talked about the "origin of Universe" and the "irrelevance of God" Shri Stephen Hawking has passed away at the age of 76.
'When the Universe has no beginning and no end, where is the role of God', he pondered. I am not a student of Science or Quantum Physics but I take special interest in Cosmology and the nature of the Universe.
Normally whenever I find time I read books and write-ups on the subject. Whether you relate it to Big Bang or not, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing; this is what he reckons. Who will prove it or who will question it? Ancient Indian philosophy also talks about the same, "everything begins with nothingness".
The idea of Bramhaand (unending Universe) and Sunyata (nothingness/void but energy) is as old as the Vedas, Upanishads, and early Buddhist notions. So when we read and listen to Stephen Hawking Indians feel at home because what he is talking about is already in our mind.
When he lost his speech, Stephen started using a voice synthesizer. Then he wrote a book 'A Brief History of Time' in 1988. It sold 10 million copies, "the most popular book never read ".
He proved wrong (doctors) who had predicted that he will die in a few years time. He lived more than 50 years after that prediction. God is great!
In 2001, I had the golden opportunity to listen to this gentleman live in Siri Fort Auditorium at Delhi. The subject of his lecture was "Predicting the Future from Astrology to Black Holes".
I was taken to this lecture by an elderly pal (late) Frank Christopher. When we reached the venue it was already packed, we had to stand at the back. The lecture lasted for about one hour or so. He was speaking from his wheel-chair using a computer with a voice processor.
His first expression was "can you hear me?" He narrated, "he went to Paris to deliver a lecture on quantum physics and black holes, he could not impress the French because no one there believed in black holes and consider it obscene.
During my University days, to impress my friends I purchased a book written by the genius "A Brief History of Time" from Bunglow Road (Kamla Nagar). After the Big Bang, Black Hole was then the in thing among the students and scholars alike.
Actually I read a few pages, I could not understand, and then I kept it in my bookshelves. After some few years I saw another book written by the same author "Black Holes and Baby Universe & other essays "; this time I got the book to impress my girl friend.
History repeats itself I could not make head or tale of the book; then I abandoned the same. When I was driving my age old car, my wife sent me a message saying that "Stephen Hawking is no more at the age of 76".
My reply to her was "the man who was looking after God particle is now a particle of God."
No reply came back as she does not like to trivialize God. You see I am neither an atheist nor agnostic but I am a believer; I believe in people.
I really don't differentiate between the believers and non-believers.
In a way all are believers, they believe in something or the other; even the agnostics also believe in some idea i.e., questioning the very existence of God. For me it is simple I believe the believers.
In the last few years Hawking started expressing his apprehension that mankind might be destroyed by a nuclear war or by genetically engineered diseases or global warming or by the domination of AI.
He also made the suggestion to go out and find a habitable planet in the universe. God helps who help themselves.
Though there is no hell or heaven in Hawking's world. He might have reached heaven by now, that is the wish of many believers. Let his soul be in peace, this is also a wish from other believers.
He left without the Nobel Prize, he will come back to win it (posthumously – the Nobel Foundation may relax the rules), this is from a believer like me. Black holes will be proven in a lab sooner or later.
I don't understand why he was still denied the 'award' even when the God Particle was found at CERN. Is there anybody in the scientific community to logically link Big Bang and Black Holes with Higgs Boson? Perhaps none so far.
"Universe is governed by the laws of Science……..but God does not intervene to break the laws", Stephen Hawing. That means God is still kicking and alive.
* Free Thinker wrote this article for The Sangai Express
This article was webcasted on March 24 , 2018.
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