There are several branches of science where our ancestors have made remarkable contributions in ancient India. In this lecture we confine ourselves to 1.Number Systems 2.Geometry 3.Trigonometry. 4.Astronomy 5.Genetic Engineering and 6.Metallurgy, and provide a glimpse of advances made thousands of years ago, by quoting the relevent Sanskrit passages and the historians' comments on them. We touch upon the following contributions:

Agnihotra is the ancient Yagna or homa originated in Indian. The healing power of Agnihotra and other Yagna like Om Tryambakam homa and Vyhruti homa is known as ‘Homa therapy’. It has application in all the spheres of life. Its application in agriculture is referred to as Homa organic farming (HOF) since it requires organic farming as a base. It is a low-cost technology process for the betterment of crops, microbes, animals, human beings and plants in agriculture, horticulture and forestry, which purifies the atmosphere through a specially prepared fire. The HOF heals and improves the lands that we cultivate rather than polluting them with chemicals, provides an opportunity to grow superior crops without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides and purifies the atmosphere.

It has three specific requirements namely i) burning of cow dung cakes in a copper semi-pyramid of fixed size ii) offering of a few grains of whole unpolished, uncooked, organically grown rice and ghee (clarified unsalted butter) to the fire exactly at the local sun rise and sun set, iii) and chanting of specific mantras. The two products of Agnihotra beneficial to the mankind and all forms of life are its smoke and ash which are helpful to the man as well as the environment with the same efficacy.

India is the birth place of Agnihotra and finds its place in Vruksha Ayurveda. Due to its beneficial effects on human beings, animals, insects, micro-organisms and plants, it is now practiced in 75 countries and the leader among them is South American Republic of Peru. Four Agricultural universities in India, namely Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, CSA Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad in Karnataka have started experiments on HOF since the past 5-6 years.

Modern science takes care of improving the quality of soil and water but not the atmosphere. Ancient science of Homa reveals that more than 75 per cent nutrition to the plants comes from the atmosphere. If the atmosphere is made more nutritious and fragrant by Homa, a type of protective coating comes on the plants and therefore pests and diseases do not thrive. Respiration process hastens and the toxic effect of choking and death due to atmospheric toxins is reduced.

In the soil rejuvenated by Homa, different types of microorganisms thrive and create healthy micro-flora and micro-fauna. After the creation of such healthy micro environment, creatures like earthworms thrive better. They eat soil, digest it and again replenish the soil. Improvement in the quality and quantity of the produce, reduction of cost of labour and saving on agrochemicals are other benefits of HOF. ‘Homa Therapy’ (HOF) produce is more superior in taste, size, texture, shelf life. and nutrition because of elimination of toxins.

Although the practice of ‘Agnihotra fire’ was known in India since ancient times, it was Shri Gajanan Maharaj of Shivapuri, Akkalkot in Solapur district of Maharashtra who rejuvenated the practice of daily performance of Agnihotra in 1944 and opened the flood gates to all, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, sex of the performer. He directed his disciple Shri Vasant Paranjape to spread Agnihotra message in the world who visited more than 180 countries to spread the message and knowledge of Agnihotra. Shri Paranjape said “if you test ‘Agnihotra fire’ with an oscilloscope, you will notice a special sound coming from the fire. It is the sound that heals although there are other things also . Fire produces sound but it also reacts to sound. The act of chanting mantra creates a resonance effect which invigorates the cells of plants, leading to better reproductive cycles.

There are several interesting case histories of Agnihotra or Homa Therapy.On the dreadful night of 2-3 December, 1984, MIC gas leaked out of the factory of Union Carbide Corporation of India in Bhopal, some 30-35 people who conducted ‘Om Tryambakam homa’ throughout the night survived the onslaught as against 15,247 people who became victims of the deadly gas. A patient with kidney cancer, brain tumor and leukemia in Australia and a 20 year young HIV affected girl in Ecuador have been cured. Under ground water was attracted in the field in Om Shree Dham in Australia due to practice of ‘Agnihotra fire’ where there was no under ground water available. Water with high arsenic content has been converted to potable drinking water due to ‘Homa therapy’ in Queensland, Australia. The list is endless.

Mrs. Karin Heschl from Austria is a Homa therapy volunteer. Karin was staying in her farm house in Austria which is close to Chernobyl in Ukraine when the nuclear disaster took place in 1986. The Govt. inspectors found normal radioactivity in her farm’s fodder, water and cow-milk samples as against many-fold radioactivity found in the surroundings. She attributed this miraculous finding to the daily performance of Agnihotra or Homa. Since then Karin has been a ‘Homa therapy’ volunteer in India. Bruce Johnson from Australia got cured of his chronic asthma 18 years back due to Agnihotra practice and has since then been camping in India with his wife Anne Godfrey to spread the knowledge of Agnihotra under the banner of Fivefold Path Mission (FFPM) in Tapovan in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra.

Agnihotra, involving fumigation, is thus a super scientific phenomenon beyond the concepts of present day science. It is worthwhile for national laboratories and universities to conduct studies on Agnihotra to put it on a more scientific format so that the society is better equipped to fight the environmental pollution, nuclear disasters and the like.

A frequently asked question (FAQ) about India is that if the Indian Vedic culture is so old and so ‘advanced’ why India has not developed like other developed countries. The answer lies in the very question! When three hundred years of industrialization has brought the world to the brink of disaster and if India had followed the same materialistic path of the West, we would have devastated the earth long back. Nature, which is considered Divine, is preserved and protected not really for any religious or fanatic reasons but for the very survival of the mankind. On the contrary modern science and technology aims at exploiting Nature for all our requirements both basic as well as so called comforts. It is these comforts that are causing enormous discontent to the man and damage to the Nature.

India’s emphasis has always been on contentment but never on money based happiness. It is always on durable and sustainable progress and not on instant money, instant fame, instant results or even instant health and beauty. Ancient Indian culture and life were Faith based while modern civilization is knowledge based. Carried away by the gloss and glitter of modern life, every body was ready to drop his ancient wisdom and religious guidelines and drop all -isms for a so called happy living and tag on to a new religion which may be called “Economism”. Consequently people are carried away by the very un - Indian concept that money gives happiness or happiness is proportional to money. So money making has become the biggest preoccupation for man. This is very ably supported by the government’s changed policies of privatization and globalization in recent times. People have not only been permitted but also encouraged to manufacture and sell goods limitlessly. With the markets wide open, corporate culture has taken the world by storm. Business schools have mushroomed. Innovation in marketing strategies has crossed all limits of decency, tolerance and ethics. Advertisements have become unbearably aggressive, loud and vulgar. Slowly they have started affecting not only the human mind but also the human environment. Government also used advertisements to support the policies of the ruling party.

The tremendous impact of persuasive advertisement is familiar to Indians wherein four thieves successively persuade a Brahmin carrying a goat for Yagna or ritual sacrifice, to believe it was the untouchable dog he was carrying and not a goat. Finally the Brahmina leaves the goat then and there and walks off. All the four thieves gang up and make a feast of the goat. We can cite a number of mind polluting advertisements which were inaccurate, misguiding and irritating that are unduly forced on the public. And the product manufacturers have made millions on foods, beverages, soft drinks, fertilizers, cosmetics, edible oils, textiles etc by heavy advertisement. How do illiterates in rural areas know what is true? And what is not? They waste their meager resources in buying useless and dangerous things just because their role model - the urbanite - does it. Is it not shocking to see a 9th class student, who may be just around 14 years, reading as a part of his syllabus about “cut throat competition, aggressive marketing strategies and need for persuasive advertising”? Carried away by various advertisements youngsters are burning out fast amidst a horrendous 24 x 7culture of over work coupled by dangerous food and rest habits, and becoming a wreck by the time they are 35 - 40. Today we have reached a stage where we don’t believe what our elders say, what our scriptures say but if some thing appears in the media they take it very seriously. Thus the corporate culture is eating away the vitals of our society.

While the World Trade Center bombing in 2001 may be taken as a reaction to the unethical and inhuman spread of coporatization and the worldwide economic melt led by Lehman Brothers is a clear indication of the hollowness of the global economic progress, the dark future for the planet highlighted by Copenhagen Summit is but real. With the concept of materialism going deeper in to the psyche of every one in the society, there is large scale discontent in the society, which is completely stratified, with each stratum trying to corner as much benefits as possible at the cost of other. People in each stratum are oblivious to the pain and suffering of the others. Globalization has only worsened the situation because vested interests from different countries ganged up to exploit the poor and helpless.

Advertisements cause a lot of environmental pollution also by degrading land, air, water and organic life because they use cheap and non-biodegradable materials, harsh lighting and sound. Noise and light cause substantial damage to the senses. The disturbing findings of a study released by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that thousands of people around the world may be dying prematurely or succumbing to disease due to the insidious effects of chronic noise exposure. Some controls may be there on sound pollution in our society but we are neither aware nor care for light pollution, which may cause: increased headache incidence, worker fatigue, medically defined stress, decrease in sexual function and increase in anxiety. Exposure to light at night is supposed to suppress the normal nocturnal production of the hormone melatonin (which rests and awakens the body at the right time), leading to increased breast cancer. Light pollution also causes lot of damage to several birds, insects, marine life etc.

The whole world appears to desperately catch up with USA, with out realizing the seriousness of their problems. It is worth recalling the efforts of Kalle Lasn, founder of the Adbuster magazine and the author of the book “Culture Jam” who highlights on the toxic effects of advertisements on the mind. What we can do to stop this corporate attack on the society? What we can do to stop this rot? Yes! Every body can participate in this movement. Buy only if you really need some thing. Never buy for status or for competition and avoid buying corporate and branded goods. Let us realize that we have to pay the price for every thing we get although we cannot get everything for a price. Let not the consumerism consume the consumer. The Ancient Indian concepts of science never permitted such extravagance, vulgar affluence or vandalism of the earth and its resources.

According to Modern Science Earth is one of the nine (or eight?) planets that revolves round the Sun, our nearest star. Earth is made up of matter in three different forms solid, liquid and gas. We also recognize a biosphere which is the global sum of all ecosystems, which is also called the zone of life on Earth. That means Earth contains life but Earth itself is lifeless. More than that, the Earth contains enormous resources ever ready to be exploited by man for his unlimited needs and greed. This concept has taken a severe battering in the recent years when serious environmental problems have cropped up with decreasing biomass and dangerous increase of green house gases, leading to numerous problems including global warming and climate change. As a natural consequence or by a strange coincidence, the economic model of the West, in particular that of US, which the entire developing world was eager to emulate, collapsed like a pack of cards, at least slowing down a mindless ruination land and people in the name of development. Even in the West, there were and are great scientists and thinkers who are opposed to the mindless growth of modern science and technology.

Then comes a great relief in the form of James Lovelock’s Hypothesis (which is now accepted as a theory) of Gaia. What is Gaia? In simple terms there is a living being bigger, more ancient, and more complex than anything we have imagined and that is Gaia, and that is the Earth. A billion years after its formation, our planet was occupied by a meta-life form which began an ongoing process of transformation. All the life forms of the planet are part of Gaia. The life forms of earth in their diversity co-evolve and contribute interactively to produce and sustain the optimal conditions for the growth and prosperity not of themselves, but of the larger whole, Gaia. That the very makeup of the atmosphere, seas, and terrestrial crust is the result of radical interventions carried out by Gaia through the evolving diversity of living creatures.

Unlike in the case of Venus and Mars who are in dead equilibrium, Earth is "far from equilibrium state”. The difference is Gaia, which transforms the outer layer of the planet into environments suitable to its further growth. By the nature of its activity Earth seemed to qualify as a living being. The biota and the biosphere taken together form a part but not all of Gaia. Gaia has continuity with the past back to the origins of life, and in the future as long as life persists.”

Lovelock points out that Gaia, being ancient and resourceful enough to have carried out these successive changes of the planet, is herself probably not endangered by the human foul play, so to say. Rather, the danger is to the human race, not only from our own actions, but also by Gaia's reaction to them. If taken advantage of, the idea of Gaia may facilitate the task of converting destructive human activities to constructive and cooperative behavior.

Looking at these arguments we cannot but agree with some of the most popular and accepted theses about the universe and in particular the Mother earth that are conceptually and qualitatively superior as mentioned in Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Darsanas of ancient India. The fact that the forces of Nature are personified and deified to create a sense of awe and discipline among the people does not in any way reduce their scientific spirit. In India some people when the get up from the bed and land their feet on the ground pray “O Goddess Vishnu Patni (Bhumata or Mother Earth), please forgive me for putting my feet on you!” When they dig the Earth they say “Oh mother Earth, when we dig you and put a plant please allow it grow well.

In the process may we not trespass or hurt you.” Whenever there is a construction on the ground, it is invariably started with “Bhumipuja”, worship of the Earth. There are countless references in the scriptures where great respect is shown to Bhumata.

n fact it would have been easier for an Indian scientist to propose a similar theory of Bhumata being a giant living organism, if only our scientists had the conviction and courage and if only we had a little respect for our ancient Indian sciences. Such an initiative from any scientist of our country prior to James Lovelock’s hypothesis would have commanded as much respect as the work of Sir C.V.Raman or Jagdish Chandra Bose. It is often asked if India was a great civilization going back to millennia how come it is so under developed? Any sensible person will understand that if modern science and technology brought the earth to the brink of disaster in just about 200-300 years, one could imagine what would have happened to Mother Earth with this kind of science and technology in five thousand years or even more. The Vedic concepts of science never permitted vandalism of the earth and its resources. Drawing the resources from the Earth is supposed to be done as painlessly as we draw milk from a cow. If a baby under breast feeding hurts the mother it gets spanked spontaneously. But the mother’s love is not at all tainted by this act. So is the case with Mother Earth. Her reactions to our misdeeds in the form of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, landslides and wildfires are perhaps compulsory, optimal and done as a duty to maintain order in Nature.

The great Seer Adi Sankaracharya has established an elaborate three-tier approach to Vedantic literature. The highest level comprises his commentaries on Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita, which together are known as Prasthanatraya. The middle level involves various Prakaranas, where more elaborate explanations and analyses are to be found about different concepts and aspects in Vedanta. Below come the lower level covering various Strotras which are easily recited by the general public but contain all the Vedantic teaching in praise of Lord. Panchikaranam, which comes under the category of Prakaranas, thus belong to the middle level. Adi Sankaraacharya’s Panchikaranam together with Suresvaracharya’s Varttikam or explanation and elaboration of the subject provides a complete and easy understanding of the process of Quintuplication.

 The sound Om is the quintessence of the Vedas and reveals the Reality to those who are in search of it. The Brahman is the unmanifest seed of this universe. From this Brahman was born space with sound as its unique quality. Space manifested as wind, which has the unique quality of the sense of touch. The wind further manifested as the fire which has form and color. From fire came water with unique quality of taste. Then came the earth which has the unique quality of smell. The Cosmic Person with these five subtle elements, which evolve into gross elements, is the core of all living beings and the manifest universe. It has to be remembered that while the cause is always subtle, the effect is gross.

The wise refer to the process of Panchikaranam as follows: firstly the subtle elements starting with earth have to be divided into two equal parts. Then one half of every element has to be further subdivided into four equal parts. The four small parts of every element have to be sequentially distributed equally among the other four elements. Thus the gross space now has five parts, including four the four smaller parts of the other elements, beginning with the wind. This process repeats with the other elements. The quintuplicated elements and their elementals put together become the physical body of the Cosmic Person.

One of the most important methodologies to unfold the Reality is the Adhyatma- Adhibhuta-Adidaiva model. Adhyatma is the individual Soul or Jeevatma. Adhibhuta is all perishable objects that is matter. Adhidaiva is the shining Purusha representing the divine intelligence. The quintuplication is the last stage of this model of creation.

Unlike in modern science there is a perceiver and the perceived in Vedanta. The totality of everything perceived is matter and the totality of all who perceive is the mind. But the division between the matter and mind is unreal like the two poles of the same magnetic field. It is like a monolithic knowingness or awareness which appears as both matter and mind. It is beyond the limitations of time and space.  It is the very origin of time and space. It is the eternal Being which becomes this universe.