Posted on: 24 Oct 2022
1. Is the boundary of the universe unreachable by human beings, as said in the Quran?
[Shri Anil asked: Quran:(55:33) O company of jinn and men, if you have the power to go beyond the bounds of the heavens and the earth, go beyond them! Yet you will be unable to go beyond them for that requires infinite power.
Swami, I came across the above verse in the Quran (one of the interpretations out of several interpretations found in the internet). It seems to be in line with Your divine knowledge which states that the boundary of the universe is unreachable by any human being. The following interpretation of the verse 51:47 also seems to support this.
Quran:(51:47) “And it is We who have built the universe with [Our creative] power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it.” I request Your comment on the above that my understanding is correct.]
Swami replied:- Going beyond the boundaries of the universe means recognizing the existence of the unimaginable God. Infinite power means the omnipotence of that unimaginable God. The soul not being able to go beyond the boundaries of the universe means that no soul can imagine God. The soul is different from God because the soul has less potency. We are expanding the universe means that we are expanding our worldly desires so that we are moving farther and farther away from God (As we are moving away more and more from God, it means in relative sense that the world is expanding and we are responsible for this expansion of the world. If the expansion of the world is in absolute sense, it can be done by the omnipotent God alone.). The unimaginable God exists beyond the boundary of space or universe (assuming that all the space is filled by universe). In this case, beyond the boundary of space, space cannot exist. Hence, beyond the boundary of space, you cannot speak about expansion and contraction since expansion and contraction are the properties of space. By expansion, an item becomes greater and by contraction, an item becomes smaller. Both these can make the space or universe bigger or smaller respectively. But, by the expansion of space or universe, the unimaginable God (the unimaginable domain) will not be contracted to become a smaller unimaginable God.
2. If the boundary of the universe exists and God is beyond it, doesn't God get smaller if the universe expands?
[A person commented as below regarding the boundary of the universe and the existence of God. I request You to kindly reply to this. The Universe is just infinite and endless because the universe has no boundary. If there is a boundary, and if God exists beyond this boundary, and if the Universe is expanding, then God is getting smaller, contracting, or shrinking. But, there is no boundary. So, there is nothing to be concerned about nor worry about here.]
Swami replied:- The Universe or creation is inherently unreal and God is inherently the absolute reality. Expansion of your dream-space does not make you smaller. The answer for your objection is clearly explained in the answer of the first question.
3. Can energy be created first without any entity that possesses energy?
[“It is a very clear point that the creation of energy was the first process of God and hence, energy was the first item that was created by God.” To the above piece of Your divine knowledge, a person commented in the followed way. Swami kindly please give reply to it.
Energy couldn't have been "the first item that was created by God," because energy is not an independent substance but a dependent attribute of some physical stuff or thing. Therefore, not even God could first have created nothing but "pure energy" without any substantial entity that possesses the energy. Where there is energy, there must be some energized matter or material substance! My point is that God couldn't have created energy/mass without creating something else at the same time whose energy/mass it is, i.e. something else (some substantial entity) which has energy/mass.]
Swami replied:- Scientists say that electromagnetic radiations are independent. When matter is a condensed form of energy, how can you say that matter is primary and energy is secondary? The rest mass of photons can be taken as the subtle property of energy itself. During the process of condensation of energy, the increase in the concentration of the energy increases the subtle mass to become gross mass, which is well perceived by us. You should not think that gross mass of the matter alone is the mass and say that any item possessing any quantity of mass must be matter.