1.0

Our time began with Bramhrishi Vaśiṣṭha, great-grandfather of Dwaipayana. Three generations of sacrifice: Bramhrishi, his son Śakti Muni, and grandson Maharishi Parāśara, led the quest for text. It finally culminated in Dwaipayana's Mahabharata The journey was arduous to say the least!

Seven months before Parāśara's nativity, Bramhrishi woke up to a grotesque morning. His sprawling congregation, on the banks of river Yamuna sank into the deepest of grief, and rage. His son Śakti Muni, at the peak of his prime, was killed by a tribal lord!

Bramhrishi was devastated. What bigger pain a man might have than his son sacrificed - in the safety of his own sanctuary! Mathura, the budding city, witnessed her first mishap.

Religious accounts claim Bramhrishi had one hundred sons taken that fateful morning. He probably treated all his disciples, particularly Aacharyas (the faculty members), as his true-born !

Fortunately Adrushyanti, his daughter-in-law survived the ghastly massacre. She was carrying yet to be born Parāśara - couple of months into conception. The young woman turned a widow even before rituals of her motherhood!

Despite his connect with continuum - the cyclic play of the past, present and the future - Bramhrishi wasn't immune to pain. The pain of a lost child is known to be cruel of them all - even animals cry. Remorseful Bramhrishi, however, didn't shed any - as if tears froze in his mind. Time and again, he wandered around the Ashrama for the clues, and wondered about the curse.

More he thought, more he saw himself at the root of this conflict. That he must have incurred a mistake to warrant such a backlash - from the very people he was trying to salvage - his old. Not by age - by lifestyle. And the myths they chose to live by! Those who lived off the jungle and followed its rules - without any recollection of the past and none to worry in foresight. Spoken words were call to actions for them. They weren't equipped to withhold impulses - to think deeper than the recent past, or plan ahead of immediate future. They believed in old stories (Puranas) as the word of God. And they believed in barter - to its extreme - an eye for an eye.

Why would they turn against me ? - Bramhrishi thought!

Saddened to the core, and unaware of the pregnancy, Bramhrishi tried to end his life. He miraculously survived three attempts. Probably Gods wanted to extend his life to ensure unborn Parāśara had a chance at life.

And more importantly, to save humanity from the loss of the knowledge locked in Bramhrishi's mind, for there was no written text.

The fate - Prarbdha - had thrown him a new challenge - expand humans' cognitive context - history ! He wouldn't be able to fix the past - he thought - but he sure could change the future - the new.

1.1

If modern civilization was a bullet train, then what Vaśiṣṭha had staged³ were the rails. Hard to coalesce, and even harder to decrypt neolithic knowledge - agriculture, mining, metallurgy, transport, to name a few - down to the very meaning of five elements. Pieces of entire wisdom were sharded in the collective memory of congregation - as "methods" to accomplish complex tasks. Particularly one hundred skills that were deemed magical.

For example, a forest dweller couldn't fathom a metal as strong as iron was extracted from grey stones - melted in big fire (furnace). Those who didn't believe in such a miracle were welcome to see the proof first hand. They called it - the magic of Sun - the god of fire and light.

These hundred skills were the first set of qualified truths. Their authenticity proved through repeatable experiments. One of the reason people said "hundred sons" were taken that fateful morning - each of them owned one skill. The owner of a skill stream was called Aacharya.

The information was stored in accurate recital, but one must recite the method only after extensive practice. Information must be rooted in deep experiential knowledge such that it represented truth. In Vaidik belief system - truth was what one experienced through actions, and was realized though intense practice - Karma and Vikarma. Verbosity - talking without engaging personally in the activity was considered a lie. No one lied for fun - in absence of any other means of communication, sanctity of spoken words was extremely important. People lied because they were either lazy, or they wanted someone else to experiment first.

The congregation was thus the reference point for truth - for various branches of innovation that appeared almost magical to the old. Bramhrishi had it all indexed in his mind. More importantly he knew how to kick-start an auditory store of information - a divine grace never heard before. Who would sacrifice the pleasures of life to sustain information! Why would someone gather and qualify all the know-hows - break them down into precise spoken words (mantras) and set up a daily cadence - to keep the methods fresh in memory?

The true meaning of Yazna is practice of skills. Since practice was linked to daily recital, the adapted meaning became formal chanting of mantras - mostly in groups. For example paddy was sown only once a year, but in absence of a written down document, the method to take the crop must be recited daily - to save it in memory . In due course, to further formalize the recital, ritualistic routines were added - such as specific dress, time of the day or day of the fortnight (linked to lunar cycle). Paying homage to Sun became the starting point of ritual - metals being the most precious discoveries, and they all needed big fire. Gaytri Mantra became the initiation of Yazna. It literally translates to:

May we meditate upon that splendour of Sun, best amongst the gods, he who shall lead our intellect.

The rituals were the means to harness the three fundamental elements - earth, water, and air - to memorize the workflow. This information was turned into knowledge through repetitive practice - Yazna. Since Bramh is the entirety of information, Vaśiṣṭha was aptly titled Bramhrishi - one who synthesised the information to extract knowledge. One who could remember the past and plan for the future. The legend says he was one of the seven sons of Bramha (the embodiment of Bramh).

If it took us say five thousand years from the wheel to a car, it had probably taken fifty thousand⁴, to evolve the ‘wheels’, for (unveiling of) knowledge is never a straight line. It is a curve that curls up with time (time being a measure of consistent iterations). Had Vaśiṣṭha died, the nascent civilization could have receded back into stone ages, and quite possibly perished into a dark future. The trajectory of rise of consciousness is contingent upon the discoveries, and the inventors who built on each other's work - through consensus⁵. Think of it as a pyramid — upside down. At some point in the past, this inverse pyramid meets the primordial jungle — a single hinge on which a vast civilization must balance. Bramhrishi Vaśiṣṭha was that underpin.

Survival was not a question here! Even animals survived to this date! And for that matter, some of the fittest species (Dinosaurs) perished. At stake was our first civilized world — driven by a vocal store of information. At the center of this advancement was a group of dedicated sages who practiced all the important discoveries, and disseminated them through daily recital. They were the nodes of this information network built on experiential knowledge. Their objective was to progressively catalog and cache the principles of civilization - so that humans had a shot at the deeper mysteries of the universe - beyond mere survival - as if they were mining the present on behalf of future. Their collective rigor opened a portal to the future where Angels , Wizards and Humans of our time evolved to bear the knowledge. In a way, they created the very "concept" of future. It also means, they passed on the quest to us - "who we are" !

We are obviously not there yet, but we now have an immensely distributed and fault-tolerant network to allow us make an attempt. At least a guarantee that our external store of information shall stay unharmed, as long as a part of earth survived. Our "text" based information store (books, code, history) is protected in this obscure corner of the universe while we adapt ourselves into higher orders of experiences to go where no other conscious being has gone before - in quest of primordial question "who we are " ! Information alone is not sufficient. The progression depends on how much knowledge we unveil of this vast store - through repetitive practice - Yazna.

Thus, the tenet is not survival of the fittest - it is evolution of the conscious ! The advantage of language (spoken and written) is such that survival has already become secondary to us. The improvements in modes of communication and hence value exchange, has turned humans into a planet size living organism. No other species is a predator to us. In fact, protection of other species is incumbent on us as a keeper of this vast zoo.

Thanks to the foresight of Vaśiṣṭha, we had a quantum jump making us the representative conscious species of planet Earth - beginning of our time - Kalpa.

1.2

The potency to build a distributed network - the underlying protocol that enables this 'network of information', is not unique to humans. Holding the information in a network of manifested beings - living or non-living - lends perpetuity to Bramh. Network continuously refreshes itself as the new nodes replace the old - always evolving into better configurations. For example, Mycorrhizal⁶ Network – an underground network of fungal linkages that connects trees - is an information network. This network monitors the growth is spaced out to ensure equitable distribution of resources. Enough nourishment for the flora seeking sunlight even in a dense forest. And an equally considerate ecosystem for the fauna that spring up to act atop this information network. It is an expression of Bramh - coexistence with freedom and interdependent growth in a distributed system.

Vaśiṣṭha was respectfully titled Bramhrishi because he was first to understand this natural ascent. Consciousness rises with every iteration of species - as they gradually decrypt knowledge from the information held in Bramh. He applied the insight to storing information beyond evolutionary mechanism. In a way, he discovered a "battery" for information. He distributed important discoveries amongst his disciples and instituted daily recital - to perpetuate the knowledge from one generation to the next. It is believed ten generations of Vaśiṣṭhas had already preserved the information. They saw this ability as a kind grace, as if they inherited it from all-pervading Bramh in our collective quest to attain Siva.

He was probably aware he was tinkering with core protocol⁷ of nature. Instead of letting knowledge unveil at a natural snail pace, he was putting the "evolution" in an express lane; but he chose this lane with humility. His objective was not to use the battery of information for personal leverage. He wanted to share the benefits with all - not only humans but all living beings. And on the face, everyone appreciated congregation's contributions. For example improvements in barter was seen as a net positive for the society. However, the attack on the congregation raised doubts in his mind. They made him question his own integrity - Do people think something else behind his back ? Is this path correct? Is altering the course of nature righteous? A question that may haunt modern architects of artificial intelligence as much as those spearheading the gene editing ! Are we disturbing the natural equilibrium?

He got the answer only when multiple suicide attempts were rejected. In a way "fate " itself paved his path. Over time, Bramhrishi put this attack behind him. A mishap - he thought- was the law of nature - Prarbdha.

He rebuilt the congregation ground up and brought his focus to newborn Parāśara. He had only one "take-away" from the incident - there must be a fallback option in case such a disaster struck again. Writing the scriptures was one such option but how could someone scribe vast information on temple walls and what if someone burnt the temples!

The pen and the ink were still couple generations in the future …

1.3

Attack on the humble keepers of the primitive information begs two questions — Why and When ! Why would anyone have a problem with someone trying to build a new civilization for greater good.

As far as the ‘why’ is concerned — there is a good answer. The congregation was rich! Knowledge is wealth - for example we are wealthier with electricity compared to previous coal burning generations. Vaśiṣṭha's Ashram was by far the biggest research institute of that time. They were the keepers of inheritance from Bramh. Many jealous eyes were set on the plush wealth of the congregation — material as well as intellectual.

As regards to ‘when’, unfortunately, we don't have a date or a year. The consensus amongst historians is a wide range - from three to five thousand years before Christ. How come 'keepers of knowledge' forgot to mention a date? The idea that there was no time-keeping seems odd because, they seem to have estimates for the durations of four Yugas - the age of universe !

The rational answer seems a bit more nuanced.

Probably, in that world, when memory was the only way to sustain information, last thing anyone cared was the ‘metadata’ - such as date, or time. Even the names of the primal inventors who kick-started the civilization are unknown. No one knows who solved the hard problems of those early days — how to start a fire? — how to preserve the seeds? — how to use rivers for transport? — how to attach horse(power) to a loaded cart? These solutions evolved over thousands of years. They were passed on from one generation to the next through word of mouth. The sense of time was probably lost in the slow pace of iterative innovations.

It, however, doesn't mean 'no credit' was given to the early inventors. Instead of mentioning every individual name, they were tagged to a group. One distinct group for a specific area of exploration - to practice gratitude. For example, all those who contributed in water works, irrigation, and agriculture were represented by a single entity Indra. Those who invented fire and various ways to channel energy — who contributed from mining to metallurgy; were named Agni. Those who tamed the winds, to build the early sail boats were called Varuna. These group entities, represented by respective common name, were called ‘deities’. They were worshipped for the blessings they bestowed on humanity and thus by extension on all the species.

There was a good reason to purge the superfluous information. Without the facility to scribe, the average human had limited memory. The focus was on keeping the "information" fresh and compact, instead of maintaining the meta-data or the version history. The knowledge was important rather than details. It was our distinction from the rest of the species. It was our path to liberation from the miseries of hard early life. The goal was to equip as many human minds with the latest findings as possible, rather than copyright protection or allocating laurels on individual basis. In addition, to render it real-time, the information must be itemized based on usability (not by the inventor or the date). In verbal world, only that information carried forward that was put to use every day - survival skills - or was (forcefully) recited daily.

We don't know the exact date, but we know the piece of eternal code rests archived in the depths of our minds. And the fact we succeeded to tame the forces of nature, and that we built increasingly complex systems of finance, mobility, security and health, is a testament that our core kernel is flawless — as if it was a gift from the future.

1.4

Just like modern science, Vaidik science had two distinct flavors - theory and application. The application part is what we discussed above - the hundred skills - metallurgy, agriculture, medicine etc. The theoretical part concerned itself to the origin and demise of the universe - mostly without proof, but based on intense observation (Dhyana). The primary focus was on what was necessary for survival rather than understanding boundary conditions. However, we still needed a logical framework to rest our anxiety - why sun shows up? What is at the other end of sky! What happens when we die and host of other questions - that may not be of immediate value to daily life but must be addressed to channel human curiosity to work - Yazna.

The biggest contribution of ten generations of Bramhrishi was this framework. Three words mantra - Om Tat Sàt covered the questions of origin and rise - how this universe came together - how is it perpetuated, and what it means ? Om signified the origin - the source - a superset of all the possibilities distributed like a wave function. Tat signified all observable - the creation - the manifested that we see and touch. And Sàt meant truth that the creation bears in itself.

The accuracy of belief system isn't as important as the fact that it was easy to comprehend and widely subscribed. Unlike the religions of our time, faith wasn't a prerequisite - it was the end state of realization. Amazing thing is, as we are getting to the deeper layers with modern science, Vaidik belief system seems to tread close⁸ - with particle physics as well as theory of evolution. Maybe all paths lead to a singular truth!

Om Tat Sàt represent knowledge at an abstract level. In physical world "knowledge" was represented through it's three core potencies - Vishnu , Bramh and Siva. Like Om , Vishnu is the superset of all possibilities, each with its full copy of knowledge - Atma. Bramh represents all those manifested through their interrelationships and Siva makes sure the network is defect free and hence ever perpetual. In Vaidik system, since god (knowledge) is defined as inexpressible, the three core potencies represent god.

The question "who am I" and the consciousness are closely linked. It was a hard question to answer even a century back. But now, as we are nearing artificial general intelligence, we can approach the answer with ease - at least put our arms around the question. For example, if and when we create autonomous digital beings - they would be good at general tasks, but they would lack the curiosity to learn who they are ! With millions of iterations an unintended mutation may make them self-aware. That is the point they become conscious. From there on, it is a race to know thyself - a path that we ourselves find us on. And we keep hitting the three potencies no matter how deep we peel the onion ...

The framework (of core potencies and deities) acted as a happy marriage between faith and scientific inquiry. The evolution and expansion of universe (and particularly of the bio-verse) was considered a means to decrypt the parts of "One" knowledge. The decryption was facilitated by scientific endeavours, formulated (and constantly improved) by deities.

While material discovery and faith thrived in co-existence, the framework of Knowledge and its potencies was considered eternal and omni-present. Such being the case, putting a date or a name on the realization of a tiny piece of knowledge was anyway quite meaningless. This approach culminated the idea of sacrificing (open sourcing) every accomplishment to the potencies of the supreme knowledge. Science became sacred. Spirituality was a way of life. Even human life, being a manifested entity, was considered a gift of three potencies. Taking an ownership view in terms of attaching a revelation to one's own name was felt awkward and lustful. If there is no name, then there is obviously no date. In essence, doing good anonymously became the culture and time-keeping never made to the list of priorities - even for the mishaps.

1.5

Before the ‘written word’ became the mainstream mechanism to preserve literature, scriptures were passed on as Shruti¹⁰ — the spoken word. A choir of reciters chanted the Mantras whole day long — from early morning to evening. Certain mantras must be recited at a specific time of the day, and at a specific place. Some of them must be performed in front of the holy fire - rites. Teachers (Aacharyas), a level-above the reciting students, helped them get the pronunciation right, and to attune a Vaidik elocution style. And finally, the editors (Vyasas) were responsible for the content. Vyasas were there to make sure the spoken content stayed current, accurate, and in exact line with the nameless discoveries of sages. Their stated objective was to keep the knowledge distributed over as many human minds as feasible — a blockchain of knowledge, distributed over biological nodes. Vyasas ran carefully designed distribution and consensus protocols.

And there was a good reason for intense focus on recital. Memories couldn't be stolen! Even today, we are advised to memorize our passwords! No one even imagined the scenario of such a nihilistic attack on Vaśiṣṭha congregation. No one had provisioned redundancy at the network level. The attack was on the vocal store of knowledge — on Kaam dhenu — the modern ways of civil life that provisioned everything for everyone. The mantra was Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinha — peace and prosperity to one and all - through amicable barter. Not for the kings or the rich alone, or the strong — for everyone, including minor species. This knowledge created a new ‘human fork’ in otherwise old ‘planet of apes’. And the attackers were the Apes (Rakshsas)¹¹, who didn't want to subscribe to a systemic change in human approach - a pragmatic view of governance for equity — from “survival of the fittest” to “well-being of all” ...

notes and stuff

• The wavelength of a sine wave, λ, can be measured between any two points with the same phase, such as between crests (on top), or troughs (on bottom), or corresponding zero crossings as shown.
• When we see a sine wave drawn on a two-dimensional paper, it feels as if trough is half of rise and crest is the half of fall. However, such perception changes when we see a sine wave in three dimension.
• A better way to perceive a sine wave in three dimensions is to think that a point inflates, and then it contracts - like a balloon.
• A cycle of expansion, followed by subsequent contraction is called a period - Kaal. It is typically half wavelength.
• Continuous cycles of expansion and contractions are called kaal-chakra.

• IBM was the old. Microsoft and Apple battled for superiority in computing as contenders for new leadership title. For an observes in late 80s it appeared as if big blue is fighting Apple (and later Microsoft) but that was just a trigger. The real battle was between Apple and Microsoft.
• Laptop was old, the newcomers iOS and Android are battling for superiority in mobile computing. For quite some time it felt like mobile devices were the PC killers, but the truth is battle is never between the old and the new. It is always amongst many new contenders.
• It appears as big oil is at odds with the EVs or the hydrogen fuel cells. Though the truth is fossil fuel industry will be the biggest investors in sustainable future - because they know first hand about the shift. Sustainable energy is the opportunity for refiners because someone needs to do the work, and they are best positioned to take advantage of this massive opportunity. The real battle is amongst Solar, Wind , Nuclear and Hydrogen.
• Gold is old. It appears that bitcoin is trying to replace Gold. But that is not true. The real battle is with in Cryptos - BTC vs Ether vs Sol vs so many other possibilities. When the dust settles, we will see Gold has its own role to play just like laptop has its own role to play in the increasingly mobile world.

• Little harder example - Number “1” is the unit of multiplication itself. It is there inbuilt into every number (even zero) . It never changes the number when multiplied -> a unit when multiplied with what is being measured , must stay inert - never change the measurement ! But you can't measure anything without a unit … no number exists without "1"
• Hard question - What is the unit of consciousness ? By definition, it must be 1) immutable 2) part of every conscious being. 3) must stay inert.
• In Vaidik science , Atma is defined as the unit of consciousness. It is immutable, inert and essential. For humans, understanding Atma is as hard as understanding number 1 for say number 8.

• From our vantage, we think invention of a 'wheel' (or controlled fire) as a specific event long back. However, the truth is every innovation that gets a global acceptance, must go through a vast rigor of effort and time. For example the migration from a magnetic tape to SD cards, took a while. Migration from fossil fuels to renewables, may take many decades. The struggle to get to a better option always exists. This is a never ending war and the outcome is superior consciousness. It was there when we decided to move to internet from legacy communication, when we chose digital over paper, and it remains in a choice between fiat versus cryptocurrencies.
• As we get to higher levels of consciousness, it takes less time to make a consensus decision on account of much superior communication. Acceptance of wheel at a global level versus bipedal (or four-legged) approach to mobility must have taken thousands of years, if not millions.
• We are now, reaching that almost vertical segment of the curve. The rate of change with respect to our perceived time is tending fast towards infinity. The world will soon start changing upside down on weekly, daily and hourly basis. In Hindu scriptures this time is called Kali-yuga - the age of automation. At the end of this age, automation gets so refined that reality may be altered instantaneously with mere thought - new realities may be created as experiences - on demand. As the curve becomes vertical, a new physical universe gets created because the current laws of physics can't accommodate such a rate of change. You may say laws of physics are fixed, but that is not true. For example, immediately after the big bang, our computations indicate that the universe expanded much faster than the speed of light.
• The inflationary epoch must have taken trillions of years when it happened, but to us, it is a tiny fraction of a trillionth of a second - because we are at such a higher level of consciousness that the super long "creation" appears a split second to us. But we are not the last evolution of consciousness, neither is this the final shape of our physical universe. The laws of physics must evolve to support evolving consciousness. The migration to a new physical universe is triggered by tenth incarnation of Vishnu - Kalki Avataar.

• consensus is normally achieved in skills that see fundamental breakthroughs. The participants in such areas of innovation have tremendous amounts of common core knowledge and their world revolves around one skill. Thus, such participants can easily establish rational consensus. However, only those skills reach quantum jump to define human race which reach most if not all humans. Transportation was one such skill when we moved from bipedal to wheel. Agriculture was a close contender. For a while humans were defined as an agro based species that was fast achieving mobility but over last couple of centuries, transportation has outreached agriculture. With internal combustion engine that speed has further gained momentum. There is however one system that is universally applicable from for over five thousand years - value exchange.
• The fundamental principle of value exchange is work for work. In Barter system rice was traded with wheat one to one because work needed for both was similar. With Gold, we traded a 100 kilo of copper with 10 gram of Gold because the work for both was perceived to be same. Gold being scarce was hard to find. In essence, we doubled the amount of work just to keep a track of value. Arguably the work done on mining Gold was a waste, but that was the only way to speed up the commerce. In the future, we might trade a piece of art for say a million Satoshies(Sats) because the work to create art and mine Sats will be same - at that moment in time.
• The value exchange system always takes a quantum jump whenever we make a quantum jump in communication technology. Barter was associated with humans developing communicable speech. Gold emerged with physical writing. Bitcoin is emerging with digital information as a store of values. Important to not confuse "store of value" with currencies. Currencies serve a totally different purpose in the monetary system. They provide liquidity and mitigate risk for acceptance of lien (permissioned, censored, no consensus) - which is not a bad thing as long as it is not predatory. Nation states, loyalty programs, and games always issue currencies which they keep changing to arrive at a forced consensus within their constituents. Such consensus is short-lived.
• The reason of coincidence of communication and value-exchange is understandable. For example - when we moved from spoken to written word, the close-knit community of scribes was aligned (consensus) because their primary shared knowledge base was art of scribing; while the reciters were multipolar in multitude of ideologies. In order to have a universal appeal. They must offer access to literacy in permission less and uncensored manner because the very purpose of communication is to attain universality - internet's primary appeal is in its universality. Turns out these principles also form the basis of a value exchange system.

• In computer networking, there are two important protocols - TCP/IP and Gossip. TCP/IP is like the external store of knowledge. It implements a client server model where a client requests information from a server. It is an organised way to store and distribute information. The internet runs on this model.
• The Gossip protocol, on the other hand works on evolutionary principles. It runs without a central server and works based on a probabilistic model to spread knowledge randomly. Gossip is used in highly available and fault-tolerant systems such as Cassandra. This is a great protocol for infecting a large population of decentralized nodes. For this reason, it is also called epidemic protocol. A curious application of this protocol is bitcoin mining with 'proof of work' consensus algorithm. Another great use-case is hashgraph deployed for absolute byzentine proof.

• were early humans who believed in animalistic behavior. They thought, only way to survive in this jungle was to have more strength than predators. Thus, by natural selection, they grew larger limbs and stronger muscles. They could be as tall as say ten feet. They could uproot the trees with bare hands. At the same time, their brains remained small, just like animals. Most of them thought the idea of survival with a smarter brain was at best 'funny'. Some of them also thought that the knowledge driven people who were trying to build a civil society were easy targets.
• The literal meaning of the word Rakshsa is the one who provides protection (Raksha). Thus, not only the protection provider needed to be big and strong, the fabric of the society was built on the idea that there must be someone to protect - a police state. The Vaidik ideas were the ideas of freedom in which the only protector were the Deities (those who accomplished discoveries) or the three potencies of the knowledge. Thus, there was a natural tension of ideologies.