Where is the center of the universe? Where is the x=0, y=0, z=0 and t=0 for the universe. Before Galileo, people thought the Earth was the center of the universe, and everything revolved around the earth. Galileo peered into the stars using his telescope; he found that the earth and all the other planets moved around the sun. He realized the sun was the center of the solar system we live in. Using more powerful telescopes, people found that there are billions of stars like the sun in the Milky Way; our solar system is part of this galaxy. All the stars in this galaxy are rotating around the center of the Milky Way. Cosmologists have now discovered there are millions of such galaxies in the universe and all these galaxies moving in relation to each other. There is continuous movement in this vast universe. To find the 0,0,0,0 coordinate for the entire universe, would mean this point should always be stationery or fixed, as compared to the continuously moving universe.

Science states that the big bang is the t=0 for the universe. This t=0 may have been correct at the time of the big bang, but right now the big bang is 13.7 billion old or the t= -13.7 billion years. It is definitely not t=0. Logically the position of ‘now’ can only be t=0. This ‘now’ is the fixed point and it is also the coordinate for x=0, y=0 and z=0. Where do you find this the ‘now’? Time flows continuously, what is ‘now’ becomes past in a millisecond.

Science is still looking but it will never find this immovable (0,0,0,0) in the space time framework, it has to be outside this framework. If you apply the teachings of Vedanta we can find this fixed, non moving coordinate.

1. Let us study the external objects ‘out there’. If we can see a far away star, say 5 million light years away, it will take light from that star 5 million years to reach us. Now we see the sun, the light from the sun takes 8 min to reach us. We look at the moon; light will take 3 sec to reach us. We look at the plane flying in the sky, at 30,000 feet; light will take about 300 milliseconds to reach us. As the distance of the object being viewed is reduced, the time taken for light to reach us or for us to see it is much smaller. I now look at the tree outside the window; the time taken for light to reach me is 10 microseconds (10^-6). I am looking at the computer screen 1 ft away typing this article, light will take about 1 nanosecond (10^-9). You even watch your thoughts, this also takes some time to form, and they are not instantaneous. As the distance is reducing the time taken for the light is reducing. If you extrapolate this backward, the only logical place for t to be equal to 0 is the Observer, who is watching all these objects within your mind. We have said in other articles that Atma (your underlying reality) is the Observer, so it the Atma within you, where t becomes 0. This t=0 is, in a sense, beyond time, it is always ‘now’. If you think about it, the center of the universe is the Atma or the Observer, which is within you, me, or everyone. The earth, the sun, the center of the Milky Way is not the center of the universe. The center of the universe, which is your Atma/Observer, is right within you. Vedanta has always said in all its scriptures that Atma is the center of the universe. If the reasoning provided here is correct, it is only logical for science to agree and accept what Vedanta has been saying for centuries.

If you or anyone else looks around the universe, they will reach the same conclusion. Everyone has their own t=0, which is within themselves. This will apply to every living being in the universe. It would seem, therefore, I have my own t=0, you have your own t=0 and every living being in the universe has their own t=0. The only way to understand this, is that each and every living being creates their own universe and this universe starts with t=0. You cannot create your own universe and be separate from it. Science has to correct its thinking; the observer is non-separate from the universe.

As we have mentioned earlier space and time are inter-related. If Atma is t=0, than Atma is also the x=0, y=0, z=0 coordinate for the universe.

2. If you look closely at what we have just discussed, you would agree that whatever we see out there is all dated or past. That far away star is 1 million old, the sun is 8 min old, the moon is 3 sec old, the plane in the sky is 300 milliseconds old, the tree outside my window is 10 microseconds old, and the computer in front of me is 1 nanosecond old. We do not see any ‘now’ objects, we only see ‘memory objects’ (for lack of a better word), which are no longer current. The full universe is only made up of ‘memory objects’. This applies to both living and non living objects. Can anyone show me ‘now objects’? However hard you try, you won’t find any ‘now object’ in this universe, you will only find ‘memory objects’. We are so used to this that we don’t realize what’s really happening. I am sure scientists are aware of this, but think of it, perhaps as trivial.