It is the usual impression that oriental knowledge essentially consists of speculation concerning the ultimate nature of things beyond what is available by pure observation. The elucidations of these problems are entirely philosophical in nature and concern the Supreme Brahman as the ultimate goal for the purpose of knowing what we are. At least, this is what an ordinary student, whether he be trained in Indian philosophy or not, is led to believe.
It is obvious that in the course of 5000 years, while such speculations occupied an important position in oriental learning, there are several other aspects to it, particularly in the fields of logic, mathematics and even in the various physical and biological sciences. One can find many examples of works of ancient and medieval times specifically devoted to the study of material sciences and logic. In this long process of accumulating knowledge of all types, by the seers of the past, at least from what is available to us now, one comes across many statements which at first sight find no obvious connection with the physical world. It also seems that many of these statements have been derived through intense philosophical speculations. In the light of new developments in modern science, particularly Quantum Mechanics and Relativity, these statements now seem to provide excellent descriptions of aspects of the physical world which have come to be established only in very recent times. As a demonstration of this fact, the book The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra is very convincing. It is an unusual book in that several aspects of the discoveries of modern science are described with an authority that can only come from someone who has taken part in these investigations and at the same time there is almost a continuous commentary on these physical discoveries with speculations from Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The suggestions from these ancient quotations take a more intense meaning when looked at through the interpretation of that great oriental scholar, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and the concordance between these ancient thoughts and the presently known facts of nature becomes startling. One, therefore, would like to know how much of this concordance is coincidental and intuitive and how much has been arrived at by pure profound philosophical deduction and introspection. It is clear that none of the discoveries of modern science were available to these ancient seekers of knowledge, but one would, however, like to ask the question: is it possible for man to lead himself to an idealized mental state by which he can discuss the nature of things on a purely philosophical basis and arrive at appropriate generalized conclusions? … .
Concerning the true value of ancient thought, an objection that could be raised is that it can be nothing but coincidence and intuitive speculation, as the language of modern science is essentially mathematics, which in its present form is barely 300 years old, and if no scientific statement is possible without mathematics, how can truths of nature be arrived at without it? However, the question of a language by which information is passed on, and discussion is possible, is something which requires deep consideration.… .
The book has an excellent description of how energy is transferred from matter to energy and again from energy into matter in high energy elementary particle processes.