What does Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle share with the Nasadiya Sukta’s declaration that before creation there was “neither existence nor non-existence”? More than you might expect.
In this fourth episode of the Sangam Talks series on physics and Bharatiya Gyan Parampara, Dr. Mrityunjoy Guha Majumdar (adjunct professor, NIAS Bengaluru) takes host Nebashish on a meticulous journey through quantum indeterminacy and its deep resonances — and critical differences — with Indian philosophical traditions. The session opens by correcting a common misconception: Heisenberg’s principle concerns the simultaneous measurement of conjugate variables like position-momentum, not a general limit on knowledge. Dr. Majumdar then traces how the Nasadiya Sukta, Yoga Vashishtha, Jain Anekantavada’s seven-fold Syadvada, and Advaita Vedanta’s Anirvachaniyata — the doctrine of absolute inexpressibility — each address ontological and epistemic uncertainty on their own terms, without naively equating them with quantum mechanics. Along the way, Puranic tales of Hiranyakashyapu and Ardhanarishvara illuminate the philosophical absurdity of binary absolutism, while David Bohm’s implicate order, John Wheeler’s “it-from-bit” participatory universe, quantum contextuality (Kochen-Specker theorem), and entropic uncertainty relations provide the modern physics counterpart. The episode closes with a reflection on why embracing uncertainty — as both science and dharshana insist — is not paralyzing, but liberating.
About The Speaker:
Dr Mrittunjoy Guha Majumdar is an Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, and an Assistant Professor at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Delhi NCR. He holds a PhD from the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He has conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University, the Indian Institute of Science, and with Nobel Laureate Prof. Brian Josephson. His research spans quantum information, entanglement, and quantum machine learning. A recognized science communicator and policy advisor, he has worked with UNESCO, the G20, and the Government of India. He is the author of the bestselling book From Shiva to Schrödinger (Penguin) and National Convenor of Mandala, a platform integrating science and Indic knowledge systems.
Debasis Sarkar is an Anchor at The Sangam Talks and an independent researcher in Indology.
