The Entropy Law

We all know that the society has passed through its four stages of Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparyuga and Kaliyuga. At present we are in Kaliyuga and it is said that even this stage is reaching its last phase. The present is considered bad because the evils in society have assumed gigantic proportions and there are very few who think of the larger good. Most people have become selfish and think only of themselves. The result is that society is in a hellish state and nobody knows how to come out of this chaos. We also hear that the situation was most ideal in Satyuga but then deteriorated over the centuries. Thus values have fallen with time. Dwaparyuga was better than Kaliyuga, Tretayuga was better than Dwaparyuga and Satyuga was better than Tretayuga. I have been thinking about the reasons for this fall in values and was seeking a scientific explanation of this phenomenon when I found a book, which gave me the answer, which tallied with my own intuition.

The above phenomenon is explained by the second law of thermodynamics. There are two laws of thermodynamics. The first one is the ‘Law of Conservation’ which says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another. The second law of thermodynamics says that every time energy is transformed from one state to another, there is a loss in the amount of that form of energy, which then becomes available to perform work of some kind. This loss in the amount of ‘available energy’ is known as ‘Entropy’. For example, if we burn a piece of coal, the total amount of energy remains the same but, due to the process of burning, some part of the coal is transformed into sulphur dioxide and cannot be reburnt to get the same work out of it. This kind of ‘loss’, 'wastage' or ‘penalty’ is called Entropy.

The second law of thermodynamics explains that the total entropy in the world is constantly increasing. An entropy increase, therefore, means a decrease in ‘available energy’. Further, not only does the available energy decrease every time something occurs in this world but the unavailable energy spreads as pollution. Thus, the world is moving towards a dissipated state and pollution is constantly increasing.

Now, this has very great implications for the society. In practical terms, it means that the society deteriorates and becomes disorganised gradually. There is a degeneration in its’ moral force, its spiritual stamina, the vigour of its character, the effectiveness of its religion and the sense of law and order. Thus the moral and spiritual energy of the society goes on degenerating so that, ultimately, it reaches a stage of maximum entropy when God has to intervene. The trend has to be reversed to bring about Satyuga or Golden Age when all material things have maximum energy concentration, i.e., are Satopradhan and the souls also have maximum ‘available’ moral and spiritual energy. The process of degeneration then begins again and the cycle goes on. The need for God’s action in such a situation is evident because, according to the Entropy Law, in a closed system, entropy increase cannot be reversed without increasing the entropy in the surroundings and, therefore an outside source of energy is required to raise the energy concentration without lowering the energy level in the surroundings.

Thus the ‘Entropy Law’ explains the degenerative process of the society. This is a natural process and need not unduly upset us. The only option we have is to mould ourselves into a closed system so that our own entropy does not increase and our moral and spiritual stamina is maintained. As far as the whole or universal system is concerned, God will take care of it at the appropriate time. Therefore, it has been rightly suggested that we should live in the world but the world should not live in us.

 

Rakesh Mittal IAS