लुक्रीशस, जीए आणि अणुंचे एकमेकावर आपोआप आदळणे.....Lucretius, GA and How the World Became Modern

१४ मार्च १९८७ ला जी. ए. श्री पु भागवतांना लिहतात:

(पृष्ठ २४८, 'जी. एं.ची निवडक पत्रे', खंड २, १९८८)

कृतज्ञता : जीएंच्या साहित्याचे कॉपीराईट होल्डर्स

मला सर्वप्रथम एका गोष्टीचे विशेष वाटले आणि ते म्हणजे जी. एं. ना वाटत असलेले Rationalism बद्दलचे आकर्षण. जोसेफ कॉनरॅडच्या फॅनला, ग्रीक साहित्याच्या अभ्यासकाला हे आकर्षण इतके का वाटत असावे?

त्यातील एक वाक्य पहा: "...स्वच्छ, जळजळीत दृष्टीने Lucretiusने केलेला देव, देवता, भाबड्या कल्पना यांचा विध्वंस मला आवडला होता...". हे वाक्य सुद्धा जी. एं. नी धर्म, देव इत्यादी गोष्टींसंदर्भात आधी केलेल्या nuanced अनेक विधानांच्या तुलनेत टोकाचे वाटते. 

लुक्रीशस (१५ ऑक्टोबर इ. स पू ९९- इ. स पू ५५) यांचे 'ऑन दी नेचर ऑफ थिंग्ज' हे पुस्तक जी. एं.ना  किती आवडत होत ते वर दिलेला पत्राचा भाग वाचून समजत. त्यांना त्याचा अनुवाद करायचा होता.  तो ते बहुदा करू शकले नाहीत कारण जीए स्वतःच १९८७ डिसेंबर, वरील पत्रानंतर ९-१० महिन्यात वारले.

जी ए त्या अनुवादाच्या प्रोजेक्ट मधील अडचणी पण सांगतायत : आपल्याकडे goddess of love नाही, अणु एकमेकावर आपोआप आदळतात वगैरे त्यांना rationalism मध्ये बसत नाही  अस वाटायला लागल....

सप्टेंबर २०११ मध्ये स्टीफन ग्रीनब्लॅट यांचे पुलित्झर आणि अमेरिकेचा नॅशनल बुक अवॉर्ड मिळवणारे पुस्तक  प्रसिद्ध झाले. त्याचे नाव: "दी स्वर्व : हाऊ दी वर्ल्ड बिकेम मॉडर्न'. त्या पुस्तकाचा दावा: लुक्रीशसच्या 'ऑन दी नेचर ऑफ थिंग्ज' पुस्तकामुळे जग आधुनिक झाले.

ग्रीनब्लॅट पुस्तकाबद्दल काय सांगतायत पहा:

"...The stuff of the universe, Lucretius proposed, is an infinite number of atoms moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process. When you look up at the night sky and, feeling unaccountably moved, marvel at the numberless stars, you are not seeing the handiwork of the gods or a crystalline sphere detached from our transient world. You are seeing the same material world of which you are a part and from whose elements you are made. There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design. All things, including the species to which you belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms it involves a principle of natural selection. That is, species that are suited to survive and to reproduce successfully endure, at least for a time; those that are not so well suited die off quickly. But nothing—from our own species to the planet on which we live to the sun that lights our days—lasts forever. Only the atoms are immortal.

In a universe so constituted, Lucretius argued, there is no reason to think that the earth or its inhabitants occupy a central place, no reason to set humans apart from all other animals, no hope of bribing or appeasing the gods, no place for religious fanaticism, no call for ascetic self-denial, no justification for dreams of limitless power or perfect security, no rationale for wars of conquest or self-aggrandizement, no possibility of triumphing over nature, no escape from the constant making and unmaking and remaking of forms. On the other side of anger at those who either peddled false visions of security or incited irrational fears of death, Lucretius offered a feeling of liberation and the power to stare down what had once seemed so menacing. What human beings can and should do, he wrote, is to conquer their fears, accept the fact that they themselves and all the things they encounter are transitory, and embrace the beauty and the pleasure of the world.

I marveled—I continue to marvel—that these perceptions were fully articulated in a work written more than two thousand years ago. The line between this work and modernity is not direct: nothing is ever so simple. There were innumerable forgettings, disappearances, recoveries, dismissals, distortions, challenges, transformations, and renewed forgettings. And yet the vital connection is there. Hidden behind the worldview I recognize as my own is an ancient poem, a poem once lost, apparently irrevocably, and then found..."

ग्रीनब्लॅट यांचे समीक्षण जी एं.च्या समीक्षणा पेक्षा मला जास्त आवडले.

जी ए ज्याला 'आपोआप' म्हणतायत ते म्हणजे : There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design. All things, including the species to which you belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms it involves a principle of natural selection.