Spirituality Science – Aging is an Eternal Law:
Lord Gautama Buddha (c. 563 to c. 483 B.C.,) known as “Siddhartha”(He who accomplishes) had correctly observed to claim that, “Whatever is born, produced, conditioned, contains within itself the nature of its own dissolution.” In biology, the term aging is used to describe the progressive structural, and functional changes in an organism that lead to senescence or a decline of biological functions and of organism’s ability to adapt to metabolic stress. It must be carefully understood that the process called aging begins right after the moment of conception and the newborn arrives because of the mechanisms that operate and control the aging process.
Aging is God’s eternal law with respect to man and as such the principle of aging exists in the human nature and man has no choice other than that of submitting to the Natural Law of Aging to begin his mortal existence.
Age is a fundamental characteristic of most living organisms. The speed of the aging process varies and it is not the same in the entire organism. To establish human birth with a recognizable physical appearance, the cells of the embryo and fetus rapidly multiply and several of them have to simply die after a programmed sequence of cell divisions. Aging is that inevitable process that causes cell death after the lapse of a specified time interval which is programmed. At adulthood (age 20), age acceleration is around 40% and it is 100% in newborns.
Aging – Biological Clock – Biological Rhythm:
Organisms have synchronized their living functions to their rhythmic environments and have become periodic in diverse aspects of their physiology and behavior. Periodic biological phenomena fall into two distinct, different categories: 1. Those correlated with periodic changes of the planet or geophysical correlates, and 2. Those correlated to an internal timing mechanism often called the ‘Biological Clock’. The living things to some extent behave like ‘Living Clocks’; 1. A timing capacity geared to the rhythmic variations of the natural environment, the alternating periods of light and darkness called day and night, and 2. A timing capacity that operates in response to the flow of time as the planet Earth spins and moves without providing sensory stimuli of its motions.
Biorhythm or Biological Rhythm describes the cyclic pattern of changes in physiology often synchronized with daily environmental changes in response to daylight or dark. Circadian Rhythm is the 24-hour clock that drives wakefulness and sleep. Most living organisms use a timing mechanism that use clues or external environmental stimuli like that of light, and temperature that influence the internal Biological Clock. The concept of an operating Biological Clock is important in the understanding of the aging process.
Timing information continuously flows in from the environment and no organism can exist under constant conditions of life. All life exists on planet Earth which exists in a constant state of motion as a member of the Solar System which also exists in a constant state of motion.
The biological rhythm results in part as a direct response to the environment and in part as an indirect response via the complex clock-timed organization.
Horvath’s Clock – Epigenetic Clock – DNA Methylation Age:
Dr. Steve Horvath, Professor of Human Genetics, UCLA, USA discovered a new technique of age measuring that uses aging marker called DNA Methylation. He described 353 epigenetic markers on the DNA which measure DNA methylation of cpG dinucleotides.
The human organism experiences the consequences of the aging process and the condition called senescence or old age is easy to recognize. There are several theories about the aging mechanism and as to how the aging process is operated and controlled by hereditary factors. Some deterioration of normal bodily functions is always a component of the biological aging process.
I define Spirit or Soul as the vital, animating, and unchanging, operating Principle that establishes human existence in a constantly changing world. Age is a measurement of the time interval between two events such as the birth and the death. The aging phenomenon is a variable expression which is influenced by both heredity and external environmental factors. At the same time, it could be important to identify the factors that operate within the internal environment of each, individual, independent, living cells. The immediate external environment of DNA, genes, chromosomes, and the nucleus is called the cytoplasm, or cytosol if the cell is viewed as a nucleus and cytoplasm bounded by a limiting membrane. I often write about the unchanging nature of this cytoplasm which may be recognized as its spiritual attribute. The cytoplasm has the Power described in Physiology as “Nutrition”, the power or ability with which it attracts matter found in the cell’s external environment. In other words, the cytoplasm has the spiritual ability to establish a connection, association, bonding, relationship, or partnership between the energy-yielding molecules of the environment, and the energy-demanding molecules of the human individual and establish the fact or reality called the Living Being. The DNA, the genes, the chromosomes and the nucleus have no such ability for they simply lead a dependent existence deriving energy and matter supplied by the cytoplasm and its structures such as the mitochondria, and the ribosomes. The DNA is able to express a change and is able to generate a variation in the structures or a variation in the physiological functions such as the rate of protein synthesis because of the fact of its dependence on an unchanging Principle that is not influenced by the Time Factor.
If age is viewed as a natural phenomenon characterized by changes in structure and function, the change is explained as the Power of Time over material things. A basic understanding of the structure and functions of the Cell and its component parts is important to understand the aging process. The Time Factor influences the DNA, the genes, the chromosomes located inside the Nucleus. This change is possible and can be recognized as the process is supported by an Unchanging, Spiritual, or Eternal Principle that is not affected by the time factor. The Cytoplasm of the Cell is operated by a Spiritual nature that has attributes such as Immutable, Imperishable, Immortal, or Eternal. The DNA and its related structures lead a dependent existence deriving matter and energy supplied by the Spiritual Power of Cytoplasm. For that reason, aging has to be explained as an Eternal Law which operates and regulates human existence from conception to death. Man has no choice other than that of leading a dependent existence, a Dependence that is Primarily provided by the Power/Force/Energy often named as Divine Providence.
Dr. Rudranarasimham, Rebbapragada, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,
Father’s Name: R. Suryanarayana Murty, M.A., B.Ed.,
Sri Venkateswara University, M.B.B.S. Class of April, 1970
Andhra Pradesh Medical Council Medical Registration Number: AMC5282; Date of Registration: September 16, 1971
