I saw an aphorism about the Blueness of the Sky while I was collecting Sanskrit Aphorisms. So I wondered how they could’ve known that the sky isn’t blue. To know it, they should’ve first known why it appears blue.
I saw here (https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/13705/40901) that in Islam, a mountain range named Qaf encircles the universe and it is made of emerald, and so its reflection makes the sky appear blue. In Hinduism too, a mountain range named Lokaloka
the emerald mountain or why sky appears blue it is stated in Hinduism & Islamic cosmology that a mountain range named Lokaloka or Qaf encircles the universe & is of emerald so the reflection of it makes sky appear blue…u can find Hindu cosmology best at ISKCON pages & Qaf there’s a hadith when prophet muhammad (s.a.w.)visits the qaf mountain where there were 2 cities jabulqa & jabulsa..:)
Vaisheshika Soothra, Adhyaya 2, Pada 1, Soothra 5, Mandana Mishra Bhaashya:
If it be asked, “How does the perception arise that Ether is as white as curd?” we reply that it is due to the impression created by the perception of the white coloura of the rays of the sun. If it be asked “How then does the perception that Ether is blue?” we reply that it is due to the impression created in the minds of the observers who are looking at the radiance of the emerald peak lying largely extended over the south side of Sumeru mountain. It has been opined that it is due to the impression created by the eye when after traveling to a long distance it turns back and reaches its own pupil. This is not a sound opinion, because those who possess jaundiced eyes also have such impressions.
They believe the eye travelled out and came back when we see something? XD
Viveka Choodamani Verse 195:
But for delusion there can be no connection of the Self—which is unattached, beyond activity, and formless—with the objective world, as in the case of blueness and the like with reference to the sky.
He says the blueness is an illusion. But WHY?
Madhavananda said in his commentary:
Blueness…—The sky has no color of its own, but we mentally associate blueness with it. The blueness is in our mind, and not in the sky. Similarly, limitation exists not in the Absolute Self, but in our own minds.
He thinks it’s an illusion of our minds, not a physical illusion.
Vishnu Purana 2.16:
“Even as the same sky is apparently diversified as white or blue, so, soul which is in truth but one, appears to be erroneous vision distinct in different person”.
Bhagawat Purana in 10.20.4:
The sky was then covered by dense blue clouds accompanied by lightning and thunder. Thus the sky and its natural illumination were covered in the same way that the spirit soul is covered by the three modes of material nature.
Bhagvat Puran 12.8.21
- Springtime then appeared in Markandeya’s asrama. Indeed, the evening sky, glowing with the light of the rising moon, became the very face of spring, and sprouts and fresh blossoms virtually covered the multitude of trees and creepers.
Markandeya Puran 103.9:
I bow unto that greatest of the great,
the Sun, the first of all. (7) Urged on by this prime energy I create water, earth, air, fire, gods and various other endless objects beginning with Om; and in due order preserve and destroy them. I can never do so of my own accord. (8) Thou art fire. By thy prowess I dry up the water and create the world and perform the first cooking process of the world. Thou art, O lord, manifest over the universe and identical with Akasa.
It says sky is identical to sun (but the poster said it says the blueness is a manifestation of the Sun’s rays, which is not implied here)
Mahabharatha, Adi Parva, Astika Parva:
“Sauti said, ‘There is a mountain named Meru, of blazing appearance, and looking like a heap of effulgence. The rays of the Sun falling on its peaks of golden lustre are dispersed by them.
Talks about light dispersion, but of a golden lustre.
Yoga Vasistha describes it as reflections of blue gems on Mount Meru (Chapter 114 Verses 35-36) and as an optical illusion (Chapter 3 Verses 1-2).