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It ought to be apparent by now that the new cosmology in the act of updating the old is bridging what has until now appeared as an insurmountable chasm. There is the physical reality on one side, and the subtle, spiritual on the other. One’s preference may lie with one or the other, according to temperament or inculcation by inheritance or through education and environment. The two could never be reconciled since they were, until now, mutually exclusive.
We see this clearly demonstrated in Puranic cosmogony. The lokas or worlds were perforce ‘otherworldly’ and hence unprovable. By consequence the system has been unacceptable to the contemporary scientific establishment. This has been the result of centuries of disregard for the things of the Earth in favour of those unprovable Lokas whose existence – if indeed they exist – must necessarily be reserved for an elite, or for those whose life circumstances and temperament permitted dedication to the discovery of those subtle planes and spiritual experiences which could indeed convince the seeker of the existence of a reality beyond material creation.
But every such experience in the past actually strengthened the divide, and continues to do so today. The oneness experienced by the traditional or contemporary yogi is his own private affair; he cannot pass on this realisation of an all-embracing unity to others. He can only state, I have SEEN, therefore it IS. But this seeing is insufficient in a world where the scientific temper dominates, where we inculcate in our children the superiority of just such a temper in the belief that indeed it has freed the human being from the superstitions of the past, for the old cosmology cannot be considered anything but an odd relic (read superstition) since we have no way of proving empirically the existence of Mt Meru at the centre of those lokas, whatever and wherever they may be.
Consequently, based on our current systems of education, even in the best of cases the result is a divisive consciousness: Matter on one side of the divide – provable, tangible, scientifically viable and, above all, measurable; and elusive Spirit on the other, which depends for verification on the subjective experience of a few great yogis and mystics who, notwithstanding the reality of the immensities and eternities they have verified have been unable to halt the decline of civilisation and arrest the apparent destruction we are headed for. But even to state this, given the divide, is considered blasphemy.
We must be honest: spirituality and religion have done nothing to heal the divide. Failing which unity, a unified diversity above all, remains a chimera.
Let us imagine a different scenario. Let us present our educational institutions with the realistic position as it stands today, free of scientific or spiritual dogma, shorn of fundamentalisms of any sort, including the scientific. We fearlessly point out the shortcomings in both positions. In so doing, in India’s case there would no longer be the need to foster the belief that the old traditions were mere superstitions – because they were not. However, to explain the true condition we need to establish a perspective that explains the old cosmology as in the Puranas (or even the Vedas), taking into consideration the conditions prevailing at the time of formulation. We need to appreciate that the concepts and postulations of old were the creation of Rishis and Yogis who had realised the truth of those subtle planes; they expressed their experiences in symbols and concepts for others of like mind, or for those in quest of the same truths. The language they employed is indecipherable for us today because it was the product of a very different context. Science, separated from the Sacred, was not the dominant force it is today; therefore, Puranic Cosmology could be handed down in the fashion it has reached us. If taken in its proper context and, above all, within the totality of conditions prevailing at the time, it cannot be considered mere superstition born of ignorance. Unfortunately, there are no historians – much less Indologists – who are able to cast any true light on the things of old because they constantly force upon them contemporary yardsticks in the illusion that a true assessment will come about. Naturally the exercise fails and the result is the cry SUPERSTITION!
However, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. There is the work of certain academics, few in number as yet but ever increasing, who are daring to confront the ‘myths’ science is propagating about civilisations of old. I have in mind particularly the work of Dr Carmen Boulter of the University of Calgary. She has produced a DVD entitled, The Pyramid Code. As an academic herself, to do so required considerable courage because, for one, the ‘myth’ propagated by her colleagues and Egyptologists that the pyramids in Egypt were tombs built by megalomaniac Pharaohs has been exploded once and for all. Further, Dr Boulter goes on to explain that the ancient culture should be assessed on its own terms – i.e., to take the prolific evidence and examine it in a new way, once certain misconceptions have been removed to permit a true understanding to come about. This admirable series goes on then to examine that evidence. The result is that academia must come to terms with the fact that certain ancient civilisations were far in advance of our own in areas where we believe ourselves to hold supremacy; technology, for one. But of interest for our discussion is the fact that woven through the treatment is the role of the cosmic harmony in the civilisation. And the concepts/symbols are the same today as the Egyptians used thousands of years ago.
One of the first questions treated by Dr Boulter is the age of the Sphinx and the pyramids, suggesting a far greater antiquity than is currently believed. Regarding the Sphinx it has been my contention from the early 1970s, based exclusively on the cosmic harmony, that the Sphinx was created in the Age of Leo some 12000 years ago. It now appears that geologists have given approximately the same date for the Sphinx according to data provided by more advanced studies of the materials employed in its construction and the weathering they experienced which does indicate a much older age for this mysterious colossus. And yet educational institutions continue to teach our youth the ‘myths’ science has created because it cannot explain how such an advanced civilisation could have existed thousands of years ago and constructed monuments we cannot replicate today. Dr Boulter and her team must be applauded for having the courage at least to ask the right questions, though they may not be in a position to give definitive answers yet.
So much for myths – of Science, that is.
Americans, practical as they are, have a very wise saying: Put your money where your mouth is! Concurring with this wisdom, let me demonstrate how a new way – using the updated cosmology but built on the same ‘laws’ of old – can heal the divide simply by demonstrating that there is no such divide. It is only that the limitations of our consciousness do not permit us to see what IS along with the Seers of old, but within today’s context. The updating I have been engaged in does not further widen the chasm; rather, it is the means to strengthen the Old by presenting those formulations in a truer light without insisting that they conform to ‘science’ of today with its half-light. In this more complete vision superstition simply does not arise, a label which has only served to fortify the chasm by creating a new elite lording over the rest. However, this half-light, though considered a vast improvement over the old traditions, is, in fact, carrying civilisation to a dangerous brink.
The chasm can be healed by a fuller Light than the old. Nothing less will suffice. This means that we have to present a synthesis which is the result of a unified, integrated consciousness-being that by its very nature CREATES and does not destroy.
When we come to incorporate the new way as a teaching tool a new youth will emerge, equipped with a correct understanding of the past but also with the wisdom to recognise and accept its limitations, and the courage to demand answers to the enigmas that science, due to its own limitations, can only brush aside as ‘coincidences’. Above all, that youth will know what is to be preserved and what must be discarded – that is, those encumbrances from a dark age which served only to control the pace of evolution to render its progress spherical, harmonised and integral. In the New Way the imbalances of linear systems are overcome.
In these days the Kumbha Mela at Haridwar is coming to a close. It offers a means to present an example of the updating and the new synthesis. My mind is drawn to the role of Ganga in the culture of the subcontinent. The celebration is steeped in Myth along with so many aspects of the subcontinent’s contemporary life, but none as rich and compelling as those connected to this sacred River, mother of all rivers. And, as earlier noted, myth and cosmology go hand-in-hand for a true understanding, as I will proceed once again to demonstrate. In so doing, the quaint, delectable tale of the descent of Ganga comes alive in a new way and certainly can no longer be considered superstition of any sort. What is required for this to happen, however, is for that marriage of Heaven and Earth to take place. The new cosmology can bring this about.
Kumbha Melas are traditionally held when certain zodiacal combinations occur. Without going into unnecessary technical details, from that moment onward devotees, sadhus, saints of every hue imaginable begin to gather on Ganga’s shores to immerse themselves in her holy waters. Rivers have been revered in India since time immemorial; the hymns of the Rig Veda are witness to this reverence. Today, though the tradition is honoured modernity has taken its toll. Her waters are polluted mercilessly, as are almost all waterways across the globe; Ganga is no exception.
The purpose of this particular Update is to demonstrate how what is surely considered by many a superstition today – bathing in the Ganges to expiate one’s sins or one’s bad karmas – can be the means to illustrate the marriage of Heaven and Earth in a way that can satisfy those of a more scientific temper and those more spiritually inclined. Indeed, this Update will render obsolete such divisive distinctions. We will bring the Myth alive in our world by finding Ganga’s geo-cosmological measure as I had done earlier with the Capricorn hieroglyph laid over the subcontinent (Update 6). Based on that correspondence it is possible to find the exact ‘location’ of Ganga within that hieroglyphic landmass. In so doing, once again the Myth reveals its prophetic essence. It tells us of Ganga’s descent: heavenly Ganga becomes embodied right here; her story is rendered factual when we have the sacred hieroglyph in hand to carry out the materialisation of the Symbol-Myth. In this particular case the act of measuring reveals that Ganga does indeed have a ‘heavenly’ counterpart, but the grace we are given when we take birth on Earth in this new Age is that we can experience her descent collectively via the sacred cosmic script: for what ‘descends’ is simply cosmic/ecliptic Capricorn/Makar. Here is the ruler by which we can measure what is generally considered unmeasurable because of its otherworldly ‘location’ – heaven as it were.
(click to enlarge)
This is the cosmic ruler (combined with the Gnostic Circle in the lower half) that can provide the details required to bring Heaven to Earth – ergo, effectively heal the divide. Once more we place the zodiacal ecliptic (upper half of the ruler) onto and across the globe similar to the exercise in Update 11, but this time in a linear fashion as a ruler or a timeline; indeed, a straight longitudinal ruler. The direction is the same as in the map of the globe with the zodiac laid across it in Update 11, starting at Greenwich and proceeding westward for six signs; then eastward for the remaining six to conclude the twelve signs again at Greenwich. We note that geographical India, as per the superimposed hieroglyph, covers from 60 (where Capricorn begins) to 90 degrees longitude for her main body where the sign ends; then there are a further 10 degrees for the tail portion as illustrated (B). To summarise, based on the new precision of this unconventional measuring act, exactly where Capricorn begins on the longitude ruler the geographical subcontinent starts – at 60 degrees moving eastward. The sign per se ends at 90 degrees, or 0 degrees zodiacal Capricorn. And there we find the mouths of Ganga as per the actual geography. Upriver, her source stands at the 12th degree of Capricorn’s 30, as indicated by (A).
A. B.
From that source she moves across 12 more degrees of the sign to reach 0 Capricorn – or her mouths in the Bay of Bengal (B). As noted above, the 30 degrees of Capricorn come to an end with the mouths of Ganga and at that point we enter the next sign in the backward motion, Sagittarius, to continue for another 10 degrees of the hieroglyph. As if this changeover had been contemplated millennia ago, the glyph presents a loop at this point turning back upon itself (B), right when Capricorn ends and Sagittarius begins. Thus is the Name of God – or more appropriately the Goddess – rendered factual before our eyes when science and the sacred combine in this new synthesis. We observe by this exercise that two directions are being harmonised through the Capricorn Measure: time (longitude) and space (latitude). The above diagrams present Ganga’s ‘measure’ when she descends to Earth, essentially materialising the Myth while yet honouring its heavenly nature, the eternal source whence Ganga is born year after year if the true Makar Sankranti is honoured: the shortest day of the year, 21-22 December. When these sacred measures are respected her blissful waters descend to Earth in an eternal act of replenishing from the source.
Where then is the question of superstition?
However, the ritual dip in the sacred river does indeed become a superstition when the right harmony between that Heaven and this Earth is not respected. The measure of Ganga on the landmass is not only ecliptic/geographical; as indicated, its temporal correspondence has to be integrated as well, otherwise the exercise fails and is not supported by what the zodiac provides – that is, those ‘doors’ of the ancient Veda that can only be opened ‘by the months and the years’. To illustrate, this ruler is both spatial and temporal when we relate those same 360 degrees to the Year, which does indeed consist of 360 degrees wherein the 365 days are accommodated. This means that we can ‘locate’ Ganga IN CALENDAR TIME as a permanent feature through the above ruler when applied to time and space on our planet. In so doing 0 degree Capricorn is exactly the Makar Sankranti which must always coincide with the shortest day of the year at the December Solstice – or the mouths of Ganga. This is the beauty and wisdom of the ancient way: 0 Capricorn is both the mouths of geographical Ganga AND Makar Sankranti on 22 December each year by the Vedic laws of correspondence and equivalence. The deeper significance of the Sankranti, thus measured by the new synthesis, is that everything Ganga means for India can be passed on to the world beyond her borders as she joins the ocean, carrying in her flow the united energies of the millions who had bathed in her waters – hers, sacred and heavenly, mingling with those of the entire Earth; but only when the right ‘door’ is reached in time.
This ‘door’ does not shift as the pundits would have us believe by establishing the festival commencement according to the very distant and ever-changing CONSTELLATIONS rather than the permanent luminous ECLIPTIC where…‘the many-horned herds of Light go travelling’, that luminous…‘higher seat of our self-accomplishing’ (Rig Veda 1.154) balanced on the four Cardinal Poles. Within that ONE CIRCLE, the Nakshatras also are measured to determine key dates according to appropriate lunations within these 27 divisions of the one ecliptic circle, when those celebrations are determined within the lunar calendar. To be precise, the Mela would start on the real Makar Sankranti, 21-22 December; certainly not 14 January or 23 days later, continue to Ganga’s source in Capricorn (January 3) and from there into Kumbha/Aquarius, the next sign thereafter.
Ganga Devi descending from her Sourceon her vahana Makar (Capricorn),confirming the geo-cosmological configurations (p.5)
Superstition arises when Knowledge is lacking. By ‘knowledge’ I am not referring to the science in vogue today which cannot provide this wisdom, but to Science of the Sacred which the ecliptic does provide and has provided throughout the ages for all the great civilisations. Of particular importance was the Vedic because the ‘thread’ it bequeathed, unlike all the others that have passed away, though hidden remains intact. This Knowledge cannot be found in the science we teach in our schools, which, I repeat, fosters a totally divisive consciousness; nor can it be found in the manner in which such an essential aspect of the collective life on the subcontinent is determined by outdated methods which bind the faithful to yokes of ignorance, the definition of superstition. But just imagine what a formidable unified energy bank would arise from a Kumbha Mela with its millions of participants when celebrated according to Ganga’s true Measure in time and space whereby Heaven and Earth are joined and myth is continuously revitalised? This, then, would truly be super-power.
Surely it is becoming clear as we proceed why the 10th month was heralded as the month of Victory by the Rishis. It holds the key to the joining of Heaven and Earth, but only when all things are ‘made new’, thus giving concrete expression to the phrase ‘a new heaven and a new earth’. It will also become clear that this measuring must be done according to veda of a very special kind. The Year holds the key to this synthesis, this new science, just as the Year was the main protagonist in the Rishi’s sacrifice, whose months and years opened doors otherwise closed to the knowledge Brihaspati can eternally bestow. Similarly, by the Vedic laws of correspondence our ‘ruler’ is also that sacrificial Year transported to Earth and made accessible to all, provided the right circle is used to measure the seemingly unmeasurable.
The December Solstice as always holds the key, the shortest day of the Year. One day, one moment and no other. This is then the true marriage of time and space, of Heaven and Earth.
Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology
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