Puranic Cosmology Updated 12

12.4.2010

Here is a striking image from Bhugola Varnanam by Sri Vadiraja of the school of Acharya Madhwa (12th Century). It is entitled Bhugola Brahmanda with the Universe and the Nine Envelopes. True to the then prevailing concept, verticality is emphasised by the central axis resting on Kurma, with the universal planes connected to this pole, similar to most extant representations of Mt Meru. Lacking the defined horizontal spread, an important feature of the Churning process is left out – that is, its dynamic character which constitutes the very essence of the Myth.

Be that as it may, the most striking part of this representation lies in the centre dividing the lower lokas from the higher. The unusual symbol standing at the centre is intriguing. It is Vishnu in the form of a scorpion with its stinger raised high supporting the upper subtle planes emphasising verticality all the more. This Puranic representation is most accurate in presenting Vishnu in this manner, though somewhat perplexing. After all, the scorpion is hardly a lovable creature! What is the reason for this unusual imagery?

This diagram-image is found on the back cover of the commentary by B. V. Bhadarayana Murthy that inspired me to take up this series. But there is an image related to this one in the text itself that explains the symbolism to a greater extent (page 101). It appears to be a detail of the first reproduction I presented, in this case highlighting the HORIZONTAL plane that was not defined in the former imagery.

Vishnu (Vrishchika – Scorpio) stands again at the centre of this detail: Kala Chakra – the Time Wheel – Sun’s path around the Meru Centre, as the subtitle informs us. The text itself does not clarify the Vishnu/scorpion matter, but the sequence of 12 numbers around the outermost circle causes us to deduce that this Chakra actually refers to the 12 signs/months of the zodiac. Therefore, Vishnu as scorpion must refer to the 8th sign Scorpio. With the addition of the signs of the zodiac, it is indeed the Kala Chakra and the horizontal component of the vertical imagery.

This is accurate according to the Rig Veda itself. I will deal with the matter in depth because by penetrating the meaning of Scorpio we discover that this knowledge was preserved in the earliest records the Rishis have left us. And what was discovered in the Hymns is here confirmed once again in the Puranic Cosmology as presented in Bhugola Varnanam. Confirmation is found precisely in the praises to Vishnu. The 8th sign Scorpio, left out of the praises as we shall see, is conspicuous by its absence, thus providing the confirmation needed regarding the zodiac and the Veda. The Vishnu praises reveal that the zodiac was part of the most esoteric/initiatic Knowledge of the Vedic Age, contrary to what is believed today.

Unfortunately, those who scrutinise the Veda for clues to understand their meaning often bring their biases into play; they analyse the texts according to preconceived ideas and arrive at conclusions to confirm a particular ideology. A case in point would be the post-Independence historians and Indologists. These scholars contributed significantly to demolishing the Aryan Invasion Theory that had held sway for over a hundred years, without any basis at all, though there is copious evidence on hand to suggest a different history for the subcontinent. Together with the demolition exercise there was another favourite indulgence: at all costs this group sought to prove that the Rig Veda dating was inaccurate and that its origin should extend far back in time, well before 1500 BCE as sustained by the Aryan Invasion apologists.

When I presented evidence of the zodiacal content in the Vishnu praises I was viciously defamed by those who sustained the earlier origins of the Veda, though the evidence I presented was certainly sound and merited scrutiny. However, given their biases my discoveries had to be attacked because if not in their minds the earlier dating of the Rig Veda would appear to be threatened. Their reasoning was that since the zodiac was introduced to India by the Greeks, there could be no evidence of its symbols in the Veda which pre-date the Greek arrival by many centuries. Their conclusion was that my findings had to be wrong; they were surely coloured by the suspect ‘foreign hand’ intent on destroying Indian culture and Hindu Dharma!

Naturally the proponents of this bias were not initiates of the Ancient Mysteries where the zodiac figures as one of its mainstays. If they had undergone such an initiation, they could not have failed to recognise that this initiatic language permeates the entire Veda.

It is clear therefore that biases of any sort cannot be allowed to interfere with the conclusions we may draw on the Veda. Because of such biases Sri Aurobindo wrote that ‘for the past two thousand years no Indian has understood the Veda’.

It is time to set aside our respective ideological, religious, and even political leanings and take up this exercise shorn of the limitations they impose. For this reason, whenever possible I use Sri Aurobindo’s translations of the Hymns because he had realised the Vedic Way and could therefore recognise the universal language they contained and what would be important to highlight in translation. For example, his translation of the Vishnu praises helped to bring about one of the most important breakthroughs contributing to this updating process. I will present his translation along with others to prove the point; and to confirm the precision of the message given to us in the sectional detail of Vishnu as Scorpion. With this discovery once again we confirm that the Ten Avatars of Vishnu form the backbone of Vedic civilisation. Vishnu’s three strides, the theme of the praises, refer to the last three Avataric appearances, the 7th, the 8th, and the 9th. But one is left out and it involves the Scorpio connection. Nonetheless, as we note from the Bhugola Varnanam, Scorpio was centrally included to provide proof again of the extraordinary value of the Puranas in preserving the most important elements from the Vedic Age.

In the Rig Veda there is only one hymn addressed directly to Vishnu; it is nonetheless crucial to the discovery that the Line of Ten Avatars originated in the Vedic Age and not later. But to make this discovery the original text had to be approached in a different manner than the Sanskritist. To provide evidence of the difference between translations of the Veda by actual Initiates rather than scholars, below are two noteworthy translations; but when compared to Sri Aurobindo’s they are unable to provide the real clue to the arcane symbolism the Rishis employed. These praises to Vishnu, from where the tale of his Three Strides to measure the universe arose, are unique; but only the contemporary Rishi who has undergone the same Journey is in a position to disclose in what way they are indeed unique. When we delve into these mysteries and discover their true meaning, we understand how it is that these myths have endured across the centuries.

Unbeknown to all, on the basis of Aurobindoavatar’s translation the entire unfolding of the last three stages of Vishnu’s avataric appearances are described in minute detail (RV 1, 154). To begin the illustration, I present Raimundo Panikkar’s very lyrical translation of the three stanzas where each stride is described, the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 5th:

2. For this his prowess Vishnu is acclaimed.
He inhabits the mountains, like a savage beast¹
wandering at will; in his three mighty paces
are set all the worlds.

3. Now, may my prayer ascend to the far-striding
Vishnu, the Bull, who dwells upon the mountains,
to him who unaided measured with threefold step
these far-flung spheres.

5. May I attain to Vishnu’s glorious mansion
where the faithful rejoice, where, close beside the Strider,
within his highest footstep springs the well
of purest honey! (The Vedic Experience, All India Press, 1977)

Next we have V. Madhusudan Reddy’s translations, a scholar of Sri Aurobindo’s work. He has sought to maintain his Guru’s line of thought, but, as I will reveal, his work lacks the imprimatur of the direct realisation the Vedic Way provides. Here are the same three stanzas:

2. Vishnu is avouched on high by his supreme prowess; he is like a ravenous lion that wanders at will in difficult terrain and inhabits the mountains. In his wide-covering three paces all the worlds abide.

3. Now may our strength and our prayer ascend to the all-prevading, far-striding Vishnu, the mighty Bull whose dwelling place is upon the mountain-tops. Unaided and alone he has measured out with his three strides this far-reaching seat of our self-accomplishing.

5. May I attain to that abode of Vishnu, the goal of his movement and enjoy it – the seat and source of infinite delight where the seeker-souls rejoice; there within that highest step of the supreme strider is the perpetual fount of purest honey. (Institute of Human Studies, 1994)

And here is Sri Aurobindo’s translation of the complete Hymn; my highlights are in bold:

1. Of Vishnu now I declare the mighty works, who has measured out the earthly worlds and that higher seat of our self-accomplishing he supports, he the wide-moving, in the threefold steps of his universal movement.

2. That Vishnu affirms on high by his mightiness and he is like a terrible LION that ranges in the difficult places, yea, his lair is on the mountain-tops, he in whose three wide movements all the worlds find their dwelling-place.

3. Let our strength and our thought go forward to Vishnu the all-pervading, the wide-moving BULL whose dwelling-place is on the mountain, he who being One has measured all this long and far-extending seat of our self-accomplishing by only three of his strides.

4. He whose three steps are full of the honey-wine and they perish not but have ecstasy by the self-harmony of their nature; yea, he being One holds the triple principle and earth and heaven also, even all the worlds.

5. May I attain to and enjoy that goal of his movement, the Delight, where souls that seek the godhead have the rapture; for there in that highest step of the wide-moving Vishnu is that FRIEND of men who is the fount of the sweetness.

6. Those are the dwelling-places of ye twain which we desire as the goal of our journey, where the many-horned herds of Light go traveling; the highest step of wide-moving Vishnu shines down on us here in its manifold vastness. (Rig Veda 1.154)

To note is the manner in which Sri Aurobindo has emphasised or qualified Vishnu’s strides. First Lion, then Bull, then Friend. This emphasis is conveyed by the use of capitalisations, which does not exist in Sanskrit; therefore, the understanding that it was necessary to highlight the strides in this manner could only have come through the direct experience of the text’s secret meaning. The translator would need to have had a similar initiatic background to grasp the relevance. This, in turn, is lacking in the other renditions, admirable in other ways as they may be. It is this simple feature of the English language that permitted the discovery of just what Vishnu Trivikrama truly means. The accuracy, the precision is remarkable – and this will be discussed in depth further on since the tale of Vishnu’s three strides has had an abiding influence on Vedic civlisation across the aeons.

Certainly it is time to bring the myth TO EARTH, as we have already done with other aspects of the ancient way. Vishnu Trivikrama is even more astonishing in its applicability. However, if I had only the first two translations at my disposal, I would never have made this revolutionsing discovery, encompassing an entire body of higher knowledge centred on Vishnu’s Dasavataras. The first fails to mention the Lion or the Friend; the second makes no mention of the Friend. And yet, the three together, as in Sri Aurobindo’s translation, give us the key of higher knowledge to grasp the true meaning. With that key we are able to reveal the tremendous importance of the Dasavataras, the antiquity of the formulation, and the impeccable manner in which it has materialised over thousands of years, one incarnation after another. Surely there is no other extant tradition comparable.

It is only to be expected that praises to Vishnu should hold the key to the descent of his emanations; at the same time, the symbols the Rishi evoked point to three signs of the zodiac specifically – and they are precisely the signs known as PRESERVATION of the zodiacal trinity – Creation, Preservation, Destruction. That is, Vishnu’s own quality. However, the strides are three in number yet the signs of Preservation are actually four. The image reproduced from Bhugola Varnanam explains the discrepancy with Vishnu portrayed as the Scorpion. The ‘missing stride’ is in perfect accordance with the knowledge of the Dasavataras contained in the zodiac.

These four signs have held a place of honour from time immomorial. We find them mentioned in perfect sequence in the Rig Veda, and later in certain books of the Bible, but especially prominent in the last book of the New Testament, The Revelation of St John where the four are listed 1) lion, 2) bull, 3) man, 4) eagle, in the correct order. The point to note, however, is that the Eagle is the higher symbol of the 8th sign, the only one in the zodiac to have a higher and lower symbolism. There is a sound reason for this duality at the 8th stage of the Vedic Journey. And while all the ancient texts use the Eagle to describe the 8th sign, in this text of the Puranic Age the lower symbolism is used – that is, the symbol descriptive of the darker side of the 8th stage, precisely the power of darkness and ignorance that must be conquered by the aspirant so as to emerge from the clutches of Death like a soaring Eagle to replace the Scorpion.

The fact that in this 12th Century text the Scorpion is employed rather than the Eagle (Garuda, Vishnu’s own carrier), unlike in earlier texts, tells us much about the prevailing darkness when the knowledge was submerged in the Piscean Sea to preserve it for a future Age when retrieval of the Veda would be possible. Clearly during that Kaliyuga the Knowledge had to be withheld from the profane; the meaning of the Vedas was lost and only the ‘scorpion’ remained to remind us of the sublime truths that Vishnu’s strides hold. After all, by the 12th Century India had already experienced numerous invasions by forces inimical to the Vedic Way.

For a complete exposition of the knowledge contained in Vishnu Trivikrama, the reader is directed to my latest book, Secrets of the Earth (Aeon Books, 2009), questions and answers on the Line of Ten Avatars. In this series dedicated to the Puranic Age, I have again brought Vishnu Trivikrama of the Rig Veda into the discussion to illustrate its singular importance for the Dharma, and that given the subtleties of Sanskrit, even when spelt out openly and clearly, the deeper esoteric meaning eludes us. Only the initiate of the Vedic Journey can guide us to the true sense of the text. Without Sri Aurobindo’s rendition it would have been far more difficult to recognise the zodiacal content and the role of Vishnu’s 7th (Lion), 8th (Bull), and 9th (Friend) Avatars. We would have remained trapped by the beguiling magic of the Deluder, usurper of the 9th position in the Line.

1.Some Sanskritists translate the figure describing the first stride as ‘wild beast’; others, like Sayana, call it ‘like a lion’. The discrepancy is important to note.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Director
Aeon centre of Cosmology

Puranic Cosmology Updated 11

10 April 2010

The supreme symbol that holds the keys to eternal truths is the ancient astrological/astronomical symbol of the Sun,


In this most simple of all diagrams the knowledge required to update the Puranas as well as to know the path ahead to a universal apotheosis is contained. Its most striking aspect is the privileged position of the central Point. It is as if the Point is the Sun itself, centre of the System it has spawned. On the other hand, the circumscribing periphery is the family of planets which presently number 9. Since the periphery can be reduced to 9 (360=9), we are informed that when the measure of the System reaches this number the Puranas and all else can be updated – i.e., made factual and relevant to our Age, the same message of the Navagrahas.

In astrological tradition the sign Aquarius, our present Age, is known in its esoteric significance as the period of universal transformation. Thus, our exercise of updating must be applicable to the entire Earth. Such being the case, we can once more use the symbol of the Sun to describe the methodology to attain the goal of universalism. In other words, this symbol provides the key to the heart of wisdom, not just to the role of the central Sun in the solar system. It can be the symbol of the individual as well as the entire Earth.

Regarding the individual the central point is the Soul, nexus of time and space, the descending and ascending principles and their powers of manifestation. The location of this point in the human being identifies the converging point of the lower ascending planes and the higher descending powers. They meet in the individual Soul. It is the receptacle of what lies beyond the cosmic ‘singularity’ – the threshold that Science for all its wonders cannot cross. The soul is the repository of the supporting powers of existence, not only on Earth but of the entire material universe – this is the universal soul. Those planes are known in metaphysics and philosophy and some schools of yoga as Transcendent, Cosmic and Individual, the trinity at the root of all manifestation. When the time comes for the universal transformation, then this threshold must be breached; and incarnations descend into Earth time with the ability, by virtue of the manner in which they take birth, to draw those powers into the atmosphere. By their unique relation with Time the powers they jointly embody become the support of the march forward for the purpose of the 9 becoming the 10. They are the path breakers of the Age. Indeed, this passage is not merely cosmological or metaphysical: it is a reality made poignantly real by the lived process in Earth time of the 9th Avatar becoming the 10th, or Kalki of Puranic tradition.

Leaving this aside for the moment, the Sun symbol can also be the Earth in her totality in the circumscribing periphery. But the symbol must describe the condition of the way forward for the Earth, once more based on this symbol and what it reveals. It indicates that the Sun is the central Point within the system of planets, while the soul is the central point of each individual. Therefore, so too the Earth must bear her own central Point. The ancients had understood as much when the Puranic Cosmology was formulated. The sages gave the cosmology the same structure I am describing in this updating process. But in those early times Science had not contributed its part to the evolution of consciousness and to the universalism that was being prepared and for which many aspects of Earth life had to be drawn in to carry the objective from the realm of Ideals into the material world we inhabit. For example, as earlier noted, geographical exploration had to reveal the full body of our planet. This was ultimately accompanied by the proper tools to measure that newly-discovered Body. On this basis the very first steps could be taken on the road to the preordained universal transformation of Aquarius – RIGHT ON TIME.

In Update 6 I presented a means to identify factually the connection between Capricorn and the subcontinent by the superimposition of its hieroglyph on the landmass. Its exact synchronisation cannot be disputed, though we may be hard pressed to understand how this could have come to pass in an age we consider primitive. But that superimposition was only the first step in the elaborate process of drawing Mt Meru/Bharatvarsha into our Age, or to materialise the symbol. Now we must carry that process into further levels of ‘densification’ to bring Heaven to Earth as it were by employing certain tools science has provided to measure our globe; for instance, latitude and longitude. Thanks to the Circle and its wide applications, the concept of Mt Meru can be carried forward in the exercise of the symbol becoming the thing symbolised. This measuring act will prove that the Sun’s astronomical symbol does represent the Earth herself with that indispensible ‘centre that holds’, which is discovered as existing on the planet through India’s astrological ruler. India is for the Earth what the Sun is for the solar system and what the soul is for each individual.

(click to enlarge)

From From The New Way, Vol. 2, PNB
Aeon Books, 1981.

I present above the world map – but it is unlike any other that our atlases offer. This world map presents the 12-part division of the ecliptic circle – the zodiac – brought to Earth; and given the strides science has made in devising tools to measure our circular globe, and since both longitudes and latitudes consist of bands of 30 degrees to reach the 360 of all circles, similar to the zodiacal signs, our own planet can serve as a means to bring the celestial phenomena to Earth. For this purpose we lay the zodiac across the planet on the basis of the Vedic laws of correspondence and equivalence, 6 signs west and the other 6 east in the manner indicated to complete the circle superimposition. Further on we will continue this measuring exercise to reveal even more clearly the relevance of Capricorn for India and for the world since this convergence of time and space would be the equal-bodied cross for our planet and hence the perfect ‘centre that holds’ due to the axial alignment that comes into being from this perfect convergence.

Capricorn serves the new cosmology as a sort of Philosopher’s Stone as in alchemical tradition, the element that could reveal true gold and thus the success of the transmutation. Similarly today, we may use Capricorn, known in the ancient mysteries as the Name of God, to test its relevance as the new and updated Mt Meru of old. In locating the sign both by longitude and latitude, Capricorn appears on the map in both directions over India. It is a convergence of time (longitude) and space (latitude), using our own globe as the field to test the Knowledge.

The Vedas, as well as the more recent Revelation of St John, speak of a new heaven and a new earth. We can readily recognise that given the above-mentioned discoveries our planet has indeed undergone a metamorphosis: she has been made NEW before our eyes, in our very times. But the scriptures speak of a new HEAVEN as well. No one, to my knowledge, seems to have grasped the enormous significance of this simple phrase: a new Heaven and a new Earth. For how, pray tell, can ‘heaven’ be made new? In our understanding of the word, Heaven lies beyond all that is corruptible and subject to the decaying mechanism of all things Earthly born of time. Heaven must perforce be eternal and definitely unchanging. At least this is what the dogmas teach us. If we follow the dictates of the priests, that static, incorruptible realm awaits us at death – but of this ‘heaven’ we have no empirical proof. Again I pose the question, what then is meant by a new heaven, since in our conception it lies beyond the mechanism that can make ‘all things new’. Without Time no renewal is possible, and all religions concur in the belief that ‘heaven’ is eternal and beyond time and space and hence any change. It stands beyond our material universe.

And yet, the words of the Ancients haunt us. What is the answer?

Conditioned as humans have become after passage through Pisces by the religions that evolved during that period, we equate heaven (Swar) with an eternal, static, unchanging and, of course, undying dimension. For after all, if this were not so, how then to offer it as a prize for the faithful who cannot make sense out of this dynamic madness with its imprisonment in and by Time that carries us to ineluctable death? Heaven of all religions has to be different and therefore soothing in our world of suffering and miseries of all sorts. Even Eastern philosophies and yogic systems succumbed to this enticement. They offer sure methods of escape (in themselves illusions?), and realisations of seemingly the highest order were presented as indisputable proof that right here on this planet subjected to the dratted enchainment of life, death and possibly rebirth, the chain could be broken for good. Liberation, moksha, could be attained right here. But the fly in the ointment was that the finest energies of humanity were thus siphoned off either by a dogma, unprovable but nonetheless binding through fear of eternal damnation, or else by proffering yogic tactics of escape from this entrapment that birth on Earth signifies.

Eastern yogis succumbed in equal measure to the enticement of a static Beyond. Having been so proficient in their respective paths, they are to be held the most guilty for the sorry state our planet finds herself in. Indeed, yogic methods were perfected in the true oriental tradition of realising the truth and not simply accepting dogmas which could convince the seeker that indeed all things Earthly and of this cosmos are simply illusory, unreal. This position continues to hold firm in the minds of aspirants. This simple undermining has carried the Earth to the brink of the Abyss of Time. For indeed, if it is all basically unreal, and everything, including truth itself, is relative, then striving as I am doing in these pages to re-establish the Divine Maya or Measure is simply part and parcel of that unreality and need not detain us further.

However, the Sun symbol tells us otherwise: both Being (point) and Becoming (periphery) – harmonised through the yogic realisation of the new Aquarian Age – hold the key to making both the Earth AND Heaven new.

The map of the world which I present here is a factual demonstration of the manner in which HEAVEN ITSELF IS MADE NEW.

In the Puranic Age that harmonisation could not be attained. Science and spirituality had to evolve separately until Time had fulfilled itself and the Age of the Supermind had arrived. This highest of all principles, until now unmanifest on Earth, is the tool to bring Swar to Earth, made new in our perception when the earlier separation is healed because of the allegiance of Time in this Age of the Supermind, and the unveiling of the updated Vedic and Puranic traditions. For the way to make heaven new is by rendering dynamic to our perceiving eye what dogma holds to be static. The lived realisation of the Supermind introduces this changed direction which describes something very different.

The 10th month victory, with its secret ‘door’ that opens before the aspirant at the December Solstice, provides the magic formula that can bring Swar right here onto this planet thanks to the joining of science and spirituality by a process which itself makes obsolete the two separate approaches to Reality: a synthesis is the key, a third way beyond both.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Director
Aeon Centre of Cosmology

Puranic Cosmology Updated 10

7 April 2010

In this section I propose to discuss just what occurs when ‘the 9 becomes the 10’, as noted in Update 9. This analysis will confirm the most important feature of the old cosmology – i.e., its prophetic capacity. To update the old way, to factualise, to render concrete what may be considered abstract and elusive to the layperson, the best means is to take the Circle once again and locate the 9 and the 10 therein [see diagram Update 9], this time focussing exclusively on the 12-part division into four quarters. This would be the more exoteric division which we can easily relate to given our division of the year into 12 months and further into four quarters with their respective Equinoxes and Solstices. Of primary importance are two: Mahavishuva (March Equinox) and Makar Sankranti (December Solstice). The latter, for India, is certainly the happening that merits the most careful attention of all, as I have pointed out in the course of this series.

While the March Equinox is essential to establish correctly because it is the ayanamsha or zero point of the year and hence sets the tone for the entire sequence to follow according to the true Vedic measure, the Makar Sankranti for India is the most important of the four in that it opens for us the sacred tenth-month ‘door’ – that victory sign/month Capricorn, India’s own astrological ruler. Is it therefore any wonder that Makar Sankranti continues to be celebrated throughout the land each year, though none truly appreciate its Vedic significance which, lamentably, is fading out of the collective memory at great speed when each year it suffers a further ‘slippage of time’?

However, essential to note is that the subcontinent has reached a certain ecliptic boundary now that this sacred sankranti has reached the 23 degree/day of ‘slippage’, as is presently the case. This boundary is set by the Earth herself in her annual rotation of the Sun on the ecliptic plane. Given her harmonies vis-à-vis the luminary, the Earth dips beneath this plane through half the year southward, and the other half northward, as if it were rotated on a skewer or axis with the two Solstices at either end. The maximum ‘allowed’, given her position within the System and the harmony set for her by the Sun, can only be to an angle of 23, her actual axial tilt in degrees – which is the amount of time slippage Hindus experience by following the current calendar of observances and horoscopy. It is cemented in the collective consciousness by the celebration of the Makar Sankranti exactly 23 degrees/days after synchronisation with the shortest day of the year.

This factor of a 23-day slippage and the boundary establishing a 23-degree/day limit, beyond which lies collapse, are not connected. On the surface that 23 days happens to be the slippage from the December Solstice, which coincides with the tilt in degrees of the Earth’s axis to the rims of the Tropics, is purely coincidental – at least on the surface. The 23-day late celebration of the Makar Sankranti has no relation at all to the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn at 23 degrees latitude. Nonetheless, the calculations for the present Hindu calendar according to the sidereal system (Nirayana), though unrelated has carried us to the brink of the Abyss of Time. The Nirayana system bases its rectification of the ayanamshas the pundits employ for temples and individuals on the very distant constellations, with no relation at all to the Tropical Zodiac of the Veda; and yet, how interesting that at the very time the Avatar appears, the two coincide in the measure of 23. Even more interesting, this same number of degrees determines the position of the border with Pakistan according to the new cosmology [see The Partition of India, www.aeongroup.com]. All things false seem to fall under the spell of 23! Beyond this point – that is, if rectification does not take place involving this most essential aspect of the Dharma – the civilisation in toto is plummeted into the cosmic Abyss of Time, from where retrieval is near impossible. Time is needed for it to emerge from the Cosmic Sea where the Veda is securely hidden to then begin another cycle many thousand years into the future.

The effects of this abysmal situation are visible all around us. Apart from the decrepit condition of the land itself, subjected to an almost total disregard for its ecology or even just basic cleanliness and hygiene which are clear indications of the impending collapse, as never before Bharat faces hostile forces closing in upon her from all sides. The lethal destructive power available to these forces is unprecedented. Armed with such weaponry tremendous destruction can be accomplished by just a few. This is accompanied by a global crisis affecting all areas of existence, as noted in Update 9. All four quarters of the Circle are subjected to a ‘compression’ the likes of which have never been experienced before.

The ‘method to the madness’ of the Hostiles is only one: to halt the forward march of evolution to reach its rightful apotheosis of integrality and oneness. Pari passu with the stresses felt on the four parts of collective existence, essential in this destructive process is the elimination of the Centre that is the subcontinent, the ‘centre that holds’, because while it survives the Earth is saved, evolution is saved, the new world is a certainty. It all hinges on the Centre of the Earth. If that collapses the Earth is carried into the Abyss of Time and all the labour of the Dasavataras is brought to nought.

Essentially this is the vital importance of the Capricorn Solstice. It alone offers entry into the ‘world’ where 9 can ‘become 10’, where realignment can take place, where the Axis is forged. But most important of all, it is where reversal occurs that brings Swar to Earth. When that happens the Sanatana Dharma is renewed on the true Vedic basis; for it must be borne in mind that the subcontinent is burdened with the residue accrued across the Age of Pisces by the whole Earth, all of which translates into a slippage of time of 23 degrees/days, bringing the Earth to the brink of the Abyss of Time. The Centre is the cauldron where that residue is accumulated, for which reason the proper axial balance, stemming from the centre of the equal-bodied cross, cannot be attained. A ‘dark age’, a Kaliyuga is one where the residue is such that it pulls the axis off-centre to such a degree that only darkness prevails, only ignorance and falsehood seem to reign supreme. Then the Avatar appears for only he can dispel the darkness and rescue the Veda from the depths of the Cosmic Sea.

The Makar Sankranti holds the key because of the 23 degree tilt of the Earth’s own axis and the dip above and below the plane of the ecliptic to the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that our planet experiences twice yearly at each Solstice. But it is the Capricorn Solstice that bears the most relevance because it occurs exactly 9 months after Mahavishuva in March, for which reason the ancient texts such as the Brihad Samhita provide formulas for the calculations of these two alone, March Equinox and December Solstice. It is as if the ‘seed’ planted at the start of the year, its zero point, were gestated like a foetus for nine months to reach birth at the December Solstice. And for this reason the Cow is the greatest Vedic symbol of all because in Sanskrit gau means both ‘cow’ and ‘ray of the Sun’. More importantly, in the exercise of the symbol being the thing symbolised, gestation for the Cow is also nine months. The Cow is sacred because the 9 is sacred.

In esoteric/initiatic tradition Capricorn is the point of Cosmic Midday where the Sun is aligned directly overhead and therefore casts no shadows. It is the duty of the Avatar to correct the off-centre axial tilt in time, accomplishment of which constitutes the 10th month victory of the Veda. This correction initially can only be done by the Vishnu Avatar as typified in the Churning Myth with its perfect alignment, for which both dark and light contribute equally; but Mt Meru (Bharat) stands directly beneath the Great God Perumal, as he is known in South India, and the tilt is overcome by his grace.

This action takes place only in the 9th Manifestation which initiates the final round of 25,920 years of the full 77,760. It appears to be a cosmic conspiracy that in this 9th (consisting of 6480 Earth years) the ecliptic borderline is reached with its tilt-measure of 23 degrees/days nailing the Hindu Samaj to this off-centre cross this aberration signifies in real terms. However, we must admit that if the Hostiles had not imposed the tilt-measure, the 9th/10th Avatar would not be needed. What then the purpose of all the Myths and Vedas?

Thus, the Measure of 9 surfaces again in this crucial area of our study to update the Puranic cosmology. What was planted as ‘seed’ at the year’s zero point is gestated across 9 months to be born at the December Solstice of the annual rotation as well as the Precession of the Equinoxes of many thousands of years. But this is no ordinary birth. The true nature of what transpires after this singular convergent birthing is that the door of the kingdom of Swar is opened before the individual, the community and the civilisation, by which means ‘birth’ in harmony with Earth Time brings forth that ‘seed’, this time further materialised, densified, to withstand the rigours of the transition into the physical plane where its emergence and subsequent growth is assured because Time is the power of an irreversible gestation; and it is only in our material universe of 9 that Time is measurable and irreversible. This new-born is no ordinary creature. This Child is the New Creation – indestructible, invincible, luminous and eternal because Time is its ally and its protector. There may well be other universes in other dimensions, but only in ours where the 0/9 is our scale that Being and Becoming allow us to participate consciously in the birth of a new world – a new Heaven and a new Earth, as described in the Veda.

Such is the greatness of the Vedic Way, and the Puranic Age that has preserved this most sacred ritual for the world. Murugan, the Puranas tell us, as a mere child conquers the mightiest asura; because we learn from the Shiva Purana that it is Shiva Himself who stands before Tarak in the form of His son. And none can control, manipulate or subdue the power of this Great God of Time.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Director
Aeon Centre of Cosmology