PURANIC COSMOLOGY UPDATED: Ramlal and the Makar Sankranti

[On 3 December 2012, the Wall Street Journal began an in-depth series titled, 'Ayodhya, The Battle for India’s Soul' discussing the first appearance of the Ramlal Idol in the then Babri mosque on 22 December 1949 and its subsequent impact on India. On the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the appearance, December 22, 2009, Thea wrote a paper entitled Ramlal and the Makar Sankranti – revisited. Now approaching the 63^rd anniversary of the appearance, we would like to present this article for our Puranic Cosmology Updated readers, given the Journal’s recent interest and because the points Thea made then are still relevant now.]

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology

25 November 2009

On the 21st of December this year [2009], we will participate in a homam at Skambha, at the exact time of the Solstice and entry into Makar/Capricorn – close to midnight – 11:07 PM for all of India, and 10:47 for Skambha.¹

This is a very special observance because it marks the 60^th anniversary of the epiphany of Ramavatar as Child at Ayodhya in what was known then as the Babri Mosque, built by the conqueror at the site millions of Hindus believe was the birth place of the 7^th Avatar of Vishnu. We may not have proof of the birth, no ‘certificate’ as such. But we do have cosmic credentials to support whatever transpires regarding this special incarnation in the history of Bharat. And we do know that there was a temple on the site which was replaced by a mosque, a custom widely practised in those days of conquest and rule throughout the world. In India especially targeted were temples sacred to Vishnu Avatars, because the Line of Ten forms the backbone of Hinduism from the Vedic Age to the present as proven by the new Indo-centric cosmology.

Recently I have laid out the pertinent facts in two publications: Secrets of the Earth, PNB, Aeon Books 2009, which reveals the truth of Vishnu Trivikrama and his very precise ‘three strides’ to ‘measure the universe’, or the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th Avatars of his 10; and in a publication of restricted circulation from Aeon Centre of Cosmology, The Partition of India (September-October 2009) where, on the basis of this cosmology with its keys of higher knowledge, it was possible to dissect Partition with amazing results. Both publications are available at the Centre (aeon1@eth.net).

In Partition I commented in the very beginning that the dismembering of India is a problem that refuses to be laid to rest. The same may be said of Ramlal’s epiphany at Ayodhya. Once again the controversy surrounding his birth site – legendary or real, it makes little difference – has erupted. Parliament is in an uproar, the news channels are having a feast engaging in their favourite pastime, Hindu(tva)-bashing; and the few intrepid souls who dare to voice an opinion contrary to this onslaught have to be considered real heroes of the cause. Aggressively guilt is sought by all means to be instilled in the hearts of Hindus throughout the land, accompanied by shame, and, hopefully, repentance. How successful they have been, remains to be seen. Ramlal may have other ‘plans’, other ‘conspiracies’.

As might be expected, I see in the most recent brouhaha a process very similar to what takes place when Partition, for some reason or another, makes the headlines. I repeat what I wrote in the first paragraph of my analysis: it is a problem that just refuses to go away. Why? Apart from the fact that in each case the core of Indianness is touched, there is an element common to both, with a cosmological binding power. It is, precisely, the Capricorn/Makar Sankranti. In The Partition of India the application was largely spatial: the Body of the Mother was measured based on the keys the new cosmology provides. In this case it is largely temporal. It was the timing of the Epiphany that resulted in exactly what Makar Sankranti means – that is, when a ‘seed’ is planted that then uses Time to carry it forward to fruition on the wings of the cycles it produces. This means that when an event takes place in harmony with the true entry in Makar, it simply cannot die or be wished away. It has its own in-built mechanism for survival; similar, indeed exactly, like the whole of Vedic civilisation which was born with the same allegiance of Time.

Now we have reached the 60^th anniversary of the ‘miraculous appearance’. This particular cycle is especially appreciated by Hindus because it marks the completion of the fifth circum-ambulation of the Sun by Jupiter/Brihaspati. This 60^th birthday is often celebrated by Hindus individually; how much more so for Ramavatar? He appeared in 1949 in the form of a child, precisely to allow us to appreciate the fact that as time presses forward he will grow; and given the rightness of things temporal and spatial, he is indestructible.

In 1991 I brought out a special issue of our newsletter Vishaal, dedicated to the epiphany of Ramlal at that magical moment, the Makar Sankranti of 1949, just days after the new Constitution of India had been adopted which, need I remind you, took place to coincide exactly with the date of birth when Vishnu’s 9^th Avatar would return as the 10^th and therefore bring to a conclusion the Dasavataras? This was 26/11. These are now iconic numbers, similar to 9/11 in America; and also similar to the American experience, 26/11 in more ways than one marks a before and after.

Ramlal’s growth presses on. The play of circumstances, or the circle’s periphery of which he is the binding centre, generates the events which will continue to prove that the only Makar Sankranti is the December Solstice and not the falsehood presently considered to be the beginning of Capricorn/Makar, 15 January, 23 days after the entry has passed. Isn’t it significant that Hindus, unlike the rest of the world, celebrate this most important festival LATE? But we are reminded again and again of the what and when of the true Sankranti. Tradition records that Bhisma also understood its importance by choosing to leave this plane on that date and no other. His case is the most precise confirmation of the innermost secret of the December Solstice, for apart from being the moment when a reversal takes place and the compression of the Light (cows/rays) begins to increase, its import for a Vedic Rishi and Initiate is that the Light experiences the same ‘death’ as the human being who faces his own death: one’s consciousness-being is compressed to a ‘point’; and through this method of extreme contraction a portal is reached which alone can give us entry to Swar – not ‘heaven’ as we wrongly understand the word today, but the dimension of immortality, the home of the Immortal Ones. From Swar, the Earth-bound dimension, those Immortal Ones continue to oversee the destiny of Bharat. Bhisma understood and timed his journey accordingly.

This is the profound meaning of Makar Sankranti and why its timing must be celebrated at the moment of the year’s shortest (compressed) day. Ramlal gave this instruction to the Hindu Samaj when he appeared at Ayodhya at that precise and sacred moment. But apart from the Sankranti there are other noteworthy configurations surrounding his 1949 epiphany which I discussed in the special December Solstice issue of Vishaal. I have decided to present here the entire section on Ramlal from the series featured in Vishaal entitled, Culture and Cosmos, cosmic harmonies in Hindu civilisation and society. Since the newsletter was prepared for students of the New Way cosmology, it may be somewhat difficult for the layperson to follow; but its relevance now is important. Therefore, I am presenting here the entire sub-section, and with footnotes added when required.

Ramlal of Ayodhya: the Retrieval Conspiracy

Though the Knowledge has been well preserved in myth and epic, as well as in the realisations of certain Yogis throughout the Ages, the element that was lost in the vision was the correct key to Time which I sometimes refer to as the ‘0 Point’, – time, that especially elusive substance which was itself the focus of the Manifestation after the Egyptian Space Conquest was drawn to a close.² In the intervening years, Ram and Krishna prepared the soil for the full conquest of Time – or rather its integration into the complex workings of the cosmic manifestation – in the 9^th Manifestation³ in which indeed the number 9 would play a most significant role. But more than the 9, the 0’s discovery was the single most important factor to allow for this ‘conquest’. To briefly summarise why this was so, in all schools of higher knowledge the only scale known was the Space Scale of 1 to 12. This could provide utilisation of the horizontal/space dimension, but the VERTICAL or the Time dimension was left out of the process. Hence, it was not an integral manifestation. To incorporate Time as an ‘ally’ in the process, the first prerequisite is knowledge of the 0 because the Time Scale consists of 10 ‘notes’ but beginning from 0 rather than 1. This is what allows it to be considered a ‘vertical’ dimension. The true description, however, is a ‘seed’ unfolding from within, drawing out from itself the 9 notes which it contains in unextended form. These 9 notes are thus the 9 planets of our system. The 0 of the system is the Sun. It is only in this way, with the discovery of the Zero, that the Sun can be accommodated in its proper position as centre of the solar system.

This ‘shift’ signified the most important breakthrough in the study of cosmic harmonies for many hundreds of years. At the same time, it is through the Time Scale’s 0 to 9 that the planetary structure could be connected to the calendar. Thus Time would become the ‘ally’ by virtue of the fact that its operations could be ‘measured’ in our flow of Earth-time and its power could be utilised to build elements of the new order through the medium of the individual/collective consciousness. Hence the Strategy of myth/epic and the individual realisation would be of foremost importance in such an operation.

Concurrently, this shift introduced the need for a very great precision which hinged on the correct assessment of that 0 Point. Without that knowledge there could be no effective means to utilise Time in a non-speculative manner, nor could processes be initiated and monitored to permit a much greater conscious participation of the individual in the process of transformation. I repeat, none of this was possible before the discovery of the Zero. And it is an extraordinary confirmation of the premises of the new Cosmology that having established the fact of an Egyptian ‘space conquest’ and the shift to India for the ‘time conquest’, and that for the latter the 0 would be indispensable, it was precisely India that gave to the world the concept of the Zero. With this accomplished the work could begin.

We need not review here the history of this ‘lost measure’, as I have called it. Indeed, it would be apt to state that this was the ‘ray/cow’ concealed by the hostile Panis of the Rigvedic ‘journey’, in the cave of the 8^th sign/Manifestation, Scorpio.⁴ I have discussed this matter in depth in VISHAAL in the series, ‘The Capricorn Factor’. Let me simply state that the sacred Capricorn hieroglyph [see its reproduction at the end of this article], the very landmass of Bharatmata, holds the key to that divine and true Measure. For the real and essential question to ask is, When, in effect, does the Sun truly move into that special time-space of Capricorn, India’s own [astrological] ruler and an entry which, in spite of the loss, continues to be celebrated throughout the country each year? In Sanskrit it is called the Makar Sankranti, or the Capricorn Gateway. But given the decline of the Knowledge, the loss of the correct connection between time and cosmos and the Earth, this entry point has slipped back as if the civilisation’s pulse were skipping vital beats here and there. Finally, in this Age of Aquarius of our 9^th Manifestation [begun in 1926], the loss consists of a full 23 days in terms of the year; regarding the cosmic age – the same circle extended to embrace larger cycles of time – it amounts to hundreds. The Makar Sankranti is celebrated on 15 January rather than the true date: the solstice of 22-23 December [or 21-22, depending on the motion of the Earth].

Be this as it may, conforming to its role of preserver of the highest cosmic Knowledge and land of the new order based on that Vedic Truth, the nation does continue to foster the true things simply by openly celebrating an event cosmic and zodiacal. In the West this date is camouflaged in the tale of the birth of the Christ-Child: 24-25 December. Closer to the mark indeed, but still imperfect, it was adopted as the birthday of Jesus simply because it fell in the traditional Festival of Light, perhaps the most auspicious and universal of all celebrations in antiquity. It was associated with the ‘light’, entirely due to a cosmic/planetary configuration: the Capricorn solstice marked the point when, from its period of longest ‘imprisonment’ (in the cave of the Panis?), the Sun would pass into the experience of increase of its light. This would be reflected in the increase of the length of the day from that moment onward. Hence, the Festival of Light was a celebration of a cosmic event and to locate this ‘gateway’ at any other point in time than the one which would indeed identify the exact beginning of the increase, would make no sense at all, if we place value on the physical harmony and the lived experience. Yet this is what has come to pass in India – largely because that physical reality came to be looked upon as ‘illusion’. Thus, the Yogis of old who should have been responsible for maintaining that correct link with time and cosmos, saw themselves drawn away from their duty by this concept which gradually undermined the act of seeing to the measurable degree of ‘23 days’. Thus that ‘gateway’, which bears no relation to the true entry into Capricorn, is the Makar Sankranti we know and celebrate today. Nonetheless, I repeat, it is indeed respected though the significance and measure may have been lost. The impact of the Vedic Seeing was just too powerful and electrifying to be ignored.

Yet, the Avatars do carry on with their work and in spite of the loss they even contrive to rectify matters, similar to the Egyptian sages, and locate the Makar Sankranti at the real Gateway where it belongs in the divine Measure. This occurred in post-Independence India. I refer, once again, to Ayodhya.

Thus, on the night precisely of 22-23 December, or the Capricorn solstice of 1949, that sacredmost moment when the Festival of Light begins as the Sun enters Capricorn and its light starts to increase, Ram made his miraculous appearance in the Babri Mosque in the form of the divine Child, or Ramlal. It was a night of 3 number-power [22+12+1949=3]. It was Ram’s confirmation in his traditional birthplace that this date is the true Makar Sankranti and the restoration of the lost Measure would coincide with the reestablishment of the ancient Dharma, all of which is the meaning stored in the Capricorn hieroglyph. That hieroglyph would thus prove to be the seal and sanction of the Supreme when revealed. And it would even disclose the true physical dimensions of India.⁵ Its revelation – that is, the time when the hieroglyph would first be ‘seen’ superimposed on that landmass – would mark the beginning of a process which would shape the new India in accordance with this true Measure. Its revelation or unveiling would draw together the two cosmic properties of time and space – the former through the correct and gnostic time-measure or 22-23 December, and the latter through the spatial dimensions of the landmass precisely in accordance with that sacred symbol. This revelation occurred in May of 1974.

But a quarter of a century prior to this geographical/zodiacal discovery, Ram ‘corrected’ or retrieved the Lost Measure. After the glorious epiphany of the Child on the night of 22-23 December 1949, in the Babri Mosque, its doors were locked in 1950.⁶ None were permitted entry. Thirty-six years, or a completed cycle of 4 x 9, were required for the Child to mature in solitude. Thus, when the full 36 were completed, it was on 5 January 1986 that the process was started to unlock the doors of the Mosque. The Congress Party was then in power. A meeting was convened for that very special day – that is, the zodiacal point of the Soul of India and the close of the Festival of Light – to explore the possibility of shifting the mosque to allow a temple to be built on the site in honour of the divine Child Ram. The proposal was rejected. Shortly thereafter, on 1 February 1986, now of 9 number-power, the court ordered the mosque to be unlocked. Appropriately, at 5:19 PM, Ramlal was ‘liberated’.

We are concerned with the lost divine Measure above all else, retrieval of which can permit the new India to be truly born. Ram conspired not only to rectify the position of the cosmic dial by appearing on the very night when in the true Measure Capricorn does indeed begin, but, also connected to his miraculous appearance then, Ram contrived to provide the full measure of the Festival of Light. Ancient tradition has always located this period in the first 15 days of the Capricorn month – from the solstice of 22-23 December to the mid-point of the sign, 5-6 January, or the 15^th degree of Capricorn. In all there are 15 days involved. The orbital reason for this location has been explained previously, and why it was held as sacred. But for India the period is far more sacred than for any other country or civilsiation because Capricorn is the sign of her soul and its hieroglyph delineates her physical form. It can be appreciated therefore that the correct location in zodiacal/calendrical time and geographical space of this sacred sign is the single most important discovery in the history of Vedic civilisation in terms of India’s expression of her higher destiny.

Is it any wonder then that, in perfect attunement with the revelation of the new way Cosmology, Ram should have ‘chosen’ to appear in such a manner and at such a time so as to rectify or at least draw attention to India’s lost Measure? And that exactly 36 years later his power should make itself felt on 5 January, again in perfect attunement with gnostic time, to disclose the last day of the Festival of Light and the degree/day of India’s own soul? Who was ‘responsible’ for this occurrence? A political party? Who ‘surreptitiously’ placed the child-figure in the Mosque? Who, or what ‘power’ stood behind the opening of the Gate on 1.2.1986 – again, a 9-power day? And complying with whose ‘design’? Was it a political manoeuvre, a communal aberration, a zealot’s madness?⁷

These questions are irrelevant when it is known, as India knows, that the Time-Spirit works through human instruments. It moves the human consciousness in any direction it wills; however, in accordance with and determined by its higher Purpose. The real miracle is the conspiracy with gnostic time. Can there be a more exquisite display of the universal truth India holds, which in this one act unveiled the Cosmic Truth underlying countless tales of the birth of the sacred Child? Can there be a more profound confirmation for the location of the true Gateway to Capricorn than this divine Epiphany of Lord Ram, precisely coinciding with that entry in the very heavens at the time of his ‘surreptitious’ appearance? Similarly, if I state that myth and epic are universal, this ‘surreptitious’ epiphany, because of its timing, does indeed reveal the universal content in myth in that both in the ancient world and the Christian era, this date was always connected to the sacred Birth. Indeed, Ram the Child has appeared to restore things universally sacred, divine and true.

Finally, the mosque in which the Child Ram chose to appear stands on Plot # 159. In the December Vishaal (6/5), on page 11, I wrote that these were the numbers via the Greek letters TH-E-A, which allowed me to discover the Map of the 12 Manifestations. It is this Map that holds the knowledge of the Line of Ten Avatars. It is this Map which reveals that 1-5-9 are the numbers of the Manifestations…that fall in the last quarter of the wheel where our present Age of Aquarius is located. Plot #159 is precisely the ‘disputed’ one at Ayodhya upon which the whole controversy is centred and on whose very soil the Child appeared. With this background, I leave it to the reader to decide whether the Epiphany was ‘lawful’ or ‘unlawful’, ‘real’ or ‘surreptitiously contrived’. After all, according to which ‘law’? And with whose connivance?

30 October 1991

Aeon Centre of Cosmology at Skambha

The Capricorn/Makar symbol

and the map of Akhand Bharat

Postscript

For those of you who do not or cannot follow the Indian news but who have read my recent piece, ‘Ramlal and the Makar Sankranti - revisited’ an important point may have been missed. It is, in fact, the most important aspect to the whole exercise.

In the recent events politicians engaged in the usual ‘blame-game’, as the current jargon has it. One party blames another, and back and forth it goes. That is their job, this one-upmanship. In this particular case, two major parties were involved, the Congress and the BJP. So, this involves a sizable quantity of the representatives of the people. The blaming focuses on, of course, the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya, and naturally the Sangh Parivar has come under attack. On their part and quite legitimately, the Parivar has sought to bring up the ‘history’ of what actually caused the ire of whoever did the demolition. Thus, the Congress Party has come under attack since it was, as I pointed out, during that Government’s rule under Rajiv Gandhi that Ramlal was ‘liberated’ and the doors to his modest (but powerful) sanctum sanctorum were opened. Then followed the Brick-Laying ceremony, under the same Government.

Of course these events are important, particularly their timing, as I have written. But what is missed and I trust that my article will make clear, those were all ‘measured’ on the basis of one factor, or seeding. This was of course the Makar Sankranti of 1949 when the idol mysteriously appeared in the then mosque. That was the true beginning and everything thereafter must be measured from that single point in time. But of course, it is an event we would all prefer to ignore!

The most interesting aspect to this entire unfolding is that because no one knows who actually placed the idol there, it is impossible to engage in any blame-game! Of course, as I also pointed out, Mahakal does use human instruments to accomplish his deeds in accordance with gnostic Time. That is a valid point, but it is immaterial to the situation. The fact is history cannot lay the blame on anyone or any political party! We assume that this group or that did the deed, but we have no certainty. Actually, the only ‘blame’ must necessarily fall at the feet of Ramavatar himself, and his faithful companion, Mahakal, the Great God of Time.

This situation perfectly describes the difference between India and the rest of the world. It is also a lesson for not only the Sangh Parivar but the entire spectrum of political parties in the nation: The unfolding of India’s destiny lays in the hands of the Great God, regardless of all the protests this may engender and the disbelief of all those who cling to the image of a reformist Indian civilisation. The Vedic Seeds are indestructible; and when Time matures and the unfolding starts, it is useless to seek to suppress the un-suppressible.

Thea

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

at Skambha

27.11.2009

^Footnotes
^{¹ Individuals interested in knowing the exact timing may verify the above through the Indian Astronomical agencies.}
² This refers to the 7th Manifestation with its focus on Egypt, circa 12,000 years ago. That civilisation’s wisemen had the task of ‘conquering’ spatial implications for the evolution of consciousness; witness their extant constructions which were virtual colossi.
³ The 9th Manifestation is our own, 234 BCE to 6480 CE.

⁴ This would be Vishnu Trivikrama’s second stride, indicating the 8^th Avatar’s time of appearance on Earth
⁵ See The Partition of India and the symbol-map at the end of the article.
⁶ These numbers, 1-9-5-0, in themselves hold the message of the appearances of Vishnu’s Avatars.
⁷ Currently (November 2009), the controversy surrounding the demolished disputed structure has arisen from the dead. It is interesting to note the then Chief Minister’s response to the uproar and finger-pointing: he was the very first to come forward and has stood firmly by his role in the affair, more staunchly than any other person(s) involved at the time, and now. Could it be that he derived his strength of conviction from the fact that his own birthday is 5 January – the soul-point of India? There was another participant in the affair, who held a significant post at the time, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party. As we would expect, his birthday too falls on 5 January.
⁸ And also the true ‘measure’ of Vishnu Trivikrama’s three strides.