Puranic Cosmology Updated 3

3 March 2010

The inspiration to begin this new series came when I was given a copy of Bhugola Varanam of Sri Vadiraja, translated and commented on by B. V. Bhadarayana Murthy (Akhila Bharata Madhva Maha Mandali, Madras Branch, 1989). In perusing this precious little document it became abundantly clear that updating is the need of the hour. Essentially this is what I have been doing for the past four decades; more particularly since 1971 when I came to reside in India. But all the volumes published to date, while giving full details of the new cosmology have not been specifically written to reveal the manner in which this new formulation is directly connected to the older cosmology, that it updates the latter and why it has become necessary to do so.

The cosmology itself answers these questions. Most important of all, it reveals that we are in the middle of a great transition which can best be described as the birth of a new world, a new creation. The Puranas speak of 9 creations and the manner of procreation specific to each. The highest, the 9th, is precisely where we stand as an evolving civilisation. At the 9th stage procreation is said to be by Will. It is not far-fetched to deduce that attempts made to procreate by artificial means of various sorts may be precursors or indicators of the direction the evolution is taking at this 9th stage. There are other indications as well – for example, same sex marriages and the like, while repulsive to some may well be society’s attempts to accommodate a very different relationship between the sexes, as the 9th Creation demands. In other words, there is a shift in the purpose of evolution taking place, a shift to a higher purpose, removed from the atavistic drives that have coloured our sojourn on planet Earth. In such a scenario, all religions born in the Age of Pisces are the strongest voices against this shift, if it may be so called; whereas the Puranas seem to have foreseen the direction evolution would take in the years to come.

It is not an entirely blissful fate to be a part of this transition. The condition of the world around us provides ample proof. However, there is a great advantage offered to us by the vision Puranic Cosmology provides. This is a vision of Order, Oneness, Unity. Be that as it may, this gift Tradition has bequeathed to humanity is useless without an updating that can allow it to be a truly applicable guide in this trying passage to a new world order. When, on the other hand, it is accepted that such an updating is possible and profitable and in the just order of things, the heart is filled with gratitude for being born at this moment and being able to observe the birth of a new creation as it transpires and in direct connection in an unbroken line to India’s ancient past.

The above-cited book exposes the problem in full. I will quote portions of the Preface contributed by Prof. K. T. Pandurangi, a Sanskrit scholar, to illustrate. The Professor presents two points for the reader as being the aim of B. V. Bhadarayana Murthy’s publication:

1) To make clear the concept and details of the Geography of the              whole universe as described in Bhugola Varanam…

2) To elucidate this concept and details in terms of modern                knowledge on this subject.

I question whether Point 2 has been achieved.

The professor states that the ancient seers had ‘much superior methods of enquiry. They were able to cultivate mental faculties of man that could probe into the mysteries of the universe much deeper [than contemporary science].’ This is certainly true, but it must further be stated that in desiring to update Puranic Cosmology the very same ‘method of enquiry’ must be used.

Further, he goes on to state that we must ‘accept the fact that our ancient seers were more close to Nature and had different methods of enquiry other than our present-day experimental method. But their conclusions are still available in our ancient literature and we must try to find the clues to understand them. If we are not able to read the script of certain ancient documents, we should not rush to the conclusion that these ancients had no language at all. Our branding of our ancient scientific thought as unscientific amounts to such an attitude.’

Indeed, there is a language which we may term perennial, known to sages of all times. I have referred to this method of transmission as ‘laws’ or a particular ‘methodology’. This transmission does not rely on words, even on a hallowed language like Sanskrit. It relies on certain abiding truths of our solar system particularly as experienced from Earth. We must never lose sight of the fact that this transmission is Earth-centred. And further, it is Bharat-centred. This centrality is the very first key the ancients provided for later generations in their perception of the world – with Mt Meru central.

In today’s updating, using the same method of enquiry the ancients used, I will verify and validate this concept in full. In the process it will be revealed that the progress of Science is a vital ingredient in the updating. Science has added a certain precision that was unavailable to earlier generations. Added to this is the fact that geographical science has also progressed: now we must apply the cosmology to the whole Earth in a true experience of oneness and integration. Given that Mt Meru was considered the axis mundi, nothing less would suffice. Indeed, it can be shown now that India is the centrepiece of the entire globe – the Mt Meru of today when Myth becomes applicable.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

Director

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

Puranic Cosmology Updated 2

27 February 2010

More than their cosmological content the Puranas are known to be repositories of the countless myths of the subcontinent. Tradition has kept these tales alive for several millennia; without them what we know today as Puranic Cosmology would have neither sense nor purpose. Mythology and cosmology go hand in hand. One without the other is inconceivable to those who have been initiated into this timeless wisdom. But precisely because Myth, the language of the Soul, forms the core of the cosmology, not only is the system everlasting, it is also renewable. Herein lies its value as a constant.

In this series we shall examine in depth the reason why cosmology of the ancient school carries within a mechanism of renewal and just how this operates with a precision that has come to be ascribed only to the scientific endeavour. Mythology and cosmology have been deprived of that precision due to the separation that occurred in the beginning of the Age of Pisces between the sacred and the profane. However, when such a splintering occurs, bringing in its wake the consequences we note in the field of cosmology itself – science not ‘myth’ – the signal is given that the moment of renewal is upon us.

In the subcontinent this great Divide, let us call it, developed gradually; but by the 18^th century a hardening of the boundary between the two began at an ever increasing pace. What was only a vague influence became firm and seemingly irrevocable. The three closing centuries of the last millennium brought a culmination in this process. Interestingly, it was accompanied by British colonial rule over the subcontinent. Colonialism served to consolidate the Divide as nothing before it had. Finally occidental thought came to be considered rational, empirically verifiable, ‘scientific’, in contrast to the orient which continued to cling to the Tradition but subjected to the demeaning position beneath that of ‘real science’. It then became known as superstition. The truth be told, unless a real and not imaginary updating of the ancient way occurs, the tag of superstition must inevitably gain credence. Puranic Cosmology will live on, but only as a quaint relic of times gone by which required the redeeming grace of Science.

Attempts are periodically made by those who seek to inform the world that Puranic Cosmology does contain real science. An example would be Dr Subash Kak’s recent article in Journal of Cosmology, 2009, Vol 3 ‘The Universe, Quantum Physics and Consciousness’, under the section ‘A Scientific Coincidence’. Kak highlights the remarkable ‘coincidence’ regarding the early value of the speed of light in the ancient texts. This and similar evidence does prove that the scientific aspect of cosmology was not ignored by the ancients; however, it played only a minor role regardless of the profuse evidence available. The primary function of ancient cosmology, even as it remains so in today’s updating, is to provide the sense and purpose of the human being’s sojourn on this planet. That was the primary emphasis in the study of cosmic harmonies. And it needs to be pointed out that Harmony is the vital breath coursing through the veins of the ancient way, even as it is the essence of the current updating.

The observer was the human being on the third planet from the Sun. The principal feature of this particular location in the System is the Soul; and this is the mechanism, if it may be so called, by which that sense and purpose can be extracted from the cosmic surround. Moreover, it is not only the eternal Constant proper to this planetary location that allows for renewal, but, in addition, by its very nature it is universal. In proving this point another aspect of the Puranic Cosmology will emerge: its prophetic quality in that it was able to describe the evolution of the civilisation on the subcontinent as it was then and the exact position it would occupy in a future age by the same original methodology. But again, only after the exercise of updating has been undertaken can this be verified. It is our best proof that we are dealing with a ‘seed’ planted in the Vedic Age; it passed through the Puranic to reach us today in its full scope and glory.

Myth is the language of the soul across the globe and across the ages. But nowhere has it survived to the degree that we find in the subcontinent. Myth is alive and well in India – much to the chagrin of the secular scientist; and it is precisely myth that provides the method for updating Puranic Cosmology. This cosmology allows myth to be applicable; or better, cosmology is the application of myth. Consequently, if we wish to engage in any renewal or re-establishment of the Tradition, the methodology would have to be the same: myth taken from the cosmic harmony via the soul which each of us carries within as the birthright of all human beings on the third planet.

Thus the number 3 will occupy an important place in this discussion, and all variations thereupon. To be observed is that the Trinity or the triune balance is also a universal component of all traditions, ancient and new. Indeed, in the updated cosmology the triune powers are precisely the key required to unlock the door beyond which Puranic Cosmology stands and awaits renewal.

It may be contended that so far there have been certain assumptions made and upon which the method of renewal is being attempted. It may be held that these assumptions cannot provide a foolproof methodology. However, we must accept the facts as they stand today: myth exists and is universal and applicable in cosmology. We need no further proof than cosmology itself by virtue of the fact that it has been updated purely on the basis of the eternal language of the soul. I propose to discuss just how this has been done. It stands as it own proof, its own validation.

Apropos of which, a certain clarification or establishment of the ‘rules of the game’ are required. This cosmology is its own science. It does not require an imprimatur of the contemporary product that bears this name. Rather, to be a meaningful and definitive exposition all attempts to confine the ancient and new way into the narrow parameters of a discipline devoid of their main distinguishing features – sense and purpose – is futile.

PATRIZIA NORELLI-BACHELET

Puranic Cosmology Updated 1

20 February 2010

For a number of years I have been concentrating on reconnecting contemporary India to her Vedic roots. I believe that the exercise has been largely successful. Foremost has been the link I was able to establish between Vishnu’s Dasavataras and the Rig Veda via the hymns in praise of Vishnu in the collection, which, to my knowledge, had never been done. With the publication of Secrets of the Earth (Aeon Books, 2009) that phase of the endeavour was largely completed. There can be no doubt that the Line of Ten stretches back to the Vedic Age and does rightfully merit the description ‘backbone’ of Vedic civilisation, as I have sustained. This discovery came through a series of gnostic keys which have appeared in a number of my published works from 1974 to date.

In addition to the above, in Secrets the meaning of Vishnu’s three strides to ‘measure the universe’ has been finally deciphered, once again based on the same praises from the Rig Veda to this important Godhead. There can no longer be any doubt but that those hymns contain the true meaning of his measuring act in three strides and that they refer unequivocally to the Line of Vishnu’s Ten Avatars. The knowledge is consistent, coherent and connected. The connection or the thread running through the system has finally been revealed. It is not through a repetition of rituals, as inspiring as they may be, or by the chanting of mantras that the connection with the Veda is maintained; rather, only the thread of Knowledge can be the direct link between India today and of the Vedic Age, precisely as the word implies – veda, knowledge. That this potent word lies at the root of the civilisation surely indicates a unique destiny.

One important aspect of the Knowledge has resulted from this exercise: it is the need to return to the Vedic system of computation for the calendar of temple observances and horoscopy. This is the first step along the way to re-forging a dynamic link with the Vedic Age. Presently, because of this deviation there is only an imaginary connection. It is neither factual nor applicable today.

While emphasis was entirely on the Veda over the past several years, it is now time to carry out the same exercise regarding the Puranas – more specifically Puranic Cosmology. In this context, the situation in India and in the world prompts me to discuss ORDER – a new Order. From time immemorial civilisation on the subcontinent evolved on the backdrop of a unique pattern which made sense of many aspects of collective and individual life in India. In fact, it was unthinkable that a society could successfully evolve without such a pattern. And indeed it still exists. Its persistence lies at the heart of what is known as the Sanatana Dharma – the eternal Way, the eternal Truth.

At the outset we must be clear about a fundamental aspect of the Dharma. It is not a religion; very far from it. Rather, it can best be described as the cosmic foundation of a way of life, a culture. The fact that this Order has served as the backdrop for everything that is true and real in India is what disqualifies the civilisation from being categorised as religious according to contemporary interpretations. Something very different lies at the root of the civilisational underpinnings I propose to discuss in this series; and herein lies India’s blessing – and her bane: contemporary Indian society has carried that Order, that Sanatan Dharma into the present. But the world today is a very different place than what it was in the millennia when that superior Order had evolved and guided the people of the subcontinent. Contemporary society is largely governed by values that came through exclusivist religions. Consequently, India finds herself obliged to accommodate these factors into the ancient Order, or to find a way to carry the Dharma forward into a new phase of expression without succumbing to the limitations that affect the world today and which, in the main, are incompatible with India of the Vedic Age. Therefore a method must be found to re-establish the Order in the present conditions of our global society in spite of this incompatibility. A method has indeed been found which will be the subject of this discussion.

In the course of this series I will highlight several factors. One is precisely the question of universalism which perforce must be the underlying breath running through the new Order – indeed, the very element that distinguishes it from the old way and which gives it its vibrating, pulsating life. Next is the need to illustrate just how the pattern, ancient and new, escapes the constraints religion imposes.

And then there is the structure or pattern itself which we will dissect. In so doing it will be appreciated that the new order is simply an UPDATING of the old. The latter is not discarded but simply brought forward almost intact. Herein lies the extraordinary quality of the ancient way: it can be proven that the Order I am discussing bore an inherent mechanism of renewal, exactly what is lacking in religions and contemporary ideologies. Because of that mechanism it is known as sanatana, eternal; and because of this special and unique quality it can be demonstrated that what we know today as Puranic Cosmogony is actually prophetic in that the new cosmology is seen to build on that structure by virtue of the fact that the very same laws and methodology which we find in the Puranic cosmology forms the warp and woof of the new.

That is the issue: What is the core embedded in the system which is indestructible and is carried over across the aeons? When this is known the eternal essence is revealed on which basis the new evolves. To put it succinctly, there is a stable constant as upholder of both the old and the new. In the human being we know that constant as the Soul. The same must be said of cosmology of this special type. That unchanging quotient is the eternal support of the system, on which basis a civilisation can enjoy a blissful state of eternal Being within the Becoming. The evolutionary process provides the becoming of the being which is the stable support of the system everlastingly. But without the harmonised expression of the two there is neither sanatana nor dharma. There is just growth and decay, life followed by death.

The only civilisation this Earth has produced to escape from a morbid fossilisation of this nature is the Vedic. But we cannot expect to carry the old Puranic order into our times just as it was known millennia ago. If this were allowed we would be denying legitimacy to half the equation – the Becoming. And it is precisely the evolutionary process that eliminates the disease of fossilisation. Armed with the Core as our stable constant, we embark in this study on the discovery of exactly what must be carried over from the ancient way – but updated, failing which the civilisation that was based on the old cosmology must surely perish.

PATRIZIA NORELLI-BACHELET