Do we have space brothers and sisters?
Long before sci-fimade its entrance, the Vedic books (aka the Vedas orHindu books) of ancient India claimed a universe teeming with extraterrestrial activity. The Vedas describe a cosmos full of intelligent life with technologies thatmake the latest iPhone look rather quaint.
American author, Steven J. Rosen, explains in his book The Jedi in the Lotus how George Lucas’s StarWars saga is influenced by Vedic traditional texts, Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Although he never specifically mentions these books, George Lucas says in interviews that he has “drawn from ‘Hindu mythology.’”
As it is said, the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Most famous of the Vedic texts is the Bhagavad Gita, which is a section of the great epic Mahabharata. Even a casual reader of this text quickly concludes that its author supposes a universe full of diverse life forms.The Gita describes that conscious life pervades the whole galaxy.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, author of the widely read Bhagavad Gita As It Is, explains in his commentary that living entities are all-pervading (sarva-gata in Sanskrit) throughout the entire universe:
They live on the land, in the water, in the air, within the earth and even within fire.The belief that they are sterilized in fire is not acceptable, because it is clearly stated here that the soul cannot be burned by fire.Therefore, there is no doubt that there are living entities also in the sun planet with suitable bodies to live there. If the sun globe is uninhabited, then the word sarva-gata (living everywhere) becomes meaningless. (2.24 commentary)
In the fourth chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna—the orator—explains that he once spoke this knowledge to Vivaswan, the chief living entity of the sun.
Hindu space fantasy? Skeptics may thumb their nose at the idea of life on the sun.Others maintain an open mind.
Scientists have now discovered that places once deemed uninhabitable by conscious life have been housing extremophiles—organisms that thrive in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to most terrestrial life.
Take, for instance, thermophiles—a type of extremophile that survives at very hot temperatures such as heat resistant bacteria discovered in the 1960s in hot springs at Yellowstone National Park in the United States.These bacteria are said to thrive in temperatures of 70°C.
Anything bigger than bacteria?
Indeed, Evan Carson, a biologist at the University of New Mexico, has been involved in studying pupfish—found in the Americas and Caribbean.Carson believes some pupfish could be considered extremophiles.He justifies this claim by explaining that pupfish live in boiling temperatures ranging from 100 – 144°C.
How hot is the sun?
According to modern science,Vivaswan would be existing in temperatures of 5,600°C at the sun’s surface, and up to 15,000,000°C at its centre.
Dare we consider that the Vedic idea of conscious life existing everywhere, even in the unimaginable habitat of the sun, is not so farfetched?
Certainly a stretch for the imagination, but still, what was once thought impossible—for life to exist in such extreme temperatures—has become a reality. A discovery that has brought “fantasy” closer to fact.
Alien worlds
Are we alone in the vastness of space?
Shrimad Bhagavatam, the graduate study of Bhagavad Gita, discloses to its readers a universe abundant with life. Detailed beyond imagination the text describes three levels of planetary systems—lower,middle, and higher—full of varying species.
The Vedic text, Vishnu Purana, goes as far as saying there are 8,400,000 species of life—400,000 of which are human or at least anthropomorphic.The Vedas detail the atmosphere of each planetary system and their inhabitants’ qualities.
Interestingly enough, Earth is situated in the middle planetary systems, which are mediocre in standards of living.
Higher realms are home to beings with powerful physical forms, who possess greater intelligence, beauty, and technologies than that experienced on middle Earth.
The residents of upper planetary systems enjoy a standard of material happiness thousands of times greater than that of the middle worlds. But despite this, a key feature of the upper planetary systems is that their inhabitants acknowledge the inbuilt purpose of the cosmos and align themselves with it.That purpose is called dharma.The great sages and other enlightened beings who live there concern themselves with the wellbeing of the universe.
The lower planetary systems are also home to powerful entities, who possess great strength, beauty, and technologies. Sensual happiness their main aim, these entities enjoy a standard of material pleasure even greater than that of the higher systems.
But do academics support such lofty concepts?
Author and professor in mathematics, Richard L.Thompson, explains, “My purpose in writing my book Alien Identities was to show that there is evidence for the existence of inhabited higher-dimensional realms.There is no need to doubt the reality of these things, since there is evidence for their existence even apart from the Bhagavatam.”
Celebrated scientist Stephen Hawking doesn’t rule out the probability of galactic entities. In the documentary Stephen Hawking’s Favourite Places, he warns against the possible dangers of space invaders: “One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this (Gliese 832c), but we should be wary of answering back.Meeting an advanced civilisation could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus.That didn’t turn out so well.”
UFOs and aliens: a part of everyday life
While the Guardian recently reported a decrease in UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) sighting reports since 2014, it informs readers of a renewed interest in the phenomenon.United States Congress and the Pentagon investigate reports of more compelling sightings and consider their links to extraterrestrial visits to Earth.
For example, the Guardian reported in 2018 that the Senate Armed Services Committee were investigating an incident where two navy pilots filmed fast-moving unidentified objects.¹
At the end of 2017, theWashington Post published an article describing former navy pilot,Commander David Fravor’s encounter with a UFO after the Pentagon had revealed, for the first time, a program that had been funded from 2007 – 2012 for studying UFOs.
Fravor, the commanding officer of a Navy squadron at the time, said he saw a flying object about the size of his plane that looked like a Tic Tac after a break in a routine training mission.The object moved rapidly and unlike any other thing he had ever seen in the air.He has not forgotten it since . . . “Something not from the earth,” he said.²
On 3 May 2013, at the National Press Club inWashington D.C., in the presence of six American congressmen and other high ranking individuals, the Canadian engineer and politician Paul Hellyer spoke openly about his conviction that aliens are not only real but are here—working with the US government.
Hellyer is well known for unifying the Canadian Navy, air force, and army into a single organisation, known as the Canadian Forces.³
Interest and reports of UFOs linked to visits from extraterrestrial life may fluctuate, and you may consider the claims of politicians and military personnel absurd or wild, but as far as the Vedas are concerned,UFOs and alien activity have always been a routine part of life.Nothing out of the ordinary for the earthlings of the Vedic age—close encounters were commonplace.
For example, in the tenth canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam, readers discover that Krishna’s own kingdom,Dwaraka, was besieged by an airship (Vimana in Sanskrit) which in a most uncanny way resembles descriptions of modern UFO sightings.
The Bhagavatam describes the sighting of an airship long before theWright brothers invented the airplane:
At one moment the magic airship built by Maya Danava appeared in many identical forms, and the next moment it was again only one. Sometimes it was visible, and sometimes not.Thus, Salva’s opponents could never be sure where it was.
From one moment to the next the Saubha airship appeared on the earth, in the sky, on a mountain peak or in the water. Like a whirling, flaming baton, it never remained in any one place. (10.76.21-22)
Interesting, yes?
The medieval Bengali text Chaitanya Charitamrita describes how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an avatar of Krishna, experienced frequent visitations from other worldly beings.
The author, renowned Bengali saint, Krishna dasa Kaviraja, explains:
People from the three worlds used to come visit Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.Anyone who saw Him received the transcendental treasure of love for Krishna.
The inhabitants of the seven higher planetary systems—including the demigods, the Gandharvas and the Kinnaras—and the inhabitants of the seven lower planetary systems [Patalaloka], including the demons and serpentine living entities, all visited Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the dress of human beings.
Dressed in different ways, people from the seven islands and nine khandas visited Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. (Antya-lila 9.7-9)
Encounters of the nonmaterial kind
The descriptions of cosmic worlds and their inhabitants is certainly a fascinating read. Still, however noteworthy the Vedas’ disclosure of UFO and alien phenomena is, ultimately the reader is directed beyond the extraterrestrial worlds.
The Krishna literatures —Bhagavad Gita, Shrimad Bhagavatam, and Chaitanya Charitamrita—all specialise in “encounters of the nonmaterial kind.”
The Vedas draw the reader in with its breathtaking descriptions of Vedic cosmology, but their actual goal is to urge you to shoot above the stars to the spiritual realm. Called Vaikuntha, the very name of this spiritual terrain suggests a place of no anxiety.
The greatest conspiracy, the Vedas challenge, is that every one of us is actually an alien, or a visitor from the super-terrestrial world of Vaikuntha. The greatest treasure trove of knowledge revealed by the Vedas is the processes of bhakti-yoga—spiritual techniques for realising and experiencing your non-terrestrial self, which is not physical or chemical.
The Vedas deem self-realisation as the highest human achievement—the zenith of human existence which allows one re-entry into the Vaikuntha planets.
Furthermore, the books explain there is a direct route or a scenic route to Vaikuntha. The scenic route is a step-by-step elevation through the higher realms of the cosmos for those that fancy a bit of sightseeing. However, the direct route takes us straight from middle Earth to Vaikuntha— a course chosen by those who cannot wait, even for cosmic scenery.
In Vaikuntha, we encounter a completely spiritual environ, life forms of all descriptions, vehicles, and more. “Spiritual” here refers to the eternal and blissful.No birth, death, old age, or disease, associated with material, terrestrial, and even extraterrestrial habitations.
Since the bygone Vedic age to the present age of turmoil,UFOs and aliens have been a part of our earthly existence.Once again, the Sanskrit literature prods us to query, are we as well informed as past civilisations?
Proving to be of timeless relevance, the Vedas present fresh and reliable insights to the terrestrial, extraterrestrial, and beyond.
Don’t wait for world governments to disclose their UFO and alien files—start reading these Vedic books today and discover for yourself how life naturally pervades the entire galaxy.
There is somebody out there.
1․“UFO sightings may be falling but congress is still paying attention,”The Guardian, 15 October, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/15/ufo-sightings-may-be-falling-but-congress-is-still-paying-attention
2․“Former Navy pilot describes UFO encounter studied by secret Pentagon program,”TheWashington Post, 18 December, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/12/18/former-navy-pilot-describes-encounter-with-ufo-studied-by-secret-pentagonprogram/? noredirect=on&utm_term=.5c6ef301b007
3․Steven Greer—an American retired medical doctor—has gathered more than 120 hours of video testimony and a wide range of documents and quotes from high-ranking government and military officials from all over the world.They all say that there is genuine evidence for UFOs and extraterrestrial contact. Included in Greer’s ever-increasing list of witnesses are astronaut Gordon Cooper and Paul Hellyer, the former Canadian Minister of Defense.Greer has presented a snapshot of his work in the documentary Unacknowledged, released in 2017.
