The Flat Earth and Paradise

This has been just an exercise on the basis of very simple and few notions, since the author usually writes poems and does not have a scientific background whatsoever.  The conclusion could easily be refuted by senior and advanced scholars in myriads of ways, but the intent was only a “healthy speculation” for talking about the marvels of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Isaac Asimov, the father of science fiction, once wrote an article where he stated that the opinion of past civilizations about the Earth being flat was not completely wrong, it was just not completely correct.  In his article – “The relativity of wrong” {1} - he firstly asserts that there is never an absolute wrong or an absolute right opinion or theory – upon which we can only completely agree, since due to our infinitesimal position not even "absolute wrong" does apply.

As an example of this Asimov takes on the theory of the flat Earth. What is the actual curvature of the Earth?

In numbers is 0,000126 per kilometer or 12.6 centimeters, so its bending mathematically equals really to 0.

Then he argues more: can we say the Earth is a sphere? No, not in the strict mathematical sense, because the Earth as a sphere does not have all the mathematical properties, for instance its diameters do not have all the same length. He concluded that scientist’s theories usually are incomplete more than wrong, because their understanding has grown with the power and accuracy of the instruments of observations. And so, the advancing of technological equipment amends their imperfections in time.

But what I am more interested in from this excerpt, is the flat or square Earth theory tracing back to ancient civilizations, which usually never had unfounded theories or beliefs, on the contrary have always some traceable roots in Vedic Knowledge.

The role of the latest archaeological discoveries is of paramount importance for the new glimpses we have of these bygone civilizations and their knowledge, vision and beliefs.  Many testimonials of the Ancients (Giza’s Pyramids, Stonehenge, Tiahuanaco etc) have revealed a sort of obsession for astronomical calculations and observations and amazingly precise measurements -i.e. the Great Pyramid is a mathematical compendium incorporating all kinds of astronomical and cosmological formulas-, which caused some rethinking over the assumptions about their primitive status. 

There were more recent discoveries wholly accomplished thanks to the use of computers, which means that these civilizations could compute as efficiently. We also know today, by the studies conducted by Charles H. Hapgood on ancient portolans {2}, that there were ancient civilizations with a detailed knowledge of the oceans and proved sailing skills around the northern and southern hemisphere.

So, how could they believe in a squared or flat Earth?

The studies done on some archaeological sites, which are still very mysterious in their purpose, bring to light the great dedication and interest by archaic civilizations in celebrating the astronomical events such as the solstices and equinoxes. In fact, in  “Hamlet’s Mill” {3} it is said:

“‘Earth’ in a more general sense meant the ideal plane passing through the ecliptic … and ‘earth’ is the ideal plane consisting of the four points of the year, the equinoxes and solstices ... [the latter] determine and define ultimately a land which is said therefore to be quadrangular."

So, there was a belief in a quadrangular plane in outer space and called Earth.

This naturally recalls the sloka from the Bhagavatam, which states:

“Bhuloka is explained to be that portion of outer space through which the heat and light of the sun extend.”  SB 5.16.4 Purport

Bhuloka or Bhumandala is the disk of land, which cut the egg of the universe in its diameter through the ecliptic and is encompassed by the mountain range called Lokaloka. This description finds a similarity with the Earth described in the above excerpt from “Hamlet Mill.”

HG Sadaputa das in his Vedic Cosmography states:

“Many bits and pieces of information can be collected from old myths and legends suggesting that a cosmology similar to that of the Bhagavatam was widely disseminated in ancient times.”

He also affirms that traces of this knowledge came through in a “distorted, fragmentary form in various traditions.”

Moreover Bhumandala is higher-dimensional therefore not accessible by our senses, therefore the more we move away in time from Vedic society and knowledge, more the consciousness succumbs to vitiated intelligence and the vision of the universe becomes only what is comprehensible to our tiny position in the universe, relegated to our tiny planet Earth. Thus the ”big” Earth {4} of the understanding and vision of the ancients became the “small” Earth of this globe, just retaining its squared and flat form. So, we have found one ring of connection with the Bhagavatam and the thesis of the squared Earth. A flat not-spherical land called Earth was located in space.

Now I would like to make a further step and find another ring linked to this subject and

subsequently to the Srimad Bhagavatam, and this is the “Terrestrial Paradise.” I do not think that ever a scholar or theologian of Catholic background has made any connection between the squared and flat Earth theory – very much sustained for centuries by the Vatican – and the Terrestrial Paradise of biblical sources.

Bhagavatam describes  Bhumandala - delimited by the mountain chain of Lokaloka and divided in 7 islands (dvipas) surrounded by 7 oceans (salt water, ghee, milk etc) with a central circle island called Jambudvipa - a place of heavenly enjoyments, with its trees, rivers and beautiful gardens, where people has a considerable longer span of life, for instance in SB 5.20.4 it is stated :

“[in Plaksadvipa] … they live for one thousand years. They are beautiful like the demigods and they also beget children like the demigods.”

A biblical reference tells us that Adam lived for nearly 1000 years (Genesis 5:4). It is healthy speculation to conclude that the “Terrestrial Paradise” sometimes believed to be in Babylon, because supposedly located on Earth, is the famous “squared and flat Earth” in outer space: Bhumandala not visible or accessible to people of lower consciousness and terrestrial as described and located in the universe.

To this extent I would also like to retell the story of a disciple of Sri Madhvacarya, the acarya of our Parampara, who was disciple of Srila Dvaipayana Vyasadeva. Once Sri Madhvacarya had to go to meet his spiritual master and took his disciple with him for the long journey to the Himalaya. The disciple recalls that when they came to a certain point, he was asked to go back and he saw Madhavacarya "walking above the mountains into the other dimension" or Uttara Badrinath.

So, in the higher dimension, often referred to by HG Sadaputa Prabhu, there is, inexplicably for our present understanding, sensorial perception and realizations, a continuum from this planet into the higher dimension of Bhu-mandala and precisely Jambudvipa, where Bharata Varsa (our planet) is located by the Bhagavatam.

So, we can conclude that the plane of Bhumandala through the ecliptic was the quadrangular Earth delimited by the solstices and equinoxes as contemplated by the ancient civilizations, which became, due to a fragmentary knowledge of the original Vedic cosmography, the theory of the flat and squared Earth intended as our planet and consequently to the general dramatic drop in consciousness, the capacity of perceiving or conceiving a higher dimension was also lost.

Traces of this theory are in the Catholic tradition, where the squared Earth theory was for long time supported, but probably the “big” Earth in outer space leaves a more remarkable trace in the belief of a “terrestrial paradise”, where Adam and Eva were dwelling, since descriptions of the life and attributes on Bhumandala in the Bhagavatam reconcile with the biblical descriptions of Eden.

Everything is in the Bhagavatam!

NOTES 

1)                    The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1986-1987

2)                   Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings – Evidence of Advanced Civilizations in the Ice age - by Charles H. Hapgood (edition 1996)

3)                    Hamlet’s Mill by De Santillana and Von Dechend

4)                    Ref., Vedabase  -  Vamsidhara on Bhu-mandala and the Earth Globe, Appendix I