Colony Earth: Part VII - Advanced Technology in The Rig Veda

The Rig Veda can be regarded as the history of the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization. Many Indian scholars have now accepted the idea that the people of the Indus Valley, Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, etc., wrote the Rig Veda. Therefore the abundance of metaphysical wisdom-knowledge and scientific references in the Rig Veda, along with what I find as evidence of an advanced technology, may be considered as the fabric and traditions of the Indus Valley Civilization.

From my reading and research I have come to understand that the meaning of the Sanskrit language in the Rig Veda has yet to be translated fully and accurately. I believe that the reason for numerous flawed and confusing translations is the glaring fact that our consciousness and our brain power, our ability to think in a deeper and non-linear manner, has so greatly devolved over the millennia through the Cycles of Time, that we have lost the all encompassing powers of perception naturally possessed by the Rishis/Seers who wrote the Rig Veda.

Scholars who translate the Rig Veda cannot agree on the meaning of the words. Indian writers admit that their meaning is ‘forced’ to adapt to preconceived beliefs. I feel that the Sanskrit of the Rig Veda is not composed of linear sentences, but is expressed in 'spherical' words that have with layers within layers and simultaneously provide multiple meanings, which serve to illuminate and connect many fields such as history, science, and metaphysics. Here in our present day Kali Yuga we are trapped in, limited to the five senses, linear and compartmentalized thinking, and no longer have the higher 'whole mind’ consciousness capable of grasping words as spheres containing layers of meaning.

In his book 'Vedic Physics, Scientific Origin of Hinduism' Dr. Raja Ram Mohan Roy provides many examples of physics in the ancient Sanskrit Vedic texts. Dr. Roy explains that the “Vedic sages had the capability of looking at such a subtle level, which is beyond the reaches of modern science.”

Dr. Roy defines the Sanskrit words ‘Prithivi-Antariksha-Dyau’ to illustrate his opinion that a web pervades the universe, and this web consists of these three intertwined webs. Prithivi is the broad and extended web, because the presence of Prithivi’s expanse is found throughout the universe. Dyau is the space in which light propagates. Antariksha exists between the two. Dividing space into three parts is a descriptive verbal convenience that does not deny the all-pervading Oneness beneath. The Vedic Seers were delineating a division of the universe on very subtle levels — and not on the gross material level of five sense perceptions.

Dr. Roy expresses his opinion that Dyau, the space that propagates light, is “the hidden space” and the most important concept of Vedic science. He quotes a verse from a very important and famous hymn in the Rig Veda, Mandala I.164 by the revered Rishi Dirghatamas. Dirghatamas was one of the Angirasa Rishis, the oldest of the Rishi families. This hymn contains 52 verses and is thought to be a primary source of all Sanskrit metaphysics. To illustrate the hidden space, meaning what is invisible to the five senses, Dr. Roy translates verse 39 as:

“Vedic mantras are in the never-decaying remotest sky, where all the gods reside. One who does not know that, what will he do with Vedic mantras? One who knows that, they (gods) will stay with him.” [Rig Veda I.164.39]

The Sanskrit word ‘deva’ is traditionally translated as gods, but literally means light or the bright shinning ones. In his book 'The Celestial Key to the Vedas' B.G. Sidharth states, “the Rig Vedic deities are really very definite and subtle scientific entities [principles] and not tribal or semitribal gods." B.G. Sidharth scientific research focuses on Particle Physics and Cosmology, and some feel that he should have received the Nobel Prize for his work in 'dark energy'. His view is that Rig Vedic “hymns are not religious prayers, but astronomical and other scientific facts or discoveries deliberately and cleverly camouflaged.” He also quotes The Dirghatamas Hymn 164.39 with a variation in his translation:

“The Riks [hymns] are in the highest, undecaying heaven, wherein are situated the shining ones. What can he do with the Riks, who does not know that?” [Rig Veda I.164.39]

The ancient Seers were very aware that as we moved down through the Cycles of Time, our perceptions would diminish until we reach the point of being limited to the five senses. The Rishis knew that as 'density' increased and human consciousness devolved into a miasma of amnesia, we would not be able to comprehend words as ‘spheres’ of layered and multiple meanings. Therefore in order to preserve sacred Truth throughout the ensuing degeneration of human consciousness in Time, they encoded the eternal metaphysical principles that create, sustain, and destroy the universe into personified deities to make these abstract subtle concepts easier for our limited five-sense perception to grasp.

Beneath temporal appearances of material density is the Oneness that permeates and pervades All. Those who have ‘the eye to see’ can perceive the One as pulsating vibrating light. PRAKASHA is another Sanskrit word that points to the idea that everything is “shining; luminous; effulgence; illumination; Pure Consciousness.” The term SPANDA in Kashmir Shaivism suggests something similar: Spanda is Divine Pulsation & Vibration; “the principle of apparent movement from the state of absolute unity to the plurality of the world.” [A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, by John Grimes]

Many scholars have translated the Seer Dirghatamas’ hymn 164 in the Rig Veda, and the differences in translations are bewildering. The Ramakrishna Math Printing Press in Chennai India has published a translation by Swami Amritananda of this hymn 164 that gives word-by-word definitions and explanations. The book is well worth studying even though the translation is quite naturally kept within the ideas, beliefs, and philosophy of the Ramakrishna Vedanta school.

Swami Amritananda considers the difficulties in translating the Rig Veda and Hymn 164 of Dirghatmas in particular: “… one with a yogic insight alone could pierce the language and give us the true meaning of the hymn. The problem is that the [enlightened] yogi can understand, but when it comes to giving an expression to his thought, a similar symbolic language only is adopted by him as it is more expressive.”

In other words, the experiential truths of the verses composed by Dirghatamas can be experienced and understood by one who has reached enlightenment, but communicating their ‘spherical’ layered multiple meanings to others, who are still limited to five sense perception, throws the yogi back into symbolic metaphor which again has as many meanings as there are listeners.

Thus as Swami Amritananda says, the Dirghatamas Rig Veda Hymn 164 “continues to puzzle the ordinary reader” and that the verses are “couched in a symbolic language and secondly no two scholars concur regarding the meaning.” This lack of agreement on meaning can liberate a curious seeker — and thus has stirred me to work on a translation of this 'puzzle' Hymn 164 which I understood to be a primary source of all Sanskrit metaphysics.

Even though some scholars do use the later Puranic texts to illuminate the Rig Veda, I am reluctant to do so. I intentionally stay with the definitions, which are indicated to have been used in the Rig Veda and not those found in the later Sanskrit texts.

B.G. Sidharth: “The Rig Vedic hymns on which current theories have been built are in fact not well understood and contemporary interpretations remain obscure and inconsistent.” [Celestial Key to the Vedas]

I am endeavouring to show that the Rig Veda itself is the product of a civilization far more advanced than ours, not just spiritually, metaphysically, but also technologically. The fact that the Indus Valley Civilization did not leave piles of toxic non-degradable garbage for future generations does not imply that it was in any way a primitive culture!

In the late 1980s I experienced a six-month period of seeing in the ‘eye of my mind’ the colonization of our beloved planet. Therefore when I in all sincere humility and dedication, laboriously work to translate these Rig Veda verses, I find not only brilliant inspiring poetry that describes very subtle and deep metaphysical inquiries, but also evidence of a highly advanced technological civilization. These beings were what most of us think of as 'ancient astronauts' and were the masters of space travel, weather modification, genetic engineering, and radiation weaponry.

It seems reasonable to me that in the first and second cycles of time, the Satya and Treta Yugas, knowledge was not fragmented and these ancient Seers would not have been compartmentalized into any one field. The Rishis Dirghatamas, Vashistha, Vishvamitra, Angirasa, Bhrigu, and others would not only have been sages, seers, shamans if you prefer, geniuses in metaphysical wisdom — they would also have been astrophysicists, astronauts, men of science, art, poetry, music, architecture. These now diverse areas would not have been considered as separate and the great ones would have excelled in them all, much as we, rather weakly by comparison, consider a man like Leonardo da Vinci a ‘renaissance’ man, meaning the master of many fields.

The images and information on Earth’s magnetic field that have been freely offered by recent science are fascinating to me. As I said with some glee previously, we should be worshipping our protective magnetic field! I was certain that the Rig Vedic Rishis had discussed Earth’s magnetic field and hoped to find her in a verse. However, I did not expect to find Earth’s magnetic field in the Dirghatamas Hymn 164 – but I believe the God-within me lead me to an aspect of my real Divine Mother, mAtA, as the sky of her protective womb, Earth’s magnetic field. Here is my translation:

Rig Veda Mandala I.164.9 / Earth’s Magnetic Field

The Mother's sky (her magnetic field and the layers in the atmosphere) was yoked (around the Earth), connecting with and joined.

An enclosure on a spindle (Earth’s magnetic field) stays, charged with bearing ‘the offspring of the sky’ (Earth which) rested within her womb, inside the enclosure, fortified, amongst the folds of the atmosphere (layers).

The dear child (Earth) following alongside the herds of stars in the skies remains beautifully formed, whole within (protected by her magnetic field), in three paths, the courses of traversed distances.

(I suggest that the three paths of planets Earth’s traversed distances are moving though space, encircling the Sun, and rotating on her axis.)

Sanskrit word definitions in Rig Veda I.164.9 from various sources:

Yukta – Yoked, by joining, connecting with.

mAtA – Mother as the sky (atmosphere around Earth)

Asit – was

Dhuri – load-bearing, charged with bearing

DakshinAyAh – given, offered, placed on the right, in the south, the southern quarter, southern hemisphere below to the equator.

Atishtat – staying, remaining; rested; not standing, unstable.

Garbho – the womb; offspring of the sky, foetus, embryo, child; the inside, middle or interior of anything.

Vrijanishu – an enclosure, fortified; sky, atmosphere; fold.

Antah – in the middle or interior, within, between, amongst.

amImet (mI) – NOT lessened, diminished, destroyed; not violated, altered, perished.

VatsA – dear child

anu – following; after, along, alongside; here to, under, with, subordinate to.

gAm (go) – stars, the “herds of the sky” - [notice that the word often translated as cows or cattle refers to the "herds of the sky" meaning the stars; stars can be described poetically as herds as they move across the night heavens — and not cows or cattle]

apashyat – not seeing, not being in view of; not noticing.

Vishva – universal, whole, entire; all, every, every one.

Rupyam – beautiful, well shaped.

Trishu – in three.

Yojaneshu – the path, course, (distance traversed).

Vedic Physics, Scientific Origin of Hinduism, by Dr. Raja Ram Mohan Roy; Golden Egg Publishing, Toronto, Canada, 1999

The Celestial Key to the Vedas by B.G. Sidharth; Inner Traditions, 1999.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-physicist-cheated-of-2011-nobel-astrophysics/1/155064.html

RGVEDA for the Layman, A Critical Survey of One Hundred Hymns of the Rigveda, with Samhita-patha, Pada-patha and word meaning and English translation, by Shyam Ghosh; Munishiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2002, Nandi, Indira.

RGVEDA SAMHITA, Volumes I-IV, Sanskrit Text, English Translation and Notes According to the Translation of H.H. Wilson and Bhasya of Sayanacarya; Edited and revised with an exhaustive introduction and notes by Ravi Prakash Arya & K.L. Joshi; Indica Books, Parimal Publications, Delhi, 2002.

RIG VEDA SAMHITA: Mandala – 1 (Part One), Suktas 1-50, (Text in Devanagari, Translation and Notes), by R.L. Kashyap; Saksi, Published in collaboration with ASR, Melkote; Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore, India, 2009.

RIG VEDA SAMHITA: Mandala – 9, (Text in Devanagari, Translation and Notes), by R.L. Kashyap; Saksi, Published in collaboration with ASR, Melkote; Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore, India, 2009.

Rig Vedic Suktas Asya Vamiya Suktam, A Contemplative Study Translated by Swami Amritananda; Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, 2003.

The Rig Veda and the History of India, by David Frawley; Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2001, 2002.

Dictionaries

Sanskrit-English Dictionary, M. Monier-Williams; Two volumes, Recomposed and improved edition; Indica Books and Parimal Publications, New Delhi, 2008.

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, John Grimes; Indica Books, 2009.

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