Exopolitics Journal
3:4 (June, 2011). ISSN 1938-1719
www.exopoliticsjournal.com
Come Carpentier de Gourdon,
“
Indian Cosmology Revisited in the Light of Current Facts
”
267
INDIAN COSMOLOGY REVISITED IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT FACTS
Come Carpentier de Gourdon
Abstract
Indian mythological and historical literature, written over the course of well over
three to four thousand years, contains a number of fairly detailed references to and
descriptions of non-human, “semi-divine” living beings and of various visible and
invisible realms which in some cases appear to be located in other dimensions of
reality or in parallel universes. There are also accounts and reports of aircraft and
space faring vehicles, as well as of very powerful weapons of war capable of bringing
about massive destruction over very large areas. Those vehicles and tools are used by
both deities and human beings according to those stories. On the other hand,
contemporary scientific evidence and official conclusions in various countries point
out that extremely advanced spacecraft and humanoid but seemingly non-human
(probably “trans-dimensional”) beings are active on our planet and in outer space.
This paper establishes a connection between those separate findings and suggests that
an updated and expanded vision of the structure of the universe is required as the
present, classical cosmology is inadequate to account for many observations.
Exopolitics Journal
3:4 (June, 2011). ISSN 1938-1719
www.exopoliticsjournal.com
Come Carpentier de Gourdon,
“
Indian Cosmology Revisited in the Light of Current Facts
”
268
Introduction
Myths and legends are not accepted as factually real according to the methods, criteria and notions
of science. They are regarded either as imaginary stories designed to provide ritual and moral
teachings as well as cultural entertainment to society; or as fictionalized and symbolic accounts of
ancient events, whose original character and circumstances were partly forgotten. The Evhemerist
school of thought (named after the 4
th
century Greek mythographer Evhemerus, in line with the
Skeptic approach of the Cyrenian philosophers) regards gods and super-natural beings as latter-day
depictions of historical human figures who were, in the course of centuries or millennia, invested
with divine or heroic supra-human attributes.
Though there is evidence that those socio-historical interpretations are justified in many if not all
cases, there is also ground for considering another way of reading those stories, without prejudice to
the previously described exegeses. That would be the open-minded, objective method which looks
at the descriptions and events reported in mythology and sees how they might relate to current or
recent events for which we have scientifically admissible proof. Erich von Daniken is perhaps the
best known researcher and author to have carried out this task though inevitably, many of his
interpretations, which are so bold as to be on the outer fringe of speculation, have been met by
controversy and often outright dismissal among mainstream scholars.
Given that myths and legends are known to be legible at various levels, from the literal to the
psychological and metaphysical, not to forget the historical dimension, we will not be doing a
disservice to this ancient lore by accepting it in principle, as a bona fide account of actual
happenings even though obviously, literary embellishments and inevitable inaccuracies were
inserted in the course of time. What are the factors that make it worthwhile and even necessary to
take this factual, unprejudiced view?
Firstly, the Indian traditional systems of cosmogony, metaphysics and cosmology took shape over
many centuries, if not millennia and were held to be factual and accurate in several civilizations
within the greater Indian area of influence. They are still respected and influential in the country,
adjoining areas and increasingly, in regions of the world where various aspects of Hindu-Buddhist
Exopolitics Journal
3:4 (June, 2011). ISSN 1938-1719
www.exopoliticsjournal.com
Come Carpentier de Gourdon,
“
Indian Cosmology Revisited in the Light of Current Facts
”
269
culture such as yoga and religious practices are becoming known and followed. On the other hand
recent scientific discoveries tend to support some of the conclusions and observations recorded in
many of the Indian philosophical and technical texts.
Secondly, many repeatedly observed and scientifically confirmed phenomena do not find a
satisfactory explanation according to the current scientific principles and theories while they are
accounted for in the traditional Indian cosmology. Therefore, it may be useful or even necessary to
revisit the cosmos depicted by the Vedic and Puranic texts in order to make sense of some
enigmatic aspects of the universal reality that confronts us.
Space and Time
“Modern” science evolved under the influence of materialistic rationality which drew its principles
partly from Medieval Theologian William of Occam’s “razor”. An effect of that attitude is that
(western) scientific astronomy for one started from the lowest common denominator in terms of its
assumptions about space and time and initially discarded the ancient Indian chronologies which
were it regarded as outlandishly implausible, especially when compared with the Hebrew Biblical
records that placed the creation of the Universe a mere six millennia ago (4004 BC).
In the nineteenth century, astronomers were
still very timid in their cosmological
estimates and only a few visionaries like
astronomer Camille Flammarion dared to
depict the universe as being possibly infinite
or at least inconceivably large. Only
reluctantly did his successors admit that the
Milky Way was a galaxy containing billions
of stars and it took even longer to realize that
it was just one of a huge number of similar
or larger galaxies. Time scales did not expand easily either in the minds of scientists.