Highest Sageness -11

Universal Time Scale:
The late scientist, Carl Sagan, in his book, Cosmos asserts that the Dance of Nataraja (Tandava) signifies the cycle of evolution and destruction of the cosmic universe (Big Bang Theory). 
"It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of." Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but also the very essence of inorganic matter.

For modern physicists, then, Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. Hundreds of years ago, Indian artist created visual images of dancing Shiva's in a beautiful series of bronzes. Today, physicist have used the most advanced technology to portray the pattern of the cosmic dance. Thus, the metaphor of the cosmic dance unifies, ancient religious art and modern physics. The Hindus, according to Monier-Williams, were Spinozists more than 2,000 years before the advent of Spinoza, and Darwinians many centuries before Darwin and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of Evolution was accepted by scientists of the present age.
"The Hindu religion  is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology.  Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang.  And there are much longer time scales still." 

" The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed."

(source: Cosmos - By Carl Sagan Random House ISBN 0375508325  p. 213 -214).

Fritjof Capra (1939 - ) Austrian-born famous theoretical high-energy physicist and ecologist wrote:

"Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction. The dance of Shiva is the dancing universe, the ceaseless flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns that melt into one another’’.For the modern physicists, then Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomenon. Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our times, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance."

(source: The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism - By Fritjof Capra p. 241-245).
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) first prime minister of free India, was more than a deeply moral human being. He yearned for spiritual light. He was particularly drawn to Swami Vivekananda and the Sri Ramakrishna Ashram. In his book - A Discovery of India he wrote:
"The statue of Nataraja (dance pose of Lord Shiva) is a well known example for the artistic, scientific and philosophical significance of Hinduism."
(source: A Discovery of India - By Jawaharlal Nehru  p. 214).
Hinduism is the only religion that propounds the idea of life-cycles of the universe. It suggests that the universe undergoes an infinite number of deaths and rebirths. 
Hinduism, according to Carl Sagan, "... is the only religion in which the time scales correspond... to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of the Brahma, 8.64 billion years long, longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang" 
Long before Aryabhata (6th century) came up with this awesome achievement, apparently there was a mythological angle to this as well -- it becomes clear when one looks at the following translation of Bhagavad Gita (part VIII, lines 16 and 17), 
"All the planets of the universe, from the most evolved to the most base, are places of suffering, where birth and death takes place. But for the soul that reaches my Kingdom, O son of Kunti, there is no more reincarnation. One day of Brahma is worth a thousand of the ages [yuga] known to humankind; as is each night." 
Thus each kalpa is worth one day in the life of Brahma, the God of creation. In other words, the four ages of the mahayuga must be repeated a thousand times to make a "day ot Brahma", a unit of time that is the equivalent of 4.32 billion human years, doubling which one gets 8.64 billion years for a Brahma day and night. This was later theorized (possibly independently) by Aryabhata in the 6th century. The cyclic nature of this analysis suggests a universe that is expanding to be followed by contraction... a cosmos without end. This, according to modern physicists is not an impossibility.

(source: Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient India).
Professor Arthur Holmes (1895-1965) geologist, professor at the University of Durham. He writes regarding the age of the earth in his great book, The Age of Earth (1913) as follows:
"Long before it became a scientific aspiration to estimate the age of the earth, many elaborate systems of the world chronology had been devised by the sages of antiquity. The most remarkable of these occult time-scales is that of the ancient Hindus, whose astonishing concept of the Earth's duration has been traced back to Manusmriti, a sacred book."
When the Hindu calculation of the present age of the arth and the expanding universe could make Professor Holmes so astonished, the precision with which the Hindu calculation regarding the age of the entire Universe was made would make any man spellbound.
(source: Hinduism and Scientific Quest - By T. R. R. Iyengar p. 20-21).
Sir Jacob Epstein has written about Shiva Nataraja: 
"Shiva dances, creating the world and destroying it, his large rhythms conjure up vast aeons of time, and his movements have a relentless magical power of incantation. Our European allegories are banal and pointless by comparison with these profound works, devoid of the trappings of symbolism, concentrating on the essential, the essentially plastic." 
(source: Let There Be Sculpture - By Sir Jacob Epstein  1942 p. 193).
Swami Kriyananada (J. Donald Walters) World renowned as a singer, composer, and lecturer, founder of the Ananda Village is perhaps the most successful intentional community in the world writes: 
"Hindu cosmography, for example born in hoary antiquity, strikes one in certain ways as surprisingly modern. India has never limited its conception of time to a few crowded millennia. Thousands of years ago India's sages computed the earth's age at a little over two billion years, our present era being what is called the seventh Manuvantra. This is a staggering claim. Consider how much scientific evidence has been needed in the West before men could even imagine so enormous a time scale."

(source: Crises in Modern Thought: The Crises of Reason - By Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) vol. 1 p - 94).
Princeton University’s Paul Steinhardt and Cambridge University’s Neil Turok, have recently developed The Cyclical Model. 
They have just fired their latest volley at that belief, saying there could be a timeless cycle of expansion and contraction. It’s an idea as old as Hinduism, updated for the 21st century. 
The theorists acknowledge that their cyclic concept draws upon religious and scientific ideas going back for millennia — echoing the "oscillating universe" model that was in vogue in the 1930s, as well as the Hindu belief that the universe has no beginning or end, but follows a cosmic cycle of creation and dissolution.

(source: Questioning the Big Bang -  msnbcnews.com). (For more on yugas, refer to One Cosmic Day of Creator Brahma).

" Another point illustrating the advanced nature of the Vedic Aryan civilization is their conception of the universal time scale. The time factor is calculated as affecting various levels of the universe differently. For example, a day for the demigods is equal to six months for humans on planet earth. And a year is calculated as 360 human years, while 12,000 years of the gods is said to be but one blink of the eye of Maha Vishnu. For Lord Brahma, the highest of all the demigods, his day equals one thousand cycles of the combined four ages of Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali-yugas. This amounts to 4.3 billion years, at the end of which is his night when there is a partial annihilation of the universe, which includes the earth. After an equal number of years, Brahma's day begins again, and that which is destroyed is again created or revived.

For example in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna:

"All the worlds from Brahma's world (the universe) are periodic. Arjuna.
They, those who know the day and night, know that the day of Brahma is a thousand yugas long and a night is a thousand yugas long.
From the unmanifested, all the manifest things spring forth on the arrival of the day (of Brahma). On the onset of night all these sink into what is called the unmanifested.
Partha, (Arjuna), this multitude of created things having existed over and over again and helplessly destroyed at the onset of night, spring forth on the onset of day."

All this sounds a little like the modern theory of an oscillating universe that begins with a big bang that all matter flying out until the outrushing matter comes to a halt and collapses back into a tiny speck, leading to another big bang, and so on. An entire cycle according to present-day cosmological ideas could take 10,000million to 20,000 million years. It seems incredible that the ancient Hindus could hit upon this idea thousands of years ago. Some biased scholars have tended to dismiss this agreement of the order of length of the cycle as a mere coincidence. 

"Interestingly, modern science has estimated that the age of the earth is about 4 billion years. Scholars feel it is uncanny that the Vedic Aryans could have conceived of such a vast span of time over 3,500 years ago that would be similar to the same figure estimated by science today." 

(source: The Secret Teachings of the Vedas - By Stephen Knapp p. 25). (Refer to Visions of the End of the World - By Dr. Subhash Kak - sulekha.com). 

(Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).

Speed of Light:  

One such book is the celebrated commentary on the Rig Veda by Sayana (c. 1315-1387), a minister in the court of King Bukka I of the Vijayanagar Empire in South India. In his commentary on the 4^th verse of the hymn 1.50 of the Rig Veda on the sun, he says: 

Tatha cha smaryate yojananam sahasre dve dve shate dve cha yogane ekena nimishardhena kramamana namo ‘stu ta iti 

Thus it is remembered: O Sun, bow to you, you who travers 2,202 yojanas in half a minute. 

The Puranas define 1 nimesha to be equal to 16/75 seconds. 1 yojana is about 9 miles. Substituting in Sayana’s statement we get 186,000 per second.  

Sayana’s statement was printed in 1890 in the famous edition of Rig Veda edited by Max Muller, the German Sanskritist . He claimed to have used several three or four hundred year old manuscripts of Sayana’s commentary, written much before the time of  Romer. Further support for the genuineness of the figure in the ancient book comes from one of the earliest Puranas, the Vayu, conservatively dated to at least 1,500 years old. The Puranas speak of the creation and destruction of the universe in cycles of 8.64 billion years, that is quite close to currently accepted value regarding the time of the big bang.

(source: The Wishing Tree - By Subhash Kak   p. 75 - 77).

Zero to Infinity in Indian Mysticism

Ananta is Sanskrit for infinity.  

It is equated with the Supreme Brahman — infinitely powerful and so infinitely free. It is bigger than any quantity that can be imagined; it is bigger than any finite number. Infinity is one of the fundamental axioms upon which contemporary mathematics is based. 

Sanskrit grammar and interpretation in ancient India were closely linked to the handling of high value numbers. Studies relating to poetry and metrics initiated sastragnaas or scientists to both arithmetic and grammar. Grammarians were just as competent at calculations as professional mathematicians. Indian sastragnaas or scientists, philosophers, astronomers and cosmographers — in order to develop their arithmetical, metaphysical and cosmological speculations concerning ever higher numbers — became at once mathematicians, grammarians and poets. They gave their spoken counting system a truly mathematical structure which had the potential to lead directly to the discovery of the decimal place-value system. 

Negative numbers had been rejected as solutions of problems in early times. They were eventually admitted in Hindu practical mathematics through problems involving money transactions, since the idea of receiving and owing money was a simple and obvious one — a negative number could be interpreted as a debt. Objection to negative numbers continued up to the early 19th century. Negative numbers are the mirror image of positive numbers. The invention of Cartesian geometry brought the X, Y co-ordinates and numbers came to be represented on a graph. Today, the series of negative natural numbers go up to infinity. 

In Indian mysticism, the concept of infinity and zero are very closely linked. In the Isavasya Upanishad, there’s a line: “Poornasya poornam aadaya poornameva visish-yate”. To mathematically explain this, we have to assume that the first poornam represents infinity and the second, zero. In Sanskrit, poornam means both full and zero. Indian mathematicians knew perfectly well how to distinguish between these two notions which are mutually contradictory and which are the inverse of each other. They knew that division by zero gave them infinity.    

The symbol for infinity is called the leminiscate. English mathematician John Wallis introduced this symbol for the first time in 1655. Hindu mythological iconography contains a similar symbol representing the same idea. The symbol is that of Ananta, the great Adisesha of infinity and eternity, which is always represented, coiled up in a horizontal figure of 8 just like the leminiscate. 

Wallis was not aware that this symbol, in Indian mythology, referred to infi-nity and eternity. How did two diverse civilisations use the same symbol to denote infinity, without either of them realising its use by the other? In many cosmogenics the interlace symbolises the very nature of creation, energy and all existence. It evokes samsara or the eternal cycle of birth and rebirth. Eternal and infinite (ananta) are symbols of non-thought. Their value is entirely emotional. They act on our sensitivity. They invoke the peculiar sensation of the inability to imagine.  

The concept of infinity has always remained an enigma. The Taittiriya Upanishad says: yatho vacho nivartante, apraapya manasa saha — where mind and speech return (being) unable to comprehend. In Indian cosmology, Ananta refers to the Adisesha or the great serpent on which Lord Vishnu reclines, taking His yoga nidra or anantasayanam. A Tamil azhwar paasuram (verse) says that Ananta acts as an umbrella when Vishnu walks, as a simhasana (throne) when He sits, as sandals when He stands, and as a bed when He reclines.  

" I am the nucleus of every creature, Arjuna; for without me nothing can exist, neither animate nor inanimate."

  -  Bhagavad Gita 10.39 

"Vishnu is the highest and most immediate of all the energies of Brahman, the embodied Brahman, formed of the whole of Brahman. On him this entire universe is woven and interwoven: from him is the world, and the world is in him; and he is the whole universe.  

Vishnu, the Lord, consisting of what is perishable as well as what is imperishable, sustains everything, both spirit and matter, in the form of his ornaments and weapons. " 

   -  Vishnu Purana 1.22

(source: Zero to Infinity in Indian Mysticism - by T R Rajagopalan - timesofindia.com).

For more refer to The Infinitesimal Calculus: How and Why it Was Imported into Europe - By C. K. Raju and 
Computers, mathematics education, and the alternative epistemology of the calculus in the Yuktibhâsâ  - By C. K. Raju

The concept of time used by modern historical scientists, including archeologists, strikingly resembles the traditional Judeo-Christian concept. And it strikingly differs from that of the ancient Indians and Greeks  It can nevertheless be safely said that the cosmological concepts of several of the most prominent Greek thinkers involved a cyclic or episodic time similar to that found in the Puranic literature of India.
For example, we find in Hesiod's (lived 8th century BC - Greek poet), Works and Days a series of ages (gold, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron) similar to the Indian yugas. He traces the history of the world through five stages, from the Golden Age to his own age of iron, which according to Hesiod was characterized by suffering and lawlessness. In both systems the quality of human life gets progressively worse with each passing age.

In On Nature Empedocles speaks of cosmic time cycles. In Plato's dialogues there are descriptions of revolving time and recurring catastrophes that destroy or nearly destroy human civilization. Aristotle said in many places in his works that the arts and sciences had been discovered many times in the past. In the teachings of Plato, Pythagoras, and Empedocles on transmigration of souls, the cyclical pattern is extended to individual psychophysical existence. According to Voltaire, " The Greeks, before the time of Pythagoras, traveled into India for instruction." (The Philosophy of History, p. 527).  

Ancient literature like the Puranas and Vedas do contain allegory. In some passages, it is transparent. For instance, in Mahabharata, refers to an old lady who spins a fabric with 360 black threads and 360 white threads while a white horse stands by. The old lady is of course time. The black and white threads are night and day, and the white horse is the Sun. Incidentally, the origin of this symbolism is in the Vedic hymns of the Rig Veda. (1.64).

Unless we recognize the fact that the Vedic hymns and the Puranic story of Vedic origin are deliberate camouflage and allegory - a code, in fact - we cannot interpret them or understand their true meaning. To do otherwise would lead us to the same kind of ridiculous conclusion reached by British astronomer, Patrick Moore, who wrote, "The Vedic priest in India believed that the world to be supported upon twelve massive pillars, during the hours of darkness, the Sun passed underneath, somehow managing to thread its way between the pillars without hitting them. According to the Hindus, Earth stood on the back of four elephants, the elephants in turn rested upon the back of a huge tortoise, while the tortoise itself was supported by a serpent floating in a limitless ocean. One cannot help feeling sorry for the serpent.!"

In fact, after the chaff is removed, the Puranas have a kernel and exhibits what may be termed a reverse symbolism. The twelve pillars that support the world are evidently the twelve months of the year, and they are specifically mentioned in the Vedic hymns. The four elephants on which Earth rests are the Dikarin, the sentinels of the four directions. These in turn rest, in turn, on a tortoise and a serpent. The tortoise is Vishnu's Kurma or tortoise avatar and symbolizes the fact that the Earth is supported in space in its annual orbit around the Sun. Finally, the coiled serpent represents Earth's rotation. Vishnu, or the Sun, himself rests upon a coiled snake - the Ananta, or Adisesha, which represents the rotation of the Sun on its own axis. 

(Refer to Visions of the End of the World - By Dr. Subhash Kak - sulekha.com).  (Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).

The Expanding Egg

 Sanskrit is a beautiful language. Each word in Sanskrit tells its meaning itself. Each word has been thought carefully. Sanskrit is not a product of evolution from an earlier language. It has been designed to be what it is. When Vedic sages coded the knowledge of particle physics and cosmology, they were well aware of the possibility that one day the code may be lost due to the decline of their civilization. Therefore they chose the words carefully to provide vital clues about the code. (Note: To learn more about Sanskrit refer to the chapter on Sanskrit)

Take the example, the expanding universe. The word for universe in Sanskrit is "Brahmanda", which is made by joining of words "Brahma" and "Anda". Brahma is derived from root "Brha" meaning to expand and "Anda" means egg. Thus " Brahmanda" means expanding egg. 

A 9th century Hindu scripture, The Mahapurana by Jinasena claims the something as modern as the following: (translation from [5])

"Some foolish men declare that a Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before creation?... How could God have made the world without any raw material? If you say He made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression... Know that the world is uncreated, as time itself is, without beginning and end. And it is based on principles."

(source: Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient India).

Concept of Trinity

In Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa form a trinity. Brahma is the creator of the universe, Vishnu the protector and Mahesa (Shiva) the destroyer. Brahma means expansion, and expansion of the universe takes place with the creation of matter and energy, thus Brahma is creator. Vishnu is the life-principle of the universe, who is not different from the universe, thus he is the protector. Mahesha or Mahadeva or Shiva is Vedic god Rudra representing radiation. As radiation is the result of annihilation of particles, he is related to destruction. But what is annihilated is born again as another set of particles, and this dance of creation and annihilation continues. This is the cosmic dance of Shiva, and therefore he is called Nataraja, Lord of the dancers.  

Hundred thousandths of a second:

So also, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.7ff.) dwells at length on the following theme,

“ As when a drum is beaten, one cannot distinguish its various particular notes, but they are included in the general note of the drum or in the general sound produced by different kinds of strokes…” Similarly, the Puranas define the paramanu, which is on the order of a few hundred thousandths of a second. 

Airplanes:

Among all the different sciences mentioned, it may be surprising to find a reference to airplanes. But actually, the mention of airplanes is found many times throughout Vedic literature, including the following verse from the Yajur-Veda describing the movement of such machines:

" O royal skilled engineer, construct sea-boats, propelled on water by our experts, and airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea, that fly high over and below the watery clouds. Be thou, thereby, prosperous in this world created by the Omnipresent God, and flier in both air and lightening." Yajur Veda, 10.19). 

For more on airplanes refer to chapter on Vimanas). (Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).

Description of Tides:

"In all the oceans the water remains at all times the same in quantity and never increases or diminishes; but like the water in a cauldron, which in consequence of its combination with heat, expands, so the waters of the ocean swell with the increase of the Moon. The waters, although really neither more nor less, dilate or contract as the Moon increases or wanes in the light and dark fortnights…..”   

India has left a universal legacy determining for instance the dates of solstices, as noted by 18th century French astronomer Jean-Sylvain Baily, (1736–93) 18th century French astronomer and politician. His works on astronomy and on the history of science (notably the Essai sur la théorie des satellites de Jupiter) were distinguished both for scientific interest and literary elegance and earned him membership in the French Academy, the Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Inscriptions. Bailly said:

 "The movement of stars which was calculated by Hindus 4,500 years ago, does not differ even by a minute from the tables which we are using today." And he concludes: "The Hindu systems of astronomy are much more ancient than those of the Egyptians - even the Jews derived from the Hindus their knowledge." 

Botany and Biology:

In addition to the physical sciences, very interesting and modern concepts of botany and biology, including the concepts of micro- organisms, are also encountered in these ancient texts, for example, in the Mahabharata:

“They (trees) drink water by their roots. They catch diseases of diverse kinds. Those diseases again are cured by different operations… as one can suck up water through a bent lotus stalk, trees also, with the aid of the wind, drink thorough their roots. They are susceptible to pleasure and pain, and grow when cut or chopped… they are not inanimate… 

Vrihi and other so-called seeds of rice are all living organisms…again (men) …while walking about hither and thither kill innumerable creatures hidden in the ground by trampling on them; and even men of wisdom and enlightenment destroy animal life, even while sleeping or in repose themselves… the Earth and the air all swarm with living organisms.”   

Electricity

The ancient text of Agastya Samhita describes the method of making electric battery, and that water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen. 

(Source: The Celestial Key to the Vedas: Discovering the Origins of the World's Oldest Civilization -  By Dr. B. G. Sidharth is director of India's B. M. Birla Science Center. He has over 30 years of experience in astronomy and science education and is a frequent consultant to astronomy journals and science centers around the globe. He lives in Hyderabad, India.
Vedic Physics: Scientific Origin of Hinduism - By Raja Ram Mohan Roy p- 198-199). 
The Secret Teachings of the Vedas - By Stephen Knapp).
Hinduism and Scientific Quest - By T R. R. Iyengar).

Shri 108 & Other Mysteries

The number 108 is very auspicious for Hindus. It is the number of beads of a rosary and of many other things in Indian cosmology. But why is this number considered to be holy?
The answer to this mystery may lie in the fact that the ancient Indians took this to be the distance between the earth and the sun in sun-diameter units and the distance between the earth and the moon in moon-diameter units.
Two facts that any book on astronomy will verify :
Distance between earth and sun = 108 times sun-diameter
Distance between earth and moon = 108 times moon-diameter
Indian thought takes the outer cosmology to be mirrored in the inner cosmology of the human. Therefore, the number 108 is also taken to represent the 'distance' from the body of the devotee to the God within. The chain of 108 'links' is held together by 107 joints, which is the number of marmas, or weak spots, of the body in Ayurveda.
We can understand that the 108 beads of the rosary must map the steps between the body and the inner sun. The devotee, while saying beads, is making a symbolic journey from the physical body to the heavens.

108 is a number which resonates throughout the universe, as this shows. There are also several other numbers which are repeated throughout creation.

The reason why we do our mantra jap 108 times is because its a symbol of our journey towards our higher/spiritual self (sun) from our material self (earth).

(source: Shri 108 & Other Mysteries - By Subhash Kak - sulekha.com and http://www.cycleoftime.com/articles_view.php?codArtigo=58).

Rediscovering Vedic Science:

According to Romain Rolland, (1866-1944) French Nobel laureate, professor of the history of music at the Sorbonne and thinker. He authored a book on the " Life of Ramakrishna". 

" Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws, moreover the former is never made a condition for the knowledge they teach, but there are always scrupulously careful to take into consideration the possibility that by reason both the agnostic and atheist may attain truth in their own way. Such tolerance may be surprising to religious believers in the West, but it is an integral part of Vedantic belief." 

Not only do the Vedas contain a high level of philosophical and spiritual knowledge, but they also hold information on material science. The Vedic literature includes such works as the Ayur-Veda, the original science of wholistic medicine as taught by Lord Dhanvantari; Dhanur-veda, the military science as taught by Bhrigu; Gandharva-veda, which is on the arts of music, dance, drama, etc.. by Bharata Muni, Artha-sastram, the science of government, and the Manu-samhita, the Vedic lawbook. 

There is also the Sulbha sutras, which contains the Vedic system of mathematics. These sutras are a supplement of the Kalpasustras, which shows the earliest forms of algebra. The Vedic form of mathematics is much more advanced than that found in early Greek, Babylonian, Egyptian, or Chinese civilizations. In fact, the geometrical formula known as the Pythagorean theorem can be traced to the Baudhayana, the earliest form of the Shulba Sustras prior to the 8th century B. C. It was this Indian system that originated the decimal system of tens, hundreds, etc., and the procedure of carrying the remainder of one column over to the next. It also provided a means of dividing fractions and the use of equations and letters to signify unknown factors. These Indian numbers were used in Arabia after 700 AD. and then spread to Europe where they were called the Arabic numerals. It is only because Europe changed from Roman numerals to these Arabic numerals that originated in India that many of the developments in Europe in the fields of science and math were able to take place. (source: The Secret Teachings of the Vedas - By Stephen Knapp p. 25) Stephen Knapp a Vedic scholar, has also been to India several times and traveled extensively throughout the country.

Ancient Inscriptions:

A German linguist Kurt Schildmann, a native of Heiderhof, says his study of ancient inscriptions discovered in the caves of Peru and the United States shows that they are similar to ancient Indus Valley Sanskrit, suggesting that seafarers from India may have reached the Americas thousands of years ago. He describes the Indus civilization as a forerunner of other world civilizations. While doing "epigraphic research" on the Crespi collection of Cuenca, Peru, Schildmann discovered Sanskrit in inscriptions found in Peru and in the Burrows cave in southern Illinois. Russel Burrows accidentally discovered the cave, a retired colonel of the U.S. armed forces, on April 2, 1982.
Schildmann had noticed the similarity between the language of the inscriptions in Peru and the Burrows' cave after having deciphered the inscriptions in the Indus Valley. He also deciphered an icon found in the Burrows' cave, on which he said many details depicted the "wisdom of the Indus culture". Schildmann was struck by the drawing of an elephant on top of a "Pyramid", with three lines of a legend. He deciphered the legend as "PIL", that was 6000 years old ancient Sanskrit word for an elephant. He concluded, the ancient Indian engraved texts on gold plates and hid them to honor the gods and address the succeeding generations. (source: http://members.aol.com/coorg777/india9.html )
Conclusion:

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (1850-1919),  famous American poet and journalist. Wilcox poems have been collected in volumes such as Poems of Pleasure (1897) and Maurine and Other Poems (1888) states:

" India - the land of Vedas, the remarkable works contains not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all are known to the seers who founded the Vedas."   
Legend of Vikramaditya:
Ujjain is a city in the state of Madhya Pradhesh. City of Ujjain (one who conquers with pride) was once ruled by the legendary king Vikramaditya. 
King Vikramaditya was known for his valor and impeccable justice. His court was adorned by nine famous courtiers called Navaratna (nine gems), who were great scholars in different fields of knowledge. ( Kalidasa became the most brilliant of the `nine gems' at the court of Vikramaditya of Ujjain.) Despite extensive effort, Vikramaditya can not be identified with any known historical king. Ujjain is famous for the temple of Mahakala. There is no temple in India, where Mahakala is worshipped.
Is there a meaning behind the legend of Vikramaditya and the worship of Mahakala? The real meaning is revealed by considering the meaning of these words. Vikramaditya is made by joining prefix "Vi" to words "Krama" and "Aditya". "Krama" means order, "Aditya" means sun and prefix "Vi" means deviation. Therefore, etymologically Vikramaditya means the change in the course of the sun. What is significant is Ujjain is located on the tropic of cancer. Thus, sun comes to Ujjain during its northward journey, changes its course, and starts its southward journey. Vikramaditya is sun itself changing its journey at Ujjain. Nine gems in the court of Vikramaditya are nine planets of Solar system. 
Mahakala is made by joining words, Maha, great, and Kala, time. Thus, Mahakala means Time the great. Ujjain was known as Ujjayini in ancient times and was the capital of ancient empire Avanti. Ujjayini was the center of Indian civilization for several centuries and famous for its astronomical observatory. Ujjayini was equivalent of Greenwich, from where time was synchronized all over India and even abroad. New day commenced when it was six a.m. in Ujjayini. When it is six in the morning in Ujjain, it is midnight in Britain. It is from this ancient system of changing date in the morning in Ujjain that changing date at midnight has been arrived at. 
As time was synchronized in a large part of the world according to Ujjayini standard time, it was only natural to designate the god of Ujjain as god time himself, and therefore the name Mahakala, Time the great. 
The rise and fall of Hinduism is connected to the rise and fall of science. The spirit of Hinduism is logic and skepticism. Hinduism was raised on the foundation of science and freedom of inquiry. There is not a single incident of a scientist being persecuted by religious authorities in India as was the case in the West. Hinduism has never indulged in suffocation of scientific thoughts, instead it has incorporated science in religion. 
(source: Vedic Physics - By Raja Ram Mohan Roy p- 198-199).
Articles
Indian Idealist Metaphysics  - By Paul Brunton

The ancient Hindus took their philosophic statements in the nature of a revelation from on high, as issuing forth from their seers as a result of a personal self-experience in the spiritual domain. Our Western scientists have no such experience, and if they are approaching similar conclusions, it is because they are working their way from the profoundest depths of this material world up to its farthest frontier where the ions elude them and vanish into mystery……the wisest men of the ancient East and the modern West…are beginning to arrive at precisely the same conclusions. 

This Indian doctrine declares human cognition of the entire manifold universe to be illusionary in character. The vast multitude of tangible objects and tangible creatures which we so plainly witness around us were said to be the product of the constructive imagination of the One Hidden Self. Man and his material environments were but finite dreams passing through the mind of the Infinite Dreamer. Consequently all that we know of the world is nothing more or less than a series of idea held in our consciousness. Thus we arrive at a completely idealistic metaphysics which, because of its very nature, must apparently remain for ever purely speculative and beyond the scope of the finest instruments which can be devised to prove or disprove. Nevertheless the strangeness and unfamiliarity of the doctrine fascinated the Indian mind to an amazing extent. That this early foreshadowing of modern idealistic philosophy was not merely a worthless superstition is evidenced by the fact that some brilliant minds of the West have been equally fascinated and perplexed. 

This doctrine, curiously enough, hardly rears its head in The Vedas but appears with strong bold outlines in the post-Vedic books such as The Yoga Vasishta, in the Buddhist philosophical scriptures, and in the numerous writings of Shankara, the father of the grandest Hindu philosophical revival of ancient times. 

The earliest Vedic mention is in the Svetasvarara Upanishad, where the following lines occur: 

“Now one should know that Nature is illusion,
And that the Mighty Lord is the illusion-maker.”

The Aitareya Upanishad says: 

“Creatures, plants, horses, cows, men, elephants, whatsoever breathes, whether moving or flying and, in addition, whatsoever is immovable – all this is led by mind and is supported on mind. Mind is the final reality.”   

The basis of this doctrine is that things cannot exist independently of the perceiver's mind, that the entire phenomenal world of experience is a creation within the perceiving mind, as is a dream, and hence, from the highest metaphysical standpoint, an idea or mental appearance. The author of The Yoga Vasishta presents the teaching in another way, asserting that the world is relative to the mind and must therefore be mental in character if the possibility of its being known is to be achieved. 

"The subject cannot be aware of the object unless they are related. And there cannot exist any relation between two heterogeneous things. Relation implies identity, for it cannot be possible between two utterly different objects. The cognition of the object by the subject therefore establishes their substantial identity. If they were utterly different from each other, knowledge would not have been possible; the subject would ever remain unaware of the object as a stone of the taste of sugar." "The whole world is merely ideal. It does not exist except in thought. It arises and exists in the mind. The whole universe is the expansion of the mind. It is a huge dream arisen within the mind. It is imagination alone that has assumed the forms of time, space and movement."

"The reality of things consists in their being thought. The objective world is potentially inherent in the subject, as seeds of a lotus exist in the flower, as oil in sesamum seeds. All objects are related to the subject from which they proceed. They appear to be different from it, but are not so in reality. The world experience is nothing in reality but a dream."

The author of Yoga Vasishta realizes that such a solipsism is difficult to maintain and so lends his support to the Upanishadic assertion that "the Mighty Lord", God, is the true illusion-maker, and that the idea of the created world is put into our minds by the Divine One.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote the following verse: 

“Illusion works impenetrable,
Weaving webs innumerable,
Her gay pictures never fail,
Crowds each other, veil on veil,
Charmer who will be believed
By man who thirsts to be deceived.” 

Bishop George Berkeley (1865-1753) Famous Irishman and bishop of the Church of England and a prominent empiricist philosopher, in The Principle of Human Knowledge, proceeds to claim that the universal creation being mental, must have been brought into being within the mind of a Cosmic Thinker, thus strangely echoing a passage already quoted from the Indian Yoga Vasishta.

Arthur Schopenhauer, who in his turn developed the same theme in the vigorous volumes of The World as Will and Idea. He says: 

“He to whom men and all things have not at times appeared as mere phantoms of illusions has no capacity for philosophy…” 

“The world is my idea – this is a truth which holds good for everything that lives and knows, though man alone can bring it into reflective and abstract consciousness…” 

Coming to more recent times, we find echoes of the familiar Hindu comparisons of the dream and waking worlds in the writings of F. H. Bradley, E. Douglas Fawcett, Dr. F.C. Schiller, and Lord Bertrand Russell.   

One of the greatest 19^th century scientists was Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) physiologist, anatomist, anthropologist, agnostic, educator, distinguished zoologist and advocate of Darwinism, the following quotations from his work, Collected Essays vol. VI, serve to show how much ancient Indian philosophy anticipated modern Western thought.   

"To sum up. If the materialist affirms that the universe and all its phenomena are resolvable into matter and motion, Berkeley replied, 'True; but what you call matter and motion are known to us only as forms of consciousness; their being is to be conceived or known; and the existence of a state of consciousness, apart from a thinking mind, is a contradiction in terms. I conceive that this reasoning is irrefragable.

“…the simple ideas we receive from sensation and reflection are the boundaries of our thoughts, beyond which the mind, whatever efforts it would make, is not able to advance one jot.” 

Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) important astrophysicists of his time, wrote in Time, Space and Gravitation: 

“All through the physical world runs that unknown content, which must surely be the stuff our consciousness. Here is a hint of aspects deep within the world of physics, and yet unattainable by the methods of physics. And, moreover, we have found that where science has progressed the furthest, the mind has but regained from Nature, that which the mind has put into Nature. 

Sir James Berkeley writes: 

“The Universe can be best pictured as consisting of pure thought, the thought of what, for want of a wider world, we must describe as a mathematical thinker.” 

Hyman Levy (1889-1975) Mathematician, philosopher and humanist, in The Universe of Science, declares that “the underlying reality of the universe is never perceived. A mere appearance is experienced so that what the mind pictures is not reality but its superficial structure.” 

While Western psychologists carry out most of their experiments upon other persons, the proponents and exponents of Indian system are expected, and do, carry out their experiments upon themselves first and foremost. And because man is a key to the universe, because the mind of man is somehow linked with the Mind behind creation, the way to understanding of the universe must finally embrace the thorough understanding of the mystery behind man. 

(source: Indian Philosophy and Modern Culture - By Paul Brunton  London Rider & Co. Paternoster House, E. C  p 1-92).

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Back to the Vedas: Gateway to Peace
By Narayani Ganesh
http://www.timesofindia.com/today/15edit5.htm
' WHY do birds prefer to stay on treetops during the night? Why aren't they seen on the ground after nightfall? According to ancient Hindu scriptures, birds possess special and sensitive powers of perception. At night, they `see' the surface of the earth in flames. These flames reflect the intense energy trapped by the planet as a result of absorbing heat from the sun's rays all day long.
The Vedas are replete with such tidbits, encapsulating a heady mix of science, logic, deduction and belief, claim Vedic scholars. Here's another piece of information that is expressed in beautiful verse: What can one do when faced with a dry season, when rains are eagerly awaited; when farmers look skywards, pleading with an unseen Power, praying for a good harvest? Get to the bottom of a dried up water body. Plough your fields with the rich natural fertiliser that can be easily accessed from these water beds. The soil from here is saturated with the dung and dirt from animals which frequented the place; with compost from leaves, twigs and natural wastes that have sunk and have been assimilated into this soil.
Therefore, Vedic tips on how to deal with real-life situations may not all be outdated. Modern environmentalists and ecologists sometimes advocate what has already been talked about in Vedic scriptures. though couched in sophisticated technical and scientific terms. The Vedas are peppered with numerous tips on how to achieve welfare for all by working in conjunction with nature. `Vedathil illadhadhu logathil illai' -- You can discover nothing on this earth that is not already present in the Vedas -- so goes a popular Tamil saying which is seconded by Vedic scholars who have studied these scriptures in great depth and detail.
Vedic pundits aver that slokas or verses are composed and structured in a manner that their correct rendition can evoke rains in times of drought. Conversely, there are special slokas which when chanted with precision and in the right spirit can actually make the rains cease when there is too much of it. There's more. Slokas like the aprathiratha sooktam mantra chanted repeatedly right at the battle front, can actually will the enemy to retreat, never to return, claim Vedic pundits.
Waxing eloquent on the power of Vedic chanting for universal welfare, a group of 12 eminent Vedic pundits have congregated at the Sri Krishna temple in the Capital from different parts of the country. They are participating in a Sampoorna Yajurveda Ghana Parayanam, an event that has been organised for the first time in Delhi. The Parayanam is a 29-day, eight-hours-a-day rendition of the verses of the Yajur Veda in the Ghana style, which is the most difficult of the five traditional methods of recitation.
Handed down from generation to generation since the Vedic age through the guru-shishya parampara, committing to memory and reciting these verses comes from years of arduous practice. The five methods of recitation are Mula or Samhita, Pada, Krama, Jata and Ghana. Ghana, the last one, requires rendition in a complicated combination set to a rhythmic tone and is believed to possess high potency when chanted by Ghanapatins. The tempo goes like this: For Ghana, it is 1-2, 2-1, 1-2-3, 3-2-1. The five methods are progressive in scale of difficulty. For example, the tempo for Jata is: 1-2, 2-1, 1-2 following the pattern of a braid, as the name suggests. Also important is the timbre and tone. The number of students opting for the study of the Vedas up to the Ghana stage is dwindling. Hence this form of Vedic recitation is rare.
Sri S Krishnamurthy Ghanapatigal from Sathanur, Tamilnadu, says: ``The Vedas inform humankind about what is needed and what is not. They convey what is not observable with the eyes or the mind. They address not just brahmins and kings; they are equally applicable to the army, to students, to agriculturists -- in short, entire humankind. It is structured for the well-being of entire humanity, of all life. If they spell out ideas to improve agriculture, they also talk about behavioural psychology''.
``At the UN Millennium Summit, we are happy that religious leaders from different faiths and regions converged to talk about peaceful conflict resolution. In fact, the Vedas have a formula for conflict resolution, too. The aikamathya sooktam is a mantra in verse which when recited wherever there is conflict, can actually create an atmosphere conducive for peaceful and lasting resolution''.
(The scholars can be contacted at the Alakananda Dharmik Samaj, Sri Balavenugopalakrishna Temple till 17 September, R-2, Institutional Area, Alaknanda, New Delhi 110 019,  ).
The Different Routes of Modern Science and Indian Ancient Science (excerpts)
Indian Ancient Science – BARC Newsletter
http://www.barc.ernet.in/webpages/letter/newsletter_year_2000/
Mathematics
The science of mathematics starts from counting of numbers. The present versatile system of decimal numbers needed two fundamental discoveries: the concept of zero and the principle of place value in powers of the radix. And both of these were discovered in India. The place value system made the sexagesimal numbers of Babylonians obsolete (its only remains are 1 hour=60 minutes, and 1 minute=60 seconds). And now the Roman numbers are also getting gradually replaced by Arabic numerals on the place value pattern. The present numerals are called Arabic not because they were invented in Arab but because Indian things had to go via Arabian countries to Europe.
Similar to these two concepts, there is a very fundamental concept of infinity. In modern mathematics, infinity has been taken as an infinite extension of large numbers. In India, the concept of infinity was given deep attention in ancient times. It was found that infinity is not just a number but it is as tangible as any reality of general experience, and many of its properties were enumerated. In mathematical language, it can be defined as a universal set which is a proper subset of its every proper subset. Modern mathematics may enrich itself by working out the implications of such a definition of infinity.
Phonetics
Very extensive work was done in the science of phonetics in ancient India, and finer shades of sounds produced in the pronunciation were standardized. The entire Panini’s Shiksha and most of his grammar is phonetics only. However, in the West, the science of phonetics came up only recently. The application of sound recording systems and techniques of observing vocal organs in action through X-rays, have given a good deal of clarity to its concepts. The Indian ancient phonetics can benefit significantly if it employs some modern concepts and terminology. For example, many ancient Acharyas struggle with words to define what is Udatta vowel, and Un-Udatta vowel. Their round- about definitions do not accurately communicate what they intend. Following modern terminology, we can define simply that Udatta is high frequency vowel sound and Un-Udatta is low frequency vowel sound.
Similarly in Shastriya Sangeet, the relations of Saptak and the change of sound from sa to ni can be more clearly explained as ascending frequency in geometric progression; and the various Tals can be described as chrono-patterns of sound pulses with partial symmetry. Such applications of modern scientific terminology, instead of the vague and round-about old descriptions, can simplify the comprehension of this valuable Indian ancient art which also has scientific foundations.
The unification of Indian ancient science of Phonetics with modern information theory and the binary computer logic has led this author to evolve the Phonetic Number System of radix 128 with mono-sound numerals and word-like numbers. Based on this system, a merely six digit self-checking Phonetic Code, pronounced though six soft sound characters, can identify about 6000 crore population, uniquely and perpetually.

Metaphysics and Philosophy
In modern times, the subject of philosophy is considered to be speculation into the unseen and mostly unknown or unknowable. It has very little concern with tangible things of relevance. But in ancient India, philosophy (Darshan) was treated at par with science. Its study was supposed to give clear vision of life and nature as a whole, leading to a more coherent theoretical knowledge and harmonious practical living. The culmination of Indian philosophy is said to be Vedanta. Its sources are Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and the voluminous book Yoga Vasishtha. Vedanta claims to have reached such a high state of unification of nature beyond which no further unification is possible.
In physics, unified theories, with tremendous efforts, have got only partial success in unifying some forces of nature. In this background, it may be asked if the ideal of Vedanta, the highest state of unification, is ever achievable. Such an objection can be circumvented by redefining Vedanta, that it is Asymptote to Knowledge. It describes that most fundamental concept towards which all the basic concepts of various branches of knowledge approach and meet at infinity. But that state of unification can be intuitively grasped in a finite life-span. It is like the asymptote to an open curve which is tangent to the curve at infinity but remains at a finite distance from the origin.
Much of the confusion in Vedanta, employing mostly contradictory statements, can be removed by developing it as an axiomatic theory starting from a single postulate. In respect of its relation with the empirical world, Vedanta is supported by Sankhya. It represents the practical limit of unification in terms of two basic elements: Consciousness (Chetan) and Inertness (Jada). These two concepts make it possible to design binary computerizable models of basic physical or metaphysical entities.
The interrelationship of these concepts has a good deal of analogy with the modern field theory. There is one basic abstract field of the ultimate entity which has two states, consciousness and inertness. These different states behave as two distinguishable entities. Their interplay has dispersed as well as localized aspect. Its dispersed aspect is mind, and the localized aspect is body-consciousness. The system is incessantly dynamic and is represented by repetitions of many processes. Analogous to this is the electromagnetic field which has two kinds of forces: electrical and magnetic. Its dispersed aspect is undulations of wave and localized aspect is photon which is always dynamic. Now arises a question, whether photons have consciousness? However, experiments done in the University of Denver, Colorado, to test this have remained inconclusive.
Life Sciences
According to the Indian ancient science, in the field of consciousness, there are many levels. Every material system, whether apparently living or non-living, is at some level of consciousness. The so- called inanimate matter occupies the lowest level at which there is a very small zero-point consciousness. The direction of evolution is towards higher and higher freedom. Its manifestation starts from freedom of movement, and culminates in the freedom of selection of one’s own destiny.
Medical Sciences
Modern traditional medical science studies the physical and chemical patterns in a large number of people and makes a broad standard for healthy people. For example, after the measurement of the blood pressure of large number of people, a broad standard can be made. Ailments are associated with departure from these standards, and they can be corrected by appropriate physical and/or chemical means.
According to Indian medical science, called Ayurveda, life is a dynamical system in which in the healthy state, there is a harmony of many chemical and physical processes. The number of these processes have been broadly classified into three called Dosh: Kaph, Pitta, and Vata. Every food and eatable can be classified into many categories depending upon which Dosh or combination of Doshas, it decreases or increases or maintains in balance. The symptoms of disease indicate which of the Doshas have increased or decreased. The administration of the compensating remedy gives the cure. Ayurveda claims to have discovered the basic principles of many other systems of treatment like allopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc. But these systems were not developed to higher levels in ancient India.
The surgery described by Dhanvantari and Sushrut has become obsolete with the advent of sophisticated tools and equipment in modern surgery. But the basic principles of Ayurveda hold. They are like phenomenological theory of matter. For example, the mechanical and thermal properties like elasticity, density, specific heat, etc of gold are determined by the atomic structure of gold atoms. But a goldsmith need not go into all these details. For him the bulk properties are sufficient to make a beautiful ornament. In the same way, simplifying all the chemical process of the body in terms of increase, decrease, or balance of three Doshas suffices to restore health in a large number of cases. That is why the medical formulations of Charak Samhita still have relevance. But, in the light of changed environment, many of the ancient formulations need verification and standardization. However, Ayurvedic thumb rules for longevity and good health have withstood the test of time.

Cosmology
Modern theoretical cosmology begins with the application of general relativity to the universe as a whole by Einstein in 1917. The experimental cosmology begins with observation of red shift, proportional to distance, in the light of galaxies by Hubble in 1929. The red shift has been explained in terms of Doppler’s shift of receding galaxies. This explanation means that the universe is expanding isotropically. It implies that if we go backwards in time, then the universe was smaller, and at a certain time, the entire mass energy was concentrated at a point. G. Gamow in 1946 postulated that the universe was not only smaller but also hotter in the past. In the point like state, the temperature was infinite. With a sudden big bang, the energy was thrown out which subsequently led to the formation of stars and galaxies. What was prior to big bang, cannot be answered by physics.
To eliminate the big bang singularity, a steady state cosmology was put forward by Bondi and Gold in 1948, in which it was postulated that the universe has been like this all the time. But to maintain a constant density of matter in spite of the expansion, creation of matter as hydrogen atom into free space was postulated. A comprehensive C-field cosmology and a new theory of gravitation was developed by Fred Hoyle and J. V. Narlikar.
However, the steady state cosmology, though intellectually satisfying, did not satisfactorily explain the cosmic background radiation, predicted earlier by G. Gamow, and experimentally detected by Penzias and Wilson in 1965. Since then the steady state cosmology has gone into oblivion. The present standard cosmology is that of the hot big bang. It explains three main cosmological observations: receding galaxies, thermal background radiation, and nucleosynthesis of light elements. But suffers from the problem of singularity and many other inconsistencies.
Turning to the Indian ancient view on this subject, Mahabharat says (Adi-Parva, 1^st Chapter, 40-41): "This beginningless and endless time cycle (Kal-Chakra) moves externally like a perpetual flow in which beings take birth and die but there is never birth or death for this. The creation of gods is briefly indicated as thirty-three thousand, thirty-three hundred, and thirty- three."
Again in Mahabharat itself, Bhagwad Gita describes a cyclic universe as (VIII-18): "All embodied beings emanate from the Unmanifest at the commencement of Brahma’s day; at the commencement of his night, they merge in the same subtle body of Brahma, known as the Unmanifest."
These and many other statements imply that the Indian ancient view is that the universe is eternal as well as of finite age. The inference depends upon the point of view of the observer. If one observes the universe as a contemporary observer, then on the whole the universe is found to be like this only. But, if it is explored archaeologically, then it will be found to have a beginning at a point of time. Hence a unified cosmology, integrating the essential elements of steady state and big bang cosmologies, conforms better with the Indian view.
In ancient India, this integration was achieved by the concept two extra time-like dimensions. Thus the universe is a six dimensional continuum of three space, one time, and two time-like dimensions. This concept gives a logical symbol for the universe: that is two interpenetrating triangles. This figure has been verbally indicated in the above statement of Mahabharat that the creation is briefly indicated as thirty-three thousand, thirty-three hundred, thirty-three. Six times repetitions of three is the indirect technique of communication of Ved Vyas. The 5^th and 6^th dimensions have been called Chittakash and Chidakash in Yogavasishtha. The six dimensional universe represents higher symmetry in the two basic extensions of nature, space and time.

Physics
The Indian ancient view classifies the visible world into five elements: space, light or fire, and three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) represented by earth, water, and air. They are related to five senses and their five subtle forms called Tanmatra through a process called Panchikaran. Everything, irrespective of size and shape, has besides its physical body, a subtle body which is a bundle of abstract qualities and exists conceptually in the non-physical space called Chittakash. The subtle body in the Chittakash behaves like mind, and is free from many limitations of the physical space.
It is obvious to see many conceptual analogies in the two views of matter at the fundamental level. In quantum mechanics, the dynamics of a system is conceived in the abstract Hilbert space; in ancient India, it was conceived in the abstract Chittakash. Near the limit of fineness, inferences of the horizontal route (space-light-matter) and the vertical route (time-sound-mind) come very close to each other. Some experimental investigation into the interrelation of consciousness, mind, matter and light have been reported from Princeton University, Standford University (California), and University of Denver (Colorado).
Chemistry
The science of chemistry in India has been a great sufferer due to the destruction of the Indian ancient literature. The long heavy iron pillar near the Kutub Minar at Delhi, standing in the sunshine and rain for more than about 2000 years without getting rusted, is ample proof that chemistry and metallurgy were sufficiently advanced in ancient India. Similarly, the long and heavy statue of Buddha in the lying pose at Kushinagar near Gorakhpur, which still shines like gold in spite of remaining buried for many centuries, is a challenge to metallurgy. Similarly, many other monuments also hide great chemical secrets.

Much of the chemical knowledge is empirical rather then deductive. This is true of modern chemistry as well. Hence simply knowing a few basic principles is not enough to arrive at the process of producing the desired material. The actual method has to be either rediscovered, or may possibly be found in some hidden literature after extensive and minute survey.
Military Science
The biggest loss of ancient skills have been in the field of military science. The main reason for this loss was perhaps the Mahabharat war. There was so much loss of life in that war that people became allergic to things related to war. A large number of warriors were killed. Those who survived were demoralized. Almost the entire war skills, which needed regular practice and refinement, died out. Now we can get only very superficial descriptions of those weapons from Ramayan and Mahabharat which are basically literary works, and not scientific.
The weapons of ancient India can be put up into three broad categories. First is that of conventional weapons like swords, spears, bows and arrows, etc. Being simple, they survive to this age. The second were explosive based, delivered either through some projective system, or other means. They were called Agniban. The third were super weapons called Brahmastra, etc. Brahmastra was a sure hit weapon from which there was no escape. It had to be used in the rarest of the rare circumstances.
Brahma means creator of the universe. In the context of the war, it indicates a weapon designed through the knowledge of the creation of matter. According to Yogashashtra and some other writings, every particle of a block of matter is being incessantly created and dissolved. In between two occasions of creation, it remains momentarily in Chittakash in its subtle form. There its properties are more mind-like. Hence it can be acted upon by the mind of an aspirant provided it can go to that subtle state at which the matter particle has reached.
In any lump of inorganic matter, the creation and annihilation of particles is random. By mental command, they can be brought into coherence. The coherent lump can behave as a single quantum particle. With the coherence, all the constituent particles of the lump are created or annihilated simultaneously. They go to the Chittakash, and appear in the physical space, collectively. When they are in the mental form in Chittakash, they can be induced to have their next appearance in the physical space at the desired location, may be the body of an enemy. This travelling of the lump of matter is through non-physical space, so physical obstructions of walls and bunkers or long distances are no protection against this weapon.
Quantum teleportation recently reported by some physicists, is the nearest analogue to the working of Brahmastra. It is speculated by physicists that perhaps quantum teleportation may be the ultimate process in the control of dynamics of matter. However, so far the technique of quantum teleportation has reached the level of transmitting only states of photon. But even that has generated much excitement among physicists and has become a hot topic of research. It is anticipated to have applications in developing extremely fast computers, and communication of secured information making eaves dropping almost impossible.
In ancient India, some similar process seems to have been realised to the level of transmitting bigger masses through the phenomena of matter coherence. Just as coherence of electromagnetic waves produces very powerful laser light with unusual properties, in the same way coherence of matter can produce objects with unusual properties.
(please refer to the full text at the site given above)
Did you Know?  
How the Grand Canyon became Indian? 

Clarence Edward Dutton, a captain of ordinance in the U.S. army, geologist-poet and a Yale man, Dutton was deeply influenced by the philosophies of India. It was Dutton who likened the snow-covered peaks of the canyon walls to the Hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There is even a Hindu amphitheatre which Dutton likened to the "profusion and richness which suggests an Oriental character." Dutton found the Shiva Temple the grandest of all, and most majestic in aspect....All round it are side gorges sunk to a depth nearly as profound as that of the main channel...In such a stupendous scene of wreck, it seemed as if the fabled 'destroyer' might find an abode not wholly uncongenial."   

For Geologist Clarence Dutton, the harsh landscape of the Grand Canyon would come to be regarded as "the coliseums, temples, and statuary of an inspired nature," a place of divine presence. It's thanks largely to Dutton that so many of the Canyon's features are named after figures in world religion)

According to Professor Stephen J. Payne, professor of history at the Arizona State University and author of the book - How the Canyon Became Grand - there is " no explicit explanation for naming the peaks after Hindu gods, only implicit." He likens the naming the peaks to the historical fact of the time. "When there was a growing awareness and respect in the West, particularly Europe, towards Indian philosophies, not economies of the past."

India's Big Old Dam?
THE GRAND ANICUT, KALLANAI, is the Oldest Dam in the World that is still in use today. It is located on the Cauvery River, 24 km from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. 
This masonry dam was built in the 2nd Century by Chola King Karikalan and is 1,082 feet long with a maximum height of 18 feet and is 40-60 feet wide. It was remodeled and fitted with sluice gates in 1899-1902. For nearly two millennia it has irrigated a million acres of land. India had more land under irrigation in ancient times than it does today.
(Source: Hinduism Today  May/June 2000)

Vimanas

In the Vedic literature of India, there are many descriptions of flying machines that are generally called Vimanas. India's national epic, The Mahabharata, is a poem of vast length and complexity. According to Dr. Vyacheslav Zaitsev: "the holy Indian Sages, the Ramayana for one, tell of "Two storied celestial chariots with many windows" "They roar like off into the sky until they appear like comets." The Mahabharata and various Sanskrit books describe at length these chariots, "powered by winged lighting...it was a ship that soared into the air, flying to both the solar and stellar regions."
There is a just a mass of fascinating information about flying machines, even fantastic science fiction weapons, that can be found in translations of the Vedas (scriptures), Indian epics, and other ancient Sanskrit text.
There are no physical remains of ancient Indian aircraft technology but references to ancient flying machines are commonplace in the ancient Indian texts.  Several popular ancient epics describe their use in warfare. Depending on one's point of view, either it contains some of the earliest known science fiction, or it records conflict between beings with weapons as powerful and advanced as anything used today.  

Above all we need to remember: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

randiose time scales

Hinduism’s understanding of time is as grandiose as time itself. While most cultures base their cosmologies on familiar units such as few hundreds or thousands of years, the Hindu concept of time embraces billions and trillions of years. The Puranas describe time units from the infinitesimal truti, lasting 1/1,000,0000 of a second to a mahamantavara of 311 trillion years. Hindu sages describe time as cyclic, an endless procession of creation, preservation and dissolution. Scientists such as Carl Sagan have expressed amazement at the accuracy of space and time descriptions given by the ancient rishis and saints, who fathomed the secrets of the universe through their mystically awakened senses.

(source: Hinduism Today April/May/June 2007 p. 14).

 "European scholarship regards human civilization as a recent progression starting yesterday with the Fiji islander, and ending today with Rockefeller, conceiving ancient culture as necessarily half savage culture." It is a superstition of modern thought that the march of knowledge has always been linear." "Our vision of "prehistory" is terribly inadequate. We have not yet rid our minds from the hold of a one-and-only God or one-and-only Book, and now a one-and-only Science." 

 ~  wrote Shri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) most original philosopher of modern India. For more refer to chapter on Quotes21_40).
Unlike time in both the Judeo-Christian religious tradition and the current view of modern science Vedic time is cyclic. What goes around come around. The Vedic universe passes through repetitive cycles of creation and destruction. During the annihilation of the universe, energy is conserved, to manifest again in the next creation. Our contemporary knowledge embraces a version of change and progress that is linear. The ascendancy of Christianity brought the first major shift to historiography as handed down by the Greeks. Rejecting the cyclic understanding of existence, Augustine (AD 343-430) saw history as moving in a linear path, purposely from point A to point B. 
(source: Searching for Vedic India – By Devamrita Swami  p. 335 and 47).
“The ancient Hindus could navigate the air, and not only navigate it, but fight battles in it like so many war-eagles combating for the domination of the clouds. To be so perfect in aeronautics, they must have known all the arts and sciences related to the science, including the strata and currents of the atmosphere, the relative temperature, humidity, density and specific gravity of the various gases...” 
~  Col. Henry S Olcott (1832 – 1907) American author, attorney, philosopher, and cofounder of the Theosophical Society in a lecture in Allahabad, in 1881.  
***
"absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." - Dr Carl Sagan (1034 - 1996)
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." - Aldous Huxley (1894-1963). 
"Don't let your minds be cluttered up with the prevailing doctrine." - Alexander Fleming (1881-1955).

“To deny to Babylon, to Egypt and to India, their part in the development of science and scientific thinking is to defy the testimony of the ancients, supported by the discovery of the modern authorities.  -  L. C. Karpinski 

“Thus we see that India’s marvels were not always false.”  - Lynn Thorndike.

***
Frederick Soddy (1877 - 1956)  English born scientist. Studied in the University of Oxford. From 1900 to 1902 and was Chemistry assistant in the University of McGill, Montreal, where he co-worked with Rutherford. He received in 1921 a Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry. He awarded the Nobel prize in 1921 - ""for his contributions to our knowledge of the chemistry of radioactive substances, and his investigations into the origin and nature of isotopes" In 1903, with Sir William Ramsay, Soddy verified that the decay of radium produced helium.
He had a great regard for the Indian epics of Ramayana and The Mahabharat. In 1909 when academics were first beginning to grasp the awesome power of the atom, he did not take these ancient records as fable.  
In the Interpretation of Radium (1909) he wrote these lines: 

“Can we not read into them some justification for the belief that some former forgotten race of men attained not only to the knowledge we have so recently won, but also to the power that is not yet ours?” 

When Dr Soddy wrote the book, the atom-bomb box of Pandora had not yet been opened.

In 1909 when academics were first beginning to grasp the awesome power of the atom, physicist Frederick Soddy wrote in his Interpretation of Radium: "I believe that there have been civilisations in the past that were familiar with atomic energy, and that by misusing it they were totally destroyed."

(source: We Are Not The First: Riddles of Ancient Science - By Andrew Tomas  p. 53). For more refer to chapter on War in Ancient India.

Ramchandra Dikshitar (1896 – 1953) was a Professor of historian at Madras University and author of several books including War in Ancient India and Studies in Tamil language and history. In a special chapter of his book, he waxed poetic over his country’s contribution to aviation – inventing it! 

Said the proud historian back in 1944:  

“No question can be more interesting in the present circumstances of the world than India ’s contribution to the science of aeronautics. There are numerous illustrations in our vast Puranic and epic literature to show how well and wonderfully the ancient Indians conquered the air. "

"To glibly characterize everything found in this literature as imaginary and summarily dismiss it as unreal has been the practice of both Western and Eastern scholars until very recently. "

"The very idea indeed was ridiculed and people went so far as to assert that it was physically impossible for man to use flying machines. But today what with balloons, aero planes and other flying machines a great change has come over our ideas on the subject.”  

…”the flying vimana of Rama or Ravana was set down as but a dream of the mythographer till aeroplanes and zeppelins of the present century saw the light of day. The mohanastra or the “arrow of unconsciousness” of old was until very recently a creature of legend till we heard the other day of bombs discharging poisonous gases."

(source: Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients - By David Hatcher Childress p. 168 - 170).

Alexander Gorbovsky ( ?) an expert at the Russian Munitions Agency has written:

“The Mahabharata - an ancient Indian epic compiled 3000 years ago - contains a reference to a terrible weapon. Regrettably, in our age of the atomic bomb, the description of this weapon exploding will not appear to be an exaggeration: '.... a blazing shaft possessed of the effulgence of a smokeless fire (was) let off...'. That was how this weapon was perceived. The consequences of its use also evoke involuntary associations. '... This makes the bodies of the dead unidentifiable. ... The survivors lose their nails and hair, and their food becomes unfit for eating. For several subsequent years the Sun, the stars and the sky remain shrouded with clouds and bad weather'. 

"This weapon was known as the Weapon of Brahma or the Flame of Indra......".

(source: Riddles of Ancient History - Alexander Gorbovsky, The Sputnik Magazine, Moscow, Sept. 1986, p. 137).  
Walter Raymond Drake (1913 - 1989), a British disciple of Charles Fort, published nine books on the ancient astronaut theme, the first four years earlier than Erich Von Däniken's bestseller Chariots of the Gods. 
In his book Gods and Spacemen in the Ancient East, he wrote:

"The Ramayana telling in magic imagery the quest of Rama for his stolen wife Sita, has thrilled the people of India for thousands of years; generations of wandering story-tellers have recited its 24,000 verses to marveling audiences captivated by this brilliant panorama of the fantastic past, the passions of heroic love, tragedies of dark revenge, aerial battles between Gods and Demons waged with nuclear bombs; the glory of noble deeds; the thrilling poetry of life, the philosophy of destiny and death.

This wonderful epic of the ‘Ramayana’ the inspiration of the world’s great classic literature, intrigues us most today by its frequent allusions to aerial vehicles and annihilating bombs, which we consider to be inventions of our own 20^th century impossible in the far past. Students of Sanskrit literature soon revise their preconceived ideas and find that the heroes of Ancient India were apparently equipped with aircraft and missiles more sophisticated than those we boast today."  

He has observed about today's Spiritual sterility : 

"No longer can people accept the dusty dogma of the past without question. In reaction to paganism the Christian Church dethroned the old Gods and closed men’s minds to the living universe. We ask ourselves whether God the Creator of countless worlds in many dimensions possibly paralleled by a universe of anti-matter would incarnate a unique Being on our tiny Earth for a purpose which is still not clear. The Virgin Birth and the Resurrection were not confined to Christianity but were common to most of the religions of Antiquity; some theologians speculate that the Crucifixion of Christ represented the murder of Tammuz, the Babylonian fertility God on the Dying King of many ancient cults. The Dead Sea Scrolls surprise us by not mentioning Christ or Christianity, the Essene teachings suggest that some of the Christian doctrine originated a century earlier. Nothing is gleamed of Christ from contemporary sources, surprising in an age of classic writers; almost all we know of Him is from Church written by imaginatives decades later. Perhaps Christianity is a Myth necessary to the evolution and inspiration of man during the lost Piscean age? Man’s questing soul soars beyond the dogmatic creeds of yesterday to the cosmic religion of tomorrow.  

The oldest source of wisdom in the world must surely spring from India , whose initiates long ago probed the secrets of heaven, the story of Earth, the depths of Man’s soul, and propounded those sublime thoughts which illumined the Magi of Babylon, inspired the philosophers of Greece and worked their subtle influence on the religions of the West. "

(source: Gods and Spacemen in the Ancient East - By Walter Raymond Drake  p. 25 and 226 and 9 - 49).

Erich von Daniken (1935 -  ) known as the father of the ancient astronaut theory and Swiss author of many books including Chariots of the Gods has extensively written about the flying apparatus, the Vimanas in the epics of India and observes that:
"We must not be cowards as to dismiss such traditions as pointless myths and acclaim the authors’ poetic imaginations. The large number of similar accounts in ancient scriptures turns a suspicion into certainty: the ‘gods’ used A or H weapons from unknown flying objects. No, No, revered experts, you must accept it in the end. The stories of the chroniclers were not the products of their macabre imagination. What they handed down was once the stuff of experience, ghastly reality. "
I realized that foreign sacred books are arrogantly dismissed by Bible-soaked Westerners: “Our religion is incomparably deeper and truer!” I cannot stand this denigration of other religions. 
(source: According to the Evidence - By Erich von Daniken p. 161 and Chariots of the Gods  - By Erich von Daniken  p. 1 - 50).
David Lewis in the book Forbidden History– Edited By J Douglas Kenyon has observed that:

“India epic poem the Ramayana, dated by non-Westernized Indian scholars to five thousand years before Christ, contains references to its hero Rama, gazing from India’s present-day west coast into a vast landmass now occupied by the Arabian Sea, an account supported by the recent under water discoveries. Less celebrated Indian texts even mention advanced technology, in the form of aircraft used to transport the society’s elite and wage war.

The writings describe these aircraft in detail and at great length, puzzling scholars and historians. The great Indian epics, what’s more, vividly describe militaristic devastation that can be equated only with nuclear wars. Was there, at one time, not just an ancient civilization in India, but an advanced ancient civilization?

Flying machines…lost continents…are these mythical tales of mythological lands or do these ancient references provide us with a historical record long forgotten and then dismissed by Western science as fantasy?

Since the 19^th century Western scholars have dismissed the historical significance of the cultural traditions of ancient peoples, those of southern Asia included. With a decidedly ethnocentric bias, the expert’s reinterpreted history as it was taught in the East.

(source: The Enigma of India’s Origins – By David Lewis in the book Forbidden History– Edited By J Douglas Kenyonp. 78 - 188).
The revolutionary contents of the Vedas
For a quick glimpse at what unsung surprises may lie in the Vedas, let us consider these renditions from the Yajur-veda and Atharva-veda, for instance.

" O disciple, a student in the science of government, sail in oceans in steamers, fly in the air in airplanes, know God the creator through the Vedas, control thy breath through yoga, through astronomy know the functions of day and night, know all the Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva, by means of their constituent parts."

" Through astronomy, geography, and geology, go thou to all the different countries of the world under the sun. Mayest thou attain through good preaching to statesmanship and artisanship, through medical science obtain knowledge of all medicinal plants, through hydrostatics learn the different uses of water, through electricity understand the working of ever lustrous lightening. Carry out my instructions willingly." (Yajur-veda 6.21). 

" O royal skilled engineer, construct sea-boats, propelled on water by our experts, and airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea, that fly high over and below the watery clouds. Be thou, thereby, prosperous in this world created by the Omnipresent God, and flier in both air and lightning." (Yajur-veda 10.19). 

" The atomic energy fissions the ninety-nine elements, covering its path by the bombardments of neutrons without let or hindrance. Desirous of stalking the head, ie. The chief part of the swift power, hidden in the mass of molecular adjustments of the elements, this atomic energy approaches it in the very act of fissioning it by the above-noted bombardment. Herein, verily the scientists know the similar hidden striking force of the rays of the sun working in the orbit of the moon." (Atharva-veda 20.41.1-3).

(source: Searching for Vedic India - By Devamitra Swami p. 155 - 157). For more refer to chapter on Hindu Culture and Advanced Concepts).
***
The mention of airplanes is found many times throughout Vedic literature, including the following verse from the Yujur-Veda describing the movement of such machines:
"O royal skilled engineer, construct sea-boats, propelled on water by our experts, and airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea, that fly high over and below the watery clouds. Be thou, thereby, prosperous in this world created by the Omnipresent God, and flier in both air and lightening." Yajur Veda, 10.19) (Please refer to the Chapter ' Advanced Concept in Hinduism)
The Rg Veda, the oldest document of the human race includes references to the following modes of transportation:
Jalayan - a vehicle designed to operate in air and water. (Rig Veda 6.58.3)
Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- a vehicle that operates on ground and in water. (Rig Veda 9.14.1)
Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- a vehicle consisting of three stories. (Rig Veda 3.14.1)
Trichakra Ratha - Trichakra Ratha - Trichakra Ratha - Trichakra Ratha - Trichakra Ratha - Trichakra Ratha - a three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in the air. (Rig Veda 4.36.1)
Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- a gas or wind-powered chariot. (Rig Veda 5.41.6)
Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- a vehicle that operates on power. (Rig Veda 3.14.1).

Kathasaritsagara refers to highly talented woodworkers called Rajyadhara and Pranadhara. The former was so skilled in mechanical contrivances that he could make ocean crossing chariots. And the latter manufactured a flying chariot to carry a thousand passengers in the air. These chariots were stated to be as fast as thought itself. 

(source: India Through The Ages: History, Art Culture and Religion - By G. Kuppuram p. 532-533).

According to Dr. Vyacheslav Zaitsev: "the holy Indian Sages, the Ramayana for one, tell of "Two storied celestial chariots with many windows" "They roar like off into the sky until they appear like comets." The Mahabharata and various Sanskrit books describe at length these chariots, "powered by winged lighting...it was a ship that soared into the air, flying to both the solar and stellar regions."

(source: Temples and Spaceships - By V. Zaitsev - Sputnik, Jan. 1967 and Hinduism in the Space Age - By E. Vedavyas p. 31-32). For more refer to chapters on Sanskrit and War in Ancient India.  Also Refer to Vymanika Shashtra - Aeronautical Society of India.

Some Puranic accounts of Air-Chariots
The Arthasastra of Kautilya (c. 3rd century B.C.) mentions amongst various tradesmen and technocrats the Saubhikas as ' pilots conducting vehicles in the sky'. Saubha was the name of the aerial flying city of King Harishchandra and the form 'Saubika' means 'one who flies or knows the art of flying an aerial city.'  Kautilya uses another significant word 'Akasa Yodhinah', which has been translated as 'persons who are trained to fight from the sky.'  The existence of aerial chariots, in whatever form it might be, was so well-known that it found a place among the royal edicts of the Emperor Asoka which were executed during his reign from 256 B.C. - 237 B. C. The Vaimanika Shastra (Hindi edn) refers to about 97 works and authorities of yore of which at least 20 works deal with the mechanism of aerial Flying Machine, but none of these works is now traceable. The  Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja includes a reference to aerial cars in verses 48-50 and a manuscript of the work belonging to the Calcutta Sanskrit College dated at 1870 A.D. We are thus in possession of some manuscript material and from the above it appears that there were Vimanas or aircrafts in ancient India and they followed the route over the western sea i.e. Arabian Sea - Africa - Atlantic ocean - Latin America/Mexico, this being the shortest route. Some ships also might have followed this route, but most of the cargo ships, however, had to follow the longer route over the Pacific ovean via Indonesia - Polynesia - Latin America/Mexico because of the favorable trade winds and the equatorial currents which made the navigation easier.
And if the ancient Indians could perhaps boast of some form of air travel the Nazca lines of Peru acquire an added significance. Not only the scriptural references of aircrafts and the routes of navigation, even some base landing sites might have possibly been found in the tangled outlines and figures in the Pampas of Nazca. Maria Reiche, a German scientist, through her life-long dedication studied these seriously, preserved them from destruction and publicised them before the world. The huge figures which are visible from the sky might have helped the ancient pilots (Sauvikas) of India to land in Peru. 
(For more information please refer to Chapters on Pacific, Suvarnabhumi, War in Ancient India, Hindu Scriptures and Seafaring in Ancient India). 
(Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).
The Nazca lines of Peru seem to be landing signal for the air chariots of pre-Colobian times. There are several references in Sanskrit texts about the Indian Vimanas carrying kings and dignitaries to pataldesa. Ramayana describes Ravana's flight from Varunalaya (Borneo) to Rasatala (Peru). 
Prof. D. K. Kanjilal analyses the legend of the Matsya Purana (chapters 129) in his Vimana in Ancient India in the following words:
"Behind the veil of legend and scientific truth comes out that three flying-cities were made for and were used by the demons. Of these three, one was in a stationary orbit in the sky, another moving in the sky and one was permanently stationed in the ground. These were docked like modern spaceships in the sky at particular time and at fixed latitude/longitudes. Siva's arrow obviously referred to a blazing missile fired from a flying satellite specially built for the purpose and the brunt spaceship fell in the Indian ocean. Vestiges of onetime prosperous civilization destroyed in battles only flicker through these legends. 
These references sharply point to the use of some kind of aerial flying vehicles known as Vimana apart from mechanical contrivances, armoured cars, various types of missiles etc. These references sounding queer and unscientific even in recent past have been approximated to the present-day technology through the innovation of highly sophisticated weapons and of the space-satellites like Mariner, Vostok, Soyuz, Aryabhatta etc. These facts require more than a passing notice.
The flying vehicles were firstly designated Ratha (vehicle or carriage) in the Rig Veda.
Vimanas possessed a very high speed. This aerial vehicle was triangular, large, 3-tier uneven and was piloted by at least three persons (tribandhura). It has three wheels which were probably withdrawn during aerial flight. In one verse the chariot is said to have three columns. It was generally made of anyone of the three kinds of metals, gold, silver or iron but the metal which usually went into its make up according to the Vedic text was gold. It looked beautiful. Long nails or rivets were attached to it. The chariot had three types of fuel. Possessing very fast speed, it moved like a bird in the sky soaring towards the Sun and the Moon and used to come down to the earth with great sound. 
(source: The Indians And The Amerindians - By Dr. S. Chakravarti p.141-146). Also Refer to Vymanika Shashtra - Aeronautical Society of India.

References from Ancient Literature
According to Professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal in his book, Vimana in Ancient India:
In addition to the Vaimanika Shashtra, the Samarangana Sutradhara and the Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja, there are about 150 verses of the Rig Veda, Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda, a lot of literary passages belonging to the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Bhagavata and the Raghuvamsa and some references of the darma Abhijnanasakuntalam of Kalidasa, the Abimaraka of Bhasa, the Jatalas. the Avadhana Literature and of the Kathasaritsagara and a number of literary works contained either references to graphic aerial flight or to the mechanism of the aerial vehicles used in old ages in India.
In the Ramayana both the words "Vimana" and "Ratha" have been used:

·         Kamagam ratham asthaya...nadanadipatim (3. 35. 6-7). He boarded the aerial vehicle with Khara which was decorated with jewels and the faces of demons and it moved with noise resembling the sonorous clouds.

·         You may go to your desired place after enticing Sita and I shall bring her to Lanka by air.. So Ravana and Maricha boarded the aerial vehicle resembling a palace (Vimana) from that hermitage.

·         Then the demoness brought the Puspaka aerial vehicle and placed Sita on it by bringing her from the Ashoka forest and she was made to see the battle field with Trijata.

·         This aerial vehicle marked with Swan soared into the sky with loud noise.

Reference to Flying vehicles as Vimana occur in the Mahabharata in about 41 places of which the air attack of Salva on Krisna's capital Dwaraka deserve special notice. The Asura king Salva had an aerial flying machine known as Saubha-pura in which he came to attack Dwaraka. He began to shower hails, and missiles from the sky. As Krishna chased him he went near the sea and landed in the high seas. Then he came back again with his flying machine and gave a tough fight to Krishna staying about one Krosa (about 4,000 ft) above the ground level. Krishna at last threw a powerful ground-to-air weapon which hit the plane in the middle and broke it into pieces. The damaged flying machine fell into the seas. This vivid description of the air attack occurs in the Bhagavata also. We also come across the following references to missiles, armaments, sophisticated war-machines and mechanical contrivances as well as to Vimanas in Mahabharata. 
For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Glimpses XIX, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India,  Survarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.
The inscriptions of emperor Asoka are by far the most authentic records in support of the existence of aerial flying vehicles which are mentioned as Vimana. The existence of aerial chariots in whatever form it might be was so well-known that it found a place among the royal edicts of the Emperor Asoka which were executed during his reign from 256 B.C.- 237 B.C. 
Vatsyana in his Kama Sutra referred to mechanical contrivances in their origin among 64 ancilliary Sciences. 
The Arthasastra of Kautilya (3rd century B.C), a treatise mainly dealing with political economy but containing information on kindred scientific topics refers to a class of mechanic known as Saubhika..."
***
A discussion regarding the existence of and the use of flying vehicles in ancient India naturally waits for an advanced state of knowledge in cosmogony. A close and careful study of the Vedic literature shows that it was not just a collection of primeval poetry but a varied literature of a powerful and dynamic society where the people had the knowledge of cloud and vapor, of the season and of the monsoon, of the different types of wind, of the expanse of the sky, of the strength of the wind blowing at high speed and so on. Three types of cloud have been referred to in the Rig Veda (1.101.4). which also states that smoke and vapor surcharged with water turn into cloud. Formation of vapor through heat and the subsequent formation of cloud has been referred to in the Vedas. Indian meteorological concepts thus date back to the age of the Rig Veda. 
Dileep Kumar Kanjilal concludes that: "With the passage of time and due to various changes of catastrophes the machines went out of use so that the secrets of its make-up and flying were equally lost. That the discontinuity of technical knowledge of a particular science within the known period of history is not an impossible factor has been shown by the inability to explore the nature of the rustless iron of the pillar of Chandraketu now fixed in Delhi. Hiuentzang, the Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century A.D. referred to 7 story palaces of which no evidence now remains. Sir P. C. Roy had shown that during the period from 1509 B.C. up to the end of the 3rd century B.C.E. methods for the large scale production of metals like gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead and mercury and of alloys like brass, bronze, and those of gold and silver with baser materials were known. Large varieties of mineral ores, gems, and precious stones have been described in detail by Kautilya. Knowledge of the fermentation process also reached a fairly advanced state. With a highly developed state of civilization flourishing in art, culture, literature, history, medicine, alchemy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, geology, trade, commerce, shipbuilding, and agriculture it is natural to think that some sort of flying vehicles as attested by literary references was in all probability known. From the time of Panini upto the time of Bhoja we come across references to the great universities of Taxila, Valabhi, Dhar, Ujjain and Visala etc. The annals of history inform us that the depredations of the foreign tribes began as early as the 2nd century A.D. From two centuries later came succeeding waves of attacks of other foreign hordes like the Arabs, Turks and Afghans. All the well known universities and other centers of learning like the temples, the Viharas and the Bhandaras containing books and other priceless treasures of the Indian heritage had to stand the fire and fury of the marauders. In the dark firmament of devastation and uncertainty a silver lining was, however, seen in the efforts of King Bhoja in the 12th century, when he tried to compile the Sanskrit texts. Glimpses of old heritage survived only in the memory of the people and in stray literary evidences. State patronization for Indian Hindu cultural enterprises in the Turk-Afghan/Islamic period was a misnomer."
The original designation of the flying machine was "Ratha" which gave way for the term "Vimana". The Samarangana Sutradhara unequivocally suggested that the design of the plane was imitated to construct palaces. It was built by the Rbhus for the Gods. Gods as pointed out by Sayana came from remote space in the sky above and the obvious conclusion is that Gods as newcomers on the earth from outer space brought in this technology. The texts of the Rig Veda ranging from the 1st-10th Manadal refers to aerial flying machines as Ratha. In the Yajurveda which is considered chronologically later than the Rg Veda followed by other Brahmanas, the name "Vimanas" occurs. These vehicles were multi-shaped. But the triangular or quadrangular pattern survived owing to their practical utility. Puspaka the aerial vehicel survived in use because of its practical usefulness. In the Vedic texts the configuration of the machines has been broadly shown as triangular. The inside area as it can be gathered from the text was about 9 ft X 9 ft. = 81 sq. ft capable of accommodating 7/8 persons. In a triangular delta wing type this can be easily be made conical to give it greater feasibility and maneuverability. 
The descriptions of the flying aerial cities in the Mahabharata seem to indicate a higher degree of scientific achievement and technical skill as the flying cities moved high up above the region of the clouds and very probably in the exosphere region. We have earliest temple design in a seal of the Harmika-sira temple built by King Hubiska at Buddha Gaya of the 1st century B.C.E. which is a rectangular based conical construction. The Virupaksa Temple of Pattakada, of 740 A.D. has a long rectangular base developed into a tapering square or hectagonal construction upwards imitate the Trivistapa type. The overall structural similarity of the temples with a modern helicopter gives overt cognizance to the Samarangana Sutradhara  that temples were designed after the models of the flying machines. Even the giant Konaraka temple which resembles the chariot of Surya (Sun God) was of octagonal pattern on large rectangular base measuring 100 ft X 100 ft. X 100 ft. "
(source: Vimana in Ancient India - By Dileep Kumar Kanjilal  Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar Calcutta 1985 p. 11-99). For more information, refer to chapter on Hindu Culture).
For more refer to chapters on Sanskrit and War in Ancient India.  Also Refer to Vymanika Shashtra - Aeronautical Society of India.  For more on Ramayana, refer to chapters Glimpses XIX, Hindu Scriptures, Dwaraka, War in Ancient India
Here is a survey of some fascinating articles and quotes:
"One time while King Citaketu was traveling in outer space on a brilliantly effulgent airplane given to him by Lord Vishnu, he saw Lord Siva..." "The arrows released by Lord Siva appeared like fiery beams emanating from the sun globe and covered the three residential airplanes, which could then no longer be seen."
Srimad Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto, Part 3.
"The so-called ‘Rama Empire’ of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama...was ruled by ‘enlightened Priest-Kings’ who governed the cities. 
The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as ‘The Seven Rishi Cities’. According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called ‘vimanas’. The ancient Indian epic describes a vimana as a double- deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer. 
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a ‘melodious sound’. There were at least four different types of vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders (‘cigar shaped airships’)." 
(image source: Vymaanika Shaastra  Aeronautics of Maharshi Bharadwaaja - By G. R. Josyer).
(source: D. Hatcher Childress, "Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology" In The Anti-Gravity Handbook).
" An aerial chariot, the Pushpaka, conveys many people to the capital of Ayodhya. The sky is full of stupendous flying-machines, dark as night,but picked out by lights with a yellowish glare."

            -  Mahavira of Bhavabhuti (A Jain text of the eighth century culled from older texts and traditions).
"The Vedas, ancient Hindu poems, thought to be the oldest of all the Indian texts, describe vimanas of various shapes and sizes: the ‘ahnihotra-vimana’ with two engines, the ‘elephant-vimana’ with more engines, and other types named after the kingfisher, ibis and other animals."

(source: D. Hatcher Childress, "Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology" In The Anti-Gravity Handbook )

"Now Vata’s chariot’s greatness! Breaking goes it, And Thunderous is its noise, To heaven it touches, Makes light lurid [a red fiery glare], and whirls dust upon the earth."
Rig-Veda (Vata is the Aryan god of wind).

In the Vedic literature of India, there are many descriptions of flying machines that are generally called vimanas. These fall into two categories: (1) manmade craft that resemble airplanes and fly with the aid of birdlike wings, and (2) unstreamlined structures that fly in a mysterious manner and are generally not made by human beings. The machines in category (1) are described mainly in medieval, secular Sanskrit works dealing with architecture, automata, military siege engines, and other mechanical contrivances. Those in category (2) are described in ancient works such as the Rg Veda, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, and they have many features reminiscent of UFOs." "There are ancient Indian accounts of manmade wooden vehicles that flew with wings in the manner of modern airplanes. Although these wooden vehicles were also called vimanas, most vimanas were not at all like airplanes. The more typical vimanas had flight characteristics resembling those reported for UFOs, and the being associated with them were said to possess powers similar to those presently ascribed to UFO entities. An interesting example of a vimana is the flying machine which Salva, an ancient Indian king, acquired from Maya Danava, an inhabitant of a planetary system called Taltala."
Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities

"The cruel Salva had come mounted on the Saubha chariot that can go anywhere, and from it he killed many valiant Vrishni youths and evilly devastated all the city parks."
The Mahabharata
There is this account by the hero Krishna that is suggestive of more modern weapons. As he takes to the skies in pursuit of Salva: "His Saubha clung to the sky at a league’s length...He threw at me rockets, missiles, spears, spikes, battle-axes, three-bladed javelins, flame-throwers, without pausing....The sky...seemed to hold a hundred suns, a hundred moons...and a hundred myriad stars. Neither day nor night could be made out, or the points of compass."
"The airplane occupied by Salva was very mysterious. It was so extraordinary that sometimes many airplanes would appear to be in the sky, and sometimes there were apparently none. Sometimes the plane was visible and sometimes not visible, and the warriors of the Yadu dynasty were puzzled about the whereabouts of the peculiar airplane. Sometimes they would see the airplane on the ground, sometimes flying in the sky, sometimes resting on the peak of a hill and sometimes floating on the water. The wonderful airplane flew in the sky like a whirling firebrand - it was not steady even for a moment."

Bhaktivedanta, Swami Prabhupada, Krsna  
(Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).

Atomic devastation, Indian style  

Quotes from The Mahabharata  

“Various omens appeared among the gods – winds blew, meteors fell in thousands, thunder rolled through a cloudless sky.”  

“There he saw a wheel with a rim as sharp as a razor whirling around the soma…Then taking the soma, he broke the whirling machine..”  

“Drona called Arjuna and said…”Accept from this irresistible weapon called Brahmastra. But you must promise never to use it against a human foe, for if you did it might destroy the world. If any foe who is not a human attacks you, you may use it against him in battle..”  

“I shall fight you with a celestial weapon given to me by Drona. He then hurled the blazing weapon…”  

“At last they came to blows, and seizing their maces struck each other…they fell like falling suns.”  

ntil the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , modern mankind could not imagine any weapon as horrible and devastating as those described in the ancient Indian texts.  It seems absolutely incredible that there was an atomic war approximately ten thousand years ago. And yet, of what else could the Mahabharata be speaking?

Yet they very accurately described the effects of an atomic explosion. Radioactive poisoning will make hair and nails fall out.

These verses from the ancient Mahabharat:  

,,,it was a single projectile
Charged with all the power of the Universe.
An incandescent column of smoke and flame
As bright as the thousand suns
Rose in all its splendor…
…it was an unknown weapon,
An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to ashes
The entire race of the
Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
..The corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.
The hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
And the birds turned white…
…After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected…
…to escape from this fire
The soldiers threw themselves in streams
To wash themselves and their equipment..”  

In the way we traditionally view ancient history, it seems absolutely incredible that there was an atomic war approximately ten thousand years ago. And yet, of what else could the Mahabharata be speaking? Until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , modern mankind could not imagine any weapon as horrible and devastating as those described in the ancient Indian texts. Yet they very accurately described the effects of an atomic explosion. Radioactive poisoning will make hair and nails fall out. Immersing one’s self in water is the only respite, though not a cure.  

(source: Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients - By David Hatcher Childress  p. 233 – 239)

India had a Superior Civilization 

India may have had a superior civilization with possible contacts with extraterrestrial visitors, and the flying devices called 'Vimanas' described in ancient Indian texts may underline their possible connections with today's aerospace technology, an Italian scientist told the World Space Conference here today. Dr. Roberto Pinotti asked the delegates to examine in detail the Hindu texts instead of dismissing 'all the Vimana descriptions and traditions as mere myth.' "The importance of such studies and investigations could prove to be shocking for today's man because the existence of flying devices beyond mythology can only be explained with a forgotten superior civilization on earth," he said. Pointing out that Indian Gods and heroes fought in the skies using piloted vehicles with terrible weapons.
       
Dr. Pinotti said they were similar to modern jet propelled flying machines. 32 secrets: He said certain descriptions of the Vimanas seemed 'too detailed and technical in nature to be labeled as myth.' He cited various texts to show there were 32 secrets relating to the operation of Vimanas, some of which could be compared to modern day use of radar, solar energy and photography. Quoting from 'Vymanika Shastra' he said the ancient flying devices of India were made from special heat absorbing metals named 'Somaka, Soundalike and Mourthwika.' He said the text also discussed the seven kinds of mirror and lenses installed aboard for defensive and offensive uses. The so-called 'Pinjula Mirror' offered a sort of 'visual shield' preventing the pilots from being blinded by 'evil rays' and the weapon 'Marika' used to shoot enemy aircraft 'does not seem too different from what we today called laser technology,' he said.

According to the Italian expert, the 'principles of Page 1 propulsion as far as the descriptions were concerned, might be defined as electrical and chemical but solar energy was also involved. For instance, the 'Tripura Vimana' mentioned in 'Vymanika Shastra' was a large craft operated by 'motive power generated by solar rays,' Dr. Pinotti said, adding 'its elongated form was surely much closer to that of a modern blimp.' Sophisticated design: According to Dr. Pinotti, the huge 'Shakuna Vimana' described in the text 'might be defined as a cross between a plane and a rocket of our times and its design might remind one of today's space shuttle.' 'Surely, it expresses the most complex and sophisticated aeronautical design among all the other descriptions of Vimanas mentioned in the 'Vymanika Shastra,' he said.

He described the author of the treatise 'Vymanika Shastra' as a man 'attempting to explain an advanced technology.' Dr. Pinotti, who has made an exhaustive study of the history of Indian astronautics, said another text, Samaraanganasutraadhaara had 230 stanzas devoted to the principles of building Vimanas and their use in peace and war. He said ancient Aryans knew the use of the element 'fire' as could be seen from their 'Astra' weapons that included Soposamhara (flame belching missile), Prasvapna (which caused sleep) and four kinds of Agni Astras that traveled in sheets of flame and produced thunder. He said the car that was supposed to go up to Suryamandal (solar system) and the Naksatramandala (stellar system) cannot be dismissed as a myth because of the 'technical nature' of its description. Dr. Pinotti said depictions of space travel, total destruction by incredible weapons and the fact that Vimanas resembled modern unidentified flying objects would suggest that India had a 'superior but forgotten civilization.' 'In the light of this, we think it will be better to examine the Hindu texts' and subject the descriptive models of Vimanas to more scientific scrutiny,' he said.-  Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson - Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
(source: http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t27067.html).

Ancient Writings tell of UFO visit in 4,000 B.C.
Contributed by John Burrows
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t270

India, according to Dr.V. Raghavan, retired head of the Sanskrit department of India's prestigious University of Madras, was alone in playing host to extraterrestrials in prehistory. Dr. Raghavan contends that centuries-old documents in Sanskrit (the classical language of India and Hinduism) prove that aliens from outer space visited his nation. 
 "Fifty years of researching this ancient works convinces me that there are livings beings on other planets, and that they visited earth as far back as4,000 B.C., " 
The scholar says. "There is a just a mass of fascinating information about flying machines, even fantastic science fiction weapons, that can be found in translations of the Vedas (scriptures), Indian epics, and other ancient Sanskrit text."
"In the Mahabharata (writings), there is notion of divine lighting and ray weapons, even a kind of hypnotic weapon. And in the Ramayana (writings), there is a description of Vimanas, or flying machines, that navigated at great heights with the aid of quicksilver and a great propulsive wind. "These were space vehicles similar to the so-called flying saucers reported throughout the world today.
The Ramayana even describes a beautiful chariot which 'arrived shining, a wonderful divine car that sped through the air'. In another passage, there is mention of a chariot being seen 'sailing overhead like a moon.' "The references in the Mahabharata are no less astounding: `
At Rama`s behest, the magnificent  chariot rose up to a mountain of cloud with a tremendous din.` Another passage reads: `Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm." In the ancient Vymanka-Shastra (science of aeronautics), there is a description of a Vimana: "An apparatus which can go by its own force, from one place to place or globe to globe." Dr. Raghavan points out, "The text`s revelations become even more astounding. Thirty-one parts-of which the machine consists-are described, including a photographing mirror underneath. 
The text also enumerates 16 kinds of metal that are needed to construct the flying vehicle: `Metals suitable, lighare 16 kinds. `But only three of them are known to us today. The rest remain untranslatable." Another authority who agrees with Dr. Raghavan`s interpretations is Dr. A.V. Krishna Murty, professor of aeronautics at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. "It is true," Dr. Krishna Murty says, "that the ancient Indian Vedas and other text refer to aeronautics, spaceships, flying machines, ancient astronauts. "A study of the Sanskrit texts has convinced me that ancient India did know the secret of building flying machines-and that those machines were patterned after spaceships coming from other planets."

The Vedic traditions of India tell us that we are now in the Fourth Age of mankind. The Vedas call them the "The Golden Age", "The Silver Age", and "The Bronze Age" and we are now, according to their scriptures in the "The Iron Age". As we approach the end of the 20th century both Native Americans, Mayans, and Incans, prophecies claim that we are coming to the end of an age. Sanskrit texts are filled with references to Gods who fought battles in the sky using Vimanas equipped with weapons as deadly as any we can deploy in these more enlightened times.
For example, there is a passage in the Ramayana which reads:

The Puspaka car that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car going everywhere at will.... that car resembling a bright cloud in the sky.".. and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent car at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."

In the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian poem of enormous length, we learn that an individual named Asura Maya had a Vimana measuring twelve cubits in circumference, with four strong wheels. The poem is a veritable gold mine of information relating to conflicts between gods who settled their differences apparently using weapons as lethal as the ones we are capable of deploying.
Apart from 'blazing missiles', the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. 'Indra's Dart' operated via a circular 'reflector'. When switched on, it produced a 'shaft of light' which, when focused on any target, immediately 'consumed it with its power'. In one particular exchange, the hero, Krishna, is pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva's Vimana, the Saubha is made invisiblein some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special weapon: 'I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound'.

Many other terrible weapons are described, quite matter of factly, in the Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis. The narrative records:

Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashesthe entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.

It is important to note, that these kinds of records are not isolated. They can be cross-correlated with similar reports in other ancient civilizations.

The after-affects of this Iron Thunderbolt have anonymously recognizable ring. Apparently, those killed by it were so burnt that their corpses were unidentifiable. The survivors fared little ether, as it caused their hair and nails to fall out. Perhaps the most disturbing and challenging, information about these allegedly mythical Vimanas in the ancient records is that there are some matter-of-fact records, describing how to build one. In their way, the instructions are quite precise. In the Sanskrit Samaraanganasutraadhaara it is written:  

The Bhagavad Gita has influenced great Americans from Thoreau to Oppenheimer. Its message of letting go of the fruits of one’s actions is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written more than two millennia ago.

Strong and durable must the body of the Vimana be made, like a great flying bird of light material. Inside one must put the mercury engine with its iron heating apparatus underneath. By means of the power latent in the mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky. The movements of the Vimana are such that it can vertically ascend, vertically descend, move slanting forwards and backwards. With the help of the machines human beings can fly in the air and heavenly beings can come down to earth.
The Hakatha (Laws of the Babylonians) states quite unambiguously: The privilege of operating a flying machine is great. The knowledge of flight is among the most ancient of our inheritances. A gift from 'those from upon high'. We received it from them as a means of saving many lives.
       
More fantastic still is the information given in the ancient Chaldean work, The Sifrala, which contains over one hundred pages of technical details on building a flying machine. It contains words which translate as graphite rod, copper coils, crystal indicator, vibrating spheres, stable angles, etc. 'Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology' From The Anti-Gravity Handbook by D. Hatcher Childress.
Many researchers into the UFO enigma tend to overlook a very important fact. While it assumed that most flying saucers are of alien, or perhaps Governmental Military origin, another possible origin of UFOs is ancient India and Atlantis. What we know about ancient Indian flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian sources; written texts that have come down to us through the centuries. There is no doubt that most of these texts are authentic; many arethe well known ancient Indian Epics themselves, and there are literally hundreds of them. Most of them have not even been translated into English yet from the old sanskrit.

The Indian Emperor Ashoka started a "Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men": great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having beenconverted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle. The"Nine Unknown Men" wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number was "The Secrets of Gravitation!" This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them dealt chiefly with "gravity control." It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or else where (perhaps even in North America somewhere). One can certainly understand Ashoka's reasoning for wanting to keep such knowledge a secret, assuming it exists. Ashoka was also aware of devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other "futuristic weapons" that had destroyed the ancient Indian "Rama  Empire" several thousand years before.

Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships! Their method of propulsion, she said, was "anti- gravitational" and was based upon a system analogous to that of "laghima," the unknown power of the ego existing in man's physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough tocounteract all gravitational pull."  According to Hindu Yogis, it is this "laghima" which enables a person to levitate. Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called "Astras" by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet,according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old. Themanuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of "antima"; "the cap ofinvisibility" and "garima"; "how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead."Naturally, Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but thenbecame more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the data for study in their spaceprogram! This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching anti-gravity. The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was evermade but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is not clear whether this trip was actually carried out.

However, one of the great Indian epics,the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of atrip to the moon in a Vihmana (or "Astra"), and in fact details a battle on themoon with an "Asvin" (or Atlantean") airship. This is but a small bit ofrecent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much further back in time. The so-called "Rama Empire" of Northern India and Pakistan developed at leastfifteen thousand years ago on the Indian subcontinent and was a nation of manylarge, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama existed, apparently, parallel to the Atlantean civilization in the mid- Atlantic Ocean, and wasruled by "enlightened Priest-Kings" who governed the cities.
The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as The Seven Rishi Cities According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer. It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships").

The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English. The Samaraanganasutraadhaara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana.

There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadwaj the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightning and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: 
***
VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R.Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979.
G. R. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation, located in Mysore. There seems to be no doubt that Vimanas were powered by some sort of "anti-gravity." Vimanas took off vertically, and were capable of hovering in the sky, like a modern helicopter or dirigible.
of hanger, and were sometimes said to be propelled by a yellowish-white liquid, and sometimes by some sort of mercury compound, though writers seem confused in this matter. It is most likely that the later writers on Vimanas, wrote as observers and from earlier texts, and were understandably confused on the principle of their propulsion. The "yellowish- white liquid" sounds suspiciously like gasoline, and perhaps Vimanas had a number of different propulsion sources, including combustion engines and even "pulse-jet" engines. It is interesting to note, that the Nazis developed the first practical pulse-jet engines for their V-8 rocket "buzz bombs."
(image source: Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. Inc - 2002 calendar).

Hitler and the Nazi staff were exceptionally interested in ancient India and Tibet and sent expeditions to both these places yearly, starting in the 30's, in order to gather esoteric evidence that they did so, and perhaps it was from these people that the Nazis gained some of their scientific information! According to the Dronaparva, part of the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana, one Vimana described was shaped like a sphere and born along at great speed on a mighty wind generated by mercury. It moved like a UFO, going up, down, backwards and forwards as the pilot desired. In another Indian source, the Samar, Vimanas were "iron machines, well-knit and smooth, with a charge of mercury that shot out of the back in the form of a roaring flame."

Another work called the Samaranganasutradhara describes how the vehicles were constructed. It is possible that mercury did have something to do with the propulsion, or more possibly, with the guidance system. Curiously, Soviet scientists have discovered what they call "age old instruments used in navigating cosmic vehicles" in caves in Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. The "devices" are hemispherical objects of glass or porcelain, ending in a cone with a drop of mercury inside. It is evident that ancient Indians flew around in these vehicles, all over Asia, to Atlantis presumably; and even, apparently, to South America.

Writing found at Mohenjodaro in Pakistan (presumed to be one of the "Seven Rishi Cities of the Rama Empire" and still un deciphered, has also been found in one other place in the world: Easter Island! Writing on Easter Island, called Rongo-Rongo writing, is also un deciphered, and is uncannily similar to the Mohenjodaro script. Was Easter Island an air base for the Rama Empire's Vimana route? (At the Mohenjo- Daro Vimana-drome, as the passenger walks down the concourse, he hears the sweet, melodic sound of the announcer over the loud speaker," Rama Airways flight number seven for Bali, Easter Island, Nazca, and Atlantis is now ready for boarding. Passengers please proceed to gate number..") in Tibet, no small distance, and speaks of the "fiery chariot" thus: "Bhima flew along in his car, resplendent as the sun and loud as thunder... The flying chariot shone like a flame in the night sky of summer... it swept by like a comet... It was as if two suns were shining. Then the chariot rose up and all the heaven brightened." In the Mahavira of Bhavabhuti, a Jain text of the eighth century culled from older texts and traditions, we read: "An aerial chariot, the Pushpaka, conveysmany people to the capital of Ayodhya.

The sky is full of stupendousflying-machines, dark as night,but picked out by lights with a yellowishglare." The Vedas, ancient Hindu poems, thought to be the oldest of all theIndian texts, describe Vimanas of various shapes and sizes: the "ahnihotravimana" with two engines, the"elephant-vimana" with more engines, and other types named after the kingfisher, ibis and other animals. Unfortunately, Vimanas, like most scientific discoveries, were ultimately used for war. Atlanteans used their flying machines, "Vailixi," a similar type of aircraft, to literally try and subjugate the world, it would seem, if Indiantexts are to be believed.

The Atlanteans, known as "Asvins" in the Indian writings, were apparently even more advanced technologically than the Indians, and certainly of a more war-like temperament. Although no ancient texts on Atlantean Vailixi are known to exist, some information has come down through esoteric, "occult" sources which describe their flying machines. Similar, if not identical to Vimanas, Vailixi were generally "cigar shaped" and had the capability of manoeuvering underwater as well as in the atmosphere or even outer space. Other vehicles, like Vimanas, were saucer shaped, and could apparently also be submerged.

According to Eklal Kueshana, author of "The Ultimate Frontier," in an article he wrote in 1966: 

Vailixi were first developed in Atlantis 20,000 years ago, and the most common ones are "saucer shaped of generally trapezoidal cross- section with three hemispherical engine pods on the underside. They use a mechanical antigravity device driven by engines developing approximately 80,000 horse power. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and other texts speak of the hideous war that took place, some ten or twelve thousand years ago between Atlantis and Rama using weapons of destruction that could not be imagined by readers until the second half of this century.
       
The ancient Mahabharata, one of the sources on Vimanas, goes on to tell the awesome destructiveness of the war: "...(the weapon was) a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as the thousand suns rose in all its splendor. An iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas. The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause, and the birds turned white.... after a few hours all foodstuffs were infected.... to escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment..."
It would seem that the Mahabharata is describing an atomic war! References like this one are not isolated; but battles, using a fantastic array of weapons and aerial vehicles are common in all the epic Indian books.  
     
One even describes a Vimana-Vailixbattle on the Moon! The above section very accurately describes what an atomic explosion would look like and the effects of the radioactivity on the population. Jumping into water is the only respite. When the Rishi City of Mohenjodaro was excavated by archaeologists in the last century, they found skeletons just lying in the streets, some of them holding hands, as if some great doom had suddenly overtaken them. These skeletons are among the most radioactive ever found, on a par with those found at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ancient cities whose brick and stonewalls have literally been vitrified, that is-fused together, can be found in India, Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey and other places. There is no logical explanation for the vitrification of stone forts and cities, except from an atomic blast.

Further more, at Mohenjo-Daro, a well planned city laid on a grid, with a plumbing system superior to those used in Pakistan and India today, the streets were littered with "black lumps of glass." These globs of glass were discovered to be clay pots that had melted under intense heat! With the cataclysmic sinking of Atlantis and the wiping out of Rama with atomic weapons, the world collapsed into a "stone age" of sorts, and modern history picks up a few thousand years later Yet, it would seem that not all the Vimanas and Vailixi of Rama and Atlantis were gone. Built to last for thousands of years, many of them would still be in use, as evidenced by Ashoka's "Nine Unknown Men" and the Lhasa manuscript.

That secret societies or "Brotherhoods" of exceptional, "enlightened" human beings would have preserved these inventions and the knowledge of science, history, etc., does not seem surprising. Many well known historical personages including Jesus, Buddah, Lao Tzu, Confucious, Krishna, Zoroaster, Mahavira, Quetzalcoatl, Akhenaton, Moses, and more recent inventors and of course many other people who will probably remain anonymous, were probably members of such a secret organization. It is interesting to note that when  Alexander the Great invaded India more than two thousand years ago, his historians chronicled that at one point they were attacked by "flying, fiery shields" that dove at his army and frightened the cavalry. These "flying saucers" did not use any atomic bombs or beam weapons on Alexander's army however, perhaps out of benevolence, and Alexander went on to conquer India. It has been suggested by many writers that these "Brotherhoods" keep some of their Vimanas and Vailixi in secret caverns in Tibet or some other place is Central Asia, and the Lop Nor Desert in western China is known to be the center of a great UFO mystery. Perhaps it is here that many of the airships are still kept, in underground bases much as the Americans, British and Soviets have built around the world in the past few decades. Still, not all UFO activity can be accounted for by old Vimanas making trips to the Moon for some reason. Unknown alloys have been revealed in the ancient palm leaf manuscripts.

The writer and Sanskrit scholar Subramanyam Iyer has spent many years of his life deciphering old collections of palm leaves found in the villages of his native Karnataka in southern India. One of the palm leaf manuscripts they intend to decipher is the Amsu Bodhini, which, according to an anonymous text of 1931, contains information about the planets; the different kinds of light, heat, color, and electromagnetic fields; the methods used to construct machines capable of attracting solar rays and, in turn, of analysing and separating their energy components; the possibility of conversing with people in remote places and sending messages by cable; and the manufacture of machines to transport people to other planets!

- Contributed by John Burrows.  Also refer to Vymanika Shashtra - Aeronautical Society of India.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

( My humble Pranam, Honour  and also gratitude to   Ms. Sushma Londhe ji for her  noble, magnanimous and eminent works on the   peerless  Wisdom of our Sacred Scriptures)

  

_{(My humble salutations to   , H H Swamyjis, Hindu Wisdom, great Universal Philosophers, Historians, Professors and Devotees   for the discovering  collection)}

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