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Re: En: Hollow Earth

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dean • December 23, 1999 


Dear Sampath Kumar,                               December 24th

Thank you for your reply, sir, but it is hard for me to accept this
explanation. It seems rather round about to accept that the antipod of
India, North America and California, could be conceived of as a core. A core
and opposite pole are two different concepts. And explanation is not tenable
with the comments of Laxman, who mentioned persuing ravana to the " dark
hollows " in the interior of the Earth.

You mention that the Sagaras came to the shore of an ocean which they
travelled across until they came to the bowels of the planet. That is fine,
that gives me hollow Earth reference in the Puranas which I shall look up.
It had escaped my attention, thank you. But then you seem to speculate and
impose meanings on the idea of what these " bowels " are, confusing the word
bowel with maybe bottom. And then you impose another meaning such that India
becomes the top of the planet so that Claifornia can be the bottom, even
while definitions already exist in the Vedic literature placeing the top in
a Northerly direction as marked by the Pole Star. Do your homework, Sir! It
can be dangerous to impose meanings. The mayavadis also impose meanings.

There is scope for accepting that there can be a hollow region to this Earth
where civilisation exists- Vedic civilisation. Right next to you in Tibet
you have much lore about the city of Shamballa and the region known as
Agartha. Remember that the Bhagavatam mentions Shamballa as the birth place
of the Kalki Avatar. Tibetan Buddhist myth speaks of pilgrimages to
Shamballa through entrances in the mountains. Even though the Tibetans are
no longer followers of Vedic culture and are not members of a sampradaya, we
can still consider some things from their culture. It may be that
information about the hollow Earth has survived in the Tibetan collective
memory because the entrances, caves and tunnels are right there, while there
would be no such motive for retention of such information in other parts of
India due to no entrances being nearby. This can be so even though Vedic
culture remained in India but not in Tibet, not in any pure form.

One pitfall which we tend to fall into is conforming the conclusions of our
shastra to the structures of modern science. Modern science demands this or
else modern science will attack you. Not only that, but any new observed
phenomenon or proof which might come up also have to conform to
pre-established parameters, or else they will be discarded. This is a sad
state of affairs, but examples are not lacking. ( I think that university
professors don't like to see their theories collapse ). Modern science is
not perfect, and many of the amazing technologies which we see in the
Puranic descriptions are being experienced by us in modern times, for
example, flight and guided missles. So we should not discard a literal
interpretation of these Puranic statements about the Earth having a cavity.
Maybe it is in deference to modern, Western concepts that you have given
such an off-the-wall, imposed meaning.

In a recent article to VNN I related the testimony of a Norwegian fellow who
wandered in the North Polar areas with his father in 1829. They ended up in
warm lands and related a description of human beings which corresponds to
the Puranic descriptions from before the Kali Yuga. This fellow described
humans of 12 to 14 feet in height, with almost perfect memories, who used
tilak, and who spoke a language which later on seemed to him to be Sanskrit,
and whose religious system later on seemed to correspond to the Vedic. It is
amazing that he described all of these parallels even though the Puranic
literature had not been translated nor disseminated to the West by that
time, the early 1830s.

The Puranas tell us that the Kali Yuga was ushered in by the effects of
Kala, time. But this word Kala is used in the astrological literature
synonamously with the idea of " planetary movements." Could it be that on
the surface of the planet we are more susceptible to the effects of Kali
Yuga, being so exposed, while in the hollow Portion of the Earth, the
inhabitants are largely immune, being protected by the Earth's crust? Is
this why Olaf Jansen noticed a type of humanity which corresponded to
Puranic descriptions?

I will send a text copy of the article for the consideration of the list
members. I do not consider this theme to be off topic as it is a matter of
discovering and presenting the true, Puranic definitions, which is the duty
of a sampradaya.

The Puranas themselves were compiled at the beginning of the Kali Yuga for
surface dwellers, obviously. Could it be for this reason that the existence
of the hollow Earth was not emphasized? In a similar way, in Parashara Hora,
the Sage Parashara made a presentation of astrology which corresponded to
the man of the Kali Yuga- This is obvious from the section which deals with
the Ashtaka-varga system. So although the narrations are eternal,  maybe any
mention of the hollow portion has been toned down so as not to discourage
the population.

Even if one demands empiric evidences, however, these secondary, scientific
pramanas are coming to the fore from various quarters. A very complete
presentation may be found at www.hollowplanets.com ; under the " Table of
Contents " heading, there are summaries from the perspective of physics,
gravity, geology, seismology, meteorology, plate techtonics and more.

Originally, I requested the scholars of this list to inform me about whether
or not any Puranas confirm this future history, that after the Kalki Avatar
anniliates the miscreants, humans from the interior of the Earth will come
to the surface and carry out the work of re-establishing dharma in the
dawning Satya Yuga. I ask this because the Bhagavatam does not seem to
confirm this- only that the Kalki Avatar will be born in Shamballa and that
He will anniliate the miscreants. I see nothing in he Bhagavatam about
humans coming up from the interior of the planets? Do other Puranas,
however, state this? Could I have an answer?

I thanks the list members for their indulgence and I hope to hear some
discussion on this topic.

Thank You,

Dean De Lucia/Dharmapada Dasa
----- Original Message -----
From: sampath kumar 
To: 
Sent: Friday, December 24, 1999 7:25 AM
Subject: Re: En: Hollow Earth


> --- dean@internetcom.com.br wrote:   December 21st
> > > I am curious about a certain theme which is not so
> > directly mentioned in shastra, but to which there is
> > some indirect reference. I am referring to the
> > hollow Earth idea and subterrainian existences. I
> > realise that in some contexts, the word
> > subterrainian is used in the Puranas to indicate
> > planetary systems which are below the plane of Bhu
> > Mandala, the Solar system.
> ------------------------------
>
> Good question,Sir,  but one which has been asked
> several times before and answered variously!
>
> adiyEn once read one kind of answer to the above
> question and here it is for your information:
>
> "In pre-purAni-c" times there lived a race of people
> in the land now called India. They were called
> 'sagaras" and they were descendents of the Solar Race
> the same race from which King Dasaratha traced his
> Raghuvamsha ancestry.
>
> Once the Sagaras performed the Horse Sacrifice , the
> "aswamedha-yagnyam" where they let loose a horse and
> allowed it to roam around the land wherever it wanted
> and then after a set period of time had elapsed went
> after it to retrieve it. The lands and empires that
> they passed through while searching for the horse,
> they bring under their reign and protection.
>
> Unfortunately, the although the Sagaras travelled far
> and wide they could not locate their sacrificial
> horse.
>
> THe Sagaras suspected foul-play and a horse-thief.
>
> They travelled and travelled until they came to a
> great ocean. They travelled aross it to what they
> believed was into the bowels of "bhulOka"...
> "pATAla-lOka".
>
> The Sagaras at last found the horse in a forest near
> the hermitage of one 'Kapila Maharishi'. Mistaking him
> to be the horse-thief they began to man-handle the
> 'maharishi'.
>
> 'Maha-rishis' don't like to be man-handled and so
> Kapila became terribly incensed and with a mere glance
> of his eye reduced all the 60000 Sagaras to ashes.
>
> Many ages later Sage Bhagiratha performed great
> austerities and brought the River Ganges from the
> heavens to earth. With the waters of the sacred Ganges
> the Sage Bhagiratha brought the Sagaras, turned ashes,
> back to life. ANd thus prospered the race of the Solar
> Dyanasty, the Raghuvamsha, the precursors to the
> Ramayana.
>
> The story goes that America which is on the antipodes
> as far as India is concerned is to be taken to be
> "pATAla" i.e. the core of your "hollow earth".
> 'KapilAranya', the forest where they found Kapila's
> hermitage, is the present day "California". Also
> noteworthy is that near California there is both a
> "Horse Island" and an "Ash Island", is it not?
>
> So now you know why so many Indians emigrate from
> their home-country to their foster-home country...
> California in America!
>
> But if you happen to be a son-of-the-soil Californian
> yourself, you could of course claim to be a denizen of
> "pAtAla", the core of the "hollow earth". And you
> could possibly also claim common ancestry with the
> Raghuvamsha, Lord Rama's lineage! And you could also
> perhaps make a daily "pilgrimage" to Horse Island and
> Ash Island!
>
> Regards,
> dAsan,
> Sampathkumaran
>
>
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