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Colony Earth – Part XI: A School for Creator ‘gods’

What I have written here will not serve to move you towards Enlightenment. For that you must dedicate time to your practice in whatever form you have chosen. However it may motivate you, for understanding why we come here is surely a part of our Liberation.

Reading further into the collection of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures on the Myriad Worlds by Jamgon Kontrul (see below), we find descriptions of our universe that correlate with similar passages in the Sanskrit Puranas. I am going to reflect on both these viewpoints not only from the spiritual and metaphysical, but also through the lens of ancient astronaut theory and the idea that colony Earth is only one of many inhabited planets in this and 300+ billion or more galaxies.

I have taken the off-world position of reading the Tibetan and Sanskrit verses through the eyes of an ancient astronaut, and interpret them through the filter of the more current science and astrophysics. While simultaneously and conversely, from my understanding of the cosmology and metaphysical wisdom found in the ancient texts, I make a heartfelt effort to weave them into one. I stand in both worlds.

In the Tibetan Buddhist view, our part of the universe is known as ‘Endurance’ because here all sentient beings endure emotions and sufferings. Here we learn to patiently “endure hardship with exceptional courage and excel in bravery.” Endurance is contained within one of the spaces of the twenty-five tiered arrangement of world systems and is a third-order thousand worlds system. “This third order thousand world-system of Endurance alone is encircled by buddha realms equal in number to the particles of this thirteenth world system.”

The Land of Jambu is also the name given to our earth plane in the Tibetan Buddhist system. We are told that we must not feel that our human life is inferior to the others. “The Land of Jambu is a place for new evolutionary actions.” This is the place where entities come to evolve; and the Tibetan texts says that there are humans on “three other continents” [meaning other realms of existence], but they “experience (only) the results of their past (actions), they have no possibility of performing new evolutionary actions. Therefore these places are inferior to Jambu.”

 

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The Bhagavata Purana contains the Uddhava Gita, which is similar to the Bhavagad Gita but is more explicit, more detailed and perhaps more accessible to some. The Bhagavata Purana was composed much later, perhaps around 900 CE in the Indian Middle Ages. In Chapter XI.10.21-26 we learn that the heavens are temporal and still contain hierarchies. “Even great gods like Brahma do not enjoy unmixed happiness, as they are aware of the tenure of their office. But fools entertain futile egotism about it.”

Bhagavata Purana XI.10.21: “The heavenly happiness promised by the Vedas is also vitiated with envy, jealousy, termination and decay, as in the case of pleasure experienced on the earth.”

Those who have earned heavenly realms through ‘meritorious acts’ enjoy heavenly pleasures like a god. “In a lustrous celestial car (provided with all luxuries) earned by his meritorious acts, he, wearing a rich, attractive dress, sports with the celestial damsels while being glorified by Gandharvas [celestial musicians] in song.”  So absorbed in celestial pleasures, he is not aware of his impending fall. “But when the balance of merits is exhausted, he is pushed down by Time and he falls reluctantly.”

The beings dwelling in the higher heavenly worlds cannot evolve there. They go to the specific world, a Loka, which they have earned by their merit and remain there as long as that earned merit holds. At the end of their merit, they are bumped back into Samsara, the endless wheel of birth and death. My understanding is the ‘gods’ have no feelings, meaning they cannot feel our ordinary human love or sadness as we mortals do. Without feeling, there can be no spiritual progress, no evolution, and no experience of re-connecting. To show why our realm is superior, the Tibetan Buddhist says, “Moreover, people [residing in the earth plane] feel sad when hearing accounts of impermanence, etc., and so are easily guided (onto the spiritual path).”  The text ‘Great Mindfulness Scripture’ says, “All four places of humans depend on this one. …Here, there is the indestructible seat of enlightenment.”

This clearly makes the point that we come here to seek Enlightenment, to make progress in this evolutionary school ‘Endurance’ and that humans living in other realms, but which apparently do not have this “indestructible seat of enlightenment” are somehow dependent on those of us who are here.

 

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The Heaven of Clear Light

“The genesis of humans on this continent occurred when a god in (the heaven of) Clear Light died and took miraculous birth here.” A similar idea is in the pivotal moment in the Mahabharata when Indra invites the gods to take form on earth with the other hosts of gods, who are able to assume any shape. Therefore they all “take pleasure in descending to earth with varying portions of themselves” to make the mission of the gods successful. The idea that the beings dwelling in other realms or Lokas have the ability and choice to incarnate here in human form is found in the Mahabharata, which often called the Fifth Veda.

The Tibetan text also says that the gods of the heaven of Clear Light followed the first god, and one after another their numbers increased until there were many.  “All could travel through space, had radiant bodies, and were sustained by the nourishment of meditative concentration…” The understanding that we are nourished by meditation in the first cycle of time is found in many of the Puranas. The Linga Purana [Chapter 39.7] says that meditation is the greatest activity during the first cycle of time, the Satya or Krita Yuga,.

I will not labour to make exact connections between the Tibetan and the Indian cosmologies. I am only showing ideas that I found close enough to be thought provoking. I suggest that the Seers in Tibet and India had similar visions, however it is possible that they did read each other’s written visions. As I have stated previously, dates in India are an enigma.

The Sanskrit Puranas were written in the middle ages. All of them contain many descriptions of the four cycles of time, and I have always found those in the VAYU Purana most intriguing.

Chapter Eight: [At the end of the last Kalpa, after everything is burned by the SAMVARTAKA fire]

23. Those who could not reach Tapa-Loka [the sphere-world of the seven Rishis], had resorted to Janaloka [realm of the Siddhas, saints & pious men]. They began to function as seeds for the future creation.

24. Abiding there, in the form of seeds for the subsequent creation, they on being let loose (scattered) serve the purpose of progeny.

26. …As the mental sons of Brahma (the creator god), they work as accomplished souls.

33. Whatever names and forms (these beings have) in the past Kalpa, they mostly receive the same in the future Kalpas.

The verses go on to describe life in the first cycle of time, saying that everything is created mentally, through contemplation in the mind. The people “moved about wherever they pleased. They had acquired mental Siddhis.” 47.

48. In that Krita age [Satya Yuga], there was neither virtue nor evil. The human beings were non-differentiated. They had equal longevity, happiness and beauty (form).

49. In the beginning of the Kalpa, in the Krita age, neither virtue (Dharma) nor evil (Adharma) existed. The people were born with their respective authority and rights.

[So, there was no Bill of Rights necessary!]

51. Even when thousands of human being spread they had no obstruction, no clash, no order.

55. Time was always pleasant when peoples’ desires were fulfilled. There were no extremes in heat or cold. Whatever object they desired in their minds was available everywhere and at all times.

According to this description in the Vayu Purana, there were no differences even in the way humans looked. Actions were spontaneous and voluntary, without the intercession of intellect [59]. There was no such thing as gain or loss, likes or dislikes, friends or foes. We were devoid of desire, and thus did not want to possess anything, nor did we favour one over another.

From this we may imagine our consciousness in the first cycle of time, before we had lost our connection to the God-within. We may begin to feel an affinity, a Remembrance of our real nature in the various teachings designed to help us return to our original state of Being. Such resonant memories can serve to lead us back Home  — for the description above sounds very much like the enlightened state of consciousness Krishna recommends to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XII:

13: He who hates no being, friendly and compassionate; free from “mine” and free from “I” – meaning free from attachment to possessions and egotism; indifferent to pain and pleasure [sama-duhkha-sukhah], and patient.

14. Contented always, the yogi [united with the One], the self-controlled with firm resolve; the mind [manas], the understanding and intelligence [buddhis] are fixed on and devoted to [the Oneness].

15. He is indifferent, disinterested, pure, capable, and free from anxiety…

My intention in this series of articles on Colony Earth is to weave traditional spiritual wisdom into and throughout cosmology, for in my view the two cannot be separated. Our goal of Enlightenment and spiritual evolution may be perceived within the revelations presented in an acceptance of the Myriad Worlds. Yes, there are many other beings residing in a vast multiplicity, races, planets, dimensions, advanced technology, and so on. This does not intrude on the fact that our spiritual advancement and self-mastery is the sole purpose and reason we come to this planet, our lovely small blue-green Earth.

 

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Honey Cups

The Tibetan text says that after a time our ability to sustain ourselves on meditation deteriorated and “a white earth nectar that tasted like honey appeared.” The Vayu Purana [8.86-89] states, “…trees manifested… Invigorating honey without bees, possessing sweet taste, scent and colour, exuded in them in every leafcup. They maintained themselves with that honey… They were free from ailments.”

“But as time elapsed, they [we] were overcome with greed… They forcibly took possession of [the] trees and extracted from them the nectar and honey. …the wish-yielding trees perished…along with the honey.”

The Tibetan version is only slightly different: “Eating copiously of this [honey], they began to crave it. Consequently the nourishment of meditative concentration and other qualities, including miraculous powers [Siddhis] and even the nectar itself, disappeared.” In the Tibetan story another kind of food is provided, a kind of creamy orange earth-food, but craving again causes the loss of this and “the radiance of their bodies gradually deteriorated.”

Many researchers have suggested that extraterrestrials live in other dimensions, and therefore have very different subtler and perhaps self-luminous bodies. My understanding is that we did not have solid material bodies in the first cycle of time, and that as time has continued to ‘cook’ our consciousness, the density of our flesh and blood human bodies – as perceived by the five-senses - has increased, perhaps gradually.

I believe in the first cycle of time the earth plane was self-luminous, meaning lit from within and not from reflected light. The Tibetan text says, “due to the force of collective evolutionary actions and the natural laws of existence, the sun and moon began to illuminate the world.” I had never read this idea before, but again I think of David Talbot’s radically different conception of our solar system in his 1996 documentary 'Remembering the End of the World' that he bases on ancient symbols in world mythology. Our ideas of the universe and physics are rapidly changing. We didn’t even know our planet had a magnetic field until very recently, and we also had no idea that the entire heliosphere was travelling through space. Who gave us the technology to get beyond our solar system, far out into space enough to learn these new and startling discoveries?

The inhabitants of the Myriad Worlds are what we call the extra-terrestrials, a term that only means beyond earth. As the Tibetan texts have said, “These worlds suffuse the ten directions; millions of worlds interpenetrate one another, and each world contains billions of others. Billions more are contained within each atom of each world.”

As the Tibetan translators have indicated, awareness of the sheer scope and number of the Myriad Worlds is said to be suitable knowledge for those who have reached a certain spiritual maturity, and who are ready for the higher understanding of a vast system of cosmology.

“As a result, the mind breaks out of the cage of fixed concepts of definite space and existence and enters the open space of myriad worlds without beginning or end…”

 

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It is my considered view that the Kali Yuga was brought on by a terrible war and this war is the story depicted in the Sanskrit epic, The Mahabharata. The epic poem may be actual history, but it is also as an archetypal war intended to teach us as the author Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa must have been an amazing genius, a polymath, sage and Seer who had mastered all the Vedas and every aspect of life.

I assert that during the battles radiation was released around the planet and these invisible plumes of death greatly reduced human intelligence, consciousness, and perception. We lost whatever Siddhic powers we still possessed in the previous cycle of time, the Dvapara Yuga, and became trapped in five-sense perception. After that we could no longer ‘see’ the Myriad Worlds. The vast majority of us no longer had use of the ‘third eye’ that in the previous cycles of time was normal.

In the Tibetan writings on the Myriad Worlds there is a section entitled, The Origin of the Wheel-Monarchs. I understand that most translators of Sanskrit will think of the word wheel as relating to time or to the chakras. However, when I see the word chakra ‘wheel’ I think of flying ships, or as the Sanskrit Vimana is most often translated into English – aerial ship.

The Tibetan texts says, “Wheel monarchs, who reign over the four continents [inhabited by humans, one being our Jambu] (by virtue of their possession of) a gold, silver copper or iron wheel, are said to appear in this world whenever the lifespan rises above eighty thousand years.” In the Kali Yuga the lifespan is usually no more than 100, therefore we understand that these wheel-monarchs only ‘appear’ in previous cycles of time, meaning to me that they are ‘seen’ and interacted with in the cycles that precede this one.

The Tibetan text the Supreme Essence Commentary on Transcendent Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines, mentions a queen who is named ‘Born from a Mountain.’ In the Sumerian Ninhursag means the 'Lady of the Sacred Mountain'. The Sanskrit word for mountain is Parvati, Shiva’s consort. Parvati is known as the Daughter of the Mountain, her father being Himanvan, lord of the mountains and the personification of the Himalayas. Is this mountain a pyramid, or an orbiting ship that has a pyramidal shape.

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The idea of ‘wheels within wheels’ is found in speculative interest in space ship technology. Remember the machine in the film ‘Contact’ that took Jodie Foster into wormholes had wheels within wheels. The word ‘wheel’ appears very often in the Rig Veda. The Sanskrit word is CHAKRA and has multiple meanings. For example: The wheel (of a carriage, of the Sun’s chariot), [chariot often is the English word used to translate aerial ship]; of Time; a discus or sharp circular missile weapon; a potter’s wheel; an astronomical circle; a mystical circle; a circular flight; a particular constellation in the form of a hexagram; a form of military array – to give you a few, straight out of M. Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Chakra also refers to the seven wheels of energy in the human body.

The Tibetan text the Great Mindfulness Scripture describes the ‘wheel’ thus: “The precious wheel is made of gold, is five hundred leagues (in diameter) and has one thousand spokes. Within a day it can travel one thousand leagues. By power of the wheel, the king’s attendants, the elephant and so on, are able to travel anywhere through space up to (the heaven of) the Thirty-three and can hear what the king does not hear. The wheel eliminates rivals. It appeared from space.”

Five hundred leagues is around 2000 miles. This precious golden wheel flies very fast and can 'hear what the king does not' – meaning it has some kind of radar detection or telecommunications system. If you were reading this Buddhist scriptural text in the 8th century in Tibet perhaps your associations would have been quite different than one reading it in 21st century satellite connected to cyberspace.

 

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The text mentions “the precious elephant” that “in a single day can circle the Land of Jambu three times” and defeats the king’s adversaries. Perhaps the Pali or Sanskrit word for 'elephant' once referred to a small but mighty and unstoppable fighter airship. One other “precious” item described is a jewel that has eight facets and equals the size of a man’s thigh. “It illuminates the night up to a distance of one hundred leagues, and if the day is hot, it provides cooling water of eight qualities. Within a radius of one hundred leagues, the jewel eliminates all diseases and fulfils all wishes. It was presented by Indra.” In the Sanskrit texts, Indra is said to be a station, not an individual person. There have been many Indra’s in many Kalpas, and he is the titular head king of the world of the gods.

Another insight from the Tibetan text is in the Features of Life section: “Beings in lower (realms) do not see those in the higher.” Higher beings, perhaps Bodhisattvas in Buddhist Thangka paintings are depicted as floating on clouds while observing those less fortunate and unenlightened trapped in the various rungs of delusion. They can see us, but we cannot see them – unless of course by the intent of our spiritual practice or by birth, our ‘third eye’ is developed and open to see.

As we evolve spiritually and are ready to embrace a larger Universe, we will move out of the Kali Yuga, the Age of Confusion and Conflict. We have voluntarily come here for a school of the cosmic kind that allows us to Veil the God-within and experience limitation. Our true nature is that unlimited ubiquitous Being pervading and permeating the entire universe — and this pervading of the Oneness includes the Myriad Worlds, the “millions of worlds interpenetrating one another” in a universe that we now know contains 300+billion galaxies.

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The Treasury of Knowledge, Book One: Myriad Worlds, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group; Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca NY, Boulder CO, 1995, 2003.

The LINGA PURANA, Part I, Translated by a Board of Svholars, Edited by Prof. J.L. Shastri; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; Delhi, 1973, 1997.

The VAYU PURANA, Part I, Translated & Annotated by Dr. G.V. Tagare; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; Delhi, 1987

 

The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata, A Bilingual Edition, Translated & Edited by J.A.B. van Buitenen; The University of Chicago Press, 1981

 

The Bhagavad Gita, Translated by Winthrop Sargeant; State University of New York Press, 1994

 

The BHAGAVATA PURANA, Translated and Annotated by Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare, M.A., PhD, Part 5; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1976/1992; Delhi, India.

 

The Uddhava Gita, The Final Teaching of Krishna, Translated by Swami Ambikananda Saraswati; Ulysses Press, 2002

 

 

 

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