AN ANCIENT DESCRIPTION OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

The ancients were careful observers of the heavens, for they believed that the celestial bodies (celestial gods) in heaven play an important role in determining the destiny of everything on earth.

The enlightened seers did not have to rely upon powerful telescopes to observe the heavens. We must remember that they had the potential to expand their awareness by ascending the divine ladder and mentally embracing all things in heaven and on earth. These seers possessed the eyes of pure consciousness, which enabled them to see the universe on different scales of time and space. What’s more, the awareness of the ancient seers was not restricted to what they could observe from the earth; though they were earthly, their awareness soared in the heavens. On the basis of their nonlocal powers of vision, they conceived themselves as citizens of not only this small planet, but also the universe.

In this regard, the Vedic seers viewed the earth-world—the place where embodied beings dwell—as the galactic world, the jambu-dvipa, or “island of created existence.” Most scholars presume that this refers to our planet, but the geography of jambu-dvipa, described in the ancient texts, bears no resemblance at all to Earth. In the Vedic texts,¹ the earth is described as a luminous island floating in the cosmic waters. It supposedly has a shining central mountain composed of luminous gems, which serves as the exclusive abode of the celestial gods. Surrounding this mountain is a vast, luminous plain consisting of varshas, or celestial regions, which serve as abodes for various types of embodied beings both human and fantastical having no counterparts in the flora and fauna of our planet.

The term varsha means a “shower”—a shower of raindrops or of stars. According to the texts, the varshas wrap around the central mountain in a hemispherical manner; they are organized as a function of distance from the center. The varsha in which human beings dwell is called bharata varsha, a term often likened to the subcontinent of India. A careful reading of the texts reveals that bharata varsha was viewed as lying about two-thirds of the way between the center of the divine mountain and the edge of the luminous plain—precisely where modern astronomers place our solar system, which lies about two thirds from the center of the galaxy toward the edge of the galactic disk.

Although scholars have labored to match this ancient description of jambu-dvipa with the geographical features of Earth, they conclude generally that the ancient description is the product of mythical fantasy and symbolic obfuscation, which bears no resemblance at all to the geography of Earth. On the other hand, we can argue that the ancient description is consistent with the geography of a spiral galaxy such as our own. From the picture and description of the Milky Way Galaxy, we can conclude that it resembles a luminous island floating in the vastness of intergalactic space. Moreover, the central bulge of the galaxy may be compared to a shining central mountain that looms over a vast luminous plain, and the luminous gems that, according to the ancient texts, compose the central mountain may be none other than the luminous stars that make up the central bulge.

From modern astrophysics we know that the stars are packed so tightly in this central bulge that the conditions there are doubtless highly unfavorable for the development of organic life, due to intense radiations coming from all sides. This is consistent with the ancient description, which suggests that the divine mountain is the exclusive abode of the celestial gods (stars) and not of organic beings such as plants, animals, and humans.

We know for a fact that in one of these showers lies our own solar system, where human beings have evolved. We also know for a fact that other stars scattered throughout the galactic disk have their own orbiting planets similar to those we know to be orbiting our sun. We do not know whether some of those distant planets support some form of organic life, but the general consensus is that Earth is unlikely to be the only planet in the galaxy that supports life. After all, the galaxy holds some two hundred billion stars; the idea that only our solar system supports life seems highly unlikely.

According to the Vedic texts, each varsha has the potential to support its own life forms: The solar systems that lie within the star shower known as bharata varsha have the potential to support human forms of life—yet the seers claimed that other varshas have the potential to support nonhuman, highly intelligent life, though we might view this life as alien. In fact, the ancient texts are filled with stories of enlightened seers traveling from one varsha to another by means of their innate spiritual powers (as opposed to space vehicles). It is said that these spiritual powers enabled them to fly through the sky, suspend their breath, and render their bodies both invisible and impervious to the elements. Although such stories might seem the product of a mystical imagination, they are no more fantastic than the notion that the human soul can become enlightened and immortal and expand to embrace the universe as a whole.

We therefore find that the ancient descriptions of jambu-dvipa are consistent with the modern scientific understanding of our galaxy. From this we can conclude that the ancient seers were aware of galaxies, including our own. In addition, they possessed a profound galactic wisdom—that is, an understanding of how our galaxy is organized on the basis of the metaphysical layers.