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The Bhagavata Purana, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana are three important works in the Vedic tradition of India....these three texts contain a great deal of interesting material involving the aerial vehicles called vimanas. They also describe different races of humanlike beings who operate these vehicles, and they discuss the social and political relationships existing in ancient times between these beings and humans of this earth.
Vimanas in Vedic Literature
Written By: Richard L. Thompson,
Author of Alien Identities Copyright (c) 1995
Posted:10:30 PM, October 29, 1999
An Excerpt:
The Bhagavata Purana, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana are three important works in the Vedic tradition of India. I pointed out in Chapter 6 that these three texts contain a great deal of interesting material involving the aerial vehicles called vimanas. They also describe different races of humanlike beings who operate these vehicles, and they discuss the social and political relationships existing in ancient times between these beings and humans of this earth.
To some, this material is of no value because it seems fantastic and mythological. Thus the Indian ufologist Kanishk Naathan rejected the old Hindu religious texts because they attribute exaggerated feats to gods. He felt that they are simply poetry in which "a writer who is not reporting an actual event can let his imagination move in any direction it wishes to take him." He also pointed out that these texts belong to prescientific age of that historical period, and therefore, "Given the cultural, technological and scientific knowledge of that historical period, a writer can, while enjoying generality and avoiding detail, create inventions and combinations that do not actually exist."
One can reply that it has not been established that ancient writers were simply indulging in poetic imagination, with no regard for facts. There is a modern prejudice to the effect that anyone who has spiritual interests must be unscientific, and whatever he writes must be imaginary. This viewpoint makes sense as long as all observable data seem to support a mechanistic world model that excludes old religious ideas as exploded fallacies.
But if we carefully examine the UFO phenomenon, we find extensive empirical observations that completely contradict our comfortable mechanistic world view. It is noteworthy that this anomalous material--ranging from physically impossible flight patterns to beings that float through walls--fits quite naturally into the spiritually oriented cosmologies of the old Vedic texts. It is therefore worth considering that the writers of these texts may have been presenting a sound description of reality as they experienced it, rather than simply indulging in wild imagination.
The following are some reviews published by Amazon.com;
Reviews
Book Description
This is the intelligent fair and logical examination of modern UFO phenomena that countless readers have been looking for written by a renowned scientist and philosopher. also explores possible UFO incidents recounted in the the ancient Vedic DESCRIPTIONs of flying craft floating cities cosmic battles and other wonders. It examines the extraordinary and the extraterrestrial in European folk tales and looks at religious reports of miraculous visitations particularly the 1917 apparition at Fatima Portugal bringing fresh and convincing insights into the identity and purposes of UFO visitors throughout the centuries.
From the Publisher
the first half of this book is a superb critical history of the modern UFO phenomena dealing with such subjects as sightings hallucinations contacts out of body experience UFO crashes mystery helicopters men in black abductions cattle mutilations and missing time. Thompson rigorously examines claims ranging from the skeptical to the fantastic without resorting to ridicule
Customer Comments
Average Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 2
foxkoons@gte.net from Diamond Bar, CA ,
January 1, 1999
Thought provoking, but covers too much This book is a fascinating comparison of modern UFO phenomena with similar phenomena recorded in the Vedic texts of Ancient India. Unfortunately, the author tries to cover too much in one volume. The first half of the book contains an excellent summary of modern UFO and related phenomena. In the second half of the book, Mr. Thompson uses his tremendous knowledge of ancient Vedic texts and shows similarities between the two. Unfortunately, in an effort to bolster his arguments, he adds in Celtic folklore and mythology plus the 1917 events in Fatima, Portugal. It felt like he didn't have enough room to fully flesh out his hypotheses. If this book is to be updated for a 3rd addition, I strongly recommend that a glossary be added. In the second half of the book, the author repeatedly refers to the various types of entities refered to within the ancient Indian literature and I had trouble keeping them straight. Also, many of the deities could be refered to by multiple names and it became confusing when a particular deity would be refered to by 2 different names within consecutive pages (for example a Christian might refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ or Son of God, etc.).
This is a fascinating book, and I think that Mr. Thompson has a very interesting point to make. I recommend this book to people interested in possible connections between the modern UFO phenomena and ancient mythology and folklore. However, if you are unfamiliar with ancient Indian mythology, I recommend that you keep your own glossary as you read through the 2nd half of the book.
aztecpriest@msn.com from Evansville, IN , October 28, 1997
Fascinating on all levels
The first half is especially good. In the second a purely exoteric examination of vedic mythology, one of the most detailed systems in history, reveals explicit descriptions of what's only vaguely hinted at in other mythologies. Namely, straightforward descriptions of extraterrestrials in spaceships, various types of missiles and "modern" weaponry, and clear knowledge of a heliocentric solar system thousands of years before Galileo. This is where myth, religion, and reality all unite and confuse the hell out of everybody... Essential knowledge.
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