(Sadaputa das: Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy, Chapter 5)

5. THE EMPIRICAL CASE FOR THE VEDIC WORLD SYSTEM

  In chapters 2 through 4 we have outlined an understanding of Fifth Canto
cosmology based on the idea that higher-dimensional worlds exist in parallel
with the three-dimensional continuum of our ordinary experience. Roughly
speaking, by the "dimensionality" of space we mean the degree of access to other
places that is possible at any given place for a conscious observer. This
degree of access depends on the sensory arrangement of the observer, and thus we
conceive of space as being relative to the consciousness of living beings.
  Krsna has full access to all locations at once, and thus for Krsna, space has
the highest possible dimensionality. It is therefore possible for Krsna to
appear in any location at will without having to travel, as we see in the story
of Krsna's appearance in the womb of Uttara to save Maharaja Pariksit. Another
way of expressing this feature of Krsna is to say that He is all-pervading.
  For embodied beings in the material world, different levels of spatial access
are possible, depending on their karmic status and corresponding sensory
constitution. According to the Vedic literature, there are 400,000 species in
this universe having humanlike form, and many of these have levels of sensory
power superior to that of ordinary human beings of our modern civilization.
These include, for example, the Kimpurusas, who are endowed with "mystic powers
by which one can disappear immediately from another's vision and appear again in
a  different form " (SB 4.18.20).
  These humanlike species all have their countries and dwelling places, even
though these may not be visible or accessible to us. Indeed, our thesis is that
many regions of the earth, or Bhu-mandala, are not accessible to ordinary human
senses. These regions are actually part of our immediate environment, but we can
reach them only through higher-dimensional travel.

  5.A. UNINDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS

  In this subsection we will discuss some modern empirical evidence suggesting
that we are part of a larger world of humanlike beings that is largely
inaccessible to our senses and that may involve higher-dimensional inhabited
realms. Before we begin, we should emphasize that all empirical evidence is
faulty, since it is subject to the four defects of sensory imperfection,
mistakes, illusion, and the tendency to cheat. This is particularly true of
empirical evidence regarding phenomena that cannot be readily controlled or
subjected to systematic experimentation. It is even more true of the evidence we
shall consider here, which may involve the independent actions of living beings
possessing human or superhuman powers. Evidence of this kind will tend to be
controversial no matter how strong it is, since it contradicts fundamental
assumptions lying at the root of modern Western civilization. Unfortunately,
such evidence will also tend to be imperfect and fragmentary, since we are
unable to control the phenomena involved and there is a natural tendency for
people to suppress reports of these phenomena.

  Thus far in this book, we have presented arguments that are intended to show
that Vedic cosmology might be true. These arguments can be divided into two
categories: (1) explanations that clarify Vedic cosmological ideas and
hopefully make them more plausible and understandable, and (2) refutations of
objections to Vedic cosmology raised by modern scientific theories. (Chapters 6
and 7 and Appendix 2 contain additional material in this category.) Although
these arguments may remove various objections to Vedic cosmology, they do not
provide any direcy empirical evidence indicating that Vedic cosmology is true.
Of course, according to the PARAMPARA system, Vedic cosmology should be accepted
simply on the basis of sastric authority. However, the doubt may arise that if
Vedic cosmology really is true, then it would seem strange if no empirical
evidence could be adduced that directly supports it.
  We suggest that there is actually abundant evidence for the existence of
realms of intelligent living beings operating almost entirely outside the range
of our ordinary senses. This evidence is what we would expect to find if Vedic
cosmology is true, and it is definitely not what we would expect to find on the
basis of accepted scientific paradigms. It can therefore be interpreted as
giving support for the Vedic world view, although it does not refer directly to
the structure of Bhu-mandala and other features of Vedic cosmography.
  This evidence falls into three broad categories: (1) folklore and traditional
world views, (2) psychical phenomena, and (3) the evidence regarding
unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. Each of these categories provides direct
testimony indicating that interactions have occurred between human beings and
other intelligent beings possessing paranormal or superhuman powers. In this
chapter we will discuss category three, although, as we will see, these
categories are interrelated and show considerable overlap.
  There is extensive documentation on the subject of UFOs, which is largely
generated by three groups of people: empirical investigators, debunkers, and UFO
cultists. One prominent characteristic of this field of study is that the
evidence tends to generate strong emotions, both positive and negative, in the
people involved. This makes objective discussion of the evidence difficult.
Nonetheless, the UFO evidence can be potentially useful in helping people
understand the overall validity of the Vedic world view, and therefore we will
briefly consider it here.
  We will begin by considering two examples of sightings of unidentified flying
objects. The first sighting took place during the evening of July 14, 1952.
Second Officer William Nash was at the controls of a Pan American DC-4 flying at
8,000 feet in the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia, and Third Officer William
Fortenberry was acting as copilot. It is described that the night was clear,
with unlimited visibility, and the lights of Newport News could be seen out of
the port window.

  Shortly after 8:00 P.M. (EST), both men spotted a redish glow off in the
distance, apparently east of Newport News. As the glow resolved itself into six
bright points, it became obvious that the objects were approaching at a very
high speed. Within seconds, the objects could be clearly recognized as reddish,
glowing discs, as they streaked under the airliner. Then, abruptly, the entire
group flipped on edge, made a sharp-angled turn, and reversed direction. As this
was happening, the procession of six discs was joined by two more identical
objects coming from under the plane, and all eight blinked out, back on again,
and then off for good, while heading westward north of Newport News [RS,p.138].

  Both Nash and his copilot had been military pilots, trained in observing and
identifying aircraft. They maintained that the discs looked solid, with sharp,
well-defined edges. Based on their observations of the flight paths of the
discs, they estimated that they had been traveling at least 12,000 miles per
hour.
  A closer sighting of what seemed to be a strange flying machine was reported
by several witnesses near Exeter, New Hampshire, during the early-morning hours
of September 3, 1965 (RS, pp.176-178). At 1:30 A.M. Police Officer Eugene
Bertrand investigated a parked car and found a distraught woman who claimed that
her car had been followed for some 12 miles by a spaceship with red lights.
Bertrand rejected this story, but was soon summoned back to his police station
to investigate a similar story by 18-year-old  Norman Muscarello. The teenager
had burst into the station at 2:24 A.M. "in a state of near shock." He stated
that while he was hitchhiking along route 150, a glowing object with pulsating
red  lights suddenly came floating across a nearby field in his direction. He
said that the object was as big as a house and that it was completely silent as
it moved toward him. After he dove for cover, the object backed away, and he
flagged down a car, which took him to the police station.
  Bertrand and Muscarello returned to the scene, and at about 3 A.M. both saw
the object rise silently from behind two seventy-foot -tall pine trees. As
Bertrand later described it, it was a "large, dark, solid object as big as a
house... It seemed compressed, as if it were round or egg-shaped, with
definitely no protrusions like wings, rudder, or stabilizer" (RS, p.177). The
object had a row of five blinding red lights that blinked cyclically, casting a
blood-red glow over the field and a nearby farmhouse. As nearby horses kicked in
their stalls and dogs howled, it floated about two hundred feet off the ground
with a fluttering motion, like a falling leaf.
  This testimony was confirmed by officer David Hunt, who arrived on the scene
in time to observe the object for five or six minutes as it departed in the
direction of Hampton. The police also received a phone call from an excited man
in Hampton, who reported seeing the object.
  Here we will briefly touch upon some of the interpretations that have been
proposed for such sightings, but we will not try to resolve the many
controversial issues they involve. Broadly speaking, these sightings have been
interpreted as involving (1) illusions or hoaxes, (2) secret military vehicles,
(3) alien spaceships from other planets, and (4) vehicles piloted by beings from
higher-dimensional realms. Without going into great detail, we would evaluate
these interpretations as follows.
  There are, of course, many instances in which sightings of strange phenomena
turn out to be illusions or even deliberate frauds. However, there aslo seem to
be many reports - such as the two we have summarized here - that are not
amenable to this interpretation. If we dismiss either of these reports as the
result of illusion or fraud, then it would seem that we must cast grave doubt on
the reliability of human testimony in general. Let us therefore consider what
consequences follow if we give at least as much credence to human testimony as
is customarily done in courts of law.
  The hypothesis of secret military vehicles may explain some sightings, but it
seems doubtful that it can account for all of them. For example, if the flying
discs seen by Nash and Fortenberry in 1952 were the product of human military
technology, then one might ask why no technology of an even remotely similar
nature had been used by any nation during World War II, only seven years before.
Of course, it might be argued that technology had  advanced by leaps and bounds
in the post-war period, as shown by the example of computers. But this does not
seem to be true of aerospace technology. For example, in the 1980's the space
shuttle is being propelled into earth orbit by dangerous, unreliable solid-fuel
booster rockets quite similar to the rockets used by the ancient Chinese, and
atmospheric flight still depends on conventional propellers and jet engines.
  We should also point out that more is involved here than mere technology; many
sightings seem to involve phenomena that are incomprehensible in terms of the
known principles of physics. Secret military developments certainly take place,
but we know of no example in which fundamental scientific advances were made
that were unknown to civilian scientists. For example, the basic scientific
principles underlying the atomic bomb were well known to European scientists
prior to World War II, and the Manhattan Project was devoted to routine but
expensive engineering  developments. It is difficult to see how government
scientists working under conditions of secrecy could make spectacular advances
if fundamental physics that remain inconceivable to scientists in the world at
large.
  The hypothesis of aliens from other planets also has its drawbacks, when
presented in conventional form. Let us examine this hypothesis from the
perspective of modern science. According to modern scientific thinking, the
other planets of our solar system are devoid of life. Many scientists think that
intelligent life may have developed on planets circling other stars, but they
believe that this could happen only by a process of evolution similar to the
process that has produced life on the earth. It is therefore important to note
that prominent evolutionists have ruled out this possibility. These
evolutionists point out that many random events are involved in the production
of human beings, and the chance that something even remotely comparable to
ourselves could evolve independently on another planet is essentially zero.
  The evolutionist George Gaylord Simpson has raised this question in the
following form: "Even in planetary histories different from ours might not some
quite different and yet comparably intelligent beings - humanoids in a broader
sense - have evolved ?" (GS, p.268) His answer is that the essential
nonrepeatability of evolution makes this extremely unlikely. A similar
conclusion was reached by the evolutionist Theodosius Dobzhansky (TD).
  In fact, we agree with the analysis of Simpson and Dobzhansky, and we would go
further by noting that, according to their reasoning, the probability is nearly
zero that evolutionary processes would produce humans on the earth. By a
probability of nearly zero, we mean a probability of the form 1 out of 10 to the
power N, where N is a number in the hundreds or thousands. If an event occurs on
one planet with this probability, then the probability that it will occur
independently on two planets out of a billion possible planets is about 1 out of
10 to the power 2N-18. (Here we are assuming the existence of one billion
planets suitable for life, and the 18 is the log of one billion squared.) In
short, it seems highly unlikely that the evolution of matter would produce
builders of flying machines on the earth, and far less likely that it would do
this independently on other planets. (For a detailed discussion of the low
probabilities associated with the evolution of advanced life forms, see the book
MECHANISTIC AND NONMECHANISTIC SCIENCE (MN), by the author.)
  Of course, we can depart from the scientific hypothesis of extraterrestrial
aliens by proposing, say, that one superintelligent being (i.e., Brahma) may
have created humanoids on other planets. However, we are still confronted by the
fact that, according to modern astronomy, the nearest star is several
light-years away. Given the limitations imposed by the known laws of physics, a
vehicle traveling between the nearest star and the earth would take several
years at the very least to make the trip.
  Many thousands of sightings of unidentifiable flying vehicles have been
reported in the period following World War II, and practically all have
involved brief encounters followed by no significant developments. Since it is
inconvenient to make many journeys, each of which lasts for years, these
observations suggest that either (1) the aliens have established local
residences or (2) they are able to travel faster than the speed of light. Our
point at this stage in the argument is that in making necessary modifications of
the scientific extraterrestrial-alien hypothesis, we have brought it closer,
step by step, to the Vedic world view. According to Vedic cosmology, there are
400,000 created humanoid life-forms in the universe. Many are locally based
(such as the Yaksas and Vidyadharas), and many are capable of unusual modes of
travel (such as travel at the speed of the mind).
  Another aspect of the UFO phenomenon is what could be called its psychic
component. UFO sightings are frequently accompanied by telepathic impressions
that observers tend to interpret as communications transmitted by UFO occupants.
Psychic healings are reported in connection with UFOs, and UFO encounters are
often followed by the appearance of typical psychical phenomena. Here is one
case that illustrates some of these features (JV, pp 173-6):
  On November 1, 1968, a French medical doctor was awakened by calls from his
14-month-old baby shortly before 4:00 A.M. On opening a window, he saw two
hovering disc-shaped objects that were silvery-white on top and bright red
beneath. After moving closer for some time,  the two discs merged into a single
disc, which directed a beam of white light at the doctor's house. The disc then
vanished with a sort of explosion, leaving a cloud that dissipated slowly.
  The doctor testified that he had received a serious leg injury while
chopping wood three days before. After the departure of the mysterious
object(s), the swelling and pain from this injury suddenly vanished, and during
subsequent days he also noticed the disappearance of all the chronic
after-effects of the injuries he had received in the Algerian war.
  During a two-year period following this incident, there was no recurrence of
symptoms associated with either the war injuries or the leg wound. However,
strange paranormal phenomena began to take place around the doctor and his
family. According to the French scientist Jacques Vallee, "Coincidences of a
telepathic nature are frequently reported, and the doctor has allegedly, on at
least one occasion, experienced levitation without being able to control it."
[JV, p.176,259] The doctor apparently did not experience such things prior to
his UFO sighting.
  Psychical phenomena are a standard feature of human societies in all times and
places, and they are referred to almost continuously in the Vedic literature. In
modern human societies there seems to be an almost inverse relationship between
the development of mechanical technology and the development of various psychic
powers. However, in the Vedic literature we read of beings, such as the Danavas
of BILA-SVARGA, who possess both advanced mechanical technology and mystic
SIDDHIS, and who are apparently able to combine the two. The UFO phenomenon
seems to involve something similar, and this is another reason for thinking that
this phenomenon can be better understood in terms of Vedic cosmology than in
terms of standard theories involving high technology and interstellar evolution.
  In addition to sightings of UFOs from a distance, there are many reports of
close encounters with UFO occupants. These beings are often reported to
communicate directly by telepathic processes, and they are also said to be able
to project illusions through some kind of hypnotic power. Here is a typical
example of this kind of report (JV,p.192):
  On November 17, 1971, at 9:30 P.M., a Brazilian man named Paulo Gaetano was
driving back from a business trip, accompanied by his friend Elvio. Paulo
informed his companion that the car was not pulling normally, but his companion
reacted by saying that he was tired and wanted to sleep. The engine then
stalled, and after pulling to the side of the road, Paulo saw some kind of craft
about twelve feet away. Next, he later maintained, several small beings
appeared, took him into the craft, and subjected him to some kind of medical
examination, which included taking a blood sample from his arm. He could not
recall how he and Elvio got back home.
  For his part, Elvio did not remember seeing a strange craft, but only an
ordinary bus following the car at a normal distance. He saw the car pull off to
the side of the road, and he remembered finding Paulo on the ground behind the
parked car. But he did not remember seeing Paulo get out of the car, and did not
know what had happened to him. He took Paulo by bus to the nearby town of
Itaperuna, but he could not explain why they had abandoned the car. The police
noticed the cut on Paulo's arm and later found the car parked on the highway.
  Of course, there is a natural temptation to dismiss stories such as this as
crazy nonsense. However, there are evidently many cases in which events of this
kind are reported (including many that do not involve the questionable procedure
of hypnotic regression). One possible explanation is that these stories involve
delusions caused by some kind of mental disorder. However, there is psychiatric
testimony indicating that common forms of nervous and mental disease do not
involve delusions of seeing UFOs. For example, the psychiatrist Berthold Schwarz
has stated,

  In thirteen years of private practice ... I have never noted symptoms related
to UFOs. A similar finding was confirmed on questioning Theodore A. Anderson,
M.D., a senior psychiatrist, and Henry A. Davidson, M.D., then Medical Director
of the Essex County Overbrook Hospital. Dr. Davidson recalled no patients with
gross UFO symptoms out of three thousand inpatients, nor among all those
presented to the staff while he was superintendent; nor of the thirty thousand
patients who have been hospitalized since the turn of the century. (ET,pp.23-24)

  It is possible that UFO close-encounter cases may involve the action of beings
endowed with Vedic mystic SIDDHIS. We do not wish to insist on this point, but
we note that such a state of affairs would be consistent with Vedic cosmology.
Srila Prabhupada describes the VASITA SIDDHI as follows:

  By this perfection one can bring anyone under his control. This is a kind of
hypnotism which is almost irresistible. Sometimes it is found that a YOGI who
may have attained a little perfection in this VASITA mystic power comes out
among the people and speaks all sorts of nonsense, controls their minds,
exploits them, takes their money, and then goes away. [NOD,p.12]

  The story of Paulo and Elvio clearly involves some kind of illusion (either of
the bus or of the strange craft). We should also note that many people reporting
close encounters with UFOs maintain that the UFO occupants overcame their will
with some kind of telepathic power.
  The appearance of humanoid beings in UFO reports enables us to strengthen our
remarks concerning the theory of evolution. The literature on UFOs is filled
with reports of a wide variety of humanlike beings. These beings often exhibit
recognizable emotions, and sometimes are said to communicate various
philosophical teachings. If such beings actually exist, then it is very hard to
see how they could have arisen by evolution, either on this planet or elsewhere.
Paleoanthropology has no place for them on the earth, and the probability that
beings so similar to ourselves would evolve independently on another planet is
certainly infinitesimal. They fit consistently into the Vedic world view, but
their existence is strongly incompatible with the theory of evolution.
  Our final topic in this section is the tendency of UFO phenomena to abruptly
appear and disappear from the viewpoint of human observers and their electronic
instruments. Here are two cases illustrating this. The first case involved Air
Force observations of a UFO in the south-central U.S. on July 17,1957, and was
summarized in the journal ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, as follows:

  An Air Force RB-47, equipped with electronic countermeasures (ECM) gear and
manned by six officers, was followed by an unidentified object for a distance of
well over 700 mi. and for a time period of 1.5 hr., as it flew from Mississippi,
through Louisiana and Texas and into Oklahoma. The object was, at various times,
seen visually by the cockpit crew as an intensely luminous light, followed by
ground-radar and detected on ECM monitoring gear aboard the RB-47. Of special
interest in this case are several instances of simultaneous appearances and
disappearances on all three of these physically distinct "channels," and
rapidity of maneuvers beyond the prior experience of the crew. [AAA,p.66]

  One of the disappearances of the object occurred as the RB-47 was about to fly
over it. The pilot remarked that it seemed to blink out visually and
simultaneously disappear from the scope of ECM monitor #2 (an electronic
surveillance device). At the same time it disappeared from radar scopes at ADC
site Utah (a radar station on the ground). Moments later the object blinked on
again visually, and simultaneously appeared on the ECM monitor and ground radar.
  Abrupt appearances and disappearances of this kind are reported in many UFO
accounts (including the Nash and Fortenberry sighting, with which we began this
section). Although one might propose that invisibility was being produced
through techniques involving known physical laws, this behavior of UFOs has
suggested to many observers that they are illusions or projections of some kind,
rather than physical objects. This is also suggested by the ability of these
entities to accelerate abruptly to remarkable speeds without generating
noticeable sonic booms. Of course, the hypothesis of illusion raises the
question of how radar-reflecting illusions exhibiting intelligent behavior are
generated.
  The idea of illusion is also suggested by our second case, which took place at
Nouatre, Indre-et-Loire, France, on September 30,1954. At about 4:30 P.M.
Georges Gatey, the head of a team of construction workers, encountered a
strange-looking man standing in front of a large shining dome that floated about
three feet above the ground. Our concern here is with the way in which these
odd apparitions disappeared:

  Suddenly the strange man vanished, and I couldn't explain how he did, since he
did not disappear from my field of vision by walking away, but vanished like an
image one erases suddenly.
  Then I heard a strong whistling sound, which drowned the  noise of our
excavators; the saucer rose by successive jerks, in a vertical direction, and
then it too was erased in a sort of blue haze, as if by a miracle. [VJ2, p.68]

  Mr. Gatey, a pragmatic war veteran, maintained he was not used to flights of
fancy, and his story was corroborated by several of the construction workers.
Although such stories seem bizarre, they are not uncommon, and they are
consistent with the more prosaic long-distance sightings reported by pilots and
military personnel. They are also consistent with the mystic powers attributed
to the Kimpurusas and other intelligent beings described in the Vedic
literature.

5.B. THE LINK WITH TRADITIONAL LORE

  When the reports of UFOs are surveyed broadly, they are seen to resemble
stories from traditional folklore that have been recounted in cultures all over
the world since time immemorial. Jacques Vallee illustrates this point with the
following story from ninth-century France:

  One day, among other instances, it chanced at Lyons that three men and a woman
were seen descending from these aerial ships. The entire city gathered about
them, crying out they were magicians and were sent by Grimaldus, Duke of
Beneventum, Charlemagne's enemy, to destroy the French harvests. In vain the
four innocents sought to vindicate themselves by saying that they were their own
country-folk, and had been carried away a short time since by miraculous men who
had shown them unheard of marvels, and had desired to give them an account of
what they had seen. The frenzied populace ... were on the point of casting them
into the fire, when the worthy Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, ... having heard the
accusations of the people and the defense of the accused, gravely pronounced
that both one and the other were false [JV,p.19].

  The story refers to the "miraculous men" as sylphs, a class of beings thought
by Paracelsus to inhabit the earth's atmosphere and to have the power of
appearing or disappearing at will before humans.
  In medieval folklore, such beings were thought to coexist with ordinary humans
in this world and to inhabit invisible abodes, sometimes associated with lakes,
mountains, or subterranean regions (EW). They were thought to interact with
people in ways that were sometimes beneficial, sometimes sinister, and sometimes
mischievous or trivial. Similar patterns of interaction are to be seen in the
UFO literature.
  According to the Vedic literature, interactions of this kind occur between
humans and a variety of near-human beings, including Yaksas, Kimpurusas,
Raksasas, Vidyadharas, and Gandharvas. These beings occupy Bhu-mandala, the
lower planetary systems, and the upper system of Bhuvarloka. They are to be
distinguished from the demigods and RSIS of Svargaloka and the higher planetary
systems ranging up to Brahmaloka.
  Such beings are frequently described in the Vedic literature as possessing
aerial vehicles called VIMANAS. This is illustrated in the story of Salva from
SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM. There it is described that a king named Salva engaged in
severe austerities to please Lord Siva and thereby obtain an airplane that could
be used to attack Krsna's city of Dvaraka. Lord Siva granted the benediction and
arranged for the airplane to be manufactured by the demon Maya Danava, an
inhabitant of the lower planetary system of Talatala in BILA-SVARGA. The
airplane is described as follows:

  The airplane occupied by Salva was very mysterious. It was so extraordinary
that sometimes there would appear to be many airplanes in the sky, and sometimes
it would be seen that there was none. Sometimes it was visible, and sometimes it
was not visible, and the warriors of the Yadu dynasty became puzzled about the
whereabouts of the peculiar airplane. Sometimes they would see the airplane on
the ground, and sometimes they would see it flying in the sky. Sometimes they
would see the airplane resting on the peak of a hill , and sometimes it was seen
floating on the water. The wonderful airplane was flying in the sky like a
firefly in the wind - it was not steady even for a moment [KB p.649].

  It is interesting to compare the appearance and disappearance of Salva's
airplane with the "blinking on and off" of the UFO observed by the crew of the
RB-47. The observers on the RB-47 also noted that their UFO sometimes generated
two signals with different bearings on their electronic monitoring equipment.
  We have argued that the domain of Maya Danava can be reached only by
higher-dimensional travel, and we suggest that even today, people of this earth
may be interacting with beings originating from higher-dimensional regions of
the universe. In Vedic times, people in general could directly see such
phenomena as Salva's airplane. But they presumably had little direct access to
Maya Danava's abode and could learn of the existence of such places only through
hearing from higher authority. It can be suggested thet we might be in a similar
situation today.
  In the BHAGAVATAM it is described that the inhabitants of Maya Danava's abode
have excellent material facilities, including cities with beautiful architecture
and attractive gardens. There is no fear of the passage of time there because
the distinction between day and night does not exist. The inhabitants are highly
atheistic and materialistic. They are expert in various mystic powers and are
free from disease and old age. However, they must all meet eventual death in
accordance with the strict arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (SB
5.24.10-14).
  The Vedic literature describes the universe as having a hierarchical
organization, with a graded series of domains occupied by beings with different
levels of consciousness. As we described in Section 4.a, these domains can be
divided into the lower, middle, and upper worlds, whose inhabitants are
characterized by the respective modes of ignorance, passion, and goodness.
Beyond the material world lies the transcendental domain of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, which is characterized by pure goodness
(VISUDDHA-SATTVA).
  Given this hierarchical structure, one would expect interactions between
humans and higher beings to be characterized by a variety of psychological
modes, ranging from ignorance up to pure goodness. This seems to be the case,
and it is interesting to note that cases of interaction on an apparently higher,
sattvic level provide some of the best-attested evidence for the existence of
higher beings and realms.

5.C. THE EVENTS AT FATIMA

  An example of interaction with higher beings on a sattvic level is provided by
the events that occurred in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal. These events centered on a
series of revelations made to three children named Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta
by a divine personage whom they understood to be the Virgin Mary. The
revelations occurred on the 13th of the month for six successive months in a
natural amphitheater called the Cova da Iria, near the town of Fatima. Here we
will not be concerned with the theological content of the revelations (which, as
far as it goes, is compatible with the philosophy of Krsna consciousness), but
will focus on the evidence they provide for the existence of higher -dimensional
realms.
  The revelations were made in the presence of the three children and a large
throng of onlookers, which increased greatly from month to month as news spread.
The actual visions of the beautiful divine personage could be seen only by the
three children, and so our knowledge of these visions is limited to their
testimony. However, during the revelations there occurred related phenomena that
were witnessed by large numbers of people.
  These phenomena included the appearance of a glowing, globe-shaped vehicle and
the occurrence of a shower of rose petals that vanished upon touching the
ground. One witness, Mgr.J.Quaresma, described the appearance of the globe on
July 13, 1917, as follows:

  To my surprise, I see clearly and distinctly a globe of light advancing from
east to west, gliding slowly and majestically through the air. Suddenly the
globe with its extraordinary light vanished, but near us a little girl of about
ten continues to cry joyfully, "I still see it! Now it is going down!"
[FJ,p.46].

  He reports that after the events,

  My friend, full of enthusiasm, went from group to group ... asking people what
they had seen. The persons asked came from the most varied social classes and
all unanimously affirmed the reality of the phenomena which we ourselves had
observed [FJ,p.47].

  During one of the revelations, the child Lucia had requested that a miracle be
shown so that people who could not see the divine lady would believe in the
reality of what was happening. She was told that this would occur on the 13th of
October, and she immediately communicated this to others.
  On this date it is estimated that a crowd of some 70,000 people congregated in
the vicinity of the Cova da Iria in anticipation of the predicted miracle. The
day was overcast and rainy, and the crowd huddled under umbrellas in the midst
of a sea of mud. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and an astonishing solar display
began to unfold. We will describe this in the words of some of the witnesses.
  Dr. Formigao, a professor at the seminary at Santarem:

  As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun
at its zenith appeared in all its splendour. It began to revolve vertiginously
on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking
on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multi-colored flashes of
light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and incomparable
spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten
minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a tremendous
prodigy, threw themselves on their knees [FJ,p.63].

  Dr. Joseph Garett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University:

  The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a
heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl, when suddenly a
clamour was heard from all the people. The sun, whirling, seemed to loosen
itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to
crush us with its huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was
terrible [FJ,p.62].

  Similar testimony was given by large numbers of people, both from the crowd at
the Cova da Iria and from a surrounding area measuring about 20 by 30 miles. The
presence of confirming witnesses over such a large area suggests that the
phenomena cannot be explained as the result of crowd hysteria. The absence of
reports from a wider area and the complete absence of reports from scientific
observatories suggest that the phenomena were local to the region of Fatima. It
would seem either that remarkable atmospheric phenomena were arranged by an
intelligent agency at a time announced specifically in advance, or that
coordinated hallucinations in thousands of people were similarly arranged at
this time. By either interpretation, it is hard to fit these phenomena into the
framework of modern science. They do, however, fit naturally into the
multidimensional, hierarchical cosmos of the Vedic literature.
  At this point we should briefly summarize the conclusions of this chapter. The
Vedic literature maintains that we live in a hierarchically structured universe
occupied by 400,000 species of humanlike form and some 8,000,000 nonhuman
species. These living beings inhabit a graded system of worlds such as
Bhu-mandala, which possess variegated geographical features. The thesis of this
book is that these worlds are literally real, even though they are almost
entirely inaccessible to ordinary  human senses. We have tried to relate this
idea to modern mathematical thought by describing the universe as a
multidimensional system.
  We can ask, If this description of the universe is correct, then is there
anything that humans could expect to observe that would tend to corroborate it?
First of all, we could not expect to readily see the demigods, for human beings
generally do not have the karmic qualifications required for this. (See Section
6.c.1.) This means that we also cannot expect to gain access to the regions
where the demigods are active, such as the slopes of Mount Meru, since this
would surely entail being able to see the demigods themselves.
  We might expect to interact with beings lower than the demigods but slightly
higher than ourselves in the cosmic hierarchy. However, since these beings are
higher than ourselves, we could not expect to fully control these interactions.
We might expect that they would have access to us but that we would not have
access to them or their abodes.
  The beings between humans and demigods range from powerful types of ghosts to
demonic entities such as Yaksas and Raksasas, and to more attractive beings such
as Vidyadharas, Caranas, Siddhas, and Gandharvas. Interactions with these
various beings might take various forms, depending on their own interests and on
level of consciousness. These interactions are likely to involve mystic powers.
They must involve higher-dimensional transformations, because the abodes of
these beings are invisible to our senses. They may also involve remarkable
flying machines, since such machines are often ascribed to these beings in the
Vedic literature.
  We propose that these ideas about what we might expect to see in the Vedic
universe are consistent with the evidence provided by psychical phenomena, UFO
reports, folklore, and reports of miracles. This broad body of evidence is
consistent with the Vedic world picture. However, none of this evidence is
compatible with modern science, and all of it is rejected by the scientific
community. We suggest that Vedic world view is broadly supported by empirical
evidence, but this evidence can never be respectable until the Vedic world view
itslef is restored to a respectable status.
