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By
Stephen Knapp
In supplying information about the advancements of Vedic science, the
subject of Vedic airplanes, vimanas, is almost in a classification of its
own. Some of this information is so amazing that for some people it may
border science fiction. Nonetheless, as we uncover and explain it, it
provides serious food for thought.
First of all we need to understand that the Vedic conception of universal
time is divided into different periods. For example, a period called one
day
of Brahma is equivalent to 4,320,000,000 of our years on earth.
Brahma's
night is equally as long and there are 360 of such days and nights in one
year of Brahma. Each day of Brahma is divided into one thousand cycles of
four yugas, namely Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga,
and finally the
Kali-yuga, which is the yuga we are presently experiencing.
Satya-yuga lasts
1,728,000 years, and is an age of purity when all residents live very long
lives and can be fully developed in spiritual understanding and mystical
abilities and remarkable powers. Some of these abilities, or mystic siddhis,
include changing one's shape, becoming very large or microscopically small,
becoming very heavy or even weightless, securing any desirable thing,
becoming free of all desires, or even flying through the sky to wherever one
wanted to go on one's own volition. So at that time, the need for mechanical
flying machines was not necessary.
As the yugas continued, the purity of the people, along with their mystical
abilities, decreased by 25% in each age. The age of Treta-yuga lasts
1,296,000 years. During that age, the minds of humanity became more dense,
and the ability for understanding the higher spiritual principles of the
Vedic path was also more difficult. Naturally, the ability to fly through
the sky by one's own power was lost. After Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga lasts
864,000 years, and Kali-yuga lasts 432,000 years, of which 5,000 have now
already passed. At the end of Kali-yuga, the age of Satya-yuga starts again
and the yugas continue through another cycle. One thousand such cycles is
one day of Brahma. Now that we are in Kali-yuga, almost all spiritual
understanding disappears, and whatever mystical abilities that remain are
almost insignificant.
It is explained that it was not until the beginning of Treta-yuga that the
development of vimanas took place. In fact, Lord Brahma,
the chief demigod
and engineer of the universe, is said to have developed several vimanas for
some of the other demigods. These were in various natural shapes that
incorporated the use of wings, such as peacocks, eagles, swans, etc. Other
vimanas were developed for the wiser human beings by great seers of Vedic
knowledge.
In the course of time, there were three basic types of vimanas.
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In Treta-yuga, men were adept in
mantras or potent hymns. Thus, the vimanas of
that age were powered by means of knowledge of mantras.
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In Dvapara-yuga,
men
had developed considerable knowledge of tantra, or ritual. Thus, the
vimanas
of Dvapara-yuga were powered by the use of tantric knowledge.
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In Kali-yuga,
knowledge of both mantra and tantra are deficient. Thus, the vimanas of this
age are known as kritaka, artificial or mechanical.
In this way, there are
three main types of vimanas, Vedic airplanes, according to the
characteristics of each yuga.
Of these three types, there is listed 25 variations of the mantrika vimanas,
56 variations of the tantrica vimanas, and 25 varieties of the
kritakaah
vimanas as we find today in Kali-yuga. However, in regard to the shape and
construction, there is no difference between any of these vimanas,
but only
in how they were powered or propelled, which would be by mantras, tantras,
or mechanical engines.
The controversial text known as Vimaanika Shastra, said to be by
Maharshi
Bharadwaja, also describes in detail the construction of what is called the
mercury vortex engine. This is no doubt of the same nature as the
Vedic Ion
engine that is propelled by the use of mercury. Such an engine was built by
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, based on descriptions in the Rig-veda, which he
demonstrated in Mumbai (Bombay), India in 1895. Additional information on the mercury
engines used in the vimanas can be found in the ancient Vedic text called
the Samarangana Sutradhara. This text also devotes 230 verses to the use of
these machines in peace and war. We will not provide the whole description
of the mercury vortex engine here, but we will include a short part of
William Clendenon's translation of the Samarangana Sutradhara from his 1990
book, Mercury, UFO Messenger of the Gods:
"Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury-engine with its electric/ultrasonic
mercury boiler at the bottom center. By means of the power latent in the
mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may
travel a great distance in the sky in a most marvelous manner. Four strong
mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When those
have been heated by controlled fire from iron containers, the vimana
develops thunder-power through the mercury. At once it becomes like a pearl
in the sky."
This provides a most simplistic idea of the potential of the mercury
engines. This is one kind of a propulsion mechanism that the vimanas of
Kali-yuga may use. Other variations are also described. Not only do these
texts contain directions on how to make such engines, but they also have
been found to contain flight manuals, aerial routes, procedures for normal
and forced landings, instructions regarding the condition of the pilots,
clothes to wear while flying, the food to bring and eat, spare parts to
have, metals of which the craft needs to be made, power supplies, and so on.
Other texts also provide instructions on avoiding enemy craft, how to see
and hear what occupants are saying in enemy craft, how to become invisible,
and even what tactics to use in case of collisions with birds. Some of these
vimanas not only fly in the sky, but can also maneuver on land and fly into
the sea and travel under water.
There are many ancient Vedic texts that describe or contain references to
these vimanas, including the,
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Ramayana
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Mahabharata
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Rig-veda
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Yajur-veda
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Atharva-veda
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Yuktilkalpataru of Bhoja (12th century A.D.)
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Mayamatam (attributed to the architect Maya)
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plus other classic Vedic texts
like the,
From the various descriptions in these
writings, we find vimanas in many different shapes, including that of long
cigars, blimp-like, saucer-shapes, triangular, and even double-decked with
portholes and a dome on top of a circular craft. Some are silent, some belch
fire and make noise, some have a humming noise, and some disappear
completely.
These various descriptions are not unlike the reports of UFOs that are seen
today. In fact, David Childress, in his book Vimana Aircraft of Ancient
India & Atlantis, provides many reports, both recent and from the last few
hundred years, that describe eye witness accounts of encounters with UFOs
that are no different in size and shape than those described in these
ancient Vedic texts. Plus, when the pilots are seen close up, either fixing
their craft or stepping outside to look around, they are human-like,
sometimes with a Oriental appearance, in clothes that are relatively modern
in style. In other reports, we have read where the craft may have alien type
beings on board along with ordinary humans navigating the craft.
Does this mean that these are ancient vimanas that still exist today? Are
they stored in some underground caverns somewhere? Or are they simply
modern-built, using the ancient designs as described in the Vedic texts? The
UFOs that have been seen around the world may not be from some distant
galaxy, but may be from a secret human society, or even military
installation. However, many of the Vedic texts do describe interplanetary
travel. So even if these space machines are from some other planet, they may
be using the same principles of propulsion that have already been described
in the universal Vedic literature. The answer awaits us.
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