Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Current Research on History, Philosophy, and Science

To view the brochure for the Vedic Cosmology Conference – click here

Date: November 17–19, 2023; Gainesville, Florida

“At the foundation of every civilization lies its view of the universe. All of the variegated manifestations of art and culture find their ultimate source and inspiration in how people see themselves in relation to the cosmos.”

– Vedic Planetarium and Science Museum brochure (1994)
Bhaktivedanta Institute San Diego

The Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) hosted a conference, “Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Current Research on History, Philosophy, and Science,” on November 17–19, 2023. This event was a natural outgrowth of three prior BIHS cosmology workshops – “Purāṇic Cosmography: Taking the 5th…Canto!” (2019), “Models and Memes and Maps: A Modern Journey through Ancient Cosmography” (2020), and “The Nature of Spacetime and the Evolving Universe: Exploring Purāṇic Cosmology” (2022). These workshops examined traditional and contemporary studies of cosmological issues located in Sanskrit texts such as the Purāṇas (notably Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam), the Jyotiṣa Śāstras, and the Mahābhārata. They had also inspired publications that feature recent work by ISKCON scholars, such as Pūrva-pakṣa: Fine Tuning Opposing Views (Volume 1), and Vedic Cosmography in a Modern Context: Virodha-parihāra Revisited. The November conference invited established scholars from around the world to discuss academic analyses in discourse with internal cultural appreciations.

 

Schedule of Events

Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Current Research on History, Philosophy, and Science

November 17–19, 2023

 

Friday Evening (November 17):  Documentary premiere

Exploring the Purāṇic Vision of the Universe: The Work of the BIHS – Richard Cole (Radha Mohan)

 

Session 1, Saturday (November 18):  Philosophy of cosmology in relation to the Purāṇic tradition

Cosmogony: Ingredients for Making a Successful Universe – Akhandadhi

The Flow of Causality Before the Big Bang – Doug Watson (Dharma-vira)

Exploring Worldviews: Challenging Fundamental Principles in Science and Cosmology  – Laura Domenech

Pre-creation, Entropy, and the Arrow of Time in the Purāṇas – Tiziano Valentinuzzi (Giridhari)

Inflationary Theory in the Framework of Classical Indian Philosophy – Jack Dodson (Kala-Svarupa)

A Mathematical Model of Perception Based on Sankhya and Quantum Field Theory – Marricio Garrido (Murli Gopal)

The Amplituhedron: A Potential Framework for the Emergent Nature of Spacetime – Gopal Goel
 

Session 2, Saturday (November 18):  Archeoastronomy and Purāṇic chronology

Exoarcheology and Archeoastronomy: Possibilities for Vedic Cosmology Research – Michael Cremo (Drutakarma)

The Size and the Age of the Universe – Yangling Wang (Nandimukhi)

Cycles of Indian Cosmology and Economic Modeling – Yuriy N. Moskaleve (Yogipriya) and Alexey Timoschuk (Abhinanda)

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a Late Neolithic / Early Metal Age Text – Christopher Hayton (Krsna-bhajana)

 

Session 3, Saturday (November 18): Purāṇic and Siddhāntic cosmology – contemporary scholarship 

Report on the 2022 Mumbai “International Conference of Purāṇic and Siddhāntic Cosmology” –  Pandu Santhoju (Pavaneshwar)

What is the Brahmanda? – Vasyl Semenov (Dvija Govinda)

Exploring the Purāṇic Vision of the Universe: The Work of the BIHS – Richard Cole (Radha Mohan)

The Purāṇic Cosmograph: Projection of the Sphere of the Heavens – Geometry and Number – W. Randolph (Randy) Kloetzli 

Planetary Systems in the Stem of the Lotus Flower – Silvia Friedrich (Sriji)

Intent of Śuka & Parīkṣit – Vic DiCara (Vraja Kisora)

The Purāṇic Solar Calendar Wheel Derived from the Text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam – Christopher Hayton (Krsna-bhajana)

An Examination of the Orbital Map in Richard Thompson’s Mysteries of the Sacred Universe – Prishni Sutton

Round-table Discussion

Session 4, Sunday (November 19):  Understanding science in śāstra: Hermeneutics and Epistemology 1

Can Empirical Observation Influence Scriptural Testimony? An Exploration through Jīva Gosvāmī’s Sarva-saṁvādinī – Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika Ramana)

‘The Map is Not the Territory’: Mapping Hermeneutic Approaches to the Bhāgavatam’s Cosmologies – Kenneth Valpey (Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Vedic or Scientific? Correlation of Worldviews in Bhaktivedanta Institute – Alexey Timoschuk (Abhinanda)

Pūrva-pakṣa as a Contemporary Hermeneutical Exercise – S. E. Kreitzer (Sthita-dhi-muni)
 

Session 5, Sunday (November 19):  Understanding science in śāstra: Hermeneutics and Epistemology 

A Model of the Relationship between Revelation and Science in Gauḍīya Vedānta – Dmitriy Popov (Damodar Pandit)

Challenges of Teaching Vedic Cosmology at the College Level – István Tasi (Ishvara Krishna)

Understanding the Ontological Position and Purpose of the Virāṭ-rūpa: Meditation and Implications – Gergő Péter Rátkai (Gaurasundara Kṛpāmaya)

The Virōdha Problem in Purānic Cosmology – Ganesh Swaminathan 

Placing the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava History – Krishna Abhishek Ghosh

Similarity and Differences Between India and Europe in the Science and Religion Dialogue – Jonathan Edelmann (Janakirama)

 

 

Goals

This conference pursued two goals: The first, to fine-tune topics considered in previous workshops and expand research to include additional concerns. These earlier seminars examined correlations between the esoteric cosmology described in the Purāṇas with both current and traditional conceptions of: 

  • The nature of spacetime: the origin and fate of the universe
  • Contemporary cyclic universe scenarios
  • Gravity: the mysterious attraction between all things
  • Planetary motion and distances of celestial objects
  • Geological time periods
  • Jyotiṣa accounts of the cosmos
  • Epistemology of Sāṅkhya 

 

The second aimed to invite further discussion concerning the following themes:

History and philosophy of cosmology as it bears on the Purāṇic universe

  • Epistemology and ontology of physical cosmology
  • Cosmogenesis and the role of consciousness
  • Comparative investigations into cyclic universe models of modern cosmology and the Purāṇas

Puranic and Siddhantic cosmology

  • The historical tradition within contemporary discourse
  • Models for the universe described in traditional Sanskrit literature
  • What is the brāhmaṇa?
  • Exploration of specific Purāṇic metaphors, such as the sun-god’s chariot wheel and Bhū-maṇḍala as a cosmic section

Archeoastronomy and chronology

  • Antediluvian civilization
  • Megalithic structures as astronomical observatories and sacrificial arenas
  • Cross cultural themes in cosmology

Understanding science in śāstra​: epistemology and hermeneutics

  • Faith–science debate / Śāstra–science debate
  • Determining later additions to Sanskrit texts through language analysis

 

A main objective of this conference was to network with established scholars familiar with Purāṇic and other ancient and modern cosmological constructs, with the aim to foster collaborative projects that could lead to a richer understanding of the Vedic view of the universe. This in turn would help develop productive narratives identified with the Purāṇas for ISKCON projects such as the Museum of the Vedic Planetarium, which will feature descriptions from traditional texts such as the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.