Exploring Puranic Visions of the Universe - Richard J. Cole

Exploring Purāṇic Visions of the Universe is based on a video presentation by Richard Cole, which premiered at “Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Current Research on History, Philosophy, and Science,” sponsored by the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) in November, 2023. His video summarizes research by members, collaborators, and friends of the BIHS concerning Purāṇic cosmology, with a focus on the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The narrative begins with an overview of Purāṇic universe and a close look into the Sūrya-siddhānta, revealing apparently contradictory pictures of our cosmos.

As the presentation explores possibilities for reconciling the differences, we discover the rich historical tradition prominent in India that had been dealing with this issue for millenia. This discourse was reinvigorated in the 1970s when A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami asked his disciples educated in science to design a model of the cosmology described in the Bhāgavatam’s Fifth Canto to display in the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The video continues with a survey of the wide range of models that have been presented in the past 50 years by researchers affiliated with the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition, highlighting the wealth of information concerning our cosmos that is embedded within the Vedic literature, and noting that the ultimate aim of the vast material display is for enhancing the individual’s relationship with the Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.