Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy

About the author

Dr. Richard L. Thompson (Sadaputa Dasa) was born in Binghamton, New York in 1947. In 1974 he received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University, where he specialized in probability theory and statistical mechanics. He has done scientific research in quantum physics, mathematical biology and remote sensing. He has also extensively investigated ancient Indian astronomy, cosmology and spirituality, and developed multimedia expositions on these topics. He is the author of seven books on topics ranging from consciousness to archeology and ancient astronomy. He is an initiated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna Movement.

For more information on the author please visit his archival website: https://richardlthompson.com/.

The mysteries of the Fifth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam have long puzzled students of Vedic cosmography and astronomy.

Confronted with a description of the universe that seems much at variance with the information provided by our senses and standard astronomical calculations, foreign observers—and even Indian commentators—from the Middle Ages up to the present have concluded that the Bhagavatam’s account, elaborated in other Puranas, must be mythological. On the other hand, the same persons have been much impressed with Vedic astronomical treatises, the jyotisa-sastras, which provide remarkably accurate measurements of the solar system. In Vedic Cosmography and Astromomy, Dr. Thompson shows that the Fifth Canto’s cosmography and the accounts of the solar system found in the jyotisa-sastras are not contradictory, but that they in fact represent distinct yet mutually consistent ways of comprehending a universe with important features beyond the range of ordinary sense perception.

  • Author:Sadaputa Dasa (Dr. Richard L. Thompson)
  • Published:November 11, 2017
  • Book size:211 pages
  • Formats:Kindle, Paperback