In 1987, while I lived as a monk at an ashram seminary in India, I read a fascinating article about underwater volcanoes and hot springs called ‘hydrothermal vents’ deep within the world’s oceans. The piece had appeared in an international U.S.-based magazine that had somehow found its way to the isolated ashram.
Here, right before my eyes, was the first definitive evidence of a convergence between science and spirituality!
“How?” You may ask. Well, like science, ancient Yoga Literature also describes great fires deep within the world’s oceans. They are called "Vadavanala Agni." The surprising thing is that these descriptions are thousands of years old whereas science made the discovery relatively recently.
But here’s the really surprising part. The ancient Yogis said the submarine fire drinks the sea’s briny water. It then removes salt from the water and expels it back into the ocean. Does science agree?
I took the article to another monk, a physicist and friend. He was intrigued by it and we decided to write to its author. “We think our ancient literature bears parallels to the modern discovery of hydrothermal vents. Is water emerging from these vents depleted of its salt content?”
We received a rather curt reply to this effect: “There is no correspondence between your spiritual literature and modern science.”
That ended the matter for my friend, but I was skeptical, even suspicious of this response.
Several years passed and, in 1991, I graduated from my studies and yoga training. Now I had time to visit science institutes and consult directly with experts. Thumbing through numerous science journals and textbooks, I compared them with my studies of the "Vadavanala Agni," the salt-removing submarine fire described by the ancient Yogis. Little did I realize this research would take me from the bottom of Earth’s oceans to the ends of the cosmos, and from the beginnings of time to the dissolution of our universe trillions of eons in the future!
Now, I bring these convergences before you. In my 30 years of study, I’ve dedicated the last 10 years specifically to the oceanography and cosmology of the ancient Yogis. It turns out that the descriptions of the submarine fire converge with science on 20 counts! And yes, water expelled from hydrothermal vents is depleted of its salt!
Here, right before my eyes, was the first definitive evidence of a convergence between science and spirituality!
“How?” You may ask. Well, like science, ancient Yoga Literature also describes great fires deep within the world’s oceans. They are called "Vadavanala Agni." The surprising thing is that these descriptions are thousands of years old whereas science made the discovery relatively recently.
But here’s the really surprising part. The ancient Yogis said the submarine fire drinks the sea’s briny water. It then removes salt from the water and expels it back into the ocean. Does science agree?
I took the article to another monk, a physicist and friend. He was intrigued by it and we decided to write to its author. “We think our ancient literature bears parallels to the modern discovery of hydrothermal vents. Is water emerging from these vents depleted of its salt content?”
We received a rather curt reply to this effect: “There is no correspondence between your spiritual literature and modern science.”
That ended the matter for my friend, but I was skeptical, even suspicious of this response.
Several years passed and, in 1991, I graduated from my studies and yoga training. Now I had time to visit science institutes and consult directly with experts. Thumbing through numerous science journals and textbooks, I compared them with my studies of the "Vadavanala Agni," the salt-removing submarine fire described by the ancient Yogis. Little did I realize this research would take me from the bottom of Earth’s oceans to the ends of the cosmos, and from the beginnings of time to the dissolution of our universe trillions of eons in the future!
Now, I bring these convergences before you. In my 30 years of study, I’ve dedicated the last 10 years specifically to the oceanography and cosmology of the ancient Yogis. It turns out that the descriptions of the submarine fire converge with science on 20 counts! And yes, water expelled from hydrothermal vents is depleted of its salt!