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Archeology Conference in
Ravenna, Italy
Poster
for European Association of
South
Asian Archaeologists conference
On June 29, 2007, I flew from Los Angeles to Bologna
in Italy, and from there took a train to Ravenna, to attend the
meeting of the European Association of South Asian Archeologists.
There I presented another paper on the history of archeology of India, continuing
my development of the topic I presented at the meeting of the World Archeological
Congress Intercongress in Jamaica. My hotel and the conference venue
were in the old central part of Ravenna, which dates from Roman times.
During breaks from the conference, I visited some of the old church buildings,
with their Byzantine mosaics. For example, I visited the Basilica San Vitale,
completed in 547 AD. There the mosaics on the lower levels depict earthly
scenes, such as the court of the emperior Justinian, along with clerics.
Higher one finds mosaics of saints and angels. And still higher mosaics showing
Christ and God in heaven. This idea of a multilevel cosmos, inhabited by beings
adapted to the conditions at each level, once was dominant in Europe. In
my recent book, Human Devolution, I am trying to reintroduce this idea
of a multilevel cosmos. On July 8, I flew from Bologna airport
back to LA.
Byzantine
mosaics at the Basilica San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy
Summer
2007 West Coast Events
In the
month of August 2007, I attended the Rathayatra festival
at Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The festival was staged by the
Los Angeles temple of the
International
Society for Krishna Consciousness. It is based on a festival that
has been performed since ancient times in the town of Jagannatha Puri
in India. In the festival, temple images of the Lord of the Universe are
taken on huge wooden chariots with tall color canopies on a ride down
a beach boulevard. Thousands pull the massive chariots with ropes, while
millions of others view the parade. Europeans who observed the Jagannatha
festival were impressed with the unstoppable progress of the chariots,
and thus the word "juggernaut" entered the English language. In the LA
festival, the chariots moved down the beach boulevard from Santa Monica
to Venice Beach, where exhibits and stages and foodbooths were set up.
I had a booth for exhibiting my books Forbidden Archeology
and Human Devolution, and had a chance to meet and speak with my
readers dressed not in my usual suit and tie but in my Krishna robes. The
next weekend, I attended the Hare Krishna movement's Rathayatra festival
in Vancouver, Canada. The festival is held in dozens of cities around
the world.
August 24-26, I spoke about my book Human Devolution:
A Vedic Alternative to Darwin's Theory at
The Bay Area UFO Expo
in San Jose, California.
The
famous Venice Beach Festival of the Chariots
Archeology
Conference in Zadar
On September
16, I arrived in Zadar, Croatia, to attend the annual conference
of the European Association of Archeologists. The conference
was held in the old city of Zadar, which dates from Roman times. The venue
was some buildings of the University of Zadar on the waterfront promenade.
The Adriatic coast of Croatia is one of my favorite places in the
world. I presented two papers at the conference. The first was in a session
on invented civilizations and their meaning for archeology. I spoke about
archeology and archeologists in the invented civilization of the film Planet
of the Apes (the original 1968 version starring Charlton Heston as the
astronaut Taylor). In the film, Taylor and his crew crash on an unknown
planet, and Taylor is captured by the apes who rule the planet. The apes
live in cities, while wild humans, without speech, live in the forests. One
of the major characters in the film is an ape archeologist named Cornelius
who discovers archeological evidence that advanced human civilization existed
before the early apes on the planet. The site, in the forbidden zone of
the planet, is destroyed by the ape minister of science. I think the analogies
with my forbidden archeology work are clear! The session was well
attended and my paper got a good response. I presented another paper at another
session of the conference. In this paper, titled An Insider's Look At
An Altenrative Archeology, I explained the Vedic inspiration for my
alternative archeological work. The ancient Sanskrit writings of India speak
of a human presence going back to the very beginnings of life on earth,
and in my work, I have shown there is archeological evidence that is consistent
with this idea. This session was also well attended, and there was a lot
of discussion about my paper. Of course, my work is very controversial, and
not everyone agrees with me, but many archeologists find what I have to say
interesting. After the conference, I went with a group of archeologists on
a day cruise to the Adriatic islands off the coast.
Adriatic Sea
Tour of Croatia
After
the European Association of Archaeologists conference in Zadar, I did a
lecture tour of Croatia, involving university lectures, other public lectures,
and interviews for newspapers and television programs. My books
Forbidden Archeology and Human Devolution are
published in Croatian. I especially likd visiting more of the picturesque
cities on the Adriatic coast, like Rijeka, Split, and
Dubrovnik.
Croatian edition of
Human Devolution
The last city in the tour was the capital
of Croatia, Zagreb. I took the chance to meet my publisher and his
wife. I visited Vegehop, a vegetarian restaurant run by Hare Krishna members.
For me the most significant lecture I gave in Croatia was for the faculty
and students of the departments of mathematics and physics of the
University of Zagreb. Because most of them understood
English, there was no need for translation into Croatian. So that was good,
to be able to just give a straight talk. The topic was Human Devolution:
A Vedic Alternative to Darwin's Theory. As usual, I identified myself
as a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. I had
been told to be prepared for a heavy response. But the questions turned
out to be serious requests for more information and clarifications about my
devolution concept--that we did not evolve up from matter but instead devolved,
or came down, from pure consciousness. In my talks, although I present an
alternative to the theory of evolution, I am always careful to say that I
have no objection if someone is an evolutionist, and wishes to conduct research
in terms of that theory. I just ask for two things: be honest about the level
of explanation achieved in terms of theory and don't use the state to exclude
alternatives from the education system. I usually say: let's admit most scientists
working in the life sciences accept the theory of evolution, but let's also
admit a small minority of researchers who do not accept it. I give myself
as an example: "I just presented two papers in which I questioned the Darwinian
theory of human evolution at a major international conference on archeology--the
meeting of the European Associaton of Archeologists." So if there is diversity
at a science conference, why not in a science class? In the public tax supported
schools, let 95 percent of the textbook pages and classroom lectures be
devoted to evolution, but let 5 percent be devoted to a generalized theistic
alternative. This has seemed reasonable even to evolutionists that I encounter.
Afterwards, the graduate student organizers of the talk invited me to a
pub (I had a nonalcoholic beer). There followed about two hours of intense
conversation in classic European grad student style, which touched on my
Vedic perspective and involvement with the Krishna consciousness movement,
among other things. They wanted me to stay longer, but I had to go. But
the leaders of the group said that if I came back to Zagreb, they definitely
wanted to have me again as a speaker.
Lecturing at the University of Zagreb
At the end of the tour, I visited the famous Neandertal site at
Krapina. In the small museum there, I saw the usual propaganda about
evolution. As far as I can see, the Neandertals were just another kind
of human, not so different from us.
The Neanderthal
site at Krapina
Tour of Bulgaria
Author/reader interaction at Bulgarian bookstore
On
October 13, 2007 I arrived in Bulgaria. I rested for a few
days. I started with a lecture on Human Devolution at the University
of Sofia, and then a couple of days later I had a question and answer
session with graduate students and professors there. On October 22,
I gave a lecture on my book Forbidden Archeology at the
House of Culture in Pernik, Bulgaria. Pernik is a mining town,
not far from the capital of Sofia. Most Bulgarian towns have these Houses
of Culture, a remnant from the communist times. They are usually quite
substantial, ornate buildings, with columns, often the most impressive
building in a small town. They have inside a variety of very nice halls
for lectures, auditoriums for concerts and plays, and the like. There was
good attendance at the lecture, including, I am told, archeologists and
historians from the local history museum. Questions were good, and people
bought books. A few days before, in Sofia, I participated in my first
street demonstration in about 40 years (aside from chanting Hare Krishna
in the streets). One of the organizers of my tour is also connected with
one of the Bulgarian environmental organizations. I went with him to a
march organized by the group through the main streets of Sofia to the national
parliarment building and beyond to a square where there was a concert
and rally. Most of the people in the march seemed to be in their 20s and
30s, with some even younger participants of high school age. They were
protesting commercial development of places like the Rila mountains, where
there is a famous old monastery, and the Black Sea coast, among other things.
At the national parliament there was a huge rally of Bulgarian teachers
who are on strike for higher wages. The crowds of teachers greeted the
marching young environmentalists very enthusiastically. Many of the young
people are vegetarians and are interested in spiritual topics.
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For the next couple of weeks, I traveled around Bulgaria to the
major cities, giving lectures at universities and other places, doing
bookstore events, and giving interviews for television and newspapers.
I spoke at Nancy's Books, one of the big book shops in Plovdiv,
which has a beautiful Roman ampitheatre. I also spoke at the university
there. I also spoke in Stara Zagora, at the Penguin book store there.
Stara Zagora also has Roman ruins.
I then went to Veliko Turnovo, in the mountains of central
Bulgaria. It is one of the old capitals of the nation. There are many
castles and forts on the hilltops. The most significant academic lectures
I gave in Bulgarian were addressed to the faculty of history (on my book
Forbidden Archeology) and to the faculty of philosophy
(on my book Human Devolution) at the University of Veliko
Turnovo, one of the most prominent universities in the nation. I had
private meetings with the rector (president) and vice rector (vice president)
of the university.
From there I went to Rousse on the Danube River. Among the
other cities I visited was Varna, on the Black Sea coast. There
I had the biggest audience of the tour at a lecture. The tour finished
in Sofia with an appearance on one of the most popular late night
talk shows. The host, Iskra Angelova, had read my books before
and was quite anxious to have me on the show.
Tour
of Russia
From Bulgaria I flew to Moscow on November 11, 2007.
My focus was on university lectures and media appearances. In Moscow
I had several appearances on national tv shows, and did an interview
for a popular Moscow radio talk show. The most significant university
lecture came as the result of an invitation from the head of the world
history department of the Russian Peoples Friendship University,
which is the third largest university in Russia. I spoke to the grad students
and faculty of the department on my book Human Devolution: A Vedic Alternative
to Darwin's Theory, which has been published in the Russian language.
After the talk, the department head said to his students that I was a good
example of a real scholar, with the courage to explore different approaches.
I also spoke to intellectuals at the Russian Government Library of Foreign
Literature. From Moscow, I went to Dubna, the old secret science
city, and gave a lecture there.
Then I went by car to Yaroslavl. I had been scheduled to
speak at a university there, but an "anti-sect" group pressured the rector
into cancelling the talk. A new hall was found, and a big audience of
students and professors came to the lecture, which had been widely publicized
on the campus. I did several media interviews in the town. I mentioned
the banning incident. I said I am a dissident intellectual, and one cannot
be a real dissident intellectual without getting banned somewhere.
Lecture at alternate auditorium
near the univeristy that cancelled my lecture in Yaroslavl
Then from Yaroslavl I went to Vladimir. I spoke at a conference
on the Mahabharata, the most famous epic of ancient India.
I gave two talks at the conference. One was on King Yudhistrhira's recovery
of the gold objects left in the Himalayas by King Marutta millions
of years previously, which I characterized as part of the indigenous
Indian archeological tradition I have recently been speaking about at
archeology conferences. I also gave a talk on Human Devolution.
This was somewhat of a sensation for the local media. Three tv stations
covered the event and did interviews. During the talk, I mentioned the
Yaroslavl incident. Many of the professors in attendance supported my position,
and a conference declaration in support of me was circulated for signatures.
In the evening I saw on television one of the news reports about my talk
at the university here.
Interview on the Russian National
Television Network
From Vladimir I went to Perm and gave some lectures
there. I also did a television interview. During the interview, the hosts
conducted a poll, asking viewers if they believed in the theory of evolution.
Most of the respondents, over 60 percent, did not. From the geological
point of view Perm is interesting. The geological period called the Permian
was first studied here. When I was in Perm, someone working for the Russian
publisher of my books in Moscow called my tour organizer and told him
that representatives from Vladimir Putin's office purchased eight
copies of Human Devolution: A Vedic Alternative to Darwin's Theory
at a Moscow bookstore. A representative from the office of the mayor of
Moscow also purchased a copy. These purchases took place after my appearance
on Talk Moscow, a popular radio talk show, and two appearances
on Russian national tv. In my talks, I often speak about education policy,
and the idea of allowing alternatives to Darwinism in the education system.
From Perm I went by train to Ekaterinburg. The tour continued
with more lectures and media interviews. A television crew filmed me
at the city zoo and the natural history museum for a documentary.
From Ekaterinburg, I went by car to Tyumen, in Western Siberia.
Some interesting things happened here. Professors from the Tyumen
Government University (TGU) invited me to give a lecture at the university.
Arrangements were made some time ago, and lots of publicity had been done.
But two days before the lecture, the rector (president) of the university
cancelled the lecture. Professors protested, but the rector stuck to his
decision. The professors who invited me quickly made arrangements with
another scientific institution to invite me. The director of this institute
made it clear he would not be pressured to cancel the talk if anyone tried
that on him. So the lecture was held that evening, with many students and
professors from TGU present. Actually, a special bus was chartered to bring
people from the university to this other institute. So the lecture hall
was packed, with many people standing. I gave a talk about my books Forbidden
Archeology and Human Devolution.
Lecture at branch of Russian
Academy of Science in Tyumen, Siberia, after my lecture was cancelled
at Tyumen Government University.
As in all my talks, I said I was a member of the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness, and that my work was inspired by the Sanskrit
literature of India. Then the director of the institute invited me afterwards
for tea (expecting things like this, I had asked my Russian devotee assistant
to bring some herbal teabags. I do not take caffeine or alchohol.). And
then I spoke for about an hour with the director, who is a physical anthropologist,
and two archeologists, along with the history professor from TGU who
the main organizer of the cancelled lecture there. One of the archeologists
told me she used the Russian edition of Forbidden Archeology in
her classes, to give her students some idea of the kinds of evidence that
are not normally mentioned in textbooks. She said she very much appreciated
the detailed descriptions of the cases in the book, with good bibliographic
references. The other archeologist said she had invited one of her friends,
a medical doctor, to my talk. This medical doctor had bought a copy of
Human Devolution, and said, "I am so glad he is here. As a medical doctor,
studying the human organism, I do not think the human organs could have
come about by evolution."
Private meeting with faculty from
Tyumen Government
University and other scientists
From the history professor from we heard that after the rector
cancelled my talk at TGU, all the students were talking about it, with
increasing interest in what I had to say. I had some interviews
with newspapers there, and I made a point of bringing up the rector banning
me. It's good for my image as a dissident intellectual. The next day
I left by train for Krasnjarsk, which is further east in
Siberia. Actually, although I hardly imagined it when I was in LA a few
months ago thinking about going to Siberia in the winter, I actually liked
Siberia in the winter. Tyumen is a rapidly growing town of about a half
million people. The Tyumen Oblast or region, is about five times
the size of Germany and France combined. It extends from the town of Tyumen
in the south up to the Arctic Ocean. The oblast contains a lot of
Russia's oil and gas. Temperatures were about minus 10 C when I was there,
which is fairly mild for Siberia. It gets as cold as minus 55 C.
From Tyumen I went by train to Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia.
I gave a lecture at a university there and some interviews. Then I flew
from Krasnoyarsk to Moscow, and the next day flew to LA.
India
Tour Winter 2008
In
the fall of 2006, I did an 8-city tour of India, to launch my book
Human Devolution: A Vedic Alternative to Darwin's Theory
there. I visited Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Chennai,
Hyderabad, and Delhi. Of course, there were many cities that I did
not visit. One of them was Pune, one of the educational centers of
India. Recently, I received an invitation to speak at educational institutions
in the Pune region. I arrived in Pune on February 20 and spent the
next seven days speaking at engineering schools, information technology
schools, and medical schools in the Pune area. I was giving two or three
lectures per day. It was a pretty intense schedule, but well worth it. Audiences
of students and faculty were large and receptive. During the visit, I met
with prominent scientists such as Bijay Bhatkar, inventor of an innovative
supercomputer. He arranged for me a special lecture, at which I addressed
several of Pune's leading scientists. I also had a press conference, which
resulted in articles appearing in the local papers.
Interacting with students after a lecture in Pune
During
my visit, I also went to Dvaraka and Lothal. Dvaraka is a
town on the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is famed as
one of the cities of Lord Krishna. During Krishna's presence on earth
five thousand years ago, he built the city, but after his departure, it
was covered by the sea. Later a pilgrimage town grew up on the shore, with
many temples of Krishna in the form of Dvarakadish (the Lord of Dvaraka).
Archeological work offshore by S. Rao revealed the remains of a city. Is
it Krishna's city? Rao gave an age of about 3,500 years, which would be
too young, if the traditional age of the city is accepted. In Dvaraka, at
an office of the Archeological Survey of India, I learned that over
the past couple of years,new marine archeological work has been carried
out by Dr. Tripathy, but his results have not yet been published.
It will be interesting to learn the results of the new dating studies. My
visit to Dvaraka was enjoyable from both the spiritual point of view (I am
a devotee of Lord Krishna) and from the scientific point of view.
Dvarka,
on the coast of the Arabian Sea in Gujarat. A sunken city lies off
the coast
Lothal
is an archeological site near Amedhabad, also in Gujarat. The site
is said to be about 4,500 years old. Apparently, it was a port town, with
a dock and warehouse. The town also had an acropolis that served as an administrative
center, as well as residences, shops, and workshops. Normally, the town
is classed as Harappan. According to mainstream archeologists the Harappans
were the people who lived in the India subcontinent before the arrival of
the Sanskrit speaking Vedic people about 3,500 years ago. I do not accept
that idea. I think people with Vedic culture were always present in the
subcontinent, and did not come from outside. The Vedic people had a system
of architecture and town design called Vastu. One of my purposes
in going to Lothal was to see if the town design conformed to Vastu principles.
If Vastu principles were involved in the town design that would suggest
the inhabitants were part of the Vedic culture. One of the basic Vastu
principles is that towns should be laid out in a square grid with sides oriented
to the cardinal directions. Lothal does conform to that principle, and I
am looking into further more detailed correspondences.
Archeological
site at Lothal, India
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