Radio Interviews

Richard Thompson and Svarupa Damodara

The WUFT public television program “Conversation,” hosted by Michael Gannon, featured an interview with two founding members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Richard Thompson and Svarupa Damodara, on a show recorded June 29, 1976. Gannon, a professor of religion and history at the University of Florida, leads a discussion with his guests on the relationship between science and religion and the tenets of Krishna consciousness. A copy of the video recording provided by the George A.

Universe as Virtual Reality

Thompson considers “virtual reality” military flight simulation software with radio show host, to help illustrate the mind-brain paradox. He proposes that the experience of a user interacting with this type of program not only offers parallels to Puranic accounts of the material world as a manifestation of the illusory energy, but also for considering an array of paranormal phenomena.

Yugas

To help illustrate the Vedic yuga system of cosmological time undergoing endless cycles of generation, growth, decay, destruction, and rebirth, Thompson discusses a variety of cultural references with radio show host, Laura Lee, ranging from the Hollywood motion picture trilogy, The Matrix, to the Old Norse account of the “Twilight of the Gods.”

Puranic Cosmos and Modern Astronomy 2

Thompson discusses Purāṇic astronomy with radio show host, Laura Lee, by initially comparing the “rings” of Bhū-maṇḍala with modern mathematical calculations of the planetary orbits. This leads to a technical discourse on ancient measurement systems that suggest a sophisticated appreciation of the geometry of planetary motion. Thompson describes how Purāṇic accounts offer a comparative analysis of Kepler’s elliptical orbits, since refined with telescopic data.

Puranic Cosmos and Modern Astronomy 1

Though Indology scholars tend to assume that the Purāṇic concept of Bhū-maṇḍala illustrates a naive conception of a flat earth endorsed by a pre-modern culture, Thompson disagrees. He then discusses four insights that led him to consider Bhū-maṇḍala as a sophisticated model of the solar system which uses basic geographic imagery to illustrate complex phenomena.

Mysteries of the Sacred Universe: “Ancient Cosmology”

Thompson discusses with Bell, the nationally syndicated radio show host, Thompson’s recent publication, Mysteries of the Sacred Universe (2000). He begins with an examination of a series of mathematical analyses comparing the rings of the Bhū-maṇḍala presented in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, with contemporary calculations of planetary orbits.Thompson then presents evidence from the ancient world for sophisticated measurement systems and other technologies, which suggest that a number of traditional societies may well have had access to a complexity of natural knowledge.

Maya: The World as Virtual Reality

In his interview with radio show host Bob Hieronimus, Thompson explains the central thesis of his recent publication, Maya: The World as Virtual Reality (2003). In this work, Thompson compares the concept of virtual reality popularized by the American philosopher and computer scientist, Jaron Lanier, with the Vedic conception of maya describing conscious experience enmeshed within an illusory world.

Mysteries of the Sacred Universe 2

In this second part of the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe (2000) interview, Thompson and radio show host Bob Hieronimus discuss the works of various authors such as the historian and philosopher of science from MIT, Giorgio de Santilana, who published Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission Through Myth (1969); the controversial geometrical evaluations of the Egyptian pyramids proposed by Livio Stecchini and René Schwaller de Lubicz; the Soviet-born American author Zacharia Sitchin’s speculati

Mysteries of the Sacred Universe 1

Thompson discusses his book, Mysteries of the Sacred Universe (2000), with radio show host Bob Hieronimus, who is intrigued by Thompson’s portrayal of Bhaktivedanta Swami’s translation of the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thompson explores the intellectual foundation of Bhu-mandala described in the Bhāgavatam, and proposes that it incorporates accurate mathematical representations of the observable solar system.

Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science

Radio show host Bob Hieronimus discusses Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science (1981) with Richard Thompson, who authored the book fifteen years prior. In it, Thompson describes the soul (jivatma) as a “distinct quanta of consciousness,” and argues that logically, such a principle could not plausibly arise from matter.

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