The idea of many world systems and realms is common to all the Indian religions - Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.
You don't have to believe it as in a creed, to be a Buddhists. So some modern Buddhists could have different ideas. But it's part of the culture that the religion originates from.
They also have the idea of many realms, so , including beings made of light, and the formless realms of pure thought, where you don't have bodies at all. These are still thought of as part of the cycle of existence, or Samsara, so you don't escape by going to a formless realm even if that lets you be happy for billions of years. It's like a holiday but not a final end to your problems, at some point the hard face of reality will hit you again and you are back in the same mess you were in before.
So anyway - they didn't have our idea of round worlds and atmospheres, or the stars as suns with planets circling them, AFAIK. So you shouldnt make too close a parallel with modern astronomy. A "world system" was a flat Earth basically, each with its own sky, sun, moon etc.
However, I think it is reasonable enough to think of those world systems as related to the modern idea of beings living on planets around other stars. And certainly if we met ETs it would not be a religious shock to any of the Indian originated religinos.
I think you can also draw parallels between the science fiction idea of ETs that through technology have managed to extend their lives to millions, even billions of years , and completely solve all their physical needs, with the Indian idea of devas with amazingly long lifetimes. They would correspond to the lower levels of devas in the Indian cosmology. Because at the highest levels you get these beings with bodies of pure light and then realms of pure thought. Even idea of beings of light does occur a bit in some science fiction novels. Idea especially of Arthur C. Clarke also that in far distant future we might be able to have such understanding of mind, similar to our present understanding of science, that we can do things that seem impossible now, and the world becomes a more fluid place for us, and our bodies also. That's not unlike this idea of bodies of light. He was living in a Buddhist country, Sri Lanka, perhaps he was influenced by Buddhist ideas there.
You don't have to believe it as in a creed, to be a Buddhists. So some modern Buddhists could have different ideas. But it's part of the culture that the religion originates from.
They also have the idea of many realms, so , including beings made of light, and the formless realms of pure thought, where you don't have bodies at all. These are still thought of as part of the cycle of existence, or Samsara, so you don't escape by going to a formless realm even if that lets you be happy for billions of years. It's like a holiday but not a final end to your problems, at some point the hard face of reality will hit you again and you are back in the same mess you were in before.
So anyway - they didn't have our idea of round worlds and atmospheres, or the stars as suns with planets circling them, AFAIK. So you shouldnt make too close a parallel with modern astronomy. A "world system" was a flat Earth basically, each with its own sky, sun, moon etc.
However, I think it is reasonable enough to think of those world systems as related to the modern idea of beings living on planets around other stars. And certainly if we met ETs it would not be a religious shock to any of the Indian originated religinos.
I think you can also draw parallels between the science fiction idea of ETs that through technology have managed to extend their lives to millions, even billions of years , and completely solve all their physical needs, with the Indian idea of devas with amazingly long lifetimes. They would correspond to the lower levels of devas in the Indian cosmology. Because at the highest levels you get these beings with bodies of pure light and then realms of pure thought. Even idea of beings of light does occur a bit in some science fiction novels. Idea especially of Arthur C. Clarke also that in far distant future we might be able to have such understanding of mind, similar to our present understanding of science, that we can do things that seem impossible now, and the world becomes a more fluid place for us, and our bodies also. That's not unlike this idea of bodies of light. He was living in a Buddhist country, Sri Lanka, perhaps he was influenced by Buddhist ideas there.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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