ANCIENT SEA REPTILE GAVE BIRTH, DIDN’T LAY EGGS

PREGNANT FOSSIL SUGGESTS ANCIENT 
‘SEA MONSTERS’ BIRTHED LIVE YOUNG

Washington (AP) - The remains of a giant sea creature are providing the first proof that these prehistoric reptiles gave birth to their young rather than laying eggs.  Plesiosaurs, which lived at the time of dinosaurs, were large carnivorous sea animals with broad bodies and two pairs of flippers. Researchers have long questioned whether they would have been able to crawl onto land and lay eggs like other reptiles or gave birth in the water like whales. The newly unveiled fossil was originally discovered in 1987 in Logan County in Kansas. Encased in rock, it had been stored in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County until resources were available to separate the bones for display at the museum.  F. Robin O’Keefe of Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va., and the museum’s Luis Chiappe uncovered the bones of an adult plesiosaur (Plee’-see-uh-sawr) and the remains of a fetus inside her.

The researchers report on their analysis of the pregnant plesiosaur in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.  The museum dated the fossil, which is more than 15 feet long, to between 72 million and 78 million years ago. There had been evidence of live births in an ancestor of plesiosaurs. But the lack of proof for plesiosaur birth has been puzzling, said R. Ewan Fordyce, head of the geology department at the University of Otago, New Zealand, who was not involved in the research. “It would be hard to imagine these animals coming out onto land laying eggs somewhere,” he added, so arguing that all plesiosaurs were doing this is a reasonable hypothesis.  Scientists suggest a parallel between plesiosaurs and modern whales, also large animals that give birth to relatively big offspring. Like whales, they said, plesiosaurs may have formed social groups and tended their young.

A giant marine reptile was likely ready for her baby shower about 78 million years ago when she died.  The large size of the fetus, and the fact that the mother was only carrying one offspring, indicate that these marine reptiles gave live birth and may have invested a lot of time and energy into their offspring, similar to how humans invest years raising kids. The Śrīmad Bhagavatam, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Vedic literatures often speak of fantastic creatures that may have once lived on this planet but science considers them myths and imaginary legends. Scientists should search for reliable knowledge in the Vedas.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Western scholars assert that the Bhagavatam was only written in the 9th century CE, the Ramayana in the 4th century BCE, and the Mahabharata between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE. But if this were a fact, then how did the writers of these books know about ocean-dwelling creatures, their size, their vicious aggression and their diets if those creatures had already been extinct for 1.5 million years?  Bhagavatam, Ramayana and Mahabharata all mention the existence of the Makara / Pliosaur and the Timingila / Megalodon, but where did the authors get their information?  Who told the Vedic authors about these creatures? ... Scientists and scholars will have to ponder this question, but for us it is simple - there have always been human beings on this planet from its earliest beginnings and the knowledge of all such things has been passed down thru the ages via the disciplic succession of gurus and disciples.

Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasingha Mahārāja :
“Makara - Myth or Fact? - Dinosaurs in Srimad Bhagavatam”
Jul 10 2011 - Krishna Talk 127
Shri Narasingha Chaitanya Ashram
http://gosai.com/writings/makara-myth-or-fact-dinosaurs-in-srimad-bhagavatam

ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER PLANET MADE OF DIAMOND

ASTRONOMERS FIND DIAMOND
PLANET SPINNING IN SPACE  

(Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.  The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.  “The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon - i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun,” said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.  Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.  Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.

The planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, scientists reported in the journal Science on Thursday.  In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.  Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.  Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.  “In terms of what it would look like, I don’t know I could even speculate,” said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. 

Astronomers believe they have discovered a planet made purely from diamond.  They claim that a planet orbiting a small fast spinning star, called a pulsar, is likely made of diamond.  The sparkling world 4,000 light years away is 60,000 Km in diameter, five times that of the Earth, and is thought to be all that remains of a once-massive star which collapsed and was crunched down into crystalline.  The planets in this material world are manifested only temporarily, and they are not eternal.  However, the Vedic scriptures tell us about a Vaikunta planet - which never to be annihilated - installed in the material atmosphere, called Dhruva planet.
 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

While Dhruva was traveling upward to heaven, the devas, who were hovering in airplanes singing his glories, showered him with a rain of beautiful flowers.  Gradually, Dhruva could see all the planets and, crossing them without difficulty, he reached the planet of Vishnu, which is above the three worlds and the constellation of the Seven Rsis.  That planet is always self-effulgent and illuminates all the planets beneath it, with its light. It is the supreme abode destined for those saints who are always engaged in working for the actual welfare of others.  Those who are peaceful, equal to everyone, pure and always engaged in helping other living entities to serve Shri Hari, easily reach that planet.  It can be attained without difficulty by those who take pleasure in the soul and consider Shri Krishna to be their dearest friend and protector. ... The son of Uttanapada (Dhruva) thus obtained the topmost position in all the three worlds.

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāja
“Sages of Ancient India”
“The Sacred Teachings of Dhruva and Prahlad”
Mandala Publishing Group 2001
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math - www.sreecgmath.org

SCIENTIFIC DATING OF ANCIENT EVENTS BEFORE 2000 BC

INDIA’S SEMINAR ON SCIENTIFIC
DATING OF EVENTS BEFORE 2000 BCE

New Delhi, India (HPI) - “The anthropological research reports have established that DNA dating for Paleolithic continuity starts from 60,000 BC. The Genome studies during the Holocene have revealed that the genetic profile of humans settled in north, south, east and west of India is the same and has remained the same for the last more than 11,000 years. Therefore, contrary to the popular belief, the Dravidians as well as north Indians have common ancestors and both are originals of India.” This interesting revelation was made by Dr. V.R. Rao, Professor of Anthropology, Delhi University while presenting his paper at the national seminar on “Scientific Dating Of Ancient Events Before 2000 BC”.  The Seminar was held on 30th and 31st July, 2011 at the auditorium of Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi. 

The seminar was attended by about 400 people including Sanskrit scholars and astronomers, archaeologists and geologists, ecologists and anthropologists, oceanographers and space scientists, bureaucrats and academicians as well as other persons from the public and media, who took deep interest in the deliberations of this otherwise highly technical event organized by the Delhi chapter of I-SERVE [Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas].  Ms Saroj Bala, Director, I-Serve, Delhi Chapter stated, “Till now we have been told that prior to 1500 BC, India was uncivilized and that the Aryans who came from Central Asia pushed the uncivilized inhabitants towards the south and were later known as Dravidians. These invaders were the ones who set up the first civilized society in North India. Multidisciplinary and purely scientific research has shown that this premise, which was based on linguistic guesswork, is not correct.”

Speaking at a national seminar on ‘Scientific Dating of Ancient Events before 2000 BC’, India former president APJ Abdul Kalam welcomed efforts by scientists and scholars to verify the facts of ancient India.  He said their archaeological findings provide scientific clues to the dating of the Ramayana era and places associated with Lord Ram.  A lot of what is treated as mythology, for want of evidence, may actually become history if a systematic and coordinated investigation is made through all the various tools and techniques that are available today.  

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

We, Indians, are the products of one of the oldest civilisations.  We need to be really proud of our ancient history and cultural heritage.  However, during the British Rule, we developed an inferiority complex, which adversely affected our quest to unearth facts relating to our glorious past.  But our young and educated men and women, being born and brought up in independent India, are capable of unearthing the true facts and are confident enough to evaluate these objectively. ... There is a need to constitute a multidisciplinary team in order to carry out research pertaining to most ancient period and this team should consist of Sanskrit Pandits, Astronomers, Archaeologists, Geologists and Space Scientists.  This team should be asked to carry out and correlate research activities in order to rewrite the history after verifying the authenticity and dating of most ancient events of Indian history.

Ms Saroj Bala :
“Historicity of the Era of Lord Rama”
Director, I-Serve, Delhi Chapter
Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas
http://sarojbala.blogspot.com/2011/07/historicity-of-era-of-lord-rama.html

JUNO IS ON THE WAY TO JUPITER

NASA’S JUNO SPACECRAFT
HEADED TO JUPITER FRIDAY

‎http://www.accuweather.com - NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:25 p.m. EDT Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter.  Juno’s detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter’s origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.  “Today, with the launch of the Juno spacecraft, NASA began a journey to yet another new frontier,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “The future of exploration includes cutting-edge science like this to help us better understand our solar system and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations.”

After Juno’s launch aboard an Atlas V rocket, mission controllers now await telemetry from the spacecraft indicating it has achieved its proper orientation, and that its massive solar arrays, the biggest on any NASA deep-space probe, have deployed and are generating power.  Juno will cover the distance from Earth to the Moon (about 250,000 miles) in less than one day’s time. It will take another five years and 1,740 million miles to complete the journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft will orbit the planet’s poles 33 times and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant’s obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.  With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms its own miniature solar system.

A sun-powered robotic explorer named Juno is rocketing toward Jupiter on a fresh quest to discover the secret “recipe” for making planets.  It will take five years to reach Jupiter, the solar system’s most massive and ancient planet.  With Juno, scientists hope to answer some of the most fundamental questions of our solar system: “How Jupiter formed. How it evolved. What really happened early in the solar system that eventually led to all of us?”  As the modern scientists are conditioned souls liable to so many errors and mistakes, the safe side as regards the creation of the universe is to accept the version of Vedic literatures.  

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In the creation of the Lord there are many wonderful things we can see with our own eyes every day and night, but we are unable to reach them equipped by modern materialistic science. We should not, therefore, depend on the fragmentary authority of materialistic science for knowing things beyond the range of scientific purview. For a common man, both modern science and Vedic wisdom are simply to be accepted because none of the statements either of modern science or of Vedic literature can be verified by him. The alternative for a common man is to believe either of them or both of them. The Vedic way of understanding, however, is more authentic because it has been accepted by the ācāryas, who are not only faithful and learned men, but are also liberated souls without any of the flaws of conditioned souls.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam - Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
Chapter 2: “The Lord in the Heart”- Verse 26
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase

IMPRESSIVE ‘SUPERMOON’ TO SHINE SATURDAY

TODAY ‘SUPERMOON’ LUNACY:
DOES THE MOON MAKE US CRAZY?

http://news.yahoo.com - With the so-called “supermoon” upon us, as our only natural satellite makes its largest appearance Saturday (March 19) in more than 18 years, should we expect any lunacy?  The moon will be more than 221,960 miles away- the closest it has been to earth since March 1993.  For centuries legend has held that full moons make people go crazy.  Full moons have been linked in popular culture with a rise in suicides and even epileptic seizures, but there’s little to no scientific evidence backing these ideas up.  However, the moon is a powerful body, its gravity tugging on our oceans to control tides, and its light thought to impact ancient animal behaviors.

  Before modern lighting, the moon played a larger role in people’s sleep-wake cycles, and so the light of a full moon may have kept people up at night, leading to sleep deprivation that could have caused other psychological issues.  In nature, the moon is nothing to scoff at.  Animals time routine activities around the light, and the oceans’ tides depend on it.  The moon and the sun combine to create tides in Earth’s oceans (the gravitational effect is so strong that our planet’s crust gets stretched daily by these tidal effects).  But tides are large-scale events.  They occur because of the difference in the gravitational pull felt on the side of the Earth closest to the moon, compared to the side of the Earth farthest.  Astronomers, astrologists and amateur scientists are abuzz on Internet chat sites this week about Saturday's “supermoon”.

A bigger and brighter “supermoon” will appear today Saturday.  This big full moon makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 20 years.  Apart from this scientific aspect, today is the celebration of Gaura Purnima, to honor the day when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took His birth under the full moon, purnima.  The full moon of the vernal season is compared with Lord Sri Krishna.  He has not been compared with any full moon of every month in any season, but the full moon of the spring which shines in all its excellence, as the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna shines in all His glories.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

According to Mukta-pragraha Nyaya, Krsna alone has been described as Vidhuh, i.e. “One who cuts at the very root of all miseries and transcends all”, or, “One who gives the highest and every possible felicity and happiness to one and all without any distinction”.  So also, the mundane moon is called Vidhuh as it removes miseries of all, caused by the darkness of the night or the heat of the day, and gives happiness and pleasure to all without any distinction.  Again, as Krsna alone has been described as Vidhuh and not any of His other Manifestations or Divine Descents or Avataras, so also in the mundane comparison the Full Moon alone should here be called Vidhuh and not any part of the moon, because the full moon alone is most powerful in dispelling the intensity of the darkness of the night.

Śrīla Bhakti Hridaya Bon (Vana) Mahārāja :
“Sri Rupa Goswami’s Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhuh”
Comments to Eastern Division of the Ocean:  First Wave, Text 1.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - http://bvml.org/SHBM/index.htm