Another possible explanation of the lunar connection lies in the fact that the Nile and the other rivers of Paradise were traditionally held to arise in “the Mountains of the Moon”. There were several mountains so named in antiquity, some in Africa, some in East Asia.
In Hindu traditions, the celestial rivers such as the Ganges – which are also often equated with one of the four rivers of Paradise – are said to fall from heaven (the moon, etc.). And the Ganges actually falls over Shiva’s topknot, which is invariably decorated by the moon itself (Chandrashekhara = “whose crest is the moon”).
Here, the moon symbolizes Cyclical Time, invariably associated with the great god. But it also symbolizes a volcanic crater as some sort of soma vessel, often containing a crater lake which serves as the source of the waters of the entire region. The shape of crater lakes is quite often similar to a lunar crescent, since volcanic craters, though circular, are normally slanted to a side.
Dante on the Location of Paradise
In his Divine Comedy, Dante too expresses the view that the Terrestrial Paradise was located at the Line of the Equator. In Dante’s world conception – the one usual in esoteric traditions – the earth was a sphere stably placed in the middle of heaven. ↑179
One should keep in mind that the Renaissance – to whose happening Dante was highly instrumental – was actually a revival of Pagan traditions, and a sort of revolt against the stifling Christianity of the time. More than just mythology, these ancient traditions centered on the secret of the Mysteries, themselves based on Atlantis and on Hindu cosmogony.
Small wonder then that Plato’s doctrines and the revived Platonic Academy of Marsilio Ficino and Pico de la Mirandola, among others, were so instrumental in its flourishing, which essentially doomed the Middle Ages, leading to seminal events such as America’s discovery.
So, it is to be expected that Dante’s teachings are also basically Platonic in their esoteric contents. In Dante’s allegory, the Line of the Equator passed through the mythical Jerusalem, where also passed the Meridian which crossed through the poles to the opposite side of the earth, where it passed through the Mountain of Purgatory.
At the two extremes of the Line of the Equator were, on one side the Ganges, on the other the Ebro, the river of Spain. Here was the site of the Pillars of Hercules, so that its duals, the Pillars of Atlantis, were located in the East Indies.
When it was noon in Jerusalem, it was midnight in Purgatory, 6 AM in India, and 6 PM in the Pillars of Hercules. Similar doctrines are found almost verbatim among the traditional teachings of Hindu geographers such as Varamihira, Aryabhatta and others, with Lanka substituting Jerusalem, of which it was the visible archetype.
Purgatory was in fact the same as the tophet or volcano of Isles of the Blest and the site of Paradise Destroyed. It was the place where impurities were purged, so that one might later enter heaven clean of all the sins accumulated during one’s existence.
This doctrine is not really Jewish or Phoenician or Christian, but originally Hindu. It figures explicitly in the majestic Mahabharata, and is hence far prior to its Near-Eastern counterparts.
As is clear, Gibraltar is a dual of the true Pillars of Atlas, in the Far East. Jerusalem is here equated with Paradise and the Center of the World. But this Jerusalem is really a dual and antipodal of Purgatory. And Purgatory was placed in the actual site of Hades and the Isles of the Blest, the site of former Paradise (or, otherwise said, Atlantis).
It is clear that the Jews and the Christians both forced their hand a bit in order to make the actual Jerusalem of Palestine fit the pristine scheme of things where Paradise was in fact placed at the Line of the Equator, along with the true Pillars of Atlas, the ones of Sunda Strait.
The phony Pillars of Hercules, like the phony Jerusalem where Jesus died, both lie at about 35oN. But these are both just fictional Paradises, which only mirror the true ones, in the Far East.
As one of the mainstays of the Renaissance, Dante was – secretly, of course, as he was no fool – both a Gnostic and an initiate in the Platonic Mysteries. So, the great poet was quite aware of the secrets concerning Atlantis and its mysterious connection with Paradise. These mysteries he obscurely expresses in several passages of his famous poem, so widely read and so rarely understood in its Mystery connections which are ultimately related to Plato and the Pythagoreans.
It is quite clear that God would hardly have stationed Cherubs in Eden with fiery swords to ward off trespassers, if the Garden of Eden was not real and located somewhere on earth, and hence subject to trespassing by unwanted human intruders.
We have succeeded in tracing this myth back to India and in identifying these “fiery cherubs” with half-personified volcanoes. Volcanoes are very often associated with fiery genii such as Cherubs and Karibus. So, it is not unexpected to actually find them posted in Eden. 20
Rabbi Nahamanides and the Jewish Traditions
The Jewish traditions on Paradise are now known to have originated from the Mesopotamian ones. There, too, the Karibus (or Cherubs) figure centrally as twin guardians of the way to Paradise and to the Tree of Life, which they protect.
It is hence logical to search for the site of Eden both at the Line of the Equator and the Far East, since the Bible affirms Eden to be located “in the Orient”. And the Orient in question here is the usual one, the Far East.
This view is also supported by Mesopotamian traditions which hold that Paradise was located to the southeast of Assyria, in Mesopotamia. What this means is that the actual site of Paradise lies somewhere in the region of Indonesia, the intersection of the Line of the Equator and a line drawn from Mesopotamia to the Equator along a southeastern direction.
We also note that the region of Indonesia is called “the Belt of Fire” by volcanologists and similar specialists. This fact confirms the Indonesian location of Paradise, a reality likewise supported by all sorts of ancient traditions, both sacred and profane.
One such esoteric tradition was reported by Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides), whose views we already commented above. These sacred traditions are highly regarded by the pious Jews, who apparently all believe the geographical reality of the Terrestrial Paradise. And why wouldn’t they, if its reality is a central feature of the Book of Genesis, their most cherished holy book?
Nahamanides – more correctly called Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, Nahamanides being the Greek version of his name – was a medieval Talmudist, exegete and mystic. Nahamanides was an ardent believer in the reality of Paradise, and cogently showed that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere near the Line of the Equator. For that purpose Nahamanides invoked the support not only of notorious Jewish scholars, but also of non-Jewish travelers and explorers.
Among the proofs adduced by Nahamanides is included the story of the Greek team of medical doctors led by a Greek scholar with the suspicious name of Aesculapius, who succeeded in entering the site of the Gan Eden while searching for medicinal herbs. Unfortunately, their presence there awakened the Cherubs who succeeded in burning dead the whole team of unwelcome prospectors with their fiery swords. ↑180
This curious story is quaintly reminiscent of the episode of the Epic of Gilgamesh, concerning the visit of the hero and his friend Enkidu to the Forest of Cedars. This mysterious forest closely corresponds to the Garden of Eden. It is guarded by the ferocious Humbaba (or Huwawa), whose fiery glance closely evokes the fiery sword of the Cherubs of Eden.
The Humbaba is, as several scholars have recognized, an imperfect personification of a flaming volcano. These researchers are all fast being led to Indonesia and its many volcanoes, just as I proclaimed several years ago. In particular, it seems that Gilgamesh and Enkidu attempted to destroy the Humbaba monster precisely because it was causing the destruction of Paradise. ↑181
Curiously enough, the author just linked notes that the beak of the Anzu bird – and hence presumably the one of the Karibu itself – was toothed like a saw. This curious saw evokes the one of Shamash,
whose connection with the Krakatoa volcano we already pointed out. 21
The name of the Krakatoa volcano means, as we already know, precisely the idea of “saw” in both Sanskrit and Dravida (krakata), the two sacred tongues of the region of pristine Indonesia. So does the allegory of the saw or sickle wielded by Shamash emerging from the Mountain of Sunrise. Shamash is not really the sun himself, but a volcano imaged after the day star. ↑182
And we also note that Humbaba’s searing eye also closely evokes Shiva’s third eye, the urna. And the urna is itself a disguised replica of the Vadavamukha as the Fire of Doomsday. Moreover, Shamash’s saw or sickle closely corresponds to the one which Kronos used in order to castrate his father, Ouranus.
In Hindu sacred mythology, it is Shiva’s fiery glance which inflames Kama, the Hindu love god, who in turn becomes the Vadavamukha, which is enclosed by Brahma inside the waters of the ocean. Come Doomsday, the Vadava goes berserk and explodes in an inferno of fire and water, destroying the whole world.
It is curious to note the emphasis placed by Mesopotamian traditions on volcanoes, given the fact that no such features ever existed in this region of the world. Far more likely, the Sumerians brought over these traditions of Paradise Destroyed by volcanic fire when they came from there, and later handed them over to the Akkadians, the Babylonians and the other peoples of the region, the Jews included.
The story cited by Nahamanides was taken from the Jewish tale entitled Asaph the Physician. But this is in turn derived from the Greek myth of Zeus burning down Asclepius, the son of Apollo, for his prodigality in resurrecting dead humans by means of the Elixir.
If this identification is correct, the story really refers to the destruction of Paradise, Zeus’ destructive thunderbolt being here equated to a volcano. And this again accords to sacred Hindu traditions, where the vajra (“thunderbolt” in Sanskrit) is in fact an allegory of volcanisms.
Volcanoes – and more precisely super-volcanoes like the Yellowstone, the Toba and the Krakatoa – are the actual agents which periodically destroy the world when the time comes for it. These global destructions are, according to Hindu sacred traditions, sporadically effected by the Vadavamukha, the “Fire of Doomsday”.
And the Vadavamukha, also called the Fiery Submarine Mare, is really the ferocious Krakatoa volcano. Moreover, this volcano is precisely the “saw” or vajra which we just commented above and whose name means precisely “saw, sickle”.
It is quite clear that Nahamanides was not confusing things, but merely decoding the Greek myth of Asclepius (Aesculapius) as a different allegory of the destruction of Paradise by a giant volcanism. Since volcanisms occur on earth but apparently not in heaven it seems that Nahamanides was actually justified in attempting to prove the earthly nature of the Terrestrial Paradise, the Garden of Eden of the ancient biblical traditions.
Curiously enough, this wisdom of the pristine ancients – who well knew the reality of the Terrestrial Paradise and of its catastrophic destruction at the dawn of the Holocene Age – was eventually replaced by the skepticism of later philosophers such as Aristotle and his school.
This positivistic un-wisdom culminated in more modern Victorian pseudo-scientists such as Darwin, Huxley, Hæckel and Lyell, who postulated the geological impossibility of phenomena such as the Universal Flood or the fiery destruction of Paradise, the so-called Universal Conflagration.
Their specious pseudo-science blinded us all to reality, causing all subsequent scientists and intellectuals to ignore the very ample and obvious geological evidence offered by earlier researchers such as the French Comte de Buffon and Baron Cuvier and the British William Buckland, among several other experts of note.
This ugly pseudo-science has held back the progress of Geology and Climatology for almost two centuries now. But it now seems that scientists are finally awakening to the unavoidable reality of global cataclysms such as the ones told in the universal traditions of global disasters of the Flood.
These cataclysms of fire and water are periodically caused by volcanisms and earthquakes, as well as by other causes, for instance asteroidal and cometary impacts. We hope that our writings on the issue have helped to shed some light on these ancient issues which are finally being recognized as actual reality.
The Zohar and Alexander’s Visit to Paradise
Another Jewish holy book, the enigmatic Zohar, tells a different version of this story of Aesculapius (Asclepius). According to this source, the victims of the fiery sword of the guardians of Paradise were not Asclepius and his team of healers, but the disciples of Plato and Aristotle who, in the time of Alexander the Great, followed him to the site of Paradise looking for the Elixir.
Now, this tradition is very curious. Alexander the Great is widely held to have visited the site of Paradise in the East Indies and actually to have found – or almost, at any rate – the Elixir of Life. Aristotle is said to have been his master on such initiatic matters, and the ample documentation on their letters on this issue is available as an apparent testimonial to the fact. ↑183
The letters themselves may be fakes, as is so often the case. For instance the correspondence of the Pope and Prester John or the one of Christ and Tiberius, are now known to be forgeries. But the events therein told are in fact mystic allegories concerning the reality of Paradise and its location in the East Indies. Said otherwise, these documents are verbal maps to the site of Paradise.
This fact is well-known to the specialists. But the connection with Plato and Aristotle mentioned in the Zohar draws attention to Atlantis, the central feature of the works of these philosophers, master and pupil.
Alexander going to the Terrestrial Paradise in search of the Elixir may be just a legend. However, Plato’s report on the Lost Continent is not. As we now know, Atlantis is just an alias of the Terrestrial Paradise. Atlantis is – or rather was, as both were utterly destroyed – the Garden of Eden, precisely as Nahamanides correctly affirms.
The Tree of Life and the Elixir seem to be just a pleasant allegory or, better yet, an euphemism for collective death. A metaphor for the volcano which explodes and carries us all directly to Heaven and to Eternal Life when the time comes for it. Or to Hell, depending on circumstances.
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Too many people believe this fact for me to put its reality in doubt. However, as a physicist, I can only follow it up to the physical event itself, and no further.
The events which allegedly take place afterwards are a metaphysical reality, better left for authorities such as rabbis and priests to investigate. No scientist can say they are wrong in their views. Nor can anyone prove them right.
No matter what, the Jewish mystics who wrote the Zohar and other such Jewish holy books were clearly well aware of the connection of the writings of Plato and Aristotle with Paradise and its destruction. So, since these philosophers specifically named this place Atlantis, it is tempting to conclude that they all were in fact identifying the two places, much as we have been doing for a long time now.
A variant of the Jewish legend in question here placed the entrance to Paradise in the Makhpelah Cave in Hebron, the alleged tomb of the Patriarchs. This cave is the same as the Cave of Treasures of certain apocryphal scriptures such as the Book of Adam and Eve. And it is also the Cave of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and several other such esoteric traditions.
This quaint tradition links back to the Cave of Illusion of the Ramayana, and to several other later counterparts. Another such cave is the one from where Shamash issues. This wondrous cave, which we already mentioned above, is described in some detail in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
This cave is the mundus, the gateway to the Netherworld which the sun uses in order to pass into this one. In one form or another, this mythical cave is found the world over. And the context is invariably the same: the connection with the Netherworld.
The Navajo Indians call it sipapu. And they depict it at the center of the world, which they also figure after the pattern of the concentric dvipas (or
paradises) of the Hindu traditions, themselves replicas of Atlantis, as we comment in more detail in our figures section. ↑184
The Incas called it Coricancha, “the precinct of the sun”, the connection with the fabulous Eldorado. The ancient Egyptians also built a sort of sipapu inside the Great Pyramid, visibly with the same function of linking the Mountain of Sunrise and Sunset with the netherworld.
This Netherworld is also the same as Dante’s Purgatory and the Hades of Greco-Roman traditions. It is also the same as the Islands of the Blest or the Patala or Atala of Hindu traditions. Said otherwise, this Otherworld is Taprobane, the netherworld of Pliny and other Greco-Roman authorities. And Taprobane should not be confused with Sri Lanka, a mere replica, as we already demonstrated.
According to the ancient traditions, this cave leads directly into the Holy Mountain and the otherworld below it. It is a sort of gate or yoni or vulva similar to the one of Tanit, the Phoenician goddess.
As Plato described it in his remarkable Myth of Er the Pamphilian, this cave or passage eventually bifurcates, with one wing leading down into Hell and the other one up into Heaven.
It is now clear that this sacred tradition is both universal and extremely ancient. And the very universality of the tradition unmistakably proves its hoary antiquity, dating from Pleistocenic times, when the intercommunication between the New and the Old Worlds was still possible, ceasing afterwards, according to current academic wisdom on the matter.
It also far predates Alexander, Plato and Aristotle, and even the much older Epic of Gilgamesh itself. Or even the Ramayana, the first epic ever, to believe the Hindu authorities.
This universal tradition can be traced back all the way to Atlantis and, hence, to Paradise itself. It refers to the Garden of Eden and the time when it was destroyed by its volcano. It is the hollow (or split) mountain known as Mt. Mashu or Mt. Meru, or Mt. Atlas in Pagan traditions or as the Cave of Treasures and Mt. Sinai of the Judeo-Christian ones.
Atlantis the Lost Continent Finally Found Page 35