VCA 5: The Empirical Case for the Vedic World System

In Chapters 2 through 4 we have outlined an understanding of Fifth Canto cosmology based on the idea that higher-dimensional worlds exist in parallel with the three-dimensional continuum of our ordinary experience. Roughly speaking, by the "dimensionality" of space we mean the degree of access to other places that is possible at any given place for a conscious observer. This degree of access depends on the sensory arrangement of the observer, and thus we conceive of space as being relative to the consciousness of living beings.

Krsna has full access to all locations at once, and thus for Krsna, space has the highest possible dimensionality. It is therefore possible for Krsna to appear in any location at will without having to travel, as we see in the story of Krsna's appearance in the womb of Uttara to save Maharaja Pariksit. Another way of expressing this feature of Krsna is to say that He is all-pervading.

For embodied beings in the material world, different levels of spatial access are possible, depending on their karmic status and corresponding sensory constitution. According to the Vedic literature, there are 400,000 species in this universe having humanlike form, and many of these have levels of sensory power superior to that of ordinary human beings of our modern civilization. These include, for example, the Kimpurusas, who are endowed with "mystic powers by which one can disappear immediately from another's vision and appear again in a different form" (SB 4.18.20).

These humanlike species all have their countries and dwelling places, even though these may not be visible or accessible to us. Indeed, our thesis is that many regions of the earth, or Bhū-manḍala, are not accessible to ordinary human senses. These regions are actually part of our immediate environment, but we can reach them only through higher-dimensional travel.