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Book – Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom – Interview with Author Lori Tompkins


The book titled 'Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom', written by Lori Tompkins, (published in January 2018) takes the reader into the unknown terrain of the geometric symbols in the Vedas. To know more about the book, I did an interview with Author Lori Tompkins. You can learn more about the book through the interview.

1.      In simple words – What is the book - Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom - all about?

 The book presents the long-lost knowledge of how the radius and vesica piscis of the 360° circle function as keys of the encoded language and symbols of the Rig Veda, and thus as keys of understanding the deeper meaning and fuller context of India’s culture, religion, mythology and iconography. Some parts of the book are autobiographical, telling the unusual story of how these keys emerged via my connection to the yoga of Sri Aurobindo, and in the course of my own yogic path. Throughout the book I utilized many images to help readers visually see the connections between the simple geometry of the circle and various mythological figures. I also incorporated many verses of the Rig Veda and post-Vedic sacred texts, as well as passages from Sri Aurobindo’s book The Secret of the Veda, inviting readers to see the ancient lore with entirely new eyes.

2.     How can the book connect with a common Hindu devotee? What can an average Hindu gain from the book?

 Circa 1912, Sri Aurobindo wrote, ‘I believe [the] Veda to be the foundation of the Sanatan Dharma; I believe it to be the concealed divinity within Hinduism, — but a veil has to be drawn aside, a curtain has to be lifted. I believe it to be knowable and discoverable. I believe the future of India and the world to depend on its discovery and on its application…’. My book introduces significant progress in this important task of drawing aside the veil which has long-obscured the full power and eternal wisdom contained within India’s ancient culture.

I hope that Hindu readers will be able to recognize this progress, and will also be inspired by the yogic lineage via which this progress has been made. I believe the book demonstrates the power and truth of the yogic path which has gotten watered down in the course of its ‘exportation’ westward. Mostly what this book offers is higher knowledge or a higher and more integral perspective of familiar symbols and mythology, as well as a higher perspective of our individual and collective evolutionary journey. With this knowledge, Hindus should come away with a sense of empowerment together with the desire to dig deeper into the eternal truth which lies at the heart of the Hindu religion.



3.     Can you mention a popular geometric and zodiacal key in Vedas, which you have used in your book to unravel truth. 

 The book’s main character and geometric key is the vesica piscis. For those who are unfamiliar with this geometric figure, it is the almond shape formed by two overlapping circles which share a common radius. The arc of the vesica piscis measures out exactly one-third (120°) of the 360° circle. In the book, I demonstrate the role the vesica piscis plays in measuring out the twelve months of the Earth’s sacred year, known throughout much of the world as the Zodiac and known to the Vedic Rishis as the Yajna. As I wrote and researched the first half of the book, the vesica piscis illuminated much about the measure of India’s Yugas, as well as the mythology of Vishnu’s ten avatars. I didn’t really know there was going to be a second half of the book until I saw that the Rishis portrayed the vesica piscis as a sacred and truth-bearing river. This unexpected incite initiated a flood of new seeing and understanding of the Rishis’ veiled language.

4.     How can the geometric symbols give more insight into Sanatana Dharma?
 Together, the radius and its companion vesica piscis evenly and eternally divide the circumference of the circle into three. Thus, the radius is solely responsible for laying down the sacred trinity or triple law which show up in various ways throughout the Rig Veda. I demonstrate in the book that this eternal and triadic law of the radius is simultaneously the foundation of the Sanatana Dharma and Trayi Vidya (Triple Veda) of the Vedic Rishis. The radius of the circle is depicted in many ways throughout the Rig Veda, including as Agni the divine flame, ray or hero-son of the Vedic sacrifice, who is commonly associated with the triple law and with the act of measuring. In Rig Veda 4.42.4 the radius is portrayed as the Son of the Divine Mother Aditi and as the ‘Law Observer’ who ‘hath spread abroad the world in threefold measure’.

 The book begins with an explanation of how the 432,000-syllable span of the Rig Veda, as well as the 432,000 measure of the Kali Yuga is intimately connected to the triadic law of the radius and vesica piscis. 432,000 also happens to be the measure of the radius of the Sun in miles. These measures are extremely important clues that the Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Law of the Vedic Rishis is inseparable from the Eternal Laws of Geometry, specifically the triadic law established by the radius and vesica piscis within the circle or cycle of the 360° year.

Over the course of writing the book it became fully apparent that the figures of the radius, the vesica piscis and the circle of the Zodiac are deeply and pervasively encoded into the language and symbols of the Vedic Rishis. Much of what I learned about all of this was a total surprise to me. The vesica piscis simply led the inquiry and the process of discovery. It showed me many things, including how it is embedded in the mythology and iconography of Vishnu Preserver who is known for incarnating in various forms across the ages, specifically to periodically re-establish or preserve the Sanatana Dharma of Creation.

5.     Can you talk in brief about a few hidden symbols with powerful meaning that many Hindus are overlooking. 

Sure, let’s take for instance, the mythology of Vishnu’s incarnation as Vamana (the Dwarf). Vamana is known for having tricked the King Mahabali into agreeing to give Vamana whatever territory his little legs could take in three steps. Vamana subsequently assumed his true form and took three steps (trivikrama) cross the entirety of all that is. I came to see that this Dwarf (also called Trivikrama) is a symbol of the radius, and that his mythological three steps are equivalent to three vesica piscis which cover the entirety of the 360° Zodiac or sacred year of the Vedic Rishis. Vamana is commonly portrayed as holding a pot or kumbha which is, like his famous step, a symbol of the vesica piscis. Vamana also carries a parasol which can be seen as a symbol of the sacrificial year of which Vishnu is said to be a preserver and protector.

This discovery was preceded by the understanding that Matsya, the fish-form of Vishnu’s first avatar, is intimately linked to the vesica piscis which is sometimes translated as ‘the vessel of the Fish’, and that his turtle-form (Kurma) corresponds to the shape of four interlocking vesica piscis, which create what look like four-legs popping out of the ‘shell’ of the circle.

 After exploring and proving the geometric and zodiacal basis of all ten of Vishnu’s avatars, I was then given the understanding that the Seven Rivers (Sapta Sindhu) of the Rig Veda must be understood in terms of the first seven vesica piscis of the Rishis’ 12-month sacred Year or Yajna. The release of Seven Rivers in the Rig Veda represents the culmination of the victory of the Vedic heroes. I found that understanding the geometric and zodiacal basis of this mythological victory, is crucial to understanding the Veda as a whole. I discuss the importance of this Vedic victory at length in Part 2 of the book.

6.     What are your findings regarding the true origins of Yoga?

 From what I understand, the origin of Yoga is the Vedic Yajna which Sri Aurobindo portrayed as a progressive or evolutionary journey towards Higher Consciousness. On this subject Swami Krishnananda stated: ‘The whole of karma yoga, or any yoga for the matter of that, is centred round this principle governing all life and existence – the principle of yajna, sacrifice’ (‘The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita’, 1982). I discuss this origin or principle of Yoga in the book as well as its higher goals, according to Sri Aurobindo.

7.     You talk about the treasures of Vedic Rishis – what is it all about?

 The Rishis portrayed the Yajna or 12-month sacrificial year as a treasure hunt and heroes’ journey, wherein the heroes (and heroines) battle much falsehood and adversity in the process of finding and releasing long-lost treasure from the mountain, cave, hill, rock or stone where it has been entrapped. This treasure is often simply referred to as treasure by the Rishis, but often this treasure takes on various symbolic forms, including the form of seven rivers as well as herds of horses and cows. The most prevalent account of this Vedic victory seems to be Indra, the thunder god, splitting open a closed cave, mountain, hill or rock and thereby liberating its treasures from their hidden place. In The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo wrote ‘[Vala’s] hole or cave is a city full of treasures; that body has to be broken up, that city rent open, those treasures seized. This is the work set for humanity’. Vala is a demon whose name means veil or enclosure. Sri Aurobindo recognized that the treasures, rivers, and herds of the Rig Veda were entirely symbolic, and that their hidden meaning and significance remained mostly veiled or enclosed in our day and age.

 In the process of writing my book, I came to realize that the cave, hill, rock or stone to be found and opened by the Vedic hero or heroes is a symbol of the vesica piscis. It became apparent that the treasures the Rishis put before humankind to be won, retrieved or released from their symbolic cave, are equivalent to the sacred keys by which the symbolic language of the Vedas can be fully unveiled and decoded, releasing the treasures of gnosis therein.

8.     You talk about the Single Vedic origin of world mythologies. How convincing is this?

 What I have found, and hope I have well-conveyed in the book, is that many of our world’s most well-known mythologies have descended from Vedic origins. I am not familiar with all world mythologies, so I can in no way assert that all world mythologies descend from Vedic symbols and lore. Also, I don’t know where or from whom the Rishis obtained their gnosis, or how far back into ancient history these forebears lived. So, I do apologize if I have somewhere overstated the range or reach of my understanding. What I do know is that as soon as I began to understand the hidden and pervasive role that the vesica piscis plays in the Rig Veda and in Indian mythology, I also began to see how many subsequent religious or cultural mythologies across the world echo the lore, symbols and veiled sacred geometry of the Vedic Rishis in various ways.

 For instance, as soon as I understood the geometric and zodiacal context of the Seven Rivers released by the Vedic Heroes, I immediately understood that this myth was later conveyed (and somewhat distorted) by St. John in his Revelation or apocalyptic account of Seven Bowls being poured out on humanity. This understanding then quickly branched out into seeing long-misunderstood Vedic symbols appear in other religious or cultural mythologies throughout the world. For instance, I understood that in Greek mythology, the Hero’s release of the sacred and wisdom-bearing ‘river’ is represented as the white, winged horse Pegasus kicking a rock or mountainside and thereby releasing the river Hippocrene, meaning ‘the Horse’s Fountain’. In the Rig Veda, this wisdom-bearing fountain or river is Saraswati, known as a river, a river goddess and a goddess of wisdom. It is also portrayed as ‘the Horse’s Flood’. In the Zodiac, this horse is the horse of Sagittarius, which is in turn related to the White Horse of Kalki, the final avatar of Vishnu. These mythologies and many others simply began to fit together like puzzle pieces that had simply never even been recognized as being part of the same world puzzle.

 I also found that some of the mythology surrounding Jesus and other Biblical figures is connected the sacred geometry underlying the Vedic symbolism, including the story of Jesus walking on water and Moses holding waters of the Red Sea apart. A month after publishing the book I began to see some clear and I think irrefutable connections between Vedic and Mayan mythology, which I will hopefully share in some form or another in the not-too-far future.

 I won’t try to explain more here, but I do hope I have been successful in the 440 pages of my book, in enabling readers to see the real connections between geometry, Vedic symbolism and many mythologies throughout the world. I am also hoping that after reading the book, readers will begin utilizing the Vedic keys I have presented towards the task of making new integrating discoveries and putting more of our world’s puzzle pieces into place. I can only imagine that these keys, will produce some very fruitful results once put in the hands of Vedic scholars, especially those who actually read Sanskrit. I also imagine these keys will also bear fruitful results in the hands of historians, archeologists and scientists. It’s going to take a wide and collective effort to fully uplift what these Vedic keys appear to be ready reveal and illuminate about our world’s ancient gnosis and history, as well as about our collective evolutionary journey and our Unified Field of Time and Space.

9.     Hindu symbols are widely misunderstood and in this age of social media, they are being more and more distorted. How do you think your book will help in understanding the true meaning of symbols?

Sri Aurobindo stated that the Rig Veda has been misunderstood in India for at least 2,000 years, meaning, in effect, that the Vedic symbols and post-Vedic symbols have been LONG misunderstood and distorted. The modern increase or acceleration of inherited distortion is only inevitable with the rise of the Internet. On the flip side, the Internet allows for the possibility of quick and wide dissemination of gnosis regarding the higher meaning and context of Vedic symbols. I believe that the Vedic mythology of the finding and release of truth-bearing, purifying rivers from their cave or kumbha is very much a prophetic account of how, once discovered, the sacred ‘river’ or sacred form of the vesica piscis is going to begin clearing up the world-wide misunderstandings and distortions of Vedic symbols and hence of Hindu symbols.

Understanding the true meaning of the Vedic and post-Vedic symbols all boils down to coming to see that the myriad gods, goddesses, symbols and figures of the Rig Veda and of post-Vedic literature must be understood in the singular or unified context of the 360° field of the Vedic Yajna, as measured out by the radius and vesica piscis. Both the radius and vesica piscis are cloaked via thousands of names and symbols throughout Vedic and Hindu mythology. As long as these keys of the Rishis remain cloaked or veiled, there is no chance whatsoever in truly clearing up the world’s misunderstanding and distortion of Hindu symbols.

10.  What are your expectations from your readers?

I suppose I expect my readers to have an open mind and perhaps even a genuine interest in learning something new and important about ancient symbols and lore, even if that something challenges their past assumptions and belief systems. Mostly I wrote this book expecting that there are some people, maybe even many people at this challenging crux of our collective evolutionary journey, who are interested in moving beyond our current civilization’s dangerous misunderstanding of ancient lore. I also wrote it expecting that many readers would come to the book pre-interested in obtaining a higher sense of Yoga and in moving toward a more integral vision, and perhaps even a supramental (or higher-than-mental) vision of our existence and our evolution.

I should state to potential readers that this book is not ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. It is not a light read and it is not a light exploration of the Yogic path. This book presents both lightning-strike knowledge together with a massive amount of research that I have utilized to help integrate and substantiate this unusually-obtained knowledge for the reader. It is dense in the way that even after reading and editing it over a dozen times, I am still learning from the content. Thus, I expect those who want to truly learn and understand what this book has to offer, will have to take their time with it, being patient with that which they don’t yet understand about what I have conveyed.

I also hope and expect that some readers will be inspired to deepen their knowledge about what I have presented and to share what they are learning with others who are interested in the process of dismantling our world’s pervasive Ignorance.

If you wish to know more about the book: