Ancient Concept of The Three Worlds - Realms.

Even if this thread talks about some religious concepts, is not my intention to discuss about religion. This is about how different ancient cultures could be linked by a common origin and how an ancient concept is still shared for million today.

The undeniable presence of god(s) and his(their) influence in our evolution is the starting point of most of the religions invented. In our efforts to explain our relation with these superior forces, we developed suitable concepts to explain where they are.

One of these concepts is the “Three Worlds”. The cosmology vision of 3 levels of existence can be found in different cultures and I wonder how distant cultures arrived to the same concept, unless they were influenced by the same source, a common ancestor/creator.

The "Three Worlds" are described in Hindu/Buddhist religions, in a very peculiar way :

eṣa dainan-dinaḥ sargo
brāhmas trailokya-vartanaḥ
tiryań-nṛ-pitṛ-devānāḿ
sambhavo yatra karmabhiḥ

"pitr" according to the source, means "planets"

Translation :

In the creation, during Brahmā's day, the three planetary systems — Svarga, Martya and Pātāla — revolve, and the inhabitants, including the lower animals, human beings, demigods and Pitās, appear and disappear in terms of their fruitive activities.

In another part of the texts quoted :

etāḿ vidyām adhigato
viśvarūpāc chatakratuḥ
trailokya-lakṣmīḿ bubhuje
vinirjitya mṛdhe 'surān

Translation :

King Indra, who performed one hundred sacrifices, received this prayer of protection from Viśvarūpa. After conquering the demons, he enjoyed all the opulences of the three worlds.

Buddhist cosmology

In Buddhism, the three worlds refer the following karmic rebirth destinations:
Kāmaloka:
world of desire, typified by sexual and other desires, populated by hell beings, animals, ghosts, humans and lower demi-gods.
Rūpaloka:
world of form, predominately free of baser desires, populated by jhana-dwelling gods, possible rebirth destination for those well practiced in jhanic absorption.
Arūpaloka:
world of formlessness, noncorporal realm populated with four heavens, possible rebirth destination for practitioners of the four formlessness stages

Brahmanical system (notice the 3rd and 4th are part of the same one in the original buddist view).



Now lets travel from India to South America and see what the Andean Cosmology :

The Andean Cosmology describes 3 realms :



- The Upper World "Hanan Pacha".

Hanan Pacha was the upper world and the home of the Inca gods (such as Viracocha, Pachacamac, Mamacocha and the Inca gods of the sun and moon). The Incas believed that those who led a good life would ultimately ascend to Hanan Pacha in the afterlife.

- The Middle World "Kay Pacha".

Kay Pacha, literally “this world,” was the middle world of Inca mythology (variously written as Cay or Kai Pacha). This was the physical realm of living beings and the world of birth and decay, equivalent to our own inhabited world.

- The Inner World "Uku Pacha".

Uku Pacha can be seen as the Inca underworld, although inner world or below world may be more appropriate. Uku Pacha lies beneath the human realm of Kay Pacha, and is, as one may expect, a place where those unfit for Hanan Pacha will go upon their deaths.

Important to point how close this vision is to the concept of heaven, earth and hell. Please remember I am not discussing faith, but the evidence represents a clear coincidense at least.

Another source used in this thread explains the hermetic version of the "Thre worlds":

The Hermetic philosophers visualised the universe as having four distinct realms, in accordance with the four elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth respectively. Their cosmology is based upon the Three World View, whereby existence consists primarily of a Realm of Light (Fire) or God, from which the Three Worlds are created. Out of the Light the Intellectual World (Air) is generated. Next the Celestial World (Water) descends From the Intellectual World. Finally the Elemental World (Earth) precipitates from the Celestial World.

Each world has its own rulers; The Intellectual World - or heaven - is ruled by angels and archangels, the Celestial World is ruled by the planets, and the Elemental World - or Mother Earth - is ruled by the elements.

The process of creation as perceived within Hermetic philosophy is shown by Robert Fludd's illustration of The Three World View in figure 1 above. The spiral pattern describes the descent of Light from God (Deus) into matter. In this descent, three distinct Worlds are formed. Commencing with Mens, the universal mind, the spiral leads down through the Intellectual World indicated by the various angels and archangels: Seraphin, Cherubin, Dominationes, Throni, Potestates, Principatus, Virtutes, Archangeli, Angeli. Below the Caelum Stellatum - 'the stars in the heavens' - the spiral leads down through the Celestial World indicated by the planets: Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercuri and Luna. Finally the spiral leads down through the Elemental World indicated by the elements: Ignis, Aer, Aqua and Terra. In the spiral, Fludd also connects the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet with each of the rulers of the Three Worlds as the spiral of Light descends to Earth. The rulers of the worlds are used as symbolic tools for understanding matters corresponding to that particular World.

The concept of "Three worlds" can also be found in cheiromancy :

This is reflected in cheiromancy as the three aspects of hand reading. The palm embodies the Elemental World, the lines encapsulate the Celestial World and the fingers reflect the intellectual World

My final thought goes to the possibility that we are part of a bi-directional creation, maybe we were intentionally located in the middle, as part of an experiment that we prefer to call "opportunity" or "free will". That would be the greatest conspiracy.

I believe there must be more cultures sharing the same concept. I'd like to have additional input from other members. Thanks for reading.


vedabase.net...
en.wikipedia.org...
tonydunnell.suite101.com...
www.skyscript.co.uk...

This is an amazing and artistic concept, none of this is a reflection of reality though, I hope you know or believe that, but still interesting to go over, making one question the aggregate of assimilation that lead to the manifestation of such a concept

This cosmology was made up without any knowledge of how the phyical world operates, it is therefore rather off base and flawed. Imaginative thou!