Diameters

 

Why is the number "108" important in Hinduism and Buddhism? Hmmm...

So it *is* true, then?

 

Ekakshara Ganapati: The Ultimate Reality?

Ahem, surely this means that the statement I was quoting (from Sadhguru) *is* true? ChatGPT sounds like a pesky little Reddit skeptic here. Still, interesting!  

Is this true? "The diameter of the sun is 108 times the diameter of the earth. The distance between the sun and the earth is 108 times the diameter of the sun. The distance between the moon and the earth is 108 times of the diameter of the moon. So isn't it incredible? This mathematic in the creation around us in the space that we are trying to explore has manifested itself in the human system."

The claim is based on a mixture of:

• real astronomical approximations,
• numerological interpretation,
• and spiritual symbolism.

It is not literally exact, but it is also not completely invented.

Here is the reality.

---

1. Is the Sun’s Distance About 108 Solar Diameters?

Yes — approximately.

Modern values:

• Diameter of the Sun:
  about 1.39 million km
• Average Earth–Sun distance:
  about 149.6 million km

Now divide:

$$149.6 \div 1.39 \approx 107.6$$

So:

the Sun is about 108 solar diameters away from Earth.

That is genuinely close.

---

2. Is the Moon’s Distance About 108 Lunar Diameters?

Also approximately yes.

• Diameter of Moon:
  about 3474 km
• Average Earth–Moon distance:
  about 384,400 km

Divide:

$$384,400 \div 3474 \approx 110.6$$

So it is not exactly 108,
but reasonably close.

Because the Moon’s orbit varies significantly,
the ratio fluctuates.

At some points it can come closer to 108.

---

3. Is the Sun 108 Times Wider Than Earth?

No — that part is false.

• Sun diameter:
  ~1.39 million km
• Earth diameter:
  ~12,742 km

Divide:

$$1,390,000 \div 12,742 \approx 109$$

Actually:

the Sun’s diameter is about 109 Earth diameters.

So “108” here is just a rounding approximation.

---

4. Why Is 108 Spiritually Important?

The number 108 is extremely important in:

• Hinduism,
• Buddhism,
• yoga,
• tantra,
• and some martial arts traditions.

Examples:

• 108 beads on a mala,
• 108 Upanishads (traditionally),
• 108 defilements in Buddhism,
• 108 sacred names of deities.

Because of this,
people often look for:

• cosmic correspondences,
• sacred geometry,
• and symbolic harmonies involving 108.

---

5. Why These Ratios Exist

The Sun and Moon appear almost exactly the same size in the sky because:

• the Sun is vastly larger,
  but also vastly farther away,
• while the Moon is smaller and closer.

This coincidence allows:

• total solar eclipses.

The “108” relation emerges partly from this geometric coincidence.

---

6. Is This Evidence of Divine Design?

That becomes a philosophical or spiritual interpretation.

Scientifically:

• the ratios are approximate,
• not exact,
• and partly depend on averages and rounding.

Spiritually:
many traditions see meaningful symbolism in these correspondences.

So one could say:

Scientific View	Spiritual/Numerological View
Approximate coincidence	Sacred cosmic harmony
Ratios vary	Symbolic resonance matters
No proof of design	Possible sign of hidden order

---

7. “Manifested in the Human System”

This refers to esoteric traditions that connect:

• the cosmos,
• the body,
• mantra,
• sacred number,
• and consciousness.

In Hindu and Buddhist tantra especially:

• the human being is viewed as a microcosm of the universe.

Thus:

• sacred geometry,
• astrology,
• bodily channels,
• mantra counts,
• and cosmological numbers

are often linked symbolically.

So the statement is expressing a traditional mystical worldview:

the same hidden order appears in cosmos and consciousness.

---

8. Important Caveat

One should avoid overstating the precision.

These are:

• approximate ratios,
  not:
• mathematically exact universal constants.

For example:

• planetary orbits change,
• lunar distance varies,
• and the Sun/Earth ratio is closer to 109 than exactly 108.

So:

• spiritually suggestive?
  Possibly.
• scientifically miraculous?
  Not really.

---

9. Why People Find It Fascinating

The appeal comes from the convergence of:

• astronomy,
• sacred number symbolism,
• and contemplative traditions.

For many people,
108 feels like:

a bridge between cosmos, ritual, and consciousness.

That symbolic power is real even if the arithmetic is only approximate.

Spanish woman possessed by Kali

 

"The goddess will not ask you for your passport. If you are present, she will find you". 

A Spanish woman recently went viral when she was "possessed by Kali" at a traditional Hindu festival in southern India. The content-creator has a supranaturalist (or supranaturalist-sounding) explanation for the incident. 

It struck me that Hindu temples - and many other religious buildings - might be built in such a way that alternate states of consciousness may be triggered naturally. Which of course doesn´t disprove that they may also be "spiritual". 

Of course, a more prosaic explanation is that the Spanish woman wanted to "go native". I mean, she was wearing a red sari, had adopted a part-Indian name, and was interested in Hindu spirituality. A skeptical British reporter getting possessed by Ma Kali might have been more interesting... 

Buddhists and aliens

 

A fascinating article from 2019 about Buddhist space aliens seeking contact in a small town in Thailand, about a three hour journey from Bangkok. Note that the new religious group worshipping these spiritual entities explicitly refer to them as aliens and their vehicles as UFOs! The space brothers supposedly appear on a hill where there is a Buddha statue and a ditto footprint. 

The whole thing sounds like a combination of traditional Buddhist beliefs, New Age channeling and the American UFO phenomenon. 

The Hindu teacher Sadhguru is also into this kind of syncretism, but I´m not sure if the videos of his visits to Lake Manasarovar in Tibet are still up at YouTube...  

In search of Buddhist aliens in Thailand

Unparticles

 

Maybe Sadhguru can weigh in on this?

Mysterious "unparticles" may be pushing the universe apart

Sadhguru in trance

 

Some more Sadhguru. Here, you can see his absurdely large statue (or bust?) of Shiva (or Adiyogi) in the background...

A man for all seasons

 

I admit a certain fascination with this character. Sadhguru is a popular spiritual teacher in India who sometimes pops up in California, where he hob-nobs with everyone from Will Smith to Elon Musk. He seems to have restyled himself innumerable times. On YouTube, we can see him playing the role of occultist, Hindu nationalist, modern guru talking about positive thinking and quantum physics, environmental activist, and even UFO-logist! Maybe Shiva was a space alien? Sadhguru truly is all things to all people. 

In the clips linked above, we see the old joker in another role: that of seemingly traditional ritualist. During a visit to Nepal, Sadhguru consecrates an image of Bhairavi (a goddess somewhat similar to Kali). Back home, he consecrates a Shiva linga and a huge cult statue of a Naga. Note the yantra with the cobra inside!

But even here, modern times intrude. During the Naga ritual, Sadhguru explains in English that certain people on social media already accuse him of Devil worship (presumably the ritual could be seen live on the web) and then proceeds to polemicize against them. Something tells me nobody had to do that 800 years ago...

Make of this content what you wish.    

Stone Age Yoga

 

Sadhguru speculates about ancient yoga. The editing is a bit weird, though. Note the Mayan calendar! But sure, who knows were "Tantrism" *really* comes from? Some black hole in outer space, perhaps? ;-) 

These are not just stories

 

No? Are you absolutely sure about this, me man? Sadhguru criticizes shamanism and related forms of magic in this intriguing clip.  

Dead Tantrika walking

 

More meat in this one than in the previous Sadhguru clips. Tantrics can make DEAD BODIES WALK in their rituals. I always assumed they were about rainbow bodies, but clearly I didn´t know half of it...

There are (supposedly) two misconceptions of Tantra. One is that it´s about sex, group sex in particular. The other is that it´s about the dark arts.

Sadhguru clearly labors under the second misapprehension, LOL.   

I´m disappointed

 

 

"Tantra is not about sex", claims the old joker Sadhguru in this clip on occultism and mysticism. 

No??? I´m disappointed. 

It *is* a dark art, though, and so are most things in life, so perhaps there is still something to explore here... 

84 Big Bangs

 

I´m fascinated by Sadhguru´s peculiar aesthetic. Esoteric Shaivism meets Osho lite meets black holes, Big Bang and even ancient aliens?! 

I´m skeptical to the Big Bang cosmology, but Sadhguru goes all in here and claims that there have been 84 Big Bangs. Or perhaps "happenings" or "roars", as he actually puts it in the clip.

We can´t say we haven´t been warned.    

Sadhguru´s Big Bang

 

Some interesting points in these ones, but I suspect Sadhguru might get in trouble when Big Bang cosmology is disproven in 20 years or so...

That which is not

 

I admit it´s quite funny listening to the old joker Sadhguru. 

Atheists often attack Christianity with arguments like "most of the universe is black holes", while Christians retort "yeah, but how can something come from nothing". 

Sadhguru affirms *both* arguments. Yes, everything (including black holes) comes from nothing, or rather Nothing, which is nothing else than...Shiva. The Big Bang is His roar, when He comes in touch with Shakti, the creative energy from goddess-knows-where.

Much later, the cosmic Shiva manifested as the alien humanoid Adiyogi in Tibet, also known as "Shiva" to this particular movement.  

Eat that! 

Based as fuck. 

Lost in the Tethys Sea

 

I already linked to this material before, but here we go again...

Sadhguru and his devotees travel to Lake Manasarovar and carry out some kind of weird shamanistic possession ritual. However, that is too mundane apparently, so Sadhguru claims that it has something to do with Däniken-style aliens! 

Even the primordial guru Adiyogi (referred to here as "Shiva") is said to have been an ancient alien... 

But sure, the universe is strange, so who the heck knows!

Welcome to the universe

 

Sadhguru talks too much here, but his conclusions are somewhat interesting. "There is NO MEANING to the universe". Welcome to the world of Shiva´s dance!

Not needed

 

"Kali is not needed for you" says Sadhguru, the old joker of the crypto-Oshoite neo-Shaiva pseudo-Tantra. 

The comments on Kali begin at time stamp 6:11.

Sadhguru evidently believes that Kali and other fierce deities were created by powerful yogis in the past as a kind of energy-patterns or energy-bodies. They can be used for certain (unspecified) purposes, but it´s not something Sadhguru recommends that you even try!

Well, he might be on to something there, I suppose...

 

Killing Kali

 

Since I comment essentially everything on this blog…

In 1864, the Bengali Hindu mystic Ramakrishna met Tota Puri, a monist Shaiva sannyasin of the Advaita philosophical school. Initially, Tota Puri looked down on the rustic bhakta, who worshipped Kali as his “mother”, instead initiating him (quite brutally) into monist meditation. However, Tota soon realized that Ramakrishna was a more advanced spiritual practitioner than himself. And when Ramakrishna went out of samadhi, he told Tota that Brahman and the Mother were the same. Indeed, the pantheist monk even had a vision of Kali, stopping him from drowning himself in the Ganges!

True story? That´s anybody´s guess, of course, but that is the official version. (The second clip is from an old film about Ramakrishna´s life, featuring his famous encounter with Tota Puri.)

Now, compare this to Sadhguru´s retelling of the same story.

Sadhguru, a contemporary Shaiva Tantrika (not sure if he´s also a monist), claims that Tota Puri converted Ramakrishna to *his* perspective, making Ramakrishna “kill Kali” with a sword, both Kali and the sword being products of Ramakrishna´s consciousness. And presumably the Universal Consciousness? But of course, that´s not what happened. I do realize that gurus often tell stories for didactic purposes, but this one was pretty hard to swallow!

Another thing to investigate on a chilly Sunday evening…

Bhaktas have no questions

 

Sadhguru admits that he wants to keep the bhakti out of his ashram. The reason? Bhaktas are just too damn crazy! Short clip. 

A jump of madness

 

Sadhguru, who could be classified as a Tantric Shaiva, discusses kundalini in this short YouTube clip. 

Kundalini is the life energy, and hence exists everywhere. In the human body, it´s concentrated in 114 energy centers or chakras (but later, Sadhguru says that there are six chakras and 112 ways to open them). Of the 114 chakras, humans only need 21 to function optimally. Kundalini yoga can open the rest, but this is a dangerous process, and should therefore only be attempted under the expert guidance of a guru. And even then, fast kundalini awakening will "dissolve the social world" around you. Hence, only ascetics should attempt it, although a slower method for house-holders also exists. 

In and of itself, kundalini is neither "good" nor "bad", the real question being whether you are ready for it or not. Sure, it´s dangerous, but so is electricity, which can nevertheless be used to good ends. The 112 techniques to open the chakras only work up to the sixth chakra or sixth dimension (Agna), located in the human skull. The seventh chakra, Sahasrara, which hovers above the physical body, cannot be reached by any of the standard techniques. "You can only jump into the abyss" says Sadhguru, and if you do, you have to do it in "trust, devotion, or madness"! 

We can´t say we haven´t been warned...