“Now our PhDs must collaborate and study the 5th Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium” proved a mandate from Srila Prabhupada that entered deep into the heart of his disciple Sadaputa dasa, in 1976.  Having received his PhD in Mathematics from Cornell University just two years prior, Richard L. Thompson would soon be inducted as one of the founding members of Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Institute. 

In that capacity, he devoted over 30 years researching Vedic perspectives on cosmology and the natural world, producing 9 books on these and a variety of subjects while drawing upon both his scientific mathematical background, and devotional experience with Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

Richard L. Thompson

So when the Richard L. Thompson Archives decided to get Sadaputa’s books back into print a year ago, Yamaraja and Sthita-dhi-muni felt inspired to start with his principle work on cosmology, Mysteries of the Sacred Universe: The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana (2000), considered by many his magnum opus. Dr. Subash Kak, Computer Science Professor at Louisiana State University, noted that “Thompson presents a compelling case showing that Puranic cosmology was intended to have multiple meanings that span the terrestrial, astronomical, and spiritual planes.”

Once this first reprint became available, two more followed in rapid succession. God and Science (2004), a collection of the best of Sadaputa’s 40 BTG articles, became the next.  In his foreword to the book, Dr. Sheldon R. Isenberg, former chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Florida, described: “Thompson’s erudition, the elegance of his prose, and his deep understanding of traditional and contemporary science give a different kind of credibility to the knowledge and wisdom of our intellectual and spiritual ancestors, east and west, which they encoded into their legends, myths, and rituals. One begins to suspect that we have forgotten at least as much as we’ve discovered.”

The third book reprinted was Maya: The World as Virtual Reality (2003), in which “virtual reality” is used as a metaphor to illustrate our present situation as conscious beings experiencing conditional life.

Next they republished Sadaputa’s popular work, Alien Identities (1993), using the author’s original working title, Parallels: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena. Yamaraja, who crafted most of Sadaputa’s original book covers and layouts, designed the new cover to reflect Sadaputa’s initial intention to appeal to an audience beyond the ufology genre. As Hinduism Today noted in their review: “Parallels is a mind stretcher that goes as far as the evidence can allow for UFO-type phenomena in ancient India.” 

Yamaraja and Sthita-dhi-muni have now begun working on Sadaputa’s pioneering cosmological work, Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy (1990), and anticipate having it ready within a few months. Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science will take more time since it was originally produced prior to desktop publishing. As a result, Richard L. Thompson Archives have nothing digital, text or layout, to work with, and they need to redo the entire project from scratch. Once volunteers become available to assist typing the basic text into a word document format, they hope to produce this volume in a new digital layout by the end of the year. (If interested, please contact: rltompsonarchives@gmail.com.)

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For ordering Sadaputa’s new books, please visit the Richard L. Thompson Amazon Author’s Page at: https://www.amazon.com/Richard-L.-Thompson/e/B000APL4BY