Ever since my childhood days, from the time I became aware of the world outside, I have been listening to the stories of Unidentified Flying Saucers or UFOs, and how creatures not exactly looking like human beings travel in them and land on Earth as per requirement. It is also added to the story that the creatures, along with their UFOs, do land here and there, but by the time anybody sees them, they fly away within the twinkling of an eye. People around the globe make claims of having seen such flying objects either flying in the sky or landing near their village or town. But despite eyewitnesses, the stories have remained stories due to a lack of evidence, and scientists hardly ever seem to have accepted these as concrete or true. Many books have been written on the topic, and even movies have been made in almost all the countries where cinema is produced. It has also been said that these flying objects are nothing but spy machines of certain developed countries, which have deployed these around the globe to keep a watch on other countries and collect strategic information. The UFOs have often been made out to be round-shaped, and the creatures traveling in them are small in size and look like skeletons. In books, comics, movies, and mass media, the looks of the creatures have been impressed upon us so much so that it immediately comes to our mind the moment we talk about aliens. In the midst of speculations, now let us talk about the probability of the existence of aliens and what exactly they are.
Do aliens really exist? Since time immemorial, we have concentrated mostly on our solar system, which consists of eight planets. Earlier, Pluto, being considered a planet, has been left out from the list. All the planets along with their satellites have been thoroughly studied by science, and so far, none has been found suitable in all respects for habitation. Research is still going on, and certain satellites revolving around the planets in our solar system have shown signs that with the availability of ice, water, and an atmosphere, life might have been possible. But nothing concrete has come out, though scientists have started contemplating setting up colonies for man on the surface of the moon and Mars. It has not been easy on the part of space research organizations to come out with an exact picture. Though the moon, being the nearest heavenly body from Earth, with a distance of four lakh kilometers approximately, has almost been conquered with man’s landing since long, many of its mysteries are yet to be fathomed. After the USA, Russia, and China, now India has started successfully experimenting with the moon. From research and reports as circulated in the mass media, though aliens might not be residing in our solar system, there are chances of their visiting it on occasion. But this is not the end. Our solar system is only a small place, and there are millions of such systems in the universe, and if at all aliens exist, there is no dearth of space for them. So if they are not found to be inhabiting any of our planets or satellites, their dwelling can be found elsewhere without calling them non-existent. Now, at a time when we talk about the multiverse and the infinite and ever-expanding universe, we can hardly confine ourselves to our solar system and search desperately for the aliens. When the uncountable stars, except for the eight planets in our solar system that we can see in the open sky, are suns, the very existence of aliens can hardly be ruled out.
Sending and receiving of signals: Though in movies based on aliens, signals are shown to be getting exchanged between the aliens and Earth, in actual practice, scientists on the job do not seem to have made any breakthrough in the matter. In the mass media also, there are optimistic reports of signals being sent and received which the very next moment do not fully confirm the same. So till date, we have only been thriving on speculations and imagination. But this does not mean that aliens do not exist and they do not have civilizations much more developed than ours. The universe is vast and infinite, and science is taking its own time in finding out its mysteries. It is not that easy to send signals to such far-off places and receive in return. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way or Akashganga, and it has been known that the sun with its family takes crores of years in completing a round of the Milky Way. So we can imagine the distance between our solar system and the Milky Way and between the Milky Way and other galaxies, which can be measured only in light years. In such a situation, sending and receiving of signals is a difficult proposition. It is not that science will not make the breakthrough and come out with the truth one day. The day may not be far. Secondly, what makes us think that we are able to send the signals to the right place in the infinite space and the aliens are receiving and decoding it? Are they duty-bound to send signals from their side and receive our signals in turn? So failure in the matter does not mean that aliens and civilizations do not exist elsewhere in the universe and multiverse.
What do mythology and traditions say? The concept of aliens is not something new and unique, though modern science is still on the lookout for the facts and evidence in the matter. The argument that why are the gods not visible if they really exist can be countered on the ground that they do not live over here. Although the gods all over the world are strongly attached to our emotions, they are denizens of another world and believed to control us from above. So they may very well be called aliens. In Hindu mythology, there is mention of Swarga, Martya, and Patala. The way we human beings live on Martya or Earth, Swarga and Patala are equally inhabited. The gods live in Swarga, which has further been divided into Lokas. There are Devlok, Brahmalok, Shivlok, Vishnulok, Indralok, Yamlok, etc., and it is not possible on the part of the mortal human beings to reach any of these Lokas alive. Of course, as per our Shashtras and Puranas, in exceptional cases, human beings and demons have visited the Lokas. Lord Krishna did reach the Yamlok to rescue the life of his Guru’s son. But the distance between Earth and the Lokas, as mentioned in our Shashtras and Puranas, is such that it needed only superhuman powers to travel with the speed of mind to reach any of these Lokas. Modern science has also made enormous calculations for covering the distance between one galaxy to another and from one spot to another in the universe, which is measured in terms of light years. The concept of the multiverse has only complicated the calculations. But it is possible on the part of the denizens of the Lokas to move from one place to another either physically with the speed of mind or with the help of their vehicles or vahanas. Kartikeya on his peacock, Ganesh on his mouse, Narada on his dhinki, and even Ravan on his Pushpak could make a round of the Lokas and reach any place at will. The other gods, including the Trinity, could also go to any place, including Earth. Exaggerations and imagination might have played a part in the case of mythology, but the concept of Lokas and their enormous distance from each other and from Earth come closer to the calculations of science. So the idea of the gods controlling us from above and the aliens visiting the Earth on occasion drives home the point that we are not alone in the universe. Who knows, the aliens traveling in the UFOs are not the gods themselves or their representatives.
To conclude, most speculations, doubt, and imagination about aliens on our part are due to the idea that we are alone in the universe. But are we alone? There are millions of galaxies and stars, and every star is having a family of planets revolving around it. Now that the concept of the multiverse is almost on the verge of being proved, the picture will be much more complicated. Though the Earth may be the only habitable planet in our solar system, we cannot toy with the idea for long that there are no habitable planets elsewhere and much more developed life and civilizations than ours. It also often comes to light that there is reference to the multiverse in our Shashtras and Puranas. Our planet will be of the size of a mustard seed or even less compared to the universe, and most probably may look like a dot compared to the multiverse, and in such a situation, we cannot sit complacent thinking that we are the only living beings inhabiting a green planet. The way our planet has been formed, other planets and galaxies have been formed, and they must have gone through the same process as the Earth. Just because there is a dearth of evidence and communications have not yet been established, it does not mean that the aliens and other worlds in the universe and multiverse are only a figment of imagination. We must not forget that we are also aliens for the aliens. Gone are the days when the Earth was called the center of our solar system. But new theories have come up with science always on the lookout for facts. So it is high time we discarded all our speculations and imagination about the aliens, particularly with reference to their comic and animal-like looks. The existence of the aliens cannot be ruled out outright, and it is hoped that science will one day come out with the truth. As of today, the aliens seem to be more a reality than a myth.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own)
Mr. Prafulla Kumar Majhi,
Retired Asst. Director, A. I. R, is an eminent Scholar and freelance writer in English & Odia. His areas of interests are sociocultural, economic, literary, historical and analytical studies and writings.
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