Mayan Discovery: Underground

New entrance to Mayan underworld
Benet Allen reports

• Direct link to Mayan discovery VIDEO

August 17, 2008 - Maya-hunters find a new system of caves and underground temples in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Different Mayan groups who inhabited southern Mexico and northern Guatemala and Belize had their own entrances to the underworld which archeologists have discovered at other sites, almost always in cave systems buried deep in the jungle.

SOUNDBITE: Guillermo De Anda, a University of the Yucatan archaeologist, speaking in Spanish with English translation: "As in all Mayan caves, this one contains archaeological material that can provide us with a lot of information about Cenote culture and the caves in general. This place is an important place because we have found two very elaborate temples built here inside the cave which are very difficult to get to."

The Mayan civilization has its roots in Buddhism, which came to the West prior to Christian missionaries. (Reference: How the Swans Came to the Lake). However, the culture and the entire civilization was eventually overrun by nagas (snakes, dragons). These creatures are seen all over the stone work, just as they are seen in the once great Khmer ruins (Cambodia) of the Angkor Wat complex and its extensive suburbs.

The religious practices of both cultures devolved into empire-building, and they were very successful. But moving away from the Dharma and its edifying influence, they moved toward serpent worship (Naga cults). This led to power, domination, and eventual ruin. (The Mahayana movement is apparent in Christian doctrines; the roots of it may run from Jesus' time in India and Tibet to the subverting of the compassionate message peace to one of power, principalities, and the vaulting ambitions of political leaders down through history utilizing one message with self-serving ends in mind).

Those serpent idolizing tendencies are still in the world, and seem to move from superpower to superpower, from the Greeks to the Romans, from the Spanish to the French, from the Dutch to the British, from the Japanese to the Chinese. A unidirectional movement across the globe is apparent. And notable powers (Nazi Germany, European upstarts, America, etc.) are not finished making their conquests and building themselves up.

The devolution to callousness and darkness hit home today with a new Mayan discovery: an entrance into a literal underworld.