Fact Check: 3D Animation video is of ISKCON’s temple of Vedic planetarium, has no connection with NASA

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A 3D animation video is going insanely viral on the internet with a claim that the video has been released by the American space agency NASA. Vishvas News investigated the video and found that the claim linked to the video is false and the video has no connection with NASA. During the investigation, it was found that the video is of the interior of the Temple Vedic Planetarium, being built in Mayapur, West Bengal, by ISKCON.

Claim:

Facebook user Vicky Gupta shared the viral video (archive link) on January 13, 2023. Sharing the video, the user wrote in the caption, “According to the Vedas, there are 14 worlds. NASA has studied and made an animation film on this. Watch this and be proud to be a Hindu. Jai Hindu Jai Sanatan Dharma”.

Investigation:

To verify the viral video, Vishvas News first extracted several grabs with the help of the Invid tool. Then they were searched with the help of the Google Lens tool. Meanwhile, we found the entire video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP). The video was shared on January 11, 2011. According to the information given, the viral video is of the interior of the Vedic Planetarium temple being built in Mayapur, West Bengal.

Taking the investigation further, we started searching about the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) on Google through relevant keywords. We found the official website of TOVP. According to the information given on the website, this organization is collecting donations and building a temple in Mayapur, West Bengal. The video was also found on the official website of TOVP along with many other videos of the temple.

During the investigation, we found another 3D animation video of the temple design posted on the official YouTube channel of the temple. The video has been shared on March 13, 2021. The video shows the interior of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium and describes how the temple would look after its construction.

We also found a report on the TV9 website. In this report, published on August 27, 2022, ISKCON Mayapur public relations officer Rasik Gaurang was quoted as saying that the construction work of this temple will be completed in 2024. Presently, the construction work is underway. The Vedic Planetarium Temple is being constructed in line with the ideals of Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON. It is inspired by the design of the Capitol Building in the United States of America.

We reached out to TOVP via email for more information. Responding to us, Sunanda Das, Communications Director, TOVP said, the viral claim is false. This video of the interior of the Vedic Planetarium Temple is available on our website. This project is of ISKCON.

At the end of the investigation, Vishvas News did a social scanning of the Facebook handle of Vicky Gupta and found that the user has over 4,000 followers. According to the information given on the profile, the user is a resident of Jharkhand.