Vedic Cosmology Decoding the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Part Five

Compiled by Mayesa dasa, edited by Gauragopala dasa.

The Spiritual and Material Worlds

We are in the spiritual world always but we are now in a portion that is covered over by matter. The mechanism of the material universe portion of the spiritual sky, measuring one quarter of Krishna's creation (spiritual sky), is just like an organized machine with moving parts.

Those moving parts are all the material planetary systems; the planets are organized just like a clock is designed and works because of the clock maker. Modern scientists however, cannot find the winder and maintainer of that clock and speculate wrongly of how the universe works.

There is therefore a central line east and west, north and south because the universe has dimensions. (Maha Visnu is breathing out each universe). Meru in this universe (one of billions) is located on that central line and the planets, according to Vedic sastra, turn around that and a form of wind is propelling them.

Mount Meru is in each material universe. It is none other than the stable of a gigantic lotus flower, which grows from the navel of Lord Vishnu. On the top is situated Satyaloka, where Lord Brahma resides. This lotus flower is also Virat Rupa of the Lord. In His upper portions is situated the heavenly planet, in His middle portions is situated the earthly planets and in the lower portions is situated the lower - hellish planets.

The hells are located underneath Bhuloka. Then below the hells are the subterranean planets. Or the subterranean planets come first and then the hells. We shall have to work out the math. It is there in Srimad Bhagavatam 5th Canto.

Bhuloka is always pictured as flat but it is described as roundish in Surya Siddhanta. So it is like an upside-down bowl and the hells are underneath.

The single Sun moves around this Mount Meru and all other planets move around the Sun and Mount Meru.

Understanding Bhurloka

Bhurloka, or Bhu-mandala is possibly the Solar System consisting of seven spheres (dvipas) - Jambudvipa, Plaksadvipa, Salmalidvipa, Kusadvipa, Krauncadvipa, Sakadvipa, Puskaradvipa - which are inhabited by various human beings. Bhumandala is earth centered. Its innermost island, Jambudvipa, contains Bharata-varsha, which Srila Prabhupada has repeatedly identified as the planet Earth.

Srimad Bhagavatam 5.16.5 further explains:

"The planetary system known as Bhu-mandala resembles a lotus flower, and its seven islands resemble the whorl of that flower. The length and breadth of the island known as Jambudvipa, which is situated in the middle of the whorl, are one million yojanas [eight million miles]. Jambudvipa is round like the leaf of a lotus flower."

The planet Earth is situated within Jambudvipa and is known as karma-bhumi (Visnu Purana 2.3.2), which is one of the central planets within the 14 planetary systems of this universe. On this earthly planet new karma is created, therefore planet earth is a karmic crossroad where one's pious and impious activity determines where one takes their next birth within the 14 planetary systems. On this planet I will decide about my future situation, heavenly or hellish, by acting in a particular way, as the 5th Canto 5.13.21 of Srimad Bhagavatam explains:

"King Rahugana said: This birth as a human being is the best of all. Even birth among the demigods in the heavenly planets is not as glorious as birth as a human being on this earth. What is the use of the exalted position of a demigod? In the heavenly planets, due to profuse material comforts, there is no possibility of associating with devotees."

The modern scientists take no help from sastra and speculate that every force is material. But they have not been able to create a "living body" or bring a dead body to life. They simply speculate. And unintelligent people are impressed with their mindless (devoid of advanced spiritual values) speculation.

Sadaputa presents the Bhuloka or Jambudvipa and Meru as well as other islands and seas as flat. According to Surya Siddhanta it is round like and upside-down bowl.

With Meru on the top it is in the center. One reason mathematically it is so, is that the planets are having degrees north and south and they should not "crash into" Bhuloka. If the planets crash into Bhuloka then we take Bhuloka as a "subtle" land or as "symbolic" of other things. Bhu is this land, bhavah is outer space, sva is upper spaces as in the Gayatri mantra, where we chant, om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur varenyam. Above the Bhuloka planetary system is Bhuvarloka, and above that is Svargaloka, the heavenly planetary system

All these planetary systems are controlled by Savita, the Sun-god. By chanting the Gayatrī mantra just after rising early in the morning, one worships the Sun-god. (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.1.31)

Further in the 5th Canto, Chapter 21, text 7 it is said that there is "sunrise, sunset, midday and midnight" on the four corners of Bhu loka. This can only be if it is round. If it were flat the Sun would be further away but always seen in the sky.

It is a contentious point that Srila Prabhupada might not have revealed all about this matter to us he knew, or that he might have counted upon us to research it in depth and find out more than he reveals.

On many occasions Srila Prabhupada asked his disciples to find Vedic scholars who are familiar with the Srimad Bhagavatam's version of the universe however, Srila Prabhupada found out that many so-called Vedic scholars are either useless (they had no idea) or that such rare bonafide scholars were hard to find. This is revealed in a conversation Srila Prabhupada had with Vedic Astronomer Agnihotram Ramanuja Tattvacarya on April 30, 1977, Bombay. http://prabhupadavani.org/BA_scripts/201-300/770430R2-BOMBAY.html

As an example of research, I have noticed that the Earth is always thought to be the planet that Lord Varaha lifts from the ocean at the end of partial pralaya. But in many Puranas, Varaha lifts the entire Bhuloka from the waters. Even Meru has been dislodged and He restores it.

Krauncha dvipa is one of the seven islands surrounding Meru. There is said in the Puranas that Krauncha dvipa has the mark of one of Lord Varaha's tusks in it. If Srila Prabhupada did not go into this in great detail, this may be due to our beginning nature as devotees, or that he wanted us to do the research to understand this further.

Sadaputa dasa has taken the approach that the dimensions are not perceivable by the senses, which in some cases may be true, like the servants of Yamaraj are not seen when they come to collect an embodied soul at the death of their human biological body. But if we are calculating the distance to the Sun from Bhagavatam, the Sun is a perceivable object. Then suddenly Meru is not perceivable?

So we have to distinguish what we mean by unperceivable. Do we mean because it is out of view? India was out of my view before I visited there. But I was able to perceive it in other ways. Or is something imperceptible because it is composed of subtle matter?

In a morning walk Srila Prabhupada mentioned a mountain of Gold. He was referring to Meru. And he said, "If they learn of it they shall be mad to go there." Go where? If it is subtle matter the people could never go there.

The Ganges water is falling on Lord Siva's head, on a mountain known as Kailasa, 80,000 miles tall or so. If the Ganges is real is not the mountain and Lord Siva's form also real?

Today I listened to a lecture on the 9th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita As It Is given in 1976 in Melbourne Australia. In the question and answer portion Srila Prabhupada clearly explained that the Moon is higher than the Sun in that it travels higher than the Sun.

Often this is misunderstood. People hear this and think his meaning is that the Moon is "further away" than the Sun. This is clearly not his meaning. If something amazing could exist in this multi-layered approach it could certainly exist in a single universe theory also. Sometimes a magician like Dynamo is very wonderful and we cannot see how he has defied logic. But it is a simple trick.

Because you do not "see" Meru does not mean it is not there. It defies our so-called logic, because we are like animals that within this body there is something eternal. It defies our foolish minds that Brahma has got a lifespan from the beginning of the universe to the end.

So many things are beyond our capabilities. We should not try to bring them down to our puny way of understanding. There is one insect that lives thru the night. He hovers around the light. In the morning you can sweep those dead insects into a pile. Those insects cannot imagine your lifespan, they would think it "imagination". If they were clever they would say, "That must be in an alternate universe, certainly not in 'mine."

The modern scientists or the layman look at a photograph of the Sun from their telescopes and space probes and explain that the entire Sun is nothing but burning gases. They cannot reproduce this Sun even on the tiniest scale in their laboratory.

They have never experienced anything like the Sun on this earth that continues to burn. They have created the atomic bomb but it burns out. It does not continue to burn like the Sun. The scientists cannot imagine that it is possible because they cannot do it.

They speculate that the Sun is a "chain reaction of gases exploding from within then moving to the Sun's surface". All speculation. They cannot imagine that they are seeing the clouds around the Sun and that underneath these clouds there is a race of people living there.

Their limited experience is that heat makes water evaporate and turn into clouds however, they do not imagine that that water travels in atomic form to the Sun itself, as the Matsya Purana explains, and is then expelled in the same way.

Modern scientists also cannot extract water from certain gases. They also do not think water is there in outer space, but because they are unable to presently see its existence, that does not mean it cannot be there.

On this Earth at the north and south poles under the water, fish are living and also in the human body there are fierce temperatures in the stomach acid where microbes and bacteria are living. The idea of people living on the Sun is not within the modern scientist's ability to fathom at present.

But remember, scientists do not believe there is a soul in the body which cannot be burned etc. (as described in second chapter of Bhagavad-gita). They cannot imagine varieties of bodies constructed to withstand extreme temperatures.

Modern science works exclusively on the principle that "all is matter" and life must only be here or on one similar planet that can support the kind of life we have here.

Maha Visnu is lying in the Causal Ocean and glances over material nature, introducing the myriad living entities into this universe in the same way Vivasvan, an incarnation of the Lord, is drawing the material molecules or atoms of water to the Sun globe.

Matsya Purana says that the Sun is drawing water from Bhuloka up to Dhruvaloka. If the Sun is "drawing" water, isn't it possible for him to "draw it" all the way to Himself?