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

Compiled by Mayesa dasa, edited by Gauragopala dasa.

Part One - The Chariot of the Sun is 28,800,000 miles long

You can begin the calculation in the following way. Fifth Canto Srimad Bhagavatam explains the "chariot of the sun" is 28,800,000 miles long. By several other verses, which give different figures, we can understand that the "chariot of the sun" has to be multiplied by 30.

This figure 30 is the number of muhurtas. (There are 30 muhurtas in a 24-hour period). 30 x 28,800,000 is 864,000,000, now this is the Sun at 23.5 degrees south. Similarly a figure is there in Bhagavatam 756,000,000, that is the Sun at 0 degrees celestial. Then the Sun goes to the north to 648,000,000.

All this means is that you can demonstrate this to yourself on a ball. Take only one-half of the ball and wrap something around it so that it gradually moves away from the center towards the top so that at every moment the Sun is moving up and closer to the Earth. This means that the Sun is further away when it goes to the south 23.5 degrees and closer as he moves northward.

This is also confirmed in Matsya Purana, that the Sun is gathering water from the entire universe up to Dhruvaloka. Therefore the Sun changes sizes as he moves up and down. In the spring and summer he is gathering water, then he releases the water. We do not notice any change in size because he changes distance.

The modern scientist speculates that the Sun is only a ball of gases, however, the Srimad Bhagavatam explains that a civilization lives there. What we see with telescopes and space probes is only a limited view of all the cosmos.

The fact is, our gross material senses and their material technological extensions that magnify the material universe around us are not seeing the universe in its full potential. That includes other higher and lower dimensional realities such as the Yamadutas when they come to detain an embodied soul encased in a subtle material body on the death of their gross biological body.

Modern material science therefore has not the eyes to see the Demigods' realities, that include the Sun Planet and his chariot as explained in the 5th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, nor can they see the clouds surrounding the Sun composed of water that the Sun has drawn there, as explained in the Matsya Puranas.

Part Two, Step One - Drawing the 'Chariot of the sun' diagram based on the descriptions found in 5th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam

How to draw a diagram of the Sun from the side explained in this way:

First take a square. (It will be helpful if you make it three or four inches on each side because we will be writing numbers under or on top of those lines later on) Then inside the square draw a circle. Where the circle touches the top and sides, draw lines. That divides the circle into four quadrants. It looks something like a gun site. (A square with a circle inside with a cross inside that.)

For this circle we will borrow the image of a clock to help us label its "points". I have already written how to draw it but let us go over it again. (I will also draw this out as I describe it where I am sitting typing this, so I do not make an error.) We shall label points where lines intersect as A, B, C, etc., then we can give the numbers of miles for these lines.

Where the two lines intersect in the middle of our circle will be point A. Where the horizontal middle line intersects the circle on the right will be B. (This is where the circle touches the square on the right.) At two 'o'clock we will make a point C.

Between two o'clock and three o'clock (on the clock face - the circle, exactly midway between C and B) make point D.

Draw a horizontal line from C to center vertical line. That point is E. Draw a horizontal line from point D to center vertical line. That is point F. We now have all our points. They should be on three parallel lines in the upper right quadrant of our circle.

We need two more lines.
Draw a line from point C to point F.
Draw a line from point F to point B.

We now have our points and lines. This is how to draw the diagram of the Sun from Srimad Bhagavatam. (It should look like two flags or pennants, one upside down and one right side up, the lower one larger and the upper one smaller.)

In the second step we will now insert numbers that are miles of distance.

Step Two - Constructing diagram of Chariot of the Sun

Now we shall write on top of or under our lines the numbers of the distances between all the points above.

Line AB is 137,509,870.8
Line BD is 56,400,000 (Although this line is circular it is called a line)
Line CD is 56,400,000 (Although this line is circular it is called a line)
Line FB is 149,946,415.4
Line FD is 120,321,137
Line AF is 59,790,993.67
Line FC is 112,459,811.5
Line EC is 103,132,403.1
Line EF is 44,843,245.13

NOTE:
The chariot of the sun in 5th Canto Bhagavatam is said to be 28,800,000. The meaning is that this is the Sun's greatest distance of movement in a muhurta. (There are 30 muhurtas in a 24-hour period.) He travels different distances every day. In fact, he loses 39,425 miles every muhurta, so that we can know the distance the next day. 864,000,000 minus (39,425 times 30) which is 862,817,250.

This will become obvious after you understand the math of the Sun's chariot diagram.

Step Three - Circumference of the Sun

If the circumference of the Sun is 28,800,000 times 30 = 864,000,000 we divided by 2 and by 3.141592654=137,509,870.8. That is line AB (The formula is circumference divided by 2 and by PI - Pi is 3.141592654. Pi is a number that has no end because there is always (theoretically) a measurement smaller on a circle). 137,509,870.8 divide by cos (23.5) is 149,946,415.3, that is line FB.

The formula we used is the formula for finding the hypotenuse of a right triangle if we know the bottom side. (Mathematicians have several different names for the bottom of a right triangle. I like to refer to it as the "floor" or "bottom". Hypotenuse I call the "roof" because it slants. Or I just call it hypotenuse. The smallest side I call the "wall." The hypotenuse squared minus the floor squared equals the wall. That gives us line AF. Line FD is 756,000,000 divide by 2 and divide by PI (We get the figure 756,000,000 from Vayu and Linga Puranas)

These math formulas can be used to get line EC and EF. In order to get the arc or circular lines on our diagram we divide 864,000,000 by 360.

(There are 360 degrees in a circle) Then we multiply that number by the degrees we wish to know. 864,000,000 divided by 360 times 23.5 = 56,400,000.

NOTE:
If we came from the outside of the universe at its top we would look down and see the Sun circling Meru (which would be the unmoving center of a circle) in a clockwise fashion.

We would see Meru in the center, then Earth out to its side (maybe stationary), then the moon circling Meru and the Earth in a clockwise fashion, then the Sun circling Meru and the moon and the Earth in a clockwise fashion etc.

That is not the diagram of the Sun.

The diagram of the Sun is what you would see if you came from outside of this universe from the side of the universe. The diagram is like a snapshot of the Sun's movement. But it is on a piece of paper or on a screen, which is flat (one dimensional) and does not show that the Sun is moving in three dimensions.

The Sun starts at point B and moves towards the viewer (leaving the page) and then to the left side of our square and then backs behind it; in this way it has a circular movement (three-dimensional).

This is described in the Bhagavatam as just like an axle that is fixed to the top of Meru. The Sun's circle is getting smaller everyday and he is moving northward at the same time. He continues like this until he reaches his highest height and begins to descend in the same matter. As he descends he begins to add 30 times 39,425 miles every 24 hours.

For those keeping track of this site, I have found a small mathematical error in my computations. It does not however appear to affect the entire formula. The method I have employed for finding a circumference is mentioned below. So here is the proper method for finding a circumference so that we can get perfect results. It affects four of the planets so now this revised formula will prove more perfect.

Formerly I have written that to get the highest circumference of a planet from its middle you multiply by the cos of the declination, however, this is the proper way to change circumference and make this mathematics final and clearer:

"If I want to know the Sun's 864,000,000 circumference at 23.5 degrees south I use this formula: 864,000,000 / 360 = 2,400,000 x (360- (23.5 X 1.913553055) = 756,000,000. The number 1.913553055 can always be used even when the declinations or circumferences are different. We shall present a paper summarizing all mathematical formulas at the end of these articles".

The chariots of the other planets and their distances can be derived from Bhagavatam also, as I have explained. The universe has an edge in every direction where the universe ends and the spiritual world begins.