A guide for traveling through the cosmos
Our universe is divided into 14 planetary systems. Each planetary system is formed by millions of different planets or stars, but they are categorized by the level of consciousness of the inhabitants
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The Vedas explain that our universe is divided into 14 planetary systems. Each planetary system is formed by millions of different planets or stars, but they are categorized by the level of consciousness of the inhabitants. In the Vedic model, consciousness creates reality. The environment we live in, including the type of body and senses we have, is determined by our previous consciousness, and similarly, what we do now shapes our consciousness in a certain way, and that will determine where we go next. In this way, we continuously travel through these 14 planetary systems, following the wheel of saṁsāra.
The first seven planetary systems are the lower planetary systems, inhabited by the asuras, where materialism and godlessness are predominant. These places are compared to a pit because once one falls in, there are not many opportunities for getting out again. We live in the 8th planetary system, called Bhū-loka, the intermediate planetary system. Our planet, Bhārata-varsa, is special because it is a place where souls come to create a new set of karma that will influence their destiny for many lives ahead. That’s the universal test room, we can say, where we take a short life to prove ourselves. According to our desires and actions, we can be elevated or degraded to any place in the cosmos, or even go beyond it, reaching the border regions of the pradhāna, the effulgence of the impersonal brahmajyoti, or returning home, back to Godhead, in our eternal position in the spiritual world.
Upwards in relation to our plane is Bhuvarloka, inhabited by subtle beings, like Yakṣas and Rākṣasas. These are subtle regions rich in material opulence, under the control of Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods. The existence of Bhuvarloka introduces a concept that is very central in the model of the Vedas, which is the concept of multiple dimensions. This abode of Kuvera is very close to us; it is described as starting in the upper atmosphere. From our point of view, there is nothing there; it is just rarefied air that gradually becomes thinner as we go upwards. From their perspective, however, there are lakes, forests, and palaces. Because they live in a higher dimension, their bodies as well as their abode are made from a subtle, or refined, form of matter that is invisible to us. As a result, they can see us, but we can’t see them.
Human beings can gain access to their realm only through pious merit and purification of one's existence. There is no space probe or weapon that can force our way there.
Still higher is Svargaloka, the celestial system, where the demigods live. The description given in the Fifth Canto puts Svargaloka very far from us, beyond the Polestar, the abode of Maharaja Dhruva. The pious souls who take birth there can enjoy a life of great opulence for 10,000 years of the demigods. One day for them equals one year for us, resulting in an extremely long lifetime from our point of view.
Still higher are the planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Brahma-Loka, inhabited by highly elevated souls. Different from Svargaloka, these are not places for sensual enjoyment but places for advanced spiritual cultivation. Maharloka and Janaloka are inhabited by great sages who can perfectly control their senses and heartily worship the Lord through the performance of sacrifices
Sages living in Maharloka can stay there until the end of the day of Brahmā. When the day of Brahma ends, the fire emitted by Lord Ananta destroys all the lower planets of the universe, up to Svargaloka. The scale of the time given in the Bhāgavatam roughly corresponds to the phenomenon of the sun becoming a red giant and destroying our planet, which is studied in astrophysics.
Maharloka is not directly destroyed, but it becomes too hot even for the great sages who live there. The ones who are sufficiently qualified have at this point the possibility of ascending to the next planetary systems (Janaloka, Tapoloka, or Brahmaloka), according to their level of qualification, where they can live longer. The inhabitants of these three planetary systems are essentially deathless. They can continue living for trillions of years until the end of the universe.
Tapoloka is the abode of the four Kumāras, the four celibate sons of Brahmā, as well as other great yogis who spend their time in solitary meditation. Beyond this very subtle realm, there is Satyaloka, the abode of Lord Brahmā and the highest planetary system. Souls who attain this abode remain engaged in the worship of Lord Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu, together with Lord Brahmā, and normally go back to Godhead together with him at the end of his life, when the universe is finally destroyed.
A person may take his next birth in any of these planetary systems, according to his level of qualification. Great devotees are unrestricted. They can go to any planet they like, be it material or spiritual. Yogis generally don’t have access to the spiritual planets, but they can still transfer themselves to higher material planets, while materialists can’t go higher than Svargaloka, even if they are extraordinarily pious by material standards. More often than not, materialists just glide down to the lower planetary systems, where they become progressively more restricted.
People like to talk about the freedom of doing whatever they want, but this is not real freedom. In conditioned life, “doing whatever we want” means just following the dictates of the mind and senses, which is actually a form of slavery. Real freedom is attained when we cultivate spiritual knowledge and learn to control our senses.
In general, as one goes upwards, the desire to enjoy one’s senses is reduced, and by the time one reaches Satyaloka, it is almost completely gone, and one can go back to Godhead at the end of the universe together with Lord Brahmā. Devotees, however, are a special case. They hear about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and practice devotional service, and in this way tune up their consciousness directly to the reality of the spiritual world. Obtaining this higher taste, by the time they leave their bodies, they are not interested in anything more of this material world and are ready to go back home, back to Godhead.
There is, however, another, much longer path that yogis who are going upwards by their own power may take. After Satyaloka, there are the seven elemental coverings of the universe, respectively composed of elemental earth, water, fire, air, ether, mahat-tattva, and false ego, with each covering being ten times greater than the previous one. It’s described in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta that the personification of the material energy lives in each of these coverings, worshiping a different form of the Lord. Yogis who are in the ascending process can gradually go through each one of these coverings, where they have access to objects of sense gratification more refined than anything available inside the universe, enjoying very long lives without any trace of pain. In this way, the yogi can satisfy any remaining material desires he may still have.
An analogy that could be used to explain such a refined level of sense gratification is that of a pig eating and a person eating in an expensive restaurant. Both enjoy eating, but the enjoyment of the pig is very gross, while the enjoyment of the person is more refined. While in the coverings, the yogi has the understanding that there is nothing better to be enjoyed anywhere in the material universe; therefore, when he finally becomes tired of the enjoyment there, he doesn’t have any desire to return, just as a rich person eating in a restaurant does not desire to become a pig.
We can see that a yogi who goes through this gradual ascending path can also achieve perfection, but only after an extremely long period, after passing through the different planetary systems and all the seven coverings of the material universe, a process painfully slow.
A devotee, on the other hand, can directly go to the spiritual world by just serving Krsna and concentrating his mind on Him. This direct process of devotional service is the most auspicious and effective way of deliverance, and that’s the message of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. All the cosmological and metaphysical knowledge offered there is just to help us realize there is no better path and thus chalk the path of devotion with confidence.
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