How Prabhupāda gave us the keys to understand Vedic cosmology
Prabhupāda asked his disciples to locate Indian astronomers who could help explain Vedic cosmology, but none of them were able able to help. Eventually, Prabhupada explained it himself.
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At the time Śrīla Prabhupāda was commenting on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the meaning of the description of Bhū-Mandala in the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam was a mystery. Prabhupāda asked his disciples to try to locate Indian astronomers who could help him to explain and build a model of the structure for the Vedic Planetarium, but none of them were able to give any practical help.
Later on, Prabhupāda gave the keys for understanding the description in a letter containing his final conclusions on the structure of the Vedic Universe, and practical instructions to build a visual model of the Vedic universe for the temple of the Vedic planetarium in Mayapur (Svarupa Damodara, April 27, 1976).
What does it say?
“My final decision is that the universe is just like a tree, with root upwards. Just as a tree has branches and leaves so the universe is also composed of planets which are fixed up in the tree like the leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. of the tree. The pivot is the pole star, and the whole tree is rotating on this pivot. Mount Sumeru is the center, trunk, and is like a steep hill, like the alps mountains which also have very high peaks. I have seen in Switzerland one mountain peak which was so high that is penetrated through the clouds. The tree is turning and therefore, all the branches and leaves turn with the tree. The planets have their fixed orbits, but still they are turning with the turning of the great tree. There are pathways leading from one planet to another made of gold, copper, etc., and these are like the branches. Distances are also described in the 5th Canto just how far one planet is from another.
We can see that at night, how the whole planetary system is turning around, the pole star being the pivot. Each planet has its orbit fixed but the sun is moving up and down, north and south. It is not that we shall accept the theory that the sun is fixed up and the others are all going around the sun. That is not correct. Even the 7th star is rotating once around the pole star in each 24 hours. The whole universe is just like a big tree, that is a fact. I do not think that the modern astronomers have any such idea that the whole universe is like a big tree. The planets which are full of living entities are one after another, one above the other. The relative positions of the planets is fixed up but the whole thing is turning. The sun is going north and south, it has its own orbit below the moon. So now you all Ph.D.’s must carefully study the details of the 5th Canto and make a working model of the universe. If we can explain the passing seasons, eclipses, phases of the moon, passing of day and night, etc. then it will be very powerful propaganda.”
Here, Prabhupāda gives the keys for understanding the whole cosmological model of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, finding the answers to the questions that baffled Vedic astronomers for centuries. The conclusions given by Prabhupāda in this letter can be summarized as follows:
a) The universe has the form of an inverted tree, just as Kṛṣṇa describes in the Bhagavad-gītā, with Brahmaloka situated at the root and the other planetary systems below it, forming the trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, etc. of this universal tree. This describes the basic organization of the planetary systems, forming a tree-like structure. Dhruvaloka is central in this model, serving as the central pivot.
b) This analogy of the universe as a tree, or as a chandelier, helps us to understand another important feature of the Vedic universe: the whole structure of stars, planets, and other visible objects rotates. In modern astronomy, it is believed that the entire galaxy slowly rotates around its center. In the Vedic model, however, the whole structure rotates at enormous speeds, with the entire structure rotating around the central axis of Dhruvaloka once every 24 hours. This rotation is the detail that explains the passage of days and nights in the model. This is the detail, indicated by Prabhupāda, that makes the model functional.
c) In modern astronomy, it is believed that the Earth rotates around the Sun because the Sun is much more massive than the Earth and the other planets. In the Vedic model, however, our planet is stationary, and the Sun rotates. The reason is that our planet is part of the structure of Bhū-mandala, which is much larger than the Sun.
d) The rotation of the Sun around Bhū-mandala corresponds to the passages of the seasons, while the daily rotation of the whole structure around Dhruvaloka explains the passage of the days and nights. Śukadeva Goswami describes this model in chapter 5.21 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, but the explanation is very hard to follow. Maharaja Parīkṣit himself asks for clarification on SB 5.22.1.
e) Mount Sumeru, at the center of Bhū-mandala, is right at the center of the tree, aligned with the pivot of Dhruvaloka. It is surrounded by many other mountains described in chapter 5.16, as well as other structures of Bhū-mandala. Our planet is a little to the south of this structure, as part of Bhārata-varṣa.
f) Prabhupāda mentions that “The tree is turning and therefore, all the branches and leaves turn with the tree. The planets have their fixed orbits, but still they are turning with the turning of the great tree.” This is a very delicate part of the model.
In SB 5.21.8-9, Śukadeva Goswami mentions that “Although the sun moves counterclockwise, facing the constellations, with Sumeru Mountain on its left, it also moves clockwise and appears to have the mountain on its right because it is influenced by the dakṣiṇāvarta wind.”
How can the sun move in two directions at the same time, moving simultaneously clockwise and counterclockwise?
This is exactly the point that confuses Maharaja Parīkṣit and leads him to enquire on SB 5.22.1. What at first sounds absurd is precisely the passage that reveals the delicate point made by Prabhupāda: The sun moves simultaneously in two directions, creating both the transitions of day and night and the cycles of the seasons. In the annual orbit around Mount Sumeru, the Sun moves counterclockwise, with Sumeru Mountain on its left. This movement is perceived on our planet as the sun moving up and down in the sky with the passage of the seasons.
In the other movement, the sun moves clockwise, together with the rest of the universe around Dhruvaloka, with Mount Sumeru on its right. This movement is much faster, taking just 24 hours to be completed, and is perceived on our planet as the passage of days and nights.
The same dual movement is found in the other planets and stars. They have their independent orbits in relation to each other, but at the same time, they move all together once per day around Dhruvaloka, following the movement of the whole sky. Prabhupāda reinforces this by saying that “We can see that at night, how the whole planetary system is turning around, the pole star being the pivot. Each planet has its orbit fixed but the sun is moving up and down, north and south.”
g) All the parts of the universe, and even Bhū-mandala itself, are composed of different planets. However, these planets are connected by interplanetary pathways that allow inhabitants who are sufficiently advanced to go from one planet to the other, giving the idea of the structure forming a continuous area as described in the Fifth Canto. Bhū-Mandala is compared to a lotus, where the different varṣas correspond to different petals of the flower. Prabhupāda concludes that these are different planets, but they are connected to each other. Other inhabitants of Bhū-mandala, as well as advanced human beings from previous ages, used to be able to move freely from one varṣa to another of Bhū-mandala, and sometimes even to other planetary systems, but because we lack the qualification and the appropriate set of senses, we can’t even perceive these other abodes. We end up thus with the impression we are alone in the universe, as believed by many, since we can’t see or contact anyone else.
h) In the Vedic model, all planets are inhabited. Even the other planets of our solar system, including the Sun and the Moon, are celestial abodes, inhabited by advanced civilizations. However, even if we go there, we see only rocks and dust, since we lack the qualification to see and experience their refined reality. This is the point behind the failure in the space programs of different countries in detecting life outside of our planet. They are using the wrong process, relying in sensors and machines, instead of the elevation of their consciousness. Without following the proper process, even if we somehow break free of the gravity of our planet and reach other planets and stars, we continue imprisoned in our gross reality and can’t see anything apart from dust and rocks.
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