Life on top of Mount Sumeru
The top of Sumeru Mountain is a celestial region, where Brahmā has his administrative city, from which he can oversee the management of Bhū-mandala performed by the Manus.
« Making Sense of the Vedic Universe, a Higher-Dimensional Reality
The chariot of the sun
The remaining verses of the 21st chapter describe the cosmic chariot of the sun and its retinue.
According to the numbers given, the cosmic chariot of the sun is much larger than the globe we see in the sky. This matches other parts of the description of only parts of Bhū-mandala and the universe itself being visible to us. The cosmic chariot described is visible in the higher dimensional level of the demigods. The sun globe we see in the sky is a gross section, or gross representation, the way it appears in this higher-dimensional reality. This may not appear very believable at first, but in the context of a multidimensional universe, it makes perfect sense. Another similar example is the moon, which is described as being larger than the sun, and being situated further away from our planet. This celestial moon, which is so great and is the abode of Soma, appears in our dimension in a reduced, gross form, as a small rocky sphere that orbits our planet.
As the sun-god moves around the sky, he is saluted and glorified by great sages, as well as demigods, Gandharvas, Apasaras, etc., who organize in different groups and take turns in his glorification, maintaining a process of continuous worship. The chariot is driven by Aruṇadeva, the brother of Garuḍa, who somehow drives the chariot on his back, keeping his front turned towards the sun-god. He is glorified by a retinue of sixty thousand great sages called Vālikhilyas, who appear to be the size of a thumb from his perspective. Accompanying them, there are seven pairs of Ṛṣis, Gandharvas, Apsarās, Nāgas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, and demigods who continuously perform different types of worship.
Life on top of Mount Sumeru
“The living entities residing on Sumeru Mountain are always very warm, as at midday, because for them the sun is always overhead. 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.” (SB 5.21.8)
The top of Sumeru Mountain is a celestial region, where Brahmā has his administrative city, from which he can oversee the management of Bhū-mandala performed by the Manus. Around this central city, there are many smaller cities that serve as administrative seats for the main demigods.
Different from other areas of Bhū-mandala, where days and nights are observed every 24 hours, the inhabitants of the top of Mount Sumeru see the sun circling overhead, similar to what can be observed on our planet in the region of the north pole during summer.
This verse also corroborates the whole explanation of the sun having two simultaneous movements. As the verse states, “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.”
The counterclockwise movement of the sun facing the constellations and with Sumeru on its left is made by the forward movement of the chariot of the sun. This is the annual movement through the zodiac that results in the seasons. At the same time, however, the sun is forced to move backwards in a circular motion at great speeds, a clockwise motion imposed by the dakṣiṇāvarta wind. In this movement, the sun travels with Sumeru on its right.
Because the backward movement is much faster, it appears that the sun is moving backward, even though it is constantly traveling forward. To understand that, we can imagine the situation of a person walking through the aisle of a plane, front to back. In this case, the person is walking forward at a speed of maybe 5 km/h, while the plane is moving in the opposite direction at 900 km/h. For another person inside the plane, the person moves forward, but from the perspective of someone looking from the ground, the same person appears to be moving backwards, since the movement of the plane is much faster.
In summary, the daily rotation of the sun is produced by the cosmic kāla-cakra, centered on Dhruvaloka, while the motion through the zodiac signs belongs to the sun’s independent chariot.
Bhāgavatam confirms: the earth is a globe
“People living in countries at points diametrically opposite to where the sun is first seen rising will see the sun setting, and if a straight line were drawn from a point where the sun is at midday, the people in countries at the opposite end of the line would be experiencing midnight. Similarly, if people residing where the sun is setting were to go to countries diametrically opposite, they would not see the sun in the same condition.” (SB 5.21.9)
This verse confirms the spherical nature of our planet, and explains how this is key for our experience of days and nights due to the daily movement of the sun. This is different from the experience of the inhabitants of the summit of Mount Sumeru, a flat surface where it’s always day.
This description also supports the point made by Prabhupāda in his conclusions about the model of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, of the other tracts of land described in the model of Bhū-mandala being separate planets, which are connected by subtle pathways, since the description implies that the nature of days and nights should be consistent in the whole Bhū-mandala, or, in other words, similar to our planet. The only way for this model to work is for all the other varṣas of Bhū-mandala to also be globes, just as our planet. Somehow all these different globes are connected, forming the structure that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prabhupāda confirms this conclusion in his introduction to chapter 21: “Sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight occur in all these places because of the movements of the sun. Diametrically opposite the place where the sunrise takes places and the sun is seen by human eyes, the sun will be setting and passing away from human vision. Similarly, the people residing diametrically opposite the point where it is midday will be experiencing midnight. The sun rises and sets with all the other planets, headed by the moon and other luminaries.”
The fact that Śukadeva Goswami connects this with the point about it always being day on top of Mount Sumeru is also significant, for it distinguishes the experience of demigods living there from the humans living in the earthly heavens of Bhū-mandala. If the other inhabitants of Bhū-mandala would also live on a flat surface and see the sun constantly circling overhead, there would be no practical difference between them, and the point raised by Śukadeva Goswami would become meaningless.
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« Making Sense of the Vedic Universe, a Higher-Dimensional Reality
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