Mount Sumeru: The golden mountain
Incredible as it may sound, Sumeru is a gigantic mountain made of solid gold that has a height of 100,000 yojanas and the form of an inverted cone, planted on the center of Jambudvipa.
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In the cosmological model described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mount Sumeru is the defining feature of Jambūdvīpa, the central island of Bhū-mandala.
Incredible as it may sound, it is a gigantic mountain made of solid gold, that has a height of 100,000 yojanas (the same as the length and breadth of the island) and the form of an inverted cone. In other words, it is upside down. The last 16,000 yojanas of the narrow part of Sumeru are set into the ground, leaving 84,000 on the visible part above-ground. Taking the visible part, Sumeru is 16,000 yojanas in width at the base and 32,000 yojanas at the summit.
Mount Sumeru is what makes Jambūdvīpa look like a lotus. The appearance of the mountain, combined with the other mountain ranges around it, also makes the island look like an arena for the performance of yajñas, reminding all the inhabitants of the real purpose of life.
Mount Sumeru and its surroundings are described in chapter 5.16 of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:
“On the four sides of the great mountain known as Sumeru are four mountains — Mandara, Merumandara, Supārśva and Kumuda — which are like its belts. The length and height of these mountains are calculated to be 10,000 yojanas [80,000 miles].
Standing like flagstaffs on the summits of these four mountains are a mango tree, a rose apple tree, a kadamba tree and a banyan tree. Those trees are calculated to have a width of 100 yojanas [800 miles] and a height of 1,100 yojanas [8,800 miles]. Their branches also spread to a radius of 1,100 yojanas.
O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the Bharata dynasty, between these four mountains are four huge lakes. The water of the first tastes just like milk; the water of the second, like honey; and that of the third, like sugarcane juice. The fourth lake is filled with pure water. The celestial beings such as the Siddhas, Cāraṇas and Gandharvas, who are also known as demigods, enjoy the facilities of those four lakes. Consequently they have the natural perfections of mystic yoga, such as the power to become smaller than the smallest or greater than the greatest. There are also four celestial gardens named Nandana, Caitraratha, Vaibhrājaka and Sarvatobhadra.
The best of the demigods, along with their wives, who are like ornaments of heavenly beauty, meet together and enjoy within those gardens, while their glories are sung by lesser demigods known as Gandharvas.” (SB 5.16.11-15)
When we hear such descriptions, mentioning mountains that are 80,000 miles high and so on, our first reaction may be to try to reason how this can be possible, creating different mental arguments to prove or disprove it. In his purport to 5.16.10, however, Prabhupāda sets the correct mentality: we can’t properly understand even the features of our own planet, let alone other parts of the cosmos, that we can’t even perceive. Most of us understand very little about our surroundings, even considering just mundane knowledge. The best we can do in this context is to begin with the descriptions from the scriptures and the explanations of self-realized ācāryas, and then interpret other information in that light, trying to see the universe as a manifestation of the wonderful potencies of Kṛṣṇa, instead of a dead wasteland, as concluded by modern theories.
The layout of Bhū-mandala, with a gigantic, cone-shaped mountain made of solid gold, planted into the soil upside-down in the exact middle of a set of concentric rings, doesn’t appear to make much sense following the framework of the universe appearing by chance, but it makes perfect sense in the context of an all-powerful God with an artistic sense crafting the material world as an inverted reflection of the spiritual realm. As he mentions, “If we can appreciate the extensive energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that will benefit us.”
Sumeru is a very tall mountain, widening upward, like an inverted cone. Part of it is planted within the ground, but it has four subsidiary mountains standing as supporting braces on the four sides. These four mountains, named Mandara (to the east), Merumandara (to the south), Supārśva (to the west), and Kumuda (to the north), are similarly shaped. They are 10,000 yojanas tall and 10,000 yojanas in length. They are, however, narrower in width (shaped like canine teeth), fitting inside the space of 9,000 yojanas on each side between Sumeru and the adjacent mountains.
There are four huge trees on top of these four mountains, like flagstaffs. The size of these trees gives an idea about the colossal scale of Bhū-mandala. Each of these trees is 1,100 yojanas tall, and the branches spread on a radius of 1,100 yojanas. For comparison, the diameter of the Earth is 7,918 miles, or 989.75 yojanas. In other words, each of these cosmic trees is larger than our planet in diameter!
Between the four supporting mountains, there are four celestial lakes and four celestial gardens, creating a luxuriant celestial environment that serves as a place of enjoyment for different classes of lower demigods, such as the Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Gandharvas, as well as the many servants of Bhavānī, the wife of Lord Śiva.
The waters of these lakes taste, respectively, like milk, honey, sugarcane juice, and pure water. It’s not just about taste, however: these waters grant the natural perfections of mystic yoga, such as the power to become smaller than the smallest or greater than the greatest.
There is a certain hierarchy in the division of Bhū-mandala. The closer to the center, the higher the standard of living. The external parts of the structure are inhabited by human beings who have a similar standard of living as the inhabitants of Treta-yuga, while the ones who live at the very center, in Ilāvṛta-varṣa, live practically like demigods.
Bhārata-varṣa, however, is a special case, a place where souls who have exhausted the results of their past activities come to perform activities and accumulate a new set of karma that will bring them either upwards or downwards. To accommodate souls in different stages of spiritual evolution, Bhārata-varṣa goes through the sequence of Satya-yuga, Tretā-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga, and Kali-yuga.
The central region of Ilāvṛta-varṣa is generally not accessible to human beings and to the other inhabitants of Bhū-mandala. Only the ones who have the necessary qualifications can enter there. It is described that Kardama Muni and Devahūti, for example, visited these regions during their honeymoon in their flying castle. Apart from upa-devas, like the Siddhas and Cāraṇas, as well as especially qualified yogīs, like Kardama Muni, this place also serves as a resort region for the higher demigods, who come to enjoy themselves there accompanied by their wives. When they do so, they are served by the Gandharvas.
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