The daily movement of the sun around the Mānasottara path

The sun also moves around Mānasottara Mountain, also circling Mount Sumeru, but now much faster and in a clockwise rotation, resulting in the passage of days and nights.

« Making Sense of the Vedic Universe, a Higher-Dimensional Reality

The daily movement of the sun around the Mānasottara path

“Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued; My dear King, as stated before, the learned say that the sun travels over all sides of Mānasottara Mountain in a circle whose length is 95,100,000 yojanas [760,800,000 miles]. On Mānasottara Mountain, due east of Mount Sumeru, is a place known as Devadhānī, possessed by King Indra. Similarly, in the south is a place known as Saṁyamanī, possessed by Yamarāja, in the west is a place known as Nimlocanī, possessed by Varuṇa, and in the north is a place named Vibhāvarī, possessed by the moon-god. Sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight occur in all those places according to specific times, thus engaging all living entities in their various occupational duties and also making them cease such duties.” (SB 5.21.7)

The previous verses described the annual orbit of the sun, where it moves counterclockwise around Mount Sumeru, on a tilted path, keeping the mountain on its left side. This movement is produced by the chariot of the sun moving forward, facing the signs of the zodiac, resulting in the passage of the seasons and the gradual shift in the duration of days and nights.

Now, text seven describes the daily orbit of the sun around Mānasottara Mountain, also circling Mount Sumeru, but now much faster and in a clockwise rotation, resulting in the passage of days and nights. In this daily movement, the sun moves in the opposite direction, keeping Mount Sumeru on its right.

If we follow the analogy of the sun as a chariot, given later on, with one axle fixed to the top of Mount Sumeru and the other running on the Mānasottara path, the orbit of the sun over Bhū-mandala would look like this, with the sun circling daily on the region of the yogurt-ocean:

This is a very simplified diagram. It can help us understand this daily movement of the sun, but at the same time it is misleading, because it gives the idea of a fixed path. The sun does indeed go around every day, but simultaneously there is the annual movement of the sun facing the constellations that we already studied. This second, simultaneous movement, makes the sun gradually move to the north and south of the equator of Bhū-mandala as the year passes. The two movements go on simultaneously, creating the days and nights and also the seasons.

This is exactly the point about the sun moving both clockwise and counterclockwise that confuses Maharaja Parīkṣit, leading him to ask on 5.22.1, “How can we reasonably accept that the sun-god proceeds with Sumeru and Dhruvaloka on both his left and right simultaneously?“

Let’s try to understand how the model works.

At first, the idea of the sun moving clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time sounds absurd, but the model actually works. The point is that while the chariot of the sun moves in one direction, going north and south, facing the constellations, it is forced to move in a different direction by the movement of the whole sky around Dhruvaloka (the polestar). This movement is not produced by the sun itself, but by the rotation of the whole sky (kāla-cakra) established by the Lord.

This is a mysterious, but critical point to be understood in Vedic cosmology: all luminaries have similar dual movements. One movement is independent, according to their orbits in relation to each other, and another is caused by the daily rotation of the whole sky around Dhruvaloka.

How does it work? One example that can be given is a whirlwind, where all the particles of dust move following the general movement of the wind, but at the same time move in relation to each other. Another example is ants moving on top of a potter’s wheel rotating at great speed (an example Śukadeva Goswami will use later).

Again, it may sound implausible that the whole sky may move and circle Bhū-mandala daily, but that’s the whole point of the Vedic model. It is not about physics, but about the desire of the Lord. He is the one who makes the rules. Even if we prefer to accept the modern cosmological model, we should agree that the Vedic model properly describes the movement of the sun, planets and stars from a geocentric perspective (matching what we see when we look to the sky) and that in a higher-dimensional reality, the model can be observed by demigods and other higher beings exactly as described.

In this way, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam not only describes a higher dimensional reality, but gives us a theistic model for the movement of the luminaries in the sky. If we get used to meditating on the movements of the sun, planets and stars following this description, as a wonderful creation that reflects the artistic sense of the Supreme Lord, this will help us in our spiritual development.

“When the sun travels from Devadhānī, the residence of Indra, to Saṁyamanī, the residence of Yamarāja, it travels 23,775,000 yojanas [190,200,000 miles] in fifteen ghaṭikās [six hours]. From the residence of Yamarāja the sun travels to Nimlocanī, the residence of Varuṇa, from there to Vibhāvarī, the residence of the moon-god, and from there again to the residence of Indra. In a similar way, the moon, along with the other stars and planets, becomes visible in the celestial sphere and then sets and again becomes invisible.” (SB 5.21.10-11)

Text seven described that the circuit of the sun around Mānasottara Mountain is 95,100,000 yojanas in length. In each of the four directions of this circuit, there is a different abode, ruled over by one of the principal demigods. In its daily rotation around Dhruvaloka, following the movement of the kāla-cakra, the sun takes six hours to travel the 23,775,000 yojanas from one point to the other, resulting in the four divisions of the day: sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight.

Thus, the Bhāgavatam gives us a map of the sun’s daily circuit around Mānasottara and how each stage is perceived by us:

Devadhānī (east—Indra): sunrise

Saṁyamanī (south—Yama): midday

Nimlocanī (west–Varuṇa): sunset

Vibhāvarī (north–Candra): midnight

Back to Devadhānī: sunrise

This is the Bhāgavatam explanation for the concept of time zones in the model of a spherical earth. People in different parts of the planet see the sun rising and setting at different times, and this same system affects not only our planet, but all the varṣas of Bhū-mandala. The passage of time is thus a continuous, unbroken cycle, connected with the kāla-cakra, the wheel of the Lord.

What about the mention of the moon, together with the other stars and planets? They all follow similar daily cycles, orbiting around Dhruvaloka, rising and setting at their allotted times. The sun is the chief, but all the other luminaries follow the same orderly procession.

For a modern astronomer, it may be more comfortable to presume that the cycles of days and nights happen because of the rotation of the earth, rather than imagine that the whole sky rotates, but again, the point made in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that all of it happens by the order of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that when He orders the whole sky to rotate once a day around the planet of His pure devotee, Dhruva, the stars and planets have no choice but to obey.

Another meaning of the passing of days and nights is that it is the arrangement of the Lord to engage all living beings in their respective prescribed duties. Waking up at certain times, working at certain times, worshiping at certain times, and so on.

In his purport to text eleven, Prabhupāda repeats a few important conclusions about the Vedic model of the universe that are offered in other passages:

“In Bhagavad-gītā (10.21) Kṛṣṇa says, nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī: “Of stars I am the moon.” This indicates that the moon is similar to the other stars. The Vedic literature informs us that within this universe there is one sun, which is moving. The Western theory that all the luminaries in the sky are different suns is not confirmed in the Vedic literature. Nor can we assume that these luminaries are the suns of other universes, for each universe is covered by various layers of material elements, and therefore although the universes are clustered together, we cannot see from one universe to another. In other words, whatever we see is within this one universe. In each universe there is one Lord Brahmā, and there are other demigods on other planets, but there is only one sun.”

This can be summarized in three points:

a) The stars in the Vedic model have a different nature from what is believed in modern cosmology. They are not described as independent suns like in modern cosmology, but rather as reflecting the light of the sun, or emitting light through other processes. The Vedic universe is still huge, but it is smaller in scale than believed in modern theories.

b) There is only one sun per universe, which somehow illuminates not only the earth, but all intermediate planets simultaneously. Somehow, different planets appear to be far away to us, scattered around the cosmos, but in the higher-dimensional structure described in the Purāṇas, they somehow come close. Thus, their inhabitants see the sun rising and setting daily, just as we do. We will explore a possible explanation for how this appears in our gross reality in the topic about exoplanets.

c) Everything we see in the sky is part of our own universe. Other universes are isolated from ours by the universal coverings. This rejects the interpretation that each solar system may be a separate universe.

With this, we can continue with the description of Sukadeva Gosvami:

“Thus the chariot of the sun-god, which is trayīmaya, or worshiped by the words om bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, travels through the four residences mentioned above at a speed of 3,400,800 yojanas [27,206,400 miles] in a muhūrta.” (SB 5.21.12)

The sun is not just a physical object (as believed by materialists), nor just the planet of a demigod (as believed by Vedic karma-kandis). Ultimately, the sun is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord, who pervades it as Surya-Narāyana. The sun, as a planet, is just His abode, and the demigod of the sun, His servant. When the Vedas describe the sun-god, they actually describe the Supreme Lord.

The special property of the sun is to reflect the light of the impersonal Brahmājyoti, converting it into visible light that illuminates the whole universe. As Prabhupāda concludes, there is just one sun per universe, because no other material planet or star has this property. This also explains how stars which are extremely far away can still reflect the light of the sun. It is not about mere physical light.

“The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as Saṁvatsara. The twelve months are calculated to be its twelve spokes, the six seasons are the sections of its rim, and the three cātur-māsya periods are its three-sectioned hub. One side of the axle carrying the wheel rests upon the summit of Mount Sumeru, and the other rests upon Mānasottara Mountain. Affixed to the outer end of the axle, the wheel continuously rotates on Mānasottara Mountain like the wheel of an oil-pressing machine.

As in an oil-pressing machine, this first axle is attached to a second axle, which is one-fourth as long [3,937,500 yojanas, or 31,500,000 miles]. The upper end of this second axle is attached to Dhruvaloka by a rope of wind.” (SB 5.21.13)

The sun is described as a chariot in the sense of a carrier, or vehicle, and not as an earthen chariot made of wood. This divine vehicle is called trayīmaya (trayī = the three Vedas, maya = pervaded by). When we chant the gāyatrī mantra, starting with the words Om bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, we worship this manifestation of the Supreme Lord, which illuminates the three worlds and travels at great speeds around the cosmos.

The verse mentions that the sun travels 3,400,800 yojanas per muhūrta (48 minutes), which follows the same figures given in text seven. There are 30 muhūrtas in 24 hours, and thus, 3,400,800 yojanas multiplied by 30 results in the same 95,100,000 yojanas per day mentioned there.

As also mentioned previously, the axis of the sun is connected to Mount Sumeru on one side, and Mānasottara Mountain on the other. Following the analogy of the chariot, the annual movement of the sun is compared to a wheel, known as Saṁvatsara. Just as the sun is not literally a chariot made of wood, this wheel is not literally a wheel running on top of a mountain. The verse uses it as a metaphor to explain the solar year: “The twelve months are calculated to be its twelve spokes, the six seasons are the sections of its rim, and the three cātur-māsya periods are its three-sectioned hub.”

In this metaphor, the whole year is compared to a rotating wheel, with each rotation corresponding to one solar year (or one circle of the sun facing the constellations). The wheel has twelve spokes, which correspond to the twelve months, and the rim is divided into six connected sections, which correspond to the six seasons of the Vedic calendar: Vasanta (spring), Grīṣma (summer), Varṣā (rainy), Śarad (autumn), Hemanta (pre-winter), and Śiśira (winter). The central hub is composed of three joined sections, which correspond to the three cāturmāsya periods of four months each.

In this way, the verse teaches that the movement of the sun is not random. It is aligned with the performance of dharma through the performance of one’s duties in agriculture, worship, etc. Just as the sun moves in the sky following the order of the Lord, we should also move, performing our duties according to the times of the day and seasons of the year, according to the prescriptions of the scriptures.

The sun is thus called trayīmaya because its course embodies the structure of the Vedas. We should also follow this structure by performing our prescribed duties.

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