The Earth and the extended Earth, and the place of our planet in the Vedic universe
The Bharata-Varsa described in the Vedas is different from our sensory experience. For us, the Earth is just a small planet that is floating in space. This brings us to the concept of extended Earth.
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the intermediate planetary system as a series of concentric islands called Bhu-Mandala, which has a circumference of two billion miles. At the center, there is the island of Jambūdvīpa, which is 800,000 miles in diameter. In the south of Jambūdvīpa, there is Bharata-Varsa, which is the tract of land where human beings live.
Bharata-Varsa, the tract of land where the Pandavas and other kings mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam ruled, is part of Bhu-Mandala, situated to the south of Jambūdvīpa, the central island. This is, however, different from our sensory experience. For us, the Earth is just a small planet that is floating in space.
Our planet, the way we experience it in Kali-yuga, is often also called Bharata-Varsa, but it is not exactly the same Bharata-Varsa where the Pandavas were living. The place where human beings of previous ages were living is a higher-dimensional space, to which we currently don't have direct access. Our planet is some kind of projection of Bharata-Varsa in the gross dimension where we live. Some believe our planet is just one of the nine islands that form Bharata-Varsa (Aindra, Kaśeru, Tāmraparṇa, Gabhastimat, Kumārikā, Nāga, Saumya, Vāruṇa, and Gāndharva), which is also plausible.
The pastimes of the Mahabharata, as well as other events that happened in the previous eras, happened in the higher-dimensional Bharata-Varsa, which is part of Bhu-Mandala. This explains why the geographical features described in the Mahabharata are different from our world. It's mentioned in the Mahabharata that Bharata-Varsa, where the Pandavas lived, is 72,000 miles (9,000 yojanas) from north to south, 640,000 miles (80,000 yojanas) from west to east, and the Himalayas were 80,000 miles high, for example, which is many times larger than our planet.
More details about this higher-dimensional Bharata Varsa are given in the Skanda Purana (7.1.11.6-14) in a conversation between Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi:
"What is remembered as Jambūdvīpa is exactly at the center of the Earth. It is divided into nine regions, O beautiful woman, known as the different varsas. The first is called Bharata Varsa, and is also divided into nine parts. From south to north it measures 9,000 yojanas (72,000 miles). The distance from east to west is 80,0000 yojanas (640,000 miles). It has the Himalayas to the north and the salty ocean to the south, west and east. O goddess, Bharata, the excellent ksetra, is in between. It is affected by four yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. The division of yugas exists only here, as well as the classification of the people into four varnas. This Bhārata Varṣa is the seed of everything, O lady of a beautiful face, It is Karma-bhūmi [the place where karma is created]. The consequences of incurring merit and sins are not obtained elsewhere."
As we can see, Bharata-Varsa is many times larger than our planet. These dimensions explain the gigantic armies and populations that are described in the Mahabharata. Jarasanda, for example, attacked Mathura 17 times, each with an army composed of 23 akṣauhiṇīs. That's more than 80 million soldiers in total. This means that the total population, just in the kingdom of Jarasanda, was several billion people.
Although just a small part of Jambūdvīpa, Bharata-Varsa is considered extremely important because it is the place where the souls take birth to create a new set of Karma that they will enjoy or suffer in their next lives. All the other abodes that constitute Bhu-Mandala, as well as the higher and lower planetary systems, are places where the souls who have some pious merits take birth to enjoy the results. There are three types of heavens:
a) The heavens of Svargaloka, where the demigods live.
b) The earthly heavens of Bhu-Mandala, where the souls who are coming down to earth take a last birth to enjoy their remaining piety.
c) The Bila-svarga, the subterranean heavens, where pious demons live.
In all these places, souls who have some pious merits enjoy this piety as human beings, demigods, lower demigods, demons, or celestial serpents, according to their inclinations. When these pious credits are exhausted, they take a new birth as human beings in Bharata-Varsa to accumulate a new set of Karma. What they do then determines where they are going next.
Because souls of the whole universe have to take birth here to accumulate their new set of Karma, time in Bharata-Varsa is divided into four eras: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Souls with different propensities take birth in these different ages. Satya-yuga is the place for pure souls who are on the way to the higher planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Satyaloka. Treta and Dvāpara-yuga are for souls who have fruitive tendencies and have thus an opportunity to execute sacrifices and be elevated to Svargaloka, and Kali-yuga is the place for the sinful souls who are en route to the hellish planets or to animal life, but have an opportunity to be saved by the Saṅkīrtana movement of Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
To facilitate the progress of the souls and regulate their activities, human beings in Bharata-Varsa are divided into Brahmanas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Sudras, and each group receives specific duties according to their nature. Varṇāśrama is not necessary for Satya-yuga, because at that age, everyone is a Brahma by qualification. It enters into effect in Treta-yuga and the system gradually decays in Kali-yuga.
Human beings of the previous age, up to Dvāpara-yuga, live in the higher-dimensional space of Bhu-Mandala and have access to the other tracts of land that compose Jambūdvīpa. However, in Kali-yuga, we live in a gross dimension and don't have access to these higher realms. According to Sridhara Swami, the original commentator of the Srimad Bhagavatam, even time for us is different from the rest of Bhu-Mandala. What is one year in Bhu-Mandala is two years for us.
Our planet is the only part of Bhu-Mandala that is visible in our gross dimension. Just like the moon we see in the sky is a projection of the celestial moon in our gross dimension, our planet is a projection of Bharata-Varsa in our gross dimension. Certain places, like Badarikāśrama, Kuruksetra, Naimiṣāraṇya, and so on, exist simultaneously in both the higher-dimensional Bharata-Varsa and our planet, but only people with the necessary qualification can gain access to the higher-dimensional space.
The same applies to all holy places. Vrindavana, for example, exists both in the spiritual sky and here on our planet. Pure devotees have access to the spiritual Vrindavana, while others see Vrindavana as just a city part of our planet and have no access to the spiritual reality that exists there. The same applies to Mayapur and the other holy places.
Because our planet is the only visible part of Bhu-mandala in our gross dimension, the word "mahīm" is used in the Srimad Bhagavatam both in the sense of the whole Bhu-mandala (the extended earth) and in the sense of "the earth" or the "earth globe", meaning our planet.
There are thus the concepts of "earth" in the sense of our planet, as it exists in the gross dimension, and "earth" as the extended earth, or Bhu-Mandala, as it exists in a higher dimensional space. Both exist simultaneously, and human beings have access to one or another according to their level of spiritual realization.
Vyasadeva and the other sages living in Badarikāśrama, for example, live in the higher dimension. Although Badarikāśrama is a place that can be accessed from our planet through the Himalayas, it is part of the higher-dimensional space of Bhu-Mandala, and thus is not accessible to ordinary people. Only a few very advanced souls may be able to access it in the current age, as was the case with Madhvacarya, who was able to reach Badarikāśrama through the Himalayas and receive personal instructions from Vyasadeva. That's why Madhvacarya appears in the Parampara as a disciple of Vyasadeva, although he lived just about 800 years ago.
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Hare krishna prabhu, this explains a lot of things now. It explains how prabhupad could see jambudwip, how ravan was constructing stairs to celestial planets etc. Very interesting description thank you very much for sharing your insights with us.
Thanks for that imagery and write up. Personally, I think the ancients had it much more right than we do today with the science nonsense that keeps changing it's numbers theories and statistics. I think this model of the earth is much closer to truth than any floating ball in so-called space. Own observations and well as fringe scientist give very credible evidence that the earth isn't a spinning ball but a flat disc, like they were taught in the wisdom schools of the old.