What exactly is our planet in the Vedic model of the universe?
When we study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are faced with a description of the universe that sounds challenging, to say the least. Where is our planet in it?
When we study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are faced with a description of the universe that sounds challenging, to say the least. In the description of Śukadeva Gosvami, the universe is divided into 14 planetary systems, and we live in the 7th one from top to bottom: Bhū-loka.
Our planetary system is then described as being composed of a structure of cosmic islands called Bhū-mandala that don’t fit anything we can see when we look to the sky.
Taking the description literally, our planetary system is supposed to look something like this:
This, however, is not what we see when we look to the sky. How to understand that?
In his purports, Prabhupāda concludes that Bhū-mandala is not formed by solid islands but is in reality formed by different planets, compared with islands floating in space. The islands that compose Bhū-mandala thus describe the general positions or orbits of these planets. They are not exactly solid blocks of land.
Another point is that the model is multidimensional. For example, it is described that below the orbit of Rāhu, there are planetary abodes of the Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Vidyādharas, the lower demigods. These planets are very close to us in the Vedic model, less than 10,000 yojanas (80,000 miles) above, but they are invisible to us. Between these abodes and our planet are the subtle realms of the Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Piśācas, and evil spirits, which start in the upper atmosphere. However, we can’t see any of these abodes. For us, these regions are composed of just rarefied air. This indicates that their bodies and their abodes are composed of some sort of subtle matter that we can’t interact with in our current bodies. The same appears to apply to the rest of Bhū-mandala, as well as the abodes of the demigods. These are all higher-dimensional abodes we don’t have direct access to.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura provided many details about the Vedic model of the universe in his Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, his early work on Vedic astronomy. In his purport to CC Madhya 20.218, Prabhupāda quotes two verses that provide details on the islands that form Bhū-mandala and the varṣas that compose Jambūdvīpa:
“The seven islands are mentioned in the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi:
bhūmer ardhaṁ kṣāra-sindhor udak-sthaṁ
jambu-dvīpaṁ prāhur ācārya-varyāḥ
ardhe ’nyasmin dvīpa-ṣaṭkasya yāmye
kṣāra-kṣīrādy-ambudhīnāṁ niveśaḥśākaṁ tataḥ śālmalam atra kauśaṁ
krauñcaṁ ca gomedaka-puṣkare ca
dvayor dvayor antaram ekam ekaṁ
samudrayor dvīpam udāharantiThe seven islands (dvīpas) are known as (1) Jambu, (2) Śāka, (3) Śālmalī, (4) Kuśa, (5) Krauñca, (6) Gomeda, or Plakṣa, and (7) Puṣkara. The planets are called dvīpas. Outer space is like an ocean of air. Just as there are islands in the watery ocean, these planets in the ocean of space are called dvīpas, or islands in outer space. There are nine khaṇḍas, known as (1) Bhārata, (2) Kinnara, (3) Hari, (4) Kuru, (5) Hiraṇmaya, (6) Ramyaka, (7) Ilāvṛta, (8) Bhadrāśva and (9) Ketumāla. These are different parts of Jambūdvīpa. A valley between two mountains is called a khaṇḍa or varṣa.”
He continued this description later, on his purport to CC Antya 2.10:
“In the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, chapter one (Golādhyāya), in the Bhuvana-kośa section, the nine khaṇḍas are mentioned as follows:
aindraṁ kaśeru sakalaṁ kila tāmraparṇam
anyad gabhastimad ataś ca kumārikākhyam
nāgaṁ ca saumyam iha vāruṇam antya-khaṇḍaṁ
gāndharva-saṁjñam iti bhārata-varṣa-madhye“Within Bhārata-varṣa, there are nine khaṇḍas. They are known as (1) Aindra, (2) Kaśeru, (3) Tāmraparṇa, (4) Gabhastimat, (5) Kumārikā, (6) Nāga, (7) Saumya, (8) Vāruṇa and (9) Gāndharva.”
In this way, Bhū-mandala, the intermediate planetary system, is composed of seven dvīpas: (1) Jambu, (2) Śāka, (3) Śālmalī, (4) Kuśa, (5) Krauñca, (6) Plakṣa, and (7) Puṣkara. Based on the description of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (with the dvipas being separated in distinct tracts of land with particular features), each of these dvīpas appears to be a collective of numerous planets. We live in the central island, Jambūdvīpa, which is also subdivided into smaller tracts of land: (1) Bhārata-varṣa, (2) Kinnara-varṣa (Kimpuruṣa), (3) Hari-varṣa, (4) Kuru-varṣa (Uttarakuru), (5) Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, (6) Ramyaka-varṣa, (7) Ilāvṛta-varṣa, (8) Bhadrāśva-varṣa and (9) Ketumāla-varṣa. Each of these divisions also appears to be formed by several planets, so we can’t say how many planets in total form Bhū-mandala.
Our planet is part of Bhārata-varṣa, which is, in turn, subdivided into nine smaller tracts of land: (1) Aindra, (2) Kaśeru, (3) Tāmraparṇa, (4) Gabhastimat, (5) Kumārikā, (6) Nāga, (7) Saumya, (8) Vāruṇa, and (9) Gāndharva.
Kumārikā is defined as karma-bhūmi, the place where souls come to perform karma and thus elevate or degrade themselves. This fits the description of our planet. The other eight tracts of land are semi-celestial places with much higher standards of enjoyment.
For example, the Gandharvas we normally hear about are the Deva-gandharvas, the celestial musicians who have their planet between the plane of Bhū-mandala and Svargaloka. They are part of the upa-devas, or lower demigods. In the Mahābhārata, Vana-parva, for example, it is described that once the Kauravas were defeated by an army of Deva-gandharvas led by Citrasena. Their army was routed, Karṇa fled, and Duryodhana was captured, being later saved by the five Pāṇḍavas.
There is, however, another species of Gandharvas called Manuṣya-gandharvas who live in the Gāndharva division of Bhārata-varṣa. Their standard of living is higher than human beings but much lower than the Deva-gandharvas. This hierarchy is explained in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.8.2):
te ye śatam mānuṣā ānandāḥ
sa eko manuṣya-gandharvāṇām ānandaḥ
śrotriyasya cākāma-hatasya
te ye śatam manuṣya-gandharvāṇām ānandāḥsa eko deva-gandharvāṇām ānandaḥ
śrotriyasya cākāma-hatasya
te ye śatam deva-gandharvāṇām ānandāḥ
sa ekaḥ pitṛṇām cira-loka-lokānām ānandaḥśrotriyasya cākāma-hatasya
te ye śatam pitṛṇām cira-loka-lokānām ānandāḥ
sa eka ājānajānām devānām ānandaḥ
śrotriyasya cākāma-hatasya“If we multiply this limit of human bliss a hundred times, it equals the bliss of a manuṣya-gandharva. If we multiply the bliss of a manuṣya-gandharva one hundred times, it equals the pleasure of a deva-gandharva, and if we multiply that one hundred times, it equals the bliss of the ancestors living in Pitṛloka. If we go further and multiply this standard of bliss of the Pitṛs one hundred times, we come to the standard of bliss of a lower demigod born in Svargaloka. Each one of these different standards of bliss is matched by a self-realized soul who has no material desires.”
Similarly, the Nāga division of Bhārata-varṣa is inhabited by a race of supernatural serpentine beings, the Vāruṇa division is inhabited by Rakṣasas, and so on. These different species are mentioned in the Mahābhārata, and the Pāṇḍavas and others interact with them in different passages. In their reality, these different tracts of land are connected.
In our case, however, in our current gross reality, we don’t have access to any of these realms, nor do we meet any of these other species. Just as in the case of the other divisions of Bhū-mandala, we don’t have access to their abodes, which are part of a higher-dimensional reality. It is, therefore, not completely unreasonable to conclude that these nine divisions of Bhārata-varṣa also form different planets. Our planet is just one of them, just one of the nine divisions of Bhārata-varṣa.
This explains the differences in size between our planet and the description of Bhārata-varṣa. The equatorial circumference of our planet is about 24,901 miles (3,113 yojanas), while Bhārata-varṣa is described as being 9,000 yojanas north to south 80,000 yojanas east to west. If we consider our planet as just one of the nine divisions of Bhārata-varṣa, the description makes perfect sense.
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