Mail Archive

Vedic Cosmology

• Subject: Vedic Cosmology
• From: Bhakta Mark
• Date: Mon Dec 11 12:50:23 1995
• Message-Id: id639

Dear Bhakta Mark,



Hello, Hare Krishna!



Thanks for your letter, sorry about the delay in answering you.



>Madhudvisa Prabhu,  I found your thought exercises concerning the flat

>Earth interesting, but I was wondering why you seem to neglect the teaching

>of our parampara concerning this subject.  There is mention both by Srila

>Prabhupada and his Guru Maharaja about the earth being a sphere.



Of course the earrth may not be flat... That wasn't the main point of the exercise

at all. The point is the universe may well be completely different from what we

currently accept it to be. I was saying it could be flat and everyone would accept

it was flat (as they once did) if someone could come up with a theory that better

explains the phenoma we observe than the current one with a flat earth... While I

couldn't come up with such a theory still the exercise was successful in my

opinion. Although no one agreed it was flat they eventually agreed it may well be

stationary and the sun may well be moving around the earth, not the earth around

the sun and they could't tell at all, the relative motions are the same... Some of

the physicists were a little reluctant, but then some big experts on relativity,

including Jonathen Scott who is well know in the area, came to my rescue and said

that such a thing had already been postulated... and it was true... the earth may

well be stationary and the universe rotating around it as the Vedic scriptures

describe (the wheel of time, the sisumara cakra, etc...) and they couldn't tell

which was true (rotating earth or rotating universe) -- the relative effect is the

same.





>  This sphere

>is the representation of this field of karma for conditioned souls in

>Bharata-varsa.  There is no reason that this smallerdivision of that central

>island Jambudvipa could not have its own properties and possibly its own

>rotation.



Except it is not described like that in the Bhagavatam... You are just making it

up. We can't do that. We have to present it "As It Is", even if we can't fully

understand it. The Bhagavatam description is correct, after all it is given by

Narada Muni, he is a transcendental space-man and he can travel anywhere in the

spiritual and material worlds, so he certainly knows what he is talking about and

has seen the universe from all angles of vision. The astronomers on this tiny

planet are no better than frogs in a well. The frogs can just see the little patch

of sky above their well but they have come up with so much philosophy...



>  I am extremely interested in this and other strange and

>controversial subjects in the Bhagavatam (from winged mountains to Sadaputa's

>theories).





The winged mountains are a fact. But I don't know about Sadaputa's theories. I

have not seen so many of them. I read one of his books but it seems to me he

believes in modern science (which is not surprising, most people do) and he is

presenting the Vedic version in a way that agrees with modern science... But much

of modern science is completely wrong. We have to accept at least:



- The sun moves around the earth, 1 rotation = 1 year

- The whole universe (sisumara-cakra) rotates 360 degrees every 24 hours causing

the rising and setting of the sun, moon, plantes, stars, etc. It is not the earth

rotating at all.

- The moon is higher than the sun. [they say the sun is 93,000,000 miles, the moon

is 1,600,000 miles above the sun Ie: about 95,000,000 miles.

- They never went to the moon. If they went anyhere at all it was Rahu which is

closer to where they think the moon is...





>I have gotten blatantly snubbed by every single devotee in ISKCON

>on virtually every complex or unusual question I have asked since I began

>studying Srila Prabhupada's books (which I find very discouraging)



Prabhupada's books are perfect, you have to approach them in the right mood. It is

transcendental knowledge coming from Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

to you throught the disciplic succession. It is the perfect way of acquiring

knowledge. Not that we should just concentrate on complex or unusual questions. We

should read the Srimad-Bhagavatam from the first canto to the tenth canto in order

and see the subject matter of Krishna gradually unfold. All knowledge is there, it

is just a matter of realizing it...





>  but

>nonetheless I do feel that an adequate understanding of these things exists,

>we just haven't got the proper framework to put it all together.  Also, have

>you seen the Bhavishya Purana?  Anyway, my address is 



No, I haven't seen the Bhavishya Purana, what is in it?



I am interested in these areas, the structure of the universe and also evolution

and natural selection. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to build a Vedic planetarium at

Mayapur. Now they have decided to put in a karmi planetarium projector and seven

planets floating above the alter... But that wasn't Prabhupada's idea at all.. the

Bhagavatam description is completely different from what we currently accept, but

I am convinced it is correct, although it is difficult for us to fathom. We are

biased by the western ideas...



Anyhow please write back with your thoughts. You can try your complex and unusual

questions on me if you like.



Thank you.



Madhudvisa dasa

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