Today is the 50th anniversary of the "so called" Moon landings that so many devotees have denied happening because of Srila Prabhupada's comments 50 years ago, even though today, it is well proven man DID go to the Moon. So what did Prabhupada really mean all those years ago?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the "so called" Moon landings!

This happened way back on July 21st 1969 Australian time, July 20th in the U.S. I watched it unfold on TV.

In Australia we are a day ahead of the United States.

It was Australia who beemed the Television pictures from the Parks Radio Telescope in central NSW recieved from the Moon and then beamed around the world on the Telstar Satellite (launched in 1962) and the Australian WRESAT satellite launched in 1967.

Australia had a thriving space industry back then in South Australia.

What amazes me and so many others, is why would they fake the Moon missions 9 times between 1968 and 1972? Once maybe, but all 9 of them are hoaxes?

It just does not make sense to go to SO much trouble making so many hoaxes. Why would they go to the trouble of getting 12 men to pretend they landed on the Moon?

However one thing is for certain, all along Prabhupada was right, they NEVER went to the heavenly realm on the Moon called Chandraloka.

But it seems more and more likely, as time goes on, they obviously DID go somewhere, maybe to at least the "gross" aspect of the Moon that we all see in the sky from Earth.

It seems more obvious now 50 years later, that the nine Apollo missions may have gone to the "gross" Moon between December 1968 and December 1972, and that twelve astronauts may have walked on that "gross" Moon's surface.

It is becoming almost impossible now to prove to the whole world it was all one big hoax with the photos Japanese spacecrafts have taken on the Moon in 2015 of the Apollo landing sites.

It also makes sense that by now, at least one of the 450,000 people who worked on the NASA Apollo missions, would of come forward with solid proof it was a hoax.

Only the many Youtube conspiracy theorists, that no one intelligent takes seriously, have came forward with often ridiculous theories that uneducated and naive people believe.

However, Prabhupada WAS right in the most important way, and that is they NEVER went to the heavenly "subtle" material atmosphere on the Moon called Chandraloka.

No, they did not go there, and can NEVER go to Chandraloka in a gross material body and mundane space vehicals Prabhupada has explained.

BUT it seems more obvious, as time goes on, the Astronauts DID go somewhere, maybe to the "gross" Moon we see from Earth.

Because even though we do NOT see the heavenly "subtle" realm of Chandraloka in these gross material bodily vessels, we DO see the "gross" reality of the Moon in the sky.

The only problem with believing man went to the Moon or today is sending many space probes there, is Srila Prabhupada's purport in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Srila Prabhupada states there, that the moon is a very far away from earth, therefore it is NOT possible to reach the moon in three days that present day rocket ships from Japan, India, China, Eurpean Union are all "claiming" they are doing by reaching the Moon in 3 days!

How do do we understand this?

Sadaputa dasa, ISKCON's Vedic Scientist explained the answer to this in his Book Vedic Cosmology.

In some lectures and morning walks, Srila Prabhupada also was not sure if they went to the Moon or not.

Of course in many lectures and classes, he was adament they NEVER went any part of the Moon!

However, in other places, he was not really sure where they went, maybe Rahu he suggested or some other planet as this conversation reveals -

Gaṇeśa: "They actually have never got to the moon, Prabhupada".

Prabhupāda: "Eh?"

Amogha: "He says did they actually get to the moon or not?"

Prabhupāda: "That I am doubtful. Always. They have... ''They might have gone''... Mostly, most probably they have not gone. Simply propaganda. But even they have gone, not to the moon. Maybe the Rahu planet. Or there are so many other planets". (Conversation Perth Australia May 1975)

"The Nectar of Devotion" (also known as the "Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu" ) Translated by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

"The Nectar of Devotion" (also known as the "Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu" )

Translated by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The following is from the English language translation of Srila Rupa  Goswami's 'Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu' called 'The Nectar of Devotion' by Srila Prabhupada.

The Supreme Lover is Krishna and He is situated in Vrindaban. The Supreme Beloved is Radharani. As Krishna is the Supreme Lover, there are 64 important qualifications of Krishna, on hearing which, the devotee takes transcendental pleasure.

The characteristics of Krishna are explained in the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu as follows:

1. His body is well-constructed. 2. It is full of auspicious symptoms;

3. beautiful;
4. very glorious;
5. strong;
6. always looking like a boy of sixteen;
7. well-versed in different languages;
8. truthful;
9. decorated with pleasing words;
10. expert in speaking;
11. very learned;
12. intelligent;
13. influential;
14. joyful;
15. cunning;
16. expert;
17. grateful;
18. firmly convinced.
19. He knows how to deal with different circumstances;
20. is always conversant with Scriptural injunctions; 21. clean;
22. controlled by devotees;
23. steady;
24. self-controlled;
25. forgiving;
26. grave;
27. speculative;
28. fairdealing;
29. magnanimous;
30. religious;
31. a great hero;
32. merciful;
33. respectful;
34. competent;
35. gentle;
36. modest;
37. Protector of the surrendered soul; 38. Deliverer; 39. Friend of the devotees;
40. submissive to love;
41. all auspicious;
42. most Powerful;
43. famous;
44. devoted to all living entities;
45. worshipable by everyone;
48. full with opulence;
49. Supreme;
50. full with riches.

All the above-mentioned 50 qualities are fragmentally present in every living entity. When they are completely spiritually free and situated in their original condition, all the above-mentioned 50 qualities can be perceived in human life—but in minute quantity.

There are five other transcendental qualities, as mentioned below, which can be seen in Vishnu, the Supreme Lord, and partially in Lord Shiva also—but they are not visible in the living entities. They are as follows:

1. always situated in His original condition;
2. omniscient;
3. evergreen or always fresh;
4. eternally blissful;
5. conversant, the master of all perfection.

Besides the above-mentioned five transcendental qualities, there are five other qualities which can be seen in the Spiritual Sky, especially in the Vaikuntha planets where Narayana is the predominating deity. They are:

1. inconceivable potencies;
2. able to sustain innumerable Universes;
3. the Seed of all incarnations;
4. to give the highest perfection to enemies who are killed by Narayana,
5. the most attractive of the self-realized persons.

The above-mentioned 60 qualities are visible up to Narayana. And Krishna has four other special qualities which are:

1. able to manifest wonderful Pastimes,
2. His transcendental flute-playing;
3. eternal youth;
4. His Personal Beauty.

As Krishna has 64 transcendental qualities, described above, so Srimati Radharani has 25 transcendental qualities by creation, material and spiritual. But Radharani can control even Krishna by Her transcendental qualities.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s twenty-five chief transcendental qualities are:

1. She is sweetness personified.
2. She is a fresh young girl.
3. Her eyes are always moving.
4. She is always brightly smiling.
5. She has all the signs of fortunate lines in Her body. 6. By the flavor of Her person even Krishna becomes agitated.
7. She is expert in the art of singing.
8. She can speak very nicely and sweetly.
9. She is expert in presenting Herself by feminine attraction.
10. She is modest and gentle.
11. She is always very merciful.
12. She is transcendentally cunning.
13. She knows how to dress nicely.
14. She is always shy.
15. She is always respectful.
16. She is always patient.
17. She is very grave.
18. She is enjoyable by Krishna.
19. She is always situated on the highest devotional platform.
20. She can give shelter to all kinds of devotees.
21. She is the most famous of submissive devotees.
22. She is always affectionate her all and very affectionate to elderly people.
23. She is always obliged by the dealings of Her associates.
24. She is the greatest among all the girlfriends of Krishna and chief gopī.
25. She always keeps Krishna under Her control.

This is from the Caitanya Caritamrita -

1. She is very sweet;
2. She is always freshly youthful;
3. Her eyes are restless;
4. She smiles brightly;
5. She has beautiful, auspicious lines;
6. She makes Kṛṣṇa happy with Her bodily aroma;
7. She is very expert in singing;
8. Her speech is charming;
9. She is very expert in joking and speaking pleasantly;
10. She is very humble and meek;
11. She is always full of mercy;
12. She is cunning;
13. She is expert in executing Her duties;
14. She is shy;
15. She is always respectful;
16. She is always calm;
17. She is always grave;
18. She is expert in enjoying life;
19.She is situated at the topmost level of ecstatic love;
20 -She is the reservoir of loving affairs in Gokula;
21. She is the most famous of submissive devotees;
22. She is very affectionate to elderly people;
23. She is very submissive to the love of Her friends;
24. She is the chief gopī;
25. She always keeps Kṛṣṇa under Her control.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta 2:23:87-91 translation and purport).

So Krishna and Radharani are both transcendentally qualified, and both are attractive for each other. But still, in that transcendental attractiveness, Radharani is better than Krishna.

Glossary.

Narayan - The four-armed form of Krishna Who presides over the Vaikuntha planets; Lord Vishnu.

Lord Shiva - The expansion of Krishna who acts as a demigod, supervises the material mode of ignorance and who annihilates the material cosmos at the end of the cosmic manifestation.

Vrindaban - The transcendental abode of Krishna. The town of Vrindaban in the Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh, India is where Krishna appeared 5000 years ago.

Vaikuntha planets - The eternal planets of the Spiritual Sky.

Real love or service, is reciprocal, voluntary, experiencing a good exchange of feelings, then there is love. And NEVER by force. Krishna does not want a lover who is forced to obey, serve and love Him at the point of a gun, no, that is NOT love it is slavery.

Srila Prabhupada - "Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. NOT by force. Krishna does not want to become a lover like that, ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!" July 8, 1976.

Guru-kripa – “How is it that one can become envious of Krishna, why does Krishna allow us to enter the material world?”

Srila Prabhupada – “You have got little independence, you can violate. Because you are part and parcel of God, God has got full independence, but you have got little independence, proportionately, because you are part and parcel, if he likes, he can return. That independence has to be accepted, little independence. We can misuse that. Krishna-bahirmukha haïä bhoga väïchä kare. That misuse is the cause of our falldown”. (Conversation, Mayapur, February 19, 1976)

Chariot of the Sun God (Surya)

The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as Samvatsara. 

The chariot of the sun-god (Surya), worshiped by the words "om bhur bhuva svah", travels at a speed of 3,400,800 yojanas [27,206,400 miles] in a muhurta.

My dear King, the carriage of the sun-god’s chariot is estimated to be 3,600,000 yojanas [28,800,000 miles] long and one-fourth as wide [900,000 yojanas, or 7,200,000 miles].

The chariot’s horses, which are named after Gayatri and other Vedic meters, are harnessed by Arunadeva to a yoke that is also 900,000 yojanas wide (7,200,000 miles)

The seven horses yoked to the sun-god’s chariot are named Gayatri, Brhati, Usnik, Jagati, Tristup, Anustup and Pankti. These names of various Vedic meters designate the seven horses that carry the sun-god’s chariot.

Although Arunadeva sits in front of the sun-god and is engaged in driving the chariot and controlling the horses, he looks backward toward the sun-god.

There are sixty thousand saintly persons named Valikhilyas, each the size of a thumb, who are located in front of the sun-god and who offer him eloquent prayers of glorification.

Similarly, fourteen other saints, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Nagas, Yaksas, Raksasas and demigods, who are divided into groups of two, assume different names every month and continuously perform different ritualistic ceremonies to worship the Supreme Lord as the most powerful demigod Surya deva, who holds many names.

Worshiping the most powerful demigod Surya (sun-god), the Gandharvas sing in front of him, the Apsaras dance before the chariot, the Nisacaras follow the chariot, the Pannagas decorate the chariot, the Yaksas guard the chariot, and the saints called the Valikhilyas surround the sun-god and offer prayers.

The seven groups of fourteen associates arrange the proper times for regular snow, heat and rain throughout the universe.

My dear King, in his orbit through Bhu-mandala, the sun-god traverses a distance of 95,100,000 yojanas [760,800,000 miles] at the speed of 2,000 yojanas and two krosas [16,004 miles] in a moment.

Sunrise to sunset is the route the Sun takes in his giant golden chariot harnessed to seven horses.

yac-caksur esa savita sakala-grahanam
raja samasta-sura-murtir asesa-tejah
yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrita-kala-chakro
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

Translation: 

"The sun who is the king of all the planets, full of infinite effulgence, the image of the good soul, is as the eye of this world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in pursuance of whose order the sun performs his journey mounting the wheel of time." (Sri Brahma Samhita 5.52)

Purport

"Certain professors of the Vedic religion worship the sun as Brahman. The sun is one of the hierarchy of the five gods. Some people target in heat the source of this world and therefore designate the sun, the only location of heat, as the root cause of this world.

Not withstanding all that may be said to the contrary, the sun is after all only the presiding deity of a sphere of the sum total of all mundane heat and is hence a god exercising delegated authority. 

The sun performs his specific function of service certainly by the command of Govinda." (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

The movements of the sun.

 
Srimad-Bhagavatam Introduction to Canto 5, Chapter 21-22-

This chapter informs us of the movements of the sun. The sun is not stationary; it is also moving like the other planets. The sun's movements determine the duration of night and day.

When the sun travels north of the equator, it moves slowly during the day and very quickly at night, thus increasing the duration of the daytime and decreasing the duration of night. 

Similarly, when the sun travels south of the equator, the exact opposite is true - the duration of the day decreases, and the duration of night increases.

When the sun enters Karkata-rasi (Cancer) and then travels to Simha-rasi (Leo) and so on through Dhanuh-rasi (Sagittarius), its course is called Daksinayana, the southern way, and when the sun enters Makara-rasi (Capricorn) and thereafter travels through Kumbharasi (Aquarius) and so on through Mithuna-rasi (Gemini), its course is called Uttarayana, the northern way.

When the sun is in Mesa-rasi (Aries) and Tula-rasi (Libra), the duration of day and night are equal.

On Manasottara Mountain are the abodes of four demigods. East of Sumeru Mountain is Devadhani, where King Indra lives, and south of Sumeru is Samyamani, the abode of Yamaraja, the superintendent of death.

Similarly, west of Sumeru is Nimlocani, the abode of Varuna, the demigod who controls the water, and north of Sumeru is Vibhavari, where the demigod of the moon lives.

Sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight occur in all these places because of the movements of the sun.

Diametrically opposite the place where the sunrise takes places and the sun is seen by human eyes, the sun will be setting and passing away from human vision.

Similarly, the people residing diametrically opposite the point where it is midday will be experiencing midnight. 

The sun rises and sets with all the other planets, headed by the moon and other luminaries.

The entire kala-cakra, or wheel of time, is established on the wheel of the sun-god's chariot. This wheel is known as Samvatsara.

The seven horses pulling the chariot of the sun are known as

Gayatri,
Brhati,
Usnik,
Jagati,
Tristup,
Anustup,
Pankti.

They are harnessed by a demigod known as Arunadeva to a yoke 900,000 yojanas wide (7,200,000 miles). Thus the chariot carries Adityadeva, the sun-god.

Always staying in front of the sun-god and offering their prayers are sixty thousand sages known as Valikhilyas.

There are fourteen Gandharvas, Apsaras and other demigods, who are divided into seven parties and who perform ritualistic activities every month to worship the Supersoul through the sun-god according to different names.

Thus the sun-god travels through the universe for a distance of 95,100,000 yojanas (760,800,000 miles) at a speed of 16,004 miles at every moment.

By the influence of its radiation, the sun heats the universe and maintains its proper order. It also gives light to help all living entities see.

While passing toward the north, toward the south or through the equator, in accordance with the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is said to move slowly, swiftly or moderately.

According to its movements in rising above, going beneath or passing through the equator-and correspondingly coming in touch with various signs of the zodiac, headed by Makara [Capricorn]-days and nights are short, long or equal to one another.

When the sun passes through Meña [Aries] and Tula [Libra], the durations of day and night are equal. 

When it passes through the five signs headed by Våñabha [Taurus], the duration of the days increases [until Cancer], and then it gradually decreases by half an hour each month, until day and night again become equal [in Libra]. (Srimad-Bhagavatam Introduction to Canto 5, Chapter 21-22)

The Reality of the Sungod Sûrya

The sun-god, who controls the affairs of the entire universe, especially in regard to heat, light, seasonal changes and so on, is considered an expansion of Narayana. 

He represents the three Vedas -- Rg, Yajur and Sama -- and therefore he is known as Trayimaya, the form of Lord Narayana.

Sometimes the sun-god is also called Surya-Narayana. The sun-god has expanded himself in twelve divisions, and thus he controls the six seasonal changes and causes winter, summer, rain and so on.

Yogis and karmis following the varnasrama institution, who practice hatha or astanga-yoga or who perform agnihotra sacrifices, worship Surya Narayana for their own benefit. 

The demigod Surya is always in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana.

Residing in outer space, which is in the middle of the universe, between Bhuloka and Bhuvarloka, the sun rotates through the time circle of the zodiac, represented by twelve rasis, or signs, and assumes different names according to the sign he is in. 

For the moon, every month is divided into two fortnights.

Similarly, according to solar calculations, a month is equal to the time the sun spends in one constellation; two months constitute one season, and there are twelve months in a year.

The entire area of the sky is divided into two halves, each representing an ayana, the course traversed by the sun within a period of six months. 

The sun travels sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly and sometimes at a moderate speed.

In this way it travels within the three worlds, consisting of the heavenly planets, the earthly planets and outer space. 

These orbits are referred to by great learned scholars by the names

Samvatsara, 

Parivatsara, 

Idavatsara, 

Anuvatsara 

Vatsara.

FROM THE RIG VEDA:

"The unageing wheel rolls out on its rim; the ten yoked horses draw it up the outstretched path. 

All the words are kept in motion on the eye of the sun, that moves on though shrouded in dark space."

"You cross heaven and the vast realm of space, O sun, measuring days by nights, looking upon the generations. Seven bay mares carry you in the chariot, O sun god with hair of flame, gazing from afar." --The Rig Veda: (An Anthology, trans. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty New York: Penguin Books, 1981), pp. 77, 190)

"The sun-god, who is Narayana, or Visnu, the soul of all the worlds, is situated in outer space between the upper and lower portions of the universe.

Passing through twelve months on the wheel of time, the sun comes in touch with twelve different signs of the zodiac and assumes twelve different names according to those signs.

The aggregate of those twelve months is called a samvatsara, or an entire year. 

According to lunar calculations, two fortnights - one of the waxing moon and the other of the waning -- form one month. That same period is one day and night for the planet Pitrloka.

According to stellar calculations, a month equals two and one quarter constellations. 

When the sun travels for two months, a season passes, and therefore the seasonal changes are considered parts of the body of the year." (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.22.5)

The movement of the sun is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita. The sun orbits around Mount Sumeru, for six months on the northern side and for six months on the southern. This adds up to the duration of a day and night of the demigods in the upper planetary systems. (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.20.31)

The sun is situated [vertically] in the middle of the universe, in the area between Bhurloka and Bhuvarloka, which is called antariksha, outer space. 

The distance between the sun and the circumference of the universe is twenty-five koti yojanas [two billion miles].

O King, the sun-god and the sun planet divide all the directions of the universe. 

It is only because of the presence of the sun that we can understand what the sky, the higher planets, this world and the lower planets are.

It is also only because of the sun that we can understand which places are for material enjoyment, which are for liberation, which are hellish and subterranean.

All living entities, including demigods, human beings, animals, birds, insects, reptiles, creepers and trees, depend upon the heat and light given by the sun-god from the sun planet.

Furthermore, it is because of the sun's presence that all living entities can see, and therefore he is called drig-isvara, the Personality of Godhead presiding over sight. The course of the sun through the 12 star signs (Srîmad Bhâgavatam Canto 5, Chapter 21, Text 1-19)

Sukadeva Gosvâmî said: My dear King, I have thus far described the diameter of the universe [fifty crores of yojanas, or four billion miles in diameter] and its general characteristics, according to the estimations of learned scholars.

As a grain of wheat is divided into two parts and one can estimate the size of the upper part by knowing that of the lower, so, expert geographers instruct, one can understand the measurements of the upper part of the universe by knowing those of the lower part.

The sky between the earthly sphere and heavenly sphere is called antariksha, or outer space. 

It adjoins the top of the sphere of earth and the bottom of that of heaven.

In the midst of that region of outer space [antariksha] is the most opulent sun, the king of all the planets that emanate heat, such as the moon. 

By the influence of its radiation, the sun heats the universe and maintains its proper order.

It also gives light to help all living entities see. 

While passing toward the north, toward the south or through the equator, in accordance with the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is said to move slowly, swiftly or moderately.

According to its movements in rising above, going beneath or passing through the equator--and correspondingly coming in touch with various signs of the zodiac, headed by Makara [Capricorn]--days and nights are short, long or equal to one another.

Then the sun passes through Mesha [Aries] and Tulâ [Libra], the durations of day and night are equal. When it passes through the five signs headed by Vrishabha [Taurus], the duration of the days increases [until Cancer], and then it gradually decreases by half an hour each month, until day and night again become equal [in Libra].

When the sun passes through the five signs beginning with Vris'cika [Scorpio], the duration of the days decreases [until Capricorn], and then gradually it increases month after month, until day and night become equal [in Aries].

Until the sun travels to the south the days grow longer, and until it travels to the north the nights grow longer.

Sukadeva Gosvâmî continued; My dear King, as stated before, the learned say that the sun travels over all sides of Mânasottara Mountain in a circle whose length is 95.100.000 yojanas [760.800.000 miles].

On Mânasottara Mountain, due east of Mount Sumeru, is a place known as Devadhânî, possessed by King Indra. 

Similarly, in the south is a place known as Samyamanî, possessed by Yamarâja, in the west is a place known as Nimlocanî, possessed by Varuna, and in the north is a place named Vibhâvarî, 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.

The living entities residing on Sumeru Mountain are always very warm, as at midday, because for them the sun is always overhead. 

Although the sun moves counterclockwise, facing the constellations, with Sumeru Mountain on its left, it also moves clockwise and appears to have the mountain on its right because it is influenced by the dakshinâvarta wind.

People living in countries at points diametrically opposite to where the sun is first seen rising will see the sun setting, and if a straight line were drawn from a point where the sun is at midday, the people in countries at the opposite end of the line would be experiencing midnight.

Similarly, if people residing where the sun is setting were to go to countries diametrically opposite, they would not see the sun in the same condition.

When the sun travels from Devadhânî, the residence of Indra, to Samyamanî, the residence of Yamarâja, it travels 23.775.000 yojanas [190.200.000 miles] in fifteen ghathikâs [six hours].

From the residence of Yamarâja the sun travels to Nimlocanî, the residence of Varuna, from there to Vibhâvarî, 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.

Thus the chariot of the sun-god, which is trayîmaya, or worshiped by the words om bhûr bhuvah svah, travels through the four residences mentioned above at a speed of 3.400.800 yojanas [27.206.400 miles] in a muhûrta.

The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as Samvatsara. 

The twelve months are calculated to be its twelve spokes, the six seasons are the sections of its rim, and the three câtur-mâsya 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 Mânasottara Mountain. Affixed to the outer end of the axle, the wheel continuously rotates on Mânasottara 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.

My dear King, the carriage of the sun-god's chariot is estimated to be 3.600.000 yojanas [28.800.000 miles] long and one-fourth as wide [900.000 yojanas, or 7.200.000 miles].

The chariot's horses, which are named after Gâyatrî and other Vedic meters, are harnessed by Arunadeva to a yoke that is also 900.000 yojanas wide. 

This chariot continuously carries the sun-god.

Although Arunadeva sits in front of the sun-god and is engaged in driving the chariot and controlling the horses, he looks backward toward the sun-god.

There are sixty thousand saintly persons named Vâlikhilyas, each the size of a thumb, who are located in front of the sun-god and who offer him eloquent prayers of glorification.

Similarly, fourteen other saints, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Nâgas, Yakshas, Râkshasas and demigods, who are divided into groups of two, assume different names every month and continuously perform different ritualistic ceremonies to worship the Supreme Lord as the most powerful demigod Sûryadeva, who holds many names.

My dear King, in his orbit through Bhû-mandala, the sun-god traverses a distance of 95.100.000 yojanas [760.800.000 miles] at the speed of 2.000 yojanas and two kros'as [16.004 miles] in a moment.

The Vishnu Purâna states:

Worshiping the most powerful demigod Sûrya, the Gandharvas sing in front of him, the Apsaras dance before the chariot, the Nis'âcaras follow the chariot, the Pannagas decorate the chariot, the Yakshas guard the chariot, and the saints called the Vâlikhilyas surround the sun-god and offer prayers. 

The seven groups of fourteen associates arrange the proper times for regular snow, heat and rain throughout the universe. (5th Canto Srimad Bhagavatam)

Sri Vyasadeva (also called Krishna Dvaipayana, Badarayana, and Vedavyasa) who compiled all the Vedas.

Vyasadeva (also called Krishna Dvaipayana, Badarayana, and Vedavyasa) is the son of Mahamuni Parashara and is a disciple of Narada Muni.

He was the guru of the Pandavas and the Kauravas also.

According to the Vayu Purana, this Vyasa is the twenty-eighth incarnation of Vyasa, and he resides in Uttara Badri, a transcendental abode in the Himalayas, accompanied by Madhvacharya and many other great saintly devotees.

Vyasadeva is known as the literary incarnation of Lord Krishna because he imparted the Vedic wisdom to the world by compiling the Vedas, the Puranas (of which Srimad-Bhagavatam is the foremost), the epic Mahabharata, and the Vedanta-sutra.

He spoke the Vedas and Ganesha wrote them down.

The Brahmin and the Cobbler

The Brahmin and the Cobbler

Once on a sunny day near the Ganges, a Brahmin priest, who had just finished his oblations, came across the great Sage Narada Muni, the messenger of Lord Narayana.

After bowing deeply in respect, the Brahmin took the liberty of asking the divine Sage to ask Lord Narayana a question.

Brahmin priest - “Could you be so kind as to ask the Supreme Lord Narayana, when I’m going to be liberated from this world and enter Vaikuntha to serve Him in holy bliss? I know it will be soon because of my dedication, but I would just like to know, all the same.”

Narada - “No problem, my sir. I’ll ask when I see him.”

Further along down the river, a lowly cobbler, fixing shoes by the wayside, also stopped Narada, as he was passing through, and chanced to approach the great emissary -

Cobbler - “Could I appeal to your kindness by asking you to speak to the great Supreme Lord Narayana on my behalf?”

Narada - “I’d be happy to.”

Cobbler - “You see, I’m growing more weary each year, and I’d just like to know how many more lifetimes I am doomed to suffer in this material world?”

Narada- “I’ll be sure to pass on your message.”

And Narada continued on, passing seamlessly through to the spiritual world. When he saw the great Lord Narayana, he bowed to his feet, as is the custom in approaching the Lord or great spiritual masters. The Lord then asked if there was anything He could do for Narada, who proceeded to put forth the concerns of both the priest and the cobbler.

As Lord Narayana can see through the barriers of time, and into eternity, He thus knows all. With a brief pause, He informed Narada of the destiny of his supplicants -

Lord Narayana - “The cobbler will come here to Vaikuntha at the end of this present lifetime. But the Brahmin will live through at least 100 more lifetimes in the material world.”

Seeing the confused look on Narada Muni’s face, the Lord only smiled and gave these instructions-

Lord Narayana - “Next time you see the cobbler and the priest, they will ask you what I was doing when you saw me. Tell them I was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle. When you see their reactions to this, you will then understand everything.”

So, Narada went on his way. The first man he saw was the Brahmin, who was shocked and insulted by the news:

Brahmin priest - “A hundred rebirths in this hell! I don’t believe it! You probably didn’t even see the Lord! Tell me, what was  He doing when you saw him?”

Narada - “Threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.”

Brahmin Priest - “Threading an elephant through the eye of a needle? That’s totally absurd! You must be lying about everything!”

So, Narada excused himself and pressed on until he found the cobbler. He gave him the news that he would soon be liberated and would be joining the realm of the Lord at the end of this lifetime, at which point the peasant exclaimed in joy-

Cobbler - “Oh, what blessed and glorious news! But, alas, tell me my good sir, what was the Lord doing when you saw him?”

Narada - “He was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.”

Cobbler - “Lovely. Absolutely lovely., Lord Narayana can do anything He pleases.”

Narada - “You mean, you believe that?”

Cobbler - “Why, sure! You see that huge old oak tree up the hill? It grew from a tiny acorn. So, if the Lord can squeeze a gigantic oak tree into a little seed like that, He can just as easily thread an elephant through the eye of a needle.”

And with that, Narada understood the difference between the priest and the cobbler, as well as why the priest was not yet ready to go back home back to Godhead.

Elle fanning (actress) at Melbourne Rathayatra (Hare Krishna festival) 2015 or 16

Elle fanning at Melbourne Rathayatra 2015 or 16

Sub-space is the reality of "subtle" matter that has NOT yet been discovered by modern materialistic science and technology as yet. Modern science have NO idea that subtle material dimensions exists parallel to the gross material existence and that there is a "subtle material body" also contained within the gross biological material body that can NEVER be detected using gross matter as explained here.

It must be understood that the discovery of sub-space (subtle matter) by modern materialistic science and technology can NEVER be achieved using "gross matter" of any kind.

This underlying "sub-space" reality which IS the underlining world of "subtle matter", has as yet, NOT been discovered by modern materialtic science.

Even the use of the word "Sub-space" in science fiction is completely wrong and nowhere near its real meaning.

This means modern science have no idea that their is a "subtle material body" contained within the gross biological body.

This is because gross material matter, like the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, cameras, the electron telescope, X-Rays, Ultra-sounds etc CANNOT detect subtle matter that exists in what known as Sub-space that undelines the gross material reality we live in.

Everyone should read Shastra, study and write down their realizations every day!

Srila Prabhupada told me this in Melbourne. He said, "Read ALL my Purports, and write your own realizations based on them".

Yes, this is what we should do, explaining Prabhupada's purports based on time, place and circumstance (for example, Prabhupada's audience was Books and travelling the world giving lectures).

Except for the continuous distribution of Prabhupada's Books in the 2020s, today, the world is completely different with "3.5 billion" people just on Facebook!

Remember, the world population at the turn of the 20th Century, was just over 1 billion, and at the time of Lord Chaitanya in the 16th Century, the ENTIRE world population was a mere 350 million people.

Today just the population of the United States and Canada is nearly 350 million alone.

I have met people on Facebook from Siberia Russia who have never met Hare Krishna devotees, yet on messenger video we have Kirtan, I give class and they study Sastra and chant 16 rounds a day.

Like everything, including Books that can be used for good or bad, Social media also can be used in amazing preaching where thousands of devotees can be made.

This has been all achieved through FACEBOOK (that has replaced the old fashioned saying "look on the world wide web")

Facebook began in 2004 and is today in every corner of the Globe. And through the access of satellites one can view anywhere on the globe.

And yes, that includes the very high mountains in the Himalayas that Prabhupada describes as thousands of miles high in the Srimad Bhagavatam that MUST be in "subtle" matter.

This means these enormous Mountains are unseen by the gross material vehicals like Satellites and other spacecraft's like the International Space Station.

And also unseen by those too absorbed in their gross material body that blocks them from seeing the existence of other realities or dimensions of space-time.

The fact is we live in a multi-verse for example ghosts cannot be proved by gross material elements and Chandraloka on the Moon is unseen by most of us and completely unseen by space crafts and probes.

All around us other dimensions of space-time exist but unseen by us too absorbed in thinking we and the gross material body.

Advanced souls, devotees and yogis can see these other realities, after all the first covering of the jiva soul is a subtle material body that is further covered by a gross biological material body.

This underlying "Sub-space" reality of "subtle matter", has as yet, NOT been discovered by modern materialistic science.

Modern science have no idea that their is a "subtle material body" contained within the gross biological body.

This is because gross material matter, like the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, cameras, the electron telescope, X-Rays, Ultra-sounds etc CANNOT detect subtle matter that exists in what known as Sub-space that undelines the gross material reality we live in.

I am looking right now at a direct satellite feed of the Himalayan Mountains and see ONLY gross material mountains no taller than 30,000 feet high (5 miles high) and cannot see the other dimensions of the Himalayas where it is said one mountain is 88 miles high.

It must be understood that the discovery of sub-space (subtle matter) can never be achieved using gross matter of any kind.

When the TOVP opens in 2022, you can sit in your lounge room anywhere around the globe, put on "virtual reality glasses or goggles" and walk around Mayapur interacting with devotees as if you were really there.

Even Prabhupada's video lectures can be projected in 3D anywhere around the Globe.

It will almost be like becoming a mystic yogi in the 2020s who can instantly be anywhere where he wants to be on this round global sphere we live on.

The mercy of Krishna follows the mercy of the devotee. By His Holiness Giriraj Swami ACBSP.

"The mercy of Krishna follows the mercy of the devotee".

By His Holiness Giriraj Swami

When Srila Prabhupada was coming to America on the Jaladuta steamship, as he was nearing Commonwealth Pier in Boston, he prayed to Krishna,

“All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will, they can also be released from the clutches of illusion. I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore, if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has discussed how the conditioned souls get bhakti. With evidence from the scriptures, he proves that one cannot get bhakti by

karma
jnana,
fruitive activities,
mental speculation.

Or by -

austerities,
charity,
mystic perfections,
or any other pious acts.

He quotes from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 Chapter 3 Text 31, bhaktya sanjataya bhaktya: bhakti comes from bhakti. But how does bhakti come from bhakti? What is the actual process?

He says that someone may propose that one gets bhakti by the mercy of Krishna. But Krishna is equal to all. He is the supreme father of all living entities, so He must be equal to all.

So we cannot simply say that the cause of bhakti is the mercy of Krishna, because Krishna would bestow bhakti equally on everyone, whereas practically we see that some get bhakti while others do not.

Then Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says,

“One could propose that one gets bhakti by the mercy of the devotee.”

But again one might argue that the devotee, like the Lord, should be equal to everyone. Here Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that the preacher, the madhyama-bhakta, by nature shows partiality or discretion in distributing mercy.

As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.46): prema-maitri-krpopeksa yah karoti sa madhyama—he gives his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, makes friendship with devotees, shows mercy to the innocent, and neglects the envious. Thus, giving mercy, specifically to the innocent, is the preacher’s function.

Even though, in the ultimate sense, a maha-bhagavata such as Srila Prabhupada sees everyone equally, everyone as a servant of Krishna and therefore in no need of mercy, when he takes the position of a preacher and functions as a preacher, he gives mercy to the innocent.

How does he give the mercy? He prays to Krishna to give mercy, and thus it is said that the mercy of Krishna follows the mercy of the devotee.

Here I have my own personal experience: I met Srila Prabhupada in 1969 in Boston, and I was touched by him. I felt that he was the spiritual master for whom I had been looking. About three months later, the devotees there needed another pujari.

In those days one could be a pujari after first initiation. They thought, “He has been here for three months; why not recommend him?” So Satsvarupa Maharaja, as the temple president, recommended me in a letter to Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada was in Los Angeles at the time, so I suppose in one sense I was actually initiated there. Srila Prabhupada wrote back, “Your initiated name is Giriraj. Giriraj is a name for Govardhana Hill, where Krishna used to tend His cows.

Sometimes devotees take a stone from Govardhana Hill and worship it as Krishna. So I marked it in your person when I was in Boston, and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.”

What is our qualification?

When I look for my qualifications, I don’t find any. Our only qualification is that Srila Prabhupada took compassion on us and gave us his mercy: he prayed to Krishna for us, just as he says in his prayer approaching the Commonwealth Pier.

So, back to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s discussion: Someone could question,

“Why should Krishna listen to the prayers of a devotee? So many people are praying to Krishna; why should Krishna listen especially to a devotee? Is that not also partiality?”

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that of all of Krishna’s qualities, the quality of being affectionate to His devotees, bhakta-vatsalya, is considered the supermost, the emperor that conquers over all the Lord’s other qualities and reconciles all contradictions.

So, being partial to His devotees is not a fault (dusanam) in Krishna, but an ornament (bhusanam)—His most exalted quality. He has no desire other than to please His devotees. Just as the devotees have no desire other than to please Krishna, Krishna has no desire other than to please them.

So, when a devotee such as Srila Prabhupada prays to Krishna to give mercy to the fallen souls, or to a particular soul, Krishna readily does it. He does it to please His devotee.

Years after my initiation, I found the verses that Srila Prabhupada paraphrased here in verses 6 and 7 from

“The Prayers of the Personified Vedas” from Srimad-Bhagavatam(10.87.14).

The personified Vedas prayed to the Lord, “The fallen souls are under the control of maya, and maya is under Your control. Therefore, if you show them Your mercy, they can be released from the control of maya. We pray that You kindly do so.”

The same verse was quoted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Vasudeva Datta. Vasudeva Datta had prayed, “Let all the sinful reactions of all the living entities in the entire universe fall upon me,” and Lord Chaitanya became overwhelmed with love for Vasudeva Datta and began to tremble and weep out of affection for him.

Generally, we wouldn’t accept the sinful reactions of even one living entity. There is the famous story of Valmiki: Valmiki was a thief, but he wasn’t stealing for himself; he was stealing for the sake of his family.

Then Narada came and exposed the fallacy of mundane family attachment. He spoke to Valmiki’s wife: “Your husband is stealing for your sake, not for his sake. You are enjoying because he is stealing for you. Will you at least take some share of the sinful reactions?”

“No!” she said. “Why should I? He is the one who is doing the stealing, not me.”

We don’t want to take anyone’s sinful reactions. Just our own sinful reactions are hard enough to tolerate. Yet here Vasudeva Datta is saying that he will take the reactions for every living entity in the whole universe.

We cannot even conceive of how much suffering he would have to undergo, but he offered, “Let me suffer in a hellish condition perpetually.” And he spoke without duplicity.

Sometimes we may say things to sound good, to say the right thing, to sound like an advanced devotee. But Vasudeva Datta was serious. Thus, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard what he said, His heart melted and He told Vasudeva Datta, “You need not suffer their sinful reactions.

They can be liberated by your desire alone. Krishna fulfills the desires of His pure devotees. So by your desire He can liberate them without your accepting their sinful reactions.”

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu quoted the same verse from “The Prayers of the Personified Vedas”: “O Lord, kindly conquer the nescience of the living entities by Your grace.”

So, from one point of view, this is the secret: In his sincere love and compassion, and in his intimate relationship with Krishna, Srila Prabhupada prayed for us, and Krishna reciprocated.

But again, what is the method by which we get the mercy? Srila Prabhupada wrote, “So I prayed to Krishna that this soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.”

In other words, we must become aware of the value of Krishna consciousness and then take to the process that Srila Prabhupada gave us. Thus we come to the second part of Verse 7: “If You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”

Many people heard Srila Prabhupada’s message, or Krishna’s message, but not all developed faith in it. The beginning of bhakti is faith (adau sraddha). Thus, when we ask how one gets bhakti, we really mean how one gets sraddha, which is bhakti in its initial stage.

Here “faith” means faith in the words of the scriptures and the words of the spiritual master that glorify and explain the process of bhakti. Srila Prabhupada, in utter humility, prayed that Krishna make his words suitable, and he also prayed that Krishna enlighten us, or inspire us, with appreciation for His message.

In the mood of utter surrender, Srila Prabhupada could see that Krishna was doing everything: Krishna was inspiring him to speak, and Krishna was inspiring us to appreciate what he said.

—Giriraj Swami

PHOTO - Giriraj Swami as a young Brahmacari in 1970 surrounded by many famous names and future leaders of ISKCON.

5th Canto, 23rd Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. “The Śiśumāra Planetary Systems.”

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 23:

The Śiśumāra Planetary Systems, text 1 to text 9

By His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

This chapter describes how all the planetary systems take shelter of the polestar, Dhruvaloka. It also describes the totality of these planetary systems to be Śiśumāra, another expansion of the external body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Dhruvaloka, the abode of Lord Viṣṇu within this universe, is situated 1,300,000 yojanas from the seven stars.

In the planetary system of Dhruvaloka are the planets of the fire-god, Indra, Prajāpati, Kaśyapa and Dharma, all of whom are very respectful to the great devotee Dhruva, who lives on the polestar.

Like bulls yoked to a central pivot, all the planetary systems revolve around Dhruvaloka, impelled by eternal time. Those who worship the virāṭ-puruṣa, the universal form of the Lord, conceive of this entire rotating system of planets as an animal known as śiśumāra.

This imaginary śiśumāra is another form of the Lord. The head of the śiśumāra form is downward, and its body appears like that of a coiled snake. On the end of its tail is Dhruvaloka, on the body of the tail are Prajāpati, Agni, Indra and Dharma, and on the root of the tail are Dhātā and Vidhātā. On its waist are the seven great sages.

The entire body of the śiśumāra faces toward its right and appears like a coil of stars. On the right side of this coil are the fourteen prominent stars from Abhijit to Punarvasu, and on the left side are the fourteen prominent stars from Puṣyā to Uttarāṣāḍhā.

The stars known as Punarvasu and Puṣyā are on the right and left hips of the śiśumāra, and the stars known as Ārdrā and Aśleṣā are on the right and left feet of the śiśumāra. Other stars are also fixed on different sides of the Śiśumāra planetary system according to the calculations of Vedic astronomers. To concentrate their minds, yogīs worship the Śiśumāra planetary system, which is technically known as the kuṇḍalini-cakra.

SB 5.23.1

Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, 1,300,000 yojanas [10,400,000 miles] above the planets of the seven sages is the place that learned scholars describe as the abode of Lord Viṣṇu. There the son of Mahārāja Uttānapāda, the great devotee Mahārāja Dhruva, still resides as the life source of all the living entities who live until the end of the creation.

Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Kaśyapa and Dharma all assemble there to offer him honor and respectful obeisances. They circumambulate him with their right sides toward him. I have already described the glorious activities of Mahārāja Dhruva [in the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam].

SB 5.23.2

Translation:

Established by the supreme will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the polestar, which is the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, constantly shines as the central pivot for all the stars and planets. The unsleeping, invisible, most powerful time factor causes these luminaries to revolve around the polestar without cessation.

Purport:

It is distinctly stated herein that all the luminaries, the planets and stars, revolve by the influence of the supreme time factor. The time factor is another feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone is under the influence of the time factor, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so kind and loves His devotee Mahārāja Dhruva so much that He has placed all the luminaries under the control of Dhruva’s planet and has arranged for the time factor to work under him or with his cooperation.

Everything is actually done according to the will and direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but to make His devotee Dhruva the most important individual within the universe, the Lord has placed the activities of the time factor under his control.

SB 5.23.3

Translation:

When bulls are yoked together and tied to a central post to thresh rice, they tread around that pivot without deviating from their proper positions — one bull being closest to the post, another in the middle, and a third on the outside.

Similarly, all the planets and all the hundreds and thousands of stars revolve around the polestar, the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, in their respective orbits, some higher and some lower. Fastened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the machine of material nature according to the results of their fruitive acts, they are driven around the polestar by the wind and will continue to be so until the end of creation.

These planets float in the air within the vast sky, just as clouds with hundreds of tons of water float in the air or as the great śyena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.

Purport:

According to the description of this verse, the hundreds and thousands of stars and the great planets such as the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not clustered together because of the law of gravity or any similar idea of the modern scientists.

These planets and stars are all servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda or Kṛṣṇa, and according to His order they sit in their chariots and travel in their respective orbits. The orbits in which they move are compared to machines given by material nature to the operating deities of the stars and planets, who carry out the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by revolving around Dhruvaloka, which is occupied by the great devotee Mahārāja Dhruva. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.52) as follows:

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ
rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ
yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time. The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light.”

This verse from Brahma-saṁhitā confirms that even the largest and most powerful planet, the sun, rotates within a fixed orbit, or kāla-cakra, in obedience to the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This has nothing to do with gravity or any other imaginary laws created by the material scientists.

Material scientists want to avoid the ruling government of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they imagine different conditions under which they suppose the planets move. The only condition, however, is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All the various predominating deities of the planets are persons, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also a person. The Supreme Personality orders the subordinate persons, the demigods of various names, to carry out His supreme will. This fact is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), wherein Kṛṣṇa says:

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

“This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.”

The orbits of the planets resemble the bodies in which all living entities are seated because they are both machines controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.61):

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” The machine given by material nature — whether the machine of the body or the machine of the orbit, or kāla-cakra — works according to the orders given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead and material nature work together to maintain this great universe, and not only this universe but also the millions of other universes beyond this one.

The question of how the planets and stars are floating is also answered in this verse. It is not because of the laws of gravity. Rather, the planets and stars are enabled to float by manipulations of the air.

It is due to such manipulations that big, heavy clouds float and big eagles fly in the sky. Modern airplanes like the 747 jet aircraft work in a similar way: by controlling the air, they float high in the sky, resisting the tendency to fall to earth. Such adjustments of the air are all made possible by the cooperation of the principles of puruṣa (male) and prakṛti (female).

By the cooperation of material nature, which is considered to be prakṛti, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is considered the puruṣa, all the affairs of the universe are going on nicely in their proper order. Prakṛti, material nature, is also described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.44) as follows:

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“The external potency, māyā, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit [spiritual] potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.”

Material nature, the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is also known as Durgā, or the female energy that protects the great fort of this universe. The word Durgā also means fort. This universe is just like a great fort in which all the conditioned souls are kept, and they cannot leave it unless they are liberated by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself declares in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” Thus simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can be liberated, or, in other words, one can be released from the great fort of this universe and go outside it to the spiritual world.

It is also significant that the predominating deities of even the greatest planets have been offered their exalted posts because of the very valuable pious activities they performed in previous births. This is indicated herein by the words karma-nirmita-gatayaḥ.

For example, as we have previously discussed, the moon is called jīva, which means that he is a living entity like us, but because of his pious activities he has been appointed to his post as the moon-god. Similarly, all the demigods are living entities who have been appointed to their various posts as the masters of the moon, the earth, Venus and so on because of their great service and pious acts.

Only the predominating deity of the sun, Sūrya Nārāyaṇa, is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mahārāja Dhruva, the predominating deity of Dhruvaloka, is also a living entity. Thus there are two kinds of entities — the supreme entity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the ordinary living entity, the jīva (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)). All the demigods are engaged in the service of the Lord, and only by such an arrangement are the affairs of the universe going on.

Regarding the great eagles mentioned in this verse, it is understood that there are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants. They fly so high that they can travel from one planet to another.

They start flying in one planet and land in another, and while in flight they lay eggs that hatch into other birds while falling through the air. In Sanskrit such eagles are called śyena. Under the present circumstances, of course, we cannot see such huge birds, but at least we know of eagles that can capture monkeys and then throw them down to kill and eat them. Similarly, it is understood that there are gigantic birds that can carry off elephants, kill them and eat them.

The two examples of the eagle and the cloud are sufficient to prove that flying and floating can be made possible through adjustments of the air. The planets, in a similar way, are floating because material nature adjusts the air according to the orders of the Supreme Lord.

It could be said that these adjustments constitute the law of gravity, but in any case, one must accept that these laws are made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists have no control over them. The scientists can falsely, improperly declare that there is no God, but this is not a fact.

SB 5.23.4

Translation:

This great machine, consisting of the stars and planets, resembles the form of a śiśumāra [dolphin] in the water. It is sometimes considered an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva. Great yogīs meditate upon Vāsudeva in this form because it is actually visible.

Purport:

Transcendentalists such as yogīs whose minds cannot accommodate the form of the Lord prefer to visualize something very great, such as the virāṭ-puruṣa. Therefore some yogīs contemplate this imaginary śiśumāra to be swimming in the sky the way a dolphin swims in water. They meditate upon it as the virāṭ-rūpa, the gigantic form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 5.23.5

Translation:

This form of the śiśumāra has its head downward and its body coiled. On the end of its tail is the planet of Dhruva, on the body of its tail are the planets of the demigods Prajāpati, Agni, Indra and Dharma, and at the base of its tail are the planets of the demigods Dhātā and Vidhātā.

Where the hips might be on the śiśumāra are the seven saintly sages like Vasiṣṭha and Aṅgirā. The coiled body of the Śiśumāra-cakra turns toward its right side, on which the fourteen constellations from Abhijit to Punarvasu are located. On its left side are the fourteen stars from Puṣyā to Uttarāṣāḍhā.

Thus its body is balanced because its sides are occupied by an equal number of stars. On the back of the śiśumāra is the group of stars known as Ajavīthī, and on its abdomen is the Ganges that flows in the sky [the Milky Way].

SB 5.23.6

punarvasu-puṣyau dakṣiṇa-vāmayoḥ śroṇyor ārdrāśleṣe ca dakṣiṇa-vāmayoḥ paścimayoḥ pādayor abhijid-uttarāṣāḍhe
Translation:

On the right and left sides of where the loins might be on the Śiśumāra-cakra are the stars named Punarvasu and Puṣyā. Ārdrā and Aśleṣā are on its right and left feet, Abhijit and Uttarāṣāḍhā are on its right and left nostrils, Śravaṇā and Pūrvāṣāḍhā are at its right and left eyes, and Dhaniṣṭhā and Mūlā are on its right and left ears.

The eight stars from Maghā to Anurādhā, which mark the southern course, are on the ribs of the left of its body, and the eight stars from Mṛgaśīrṣā to Pūrvabhādra, which mark the northern course, are on the ribs on the right side. Śatabhiṣā and Jyeṣṭhā are on the right and left shoulders.

SB 5.23.7

Translation:

On the upper chin of the śiśumāra is Agasti; on its lower chin, Yamarāja; on its mouth, Mars; on its genitals, Saturn; on the back of its neck, Jupiter; on its chest, the sun; and within the core of its heart, Nārāyaṇa. Within its mind is the moon; on its navel, Venus; and on its breasts, the Aśvinī-kumāras. Within its life air, which is known as prāṇāpāna, is Mercury, on its neck is Rāhu, all over its body are comets, and in its pores are the numerous stars.

SB 5.23.8

Translation:

My dear King, the body of the śiśumāra, as thus described, should be considered the external form of Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Morning, noon and evening, one should silently observe the form of the Lord as the Śiśumāra-cakra and worship Him with this mantra: “O Lord who have assumed the form of time! O resting place of all the planets moving in different orbits! O master of all demigods, O Supreme Person, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You and meditate upon You.”

SB 5.23.9

Translation:

The body of the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, which forms the Śiśumāra-cakra, is the resting place of all the demigods and all the stars and planets. One who chants this mantra to worship that Supreme Person three times a day — morning, noon and evening — will surely be freed from all sinful reactions. If one simply offers his obeisances to this form or remembers this form three times a day, all his recent sinful activities will be destroyed.

Purport:

Summarizing the entire description of the planetary systems of the universe, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that one who is able to meditate upon this arrangement as the virāṭ-rūpa, or viśva-rūpa, the external body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and worship Him three times a day by meditation will always be free from all sinful reactions.

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura estimates that Dhruvaloka, the polestar, is 3,800,000 yojanas above the sun. Above Dhruvaloka by 10,000,000 yojanas is Maharloka, above Maharloka by 20,000,000 yojanas is Janaloka, above Janaloka by 80,000,000 yojanas is Tapoloka, and above Tapoloka by 120,000,000 yojanas is Satyaloka.

Thus the distance from the sun to Satyaloka is 233,800,000 yojanas, or 1,870,400,000 miles. The Vaikuṇṭha planets begin 26,200,000 yojanas (209,600,000 miles) above Satyaloka. Thus the Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes that the covering of the universe is 260,000,000 yojanas (2,080,000,000 miles) away from the sun.

The distance from the sun to the earth is 100,000 yojanas, and below the earth by 70,000 yojanas are the seven lower planetary systems called Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla.

Below these lower planets by 30,000 yojanas, Śeṣa Nāga is lying on the Garbhodaka Ocean. That ocean is 249,800,000 yojanas deep. Thus the total diameter of the universe is approximately 500,000,000 yojanas, or 4,000,000,000 miles.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to the Fifth Canto, Twenty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Śiśumāra Planetary Systems.”

"Sarva gatah" means life is EVERYWHERE, even in the atom. Therefore the jiva tattva MUST also be within every atom too.

"Sarva gatah" means life is EVERYWHERE, even in the atom.

Therefore the jiva tattva MUST also be within every atom.

Tamal Krishna – "But within each atom the living entity is present?"

Srila Prabhupada – "Yes God is present, therefore the living entity is present" (April 4th 1975 Mayapur morning walk)

The Paramatma and the jiva tattva is within every atom so there are jivas EVERYWHERE in all things.

Tamala Krishna - "Srila Prabhupada, someone asked a question the other day about the atom which I couldn't give the answer to. His question is that if we say that within the atom the living entity, the jiva, is present, and life symptoms means six symptoms of birth, growth…"

Prabhupada - "That's all right. Their life symptoms has not yet come. But there is".

Jayadvaita - "Potential".

Prabhupada - "Yes".

Tamala Krishna - "His question was… It was sort of a dual question. At what time, or what…? Just like at the time of disintegration of this body, the living entity leaves this body and the body disintegrates, so does the atomic body also disintegrate when the living entity leaves it and moves to a higher body?"

Prabhupada - "Atomic body? Atomic body means material body. Unless you are free from this material body, the atomic body will go on with you. That means unless you are mukta, the atomic body will go on. Mind, intelligence, ego — they are also atomic, finer atomic body".

Tamala Krishna - "But within each atom the living entity is present?"

Prabhupada - "Yes. God is present; therefore living entity is present".

Tamala Krishna - "So the living entity is present within the atom just as I am present within this body. When I leave this body, my body breaks apart".

Prabhupada - "Yes, you leave this body, enter another body".

Tamala Krishna - "Right".

Prabhupada - "By nature's law".

Tamala Krishna - "And when I leave this body, the body breaks apart".

Prabhupada - "Eh?"

Tamala Krishna - "When I leave this body, the body dis…"

Prabhupada - "The body is already atomic combination".

Tamala Krishna - "Yes".

Prabhupada - "So it remains atomic combination. You leave the body".

Tamala Krishna - "Yes. It remains…"

Prabhupada - "You leave the house. That does not mean the house is finished".

Tamala Krishna - "Right, I can understand that".

Hamsaduta - "He's asking that if the soul leaves the atomic particle, then does the particle break apart. Isn't it?"

Prabhupada - "No, no. You have not left atomic particle".

Tamala Krishna - "No, but you, you're… I think you were saying that within the atom there's also a living entity. So when that living entity leaves the atomic particle does the particle break apart? Or doesn't it? I mean what…?"

Prabhupada - "Just try to understand. From the sastra, you understand that andantara-stham: "God lives within the atom."

Tamala Krishna - "Yes".

Prabhupada - "And when the God is there, living entity's also there. This… This much you try to understand. Because God and living entity, they remain together, as two friends. God is trying to save this fallen friend. That is the information from Upanisad. So when God is there, the living entity is also there".

Rupanuga - "So Paramatma and jivatma are always together".

Prabhupada - "Yes".

Tamala Krishna - "Can we say that the living entity is present within the atom by consciousness?"

Prabhupada - "Hm? No. Consciousness will gradually develop according to the bodily situation".

Pancadravida - "How does the jiva get out of the atom and take a gross body?"

Prabhupada - "Hmm?"

Pancadravida - "How will that jiva…"

Prabhupada - "(laughing) Body is combination of atoms. How he gets out of the atom. Body is nothing but combination of many atoms. Everything material is combination of many atoms. That's all".

Pancadravida - "The jivas inside the atom, are they like impersonalists who are in the Brahman?"

Prabhupada - "That you consider. He has not developed his consciousness. Practically, it is like dead". (Morning Walk, April 4, 1975, Mayapur)

Some may say that the soul or jiva tattva is 10,000th the size of a tip of hair, so how could the soul be smaller than an atom?

Well, the atom the scientists discribe, is not the same atom Srimad Bhagavatam describes, where it says that six atoms together can be seen by the naked eye-

SB Canto 3

The atom is described as an invisible particle, but when six such atoms combine together, they are called a trasareṇu, and this is visible in the sunshine pouring through the holes of a window screen.

SB 3.11.5, Translation and Purport: The division of gross time is calculated as follows: two atoms make one double atom, and three double atoms make one hexatom.

This hexatom is visible in the sunshine which enters through the holes of a window screen. One can clearly see that the hexatom goes up towards the sky.

The atom is described as an invisible particle, but when six such atoms combine together, they are called a trasareṇu, and this is visible in the sunshine pouring through the holes of a window screen.

''The Descent of the River Ganges'' Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 17 Text 1 to Text 24 By His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

''The Descent of the River Ganges''

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 17 Text 1 to Text 24

By His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The Seventeenth Chapter describes the origin of the Ganges River and how it flows in and around Ilāvṛta-varṣa. There is also a description of the prayers Lord Śiva offers to Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, part of the quadruple expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lord Viṣṇu once approached Bali Mahārāja while the King was performing a sacrifice.

The Lord appeared before him as Trivikrama, or Vāmana, and begged alms from the King in the form of three steps of land. With two steps, Lord Vāmana covered all three planetary systems and pierced the covering of the universe with the toes of His left foot.

A few drops of water from the Causal Ocean leaked through this hole and fell on the head of Lord Śiva, where they remained for one thousand millenniums.

These drops of water are the sacred Ganges River. It first flows onto the heavenly planets, which are located on the soles of Lord Viṣṇu’s feet. The Ganges River is known by many names, such as the Bhāgīrathī and the Jāhnavī. It purifies Dhruvaloka and the planets of the seven sages because both Dhruva and the sages have no other desire than to serve the Lord’s lotus feet.

The Ganges River, emanating from the lotus feet of the Lord, inundates the heavenly planets, especially the moon, and then flows through Brahmapurī atop Mount Meru. Here the river divides into four branches (known as Sītā, Alakanandā, Cakṣu and Bhadrā), which then flow down to the ocean of salt water.

The branch known as Sītā flows through Śekhara-parvata and Gandhamādana-parvata and then flows down to Bhadrāśva-varṣa, where it mixes with the ocean of salt water in the west.

The Cakṣu branch flows through Mālyavān-giri and, after reaching Ketumāla-varṣa, mixes with the ocean of salt water in the west. The branch known as Bhadrā flows onto Mount Meru, Mount Kumuda, and the Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgavān mountains before it reaches Kuru-deśa, where it flows into the ocean of salt water in the north.

The Alakanandā branch flows through Brahmālaya, crosses over many mountains, including Hemakūṭa and Himakūṭa, and then reaches Bhārata-varṣa, where it flows into the southern side of the ocean of salt water. Many other rivers and their branches flow through the nine varṣas.

The tract of land known as Bhārata-varṣa is the field of activities, and the other eight varṣas are for persons who are meant to enjoy heavenly comfort. In each of these eight beautiful provinces, the celestial denizens enjoy various standards of material comfort and pleasure.

A different incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead distributes His mercy in each of the nine varṣas of Jambūdvīpa.

In the Ilāvṛta-varṣa, Lord Śiva is the only male. There he lives with his wife, Bhavānī, who is attended by many maidservants. If any other male enters that province, Bhavānī curses him to become a woman. Lord Śiva worships Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa by offering various prayers, one of which is as follows:

“My dear Lord, please liberate all Your devotees from material life and bind all the nondevotees to the material world. Without Your mercy, no one can be released from the bondage of material existence.”

SB 5.17.1

Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: My dear King, Lord Viṣṇu, the enjoyer of all sacrifices, appeared as Vāmanadeva in the sacrificial arena of Bali Mahārāja. Then He extended His left foot to the end of the universe and pierced a hole in its covering with the nail of His big toe.

Through the hole, the pure water of the Causal Ocean entered this universe as the Ganges River.

Having washed the lotus feet of the Lord, which are covered with reddish powder, the water of the Ganges acquired a very beautiful pink color. Every living being can immediately purify his mind of material contamination by touching the transcendental water of the Ganges, yet its waters remain ever pure.

Because the Ganges directly touches the lotus feet of the Lord before descending within this universe, she is known as Viṣṇupadī.

Later she received other names like Jāhnavī and Bhāgīrathī. After one thousand millenniums, the water of the Ganges descended to Dhruvaloka, the topmost planet in this universe. Therefore all learned sages and scholars proclaim Dhruvaloka to be Viṣṇupada [“situated on Lord Viṣṇu’s lotus feet”].

Purport:

In this verse, Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes the glories of the Ganges River. The water of the Ganges is called patita-pāvanī, the deliverer of all sinful living beings. It is a proven fact that a person who regularly bathes in the Ganges is purified both externally and internally.

Externally his body becomes immune to all kinds of disease, and internally he gradually develops a devotional attitude toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Throughout India, many thousands of people live on the banks of the Ganges, and by regularly bathing in her waters, they are undoubtedly being purified both spiritually and materially.

Many sages, including Śaṅkarācārya, have composed prayers in praise of the Ganges, and the land of India itself has become glorious because such rivers as the

Ganges,

Yamunā,

Godāvarī,

Kāverī,

Kṛṣṇā

Narmadā

All flow there.

Anyone living on the land adjacent to these rivers is naturally advanced in spiritual consciousness. Śrīla Madhvācārya says:

vārāhe vāma-pādaṁ tu

tad-anyeṣu tu dakṣiṇam

pādaṁ kalpeṣu bhagavān

ujjahāra trivikramaḥ

Standing on His right foot and extending His left to the edge of the universe, Lord Vāmana became known as Trivikrama, the incarnation who performed three heroic deeds.

SB 5.17.2

Translation:

Dhruva Mahārāja, the famous son of Mahārāja Uttānapāda, is known as the most exalted devotee of the Supreme Lord because of his firm determination in executing devotional service. Knowing that the sacred Ganges water washes the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu, Dhruva Mahārāja, situated on his own planet, to this very day accepts that water on his head with great devotion.

Because he constantly thinks of Kṛṣṇa very devoutly within the core of his heart, he is overcome with ecstatic anxiety. Tears flow from his half-open eyes, and eruptions appear on his entire body.

Purport:

When a person is firmly fixed in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is described as vīra-vrata, fully determined. Such a devotee increases his ecstasy in devotional service more and more. Thus as soon as he remembers Lord Viṣṇu, his eyes fill with tears.

This is a symptom of a mahā-bhāgavata. Dhruva Mahārāja maintained himself in that devotional ecstasy, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also gave us a practical example of transcendental ecstasy when He lived at Jagannātha Purī. His pastimes there are fully narrated in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

SB 5.17.3

Translation:

The seven great sages [Marīci, Vasiṣṭha, Atri and so on] reside on planets beneath Dhruvaloka. Well aware of the influence of the water of the Ganges, to this day they keep Ganges water on the tufts of hair on their heads. They have concluded that this is the ultimate wealth, the perfection of all austerities, and the best means of prosecuting transcendental life.

Having obtained uninterrupted devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they neglect all other beneficial processes like religion, economic development, sense gratification and even merging into the Supreme. Just as jñānīs think that merging into the existence of the Lord is the highest truth, these seven exalted personalities accept devotional service as the perfection of life.

Purport:

Transcendentalists are divided into two primary groups: the nirviśeṣa-vādīs, or impersonalists, and the bhaktas, or devotees. The impersonalists do not accept spiritual varieties of life. They want to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord in His Brahman feature (the brahmajyoti). The devotees, however, desire to take part in the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord.

In the upper planetary system, the topmost planet is Dhruvaloka, and beneath Dhruvaloka are the seven planets occupied by the great sages, beginning with Marīci, Vasiṣṭha and Atri. All these sages regard devotional service as the highest perfection of life. Therefore they all carry the holy water of the Ganges on their heads.

This verse proves that for one who has achieved the platform of pure devotional service, nothing else is important, even so-called liberation (kaivalya). Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that only by achieving pure devotional service of the Lord can one give up all other engagements as insignificant. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī confirms his statement as follows:

kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate

durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate

viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate

yat kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhavavatāṁ taṁ gauram eva stumaḥ

(Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5)

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has perfectly enunciated and broadcast the process of bhakti-yoga. Consequently, for one who has taken shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the highest perfection of the Māyāvādīs, kaivalya, or becoming one with the Supreme, is considered hellish, to say nothing of the karmīs’ aspiration to be promoted to the heavenly planets. Devotees consider such goals to be worthless phantasmagoria.

There are also yogīs, who try to control their senses, but they can never succeed without coming to the stage of devotional service. The senses are compared to poisonous snakes, but the senses of a bhakta engaged in the service of the Lord are like snakes with their poisonous fangs removed.

The yogī tries to suppress his senses, but even great mystics like Viśvāmitra fail in the attempt. Viśvāmitra was conquered by his senses when he was captivated by Menakā during his meditation. She later gave birth to Śakuntalā. The wisest persons in the world, therefore, are the bhakti-yogīs, as Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (6.47):

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ

mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ

sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

“Of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.”

SB 5.17.4

Translation:

After purifying the seven planets near Dhruvaloka [the polestar], the Ganges water is carried through the spaceways of the demigods in billions of celestial airplanes. Then it inundates the moon [Candraloka] and finally reaches Lord Brahmā’s abode atop Mount Meru.

Purport:

We should always remember that the Ganges River comes from the Causal Ocean, beyond the covering of the universe. After the water of the Causal Ocean leaks through the hole created by Lord Vāmanadeva, it flows down to Dhruvaloka (the polestar) and then to the seven planets beneath Dhruvaloka.

Then it is carried to the moon by innumerable celestial airplanes, and then it falls to the top of Mount Meru, which is known as Sumeru-parvata.

In this way, the water of the Ganges finally reaches the lower planets and the peaks of the Himālayas, and from there it flows through Hardwar and throughout the plains of India, purifying the entire land. How the Ganges water reaches the various planets from the top of the universe is explained herein.

Celestial airplanes carry the water from the planets of the sages to other planets. So-called advanced scientists of the modern age are trying to go to the higher planets, but at the same time they are experiencing a power shortage on earth.

If they were actually capable scientists, they could personally go by airplane to other planets, but this they are unable to do. Having now given up their moon excursions, they are attempting to go to other planets, but without success.

SB 5.17.5

Translation:

On top of Mount Meru, the Ganges divides into four branches, each of which gushes in a different direction [east, west, north and south]. These branches, known by the names Sītā, Alakanandā, Cakṣu and Bhadrā, flow down to the ocean.

SB 5.17.6

Translation:

The branch of the Ganges known as the Sītā flows through Brahmapurī atop Mount Meru, and from there it runs down to the nearby peaks of the Kesarācala Mountains, which stand almost as high as Mount Meru itself. These mountains are like a bunch of filaments around Mount Meru.

From the Kesarācala Mountains, the Ganges falls to the peak of Gandhamādana Mountain and then flows into the land of Bhadrāśva-varṣa. Finally it reaches the ocean of salt water in the west.

SB 5.17.7

Translation:

The branch of the Ganges known as Cakṣu falls onto the summit of Mālyavān Mountain and from there cascades onto the land of Ketumāla-varṣa. The Ganges flows incessantly through Ketumāla-varṣa and in this way also reaches the ocean of salt water in the west.

SB 5.17.8

Translation:

The branch of the Ganges known as Bhadrā flows from the northern side of Mount Meru. Its waters fall onto the peaks of Kumuda Mountain, Mount Nīla, Śveta Mountain and Śṛṅgavān Mountain in succession. Then it runs down into the province of Kuru and, after crossing through that land, flows into the saltwater ocean in the north.

SB 5.17.9

Translation:

Similarly, the branch of the Ganges known as Alakanandā flows from the southern side of Brahmapurī [Brahma-sadana]. Passing over the tops of mountains in various lands, it falls down with fierce force upon the peaks of the mountains Hemakūṭa and Himakūṭa.

After inundating the tops of those mountains, the Ganges falls down onto the tract of land known as Bhārata-varṣa, which she also inundates.

Then the Ganges flows into the ocean of salt water in the south. Persons who come to bathe in this river are fortunate. It is not very difficult for them to achieve with every step the results of performing great sacrifices like the Rājasūya and Aśvamedha yajñas.

Purport:

The place where the Ganges flows into the salt water of the Bay of Bengal is still known as Gaṅgā-sāgara, or the meeting place of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. On Makara-saṅkrānti, in the month of January—February, thousands of people still go there to bathe, hoping to be liberated. That they can actually be liberated in this way is confirmed herein.

For those who bathe in the Ganges at any time, the results of great sacrifices like the Aśvamedha and Rājasūya yajña are not at all difficult to achieve. Most people in India are still inclined to bathe in the Ganges, and there are many places where they can do so.

At Prayāga (Allahabad), many thousands of people gather during the month of January to bathe in the confluence of the Ganges and Yamunā.

Afterward, many of them go to the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Ganges to take bath there. Thus it is a special facility for all the people of India that they can bathe in the water of the Ganges at so many places of pilgrimage.

SB 5.17.10

Translation:

Many other rivers, both big and small, flow from the top of Mount Meru. These rivers are like daughters of the mountain, and they flow to the various tracts of land in hundreds of branches.

SB 5.17.11

Translation:

Among the nine varṣas, the tract of land known as Bhārata-varṣa is understood to be the field of fruitive activities. Learned scholars and saintly persons declare the other eight varṣas to be meant for very highly elevated pious persons. After returning from the heavenly planets, they enjoy the remaining results of their pious activities in these eight earthly varṣas.

Purport:

The heavenly places of enjoyment are divided into three groups: the celestial heavenly planets, the heavenly places on earth, and the bila heavenly places, which are found in the lower regions. Among these three classes of heavenly places (bhauma-svarga-pada-ni), the heavenly places on earth are the eight varṣas other than Bhārata-varṣa.

In Bhagavad-gītā (9.21) Kṛṣṇa says, kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti: when the persons living in the heavenly planets exhaust the results of their pious activities, they return to this earth.

In this way, they are elevated to the heavenly planets, and then they again fall to the earthly planets. This process is known as brahmāṇḍa bhramaṇa, wandering up and down throughout the universes.

Those who are intelligent — in other words, those who have not lost their intelligence — do not involve themselves in this process of wandering up and down.

They take to the devotional service of the Lord so that they can ultimately penetrate the covering of this universe and enter the spiritual kingdom. Then they are situated on one of the planets known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka or, still higher, Kṛṣṇaloka (Goloka Vṛndāvana).

A devotee is never caught in the process of being promoted to the heavenly planets and again coming down. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says:

ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

Among all the living entities wandering throughout the universe, one who is most fortunate comes in contact with a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus gets the opportunity to execute devotional service.

Those who are sincerely seeking the favor of Kṛṣṇa come in contact with a guru, a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādīs indulging in mental speculation and the karmīs desiring the results of their actions cannot become gurus. A guru must be a direct representative of Kṛṣṇa who distributes the instructions of Kṛṣṇa without any change.

Thus only the most fortunate persons come in contact with the guru. As confirmed in the Vedic literatures, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: one has to search out a guru to understand the affairs of the spiritual world. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also confirms this point.

Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: one who is very interested in understanding the activities in the spiritual world must search out a guru — a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa.

From all angles of vision, therefore, the word guru is especially meant for the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa and no one else. Padma Purāṇa states, avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt: one who is not a Vaiṣṇava, or who is not a representative of Kṛṣṇa, cannot be a guru.

Even the most qualified brāhmaṇa cannot become a guru if he is not a representative of Kṛṣṇa.

Brāhmaṇas are supposed to acquire six kinds of auspicious qualifications: they become very learned scholars (paṭhana) and very qualified teachers (pāṭhana); they become expert in worshiping the Lord or the demigods (yajana), and they teach others how to execute this worship (yājana); they qualify themselves as bona fide persons to receive alms from others (pratigraha), and they distribute the wealth in charity (dāna).

Yet even a brāhmaṇa possessing these qualifications cannot become a guru unless he is the representative of Kṛṣṇa (gurur na syāt). Vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ: but a Vaiṣṇava, a bona fide representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, can become a guru even if he is śva-paca, a member of a family of dog-eaters.

Of the three divisions of heavenly planets (svarga-loka), bhauma-svarga is sometimes accepted as the tract of land in Bhārata-varṣa known as Kashmir. In this region there are certainly good facilities for material sense enjoyment, but this is not the business of a pure transcendentalist. Rūpa Gosvāmī describes the engagement of a pure transcendentalist as follows:

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ

jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-

śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.” Those who fully engage in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa just to please Him are not interested in the three divisions of heavenly places, namely, divya-svarga, bhauma-svarga and bila-svarga.

SB 5.17.12

Translation:

In these eight varṣas, or tracts of land, human beings live ten thousand years according to earthly calculations. All the inhabitants are almost like demigods. They have the bodily strength of ten thousand elephants. Indeed, their bodies are as sturdy as thunderbolts.

The youthful duration of their lives is very pleasing, and both men and women enjoy sexual union with great pleasure for a long time.

After years of sensual pleasure — when a balance of one year of life remains — the wife conceives a child. Thus the standard of pleasure for the residents of these heavenly regions is exactly like that of the human beings who lived during Tretā-yuga.

Purport:

There are four yugas: Satya-yuga, Tretā-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga and Kali-yuga. During the first yuga, Satya-yuga, people were very pious. Everyone practiced the mystic yoga system for spiritual understanding and realization of God.

Because everyone was always absorbed in samādhi, no one was interested in material sense enjoyment. During Tretā-yuga, people enjoyed sense pleasure without tribulations. Material miseries began in Dvāpara-yuga, but they were not very stringent. Stringent material miseries really began from the advent of Kali-yuga.

Another point in this verse is that in all eight of these heavenly varṣas, although men and women enjoy sex pleasure, there is no pregnancy. Pregnancy takes place only in lower-grade life. For example, animals like dogs and hogs become pregnant twice a year, and each time they beget at least half a dozen offspring.

Even lower species of life such as snakes give birth to hundreds of young at one time. This verse informs us that in grades of life higher than ours, pregnancy occurs once in a lifetime. People still have sex life, but there is no pregnancy. In the spiritual world, people are not very attracted to sex life, due to their exalted devotional attitude.

Practically speaking, there is no sex life in the spiritual world, but even if sometimes it does occur, there is no pregnancy at all. On the planet earth, however, human beings do become pregnant, although the tendency is to avoid having children.

In this sinful Age of Kali, people have even taken to the process of killing the child in the womb. This is the most degraded practice; it can only perpetuate the miserable material conditions of those who perform it.

SB 5.17.13

Translation:

In each of those tracts of land, there are many gardens filled with flowers and fruits according to the season, and there are beautifully decorated hermitages as well. Between the great mountains demarcating the borders of those lands lie enormous lakes of clearwater filled with newly grown lotus flowers.

Aquatic birds such as swans, ducks, water chickens, and cranes become greatly excited by the fragrance of lotus flowers, and the charming sound of bumblebees fills the air. The inhabitants of those lands are important leaders among the demigods. Always attended by their respective servants, they enjoy life in gardens alongside the lakes.

In this pleasing situation, the wives of the demigods smile playfully at their husbands and look upon them with lusty desires. All the demigods and their wives are constantly supplied with sandalwood pulp and flower garlands by their servants. In this way, all the residents of the eight heavenly varṣas enjoy, attracted by the activities of the opposite sex.

Purport:

Here is a description of the lower heavenly planets. The inhabitants of those planets enjoy life in a pleasing atmosphere of clear lakes filled with newly grown lotus flowers and gardens filled with fruits, flowers, various kinds of birds and humming bees. In that atmosphere they enjoy life with their very beautiful wives, who are always sexually stimulated.

Nonetheless, they are all devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as will be explained in subsequent verses. The inhabitants of this earth also desire such heavenly enjoyment, but when they somehow or other achieve imitation pleasures like sex and intoxication, they completely forget the service of the Supreme Lord.

In the heavenly planets, however, although the residents enjoy superior sense gratification, they never forget their positions as eternal servants of the Supreme Being.

SB 5.17.14

Translation:

To show mercy to His devotees in each of these nine tracts of land, the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Nārāyaṇa expands Himself in His quadruple principles of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. In this way He remains near His devotees to accept their service.

Purport:

In this connection, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura informs us that the demigods worship the Supreme Lord in His various Deity forms (arcā-vigraha) because except in the spiritual world, the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be directly worshiped in person. In the material world, the Lord is always worshiped as the arcā-vigraha, or Deity in the temple.

There is no difference between the arcā-vigraha and the original person, and therefore those who are engaged in worshiping the Deity in the temple in full opulence, even on this planet, should be understood to be directly in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead without a doubt.

As enjoined in the śāstras, arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ: “No one should treat the Deity in the temple as stone or metal, nor should one think that the spiritual master is an ordinary human being.” One should strictly follow this śāstric injunction and worship the Deity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without offenses.

The spiritual master is the direct representative of the Lord, and no one should consider him an ordinary human being. By avoiding offenses against the Deity and the spiritual master, one can advance in spiritual life, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

In this regard, the following quotation appears in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta:

pādme tu parama-vyomnaḥ

pūrvādye dik-catuṣṭaye

vāsudevādayo vyūhaś

catvāraḥ kathitāḥ kramāt

tathā pāda-vibhūtau ca

nivasanti kramādi me

jalāvṛti-stha-vaikuṇṭha-

sthita vedavatī-pure

satyordhve vaiṣṇave loke

nityākhye dvārakā-pure

śuddhodād uttare śveta-

dvīpe cairāvatī-pure

kṣīrāmbudhi-sthitānte

kroḍa-paryaṅka-dhāmani

sātvatīye kvacit tantre

nava vyūhāḥ prakīrtitāḥ

catvāro vāsudevādyā

nārāyaṇa-nṛsiṁhakau

hayagrīvo mahā-kroḍo

brahmā ceti navoditāḥ

tatra brahmā tu vijñeyaḥ

pūrvokta-vidhayā hariḥ

“In the Padma Purāṇa it is said that in the spiritual world the Lord personally expands in all directions and is worshiped as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.

The same God is represented by the Deity in this material world, which is only one quarter of His creation. Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are also present in the four directions of this material world.

There is a Vaikuṇṭhaloka covered with water in this material world, and on that planet is a place called Vedavatī, where Vāsudeva is located. Another planet known as Viṣṇuloka is situated above Satyaloka, and there Saṅkarṣaṇa is present. Similarly, in Dvārakā-purī, Pradyumna is the predominator.

On the island known as Śvetadvīpa, there is an ocean of milk, and in the midst of that ocean is a place called Airāvatī-pura, where Aniruddha lies on Ananta. In some of the sātvata-tantras, there is a description of the nine varṣas and the predominating Deity worshiped in each:

(1) Vāsudeva,

(2) Saṅkarṣaṇa,

(3) Pradyumna,

(4) Aniruddha,

(5) Nārāyaṇa,

(6) Nṛsiṁha,

(7) Hayagrīva,

(8) Mahāvarāha,

(9) Brahmā.

The Lord Brahmā mentioned in this connection is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When there is no fit human being to empower as Lord Brahmā, the Lord Himself takes the position of Lord Brahmā. Tatra brahmā tu vijñeyaḥ pūrvokta-vidhayā hariḥ. That Brahmā mentioned here is Hari Himself.

SB 5.17.15

Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: In the tract of land known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa, the only male person is Lord Śiva, the most powerful demigod. Goddess Durgā, the wife of Lord Śiva, does not like any man to enter that land. If any foolish man dares to do so, she immediately turns him into a woman. I shall explain this later [in the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam].

SB 5.17.16

Translation:

In Ilāvṛta-varṣa, Lord Śiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of Goddess Durgā, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa, the fourth expansion, is certainly transcendental, but because His activities of destruction in the material world are in the mode of ignorance, He is known as tāmasī, the Lord’s form in the mode of ignorance.

Lord Śiva knows that Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra.

Purport:

Sometimes we see a picture of Lord Śiva engaged in meditation. This verse explains that Lord Śiva is always meditating upon Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa in trance. Lord Śiva is in charge of the destruction of the material world. Lord Brahmā creates the material world, Lord Viṣṇu maintains it, and Lord Śiva destroys it.

Because destruction is in the mode of ignorance, Lord Śiva and his worshipable Deity, Saṅkarṣaṇa, are technically called tāmasī. Lord Śiva is the incarnation of tamo-guṇa.

Since both Lord Śiva and Saṅkarṣaṇa are always enlightened and situated in the transcendental position, they have nothing to do with the modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — but because their activities involve them with the mode of ignorance, they are sometimes called tāmasī.

SB 5.17.17

Translation:

The most powerful Lord Śiva says: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You in Your expansion as Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. You are the reservoir of all transcendental qualities. Although You are unlimited, You remain unmanifest to the nondevotees.

SB 5.17.18

Translation:

O my Lord, You are the only worshipable person, for You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all opulences. Your secure lotus feet are the only source of protection for all Your devotees, whom You satisfy by manifesting Yourself in various forms. O my Lord, You deliver Your devotees from the clutches of material existence. Nondevotees, however, remain entangled in material existence by Your will. Kindly accept me as Your eternal servant.

SB 5.17.19

Translation:

We cannot control the force of our anger. Therefore when we look at material things, we cannot avoid feeling attraction or repulsion for them. But the Supreme Lord is never affected in this way. Although He glances over the material world for the purpose of creating, maintaining and destroying it, He is not affected, even to the slightest degree.

Therefore, one who desires to conquer the force of the senses must take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Then he will be victorious.

Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always equipped with inconceivable potencies. Although creation takes place by His glancing over the material energy, He is not affected by the modes of material nature. Because of His eternally transcendental position, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in this material world, the modes of material nature cannot affect Him.

Therefore the Supreme Lord is called Transcendence, and anyone who wants to be secure from the influence of the modes of material nature must take shelter of Him.

SB 5.17.20

Translation:

For persons with impure vision, the Supreme Lord’s eyes appear like those of someone who indiscriminately drinks intoxicating beverages. Thus bewildered, such unintelligent persons become angry at the Supreme Lord, and due to their angry mood the Lord Himself appears angry and very fearful.

However, this is an illusion. When the wives of the serpent demon were agitated by the touch of the Lord’s lotus feet, due to shyness they could proceed no further in their worship of Him. Yet the Lord remained unagitated by their touch, for He is equipoised in all circumstances. Therefore who will not worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

Purport:

Anyone who remains unagitated, even in the presence of cause for agitation, is called dhīra, or equipoised. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, being always in a transcendental position, is never agitated by anything. Therefore someone who wants to become dhīra must take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.

In Bhagavad-gītā (2.13) Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati: a person who is equipoised in all circumstances is never bewildered. Prahlāda Mahārāja is a perfect example of a dhīra. When the fierce form of Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared in order to kill Hiraṇyakaśipu, Prahlāda was unagitated. He remained calm and quiet, whereas others, including even Lord Brahmā, were frightened by the features of the Lord.

SB 5.17.21

Translation:

Lord Śiva continued: All the great sages accept the Lord as the source of creation, maintenance and destruction, although He actually has nothing to do with these activities. Therefore the Lord is called unlimited. Although the Lord in His incarnation as Śeṣa holds all the universes on His hoods, each universe feels no heavier than a mustard seed to Him. Therefore, what person desiring perfection will not worship the Lord?

Purport:

The incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Śeṣa or Ananta has unlimited strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation. As described in this verse, Ananta’s strength is so great that the innumerable universes rest on His hoods.

He has the bodily features of a snake with thousands of hoods, and since His strength is unlimited, all the universes resting on His hoods feel no heavier than mustard seeds. We can just imagine how insignificant a mustard seed is on the hood of a serpent. In this connection, the reader is referred to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Five, verses 117-125.

There it is stated that Lord Viṣṇu’s incarnation as the serpentine Ananta Śeṣa Nāga supports all the universes on His hoods. By our calculation, a universe may be very, very heavy, but because the Lord is ananta (unlimited), He feels the weight to be no heavier than a mustard seed.

SB 5.17.22-23

Translation:

From that Supreme Personality of Godhead appears Lord Brahmā, whose body is made from the total material energy, the reservoir of intelligence predominated by the passionate mode of material nature. From Lord Brahmā, I myself am born as a representation of false ego known as Rudra.

By my own power I create all the other demigods, the five elements and the senses.

Therefore, I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than any of us and under whose control are situated all the demigods, material elements and senses, and even Lord Brahmā and I myself, like birds bound by a rope. Only by the Lord’s grace can we create, maintain and annihilate the material world. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Being.

Purport:

A summary of creation is given in this verse. From Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu expands, and from Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands. Lord Brahmā, who was born of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, fathers Lord Śiva, from whom all the other demigods gradually evolve. Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu are incarnations of the different material qualities.

Lord Viṣṇu is actually above all material qualities, but He accepts control of sattva-guṇa (the mode of goodness) to maintain the universe. Lord Brahmā is born from the mahat-tattva. Brahmā creates the entire universe, Lord Viṣṇu maintains it, and Lord Śiva annihilates it.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead controls all the most important demigods — especially Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva — exactly as the owner of a bird controls it by binding it with a rope. Sometimes vultures are controlled in this way.

SB 5.17.24

Translation:

The illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead binds all of us conditioned souls to this material world. Therefore, without being favored by Him, persons like us cannot understand how to get out of that illusory energy. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who is the cause of creation and annihilation.

Purport:

Kṛṣṇa clearly states in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14):

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”

All conditioned souls working within the illusory energy of the Lord consider the body to be the self, and thus they continuously wander throughout the universe, taking birth in different species of life and creating more and more problems.

Sometimes they become disgusted with the problems and seek out a process by which they can get out of this entanglement. Unfortunately, such so-called research workers are unaware of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His illusory energy, and thus all of them work only in darkness, never finding a way out.

So-called scientists and advanced research scholars are ludicrously trying to find the cause of life. They take no notice of the fact that life is already being produced. What will be their credit if they find out the chemical composition of life?

All their chemicals are nothing but different transformations of the five elements — earth, water, fire, air and ether. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.20), the living entity is never created (na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin). There are five gross material elements and three minor material elements (mind, intelligence and ego), and there are eternal living entities.

The living entity desires a certain type of body, and by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that body is created from material nature, which is nothing but a kind of machine handled by the Supreme Lord. The Lord gives the living entity a particular type of mechanical body, and the living entity must work with it according to the law of fruitive activities.

Fruitive activities are described in this verse: karma-pamanīṁ māyām. The living entity is seated on a machine (the body), and according to the order of the Supreme Lord, he operates the machine. This is the secret of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

The living entity thus becomes entangled in fruitive activities in this material world. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.7), manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati: the living entity is struggling very hard against the six senses, which include the mind.

In all the activities of creation and annihilation, the living entity is entangled in fruitive activities, which are executed by the illusory energy, māyā. He is exactly like a computer handled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The so-called scientists say that nature acts independently, but they cannot explain what nature is. Nature is nothing but a machine operated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands the operator, his problems of life are solved. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (7.19):

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti

sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

“After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” A sane man, therefore, surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus gets out of the clutches of the illusory energy, māyā.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fifth Canto, Seventeenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Descent of the River Ganges.”