Did man really go to the Moon 6 times between 1969 and 1972?
Understanding the truth about going to the Moon.
The fact is, Prabhupada was right about one aspect of space travel, that man has NEVER entered the Heavenly reality of Chandraloka on the Moon which is invisible to human eyes.
The heavenly civilization known as Chandraloka on the Moon, is in a higher dimensional realm of "subtle" material energy beyond the detection of modern technology and the "gross" human material senses or material bodily vessel we have on Earth.
So when the Astronauts went to the Moon they could not see or detect, with their gross technology and gross material body, the higher material "subtle" dimensional realm existing there.
Therefore due to lack of proper education about science and technology in the 1960s/70s many statements by devotees and even Prabhupāda was full of ignorance and speculation.
Therefore the Apollo missions to the Moon in the 1960s/70s were a mystery to not only Prabhupada and his young disciples, but also to most of the world at that time.
During this time many nonsense conspiracy theories existed because many could not understand this new technology and never trusted their Government or NASA.
Some, including many ignorant devotees, even claimed all the NASA technology was a hoax claiming the Saturn rockets were impossible to build.
These devotees reminded me of the Aboriginals who first greeted the first fleet when Australia was discovered and could not understand these tall ships and men coming ashore on carts with wheels.
The Aboriginal natives still had not discovered the wheel and could not understand it.
Just like devotees and some members of the public could not understand the technology NASA was using.
Srila Prabhupāda's opinion that Man never went to the Moon between 1969 and 1972 (the Moon we can see in the sky) was not maturely researched in the mid 1970s and sadly many devotees (most in their early 20s) were mislead by nonsense speculative conspiracy theories.
As it turns out, today we know they DID go to the Moon and Prabhupāda's opinion and His many ddiscussions were incorrect due to the ignorance of the time (1970s)
And frankly to keep denying this fact makes ISKCON look like ignorant fanatical religious fools!
Many people have rejected ISKCON because of this un-educated denial that NASA never went to the Moon.
This question keeps coming up among ISKCON devotees, did Apollo's six manned space missions from 1969 to 1972 land on the same Moon we CAN see in the sky, where 12 Astronauts walked on the Moon?
Srila Prabhupada - "Man has struggled very hard to reach the Moon but he has not tried very hard to elevate himself spiritually" (Bhagavad Gita As It Is Introduction).
In 2021 if devotees keep claiming man never went to at least the reality we see can of the Moon, is NOT intelligent because the evidence that NASA went to the Moon is overwhelming and only denied by those who lack the correct education.
Today there is OVERWHELMING evidence and proof, including photos of the Apollo landing sites taken by a Japanese spacecraft in 2018, that reveals the NASA Moon landings really did happen and were NOT a hoax or all bluff as Prabhupada has many times we claimed.
Also China, India, Russia, Japan and the European Union have all sent spaecrafts to the Moon.
I have always maintained since the 1970s that when he said they never went to the Moon, he meant the "heavenly subtle realm" beyond our vision and science called Chandraloka, and not the physical gross Moon we CAN see.
There are so many other realities (dimensions) everywhere through out the material universe, including here on earth as well, and of course on the moon and all other planets, including the Sun.
Living entities also live on the Sun according to Srimad Bhagavatam, but obviously beyond our gross dimension of time and space and only attained by pious activity (karma) and NOT by mechanical means.
On the moon there exist a different subtle civilization unseen by our gross material senses and technology, this heavenly realm is called Chandraloka.
This higher dimensional reality is situated in another realm of space-time different from our "gross Earth reality or dimension" therefore unseen by NASA and their Astronauts.
The subtle reality on the Moon is called Chandraloka, a heavenly realm attained only by pious activity (karma) and NOT by any mechanical means.
This subtle reality on the Moon is a heavenly opulent place not visible to us in a "gross material body" or our Earth's mundane gross technology.
It’s not just the moon and Sun that has these subtle higher dimensional realities, the fact is, such dimensional divisions exist throughout this entire material universe and even on our Earth planet.
For example, we cannot see ghosts or bhutas here on Earth, nor can we see other living entities such as the messengers of death (The Yamadhutas) who take the subtle material body thst the jiva-soul is in, out of the gross material bodily vessel when the gross body dies.
The Yamadhuta's bodies are also material but exist in a subtle reality unseen by most in a "gross material body, unless one is qualified to see the "subtle material realm".
So most of us in these gross material bodies cannot see so many other realities and dimensions in this material creation that are actually all around us.
So when they first went to the Moon on July 20th 1969, the astronauts could not see or enter the heavenly realm that IS there even though they DID land on the Moon without any doubt.
These facts are really hard to denying in 2021 no matter what Prabhupada said 45 years ago with the then limited knowledge he and his disciples had back then, claiming they never went to the Moon.
The fact is NASA DID go to at least "the Moon we see in the Sky" and it is foolish today in 2021 to deny this mundane achievement and believe so many nonsense conspiracy theories and speculation they never went to the Moon.
That is no way to run an organisation supposed to be based on encouraging others to seek out the truth, instead of forcing others to believe this nonsense with bullying fear tactics and threats you are going to hell for questioning the Spiritual Master's nonsense claim NASA never visited the "gross" Moon!
As said above, Prabhupada is not Krsna, therefore he does not know everything like Krsna does.
Yes Prabhupāda is Krsna's pure devotee and has even admitted himself he did not know everything about Cosmology.
That is why he sent Tamal Krsna Gosvami to South India in search of a Vedic Brahmin expert in Vedic Cosmology, but no one qualified was found.
As said above, when Prabhupada said they never went to the Moon, it is obvious he meant they never went to the "subtle" heavenly realm there called Chandraloka, even though he often also said they never went to the Moon we see, which I disagree with because his opinion in incorrect.
But the fact is, often he was not really sure himself and today all his comments about not reaching the Moon said in room discussions, and even in some Purports in Srimad Bhagavatam needs to be better understood and corrected.
So it is pointless quoting Prabhupada to me about the Moon landings being a hoax and all bluff, or that Moon rocks really come from the Arizona desert because I do NOT accept Prabhupada's comments and opinions on this subject, in fact they are laughable.
As said above, this includes his opinion that the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun is which is simply NOT true.
To me these opinions by Prabhupada are simply not fully researched, and often ignored because ISKCON leadership do not want to question the comments in his books, even though many leaders know his idea the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun is not only wrong but a ridiculous comment.
Many who join ISKCON eventually come across that bizarre Purport in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, and sadly many even leave ISKCON because of its claim the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun is.
Astronaut, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr deployed two reflectors on the Moon during the Apollo 11 manned Moon mission on July 20th 1969 that gave the exact distance to Earth as 238,000 miles away.
And not 95,000 000 as Prabhupada claimed.
I used a laser at Parks Radio telescope in late 1969 to accurately see the distance between Earth the Moon. It is nonsense to believe that the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun is.
A seismic experiment is in his left hand, and in his right is a laser-reflecting panel. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph.
The distance to the Moon from is scientific proved, and has been proved for the last 50 years for those who do proper research!
There are five reflecting panels on the Moon. Two were delivered by Apollo 11 and 14 crews in 1969 and 1971, respectively.
They are each made of 100 mirrors that scientists call “corner cubes,” as they are corners of a glass cube; the benefit of these mirrors is that they can reflect light back to any direction it comes from.
Another panel with 300 corner cubes was dropped off by Apollo 15 astronauts in 1971. Soviet robotic rovers called Lunokhod 1 and 2, which landed in 1970 and 1973, carry two additional reflectors, with 14 mirrors each.
Collectively, these reflectors comprise the last working science experiment from the Apollo era.
PHOTOS - Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, deploys two components of the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity in 1969.
Yes, Prabhupada was right, they can NEVER “enter” the "heavenly reality" or realm on the Moon called Chandraloka because the Astronauts are in a "gross material body" traveling in "gross material spacecrafts" that can never detect such a realm.
So they can NEVER enter Chandraloka a heavenly planet, the ONLY way to enter Chandraloka is via pious activities with the "right type of material subtle body".
No one can enter Chandraloka while in a "gross material body" or through mundane mechanical means, as said above, only via pious activities can the jiva soul enter a material heavenly planet.
Therefore the Astronauts can and did go to at least the "gross Moon" in Apollo 11 to Apollo 17 missions from 1969 to 1972 and have sent many probes back since, especially in the last 10 years by India, China, Japan, European Union, Russia, Israel, America who have all sent spaecrafts to the Moon.
Are all these countries all in on some silly hoax and conspiracy theories as well?
No they are not!
So yes without any doubt, the Astronauts went to the "gross" Moon at great expense and yes, a total waste of money as Prabhupada also said.
For those who do not know Prabhupada's view on this, the 1975 conversation in Perth Australia is at the end of this article.
However, I agree with other devotees that there urgently needs to be a better clearer explanation that gives us all a better mature deeper understanding so the devotees and public understands clearly based on a solid none sentimental evidence.
The late Sadaputa dasa Phd (1947-2008) has tried to explain the following conversation in his Book "Vedic Cosmology"
In other words, there needs to be solid proof at least with comments that the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun so the public have a more clearer understanding.
Sadaputa prabhu studied the Book "Surya Siddhanta's calculations" which explain the Moon is way closer to Earth than the Sun, giving its distance as 258,000 miles away which is close to modern sciences measurement of 238,000 miles away.
Also here Svarūpa Dāmodara Maharaj discuses with Srila Prabhupada below his comment claiming the Moon is further away from Earth than the Sun.
Svarūpa Dāmodara Maharaj suggests to Srila Prabhupada that we should find the Book Surya Siddhanta (that Prabhupada never had access to while translating the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam), to try clear up this matter with a more detailed understanding.
Svarūpa Dāmodara suggests to Srila Prabhupada there must be more information about the Moon's distance from Earth found in the Sūrya-siddhānta.
Srila Prabhupada knew about Surya Siddhanta, but was only found AFTER Srila Prabhupada left this world in November 1977 by Sadaputa dasa PhD.
In Surya Siddhanta by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, it is stated that the Moon is 258,000 miles from Earth (close to the modern science calculation of 238,000 miles from Earth) according to Sadaputa dasa, and is NOT further away (as the crow flies) from Earth than the Sun is.
This is also revealed by Sadaputa dasa in his Vedic Cosmology Books who has explained the Moon's distance in detail.
Here Here
And today in 2021, it is foolish to believe that so many nations, who now are regularly visiting the Moon (and reaching there in three or four days), are all in on some nonsense hoax and conspiracy.
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "This idea that the Moon is further away from earth than the Sun is going to be very critical. That brings a whole new concept that poses some problem".
Prabhupāda - "Eh?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "In speaking (at) colleges and universities. The other day when you spoke there, we were not speaking about astronomy, you were speaking of the origin of life, and these people, outsiders, they already had the concept to raise up that question. So without any connection they brought up. So the question was, "Whatever you present is very nice, fine, but what about the moon? Do you believe that the moon is farther away than the sun?"
Prabhupāda - "But they have already...?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "Yeah, they already studied, they are ready to ask those things, and they say, "Just give me an answer, yes or no."
Prabhupāda - "They asked you? They asked you?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "Yes".
Prabhupāda - "So what did you answer?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "We said yes, but our explanation was much (indistinct) in the sense that we said you have to study this more carefully, but we tried to remark the concept that now we are conditioned to believe certain things".
Prabhupāda - "Now, how they heard that we are believing in this way?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "From Bhāgavatam".
Prabhupāda - "Oh".
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And sometimes devotees go around the colleges and sometimes they say, "What you are doing is all wrong, the moon is far away." So I think this is spread all over".
Prabhupāda - "But that is a fact".
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "But we had one explanation saying that now, the way we percept knowledge, though we understand things, there is also a conditioning behind it. So actually this is a fact, but in Mathematics, if we change the axiom, then we have a whole new understanding, it's almost completely upside down, but still we can interpret the result. It is just like a simple jumble(?), while Nils Bohr, studying the structure of the atom. Now he had a mathematical equation to fit the phenomena of this atom, and actually you can perfectly describe this phenomena by this equation, but, now, at morning times, this quantum mechanics, it turns out whatever he did was completely wrong, but it can be described completely, perfectly well as his model, as is our present understanding. But now his theories (indistinct), he could explain things on his own, but still it's completely wrong. So similarly..."
Prabhupāda - "They are right. They may present the wrong thing, but still they are right".
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "Yes".
Prabhupāda - "That is their proposition?"
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "It is possible, but that's why we're claiming that. They agree that because not only there is several facts in science, that one should be (indistinct) this is true, then suddenly by some new discoveries came out all wrong".
Prabhupāda - "Yes".
Svarūpa Dāmodara - "So we are discussing about our limitations of our so-called knowledge-finding technique. So we said, "One has to be a little open-minded and discuss these things..." (July 6th 1976 Washington D.C. USA)
Today in 2019, 36% of NASA employees are Indians Hindus.
And in the last 5 years, China, India, Japan, Russia, European Union, United Ststes have all sent rockets to the Moon and are continually doing so, reaching there in 3 or 4 days, so Prabhupāda's comments they cannot go to the Moon in three days is proved incorrect by the many Nations who are now going there.
China, India, Russia and Japan have sent rovers there and also to Mars as well taking over 4000 clear photos in the last 5 years like the one included at bottom of the page which is the 1969 Apollo 11 site.
To claim all these countries are in on some big hoax is NOT possible.
I see senior ISKCON devotees and the GBC are very concerned because this means some (only a few) comments in Prabhupada's Purports in Srimad Bhagavatam, like in the 8th Canto claiming space crafts cannot reach the Moon in 3 or 4 days are clearly incorrect.
And to believe going to the gross Moon we see in the sky is all a big hoax and bluff, as Prabhupada claims, would involve hundreds of thousands of people.
His opinions 45 years ago are just not fact with the evidence we have today.
Today in 2021 with organizations like Wikileaks exposing national secrets, to keep supposedly faked Moon landings all big secret is ridiculous and laughable, many have left ISKCON because of these uneducated comments.
In other words, 50 years ago, Prabhupāda and many of his very young immature disciples (most were in their early 20s) had no proper education on modern science and space technology at all.
In fact no one back then even in the public, properly understood this new field of space travel and technology they denied because they could not understand it due to ignorance and superstition.
In Srimad Bhagavatam Prabhupāda tells tell us air is in outer space (it is certainly NOT the air we breath)
Even as a young 20 year old, I listening to him in a room discussing this topic, I remember walking out of his room unsatisfied with Prabhupada's comments because if you had been on a 727 Plane at 35,000 feet, or on top of Mt Everest at 29.000 feet, you would know why - because there is almost no air at that height.
The higher you go the thinner the air gets until you reach space where there is no air.
It is NOT a theory it is a fact.
Some sentimental devotees use the argument that because most Astronauts and scientists are meat eaters or believe in evolution, same sex marriages, homosexuality and abortion means they are all demons.
But even if true, their personal habits does not make them wrong about going to the moon as these fundamental fanatcs believe.
It's a silly argument
Intelligent people see that living a sinful life and not believing in God, does not make everything they do wrong.
For example, devotees get bypass heart surgery and other operations by Doctors who also big meat eaters and some are homosexuals however, that does not make their surgery on a devotee wrong because of what they eat or believe in?
Many in NASA are Christians too even though their endevour to go in outerspace is a waste of time and money.
Therefore it is nonsense, even by Prabhupada back in the mid 1970s to use the argument that because they believe that life comes from matter, or they support abortion as an argument to claim they never went to the Moon.
As said above, what about all the sinful doctors who perform life saving operations on devotees? Is their work also destined to fail?
And Prabhupāda said expeditions to Mars would fail because they could not go there either, no, he that is incorrect, America, China, Russia and India have also sent probes, rovers and even drones to fly in the Mars thin atmosphere to Mars.
The following is what Srila Prabhupada says about Cosmology of the material universe we live in.
However, many of these views and opinions below I do NOT blindly accept today in 2021 now in my 70s after investigations that include reading the Surya Siddhanta that Prabhupada never had while translating Srimad Bhagavatam or Caitanya Caritamrita.
Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: (in car) They have not gone to the moon planet.
Paramahaṁsa: Really?
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is far, far away. Their calculation is wrong. They are going to a wrong planet.
Paramahaṁsa: It must be the Rahu planet.
Prabhupāda: Yes, or something else. Not moon planet.
Paramahaṁsa: How many...
Prabhupāda: It is above the sun planet.
Paramahaṁsa: Moon planet is further?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: Oh. Because they say that the moon planet is the closest planet to the earth. That is their calculation. And they say that it orbits around the earth, and then that the earth orbits the sun.
Prabhupāda: All wrong. What is the... According to them, what is the distance of sun planet?
Paramahaṁsa: Sun planet is 93,000,000 miles.
Gaṇeśa: They say the moon planet is only 250,000 miles.
Prabhupāda: It is wrong thing.
Paramahaṁsa: Is their calculation for the distance of the sun wrong also?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: 93,000,000? It says in the Bhāgavatam exactly what the distance?
Paramahaṁsa: Ah. 200,000 yojanas. That means 1,600,000 miles above the sun.
Prabhupāda: Above the sun. How they'll go? (laughter) They are going to the wrong..., bluffing only. I am repeatedly saying, they have never gone, simply bluff. How it is that they brought some dust? So brilliant, it is blazing, full. There is fire blazing. (walking:)
Paramahaṁsa: They say that they measured the moon and that it's very small compared to the earth, very tiny.
Prabhupāda: All wrong.
Paramahaṁsa: If it's a longer distance than the sun but still it appears so big in the sky, it must be a very large planet.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly Venus and others, they are also above.
Paramahaṁsa: Oh, above the sun.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now they are fools, rascal, bluffing, but even the scientists, they are also bluffing. Now Russia and America combined together, going? Just see where they are going.
Gaṇeśa: What have the scientists got to gain by bluffing?
Prabhupāda: Position. Material world means they want some material gain, some adoration, and some fame. That's all. This is material world. So if by bluffing you I get some material profit and adoration and fame, why shall I not do it? Everyone is doing that.
Amogha: That's the cheating propensity.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In material world they have come to imitate God—adoration, fame, material profit. Just like this man. He has come to this country. He is getting money, he is getting woman, and becoming God amongst the fools. He is satisfied. That's all. This is not gain? If I get woman, money, and adoration, is it not gain for me?
Gaṇeśa: Yes, just like the materialistic demon Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Materialistic man means he wants all these things in different way. Somebody is becoming God, somebody is becoming philosopher, somebody is becoming scientist, in this way. Real purpose is these three things. Abha-pūjā-pratiṣṭhā. And our philosophy? We don't want anything of this. Just see. Negation. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Say... All denial, "We don't want." That is Vaiṣṇavism. Then what do you want? "We want simply to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is our position. They don't want to serve Kṛṣṇa; they want to imitate Kṛṣṇa. And that is their satisfaction". (Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth)
