All the different Brahmas in all the different material universes inside their Brahmanda have a different number of heads.

Some Brahmas have ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some have ten thousand, some have one hundred thousand heads and some even have ten million heads. 

Brahma said - "My dear son Narada, know from me that there are seven lower planetary systems out of the total fourteen."

All these 14 planetary systems are scattered over a single universe which occupies an area of two billion times two billion square miles. (4 billion diameter universe)

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said - 

"Sri Krsna smiled and immediately meditated. Unlimited Brahmas arrived instantly. These Brahmas had different numbers of heads. 

Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten thousand, some hundred thousand, some ten million and others a hundred million.

No one can count the number of faces they had.

There also arrived many Lord Sivas with various heads numbering one hundred thousand and ten million. 

Many Indras also arrived, and they had hundreds of heads".

Srila Sukadeva Gosvami said -

"Learned scholars who are free from mistakes, illusions and propensities to cheat have thus described the planetary systems and their particular symptoms, measurements and locations.

With great deliberation, they have established the truth that the distance between Sumeru and the mountain known as Lokaloka is one fourth of the diameter of the universe — or, in other words, 125,000,000 yojanas or one billion miles.

This means our small material universe is 4 billion miles in diameter found encased inside our massive surrounding Brahmanda universe.

In other words, our 4 billion mile in diameter material universe is found deep inside a surrounding larger material universal shell made of 7 or 8 gross and subtle material layers called a Brahmanda".

Each of the billions of Brahmandas house a smaller secondary universe at its center all in different sizes.

Ours is a massive 44 quadrillion 444 trillion 444 billion miles in diameter.

From 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.  

The greatest bluff is to believe you are the material body

The greatest bluff.

The real "bluff" in this material creation is thinking we are these temporary material bodies we are all actually trapped in.

A further "bluff" is believing the purpose of life is finding comfort and satisfaction with only these temporary material vessels, thinking there in no difference between the soul and the material body, therefore foolishly believing we are the material body.

No, this is not only incorrect, it is complete nonsense!!

TO start with, the material body is NOT us, it is an outward perishable vessel, dress or container for the soul to get around in while in the material creation.

Materialists "imagine" there is no heaven above or hell below us and only want to build a Kingdom of God WITHOUT God.

They ignore the fact that this material creation is always in a state of decay and decline and in need of constant maintenance and repair.

We are NOT suppose to explore this mundane material creation, our purpose should be to get out of here as quick as we can.

In fact, we should NOT even be in this material creation in the first place, it was NEVER our home to begin with.

This is why Srila Prabhupada constantly criticized the Apollo missions and saying they were a complete wast of time and money.

Such material endevours will NEVER give us the answers to what we all really want to know, and that is why is it we experience birth, disease, old age and death.

Therefore the REAL goal of life is to go back home, back to Godhead (Goloka-Vrindavana) and get out of this decaying place of suffering and repeated birth and death.

And NOT foolishly try to enjoy this perishable material creation or explore it.

Better to spend one's time exploring how to go beyond this material creation and enter the eternal Spiritual Worlds of Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana.

Do everything you can to remember Krishna, it does not matter how fallen you are or if in front of others you never feel worthy of their friendship or respect, or if so many even hate you for all your past foolishness.

In the end none of that matters because the fact is you are NOT the material body or vessel that others can only see.

We must become firm in our understanding that each of us are different from the material vessel we are in and covered by.

No one in this material universe knows your real identity and who you really are, all they see is the outer "costume" (material body) you are wearing.

The only important action we must contantly do is somehow, someway always remember Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes so we never EVER forget Him, no matter what others think or say about us due to past struggles.

There is no such thing in Krishna conscious philosophy as "eternal damnation" or "eternal hellfire" that Christians believe their God does.

Frankly if true, then their God Jehovah is a cruel uncaring nasty God that should be rejected because forgivess MUST always be there regardless of what one has done and NOT "eternal damnation".

No punishment should be forever and the fact is it isn't according to Srimad Bhagavatam.

Therefore it is best people around the world reject barbaric nonsense Christianity and surrender to the true loving God Lord Sri Krishna.

And in time, including all the most fallen souls, will be revealed all they need to know about who they really are (which is their eternal svarupa or our ONE's eternal Spiritual bodily identity).

Soon these temporary material bodies we are in and its material dream we are presently experiencing, will be over. NOTHING is forever in the material World meaning all karma good and bad, is also temporary.

Only Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrndavana are the REAL permanent reality that will never fade way.

The best way to remember Krishna is to get involved in street Sankirtan and chant good clear rounds.

Compiled by Gauragopala dasa Acbsp.

The answer to how the Apollo manned Moon landing missions between 1969 and 1972 happened and were no hoax.

The Apollo Moon missions between 1969 and 1972 were NO Hoax! They did happen and it is foolish to believe they did not happen.

Srila Prabhupada always maintained they never went to the Moon but he really meant the "subtle reality of the Moon", a heavenly realm called Chandraloka.  

This technically means there are really "two Moons" one ''subtle'' and one ''gross'' not properly researched by ISKCON devotees today as an answer to the Moon controversies and nonsense conspiracy theories that even Prabhupada was miss led by.

In other words the answer is, there are ''two Moon realities'' in the same space, one we can see and visit in a gross material body, and other we can not see or visit.

Therefore we cannot enter Chandraloka in a gross material body because this subtle realm is a higher dimensional heavenly reality it seems.

Even though there is no proof and this idea is only speculation, it is the only alternative answer to Prabhupada's claim they never went to the Moon.

The only other answer is he is talking silly nonsense if you do not believe the "subtle reality heavenly realm answer".

Just like his idea the Moon is further away from the Earth than Sun mentioned in his Purport in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Frankly this Purport is incorrect, the Moon is NOT further away from Earth than the Sun later revealed in the Surya Siddhanta Book by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur rediscovered in 1978 that tells us the Moon is 258,000 miles from Earth, close to the modern day figure of 238,000 miles from Earth.

So that 8th Canto Purport should be changed because it is wrong.

And we know today the Moon IS reached in three days as India, Japan, China, Russia, European Union, United States, Israel are all proving today.

It is NOT 96,000 000 miles away as that 8th Canto Purport wrongly claims.

Only fools believe all these Nations are all in on some stupid nonsense hoax.

So even though hard and painful for some devotees to accept the Spiritual Master is WRONG, the fact is Prabhupada is WRONG about the Moon distance from Earth.

Sadly sentimental devotees who blindly follow Prabhupada will never accept REAL reality.

They instead foolishly believe-

1 -  The Moon distance from Earth is 96,000 000 miles said by Prabhupada in an 8th Canto Purport.

 2 - All Moon rocks come from the Arizona desert (another silly comment by Prabhupada).

3 - And the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 were all a hoax (another incorrect comment by Prabhupada).

So stop quoting those comments by Prabhupada that were said in the early 1970s in so many lectures, room conversations and morning walks, it's all talk based on the ignorance of the 1970s.

So the ONLY answer to the Moon controversy is -

1 - The Moon reality we see in our "gross" material body is called the "gross Moon" that the Apollo Astronauts DID go too.

2 - The other Moon reality we do NOT see in our gross material bodily vessel, is the "subtle material Moon" or a heavenly reality in a higher dimensional plane only accessible by being in a "subtle body" and having the right accumulation of pious activity (karma).

This conclusion is reached because the Moon has two realities -

1 - Subtle material reality.

2 - Gross matter material reality.

We in a gross material body cannot see or experience the "subtle matter reality" but we CAN see and experience the "gross matter reality".

This also answers how man could go to the Moon.

Lets look at the facts in 2019 about these old 1970s Moon landing conspiracy theories claiming, even by Srila Prabhupada however, he really meant they could never go to the "subtle reality" of the Moon?

Over 450,000 people worked on the Apollo missions that eventually took man to the Moon in the late 1960s, to keep a secret among all these people that it was all some clever hoax is impossible.

And today in 2019 many Countries are continuously sending spacecrafts to the Moon, it is not only NASA anymore, it is China, India, Japan, Russia, Israel, European Union.

The manned Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 DID happen without any doubt, the evidence is overwhelming!

And if Srila Prabhupada's opinion does NOT convince me the Moon manned landings never happened and was "all bluff", then no one else has any chance of convincing me we never went to the "gross Moon".

Srila Prabhupada always maintained they never went to the Moon but I believe he really meant the "subtle reality of the Moon".

This technically means there are really "two Moons" not considered by the devotees back in the early 1970s.

The Moon landings therefore were NOT a hoax or some silly Government conspiracy that only 6% of Americans believe in 2019.

And Prabhupada's reasons they never went to the Moon are different from those mundane Conspiracy theories found on many nonsense YouTube videos.

This is because Srila Prabhupada knows there is a higher material heavenly reality on the Moon that we in gross material bodies and gross material technologies cannot visit or even perceive.

But the visiting to the "gross Moon" we do perceive is very possible.

What we see in the sky and what the Astronauts visited was the ONLY the "gross Moon" and NOT the "subtle Moon" that is not seen from within a gross material bodily vessel.

If we see the Moon from earth then that must be the "gross reality Moon" otherwise we would not be able to see it.

If we see it then we can visit it however we are NOT qualified to see Chandraloka that is also there in a higher dimension.

Since 1969, many have said they never went to the Moon, so it was not just Prabhupada saying this.

This was also because very little of this new technology was understood back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Even by Prabhupada, and especially by his very young disciples, some with university degrees, Never understood.

Nearly all of his disciples in 1969 were in their early 20s, some even teenages.

Today in 2019 it is nonsense to continue these conspiracy theories they never went to the Moon.

As said above, It seems Srila Prabhupada really meant they NEVER went to the "subtle heavenly realm on the Moon" called Chandraloka, and he is right!

But they DID go to the same Moon we see at night (the gross Moon) which seems he did not see this aspect back in the 1970s that make the Moon landings possible.

This means the Moon is "subtle and gross" matter, making two Moons in different realities. We cannot see the subtle matter but we CAN see the gross matter.

After all we all see the Moon at night which is the gross aspect of the Moon.

At the time back then in 1969 they did not understand any of this, it is even fair to say that Srila Prabhupada wanted to understand it further by finding a Vedic Cosmologist who could teach us.

Srila Prabhupada had said he did not know everything about Vedic Cosmology and therefore sent Tamal Krishna Maharaj to Southern India in search of an advanced Brahmana who could teach us the science of Vedic Cosmology and how to properly understand it.

Discussion with that Southern Brahmin is found here-

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389738784594714?view=permalink&id=1895632647338656 

The fact is they DID go to the Moon but was only to "the gross Moon" did they see and experienced that we also see from earth.

They could not see or enter the "subtle material heavenly atmosphere of Chandraloka" also being Moon.

To be clear, they NEVER went to the "subtle heavenly realm on the Moon called Chandraloka" that we also cannot see, detect or visit in these gross material bodies.

However the Astronauts DID go to the same Moon we see at night but was the "gross Moon" they visited.

This means the Moon we see from Earth MUST be the gross aspect of the Moon otherwise we would not be able to see the Moon at night or day.

Lets look at the facts in 2019 about these old 1970s Moon landing conspiracy theories claiming, even by Srila Prabhupada, that man never went to the Moon.

Lets look at the facts in 2019 about these old 1970s Moon landing conspiracy theories claiming, even by Srila Prabhupada, that they never went to the Moon.

Srila Prabhupada always maintained they never went to the Moon but I believe he really meant the "subtle reality of the Moon".

This technically means there are really "two Moons" one ''subtle'' and one ''gross'' not properly researched by the devotees today as an answer to the Moon controversies and conspiracy theories

In other words the answer could be explained that there are ''two Moons'' in the same space, one we can see and visit in a gross body.

The other we cannot see or enter in a gross body because of its higher dimensional heavenly status.

1 - One realm we see in our gross material body, 

2 - The other we do not see because it is subtle material energy

This conclusion is reached because the Moon has two realities -

1 - Subtle material reality.

2 - Gross matter material reality.

We in a gross material body cannot see or experience the "subtle matter reality" but we CAN see and experience the "gross matter reality".

This also answers how man could go to the Moon.

Lets look at the facts in 2019 about these old 1970s Moon landing conspiracy theories claiming, even by Srila Prabhupada, the Moon landings never happened however, he really meant they could never go to the "subtle reality" of the Moon, a heavenly material realm called Chandraloka.

As far as the "gross moon" landings are concerned, over 450,000 people worked on the Apollo missions that eventually took man to the Moon in the late 1960s, to keep a secret like this among all these people, believing it was all some clever hoax is impossible.

And today in 2019 many Countries are continuously sending spacecrafts and probes to the Moon.

Therefore it is not only NASA anymore, it is China, India, Japan, Russia, Israel, European Union.

To claim they are all in on some hoax and conspiracy is ridiculous, the manned Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 DID happen without any doubt, the evidence is overwhelming!

And if Srila Prabhupada's opinion does NOT convince me the Moon manned landings never happened and was "all bluff", then no one else has any chance of convincing me we never went to the "gross Moon".

Where Srila Prabhupada is right is the Astronauts and their space crafts can NEVER enter or percieve the heavenly atmosphere on the Moon 

Srila Prabhupada always maintained they never went to the Moon but I believe he really meant the "subtle reality of the Moon".

This technically means there are really "two Moons" not considered by the devotees back in the early 1970s.

The Moon landings therefore were NOT a hoax or some silly Government conspiracy that only 6% of Americans believe in 2019.

And Prabhupada's reasons they never went to the Moon are different from those mundane Conspiracy theories mentioned above.

That is because he knows there is a higher material heavenly reality on the Moon that we in gross material bodies cannot visit or even perceive.

But the Astronauts DID go to the gross reality of the Moon.

What we see in the sky and what the Astronauts visited was the "gross Moon" NOT the "subtle Moon" that is not seen.

If we see the Moon from earth then that must be the "gross reality Moon" otherwise we would not be able to see it.

Since 1969, as far as the gross Moon is concerned, many have said they never went to the Moon.

This was also because very little of this new technology was understood back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, even by Prabhupada, and especially by his very young disciples, some with university degrees, all in there early 20s back then, never fully understood it either.

Today in 2019 it is nonsense to continue these mundane conspiracy theories that they never went to the Moon (the gross Moon) such conspiracy theorists never even considered what Prabhupada said all along. And that is the Moon has an unseen heavenly higher dimension to (a subtle reality)

As said above, Srila Prabhupada emphasis they NEVER went to the "subtle heavenly realm on the Moon" called Chandraloka, and he is right!

But they DID go to the same gross Moon we see at night.

It seems Prabhupada back then did not discuss this aspect back in the 1970s of two Moon realities (gross and subtle) that make the Moon landings possible.

This means the Moon is both "subtle and gross" matter, making it two Moons in different realities at the same time in the same space.

We cannot see the "subtle matter" but we CAN see the "gross matter".

After all we all see the Moon at night from Earth which is the gross reality of the Moon.

Back in 1969 they did not understand any of this, it is even fair to say Srila Prabhupada himself seemed to also be trying to understand Vedic Cosmology with his disciples and suggested we need someone qualified in Vedic Cosmology to teach us.

Srila Prabhupada had said he did not know everything about Vedic Cosmology and therefore sent Tamal Krishna Maharaj to Southern India in search of an advanced Brahmana who could teach us the science of Vedic Cosmology and how to properly understand it.

Discussion with that Southern Brahmin is found here-

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389738784594714?view=permalink&id=1895632647338656 

The fact is they DID go to the Moon but was only to "the gross Moon" did they see and experienced that we also see from earth.

They could not see or enter the "subtle material heavenly atmosphere of Chandraloka" also being Moon.

To be clear, they NEVER went to the "subtle heavenly realm on the Moon called Chandraloka" that we also cannot see, detect or visit in these gross material bodies.

However the Astronauts DID go to the same Moon we see at night but was the "gross Moon" they visited.

This means the Moon we see from Earth MUST be the gross aspect of the Moon otherwise we would not be able to see the Moon at night or day.

"The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa" Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 18

The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 18 Text 21 to Text 39

By His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

SB 5.18.21

My dear Lord, You automatically fulfill all the desires of a woman who worships Your lotus feet in pure love.

However, if a woman worships Your lotus feet for a particular purpose, You also quickly fulfill her desires, but in the end she becomes broken-hearted and laments.

Therefore one need not worship Your lotus feet for some material benefit.

Purport:

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes pure devotional service as anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. One should not worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead to fulfill some material desire for success in fruitive activities or mental speculation.

To serve the lotus feet of the Lord means to serve Him exactly as He desires. The neophyte devotee is therefore ordered to worship the Lord strictly according to the regulative principles given by the spiritual master and the śāstras.

By executing devotional service in that way, he gradually becomes attached to Kṛṣṇa, and when his original dormant love for the Lord becomes manifest, he spontaneously serves the Lord without any motive.

This condition is the perfect stage of one’s relationship with the Lord. The Lord then looks after the comfort and security of His devotee without being asked. Kṛṣṇa promises in Bhagavad-gītā (9.22):

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

The Supreme Lord personally takes care of anyone who is completely engaged in His devotional service. Whatever he has, the Lord protects, and whatever he needs, the Lord supplies.

Therefore why should one bother the Lord for something material? Such prayers are unnecessary.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that even if a devotee wishes the Lord to fulfill a particular desire, the devotee should not be considered a sakāma-bhakta (a devotee with some motive). In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.16) Kṛṣṇa says:

catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ
janāḥ sukṛtino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī
jñānī ca bharatarṣabha

“O best among the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me — the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.”

The ārta and the arthārthī, who approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead for relief from misery or for some money, are not sakāma-bhaktas, although they appear to be.

Being neophyte devotees, they are simply ignorant. Later in Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, udārāḥ sarva evaite: they are all magnanimous (udārāḥ).

Although in the beginning a devotee may harbor some desire, in due course of time it will vanish. Therefore the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam enjoins:

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

“A person who has broader intelligence, whether he is full of all material desire, is free from material desire, or has a desire for liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.” (Bhāg. 2.3.10)

Even if one wants something material, he should pray to no one but the Lord to fulfill his desire. If one approaches a demigod for the fulfillment of his desires, he is to be considered naṣṭa-buddhi, bereft of all good sense. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (7.20):

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā

“Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”

Lakṣmīdevī advises all devotees who approach the Lord with material desires that according to her practical experience, the Lord is Kāmadeva, and thus there is no need to ask Him for anything material.

She says that everyone should simply serve the Lord without any motive.

Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sitting in everyone’s heart, He knows everyone’s thoughts, and in due course of time He will fulfill all desires.

Therefore let us completely depend on the service of the Lord without bothering Him with our material requests.

SB 5.18.22

O supreme unconquerable Lord, when they become absorbed in thoughts of material enjoyment, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, as well as other demigods and demons, undergo severe penances and austerities to receive my benedictions.

But I do not favor anyone, however great he may be, unless he is always engaged in the service of Your lotus feet. Because I always keep You within my heart, I cannot favor anyone but a devotee.

Purport:

In this verse the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī, clearly states that she does not bestow her favor on any materialistic person.

Although sometimes a materialist becomes very opulent in the eyes of another materialist, such opulence is bestowed upon him by the goddess Durgādevī, a material expansion of the goddess of fortune, not by Lakṣmīdevī herself.

Those who desire material wealth worship Durgādevī with the following mantra: dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi rupavati bharyam dehi.

“O worshipable mother Durgādevī, please give me wealth, strength, fame, a good wife and so on.”

By pleasing Goddess Durgā one can obtain such benefits, but since they are temporary, they result only in māyā-sukha (illusory happiness).

As stated by Prahlāda Mahārāja, māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān: those who work very hard for material benefits are vimūḍhas, foolish rascals, because such happiness will not endure.

On the other hand, devotees like Prahlāda and Dhruva Mahārāja achieved extraordinary material opulences, but such opulences were not māyā-sukha.

When a devotee acquires unparalleled opulences, they are the direct gifts of the goddess of fortune, who resides in the heart of Nārāyaṇa.

The material opulences a person obtains by offering prayers to the goddess Durgā are temporary. As described in Bhagavad-gītā (7.23), antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām: men of meager intelligence desire temporary happiness.

We have actually seen that one of the disciples of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wanted to enjoy the property of his spiritual master, and the spiritual master, being merciful toward him, gave him the temporary property, but not the power to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world.

That special mercy of the power to preach is given to a devotee who does not want anything material from his spiritual master but wants only to serve him. The story of the demon Rāvaṇa illustrates this point.

Although Rāvaṇa tried to abduct the goddess of fortune Sītādevī from the custody of Lord Rāmacandra, he could not possibly do so.

The Sītādevī he forcibly took with him was not the original Sītādevī, but an expansion of māyā, or Durgādevī.

As a result, instead of winning the favor of the real goddess of fortune, Rāvaṇa and his whole family were vanquished by the power of Durgādevī (sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā).

SB 5.18.23

O infallible one, Your lotus palm is the source of all benediction. Therefore Your pure devotees worship it, and You very mercifully place Your hand on their heads.

I wish that You may also place Your hand on My head, for although You already bear my insignia of golden streaks on Your chest, I regard this honor as merely a kind of false prestige for me.

You show Your real mercy to Your devotees, not to me. Of course, You are the supreme absolute controller, and no one can understand Your motives.

Purport:

In many places, the śāstras describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead as being more inclined toward His devotees than toward His wife, who always remains on His chest. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.15) it is stated:

na tathā me priyatama
ātma-yonir na śaṅkaraḥ
na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr
naivātmā ca yathā bhavān

Here Kṛṣṇa plainly says that His devotees are more dear to Him than Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa (the original cause of creation), the goddess of fortune or even His own Self.

Elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.9.20) Śukadeva Gosvāmī says:

nemam viriñco na bhavo
na śrīr apy aṅga saṁśrayā
prasādaṁ lebhire gopī
yat tat prāpa vimuktidāt

The Supreme Lord, who can award liberation to anyone, showed more mercy toward the gopīs than to Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva or even the goddess of fortune, who is His own wife and is associated with His body. Similarly, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.47.60) also states:

nāyaṁ śriyo ’ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ

svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto ’nyāḥ rāsotsave ’sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha-labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-sundarīṇām

“The gopīs received benedictions from the Lord that neither Lakṣmīdevī nor the most beautiful dancers in the heavenly planets could attain.

In the rāsa dance, the Lord showed His favor to the most fortunate gopīs by placing His arms on their shoulders and dancing with each of them individually.

No one can compare with the gopīs, who received the causeless mercy of the Lord.”

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that no one can receive the real favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without following in the footsteps of the gopīs.

Even the goddess of fortune could not receive the same favor as the gopīs, although she underwent severe austerities and penances for many years.

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu discusses this point with Vyeṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 9.111-131):

“The Lord inquired from Vyeṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa, ‘Your worshipable goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, always remains on the chest of Nārāyaṇa, and she is certainly the most chaste woman in the creation. However, My Lord is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, a cowherd boy engaged in tending cows.

Why is it that Lakṣmī, being such a chaste wife, wants to associate with My Lord? Just to associate with Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī abandoned all transcendental happiness in Vaikuṇṭha and for a long time accepted vows and regulative principles and performed unlimited austerities.’

“Vyeṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa replied, ‘Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Nārāyaṇa are one and the same, but the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are more relishable due to their sportive nature.

They are very pleasing for Kṛṣṇa’s śaktis. Since Kṛṣṇa and Nārāyaṇa are both the same personality, Lakṣmī’s association with Kṛṣṇa did not break her vow of chastity. Rather, it was in great fun that the goddess of fortune wanted to associate with Lord Kṛṣṇa.

The goddess of fortune considered that her vow of chastity would not be damaged by her relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

Rather, by associating with Kṛṣṇa she could enjoy the benefit of the rāsa dance. If she wanted to enjoy herself with Kṛṣṇa what fault is there? Why are you joking so about this?’

“Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, ‘I know that there is no fault in the goddess of fortune, but still she could not enter into the rāsa dance.

We hear this from revealed scriptures. The authorities of Vedic knowledge met Lord Rāmacandra in Daṇḍakāraṇya, and by their penances and austerities, they were allowed to enter into the rāsa dance.

But can you tell me why the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, could not get that opportunity?’

“To this Vyeṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa replied, ‘I cannot enter into the mystery of this incident. I am an ordinary living being. My intelligence is limited, and I am always disturbed.

How can I understand the pastimes of the Supreme Lord? They are deeper than millions of oceans.’

“Lord Caitanya replied, ‘Lord Kṛṣṇa has a specific characteristic. He attracts everyone’s heart by the mellow of His personal conjugal love.

By following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of the planet known as Vrajaloka or Goloka Vṛndāvana, one can attain the shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

However, the inhabitants of that planet do not know that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Unaware that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, the residents of Vṛndāvana like Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodādevī and the gopīs treat Kṛṣṇa as their beloved son or lover.

Mother Yaśodā accepts Him as her son and sometimes binds Him to a grinding mortar.

Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boyfriends think He is an ordinary boy and get up on His shoulders. In Goloka Vṛndāvana no one has any desire other than to love Kṛṣṇa.’”

The conclusion is that one cannot associate with Kṛṣṇa unless he has fully received the favor of the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi.

Therefore if one wants to be delivered by Kṛṣṇa directly, he must take to the service of the residents of Vṛndāvana, who are unalloyed devotees of the Lord.

SB 5.18.24

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In Ramyaka-varṣa, where Vaivasvata Manu rules, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as Lord Matsya at the end of the last era [the Cākṣuṣa-manvantara].

Vaivasvata Manu now worships Lord Matsya in pure devotional service and chants the following mantra.

SB 5.18.25

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is pure transcendence. He is the origin of all life, bodily strength, mental power and sensory ability.

Known as Matsyāvatāra, the gigantic fish incarnation, He appears first among all the incarnations. Again I offer my obeisances unto Him.

Purport:

Śrīla Jayadeva Gosvāmī sings:

pralayo payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedaṁ vihita-vahitra-caritram akhedam keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagad-īśa hare

Soon after the cosmic creation, the entire universe was inundated with water. At that time Lord Kṛṣṇa (Keśava) incarnated as a gigantic fish to protect the Vedas.

Therefore Manu addresses Lord Matsya as mukhyatama, the first incarnation to appear.

Fish are generally considered a mixture of the modes of ignorance and passion, but we must understand that every incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely transcendental.

There is never any deterioration of the Supreme Lord’s original transcendental quality. Therefore the word sattvāya is used here, meaning pure goodness on the transcendental platform.

There are many incarnations of the Supreme Lord: Varāha mūrti (the boar form), Kūrma mūrti (the tortoise form), Hayagrīva mūrti (the form of a horse) and so on.

Yet we should never think any of Them material. They are always situated on the platform of śuddha-sattva, pure transcendence.

SB 5.18.26

My dear Lord, just as a puppeteer controls his dancing dolls and a husband controls his wife, Your Lordship controls all the living entities in the universe, such as the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras.

Although You are in everyone’s heart as the supreme witness and commander and are outside everyone as well, the so-called leaders of societies, communities and countries cannot realize You.

Only those who hear the vibration of the Vedic mantras can appreciate You.

Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is antarbahiḥ, present within and without everything. One must overcome the delusion caused by the Lord’s external energy and realize His presence both externally and internally.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.8.19) Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī has explained that Kṛṣṇa appears in this world naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā, “exactly like an actor dressed as a player.”

In Bhagavad-gītā (18.61) Kṛṣṇa says, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati: “The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna.”

The Lord is situated within everyone’s heart, and outside as well. Within the heart He is the Supersoul, the incarnation who acts as the adviser and witness.

Yet although God is residing within their hearts, foolish people say, “I cannot see God. Please show Him to me.”

Everyone is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, exactly like dancing dolls controlled by a puppeteer or a woman controlled by her husband.

A woman is compared to a doll (dārumayī) because she has no independence. She should always be controlled by a man.

Still, due to false prestige, a class of women wants to remain independent.

What to speak of women, all living entities are prakṛti (female) and therefore dependent on the Supreme Lord, as Kṛṣṇa Himself explains in Bhagavad-gītā (apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām).

The living entity is never independent. Under all circumstances, he is dependent on the mercy of the Lord.

The Lord creates the social divisions of human society

brāhmaṇas,
kṣatriyas,
vaiśyas,
sudras.

 All members of society remain always under the Supreme Lord’s control. Still, some people foolishly deny the existence of God.

Self-realization means to understand one’s subordinate position in relation to the Lord.

When one is thus enlightened, he surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is liberated from the clutches of the material energy.

In other words, unless one surrenders to the lotus feet of the Lord, the material energy in its many varieties will continue to control him.

No one in the material world can deny that he is under control. The Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa, who is beyond this material existence, controls everyone.

The following Vedic mantra confirms this point: eko ha vai nārāyaṇa āsīt. Foolish persons think Nārāyaṇa to be on the platform of ordinary material existence.

Because they do not realize the natural constitutional position of the living entity, they concoct names like daridra-nārāyaṇa, svāmī-nārāyaṇa or mithyā-nārāyaṇa. However, Nārāyaṇa is actually the supreme controller of everyone. This understanding is self-realization.

SB 5.18.27

My Lord, from the great leaders of the universe, such as Lord Brahmā and other demigods, down to the political leaders of this world, all are envious of Your authority.

Without Your help, however, they could neither separately nor concertedly maintain the innumerable living entities within the universe.

You are actually the only maintainer of all human beings, of animals like cows and asses, and of plants, reptiles, birds, mountains and whatever else is visible within this material world.

Purport:

It is fashionable for materialistic persons to compete with the power of God. When so-called scientists try to manufacture living entities in their laboratories, their only purpose is to defy the talent and ability of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

This is called illusion. It exists even in the higher planetary systems, where great demigods like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and others reside.

In this world everyone is puffed up with false prestige despite the failure of all his endeavors. When so-called philanthropists, who supposedly want to help the poor, are approached by members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, they say,

“You are simply wasting your time, while I am feeding vast masses of starving people.”

Unfortunately, their meager efforts, either singly or together, do not solve anyone’s problems.

Sometimes so-called svāmīs are very eager to feed poor people, thinking them to be daridra-nārāyaṇa, the Lord’s incarnations as beggars.

They prefer to serve the manufactured daridra-nārāyaṇa than the original, supreme Nārāyaṇa. They say, “Don’t encourage service to Lord Nārāyaṇa.

It is better to serve the starving people of the world.” Unfortunately such materialists, either singly or combined in the form of the United Nations, cannot fulfill their plans.

The truth is that the many millions of human beings, animals, birds and trees — indeed, all living entities — are maintained solely by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān: one person, the Supreme Lord, is supplying the necessities of life for all other living entities.

To challenge the authority of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the business of asuras (demons).

Yet sometimes suras, or devotees, are also bewildered by the illusory energy and falsely claim to be the maintainer of the entire universe.

Such incidents are described in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī tells how Lord Brahmā and King Indra became puffed up and were eventually chastised by Kṛṣṇa.

SB 5.18.28

O almighty Lord, at the end of the millennium this planet earth, which is the source of all kinds of herbs, drugs and trees, was inundated by water and drowned beneath the devastating waves.

At that time, You protected me along with the earth and roamed the sea with great speed. O unborn one, You are the actual maintainer of the entire universal creation, and therefore You are the cause of all living entities. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Purport:

Envious persons cannot appreciate how wonderfully the Lord creates, maintains and annihilates the universe, but devotees of the Lord can understand this perfectly well.

Devotees can see how the Lord is acting behind the wonderful workings of the material nature. In Bhagavad-gītā (9.10) the Lord 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.”

All the wonderful transformations of nature are happening under the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Envious persons cannot see this, but a devotee, even though very humble and even if uneducated, knows that behind all the activities of nature is the supreme hand of the Supreme Being.

SB 5.18.29

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, lives in the form of a tortoise [kūrma-śarīra].

This most dear and beautiful form is always worshiped there in devotional service by Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, along with the other inhabitants of that land. They chant the following hymns.

Purport:

The word priyatama (dearmost) is very significant in this verse. Each devotee regards a particular form of the Lord as most dear.

Because of an atheistic mentality, some people think that the tortoise, boar and fish incarnations of the Lord are not very beautiful.

They do not know that any form of the Lord is always the fully opulent Personality of Godhead. Since one of His opulences is infinite beauty, all the Lord’s incarnations are very beautiful and are appreciated as such by devotees.

Nondevotees, however, think that Lord Kṛṣṇa’s incarnations are ordinary material creatures, and therefore they distinguish between the beautiful and the not beautiful.

A certain form of the Lord is worshiped by a particular devotee because he loves to see that form of the Lord. As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33): advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca.

The very beautiful form of the Lord is always youthful. Sincere servants of a particular form of the Lord always see that form as very beautiful, and thus they engage in constant devotional service to Him.

SB 5.18.30

O my Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who have assumed the form of a tortoise. You are the reservoir of all transcendental qualities, and being entirely untinged by matter, You are perfectly situated in pure goodness. You move here and there in the water, but no one can discern Your position.

Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Because of Your transcendental position, You are not limited by past, present and future.

You are present everywhere as the shelter of all things, and therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You again and again.

Purport:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ: the Lord always remains in Goloka, the topmost planet in the spiritual world.

At the same time, He is all-pervading. This paradox is only possible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of all opulences. The Lord’s all-pervasiveness is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (18.61) where Kṛṣṇa states, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati: “The Supreme Lord is seated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna.”

Elsewhere in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) the Lord says, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.”

Therefore, although the Lord is present everywhere, He cannot be seen with ordinary eyes. As Aryamā says, the Lord is anupalakṣita-sthāna: no one can locate Him. This is the greatness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 5.18.31

My dear Lord, this visible cosmic manifestation is a demonstration of Your own creative energy.

Since the countless varieties of forms within this cosmic manifestation are simply a display of Your external energy, this virāṭ-rūpa [universal body] is not Your real form.

Except for a devotee in transcendental consciousness, no one can perceive Your actual form. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Purport:

Māyāvādī philosophers think the universal form of the Lord to be real and His personal form illusory. We can understand their mistake by a simple example.

A fire consists of three elements: heat and light, which are the energy of the fire, and the fire itself. Anyone can understand that the original fire is the reality and that the heat and light are simply the fire’s energy.

Heat and light are the formless energies of fire, and in that sense they are unreal. Only the fire has form, and therefore it is the real form of the heat and light.

As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4), mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā:

“By Me, in My unmanifested form. this entire universe is pervaded.”

Thus the impersonal conception of the Lord is like the expansion of heat and light from a fire.

In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord also says, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ: the entire material creation is resting on Kṛṣṇa’s energy, either material, spiritual or marginal, but because His form is absent from the expansion of His energy, He is not personally present.

This inconceivable expansion of the Supreme Lord’s energy is called acintya-śakti. Therefore no one can understand the real form of the Lord without becoming His devotee.

SB 5.18.32

My dear Lord, You manifest Your different energies in countless forms: as living entities born from wombs, from eggs and from perspiration; as plants and trees that grow out of the earth; as all living entities, both moving and standing, including the demigods, the learned sages and the pitās; as outer space, as the higher planetary system containing the heavenly planets, and as the planet earth with its hills, rivers, seas, oceans and islands.

Indeed, all the stars and planets are simply manifestations of Your different energies, but originally You are one without a second.

Therefore there is nothing beyond You. This entire cosmic manifestation is therefore not false but is simply a temporary manifestation of Your inconceivable energy.

Purport:

This verse completely rejects the theory of brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, which states that spirit, or Brahman, is real, whereas the manifested material world, with its great variety of things, is false. Nothing is false.

One thing may be permanent and another temporary, but both the permanent and the temporary are facts.

For example, if someone becomes angry for a certain period, no one can say that his anger is false. It is simply temporary.

Everything we experience in our daily lives is of this same character; it is temporary but real.

The different kinds of living entities coming from various sources are very clearly described in this verse.

Some are born from a womb and some (like certain insects) from human perspiration. Others hatch from eggs, and still others sprout from the earth.

A living entity takes birth under different circumstances according to his past activities (karma).

Although the body of the living entity is material, it is never false. No one will accept the argument that since a person’s material body is false, murder has no repercussions.

Our temporary bodies are given to us according to our karma, and we must remain in our given bodies to enjoy the pains and pleasures of life.

Our bodies cannot be called false; they are only temporary. In other words, the energy of the Supreme Lord is as permanent as the Lord Himself, although His energy is sometimes manifest and sometimes not.

As summarized in the Vedas, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: “Everything is Brahman.”

SB 5.18.33

O my Lord, Your name, form and bodily features are expanded in countless forms. No one can determine exactly how many forms exist, yet You Yourself, in Your incarnation as the learned scholar Kapiladeva, have analyzed the cosmic manifestation as containing twenty-four elements.

Therefore if one is interested in Sāṅkhya philosophy, by which one can enumerate the different truths, he must hear it from You. Unfortunately, nondevotees simply count the different elements and remain ignorant of Your actual form. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Purport:

Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years.

However, the speculative research work of a so-called scientist or philosopher is always interrupted when he dies, and the laws of nature go on without regard for his work.

For billions of years changes take place in the material creation, until at last the whole universe is dissolved and remains in an unmanifested state. Constant change and destruction (bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate) is perpetually going on in nature, yet the material scientists want to study natural laws without knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the background of nature. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):

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.”

Now the material creation is manifest, eventually it will be annihilated and remain for many millions of years in a dormant state, and finally it will again be created. This is the law of nature.

SB 5.18.34

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Dear King, the Supreme Lord in His boar incarnation, who accepts all sacrificial offerings, lives in the northern part of Jambūdvīpa.

There, in the tract of land known as Uttarakuru-varṣa, mother earth and all the other inhabitants worship Him with unfailing devotional service by repeatedly chanting the following Upaniṣadic mantra.

SB 5.18.35

O Lord, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You as the gigantic person. Simply by chanting mantras, we shall be able to understand You fully. You are yajña [sacrifice], and You are the kratu [ritual].

Therefore all the ritualistic ceremonies of sacrifice are part of Your transcendental body, and You are the only enjoyer of all sacrifices.

Your form is composed of transcendental goodness. You are known as tri-yuga because in Kali-yuga You appeared as a concealed incarnation and because You always fully possess the three pairs of opulences.

Purport:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the incarnation for this Age of Kali, as confirmed in many places throughout the Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Upaniṣads.

The summary of His appearance is given in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 6.99) as follows:

kali-yuge līlāvatāra nā kare bhagavān ataeva ‘tri-yuga’ kari’ kahi tāra nāma

In this Age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Bhagavān) does not appear as a līlāvatāra, an incarnation to display pastimes.

Therefore He is known as tri-yuga. Unlike other incarnations, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appears in this Age of Kali as a devotee of the Lord.

Therefore He is called a concealed incarnation (channāvatāra).

SB 5.18.36

By manipulating a fire-generating stick, great saints and sages can bring forth the fire lying dormant within wood. In the same way, O Lord, those expert in understanding the Absolute Truth try to see You in everything — even in their own bodies.

Yet you remain concealed. You are not to be understood by indirect processes involving mental or physical activities. Because You are self-manifested, only when You see that a person is wholeheartedly engaged in searching for You do You reveal Yourself. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Purport:

The word kriyārthaiḥ means “by performing ritualistic ceremonies to satisfy the demigods.”

The word vipaścitaḥ is explained in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad as follows: satyaṁ jñānam anantaṁ brahma; yo veda nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ parame vyoman; so ’śnute sarvān kāmān saha brahmaṇā vipaściteti.

As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (7.19), bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate:

“After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me.”

When one understands that the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart and actually sees the Lord present everywhere, he has perfect knowledge.

The word jāta-vedaḥ means “fire which is produced by rubbing wood.” In Vedic times, learned sages could bring forth fire from wood.

Jāta-vedaḥ also indicates the fire in the stomach, which digests everything we eat and which produces an appetite.

The word gūḍha is explained in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. Eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is understood by chanting the Vedic mantras. Sarva-vyāpī sarva-bhūtāntar-ātmā: He is all-pervading, and He is within the heart of living entities.

Karmādhyakṣaḥ sarva-bhūtādhivāsaḥ:

He witnesses all activities of the living entity. Sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaś ca: The Supreme Lord is the witness as well as the living force, yet He is transcendental to all material qualities.

SB 5.18.37

The objects of material enjoyment [sound, form, taste, touch and smell], the activities of the senses, the controllers of sensory activities [the demigods], the body, eternal time and egotism are all creations of Your material energy.

Those whose intelligence has become fixed by perfect execution of mystic yoga can see that all these elements result from the actions of Your external energy.

They can also see Your transcendental form as Supersoul in the background of everything. Therefore I repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Purport:

The objects of material enjoyment, the sensory activities, attachment to sensual pleasure, the body, false egotism and so on are produced by the Lord’s external energy, māyā.

The background of all these activities is the living being, and the director of the living beings is the Supersoul. The living being is not the all in all.

He is directed by the Supersoul. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Kṛṣṇa confirms this:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo

mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.” The living entity depends on the Supersoul for directions.

A person advanced in spiritual knowledge, or a person expert in the practice of mystic yoga (yama, niyama, āsana and so on) can understand transcendence either as Paramātmā or as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Supreme Lord is the original cause of all natural events. Therefore He is described as sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam, the cause of all causes.

Behind everything visible to our material eyes is some cause, and one who can see the original cause of all causes, Lord Kṛṣṇa, can actually see.

Kṛṣṇa, the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, is the background of everything, as He Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):

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.”

SB 5.18.38

O Lord, You do not desire the creation, maintenance or annihilation of this material world, but You perform these activities for the conditioned souls by Your creative energy.

Exactly as a piece of iron moves under the influence of a lodestone, inert matter moves when You glance over the total material energy.

Purport:

Sometimes the question arises why the Supreme Lord has created this material world, which is so full of suffering for the living entities entrapped in it.

The answer given herein is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not wish to create this material world just to inflict suffering on the living entities.

The Supreme Lord creates this world only because the conditioned souls want to enjoy it.

The workings of nature are not going on automatically. It is only because the Lord glances over the material energy that it acts in wonderful ways, just as a lodestone causes a piece of iron to move here and there.

Because materialistic scientists and so-called Sāṅkhya philosophers do not believe in God, they think that material nature is working without supervision.

But that is not the fact. In Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 6.18-19) the creation of the material world is explained as follows:

yadyapi sāṅkhya māne ‘pradhāna’ — kāraṇa jaḍa ha-ite kabhu nahe jagat-sṛjana nija-sṛṣṭi-śakti prabhu sañcāre pradhāne īśvarera śaktye tabe haye ta’ nirmāṇe

“Atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophers think that the total material energy causes the cosmic manifestation, but they are wrong.

Dead matter has no moving power, and therefore it cannot act independently. The Lord infuses the material ingredients with His own creative potency. Then, by the power of the Lord, matter moves and interacts.”

Sea waves are moved by the air, the air is created from ether, the ether is produced by the agitation of the three modes of material nature, and the three modes of material nature interact due to the Supreme Lord’s glance over the total material energy.

Therefore the background of all natural occurrences is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram). This is also further explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.59-61):

jagat-kāraṇa nahe prakṛti jaḍa-rūpā
śakti sañcāriyā tāre kṛṣṇa kare kṛpā
kṛṣṇa-śaktye prakṛti haya gauṇa kāraṇa agni-śaktye lauha yaiche karaye jāraṇa ataeva kṛṣṇa mūla-jagat-kāraṇa

prakṛti — kāraṇa yaiche ajā-gala-stana

“Because prakṛti [material nature] is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. Lord Kṛṣṇa shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature.

Thus prakṛti, by the energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red-hot by the energy of fire.

Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. Prakṛti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.”

Thus it is a great mistake on the part of the material scientists and philosophers to think that matter moves independently.

SB 5.18.39

My Lord, as the original boar within this universe, You fought and killed the great demon Hiraṇyakṣa.

Then You lifted me [the earth] from the Garbhodaka Ocean on the end of Your tusk, exactly as a sporting elephant plucks a lotus flower from the water. I bow down before You.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fifth Canto, Eighteenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa.”

Why does the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8 Chapter 10 Text 38 Purport says the moon is further away from Earth than the sun? Srila Prabhupada - ''Therefore the distance between the Earth and the Moon would be about 95,000,000 miles''

Why does the Srimad Bhagavatam say the moon is further away from Earth than the sun?

Srimad Bhagavatam 8.10.38,

Srila Prabhupada says - "The Sun is supposed to be 93,000,000 miles above the surface of the Earth, and from the SB, we understand that the Moon is 1,600,000 miles above the Sun. Therefore the distance between the Earth and the Moon would be about 95,000,000 miles."

Lets be clear, the purport doesn’t say the moon is bigger or larger than the Sun here, however, it DOES in other passages in the Srimad Bhagavatam, such as Canto 5 Chapter 24 Text 2, it is said the Moon is Bigger than the sun.

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 24 Text 2-

"The sun globe, which is a source of heat, extends for 10,000 yojanas [80,000 miles]. The moon extends for 20,000 yojanas [160,000 miles], and Rāhu extends for 30,000 yojanas [240,000 miles].

Formerly, when nectar was being distributed, Rāhu tried to create dissension between the sun and moon by interposing himself between them.

Rāhu is inimical toward both the sun and the moon, and therefore he always tries to cover the sunshine and moonshine on the dark-moon day and full-moon night".

Purport:

As stated herein, the sun extends for 10,000 yojanas (80,000 miles), and the moon extends for twice that, or 20,000 yojanas (160,000 miles). The word dvādaśa should be understood to mean twice as much as ten, or twenty.

In the opinion of Vijayadhvaja, the extent of Rāhu should be twice that of the moon, or 40,000 yojanas (320,000 miles).

However to reconcile this apparent contradiction to the text of the Bhāgavatam?

Vijayadhvaja cites the following quotation concerning Rāhu; 

rāhu-soma-ravīṇāṁ tu maṇḍalā dvi-guṇoktitām. 

"This means that Rāhu is twice as large as the moon, which is twice as large as the sun". 

This is the conclusion of the commentator Vijayadhvaja".

How is this understood intelligently, where Prabhupada above claims the Moon is twice the size of the Sun?

Dr. Richard L. Thompson (Disciple of Srila Prabhupada and co-author of the book “The hidden history of Human Race”) explains -

This is another case of an apparent contradiction. Since we have practically no information, we cannot make a definite statement.

But it is possible that the larger sizes of the moon and Rahu may have to do with the higher-dimensional aspects of these planets.

The Sürya-siddhanta gives a diameter of 2,400 miles for the moon. This is close to the modern figure. (from Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy)

Why it should be related to higher dimensional aspects?

Because we believe the Verse SB 5.24.2 does not talk from the perspective of ordinary humans or 3 dimensional reality.

But, if you read the purport of Srimad Bhagavatam 8.10.38, then you can understand that Srila Prabhupada says the moon is ABOVE the Sun.

Question : The Vedic literature says the moon is higher than the sun (further away from earth than the sun is). How can this be?

Professor Brian Cox comments - "Lets face it, no intelligent person let alone Cosmologist, will EVER accept the absurd nonsense the Sun is first and the Moon is beyond that with the silly argument Sunday (Sun) is the first day of the week then Monday (Moon) is next".

Answer to these comments, including the comment above by the modern scientist and famous Cosmologist Professor Brian Cox comment is nicely given by Dr. Richard L. Thompson (Sadaputa Dasa ACBSP)-

"In Chapter 22 of the Fifth Canto, the heights of the planets above the earth are given, and it is stated that the moon is 100,000 yojanas (800,000 miles) above the rays of the sun.

In this chapter, the word "above" means "above the plane of Bhu-mandala." It does not refer to distance measured radially from the surface of the earth global sphere.

We have shown that if the plane of Bhu-mandala corresponds to the plane of the ecliptic, then it indeed makes sense to say that the moon is higher than the sun relative to Bhu-mandala.

This DOES NOT MEAN the moon is farther from the earth globe than the sun!

For example, if point A is in a plane, B is 1,000 miles above the plane, and C is 2,000 miles above the plane, we cannot necessarily conclude that C is further from A than B is. (Taken from Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy)

"The Śiśumāra Planetary Systems" Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 5 Chapter 23

‘The Śiśumāra Planetary Systems’

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 5 Chapter 23 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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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].

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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-saḿhitā (5.52) as follows:

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāḿrājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥyasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakrogovindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ 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-saḿhitā 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 prakṛtiḥsūyate sa-carācaramhetunānena kaunteyajagad 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-bhūtānāḿhṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhatibhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāniyantrārūḍhāni 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-saḿhitā (5.44) as follows:

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekāchāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgāicchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sāgovindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ 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 divyamevaḿ yo vetti tattvataḥtyaktvā dehaḿ punar janmanaiti 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 nityānāḿ cetanaś cetanānām).

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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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 Ańgirā. 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].

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.23.6

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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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 has 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."

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 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 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 System."