The concept of a WORLD... As opposed to a PLANET...

In this post lets discuss about the concept of a WORLD as opposed to a free floating PLANET.

So what do we mean by a WORLD ?

Many of us would have come across a friend or a relative who couldn't care less about his surroundings. We often remark to such a person saying: "Uh!!! That person LIVES IN HIS OWN WORLD."

What we really mean is, although he is physically present with us, he is nevertheless not here.

A similar thing happens on the Bhu-Mandala plate, due to the perception boundaries. Each section of Bhu-Mandala has a civilisation that is complete in itself. To the residents of such a section of Bhu-Mandala, it would feel as though they are a free floating planet and that there is no other civilisation in the cosmos. This is exactly what we on this Bharat-Varsha feel too.

In all, there are 9 sections on the Jambu-Island. Then there are 7 oceans. Then the remaining 5 islands have 7 divisions each which totals to 35 sections. The outermost island has 2 sections. And then ofcourse Loka and Aloka are the 2 remaining sections.

So in all there are 9 + 7 + 35 + 2 + 2 = 55 WORLDs. The residents of each of these WORLDs will perceive that they are living on a freely floating globe (planet).

This Bhu-mandala plate is perceived as it is, in its entirety, only by the highly elevated living entities like the Main Demigods entrusted with the administration of this Universe and the highly elevated sages and Munis like Srila Narad Muni.

For the ordinary residents of these WORLDs, things are pretty much the same as they are for us. Only difference being, since they live a heavenly life, they don't have to go to work everyday. For them its a very long weekend, something in the order of like 10,000 human years.

But nevertheless, the ordinary residents of those WORLDs do feel, they are living on a globe and that they don't have any neighbours.

But PLANETs... Well they are a different story. They are actual physical globes floating freely in the space above Bhu-Mandala. There are innumerable such floating bodies and they all are circumambulating the pole star (Dhruva Loka) as mentioned in SB 5.23.3. These planets and luminaries form a common backdrop of SKY for each of these WORLDs mentioned above.

Unfortunately, we humans don't get to see the real thing. Again sorry to say, but we have a very limited access to the things in this universe. The boundary of perception is too small for us humans.

For us, humans, the SKY is actually a projection of the real SKY. The real SKY is part of a Higher Dimensional World. We guess by now, some of you must be thinking this is just a WORD JUGGLERY. But believe it or not, there is no easy way to explain things meaningfully and consistently. So please bear with us.

The different levels of access to this universe depend on the kind of body awarded to the soul. These different levels can also be considered as different dimensions. An object from a Higher Dimension cannot be perceived in its entirety by someone in a Lower Dimension.

Lets try to understand this through an example:

Imagine a Mango Tree standing near a pond filled with water. For the purpose of this example consider the water to undisturbed and perfectly still like a mirror.
Now imagine that the mango tree is getting reflected onto the surface of that water. Here comes an ANT. She falls in the water. On the surface of the water she sees the reflection of a leaf. In her effort to save her life she reaches onto the physical location where the reflection of that leaf is. But still she is not able to save herself (ofcourse... you may say). Then suddenly she sees the reflection of a juicy mango and hastily goes to the physical location of that reflected mango. But to her disappointment, she couldn't taste that mango either (no wonder).

Jist... The reflection (Projection) of a 3 Dimensional object (Mango Tree) on a 2 Dimensional plane (water surface) losses some of its features.

Now lets extrapolate this to say that, if a Higher Dimensional Object was projected in our 3 Dimensional space, it will look SOLID (having height, width, depth), but will be missing certain features.

So this is what we experience as humans. All these planets and luminaries floating in the SKY are Higher Dimensional Objects. They get projected in our perceptible WORLD as SOLID 3 dimensional objects. But they are missing some features. Although we may reach to the physical location of that projected object, but we won't be able to land on that actual object. Much like the ANT reaching a reflection of the Leaf or the Mango but not being on the actual leaf or actual mango.

This is why, when we reach the moon-planet or mars-planet, we are unable to see the heavenly civilization on those planets (and we keep wondering why). All we can see is ROCKS and DIRT. Because as humans we can perceive the gross elements like: Earth (solid), Water (liquid), Fire (light & heat), Air (gases), Ether (vacuum of space): but only in its rudimentary form. For instance we can't perceive the more complex bodies made-up of Fire (e.g: bodies of living entities on Sun-planet).

So when these Higher Dimensional Objects are projected in our perceptible 3D WORLD, these projections are very rudimentary in nature which is what we can perceive.

So we don't deny that our man-made space shuttles have reached Moon or Mars or Pluto. What we are suggesting is that they have reached the projections of these heavenly objects, and not the real objects. The real objects are in a different dimension and thus completely inaccessible to humans. No matter how much we try, we can't cross these dimensions. These dimensions are nothing but the perception boundaries enforced by Maya Devi (Goddess Durgaa). And they are implemented by being in a particular type of body.

This is necessary, because all these places in the Universe are Heavenly realms. Humans are not supposed to reach there while being in the human body. The only way to reach to these higher dimensional places, is by acquiring a suitable body. And to acquire such a body, a Human Being needs to accumulate the credit of piety. If we humans perform the prescribed duties, austerities and penances as laid out in Vedic texts, then we can acquire a suitable body, to access these higher dimensional places.

So our scientific endeavours to reach these places in the outer-space, is at the best funny and childish.

Its like we are in a balloon that has a sky painted on its inside wall. As we try to fly to far and distant places we are only stretching the wall of that balloon. But no manner of scientific endeavour will get us out of that balloon.

So we should realize that such scientific endeavours are a waste of time and resources.

Instead if we really want to know about our Bramhanda (universe) and its phenomenal arrangement, then we should turn to the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. This way we can become real scientists. A real scientist learns about this fantastic creation and develops a natural appreciation of the Creator.

We wanted to include the discussion of how laws of nature differ in different WORLDs, but this post has already become to long, so we would surely do that in our next post.

More interesting topics are to follow.

So as always... Please stay tuned...

 

Follow-Up for Flat Earth...

It seems that we need to discuss some more on the Flat Earth Concept from our previous post.

Hence... This follow-up post.

As mentioned in our earlier post, it needs some out-of-the-box thinking to understand cosmological explanations from Srimad Bhagavatam. This is important because we can't count on direct experience for understanding the Universe around us.

So we need to place our faith in some authority, for understanding the Universe around us.

Right now we have broadly, TWO places to rest our faith.

1. The scientist that rely on Human sensory and intellectual faculties to describe this Cosmos.
2. The Vedic texts like Srimad Bhagavatam, spoken by a well acknowledged and accepted spiritual authority.

Not going in the technicalities of how the scientists come up with their conclusions; one thing is undeniable, and that is that its all done with profitability as its underlying motivation. When someone is motivated by profit-making, such a person / group / or entity becomes less & less reliable.

Moreover, the current scientific method (in relation to cosmological science) to understand this universe is as follows:

First they come-up with a theory, and then they do everything to try and prove it to be correct. And if its not provable even after trying hard, then they just shamelessly say, "Well that's the beauty of science, We discard that which can't be Proved".

How can any Wise person subscribe to this kind of method for acquiring knowledge. This is like a blind man finding out about a ditch after falling into it.

Vedic way of acquiring knowledge is an exact polar opposite of this. In Vedic way, only a knowledgeable person can impart knowledge upon someone who is less knowledgeable. In this way of acquiring knowledge, submissive inquiry plays a key role.

And since the knowledge flows from a more knowledgeable person to a less knowledgeable person, it creates a succession. Thus the process becomes verifiable. As in; one who wants to get knowledge from SOMEBODY can check if that SOMEBODY is a self proclaimed KNOWER or has he acquired the knowledge through the same process of succession.

That way the entire chain of succession should lead us to the origin of all knowledge, the Supreme Creator Lord Sri Krishna. Thus by verifying each link in the succession, if we find that the ultimate last entity is the Supreme Person, then we can rely on the source of information.

Now, without getting into the details of spiritual standing of Srila Shukadev Goswami (the speaker of Srimad Bhagavatam); lets examine the facts.

The assembly where Srila Shukadev Goswami was speaking, included all the renowned sages. Among the assembly was Srila Vyasadev, who himself is a writer of Srimad Bhagavatam. He is the one who imparted this knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam to his son Srila Shukadev Goswami.

So Srila Shukadev Goswami was not only his son, but also his disciple. And in Vedic context, a Spiritual Master is duty-bound to correct the mistakes of his disciple. KEEP THIS POINT IN MIND. We will refer this later on.

Also in the assembly was the renowned inter-stellar traveller Srila Narad Muni. He imparted the knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam to Srila Vyasadev. So Srila Vyasadev is in a way, a disciple of Srila Narad Muni. Again, Srila Narad Muni, as a spiritual master is duty-bound to correct the mistakes of his disciple.

Srila Shukadev Goswami spoke Srimad Bhagavatam as answers to the inquiries of Saintly King Parikshit.

King Parikshit was about to Die in 7 days, and thus was in no mood of listening to fairy tales.

King Parikshit was having complete confidence in Srila Shukadev Goswami's infallible knowledge. Which is why he chose to become his disciple. Moreover, he was reassured about the correctness of the answers given by Srila Shukadev Goswami; since Shukadev Goswami's Spiritual master was in the assembly, listening to their discourse. Remember as mentioned above; a spiritual master is duty-bound to correct the mistakes of his disciple.

On the backdrop of this setup as mentioned above, when King Parikshit inquired about the cosmology of our universe, will Srila Shukadev Goswami start telling a fairy tale. This is a question we should ask to ourselves.

Some of us who want to doubt the correctness of the cosmological descriptions given by Shukadev Goswami should seriously consider this situation.

In the assembly, there is Srila Narad Muni, who is a renowned inter-stellar traveller. Surely he would have raised a hand in the assembly and objected Srila Shukadev Goswami, if Shukadev Goswami was engaging in Mental Speculation or Fairy Tales.

So... Now... if we are amply convinced that whatever description Srila Shukadev Goswami gave about the cosmology, is indeed correct, then lets see what will happen if the earth is not flat; as some of us may want to believe.

Say, If the Earth is spherical, as contrary to what Srila Shukadev Goswami thinks, then there are 2 possibilities.

1. The spherical earth is resting on the Jambu-Island, as a Ball would rest on the ground.
2. OR... The spherical earth is freely floating a little above the surface of Jambu-Island.

In the first scenario, since the earth is resting on a flat plane, therefore no one can access the bottom part of this sphere. But in fact, people are right now staying at both arctic and antarctic. Moreover, they are flying in air all over the place. Thus no part of this spherical earth seems inaccessible. Therefore this first possibility can't hold true.

In the second scenario, if the earth is freely floating over the surface, there comes another problem. The sky is only in the top portion of our Universe. At the vertical-centre of our universe is the Bhu-Mandala Plate. And beneath this plate, is ocean. So if this spherical earth is floating above this Bhu-Mandala plate, then half the people on this earth should have no SKY above there heads. Only half of the earth's population will see SKY over there heads. But in fact, we all see SKY above our heads, no matter where we are on this earth. Therefore this hypothesis also gets thrown out of the window.

The easiest way, is to believe that Srila Shukadev Goswami had no reason to cook a fairy tale description of our cosmology.

So as described in Srimad Bhagavatam, the part where humans live (Bharat-Varsha) is a Flat-Surface of Bhu-mandala plate.

Since the above statement is true, therefore the only plausible explanation is the one presented in the previous posts.

When Maya-Devi (Goddess Durgaa) makes us perceive this flat-earth as a sphere, she also sets some laws of nature, which support this perception.

The laws of nature also differ from one place to another in our Bramhanda. This is vividly described in Srimad Bhagavatam, and will be discussed in following posts.

So as always... Stay tuned.