The living entities are traveling from one planet to another, but it is not that we can go to any planet we like merely by a mechanical arrangement. If we desire to go to other planets, there is a process for going there. This is also mentioned: yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). No mechanical arrangement is necessary if we want interplanetary travel. The Gītā instructs: yānti deva-vratā devān. The moon, the sun and higher planets are called Svargaloka. There are three different statuses of planets: higher, middle and lower planetary systems. The earth belongs to the middle planetary system. Bhagavad-gītā informs us how to travel to the higher planetary systems (Devaloka) with a very simple formula: yānti deva-vratā devān. One need only worship the particular demigod of that particular planet and in that way go to the moon, the sun or any of the higher planetary systems.
From one planet to another
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Preface and Introduction
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
One must be completely freed from all material attachment and be situated on the plane of transcendence, which alone will help the devotee get in personal touch with the Personality of Godhead. The best method is that one should live at a place where the transcendental form of the Lord is worshiped. The temple of the Lord is a transcendental place, whereas the forest is a materially good habitation. A neophyte devotee is always recommended to worship the Deity of the Lord (arcanā) rather than go into the forest to search out the Lord. Devotional service begins from the process of arcanā, which is better than going out in the forest. In his present life, which is completely freed from all material hankerings, Śrī Nārada Muni does not go into the forest, although he can turn every place into Vaikuṇṭha by his presence only. He travels from one planet to another to convert men, gods, Kinnaras, Gandharvas, ṛṣis, munis and all others to become devotees of the Lord. By his activities he has engaged many devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja and many others in the transcendental service of the Lord. A pure devotee of the Lord, therefore, follows in the footsteps of the great devotees like Nārada and Prahlāda and engages his whole time in glorifying the Lord by the process of kīrtana. Such a preaching process is transcendental to all material qualities.
Every living being is anxious for full freedom because that is his transcendental nature. And this freedom is obtained only through the transcendental service of the Lord. Illusioned by the external energy, everyone thinks that he is free, but actually he is bound up by the laws of nature. A conditioned soul cannot freely move from one place to another even on this earth, and what to speak of one planet to another. But a full-fledged free soul like Nārada, always engaged in chanting the Lord's glory, is free to move not only on earth but also in any part of the universe, as well as in any part of the spiritual sky. We can just imagine the extent and unlimitedness of his freedom, which is as good as that of the Supreme Lord. There is no reason or obligation for his traveling, and no one can stop him from his free movement.
SB Canto 2
Without the Lord's relation, worship of the demigods is unauthorized (avidhi-pūrvakam), just as it is improper to water the leaves and branches of a tree without watering its root. Therefore the demigods are also dependent on Nārāyaṇa. The lokas, or different planets, are attractive because they have different varieties of life and bliss partially representing the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Everyone wants the eternal life of bliss and knowledge. In the material world such an eternal life of bliss and knowledge is progressively realized in the upper planets, but after reaching there one is inclined to achieve further progress along the path back to Godhead. Duration of life, with a proportionate quantity of bliss and knowledge, may be increased from one planet to another. One can increase the duration of life to thousands and hundreds of thousands of years in different planets, but nowhere is there eternal life. But one who can reach the highest planet, that of Brahmā, can aspire to reach the planets in the spiritual sky, where life is eternal. Therefore, the progressive journey from one planet to another culminates in reaching the supreme planet of the Lord (mad-dhāma), where life is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. All different kinds of sacrifice are performed just to satisfy Lord Nārāyaṇa with a view to reach Him, and the best sacrifice recommended in this age of Kali is saṅkīrtana-yajña, the mainstay of the devotional service of a nārāyaṇa-para devotee.
SB Canto 3
As explained in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Siddhas are inhabitants of Siddhaloka, where the residents travel in space without vehicles. At their mere will they can pass from one planet to another without difficulty. Therefore, in the upper planets the inhabitants are far superior to the inhabitants of this planet in all matters of art, culture and science, since they possess brains superior to those of human beings. The spirits and jinn mentioned in this connection are also counted among the demigods because they are able to perform uncommon functions not possible for men.
The planets occupied by the demigods are restricted to their own orbits, but Kardama Muni, by his yogic power, could travel all over the different directions of the universe without restriction. The living entities who are within the universe are called conditioned souls; that is, they are not free to move everywhere. We are inhabitants of this earthly globe; we cannot move freely to other planets. In the modern age, man is trying to go to other planets, but so far he has been unsuccessful. It is not possible to travel to any other planets because by the laws of nature even the demigods cannot move from one planet to another. But Kardama Muni, by his yogic power, could surpass the strength of the demigods and travel in space in all directions. The comparison here is very suitable. The words yathā anilaḥ indicate that as the air is free to move anywhere without restriction, so Kardama Muni unrestrictedly traveled in all directions of the universe.
It is learned herewith that in the higher sky there are living entities who can travel through the air without being hampered. Although we can travel in outer space, we are hampered by so many impediments, but they are not. We learn from the pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the inhabitants of the planet called Siddhaloka can travel in space from one planet to another without impediment. They showered flowers on the earth when Lord Kapila, the son of Kardama, appeared.
Due to his particular type of body, the materialistic living entity wanders from one planet to another, following fruitive activities. In this way, he involves himself in fruitive activities and enjoys the result incessantly.
When the living entity is encaged in the material body, he is called jīva-bhūta, and when he is free from the material body he is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). By changing his material body birth after birth, he travels not only in the different species of life, but also from one planet to another. Lord Caitanya says that the living entities, bound up by fruitive activities, are wandering in this way throughout the whole universe, and if by some chance or by pious activities they get in touch with a bona fide spiritual master, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, then they get the seed of devotional service. After getting this seed, if one sows it within his heart and pours water on it by hearing and chanting, the seed grows into a big plant, and there are fruits and flowers which the living entity can enjoy, even in this material world. That is called the brahma-bhūta stage. In his designated condition, a living entity is called materialistic, and upon being freed from all designations, when he is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, engaged in devotional service, he is called liberated. Unless one gets the opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of the Lord, there is no possibility of one's liberation from the cycle of birth and death in the different species of life and through the different grades of planets.
The materially attached are very eager to promote themselves to the heavenly planets such as the moon. There are many heavenly planets to which they aspire just to achieve more and more material happiness by getting a long duration of life and the paraphernalia for sense enjoyment. But the attached persons do not know that even if one goes to the highest planet, Brahmaloka, destruction exists there also. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that one can even go to the Brahmaloka, but still he will find the pangs of birth, death, disease and old age. Only by approaching the Lord's abode, the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, does one not take birth again in this material world. The gṛhamedhīs, or materialistic persons, however, do not like to use this advantage. They would prefer to transmigrate perpetually from one body to another, or from one planet to another. They do not want the eternal, blissful life in knowledge in the kingdom of God.
The statement in this verse that Kardama Muni's household affairs were envied even by persons who travel in outer space refers to the denizens of heaven. Their airships are not like those we have invented in the modern age, which fly only from one country to another; their airplanes were capable of going from one planet to another. There are many such statements in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from which we can understand that there were facilities to travel from one planet to another, especially in the higher planetary system, and who can say that they are not still traveling? The speed of our airplanes and space vehicles is very limited, but, as we have already studied, Kardama Muni traveled in outer space in an airplane which was like a city, and he journeyed to see all the different heavenly planets. That was not an ordinary airplane, nor was it ordinary space travel. Because Kardama Muni was such a powerful mystic yogī, his opulence was envied by the denizens of heaven.
SB Canto 4
It is said that when a man desires to quit his body he dresses in saffron garments. Therefore it appears that Satī changed her dress, indicating that she was going to quit the body given her by Dakṣa. Dakṣa was Satī's father, so instead of killing Dakṣa she decided that it would be better to destroy the part of his body which was hers. Thus she decided to give up the body of Dakṣa by the yogic process. Satī was the wife of Lord Śiva, who is known as Yogeśvara, the best among all yogīs, because he knows all the mystic processes of yoga, so it appeared that Satī also knew them. Either she learned yoga from her husband or she was enlightened because she was the daughter of such a great king as Dakṣa. The perfection of yoga is that one can give up one's body or release oneself from the embodiment of material elements according to one's desire. Yogīs who have attained perfection are not subject to death by natural laws; such perfect yogīs can leave the body whenever they desire. Generally the yogī first of all becomes mature in controlling the air passing within the body, thus bringing the soul to the top of the brain. Then when the body bursts into flames, the yogī can go anywhere he likes. This yoga system recognizes the soul, and thus it is distinct from the so-called yoga process for controlling the cells of the body, which has been discovered in the modern age. The real yoga process accepts the transmigration of the soul from one planet to another or one body to another; and it appears from this incident that Satī wanted to transfer her soul to another body or sphere.
The airplanes described in this verse are different from the airplanes of which we have experience. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and all the Vedic literatures, there are many descriptions of vimāna, which means "airplanes." On different planets there are different kinds of airplanes. On this gross planet earth, there are airplanes run by machine, but on other planets the airplanes are run not by machine but by mantric hymns. They are also used especially for enjoyment by the denizens of the heavenly planets so that they can go from one planet to another. On other planets which are called Siddhalokas, the denizens can travel from one planet to another without airplanes. The beautiful airplanes from the heavenly planets are compared here to the sky because they fly in the sky; the passengers are compared to the clouds. The beautiful damsels, the wives of the denizens of the heavenly planets, are compared to lightning. In summation, the airplanes with their passengers which came from higher planets to Kailāsa were very pleasant to look at.
The inhabitants of both Siddhaloka and Vidyādhara-loka are naturally endowed with mystic yogic powers by which they not only can fly in outer space without a vehicle but can also fly from one planet to another simply by exerting their will. Just as fish can swim within water, the residents of Vidyādhara-loka can swim in the ocean of air. As far as the inhabitants of Siddhaloka are concerned, they are endowed with all mystic powers. The yogīs in this planet practice the eightfold yogic mysticism—namely yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. By regularly practicing the yogic processes one after another, the yogīs attain various perfections; they can become smaller than the smallest, heavier than the heaviest, etc. They can even manufacture a planet, get whatever they like and control whatever man they want. All the residents of Siddhaloka are naturally endowed with these mystic yogic powers. It is certainly a very wonderful thing if we see a person on this planet flying in the sky without a vehicle, but in Vidyādhara-loka such flying is as commonplace as a bird's flying in the sky. Similarly, in Siddhaloka all the inhabitants are great yogīs, perfect in mystic powers.
Seeing the glowing effulgence of the four Kumāras, the masters of all mystic Power, the King and his associates could recognize them as they descended from the sky.
The four Kumāras are described herein as siddheśvarān, which means "masters of all mystic power." One who has attained perfection in yoga practice immediately becomes master of the eight mystic perfections—to become smaller than the smallest, to become lighter than the lightest, to become bigger than the biggest, to achieve anything one desires, to control everything, etc. These four Kumāras, as siddheśvaras, had achieved all the yogic perfectional achievements, and as such they could travel in outer space without machines. While they were coming to Mahārāja Pṛthu from other planets, they did not come by airplane, but personally. In other words, these four Kumāras were also spacemen who could travel in space without machines. The residents of the planet known as Siddhaloka can travel in outer space from one planet to another without vehicles. However, the special power of the Kumāras mentioned herewith is that whatever place they went to would immediately become sinless. During the reign of Mahārāja Pṛthu, everything on the surface of this globe was sinless, and therefore the Kumāras decided to see the King. Ordinarily they do not go to any planet which is sinful.
It is said that the demigods never touch the surface of the earth. They walk and travel in space only. Like the great sage Nārada, the Kumāras do not require any machine to travel in space. There are also residents of Siddhaloka who can travel in space without machines. Since they can go from one planet to another, they are called siddhas; that is to say they have acquired all mystic and yogic powers. Such great saintly persons who have attained complete perfection in mystic yoga are not visible in this age on earth because humanity is not worthy of their presence. The Kumāras, however, praised the characteristics of Mahārāja Pṛthu and his great devotional attitude and humility. The Kumāras were greatly satisfied by King Pṛthu's method of worship. It was by the grace of Mahārāja Pṛthu that the common citizens in his domain could see the Kumāras flying in outer space.
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (BG 18.66)
Thus we are immediately relieved from traveling from one body to another and from one planet to another. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). If, while traveling, a living entity becomes fortunate enough to become blessed by the association of devotees and to come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his real life actually begins. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving all wandering living entities a chance to take to the shelter of Kṛṣṇa and thus become happy.
The great sage Maitreya continued: The supreme devotee, the great saint Nārada, thus explained to King Prācīnabarhi the constitutional position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entity. After giving an invitation to the King, Nārada Muni left to return to Siddhaloka.
Siddhaloka and Brahmaloka are both within the same planetary system. Brahmaloka is understood to be the highest planet within this universe. Siddhaloka is considered to be one of the satellites of Brahmaloka. The inhabitants of Siddhaloka have all the powers of yogic mysticism. From this verse it appears that the great sage Nārada is an inhabitant of Siddhaloka, although he travels to all the planetary systems. All the residents of Siddhaloka are spacemen, and they can travel in space without mechanical help. The residents of Siddhaloka can go from one planet to another individually by virtue of their yogic perfection. After giving instructions to the great King Prācīnabarhi, Nārada Muni departed and also invited him to Siddhaloka.
Dear Lord, as long as we have to remain within this material world due to our material contamination and wander from one type of body to another and from one planet to another, we pray that we may associate with those who are engaged in discussing Your pastimes. We pray for this benediction life after life, in different bodily forms and on different planets.
SB Canto 5
It appears from this description that there is regular interplanetary travel between the planets of the demigods. Another significant point is that there is a planet covered mostly by great mountains, one of which is Gandhamādana Hill. Three great personalities—Priyavrata, Nārada and Svāyambhuva Manu—were sitting on this hill. According to Brahmā-saṁhitā, each universe is filled with different planetary systems, and every system has a unique opulence. For example, on Siddhaloka, all the residents are very advanced in the powers of mystic yoga. They can fly from one planet to another without airplanes or other flying machines. Similarly, the residents of Gandharvaloka are expert in musical science, and those on Sādhyaloka are all great saints. The interplanetary system undoubtedly exists, and residents of different planets may go from one to another. On this earth, however, we have not invented any machine that can go directly from one planet to another, although an unsuccessful attempt has been made to go directly to the moon.
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.
Below Rāhu by 10,000 yojanas (80,000 miles) are the planets known as Siddhaloka, Cāraṇaloka and Vidyādhara-loka.
It is said that the residents of Siddhaloka, being naturally endowed with the powers of yogīs, can go from one planet to another by their natural mystic powers without using airplanes or similar machines.
This corresponds to the beginning of Lord Kṛṣṇa's instructions in Bhagavad-gītā. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) within this material world, one is simply meant to change from one body to another in different planetary systems. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā: (BG 14.18) those in the mode of goodness are elevated to the heavenly planets. Adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ: similarly, those too engrossed in ignorance enter the hellish planetary systems. Both of them, however, are subjected to the repetition of birth and death. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that even one who is very pious returns to earth after his enjoyment in the higher planetary systems is over (kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti (BG 9.21)). Therefore, going from one planet to another does not solve the problems of life. The problems of life will only be solved when we no longer have to accept a material body. This can be possible if one simply becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious.
SB Canto 6
My dear son, I am certainly most unfortunate, for I can no longer see your mild smiling. You have closed your eyes forever. I therefore conclude that you have been taken from this planet to another, from which you will not return. My dear son, I can no longer hear your pleasing voice.
SB Canto 7
On earth there are many yogīs who can exhibit some feeble mystic power by manufacturing pieces of gold like magic, but the inhabitants of the planet Siddhaloka are actually extremely powerful in mysticism. They can fly from one planet to another without airplanes. This is called laghimā-siddhi. They can actually become very light and fly in the sky. By a severe type of austerity, however, Hiraṇyakaśipu excelled all the inhabitants of Siddhaloka and created disturbances for them. The residents of Siddhaloka were also beaten by the powers of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Now that Hiraṇyakaśipu had been killed by the Lord, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka also felt relieved.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
An unsatisfied brāhmaṇa wanders restlessly from one planet to another, even if he becomes King of heaven. But a satisfied brāhmaṇa, though he may possess nothing, rests peacefully, all his limbs free of distress.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
The aṣṭāṅga-yoga system is a materialistic art of controlling air by transferring it from the stomach to the navel, from the navel to the heart, from the heart to the collarbone, from there to the eyeballs, from there to the cerebellum and from there to any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he has no information of the velocity of the mind and intelligence. We have some limited experience of the velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away. Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul travels by its own strength and not with the help of any kind of material vehicle.
For the perfect yogī who has attained success in the method of leaving his body in perfect consciousness, transferring from one planet to another is as easy as an ordinary man's walking to the grocery store. As already discussed, the material body is just a covering of the spiritual soul. Mind and intelligence are the undercoverings, and the gross body of earth, water, air and so on is the overcoating of the soul. As such, any advanced soul who has realized himself by the yogic process, who knows the relationship between matter and spirit, can leave the gross dress of the soul in perfect order and as he desires. By the grace of God, we have complete freedom. Because the Lord is kind to us, we can live anywhere—either in the spiritual sky or in the material sky, upon whichever planet we desire. However, misuse of this freedom causes one to fall down into the material world and suffer the threefold miseries of conditioned life. The living of a miserable life in the material world by dint of the soul's choice is nicely illustrated by Milton in Paradise Lost. Similarly, by choice the soul can regain paradise and return home, back to Godhead.
CC Madhya-lila
"No one should become a spiritual master—nor a relative, father, mother, worshipable Deity or husband—if he cannot help a person escape the imminent path of death." Every living entity is wandering within the universe, subjected to the law of karma and transmigrating from one body to another and from one planet to another. Therefore the whole Vedic process is meant to save the wandering living entities from the clutches of māyā—birth, death, disease and old age. This means stopping the cycle of birth and death. This cycle can be stopped only if one worships Kṛṣṇa.
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad completely distinguishes the Lord from the living entities. The living entity is subjected to the reactions of fruitive activity, whereas the Lord simply witnesses such activity and bestows the results. According to the living entity's desires, he is wandering from one body to another and from one planet to another, under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā. However, when the living entity comes to his senses by the mercy of the Lord, he is awarded devotional service. Thus he is saved from the clutches of māyā. At such a time he can see his eternal friend, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and become free from all lamentation and hankering. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.54), where the Lord says, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati: "One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything." Thus it is definitely proved that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of all potencies and that the living entities are always subjected to these potencies. That is the difference between māyādhīśa and māyā-vaśa.
The great saint Nārada is so liberated that he can go to the Vaikuṇṭha planets to see Nārāyaṇa and then immediately come to this planet in the material world and go to Prayāga to bathe in the confluence of three rivers. The word tri-veṇī refers to a confluence of three rivers. This confluence is still visited by many hundreds of thousands of people who go there to bathe, especially during the Māgha-melā, which occurs during the month of January. A liberated person who has no material body can go anywhere and everywhere; therefore a living entity is called sarva-ga, which indicates that he can go anywhere and everywhere. Presently scientists are trying to go to other planets, but due to their material bodies, they are not free to move at will. However, when one is situated in his original spiritual body, he can move anywhere and everywhere without difficulty. Within this material world there is a planet called Siddhaloka, whose inhabitants can go from one planet to another without the aid of a machine or space rocket. In the material world every planet has a specific advantage (vibhūti-bhinna). In the spiritual world, however, all the planets and their inhabitants are composed of spiritual energy. Because there are no material impediments, it is said that everything in the spiritual world is one.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
The Lord then explained that within this brahmāṇḍa, or universe, there are innumerable living entities who, according to their own fruitive activities, are transmigrating from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way their encagement in material existence has been continuing since time immemorial. In actuality, these living entities are atomic parts and parcels of the supreme spirit. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the length and breadth of the individual soul is approximately 1/10,000th part of the tip of a hair—in other words, it is so small that it is invisible. This is also confirmed in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one of the four Kumāras, known as Sanandana, gave the following speech upon performing a great sacrifice: "O Supreme Truth! If the living entities were not infinitesimal sparks of the supreme spirit, each minute spark would be all-pervading and would not be controlled by a superior power. But if the living entity is accepted as a minute part and parcel of the Supreme Lord he automatically becomes controlled by a supreme energy or power. The latter is his actual constitutional position, and if he remains in this position he can attain full freedom." (SB 10.87.30) If one mistakenly considers his position to be equal to that of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes contaminated by the doctrine of nonduality, and his efforts in transcendental life are rendered ineffective.
Nectar of Instruction
"In the course of traversing the universal creation of Brahmā, some fortunate soul may receive the seed of bhakti-latā, the creeper of devotional service. This is all by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa." (CC Madhya 19.151) The material world is a place of confinement for the living entities who are by nature ānandamaya, pleasure-seeking. They actually want to be free from the confinement of this world of conditional happiness, but not knowing the process of liberation, they are bound to transmigrate from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way the living entities are wandering throughout the material universe. When by good fortune one comes in contact with a pure devotee and hears from him patiently, one begins to follow the path of devotional service. Such an opportunity is offered to a person who is sincere. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is giving such a chance to humanity at large. If by fortune one takes advantage of this opportunity to engage in devotional service, the path of liberation immediately opens.
Easy Journey to Other Planets
The aṣṭāṅga-yoga system is also materialistic, inasmuch as it teaches one to control the movements of air within the material body. The spiritual spark, the soul, is floating on air within the body, and inhalation and exhalation are the waves of that air containing the soul. Therefore the yoga system is a materialistic art of controlling this air by transferring it from the stomach to the navel, from the chest to the collarbone and from there to the eyeballs and from there to the cerebellum and from there to any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he has no information of the velocity of the mind and intelligence. We have some limited experience of the velocity of the mind, because in a moment we can transfer our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away. Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul travels by its own strength and not with the help of any kind of material vehicle.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
"All the conditioned souls are continually fleeing from one body to another and one planet to another, yet they do not get free from the onslaught of birth and death. But when one of these fearful living entities comes under the shelter of Your lotus feet, he can lie down without anxiety of being attacked by formidable death." This statement by Devakī is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā by the Lord Himself. There the Lord says that even after traveling all over the universe, from Brahmaloka to Pātālaloka, one cannot escape the attack of birth, death, disease and old age. But one who enters the kingdom of God, the Lord says, is never again obliged to come to the material world.
Lord Kṛṣṇa continued: “O best of all the brāhmaṇas, you should always remain satisfied, for if a brāhmaṇa is always self-satisfied he will not deviate from his prescribed duties; and simply by sticking to one's prescribed duties, everyone, especially a brāhmaṇa, can attain the highest perfection of all desires. Even if a person is as opulent as the King of heaven, Indra, if he is not satisfied he inevitably has to transmigrate from one planet to another. Such a person can never be happy under any circumstances; but if one's mind is satisfied, even if he is bereft of all possessions, he can be happy living anywhere.”
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Now anyone who can approach that spiritual sky will not be required to come back again in this material sky. So long we are in the material sky, what to speak of approaching the moon planet.... The moon planet, of course, is the nearest planet, but even we approach the highest planet, which is called Brahmaloka, there also we have the same miseries of material life, I mean to say, the miseries of birth, death, old age, and diseases. No planets in the material universe is free from the four principles of material existence. The Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). The living entities are traveling from one planet to another. It is not that we can simply go to other planets by the mechanical arrangement of the sputnik. Anyone who desires to go to other planet, there is process. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). If anyone wants to go to any other planet, say, moon planet, we need not try to go by the sputnik. The Bhagavad-gītā instructs us, yānti deva-vratā devān. These moon planets or sun planets or the planets above this Bhūloka, they are called Svargaloka. Svargaloka. Bhūloka, Bhuvarloka, Svargaloka. There are different status of planets. So Devaloka, they are known just like that. The Bhagavad-gītā gives a very simple formula that you can go to the higher planets, Devaloka.
Just like so many planetary systems there are. The one planetary system, that is called Siddhaloka. Even in this material world, with this material body, they are so perfect that here you go from one place to another, or one planet to another... Of course, that has not been successful. But it is not very difficult for living beings to achieve that success. Because we have got information in the Bhāgavata that in the Siddhaloka the inhabitants there, with this very body, they go from one planet to another without any instrument, without any sputnik, without any aeroplane, or without anything. (laughter) Yes. We have got this information. They take pleasure in the sky. Just like sometimes we stroll in open field, similarly, they take pleasure by in the sky traveling. You see? So that is possible. But still, they are mortal. They are mortal. They have got this material body. Now, when you get spiritual body, how much freedom you'll have. How much freedom you'll have.
So when we speak, as Kṛṣṇa is saying, that imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1), that means this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken long, long before. It is not that Arjuna is the first man who heard Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa said that "This yoga system I spoke to Vivasvān, sun-god." And vivasvān manave prāha. "And the sun-god explained this science to his son, Manu." Manu is the forefather of the mankind. In Sanskrit, from Manu, it has come manuṣya or mānava. Mānava-jāti, in Sanskrit. So Manu from "man." And similarly, in English also, from Manu the mankind or the man. The original word is Manu. Here it is said that vivasvān manave prāha. Formerly, there were transportation service from one planet to another. That transportation service is still existing, but not with this planet. But higher planetary system there is transportation service from one planet to another by different kinds of airplanes. And in the Siddhaloka... There is another planet, which is called Siddhaloka. In the Siddhaloka the living entities or human beings are so advanced in yogic practice that they can travel with this body from one planet to another. This description are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto. And in this planet also there are many yogis even still existing, they can travel in this planet very swiftly by yogic power. There are many yogis who daily take bath in four places: in Prayāga, in Rāmeśvaram, in Jagannātha Purī, and in Hardwar. Still there are some yogis in India. So they can transfer themselves, transport themselves, from one place to another very quickly. So there was no difficulty in communicating with Manu or Manu's son, Ikṣvāku. The communication was there, or the radio system was so nice that communication could be transferred from one planet to another.
It may be I was a dog or cat or man or bird. That doesn't matter. But as living entity, I am eternal. I had my another body. Similarly, we, we are preparing another body in this life. Just like, under the preparation of my previous life, I have got this body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). We get our body according to our karma, according to your karma. If we do sāttvika-karma... Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ: (BG 14.18) "Those who are in the modes of goodness, they are promoted to higher status of life or higher planet, like that." And madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ: "Those who are in the modes of passion, they remain here in this Bhūrloka." And adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ: "Those who are engrossed with the modes of ignorance, they may be degraded from this planet to another, degraded planet, or another life, or animal life. This is the process, going on. And we forget.
So my point is that the living entity has got the tendency to move freely, to move freely. There are living entities in other, higher planets which is called Siddhaloka. We get this information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the Siddhaloka planet there are also living entities or human being like us. But they are so powerful that, without any help of airplane or without any help of sputnik, they can travel from one planet to another. We have got this information. So our... When we are free from this material bondage, we have no information how much powerful we are. We are satisfied here by manufacturing something, sputnik, that we are very much satisfied that we have advanced so much in material science without knowing that without any help of this sputnik and aeroplane, I can travel all planets. That potency I have got.
So how the animals can be interested in Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). "Out of many thousands of people." Just like we have started this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in the Western countries for the last five years, but how many people have come to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Not very many. We have got about three thousand followers. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that it is not attractive for everyone. But if one is attracted, his life is successful. His life is successful. Lord Caitanya also said the same thing. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. There are many, innumerable living entities. They are wandering within this universe in different forms of body and different planets, transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa, kona... Out of them, if one is fortunate enough to associate with a bona fide spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, his life is becomes successful.
So God, Kṛṣṇa, indicates the Supersoul who is situated within your heart. You desire something and He immediately orders the material nature that "You give him such and such body." Yantra. The body is yantra, machine. This body is a machine. So yantrārūḍhāni. He is seated in one kind of machine and he goes from one place to another, from one planet to another, from one life to another. This is going on. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). This business is going on. If we want to stop this business, we have got this opportunity, human form of life. We can understand things if we have got little intelligence. And everything is being explained by Kṛṣṇa. If we take Kṛṣṇa's instruction and mold our life accordingly—that is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—then our life becomes successful. And after giving up this body, we are no more going to accept any material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). We get a suitable body in which we can go back to home, back to Godhead. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25).
So jñāna, knowledge, means distinguishing between spirit and matter. And this knowledge should be cultivated and taken full advantage in this life. That is successful life. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Now, a living entity, a spiritual spark, is wandering, wandering from, not only from one country to another country or from one body to another, but one planet to another. The qualification of a living entity is called sarva-ga. Sarva-ga. Sarva means all, and ga means one can go. You can go anywhere.
Just like you have the facility of traveling over the surface of the world or in the outer space on the earth. But you cannot go beyond the orbit. This is called conditioned life. In conditioned life we are limited in our traveling. But in spiritual life you can travel anywhere. The best example is Nārada Muni. He can travel anywhere he likes. Even in this universe we have got a planet which is called Siddhaloka, a planet of the perfect. Not perfect completely, but they are called siddha. Siddha means almost perfect. The inhabitants of that planet, they can travel without any aid of a sputnik or aeroplane from one planet to another. We get this information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. So in spiritual life we have got complete freedom to move, to act, to enjoy. So that spiritual knowledge should be cultivated. That is the best utilization of this human form of life.
And another facility is that because sometimes we cannot understand what is actually Bhagavad-gītā's purpose. It is very plain. Still, as we are very much unfortunate, we cannot understand. That misfortune can be avoided by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. It will cleanse the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). We are suffering for misunderstanding—misunderstanding that "I am this body, I belong to this nation, I belong to this family, I belong to this, that, so many things." All misunderstanding, all misunderstanding. My real identity is ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am spirit soul. Fortunately or unfortunately, by my own work, I have been put into the encagement of this body, temporary body, and I am creating another body. In this way I am traveling from one body to another, from one planet to another, from one place to another. This is going on." Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). "I am taking my birth and again I am becoming annihilated, although I am eternal."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So these informations are there in the Vedic literatures. And it is a fact that we are transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. That is a fact. Just like I have come to your country, similarly I may go to another planet. It is the question of how to go there, what is the means. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Just like an animal or a man, while he is living, he can float in the air or in the water. That everyone has seen. But if the man is dead, it will not float. It will fall down. Is it not a fact? So why it is floating? Because a very small particle of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual potency is there. That is living entity. Big, big... An elephant, he can also float in the water, and the horses, elephant, and what to speak of man? This is practical. Because a small particle of the Supreme is there within this body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Very small particle. How much small? One ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, so small. It has got so power that it can hold the whole body floating in the air. Air... There are very, very big, big birds. They are floating in the air, very, very big eagle. They fly from one planet to another. Their resting place is... They start from one planet, and they go and rest in other planet. And they lay their eggs while flying. That eggs also become a bird simply by air cohesion. That's all.
Just like a dog, when it serves a nice master, he's happy. Otherwise, it is street dog. Nobody cares for it. Street dog. A street dog has no position. Sometimes they are killed. Similarly, when we live under the full protection of the Supreme Lord, that is our healthy condition, that is our real life. And as soon as we give up this position to be subordinate, to be predominated by the Supreme Lord, then we are bewildered. We are thrown into this, under the control of this material nature, and according to our work we get different bodies. There are 8,400,000 forms of bodies and we get one body after another. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). This is called ever conditioned. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). In this way, we are wandering from one species of life to another, one planet to another. In this way the brahmāṇḍa, this universe is very very big and there is immense opportunity. You become sometimes demigod, sometimes dog, sometimes cat, sometimes tree. In this way, we are wandering.
People do not know what is bhava-sāgara. They do not know even. But in Vedic literature, this is the first instruction, how to get out of this bhava-sindhu, bhava-sāgara, material ocean. The whole universe is also a ocean. And all these planets, they are called dvīpa. Just like this planet is called Jambudvīpa, Bhāratavarṣa. Actually it is like dvīpa. Nowadays, those who are flying in the sky, they're going from one island to another island, one planet to another planet. So when that is called dvīpa, there must be relative term, the ocean, or the sea. So whole, this universe, this planets, they are called dvīpa. Therefore they are floating in the ocean of air. Just like you have got experience. You have got experience of this also, ocean of water. And above water, there is air, ocean of air. Then there is sky. So bhava-sāgarasya. The whole universe is bhava-sāgara. Sāgara means ocean, or sea. And bhava means repetition of birth and death. Bhava. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). In the Bhagavad-gītā, once we take birth, we remain here for some time, then we give up this body; we accept another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13).
Those who know Sanskrit, this nityaḥ means singular number person, and the nityānām, that is plural number. Both of them are persons, both of them are living entities, but why that singular number is considered to the supreme? Because He supplies foodstuff to all the plural. So actually Kṛṣṇa has everything ready for supplying to all the living entities. Nobody is meant for starving. No. That is not. Just like in the prison house, although the prisoners they are condemned, still government takes care of their food, of their hospitalization, not that they should starve. No. Similarly, although in this material world we are all condemned, we are prisoners, prisoners. We cannot move, we cannot go from one planet to another. They are trying so much. Now they have failed. They do not talk now. (laughter) It is not possible, because we are prisoners. Conditioned. You will have to remain in this planet. One has to remain in their planet. There is no question that out of your own will and freedom, because you have no freedom.
Nārada Muni is going from one planet to another. He is coming from the spiritual sky through the material sky, because he is perfect bhakta. So that is the ideal living entity. As Kṛṣṇa has got full freedom, similarly when we become perfect, Kṛṣṇa conscious, we also become free. This is our position. But not in the conditioned state that we can move. Cannot. Baddha. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān, we are conditioned. But in the conditioned state also, if we follow the Vedic principles we can be happy. Happy, and this human form of life especially, it is meant for that purpose, that you live happily, save time for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that next life you are no more in this material world. You are transferred to the spiritual world. This is the purpose of human life.
So anyway, qualitatively, we are one with God. Therefore our business is how to again unite with God qualitatively. That is the highest perfection of human life. And this chance of realization, how we can unite again with God or Kṛṣṇa, is given only in the human form of life. We are wandering in so many species of life, transmigration of the soul. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just we change our dress, similarly we are changing our body every moment, and finally we are changing to other body. Not only we are changing or transmigrating from one body to another, but we are transmigrating from one planet to another. These things are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
The yogi, he wants to be very popular by showing magic. Because general people, they cannot walk on the water. But if somebody can walk on the water, oh, millions of people immediately go to the Pacific Ocean to see. So therefore they want siddhi. Actually, there are yogis in Siddhaloka, without any flying machine, they can go from one planet to another. Durvāsā Muni, he went. Within a year, he came back. He went to Vaikuṇṭha planet. Yogi, great yogi. He saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face, but he was not excused. He went to beg pardon so that he may be saved from the sudarśana-cakra. So he went to Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, and all big, big demigods: "Please save me. The sudarśana-cakra is after me." So everyone said, "We are unable to do anything. You can go to Lord Viṣṇu." So he went to Lord Viṣṇu, he saw Him, he talked with Him. And Lord Viṣṇu also said that "I cannot do anything. You must go to Ambarīṣa Mahārāja and fall down on his feet and beg his pardon. Then you can be saved." So this is the position.
The yogis, those who are actually yogi, they get aṣṭāṅga-siddhi, not these cheap yogis, gymnastic. No. The āsana, gymnastic, that is all right. That is the process only to go to the yogic platform. But when one is actually on the yogic platform, he gets siddhis. Siddhis means perfection: aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti, īśitā, vaśitā, like that. He can become smaller than the smallest. That is aṇimā-siddhi. Some of the yogis, they can... You keep him within the room, locked up, and he'll come out. Because as soon as there is little let out, he'll come out. That is called aṇimā-siddhi. Laghimā-siddhi. You can walk... By achieving this la..., you can walk on the water. You become... You can fly in the air. You can go from one planet to another by flying. You can go to the moon planet or sun planet by capturing the beams. That is called mahimā-siddhi. There are so many siddhis. You can create even one universe. Not this magic, little gold, but you can create not universe, one planet. These are said. But a devotee is not anxious to do these things, this jugglery and magic. He wants the one juggler, Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Because he know that "If I gain Kṛṣṇa, I can achieve the favor of Kṛṣṇa, then all juggleries and magic are under my control. He will do that. Why shall I use?"
You do not know how long you are taking this business, accepting one body and again dying, again accepting, and... Not only here, throughout the whole universe, many planets, many species of life, this is going on.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,
- ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
- guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
- (CC Madhya 19.151)
In this way we are wandering one life after another, one planet to another, in this way, millions, millions of years. We don't care for it because we are not afraid. We are so proud and, I mean to say, brave that tīvraṁ bhayam, we don't care for it. Tīvraṁ bhayam. That is tīvram. Just like after a few years I will enter again the tīvraṁ bhayam, but we are careless. This is foolishness. This is a fool's... "Where angels dare not, fools rush in."
So there is a planet which is called Siddhaloka. In that Siddhaloka, the inhabitants are by nature siddhas. They can fly in the sky. From one planet to another planet they can go. There is siddhi, there is laghimā-siddhi, to become lighter than the air. So they can fly in the air without any burden. These are Siddhaloka. So even these Siddhalokas, the inhabitants who are by nature born perfect in yoga-siddhis, they also could not enter into the Vaikuṇṭhaloka. And karmīs, they go up to the heavenly planet. And jñānīs, they may go up to Brahman effulgence. Paraṁ padam. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). Āruhya kṛcch... They elevate themself very high, so much so that they enter the spiritual world, paraṁ padam. Paraṁ padam, the spiritual world. Really paraṁ padam means the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. But paraṁ padam, because this Brahman effulgence is also bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, the Brahman effulgence is also called sometimes paraṁ padam. But those who are aspiring to merge into that paraṁ padam, Brahman, they are actually not vimukta, vimukta-māninaḥ. They are thinking, "Now we have become liberated." Māninaḥ. Māninaḥ means the position is different, but he is thinking that "I have become now perfect."
Because spiritual perfection means to stop the transmigration of the soul from one body to another. That is real spiritual perfection. Stopping. Stopping the soul, the spirit soul, transmigrating. This process is going on. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Lord Caitanya says that each and every spirit soul is just wandering throughout the whole universe from one planet to another, one body to another. This business is going on. But the basic principle of that continued transmigration is sex life or sense gratification. Anyway, as long we have got a pinch of sense gratification we have to take birth in any form or any shape within this material world. That is the whole process. Therefore if we are at all interested... And that interest must be there in human life; otherwise it is spoiling. That is the problem, that no more transmigration from one body to another. That problem can be solved in this human form of life. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva advises His sons, "My dear sons, to work very, very hard simply for sense gratification is not the business of human form of life." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke.
Just like Durvāsā Muni. Durvāsā Muni traveled within this universe and beyond this universe within one year. That statement is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There was a misunderstanding between him and a devotee, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. So for that reason he had to travel. He was attacked, and out of the fear of his life he had to travel to go from one planet to another, one planet to another to save his life. Ultimately, he had to go to the Viṣṇu planet. He was so powerful. And it is said that this space travel covered by Durvāsā Muni took only one year. So yoga practice is so... That is also a kind of freedom. We do not know what is freedom. Liberation, I am speaking on the point of liberation. But he was also not liberated, that Durvāsā Muni, although he could travel from one planet to another, another, another, even up to Viṣṇuloka. He was not liberated. He had to come back. Liberation means that you go to the spiritual realm, the spiritual sky, and you do not come back again. It is not like that, that after spending many millions of dollars you go to the moon planet and touch it and bring some sand, and you are satisfied. You see? Don't waste in that. If you go, live there. (laughter) Just like I came to the Western country to preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, now I am living. I am not after taking some money and bluffing and go away. No. I am standing here. I am facing, "Come on," any philosopher, any scientist, any religion, "Come on and see the beauty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
And how to enhance that love of Godhead? That is our activities: to rise early in the morning, to offer maṅgala-ārātrika, to dress the Deity, to offer Him nice foodstuff, to observe festivals, writing books, distributing them. These are activities in devotional service that will save us from this repetition of birth and death. Otherwise we are doomed. We have to continue this repetition of birth and death. Avidyayā eva manuṣyadan.(?) This is avidyā. By avidyā, by misunderstanding, without knowledge, being in ignorance, manuṣya, sometimes we are human being, sometimes cat, sometimes dog, sometimes demigod. This is going on. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona: (CC Madhya 19.151) "We are wandering throughout the whole universe, from one body to another, one planet to another, but somehow or other, if we are fortunate..." This fortune is made in this way. "Man is the architect of his own fortune." If somebody comes to our contact, if he tries to understand what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is fortunate. He is fortunate. Because he'll be saved from the repetition of birth and death.
One can become smaller than the smallest. That is called aṇimā. One can become bigger than the biggest, just like Hanumānji. He jumped over the sea. Jumped over sea... This is mahimā-siddhi. One can become as big as required. Just like there is water. A grown-up man can cross water by jumping, but a small child cannot do. So proportionately, if you increase your body by the mahimā-siddhi, you can jump over the sea. That is possible. So these are called siddhas. We have got description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the Siddhaloka. There the people can go from one planet to another in this body. That is called siddhi. Here we are trying to go to other planet with the machine, and still, we are failure. But in the Siddhaloka they can go very easily from one planet to another with this body. They are siddhas.
So there are so many birds, eagle birds, they fly, and they go from one planet to another. They are resting... Just like a bird you see, they fly from one tree to another tree. So their resting place is one planet to another. Just see. You are trying to go to the moon planet bogusly. I'll say bogusly because you could not go there. The moon planet is far away from the sun planet. So it is not possible to go there by the so-called jets plane. No. It is far, far away. It is sixteen hundred thousand miles away from the sun. The modern scientist calculation is ninety-three million miles, the sun is situated, and above that, sixteen hundred thousand miles up, there is moon planet. So by the Vedic calculation it is not possible to go there by the method we are attempting. That is not possible. And the proof is that why, if they are going to the moon planet, why they cannot stay there? Now, the argument is that "There is no vegetation. The atmosphere is different, where living being cannot stay." They say like that. But from the Vedic information we understand that moon planet influence the vegetation in all other planets. So if the moon planet helps vegetation in all other planets, how it is that there is no vegetation? So there are many thing, contradiction, and practically we see, they are going to the moon planet, but they cannot stay, uselessly going and coming. So let them do that, but we have got our other inform..., other sources of information, that we cannot go to the moon planet. It is not possible.
They saw that they were not ordinary men. With four hands. Because within this universe, four hands, only Lord Brahmā has got four hands. Nobody has got four hands. But they were four-handed. So they understood that "They are not ordinary living entities. They must be some extraordinary demigods or some upadevatā, almost like demigods." Siddha-sattamāḥ: "Or you are coming from the Siddhaloka." There is a planet which is called Siddhaloka within this universe. In the Siddhaloka they have got full perfection of life. And sometimes the yogis can demonstrate. In the Siddhaloka, for going from one planet to another planet there is no need of vehicles, no need of aeroplane. They can fly themselves in the sky. Sometimes we have seen pictures—a beautiful man and woman with wings. That is, of course, imagination. Maybe. We have not seen the inhabitants of the Siddhaloka, but we find it from Vedic scriptures that they can fly in the sky without any help of aeroplane or similar machine. They travel from one planet to another by yoga-siddhi. As the yogis can transfer themselves from one place to another without any difficulty, similarly, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka, they can fly in the sky.
So siddha-sattamāḥ. Siddhas... Here we have to practice to become siddha, perfect, but there, in the Siddhaloka, they are so perfect that they can go from one planet to another. The yogis can go, but they are born yogis. One planet... This is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have seen in this Second Canto. There is Siddhaloka. So many planets are there, so many opulences are there, that it cannot be compared. And there is description. So one planet to another, or one planet to the Sumeru hills, there is long, millions of miles, made of gold. They are gold. Similarly copper. Similarly, there are different oceans. Now, we may not believe, but there is no question of believing. You cannot say, "There is no such thing." But we can say because we get the information from the śāstra. You have no evidence, so you cannot say "No." You can say "Maybe," but we don't say "Maybe." There is because we get the information from the śāstra.
So what is the difference between going to the heavenly planet and going to Kṛṣṇa? The difference is ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino 'rjuna: "My dear Arjuna, if you go even to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, you will again fall down." Then? Mad-gatvā na nivartante: "If you come to Me, you will have not..." So why not select this, that "I have to work for the next life. Why not devote this life for Kṛṣṇa? I shall go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa"? This is intelligence. I am suffering so many lives, accepting this fish life or the tree life, the plant life, the moth life, the insect life, the serpent life, the bird's life. And not only bird's life—there are so many varieties of birds, beginning from the eagle. There is a big eagle bird. We have no information. They are very big bird. They are flying in the sky, and their rest is from one planet to another. Just like here you find the birds, they are flying from one tree to another. Similarly, there are so big birds... They are called garuḍa. So garuḍa, these birds, they start their flying from one planet and sits in another planet. Just try to understand what is their flying. Not only that, they also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating. So this is God's creation.
Devotee: (indistinct) Manu was on this planet. Now he's not?
Prabhupāda: Yes, Manu... Manu's son, Ikṣvāku, was in this planet, but Manu may be in another planet. Just like Manu's father, the sun, sun-god, Vivasvān, he is in the other planet. Similarly, the population of every planet has increased from one planet to another, like that. So manu's son, Ikṣvāku, he happened to be in this planet.
Devotee: You said Prahlāda Mahārāja, he heard Nārada Muni speaking in the womb. (indistinct) hear you speaking?
Prabhupāda: Certainly.
If you are put into the mother dog, then you develop the body of a dog. And if you are put in the mother god, then you develop the body of a god. This the process. Daive, uh, daiva-netreṇa. That carrying out, from this body to another body, that is not in your hands. That is not scientific, scientist's hand or experimental, I say, philosopher's hand. It is completely under the hand of the material nature. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says that daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). The material nature is so powerful that your so-called fighting against the material nature is simply waste of time. You cannot. You cannot, by material science, transfer yourself from this planet to another planet or according to your desire. No. That will be managed by laws of nature, material nature. So you are transferred. You are transferred to a certain body, and you develop a similar body, and then you come out and enjoy. Because you wanted to enjoy certain type of things, so unless you have got certain type of body... Just like the hog: it wanted to eat certain types of nonsense, so therefore it has been given the body so that it can very pleasantly eat stools. You see? Without that hog's body, nobody can eat stool.
Just like bird can fly in the air without any machine, so the denizens of Siddhaloka, they can also fly in the air without any machine, without any airplane, and they can go from one planet to another. They are called Siddha. Siddha means they have got eight kinds of perfection. The yoga system, those who are practicing yoga, their ultimate goal is to achieve eight kinds of perfection, not that simply exercising, finish. Actual yoga system means to attain eight kinds of perfection. What is that eight kinds of perfection? Oh, he can become the smaller than the smallest. I have several times explained. A perfect yogi, if you put him in lock-up, he will come out. He will become the smaller than the smallest and come out from the lock-up. I have seen it. So he can become greater than the greatest, smaller than the smallest, greater... Aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti. He can get anything whatever he likes immediately. Prāpti, siddhi, prākāmya, īśīta, maśīta.
This is our contemplation. There is a Siddhaloka. We shall show how this planet works, Siddhaloka. From the Siddhaloka the persons who came there, they are called siddhya, siddhya. And in the, on the heavenly planet they are called demigods, devatā. Similarly, Siddhaloka... The description of the Siddhaloka is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Those who have read, they know. The Siddhaloka person, they can go from one planet to another without any machine, aeroplane, Siddhaloka. They can go from one planet to another. This is described. They don't require any machines. Still, like the yogis, those who are perfect yogis, they can go from one place to another without any vehicle. There are many yogis still existing. They take bathing in four dhāmas. In Hardwar, in Jagannātha Purī, in Rāmeśvaram and similarly... Yogis can do that. Yogis, they attain asta-siddhi, eight kinds of perfection: animā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti, like that, īśitā, vaśitā, like that. So the Siddhaloka means they are born siddhas.
Just like a crazy boy forgets his father and mother and home, goes away. But the relationship between the son and the parents cannot be lost. As soon as the son comes back, the parents receives him very nicely. Similarly, we are all sons of the Supreme Lord. We have forgotten our father, we have forgotten our relationship, and we are loitering in this material world as helpless, and if we revive our consciousness, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that "My home is in the spiritual world. I am a foreigner in this material world..." Just like a foreigner is traveling from one place to another, similarly, I am also changing my body from one body to another, one planet to another. But there is no permanent settlement anywhere in this material world. This is our condition.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
As soon as your assets of pious activities is finished, then you come back again. Instead of going back to home, you come back again on this Earth. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Going back. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: ei rūpe brahmāṇḍo bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva. In this way, we are wandering from one life to another, one planet to another. If one is fortunate, he gets the clue of devotional service and makes his life perfect and goes back to home, back to... Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). "One who goes to My abode, he never comes back." This is the perfection.
Festival Lectures
So these bodies means we have manufactured according to our different mentality. Kṛṣṇa says that "You stop all this business. Simply you are migrating or transmigrating from one body to another or one planet to another. That will not make you happy. Sarva-dharmān. "You just surrender unto Me. Because you are meant, your original creation is meant, for serving Me." Just like this body. When this body was made in the womb of my mother, it was just like a small pea, and from that pea, different holes came out, then hand came out, leg came out, the fingers came out. Why this finger was created? Because I require the service of the fingers. Suppose if I want to press something, if there was no nail, then I cannot press. It is so nicely manufactured. By my energy, by my desire, and nature supplying me ingredient, it is manufactured. So you are manufacturing different bodies, but our real sense is covered. So that transcendental sense can be discovered when we give up this material sense gratificatory process by creating different kinds of bodies.
Initiation Lectures
The living entities, they are transmigrating from one form of life to another and wandering from one planet to another, sometimes low-grade life, sometimes high-grade life. This is going on. This is called saṁsāra-cakra-vartmani. Last night we were explaining, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. This very word is used, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Very difficult ways of life, to die. Everyone is afraid of dying because after death nobody knows what is going to happen. Those who are foolish, they are animals. Just like animals are being slaughtered, the other animal is thinking that "I am safe." So any person with little intelligence will never like to die and accept another body. And we do not know what kind of body we are going to get. So this initiation by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa, do not take it very leniently. Take it very seriously. It is a great opportunity. Bīja means seed, seed of bhakti.
General Lectures
There are millions and trillions of planets before us—the sun planet, the moon planet, the Venus, the Mars. Sometimes we wish, "How I could go there." But because I am conditioned, I'm not independent, I cannot go. But originally, because you are spirit soul, originally you were free to move any way. Just like Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni moves everywhere; any planet he likes he can go. Still, there is one planet within this universe which is called Siddhaloka. That Siddhaloka, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka, they can fly from one planet to another without any airplane. Even yogis, yogis, haṭha-yogīs, those who have practiced, they can also go from anywhere to anyplace. The yogis, they sit down in one place and immediately transferred in another place. They take a dip in some river nearby here and they can get up in some river in India. They dip here and they rise there. These are yogic powers.
The living entities, they are wandering throughout the universe, changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another, one place to another, one planet to another, but they are rotating within this universe, material universe, brahmāṇḍo bhramite. This science is unknown to the modern education department, how the spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another and how he's being transferred from one planet to another. We have got our book, Easy Journey to Other Planets. So guru can help you to transmigrate from this planet directly to the spiritual sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets. They are known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka. And the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, that is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is Kṛṣṇa's planet. By Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are trying to give information how one can be transferred directly to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. That is our mission.
You have been given the chance of this human form of body to make your choice. You are completely under the control of material nature, but the material nature gives you a chance to get this human form of body. Whatever you like, you can do. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- yānti deva-vratā devān
- pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
- bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
- mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām
- (BG 9.25)
The purport is that those who are going, trying to be elevated to the higher planetary system, which is called Devaloka, or the planets of the demigods... There the standard of living, duration of life, is very, very large. Or if you want to be transferred to the Pitṛlokas, or in the lokas of the ghosts, bhūtejyā, or if you want to be transferred to the loka where Kṛṣṇa lives—mad-yājino 'pi mām—now it depends on your practice. But the rotating, wandering within this material world from one body to another or from one planet to another, that is not advised. That is called saṁsāra. Saṁsāra means material existence. That is called saṁsāra. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). You take your birth once in some form of body. You live for some time. Then you have to give up this body. Then you have to accept another body. Then again live for some time. Then give up that body. Again accept another body. In this way, it is going on. That is called saṁsāra, rotating within this material world.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Superconscious beings, there are already existing, just like in Siddhaloka and Gandharvaloka. There are many planets.
Śyāmasundara: This earth planet will become like that.
Prabhupāda: No. We don't get such information. Why they are so much anxious about the earth planet? There are many millions of planets. So super human being there... Just like we learn from the śāstras, in the Siddhaloka they can fly from one planet to another. Not only that, all the yogic siddhis, they are, naturally they have got. Just like we are trying to fly in the sky, that is not natural, but a small bird, he can fly. It is God's creation. So similarly, there are many human beings in the Siddhaloka. They, without any airplane, without any..., they can fly. They go from one planet to another. Not that this, from this planet they have developed. They are already existing.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That's all. The finger, so long it is serving my body like this, like this, it is in real condition, real, healthy condition. And if it is painful—it cannot serve—then it is not in healthy condition. So therefore any living entity who is not serving Kṛṣṇa, he is not in healthy condition. He is in māyā. Anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa's service, he is in māyā. That is, Kṛṣṇa says,
- mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
- jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
- manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
- prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
- (BG 15.7)
He is struggling hard within this material nature because he is not serving Kṛṣṇa. Therefore his punishment is to struggle hard in different species of life. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and he is transmigrating but becoming happy this way or that way, that way, that way. Just like you have come to America to become happy. Is it not? Otherwise why you left? Similarly, we are transmigrating from one country to another, one planet to another, one body to another, searching after happy, happiness. That is struggle for existence. So Kṛṣṇa says, "They are My part and parcel. Instead of serving Me, they are serving their mind and senses." Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). So long we serve our senses and mind we remain in this material world, prakṛti-sthāni. And as soon as we revive our real consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness—we serve Kṛṣṇa—that is liberation. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is the ultimate instruction. So instead of serving the senses, kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā, just like serving the country, serving the family, something, the wife, and serving the husband, serving the father—all the services are different phases of kāma. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ. So at the present moment we are serving our senses. When the sense service will be transferred to Kṛṣṇa, that is liberation. And this is bondage.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. So Dr. Radhakrishnan was a big rascal.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But I could not believe by that time. I said, "It cannot be possible."
Prabhupāda: No, it is possible. It is possible. If one has practiced yoga system, He can become light. To walk over the water means to become very light, like cotton swab. Then he can walk. He can fly also. In Siddha-lokas, the inhabitants there, they fly in the sky. From one planet to another planet they go by flying. There is Siddha-loka planet. Therefore they are called Siddha-loka, means they have all perfection of this yogic mystic power.
Hṛdayānanda: With all varieties.
Prabhupāda: Must be varieties. If in this inferior nature there are so many varieties, so how many superior varieties are there. That you can simply think of. That is acintya. Even in this material world, there are different planets. One planet is superior than the other planet. The inhabitants of one planet are far, far superior than other planets. Just like there is a planet which is called Siddhaloka. Here, in this planet, people practice mystic yoga for getting so much wonderful power. They are naturally... Here also we see. Just like if I want to fly I cannot. But another small bird, he'll fly. Is it not? I... If I have to live within the water, I have to make so much arrangement. But a small fish is in the big ocean; he's living there. Yes. So... But because one bird is flying in the sky without any machine, it does not mean that he has become superior to me. But comparatively I see it has got superior power. So these varieties are there. You cannot deny it. So similarly, as in this planet we are trying to get some mystic power by yoga practice, there, in other planets, it is automatically there. They do not require any machine from going one planet to another. They can simply, by will, they can go. Even in this yog... in these material planets, this planet also, there are yogis. They take early in the morning bath in four places, at Jagannātha Purī, at Rāmeśvaram and what is called, Haridvar?
Devotee: Benares.
Prabhupāda: At four dhāmas, and Dvārakā. Eh?
Rūpānuga: Third Canto. How the sunlight, you can tell time, that the atom is a subtle form of time, that you can tell time as light passes over the surface of an atom. And the experiment is that you look for atoms in a screen. When the sun comes through the screen, you can see in the sunlight hexatoms or six atoms with your naked eye. That experiment is given in Bhāgavatam. It is very wonderful. Vedic science. We should present that as the real actual science, real atomic science.
Prabhupāda: No, in Bhāgavatam there is regular calculation, what is the distance from one planet to another. Everything is there.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: The calculation is given.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Every planet is described, what is the constitution, what are the forms of the living entities there. Everything is there. Bhāgavata never says that "These, all the other planets are vacant. Only this planet is full of living entities." Bhāgavata is not so rascal. These rascals may say. Their theory is that "All other planets, they are vacant. Only this planet is filled with..." This rascal theory is not in the Bhāgavata. We see that there is living entity in the water. There is living entity within the sand. How you can say there is no living entity in other planets?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee: No. Nobody would.
Prabhupāda: So the Brahman realization is like that. Every living entity, he wants ānanda. Ānanda means just like we are walking together, talking together. This is ānanda. If I would have walked alone, it would have been no ānanda. I do not like. Nobody likes. So ānanda means there must be entourage. Therefore ānanda is with Kṛṣṇa. When we play with Kṛṣṇa, we dance with Kṛṣṇa, talk with Kṛṣṇa, serve Kṛṣṇa, take care of Kṛṣṇa, then there is ānanda. And simply to become one with the Brahman, then you will have to fall down again. Therefore jñāna-kāṇḍa is not perfect. And karma-kāṇḍa is, you can migrate from one body to another or one planet to another. You'll be brahmāṇḍa bhramite. You have to wander. And jñāna-kāṇḍa means you merge. That is also intolerable. Therefore unless you come to bhakti-kāṇḍa, there is no question of real life and bliss. That is the conclusion.
Prabhupāda: Siddha, there is a Siddha-loka. So they can fly from one planet to another without any machine, siddha-saṅgāḥ. Means the aṣṭa-siddhi yogas, they have got naturally.
Dr. Patel: All aṣṭa-siddhis, they have got.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are called siddha, Siddha-loka. Just like here if anyone wants to walk over the water, he requires to acquire so much mystic power. You see? Some of the yogis. But you will find one bird, skylark, one swan, he is very easily doing.
Dr. Patel: But jñāna, you say, bhakti or jñāna automatically comes up.
Prabhupāda: No, bhakti does not depend on jñāna, but jñāna depends on bhakti. Without bhakti, one cannot get liberation simply by jñāna. But if one develops bhakti, automatically he gets jñāna. Karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa, kevala viṣera bhāṇḍa. Viṣera bhāṇḍa, amṛta baliyā yebā khāya. If one mistakes that this is the pot of nectarean, ambrosia, then what is the result? Nānā yoni sadā phire: "He remains within the cycle of birth and death." Nānā yoni sadā phire, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare. And if he gets the body of a hog and dog, then he eats all the abominable things. Nānā yoni, tāra janma adhah-pāte yāya. So he condemns his human form of body in this way, spoils. So one should not be attached to karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). (break) The inhabitants there, they can go from one planet to another without any aeroplane. That is Siddhaloka.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Siddha-svarūpa: Rain birds.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Siddha-svarūpa: They like to stay near the clouds.
Prabhupāda: Above the clouds?
Siddha-svarūpa: Just below the clouds usually.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...Siddhaloka the residents, men, they also can fly. Siddhaloka. They can go from one planet to another by flying. (break) ...eating, they come down, these birds?
Siddha-svarūpa: Do they come down to eat?
Prabhupāda: For eating?
Siddha-svarūpa: I've never seen them on the ground. I think they might be eating something in the rain. There's actually particles in the rain. Isn't there?
Prabhupāda: There is a bird, cataka. They drink rain water.
Prabhupāda: Six months equal to one day. Such ten thousand years.
Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, another field of study that Werner Von Braun is considering is unidentified flying objects. Now, this previously was not acknowledged by scientists, but he recently stated that when they have sent rockets into outer space they filmed objects that there's no explanation for. They think that they're spaceships from other planets.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's... There is Siddhaloka—without any aeroplane they can go from one planet to another. They are so perfect.
Paramahaṁsa: So these, what they think are spaceships, perhaps are demigods?
Prabhupāda: Spaceships there are in every planet.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Harikeśa: Well, instead of taking airplanes here and there, you could just...
Prabhupāda: No, no. What is the difference? If by practicing severe yogic means you fly, the birds are also flying. They are flying without airplane. Does it mean that it has become very great? There are many birds, garuḍa bird. They can fly from one planet to another. Just like small birds—they fly from one tree to another, take rest again—so they fly from this planet to another. Take rest, again another. What is the value of your airplane? You cannot go to another planet. There are birds; they catch up elephants and take it away for eating. Does it mean he has become, it has become God? There are Siddhaloka planets where the people can go without any airplane from one planet to another, Siddhaloka. They have got all yogic siddhi automatically, by birth. Just like we cannot fly, but a small bird, a small fly, from the birth it can fly. There are so many. So similarly, by birth they have got all yogic siddhis. This is called Siddhaloka. There are different varieties of planets, different varieties of perfection. Just like here also, I cannot dive into the water. A small fish can dive. I cannot fly in the sky but a small sparrow, it can go from here, here, immediately. Does it mean he is very advanced in yogic power because he can fly? You are proposing that. Nothing is any big achievement. The big achievement is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is wanted. Not these things. These things.... You cannot do; I can do. I cannot do; he can do. What is the greatness?
Rāmeśvara: But they do not put a limit, 8,400,000. They think that it can keep going on increasing, increasing.
Prabhupāda: Then let it go on. That's all right. What is wrong?
Candanācārya: By their theory, though, a human being would be able to generate wings or a beak like a bird.
Prabhupāda: Yes, there are human beings who can fly in the sky. Siddhaloka, Siddhaloka. There is a planet called Siddhaloka. There the human beings from one planet to another go.
Hari-śauri: They have wings?
Prabhupāda: No wings.
Hari-śauri: They just made up different compositions of bones and then drew some outlines on them.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are imagination.
Hari-śauri: But you said in Hawaii though that there are some animals that are as big as skyscrapers?
Prabhupāda: Yes, these are birds. It is far from this earth though. They travel from one planet to another.
Rāmeśvara: So these bones that they have found of these gigantic animals, they were all living underneath the water.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, we may take the idea and utilize.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In our planetarium, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we want to actually show the different qualities of life on the different planetary systems also?
Prabhupāda: Yes, as far as possible. There is Siddhaloka, they can go from one planet to another without any machine, without any vehicle. Siddhaloka means, just like the yogis, they can go.
Rāmeśvara: Their body have..., they have wings?
Prabhupāda: No wings. We think only our ideas, that without wings nobody can fly.
Prabhupāda: No, aeroplanes. During wartime when they used to come to bombard they used to come in four, five together because the enemies, they used to shot down. So if one is shot down the other will be bombing.
Caraṇāravindam: You wrote in the Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that in outer space there are those giant birds like eagle. Very, very big. Giant size. Enormous.
Prabhupāda: They go from one planet to another.
Caraṇāravindam: It is like a big plane. Bigger than jet.
Prabhupāda: And while flying they lay down eggs. And the eggs, while falling down, they become birds. By the, what is called?
Hari-śauri: Friction?
Prabhupāda: No, no. When they, what it is called. Velocity of falling down, it becomes fomented, and then the birds come out. Just like parasites. No? Parachute?
Prabhupāda: So you do not know the outer space? Outer space? The space is there. Just this planet, sun planet, there is space between... You do not know this? Eh?
Guest (2): Do you mean to say there is no space between His planets?
Prabhupāda: I mean to say. Now you mean to say also. You do not know there is space difference between one planet to another?
Guest (2): Unless it is bounded by space.
Prabhupāda: So whatever it may be, there is difference. Just like you are existing. I am existing. There is space. So what is the difficulty?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Rāmeśvara: What did he say about Prabhupāda?
Satsvarūpa: There wasn't much in that way.
Prabhupāda: But they can measure the distance from one planet to another? Their astronomical measurement?
Satsvarūpa: No. Just by theory.
Prabhupāda: So how they can...?
Rāmeśvara: Read it out loud.
Satsvarūpa: He wants that you... He said, "The translator frequently adds comments containing information from other Vedic scriptures, for instance, ancient astronomical calculations referred to by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. It would be highly interesting to have a compilation of such astronomical texts translated into English. One can only hope that the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust endeavors to do this to the great benefit of the historians of science."
Prabhupāda: We shall do it. I am searching after some astronomer.
Rāmeśvara: There is also a review from one Indian professor, how this science...
Prabhupāda: Anyway, they have become interested in our literature.
Prabhupāda: How the cockroach can say "I am also as good as Garuḍa"?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is called insanity.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) So they want to say like that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Garuḍa eats timiṅgila fish as his diet.
Prabhupāda: No, he can eat. He flies from one planet to another. Just like one bird flies, he starts from one tree and takes rest another. The Garuḍa bird, they do that. They start from one planet and take rest in another planet. This is their flying. And while flying, they lay down eggs, and the eggs, while falling down, become birds. By the heat.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's very scientific. Because normally the bird has to sit on the egg for producing heat to hatch the egg.
Prabhupāda: The heat is produced by the, what is called, motion.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
The spirit soul is impossible to find out by materialistic scientific means, but if one will hear from the right authority, he may understand. The gentleman is disappointed that probably no one will ever know about spirit, but this is not true. We know what is spirit, how does it work, how does it transmigrate from one body to another or from one planet to another. We know these very scientifically, and we are firmly convinced about it. We can refute any dogmatic arguments against this conviction, and how do we do that? Simply because we start our understanding from the data of authoritative sources like Krishna or His representative. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna speaks about spirit soul from the very beginning. Unless one understands what is this spirit soul, his further advancement of the Supreme Spirit God has no value. So this gentleman is puzzled in his understanding about wherefrom we have come, what we are, and where we are going. But we are certain about it. So if he wants to know all these things, there is bona fide source for understanding these problems, providing he agrees to give a submissive aural reception to the respective authorities as much as he believes in the authoritative statements of Sir Isaac Newton. So either to accept the statements of Sir Isaac Newton or the statements of Lord Krishna, the beginning is a kind of faith. Unfortunately, these so-called scientific men can usually pin their faith on Sir Isaac Newton but not to the statements of Krishna or his representatives. So try to explain to him in this way.
1976 Correspondence
Now our Ph.D's must collaborate and study the 5th Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium. My final decision is that the universe is just like a tree, with root upwards. Just as a tree has branches and leaves so the universe is also composed of planets which are fixed up in the tree like the leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. of the tree. The pivot is the pole star, and the whole tree is rotating on this pivot. Mount Sumeru is the center, trunk, and is like a steep hill, like the alps mountains which also have very high peaks. I have seen in Switzerland one mountain peak which was so high that is penetrated through the clouds. The tree is turning and therefore, all the branches and leaves turn with the tree. The planets have their fixed orbits, but still they are turning with the turning of the great tree. There are pathways leading from one planet to another made of gold, copper, etc., and these are like the branches. Distances are also described in the 5th Canto just how far one planet is from another.
| Page Title: | From one planet to another |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 14 of Jul, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=25, CC=5, OB=6, Lec=42, Con=18, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 99 |