Prabhupāda: There was topics of the different hellish conditions of life according to different sinful activities. There is description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, the different planetary systems of this universe, how each and every planet is different from the other by its atmosphere, by its inhabitants, dealings.
Just like modern scientists, they are finding difference between this planet and the moon planet. They say that there is no living entity. That is not fact. They . . . even though they have reached the moon planet, it is not a fact that there is no living entity. Accepting they reached the moon planet, they might have gone to the part where it is desert or barren land, because in each and every planet there is such possibility.
In our this planet also, when I was passing through the Suez Canal, it is horrible desert. So if somebody drops in that Arabian desert and concludes that there is no living entity in this planet, it is simply foolish. Similarly, these people are going . . . maybe going. First of all, I don't believe they have gone, frankly speaking. Even they have gone, they are landing in some part of the moon planet where there is no inhabitation.
But there are different kinds of planets. That we get from Vedic literatures. Vibhūti-bhinnam. Bhinnam means different, and vibhūti means opulence. Every planet has got special opulence. Just like the moon planet: it is shining. It has got a special opulence—it is shining. The sun planet is so hot and so brilliant. Similarly, each and every planet, either small or big, they have got a particular type of opulence. That is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā:
- yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam
- (Bs. 5.40)
Vibhūti-bhinnam. In this planet also, different places have got different opulence. Just like in India you will find throughout the whole year brilliant sunshine, and in the Western countries, in London, hellish—always moist, raining and cloudy. You cannot distinguish whether it is night or day. In our . . . now I was in London. When I was, I think, last year, in this time, December, the morning was at ten o'clock, and the evening was at three o'clock. So how many hours from ten to three?
Devotees: Five.
Prabhupāda: Five hours day. And nineteen hours night. So of course, I was rising, as usual, early in the morning. So I wanted to go out. So I couldn't go out before half-past nine to the Regent Park. And it was full of snow and ice, and it is very difficult to walk.
So just like in this planet there are different places of different conditions, so it is natural to accept it that different planets have got different atmosphere, different opulences, different kinds of population, living entities. Keśava tuyā jagat vicitra. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung that, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your creation is variegated." There are different types. Similarly, there are planets where hellish conditions perpetually continue. Just like you can compare the northern pole. It is a hellish condition within this earth. And similarly, there are planets, so, and they are suffering.