Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think the moon is just reflecting light from the sun.
Prahupada: So why it is not reflecting to other planets, only to the moon? Why special advantage to the moon? They have no reason. All rascals' philosophy. Why particularly to the moon? Why not others? Simply theories and mental speculation. They have no scientific. And the śāstra definitely gives the distance of the moon from the sun planet-1,600,000 miles. Then similarly (sic:) 1,600 million up, the Mars, then Venus, then..., everything. And moon is specifically mentioned that "It is so brilliant because there is fire, blazing fire. And the blazing fire is so illuminating that even at night it looks white, bright." This is reasonable because... Not that it is being reflected by the sun. The sun can reflect other planets, but it is there, fire. Just like sun there is fire, similarly, moon there is fire. The sun is not covered by cool atmosphere, but the moon is covered by cool atmosphere. Therefore it is pleasing. When there is sunshine and breeze, it is very pleasing. And no sunshine, simply breezing—it is not pleasing. And only sunshine, there is no cool atmo... That is also painful. But sunshine and breezing is very pleasing. So there is, like sunshine, blazing fire and surrounded by cool atmosphere. Therefore the moon is so pleasing.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's a very reasonable argument, but how do we understand that the moon is 1,600,000 miles...
Prabhupāda: It is stated in the Bhāgavata.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Does that mean that it's farther away from the earth than the... Does that mean that the earth is farther from the moon than from the sun?
Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly. Sun is in the center of the universe, and other planets there are above the sun and lower the sun. Sun is in the middle of the universe.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So then the moon...
Prabhupāda: Everything is there. The whole, what is called, radius, no, diameter, from one point to another of the universe is given there. Pañcāśat-koṭi-yojana. Pañcāśat means fifty, and koṭi means ten million. So fifty into ten million. Huh? 500,000,000. Pañcāśat-koṭi. And eight.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Four billion.
Prabhupāda: Four billion miles, the area, this way and that way. So if the distance is so vast then one planet situated some millions of miles away, it is not extraordinary. The whole area is four billion.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. But it appears at least for... It appears that the moon is so close.
Prabhupāda: "It appears"—that is another thing. As soon as you say "appears," that means you have no knowledge.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But we say on the authenticity of the description in the Vedic literature. Therefore it is authentic. This proves that they did not go to the moon planet. If it is above, 1,600,000 above, then it is impossible. So this is bogus propaganda, they have gone to the moon.