So yadā aśaraṇam ātmānam aikṣata. He was running on on the back of a horse, but when he saw that Arjuna is coming nearer, so he has no other alternative, protection. Then he thought of the brahmāstra. Brahmāstra is the last weapon. Just like it is similar to modern nuclear weapon, brahmāstra. As by releasing nuclear weapon there is radiation, similarly, we have got description that when Aśvatthāmā released his brahmāstra, there was a big radiation, people were feeling very terrible heat. And then Kṛṣṇa informed that "This heat is due to the Aśvatthāmā's release of brahmāstra," and Arjuna was advised counteract it. Now they do not know how to counteract this nuclear weapon. Formerly they knew. I throw one kind of weapon, and if you are expert, you can counteract it. Now they have discovered the nuclear weapon, but they have not yet discovered the counteraction.
Radiation
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Know from Me that this is the act of the son of Droṇa. He has thrown the hymns of nuclear energy (brahmāstra), and he does not know how to retract the glare. He has helplessly done this, being afraid of imminent death.
The brahmāstra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combustibility, and so the brahmāstra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmāstra is a subtle type of weapon produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone by such science was cultivated in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler. A chanter of hymns knew how to apply the weapon as well as how to retract it. That was perfect knowledge. But the son of Droṇācārya, who made use of this subtle science, did not know how to retract. He applied it, being afraid of his imminent death, and thus the practice was not only improper but also irreligious. As the son of a brāhmaṇa, he should not have made so many mistakes, and for such gross negligence of duty he was to be punished by the Lord Himself.
The heat created by the flash of a brahmāstra resembles the fire exhibited in the sun globe at the time of cosmic annihilation. The radiation of atomic energy is very insignificant in comparison to the heat produced by a brahmāstra. The atomic bomb explosion can at utmost blow up one globe, but the heat produced by the brahmāstra can destroy the whole cosmic situation. The comparison is therefore made to the heat at the time of annihilation.
The brahmāstra, the supreme weapon released by Aśvatthāmā, was something similar to the nuclear weapon but with more radiation and heat. This brahmāstra is the product of a more subtle science, being the product of a finer sound, a mantra recorded in the Vedas. Another advantage of this weapon is that it is not blind like the nuclear weapon because it can be directed only to the target and nothing else. Aśvatthāmā released the weapon just to finish all the male members of Pāṇḍu's family; therefore in one sense it was more dangerous than the atomic bombs because it could penetrate even the most protected place and would never miss the target. Knowing all this, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa at once took up His personal weapon to protect His devotees, who did not know anyone other than Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord has clearly promised that His devotees are never to be vanquished.
Thus saved from the radiation of the brahmāstra, Kuntī, the chaste devotee of the Lord, and her five sons and Draupadī addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa as He started for home.
Lord Kṛṣṇa's attraction is so powerful that once being attracted by Him one cannot tolerate separation from Him. Why is this so? Because we are all eternally related with Him as the sun rays are eternally related with the sun disc. The sun rays are molecular parts of the solar radiation. Thus the sun rays and the sun cannot be separated. The separation by the cloud is temporary and artificial, and as soon as the cloud is cleared, the sun rays again display their natural effulgence in the presence of the sun. Similarly, the living entities, who are molecular parts of the whole spirit, are separated from the Lord by the artificial covering of māyā, illusory energy. This illusory energy, or the curtain of māyā, has to be removed, and when it is so done, the living entity can see the Lord face to face, and all his miseries are at once removed. Every one of us wants to remove the miseries of life, but we do not know how to do it.
The Lord was thus engaged in vanquishing the radiation of the brahmāstra, just as the sun evaporates a drop of dew. He was observed by the child, who thought about who He was.
SB Canto 2
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the most beautiful person amongst all others, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes every part of His transcendental beauty, one after another, in order to teach the impersonalist that the Personality of Godhead is not an imagination by the devotee for facility of worship, but is the Supreme Person in fact and figure. The impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth is but His radiation, as the sun rays are but radiations from the sun.
The sun illuminates both internally and externally by expanding its radiation; similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by expanding His universal form, maintains everything in the creation both internally and externally.
The universal form of the Lord, or the impersonal feature of the Lord known as the brahma-jyotir, is clearly explained here and compared to the radiation of the sun. The sunshine may expand all over the universe, but the source of the sunshine, namely the sun planet or the deity known as Sūrya-nārāyaṇa, is the basis of such radiation. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa is the basis of the impersonal brahma-jyotir radiation, or the impersonal feature of the Lord. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27). So the universal form of the Lord is the secondary imagination of the impersonal form of the Lord, but the primary form of the Lord is Śyāmasundara, with two hands, playing on His eternal flute. Seventy-five percent of the expansive radiation of the Lord is manifested in the spiritual sky (tripād-vibhūti), and twenty-five percent of His personal radiation comprehends the entire expansion of the material universes. This is also explained and stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.42).
Thus the seventy-five percent expansion of His radiation is called His internal energy, whereas the twenty-five percent expansion is called the external energy of the Lord. The living entities, who are residents of the spiritual as well as the material expansions, are His marginal energy (taṭastha-śakti), and they are at liberty to live in either of the energies, external or internal. Those who live within the spiritual expansion of the Lord are called liberated souls, whereas the residents of the external expansion are called the conditioned souls. We can just make an estimate of the number of the residents of the internal expansions in comparison with the number of residents in the external energy and may easily conclude that the liberated souls are far more numerous than the conditioned souls.
SB Canto 5
In the midst of that region of outer space (antarikṣa) is the most opulent sun, the king of all the planets that emanate heat, such as the moon. By the influence of its radiation, the sun heats the universe and maintains its proper order. It also gives light to help all living entities see. While passing toward the north, toward the south or through the equator, in accordance with the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is said to move slowly, swiftly or moderately. According to its movements in rising above, going beneath or passing through the equator—and correspondingly coming in touch with various signs of the zodiac, headed by Makara (Capricorn)—days and nights are short, long or equal to one another.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings, viṣaya-viṣānale dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. Jwale means this dahyamānānām. Jwale means ablaze, fire. So this saṁsāra-viṣānale, it is not ordinary fire. Viṣāna: fire from poison. It is more infectious. Poisonous fire. Just like the atomic energy. There is heat, but what is that heat? It is called... Radiation and... So many things. So viṣānale. Saṁsāra-dāvānala. Saṁsāra-dāvānala is dāvānala, and at the same time that anala, the fire is coming out of poison. Saṁsāra-viṣānale dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. We are always anxiety, full of anxiety. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Even big, big Vaiṣṇava kings they also retired. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was always engaged in devotional service. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha (SB 9.4.18)—still, he retired. Still, he retired. After this incidence with Durvāsā, then he divided the property to his sons and he retired.
Unless you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you'll have to suffer. Therefore it is said dahyamānānām apavargo 'si: "You are the apavarga."
So Arjuna is surrendered soul. When he felt that temperature of brahmāstra or radiation of the atomic weapon, nuclear weapon... So devotee has no other... Kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā-bāho bhaktānām abhayaṅkara: "Our only shelter is Your lotus feet." Abhaya-caraṇāravinda re. Bhajahuṅ re mana śrī-nanda-nandana-abhaya-caraṇāravinda re. So if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, then abhayaṅkara, no more fear. No more fear. And so long you do not do it, then saṁsṛti. Therefore Arjuna says tvam eko dahyamānānām apavargo 'si abhayaṅkara.
So the heat increased. Radiation heat increased. One weapon was released by Aśvatthāmā, another by Arjuna to counteract, and the heat was so terrible that dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ, all the inhabitants of different planets, they felt the great heat produced by two brahmāstras. And sāṁvartakam amaṁsata. The sāṁvartaka fire is explained in the śāstra, that in the Kali-yuga... At the last there will be Kali-yuga. In the Kali-yuga there will be no rainfall. So everything will dry. Not this Kali-yuga, but at the end of the universal life there will be great fire all over the universe. That is called sāṁvartaka. And everything will be ablaze. This fire will take place on account of the heat increase of the sun. It is said that the present temperature of the sun will be increased twelve times, so naturally there will be fire.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: The scientists have found that we grow up out of a set of genes in the sperm of the male. They are called genes, tiny cells.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. Wherefrom the genes came?
Śyāmasundara: Well these can be altered by cosmic radiation. Supposing a cosmic ray hits the gene, it may change it slightly so that maybe it comes out with...
Prabhupāda: That is not the question. Suppose if you have got life, I can kill you with a knife. But the question is, "Wherefrom this life came?" I can change, merely with a knife, your life. That is not very important thing, changing. The thing is to find out the origin, wherefrom the genes came.
Śyāmasundara: But all that Darwin is interested in is in the evolution of species: how one type of body evolves to the other type due to the changing conditions, and that because he has evolved a certain body he is best adapted to survive in that condition so that his species survives. So the scientists have shown that by bombarding the cosmic radiation or radioactive elements, that a gene or cell can change, mutate, so a different kind of animal comes out. From one kind of mother a different kind of animal comes out.
Prabhupāda: But we say that different kind of animal is not beyond these 8,400,000 species.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually this is not completely different animal. Some of these properties...
Śyāmasundara: A variation.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Svarūpa Dāmodara: This idea Śrīla Prabhupāda, about the chemical evolution, this idea came from, I think, in 1920 by a Russian scientist. He is a biologist. His name is Oparin. So he demonstrated that before biological evolution the atmosphere of the earth should be, he called, very much reducing. Reducing, that means it must be mostly full of hydrogens, no oxygen, very little oxygen, but mostly hydrogen. Then in due course because of the reaction in these hydrogen compounds and the radiation from the sunlight, then these compounds form into different chemicals which are...
Prabhupāda: That is a side study. But there was hydrogen. Wherefrom the hydrogen came? The scientists, simply they study in the middle. But they do not know what is the origin. Just like here is one aeroplane is coming, and you can say, "All of a sudden a light came out of the sea." Is that the study of this aeroplane? If we... the foolish person will see, "All of a sudden, in the sea there was a light." Is that scientific study? So your study is like that. "There was this, and all of a sudden, by chance..." That's it. That is not scientific study. We have to find out the original cause.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Rāmeśvara: And the only idea they have for curing cancer is to cut out the diseased area from the body, remove that part of the body.
Devotee: Kill it with X-ray.
Rādhāvallabha: Yeah. They also try to bombard it with radiation, and that has its very bad effects. Their hair falls out. They get burns, sick.
Hṛdayānanda: Miserable condition.
Rādhāvallabha: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: Many modern sociologists, they are predicting that in twenty or thirty years the population will increase so much on this planet that the cities will be very, very crowded, and there will be many, many new problems: no room for so many cars and not enough food, not enough housing. They predict very, very.... And then the result will be rioting. So many people will not have enough food and good places to live that they will...
Prabhupāda: So why don't you go back to home, back to Godhead? (laughs) We are trying to save them. Why you are rotting in this problem? (out of car) That reporter?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now understanding these basic differences, to study the origin of life has some meaning. But scientists studying the origin of life, they have no idea about these fundamental differences. So they claim that life actually is a manifestation of matter. In other words, life comes from molecules. They call it "molecule to man" theory. That we will see in the next slide. Now in this slide the molecules is called primordial chemical soup. Now these chemicals are supposed to be formed from simple, reduced substances like water and ammonia and carbon and hydrogen compounds. They are called hydro-carbons. Now these somehow, under the action of ultra-violet radiation or cosmic force, they combine together and form these amino acids. Now these amino acids, in due course of time, form the polymers called proteins. And similarly, several polymeric compounds develop and, given a long period of time, we've shown there chance and given a long period of time, then it's going to bring life, it's going to give life. That is the fundamental background of the scientific study of origin of life. This is what they have proposed. These molecules, somehow they combine, given enough length of time, billions of years as the time period, and then it's bound to happen. They say, given enough length of time...
Prabhupāda: Provided he lives billions of years. But he's finished within fifty years. (laughter) And his theory remains. The rascal cannot remain more than fifty years, and he's talking of billions of years. This is the defect. Who will see after billions of years? He is finished within hundred years. These are theories only. We see practically. Egg appears like chemical combination, but if you give, proper fermentation will come, fermentation?
Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita: "I become the moon, and thereby supply the juice of life to all vegetables," and in another place "among the stars I am the moon." So, directly or indirectly, Krishna is supplying all benediction to everything and everyone, just like the moon gives life to vegetables, without which nothing can exist, and also that moon keeps the great oceans from overcoming the land and destroying everything. Similarly, Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement gives spiritual life to all living entities by dint of its transcendental radiation, and also it prevents the demonic class of men from overwhelming the pious class of men, and thus in every way it bestows all benediction, just like at night the moon illuminates everything.
| Page Title: | Radiation |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 24 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=11, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=3, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 21 |