19870525 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.27

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on May 25th 1987 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2nd canto, chapter 1, text 27.

Jayapatākā Swami: (leads the reciting of the verse, synonyms and

translation with devotees repeat)

dve jānunī sutalaṁ viśva-mūrter
ūru-dvayaṁ vitalaṁ cātalaṁ ca
mahītalaṁ taj-jaghanaṁ mahīpate
nabhastalaṁ nābhi-saro gṛṇanti
[SB 2.1.27]

Synonyms:

dve — two; jānunī — two knees; sutalam — the planetary system named Sutala; viśva-mūrteḥ — of the universal form; ūru-dvayam — the two thighs; vitalam — the planetary system named Vitala; ca — also; atalam — the planets named Atala; ca — and; mahītalam — the planetary system named Mahītala; tat — of that; jaghanam — the hips; mahīpate — O King; nabhastalam — outer space; nābhi-saraḥ — the depression of the navel; gṛṇanti — they take it so.

Translation: The knees of the universal form are the planetary system of the name Sutala, and the two thighs are the Vitala and Atala planetary systems. The hips are Mahītala, and outer space is the depression of His navel.

*repetition*

uraḥ-sthalaṁ jyotir-anīkam asya
grīvā mahar vadanaṁ vai jano ’sya
tapo varāṭīṁ vidur ādi-puṁsaḥ
satyaṁ tu śīrṣāṇi sahasra-śīrṣṇaḥ
(ŚB 2.1.28)

Translation: The chest of the Original Personality of the gigantic form is the luminary planetary system, His neck is the Mahar planets, His mouth is the Janas planets, and His forehead is the Tapas planetary system. The topmost planetary system, known as Satyaloka, is the head of He who has one thousand heads.

Purport: The effulgent luminary planets like the sun and the moon are situated almost in the midplace of the universe, and as such they are to be known as the chest of the original gigantic form of the Lord. And above the luminary planets, called also the heavenly places of the universal directorate demigods, are the Mahar, Janas and Tapas planetary systems, and, above all, the Satyaloka planetary system, where the chief directors of the modes of material nature reside, namely Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. This Viṣṇu is known as the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and He acts as the Supersoul in every living being. There are innumerable universes floating on the Causal Ocean, and in each of them the representation of the virāṭ form of the Lord is there along with innumerable suns, moons, heavenly demigods, Brahmās, Viṣṇus and Śivas, all of them situated in one part of the inconceivable potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.42)

atha vā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat
(Bg. 10.42)

The Supreme Lord is represented throughout the entire material universes by His entering into all things as the Supersoul. The Lord here tells Arjuna that there is no point in understanding how things exist in their separate opulence and grandeur. He should know that all things are existing due to Kṛṣṇa’s entering them as Supersoul. From Brahmā, the most gigantic entity, on down to the smallest ant, all are existing because the Lord has entered each and everyone and is sustaining them.

Worship of demigods is discouraged herein because even the greatest demigods like Brahmā and Śiva only represent part of the opulence of the Supreme Lord. He is the origin of everyone born, and no one is greater than Him. He is samatā, which means that no one is superior to Him and that no one is equal to Him. In the Viṣṇu-mantra it is said that one who considers the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in the same category with demigods-be they even Brahmā or Śiva -becomes at once an atheist. If, however, one thoroughly studies the different descriptions of the opulences and expansions of Kṛṣṇa's energy, then one can understand without any doubt the position of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and can fix his mind in the worship of Kṛṣṇa without deviation. The Lord is all-pervading by the expansion of His partial representation, the Supersoul, who enters into everything that is. Pure devotees, therefore, concentrate their minds in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness in full devotional service; therefore they are always situated in the transcendental position. Devotional service and worship of Kṛṣṇa are very clearly indicated in this chapter in verses eight to eleven. That is the way of pure devotional service. How one can attain the highest devotional perfection of association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been thoroughly explained in this chapter.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Tenth Chapter of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā in the matter of the Opulence of the Absolute

Jayapatākā Swami: There is no need for Kṛṣṇa to explain all the details. Everything is going on by His presence. He is the underlying factor which is causing everything to work. If we know that in fact, then where’s the question of neglecting Kṛṣṇa or forgetting Kṛṣṇa. We forget Kṛṣṇa when we forget that He is entered into everything and everything is going on because of His personal presence. If He wants to, He can have anything happen. So here in this, in these verses where it describes the different planetary systems of the universe as being part of the Universal form. Universal form is only possible for the Lord to personally manifest. Here also that Kṛṣṇa has glorified that these planetary systems are higher planetary systems, can be worshiped, respected by Vaiṣṇava devotees, by those following the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness process. These different planets whether there is Mahar, Janas, Tapas or Satyaloka, actually there is a long life span, which people, which the residents of these different planets have. Even some of these residents can go from one planet to the next, some mystic process.

So here in this planet, there is obviously attempt to try to go to other planets, using mechanical means. But system they use, is they take with them the environment, the oxygen, the food, everything they take with them. They are not able to acclimatize to that other planet. When a yogi goes to another planet, he actually is able to take a residence there. In other words, who are on this planet, they are given like tourist visa, not green card on the other planet. They can only go and come back. They are completely taking their own environment with them. So in one sense, they are not really going to the other planet. They can’t stay there, they cannot integrate with what’s the actual living condition in that planet. They are only able to see the very external form of the planet. Just like they have claimed to have gone to the moon planet, but all they show is some few rocks and they are not able to perceive any life there. Because they are looking for life as we know it. Just like we breathe in oxygen, we breathe out carbon-dioxide, plants breathe in carbon-dioxide and breathe out oxygen. In this way we have a cycle on this planet. We think therefore that all lives must be sustained by this type of cycle - oxygen and carbon-dioxide. So they look in the universe where else is there oxygen and carbon-dioxide? Bus.... they don’t think there’s any other form of life except this two form. Recently it was published in, I saw in Back to Godhead, there was some scientific discovery made in the bottom of the sea ocean floor in one place there was a volcano, some kind of gas coming out - ammonia gas. This ammonia gas, if any normal human being or a fish is to just get in contact with that gas, they’ll die immediately, highly poisonous. Some.., recently there was some ice cream factory where the ammonia gas leaked out and people had to be evacuated, they were stre…, take off in the str.., taken off by stretcher, very highly poisonous this ammonia gas. But from the earth somehow this ammonia gas was coming out. So they found that these extreme temperatures at the bottom of the ocean, and amidst of that ammonia gas, there were certain life forms. As soon as they took him out of the ammonia gas, he died. But in the ammonia gas, they lived. They were breathing the ammonia gas and they were breathing out something else. Their whole life cycle was based on breathing ammonia gas. And these entities, don’t live anywhere else in the world, they are simply living there. So, taking that, you could understand that may be in some planet Venus, there is nitrogen and somewhere else something else. They can be breathing nitrogen, they can be breathing ammonia, they can breathe anything, whatever type of. They can also have different levels of dimension. Heavenly planets doesn’t mean that they live on the same physical dimension but they live on a higher subtler dimension whereby they can live for much longer. Because the physical body has a limit how long it can live. But the mental body or more subtle body made of finer elements can survive much longer. So there is.., it says that there is life in all the different planets. But the life, it is situated in different ways, not the stereotype way that we know here on this planet. So we think that well there’s no other life exactly the way we are situated, the way we are living. That is very foolish type of statement. Actually the vedas describe that there is life on every planet. We have heard that how Bhakti Siddhānta, he one time told something to someone as he was walking in a walk, he told his disciples looking up at the moon, “we have to go there and start some preaching”. He was saying that now moon planet has become very materialistic, very Kṛṣṇa bahirmukha. They’ve become very mundane in their consciousness, they are not worshiping Kṛṣṇa. There’s urgent need to go and preach there. All the devotees are… There are some devotees, they go anywhere in the universe that there is opportunity to preach. We think that oh someone’s travelling every few days by jet from this country to that country. That’s the thing what travelling is that? Rather you know, the great preachers, they move from planet to planet, from universe to universe, from galaxy to galaxy, going on preaching different planets. They don’t also require jet planes and so on. They can go on by their own spiritual potency. So there are these different planetary levels and on each level there is a type of standard of living.

Just as they have 5 star hotel, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, 1 star, no star, minus star (devotees laugh). Similarly the different planetary system is 14 planetary systems, 7 are plus and 7 are minus. Minus 7 star plus 7 star. You go minus 7 star that means you suffer like anything, you see. Even 1 or 2 star is tolerable,0 star, but minus star, you have to suffer too much. Just like sometime you go in the some…, third world they call it a 3 star hotel, you go there, it’s better to sleep on the street. I went in Iran and I was almost machine gunned down by the revolutionary guards there. Trying to get into the temple at 1 0’ clock in the morning, the taxi cab driver said “get down get down”, I looked and all of a sudden they came by with machine gun towards the taxi. So he said this is very dangerous, better come here in the morning. So I went to a some hotel that was supposed to be like a 3 star or something like that. It was so horrible in a … , chair against the door, put a, put my own chadar on top of the bed and went to lie on it. It was so horrible, it is actually, just I was a question, there was nowhere else to go. So like this, each planetary system, they have their own relative standard. Some other standard, they may get acclimatized to but is actually very hellish type of standard. Therefore they are considered lower planetary systems or may be completely devoid of any kind of religious principle of a certain type. Therefore even though there seems to be some material facility, it’s actually the relationships are very hellish. The relationships are based on some very uhh hellish standards. So that people, even though they have some facility, they are not happy. So, if we see the whole universe as being a part of Kṛṣṇa, the upper planetary systems are always described here from the waist up, the lower planetary systems are described from the waist down. This way gives us the basic understanding of the level of existence on each planet. Actually just, that this planet has more facility than this planet. Just like if you are going on an airplane on economy class, you have one facility, then you go on business class, little bigger seat, so they give you a free headphone, somehow at it, you don’t have to pay for your, so, then you go first class, then you’ve got a complete reclining seat, put your foot out, less crowded but still you are in the same plane. It’s not that you are out of the plane. In one planet they got a little better facility, little more elbow room, little nicer, but still you are in the same universe, you can’t get out of the universe. This big universe is like one big prison house, you can’t get out by ordinary means. So according to one’s karma, they get a certain seat in the universe, either Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka or finally Satyaloka. But until they become completely Kṛṣṇa conscious, they cannot go back to Vaikuṇṭha loka, they cannot go back to the spiritual world. Therefore it is essential to develop one’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So luminary planets are in the middle, upper planets - heavenly planets are in the top, and above everything is Satyaloka planetary system. Then beyond that, this is all within Devī-dhāma. Devī-dhāma, Maheśa-dhāma, Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, Goloka-dhāma. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, it explains that these four planetary.., these four levels. Devī-dhāma - the 14 planetary systems in this world, then come Maheśa-dhāma, above that is Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, brahma jyoti and Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, then finally Goloka-dhāma. So a person can book their ticket which of the places they like to go. Janaloka, Tapoloka, Maharloka or if they like to go to Maheśa-dhāma - Kailāsa or to Vaikuṇṭha or to Goloka according to how the person develops his consciousness, that’s the place you get. Actually the most recommended place to go to is the spiritual world, is Goloka Vṛndāvana. But to go there one has to be a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, has to be trained in simply worshiping Kṛṣṇa without cessation. One should simply worship Kṛṣṇa , then you can go to Kṛṣṇa loka. If you pay for economy ticket and you wanna ride first class, they’ll throw you out of the seat, get back. So like that, I told that pastime how that one time Viśvāmitra, he wanted to send one śūdrā up to Indraloka but he didn’t have the necessary karma. But anyway Viśvāmitra was a great yogi, using his own austerity, he decided alright, I’ll send you to Indraloka. So then, Viśvāmitra had been doing a lot of tapasyā, and has so much punya and pious results from all his tapasyā. So using his own force, he sent Hariścandra up to the Indraloka. So here this śūdrā walks in on Indraloka you know, Indra is like what the heck is going on here you know? He was like, he didn’t understand where this person came from. So he says you know, what are you doing here? I was sent by Viśvāmitra you know he said. Some śūdrā’s sitting here, had come up here to Indraloka, go back down. So Hariścandra starts to shhshshh… falling down again from Indraloka back to the earthly planet. Then Viśvāmitra sees him coming down so what’s going on here? Puts him back. So then he’s going back up and then Indra says what? No, down. So then Viśvāmitra’s pushing him up and Indra’s mystic powers pushing him down. So Viśvāmitra was not strong enough to overcome Indra’s power. He couldn’t push him up. Indra wasn’t also strong enough to completely neutralise Viśvāmitra’s power. So then Hariścandra was half way between this planet and the Indraloka. He’s just there floating in outer space. And then Viśvāmitra said “go up”, Indra said “go down”. He’s hanging there you know, he can’t get anywhere. So after sometime Viśvāmitra thought this is draining my energy and is not getting anywhere. So then he got an idea and he created an entire duplicate heavenly planet. Mahar, Tapa, Jana the whole Indraloka everything duplicate, all the upper planetary systems. And he put on his son there incharge then Indra said now this is really a problem. Now you know all of a sudden you got into middle of the Atlantic Ocean you got another America. You know, everything and then some other, it will completely you know throb off the international balance. Trying to get Robert down, super powers, mini powers and third world nations, all of a sudden they got an entire new continent, new country with. Like this all of a sudden Hariścandra he is in charge of the entire duplicate heavenly planets all. So then Indra, he got really upset that now this is gonna create a lot of confusion. So he went down to Viśvāmitra and he requested that ok can you wind up this extra planets? He said if you take Hariścandra I’ll wind them up. He said ok we’ll take him. You need a compromise (laughter) . So they took him and then Viśvāmitra, he took away his other planets. Then but he had completely extinguished all of his mystic power that he had attained by tapasyā. So he had to do again tapasyā to build up his mystic power. But then Indra saw, no he’s doing again he’s building up his powers again. This guy caused me so much trouble before, so then he asked for some volunteers amongst the apsarās to go down and distract him for a while. So then that’s when they got Menaka to go down with her specially mystic ankle bells and she came down there were Viśvāmitra was meditating. Ching ching ching she’s walking, he opens his eyes and she completely bewilders him with her beauty and he falls down with her. Then Śakuntalā, very pious lady is born. Then Viśvāmitra, he’s really upset that he fell down like that but again he started doing tapasya. This time he was more determined. So Indra just got a little bit of a retreat. So like this dangers are there sometimes a yogi is practising, the demigods take it may be he is trying to compete with us, next thing he wanna take over our position or he’ll create some imbalance. Sometimes even the demigods will obstruct someone in their spiritual path. There are so many forces that can try to obstruct one. There’re human beings, there are subtle entities, there is also the demigods, different entities are there to obstruct one in one’s advancement. Therefore one has to be very fixed under the shelter of guru and Kṛṣṇa for their shelter. As a devotee enjoying the shelter of the spiritual master, Lord Caitanya and Kṛṣṇa, one can be protected from so many of these dangers. Different devotees of Kṛṣṇa, Hanuman and other great devotees, they are sometimes prayed to to give shelter and protection to the devotees. Actually trying to advance in spiritual life is something which is beset with many obstacles. The process is very simple, it is very easy to perform but there are also many tests and many obstacles that may be put in the way. If one is not taking the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, one can easily be misled like Viśvāmitra was, but if one has the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then it’s easier to cross over. We have to be therefore always humble “tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ” straw in the street, more tolerant than a tree, always devoid of all sense of false prestige, ready to offer all respects unto other, one can constantly chant the Holy name of the Lord. “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare”. That devotee should never think that his power is simply coming from himself alone that somehow because of his austerities or because of his practises of devotional service now he’s beyond all the influence or he is somehow independently powerful. This would open one up for being smashed, for being attacked. One should constantly remind oneself of the fact we are the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Without Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, without guru’s mercy we are nothing.

Look at Indra, when Indra was in his palace and he was being glorified by these different demigods from these different planets tapas and siddhas and so many others, gandharvas, his guru happened to walk into the assembly. Normally as soon as the guru comes, you stand up and you offer him a seat and pay obeisances and you greet him and you have various obligations to do to the guru. But somehow Indra has it to guru offered on coming so this time he disreg.., he didn’t do anything didn’t greet the guru, didn’t offer him a seat, didn’t stand up, he was sitting there being praised and his guru came and he just neglected him. So Bṛhaspati could see that he has become infatuated by his material opulence. He doesn’t understand its without the blessing of guru he couldn’t have any of these things. He doesn’t understand that these are all coming from Kṛṣṇa simply because he’s serving the guru. So Bṛhaspati, he immediately left that place. This is in the 6th canto of Bhāgavatam. He left that place and Indra, as soon as he saw his guru leave, immediately he could realise he committed a great offense. In fact, even in the assembly immediately, this is the sign of a devotee when they make a mistake they are not, they can immediately admit it. They don’t try to maintain the fault. This is by the nature of māyā someone might become implicated in some mistaken situation but once they realise, immediately they can understand that they made a mistake. That is the difference between the devotee and the demon. The demon would maintain the false position right to the end. Like Rāvaṇa, Rāvaṇa never gave in. Everyone told him you made a huge mistake, give back Sītā. Even the last day, after all of his sons were killed, all of his generals were killed, everyone was finished, only Ravana was left. Ram was ready to ... Rāvaṇa, He said alright I’ll give you 24 hours, you give Sītā back then I’ll spare you. But it’s said that 24 hours, Rāvaṇasimply plans how he can defeat Ram. He never get the sense that things were going against him, that he shouldn’t did the mistaken thing, should give back Sītā. That’s the demoniac nature, they are so stubborn, they never accept that they are wrong. But then the devotee mentality, they make a mistake, they can immediately realise I made a mistake. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he put a dead snake on Śāmīka, was it Śāmīka muni? Śāmīka Ṛṣī. Then immediately he knew that I made a mistake. It’s a foolish thing to do, but it was too late in his case. In the case of Indra also as soon as he had made this mistake, immediately he told everyone, what is the use of this opulence, what is the use of this position if it makes us infatuated and then we start to, we neglect our guru, we commit offense, by this offense we can fall down, we lose everything. So better not to have such positions if it’s going to bewilder us. Even the great devotees, they can also be bewildered. Of course sometime we discuss Indra is a position. Sometimes Indra is a pure devotee, sometimes Indra is a very pious soul that’s in that position but he feels intimidated. Sometimes these descriptions are not from this, regarding the same Indra and may be from a different day of Brahmā. Everyday of Brahmā, there is a new Indra or can be a new Indra. It’s a position like president, President of the United States - that’s a position. There’s Reagan or Carter or Ford or Kennedy or whoever someone is there as a president. So Indra is a position. How many, exactly how long that Indra stays in that position I’m not hundred percent sure but its a position that changes from time to time. The person who fills that position changes. He’s not always the same, his life is not as long as Brahmā’s. So this Indra, he start to just criticise himself publicly, I made this mistake now I’m gonna go and fall at the feet of Bṛhaspati and beg forgiveness. But Bṛhaspati, he could understand, he was more powerful than Indra. So when Indra tried to find him, he disappeared and hid. Indra looked everywhere he couldn’t find him. Soon as the demigods had insulted their guru, the demons heard about it. Now these demigods are finished. Without guru to protect them, they got nobody. They immediately worshiped their guru and they attacked the demigods and rounded them. Indra and all the demigods had to run, the demons became more powerful because they had committed offense to the guru. Indra went to Brahmā and asked what to do. Then Brahmā told him you are all so foolish how could you do such a thing? So then he gave him an idea that you accept Viśvarūpa as a priest. You don’t have any .., your guru’s not here like a śikṣā-guru you take him as a purohita, as a priest in the meantime he can help you. Then after that you can defeat the demons. So even someone who is a very powerful devotee who’s in a very big position just by little neglect even of the spiritual master he lost everything.

So the devotee always remains fixed in that idea that anything I have, any ability, any achievement, any devotional service that I’m able to perform is simply by the mercy of the guru and Kṛṣṇa, guru and Gaurāṅga. A devotee doesn’t accept it as his own personal glory. This is the secret how to become humble by not taking success as due to one’s sole ability but rather taking that may be there was some desire but ultimately the success is due to the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. Others may give that devotee credit, somehow his desire was there and he was able to get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa but the devotee realises that actually my own I can’t do anything. It is ultimately due to guru and Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. This self consciousness of giving that credit to guru and Kṛṣṇa by the devotee, this is the safecard. If that’s not there a person thinks he’s independently powerful, independently situated, you see. The real paramahaṁsa, the symptom is that he’ll always be surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Artificially if someone thinks he is paramahaṁsa then he may think now I’m above all the rules and regulations, I’m above.., I don’t need any more the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, so they just kind of think they can go on their own stream. Then what happens is that they have problem, they lose the shelter of Kṛṣṇa and then they get smashed by so many of the obstacles that are always ready to work as māyā’s agents to defeat someone. So in this way we need to cultivate this consciousness right from the very beginning of our spiritual life. So Lord Caitanya said we should basically wear this mantra around our as if it was around our neck “tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ”, then we can safeguard ourselves from the different tricks of illusion. Just to bring everything into focus, we could see how the that’s Kṛṣṇa, how Prabhupād mentions here. There are innumerable universes floating on the causal ocean and in each of them, the representation of the virāṭ form of the Lord is there along with innumerable suns, moons, heavenly demigods, Brahmās, Viṣṇus and Śivas all of them situated in one part of the inconceivable potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. How great Kṛṣṇa is, with one inconceivable part of His potency He is manifesting everything. The same Kṛṣṇa He is coming down and is accepting our prasadam offerings, He is accepting our worship. We shouldn’t take Kṛṣṇa for granted or lightly. How merciful He is to come down and accept this opportunity for us to worship Him. Therefore we should make every attempt to make Kṛṣṇa very satisfied. Whether one, either in the beginning one may appreciate Kṛṣṇa for all of His transcendental glories, His greatness in relation to everything else, in the higher level one develops spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa whereby one simply wants to please Kṛṣṇa out of deep desire for Kṛṣṇa’s own satisfaction. But that’s something which happens in a very advanced state. In the beginning state we should be conscious that Kṛṣṇa is so great, the greatest without a second. Therefore we should very carefully serve the Lord. We should avoid all type of offences which are different obstacles in the path of devotional service. Any questions? Yes.

Devotee : (inaudible 38:09)

Jayapatākā Swami: No this is the virāṭa rupa - Universal form. The virāṭa rupa is, the Universal form is, to help us conceive the whole universe and then see that that is one of the forms of the Lord. We can see how great the Lord is. Sometimes we just see Kṛṣṇa standing with the flute and two arms, we don’t get the proper perspective of who Kṛṣṇa is. So for those who are little materialistic, in the beginning they advice meditate on the Lord as Universal form. To universal form to get the relative position, like the outer space is the depression in His navel. Outer space is so vast, what is the depression of navel is a small area? But that comparison is given. For Kṛṣṇa the vastness of the universe is insignificant. Also is shows that outer space is in the middle section, also the sun and the moon are in the middle section. But then as we go higher up, there are higher planetary systems which are in the upper part of the universe with, and they are situated in some unique manner. Those include planetary systems like Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapaloka and finally on the very top, on the very top of the lotus stem is the Satyaloka.

Bhakta Mike?

Did I say planetary system? The top most planetary system. Yeah it’s here there is. You see the point is that there is millions of planets out there. Isn’t it? So just as we got in this planet first world, second world, third world. They say basically if you want to go from England or France to America, they give you the visa the same day. If you wanna go from India or somewhere in the third world, you have to fill out a bank form, show you have got a job, you gotta come back this you know, they figure that well unless you are already kind of on that level then they don’t want you to come over here because they think you gonna stay here illegally as an illegal immigrant or something. So there are different, but there are many countries which have basically a similar level of economic development. So there is fourteen planetary systems means there are fourteen levels. Just like I said 7 stars up, 7 star down. 5 star hotel for this 7 star planets. So there may be many many planets on the same level. Just if we take Jana planetary system within different gala what we would call galaxies or but on a particular level of consciousness. There may be many planets. When you come up to that level, you can go from one planet to the next. When you are down here in the lower level just like someone who is really poor, he can’t go anywhere, he can only take a bus somewhere. But once you come up to a certain economic level, you can fly anywhere in the world. Doesn’t matter what country you are in. You are on that level. So once you are on that level of Janaloka or Siddhaloka planet you can move from one planet to the next, you can see all the planets but you can’t go to the higher planet. You can go on the same level. Like if you are sitting on a business class plane, you can go back to economy if you want, they don’t stop you. If you want to go to first class you say, you can’t go. So, this is the thing that there are obviously more than 14 planets in the universe, there are millions of luminous, of different kind of planets and luminaries and moons and so on. So they can be categorised into 14 levels. Planets where people live, like where we are living kind of similar, may be not the same type of physical mechanism may be there but similar type of consciousness and similar kind of frame of life. There may be many planets or places you know, they just say loka in Sanskrit, loka meaning it’s a planet when in English we say planet we think of something rotates around sun as a planet. What is that there is no word for.., in English for this what is an object in the sky, one of those round things that are there floating. Either you are getting the planets and suns that’s all, also lot of moons, the three words. So the closest you come to is planet, but in sanskrit you say loka. Loka doesn’t mean that necessarily everything has got its own orbit around something. But it is a loka means it is an object in the fermenant , object in the outer space, a big mass of other.., so we say just the closest thing we can say is that’s a planet. It doesn’t mean that a planet in the sense that it particularly revolves around this sun or that pla.., may have its own orbit, but it’s a planet meaning it’s a planetary system. It’s a group of planets in the outer space which have a similar level of development of consciousness        by the residents. In other words the category is done not by simply some material, by some material status. Well this one has got this amount of nitrogen or something. The category is based on the consciousness of the person, the residents there, their lifespan, their consciousness, their level of power, their influence in the universe, that is calculated therefore that is called as Jana, Tapa or so on. Each planetary system has got a different influence. Just like someone becomes multi-millionaire in America, he has a different influence on society than someone who is making $25000 a month or someone who is on a welfare check. But they are all part of the, they are all natural citizens, they all have to pay tax, so they all have certain obligation, they are not completely free but they may have relative more facility in one way or another. So like that in different planets, there is different kinds of influence, types of facilities, some are more restricted, some are more.., when you get to the higher planetary systems, then you are more pious, then you are given more freedom to move about the universe to do things. And they try to achieve self-realisation like in siddhaloka, satyaloka. So all these millions and millions of planets like wherever, in the sky, look at the milkyway how many suns and luminaries are there. So each of them have people incharge of their activity and each of them are categorised according to a particular level of existence that’s there. So therefore it is considered as tapo, mahar. Is that alright? Any other question?

Devotee : (inaudible 46:00)

Jayapatākā Swami: Is says the effulgent luminary planets like the sun and the moon are situated almost in the mid place of the universe. Prabhupād differentiates that there is luminary planets and there is a sun. That every object in the outer space has got a certain object. The sun in this planet is in a specific situation whereby it holds the central position in relation to the pole star, in relation to the rest of the luminaries. Therefore in the vedas, there is a description of the suryaloka and suryaloka has been translated as “the sun”. So there is only one suryaloka or sun as such and the other luminaries we call them all suns in say english or the we call the this different suns. But Prabhupād differentiates between our sun as suryaloka or “the sun” and the other objects, the other luminaries, they are like suns and moons. Some directly, some reflecting the light or some directly effulgent producing their own light but they are not the suryaloka. They are not “the sun”, they are luminary planets like the sun, they may some may be bigger some may be smaller. Luminary planets like the sun but they are not “the sun”. The sun has got or suryaloka has got special nomenclature about it. So to differentiate, Prabhupād explains here, the effulgent luminary planets like the sun and the moon. Obviously anyway it is a different type of lumination, the sun’s lumination is warming and the moon’s lumination is cooling. Hare Kṛṣṇa !

Devotees : Srila Acāryapāda kī Jaya !