Cooling moonlight of trancendental bliss

Greetings spiritual souls, these ever fresh teachings are from the most ancient vedic scriptures, the purports are givin by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

The best known of the Vedic texts, the Bhagavad-gita (Song of God), is the philosophical basis for the Hare Krsna movement. Dating back 5,000 years, it is sacred to nearly a billion people today. This exalted work has been praised by scholars and leaders the world over. Mahatma Gandhi said, When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face and I see not one ray of hope, I turn to the Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us. It is not surprising to anyone familiar with the Gita that Henry David Thoreau said, In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita has provided spiritual nourishment to great thinkers such as Gandhi, Einstein, Huxley, Thoreau, Kant, Goethe, and Schopenhauer. "Chant and be Happy" Explains the power of mantra-meditation and how it can bring ultimate self awareness. Includes interviews with George Harrison and John Lennon.

In search of truth and to boldy go where no man has gone before.

It is stated in the Bhagavad-gitä (7.23) that the worshipers of the demigods can go to the planets of the demigods. The moon worshipers can go to the moon, the sun worshipers to the sun, etc. Modern scientists are now venturing to the moon with the help of rockets, but this is not really a new attempt. With their advanced consciousness, human beings are naturally inclined to travel in outer space and to reach other planets, either by spaceships, mystic powers or demigod worship. In the Vedic scriptures it is said that one can reach other planets by any one of these three ways, but the most common way is by worshiping the demigod presiding over a particular planet. In this way one can reach the moon planet, the sun planet and even Brahmaloka, the topmost planet in this universe. However, all planets in the material universe are temporary residences; the only permanent planets are the Vaikunthalokas. These are found in the spiritual sky, where the Personality of Godhead Himself predominates. As Lord Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gitä (8.16): ***

One may point out that although the devotees of Krsna are trying to enter Krsna’s planet, everyone else is interested in going to the moon. Isn’t going to the moon also perfection? The tendency to travel to other planets is always present in the living entity. One name for the living entity is sarva-gata, which means “one who wants to travel everywhere.” Travel is part of the nature of the living entity. The desire to go to the moon is not a new thing. The yogis also are interested in entering the higher planets, but in Bhagavad-gitä (8.16)*** Krsna points out that this will not be of any help.

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: yänti deva-vratä devän pitrn yänti pitr-vratäh [Bg. 9.25]. No mechanical arrangement is necessary if we want interplanetary travel. The Gétä instructs: yänti deva-vratä devän. 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-gitä informs us how to travel to the higher planetary systems (Devaloka) with a very simple formula: yänti deva-vratä devän. 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.



As Lord Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gitä (8.16):***
äbrahma-bhuvanäl lokäh
punar ävartino ’rjuna
mäm upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains My abode, O son of Kunté, never takes birth again.”

“Sri Isopanisad” points out that one who worships the demigods and attains to their material planets still remains in the darkest region of the universe. The whole universe is covered by the gigantic material elements; it is just like a coconut covered by a shell and half-filled with water. Since its covering is airtight, the darkness within is dense, and therefore the sun and the moon are required for illumination. Outside the universe is the vast and unlimited brahmajyoti expansion, which is filled with Vaikunthalokas. The biggest and highest planet in the brahmajyoti is Krsnaloka, or Goloka Vrndävana, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna Himself, resides. Lord Sri Krsna never leaves Krsnaloka. Although He dwells there with His eternal associates, He is omnipresent throughout the complete material and spiritual cosmic manifestations. This fact has already been explained in Mantra Four. The Lord is present everywhere, just like the sun, yet He is situated in one place, just as the sun is situated in its own undeviating orbit.

The problems of life cannot be solved simply by going to the moon planet or to some other planet above or below it. Therefore “Sri Isopanisad” advises us not to bother with any destination within this dark material universe, but to try to get out of it and reach the effulgent kingdom of God. There are many pseudo worshipers who become religionists only for the sake of name and fame. Such pseudo religionists do not wish to get out of this universe and reach the spiritual sky. They only want to maintain the status quo in the material world under the garb of worshiping the Lord. The atheists and impersonalists lead such foolish pseudo religionists into the darkest regions by preaching the cult of atheism. The atheist directly denies the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the impersonalists support the atheists by stressing the impersonal aspect of the Supreme Lord. Thus far we have not come across any mantra in “Sri Isopanisad” which the Supreme Personality of Godhead is denied. It is said that He can run faster than anyone. Those who are running after other planets are certainly persons, and if the Lord can run faster than all of them, how can He be impersonal? The impersonal conception of the Supreme Lord is another form of ignorance, arising from an imperfect conception of the Absolute Truth.

Modern enterprisers (the astronauts who travel in space) may take information from Srimad-Bhägavatam that in space there are fourteen divisions of planetary systems. The situation is calculated from the earthly planetary system, which is called Bhürloka. Above Bhürloka is Bhuvarloka, and the topmost planetary system is called Satyaloka. These are the upper seven lokas, or planetary systems. And similarly, there are seven lower planetary systems, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talätala, Mahätala, Rasätala and Pätäla lokas. All these planetary systems are scattered over the complete universe, which occupies an area of two billion times two billion square miles. The modern astronauts can travel only a few thousand miles away from the earth, and therefore their attempt to travel in the sky is something like child’s play on the shore of an expansive ocean. The moon is situated in the third status of the upper planetary system, and in the Fifth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam we shall be able to know the distant situation of the various planets scattered over the vast material sky. There are innumerable universes beyond the one in which we are put, and all these material universes cover only an insignificant portion of the spiritual sky, which is described above as sanätana Brahmaloka. The Supreme Lord very kindly invites the intelligent human beings to return home, back to Godhead, in the following verse of the Bhagavad-gétä (8.16):***

Beginning from Satyaloka, the topmost planet of the universe, situated just below the eternal Brahmaloka, as described above, all the planets are material. And one’s situation in any of the many material planets is still subject to the laws of material nature, namely birth, death, old age and disease. But one can get complete liberation from all the above-mentioned material pangs when one enters into the eternal Brahmaloka sanätana atmosphere, the kingdom of God. Therefore liberation, as contemplated by the speculative philosophers and the mystics, is possible only when one becomes a devotee of the Lord. Anyone who is not a devotee cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Only by attainment of a service attitude in the transcendental position can one enter into the kingdom of Godhead. Therefore the speculative philosophers, as well as the mystics, must first of all be attracted to the devotional cult before they can factually attain liberation.

To receive the Lord Çré Kåñëa there were all grades of population, beginning from Vasudeva, Ugrasena and Gargamuni—the father, grandfather and teacher—down to the prostitutes and chandalas, who are accustomed to eat dogs. And every one of them was properly greeted by the Lord in terms of rank and position. As pure living entities, all are the separated parts and parcels of the Lord, and thus no one is alien by His eternal relation. Such pure living entities are graded differently in terms of contamination of the modes of material nature, but the Lord is equally affectionate to all His parts and parcels, despite material gradation. He descends only to recall these materialistic living beings back to His kingdom, and intelligent persons take advantage of this facility offered by the Personality of Godhead to all living beings. No one is rejected by the Lord from the kingdom of God, and it remains with the living being to accept this or not.


Sweet ambrosial nectarine instructions from His Divine Grace Om Vishnupada 108 Astotatara satta Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta A.C. Srila Prabhupada Swami Maharaja.

More info and Pictures can be found at www.SrimadBhagavatam.com in the gallery.
and original audio free downloads can be found at www.PrabupadaVani.org
free e books http://www.hare-krishna.org/srila-prabhupada-books.htm
“Easy Journey To Other Planets” is an easy, enjoyable, & educational read.



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