Some things are inconceivable

[Guest guest]

> I have a doubt relating to Kurukshetra battle field. It is regarding the

> size of the battle field and the number of men, horses, elephants and

> chariots it could accommodate. Since you are amongst the highly read

> swamijis in ISKCON, I humbly forward this doubt for clarification.

>

> The total number of warriors alone numbers to 65 crores, and probably

> another 10 crores, 5 crores and 1 crores of horses, elephants and chariots

> respectively.

> How could the battlefield accommodate all these men, animals and

> carriages? The warriors definitely needed their support staff for cooking

> and sanitation. Animals would require food and shelter. They would have

> picketed at least a week before the commencement of the battle.

>

> I am comparing the above mentioned numbers with the current population of

> India at 100 crores, spread over the entire country and yet struggling for

> accommodation and daily food and infrastructure. How was it possible for

> the Kurukshetra Bhumi to accommodate such a vast number of men, animals

> and equipment?

>

 

I can't "explain" this because it's not explainable in terms consistent with

observable reality. But it makes sense to accept that there is more to

reality than the observable. Some things are inconceivable (acintya).

 

The nature of Krsna's acintya-sakti is nicely illustrated by the following

story of a visit by Lord Brahma to Krsna in Dvaraka. In the story, Krsna

first responds to Brahma's request to see Him by having His secretary ask,

"Which Brahma wishes to see Me?" Brahma later begins his conversation with

Krsna by asking why Krsna made this inquiry:

 

"Why did you inquire which Brahma had come see You? What is the purpose of

such an inquiry? Is there any other Brahma besides me within this universe?"

 

Upon hearing this, Sri Krsna smiled and immediately meditated. Unlimited

Brahmas arrived instantly. These Brahmas had different numbers of heads.

Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten

thousand, some a hundred thousand, some ten million, and others a hundred

million. No one can count the number of faces they had.

 

There also arrived many Lord Sivas with various heads numbering one hundred

thousand and ten million. Many Indras also arrived, and they had hundreds of

thousands of eyes all over their bodies.

 

When the four-headed Brahma of this universe saw all these opulences of

Krsna, he became very bewildered and considered himself a rabbit among many

elephants.

 

All the Brahmas who came to see Krsna offered their respects at His lotus

feet, and when they did this, their helmets touched His lotus feet. No one

can estimate the inconceivable potency of Krsna. All the Brahmas who were

there were resting in the one body of Krsna. When all the helmets struck

together at Krsna's lotus feet, there was a tumultuous sound. It appeared

that the helmets themselves were offering prayers unto Krsna's lotus feet.

 

With folded hands, all the Brahmas and Sivas began to offer prayers unto

Lord Krsna, saying, "O Lord, You have shown me a great favor. I have been

able to see Your lotus feet."

 

Each of them then said, "It is my great fortune, Lord, that You have called

me, thinking of me as Your servant. Now let me know what Your order is so

that I may carry it on my heads."

 

Lord Krsna replied, "Since I wanted to see all of you together, I have

called all of you here. All of you should be happy. Is there any fear of the

demons?"

 

They replied, "By Your mercy, we are victorious everywhere. Whatever burden

there was upon the earth You have taken away by descending on that planet."

 

This is the proof of Dvaraka's opulence: all the Brahmas thought, "Krsna is

now staying in my jurisdiction." Thus the opulence of Dvaraka was perceived

by each and every one of them. Although they were all assembled together, no

one could see anyone but himself.

 

Lord Krsna then bade farewell to all the Brahmas there, and after offering

their obeisances, they all returned to their respective homes [CC ML

21.65-80].

 

In this story it is significant that each of the Brahmas remained within his

own universe. This means that Krsna was simultaneously manifesting His

Dvaraka pastimes in all of those universes. Each Brahma except ours thought

that he was alone with Krsna in Dvaraka within his own universe, but by

Krsna's grace our Brahma could simultaneously see all the others. This

illustrates that Krsna has access to all locations at once, and it also

shows that, by Krsna's grace, different living beings can be given different

degrees of spatial access, either permanently or temporarily.

 

(From "Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy" by Sadaputa Prabhu)

------------------------

 

Here's how Srila Prabhupada responded to a similar query (from TKG's Diary):

 

When Srila Prabhupada awoke after a night's rest, he opened his eyes and

said, "They go from Los Angeles. You all think over it. Then I shall tell

you." Srila Prabhupada was referring to the question which we had not yet

solved: If the world is not a globe but part of Jambudvipa, which is the

center of the huge, lotus-like Bhümandala, how does an airplane fly from Los

Angeles to Hawaii to Tokyo and on to India? The scientists explain by

saying that the airplane circles the globe. But according to

Srimad-Bhagavatam, there is no planet earth as the scientists say, floating

in space. Rather, there is Bharatavarsa with its seven continents and

oceans and Himalayan Mountains. After challenging us thus, Srila Prabhupada

went back to sleep. When he again awoke, Prabhupada began to reveal the

answer. "They are bound up and cannot go beyond a point. They are

conditioned and are forced to return. They can only go so far and not

farther." I told Prabhupada that we accepted that point, but it still did

not answer the question. Prabhupada replied, however, that it did. "You

are prejudiced. You are conditioned with preconceptions of how everything

is." He was saying that my difficulty to understand was due to my

acceptance of the scientists' assumptions. "It is just like a bull

grinding, going around in a circle. He is tied up and simply going around.

So everyone is tied up. They cannot go beyond a point, and they cannot move

in any way they like, just like the bull only has certain limits to his

movement. How can a frog in the well understand the ocean? They say the

Himalayan Mountains are twenty-eight thousand feet high. But

Srimad-Bhagavatam says eighty thousand miles high. You have cheated about

going to the moon. How can I believe you? You want to explain the whole

universe, how can I believe you? Once someone is shown to be a cheater, he

will always cheat. A gentleman would say, 'I don't know!' But they are not

gentlemen. They are loafer class! How we can believe them? I have

personally seen in Switzerland, you cannot see where the mountain goes.

Many planes are crashing there. The Srimad-Bhagavatam says that great kings

crossed the Himalayas. But they crash. They said the world was flat. Then

Galileo said it was round, and for this he was hanged. They didn't know and

he didn't know. Our knowledge doesn't change, because it is perfect. As

soon as there is change, it is not perfect."

 

After lunch, Srila Prabhupada spoke again about the planetary system. In

trying to understand the fact of flying from Los Angeles to India, I had an

energetic discussion with Srila Prabhupada. I left feeling very perplexed

with Prabhupada's admonition, "You are prejudiced."

 

Our question of how the Bhagavatam's description of Jambudvipa can

accommodate traveling west from Los Angeles to reach India seemed to remain

unanswered. Prabhupada stressed, however, that we were overly concerned

with such a minor issue, just "a drop of water" (Prabhupada's description of

the Pacific Ocean). "With your experimental logic you cannot understand.

It is inconceivable. Just accept the sastra. True understanding only comes

by the mercy of the spiritual master. You cannot adjust the description of

the Bhagavatam within the limits of your knowledge. Our Narada Muni went to

Vaikuntha. After coming back, he told a cobbler about an elephant passing

through the eye of a needle. The cobbler said, 'Oh, Narayana is so great!'

But a brahmana said, 'It is simply stories!' Narada then asked the cobbler,

'How can you believe that Narayana was passing an elephant through the head

of a needle?' The cobbler explained, 'Why not? We are sitting under a

banyan tree. There are so many fruits; and each fruit contains so many

seeds, which each will grow into a huge banyan tree.' Everything is

inconceivable, and these rascals want to bring it as conceivable. Don't be

puffed up by your so-called education. It has no value." Srila Prabhupada

gave us the spiritual solution to a mundane question.

 

-----

 

Srila Jiva Gosvami says that unless we accept this principle that Krsna or

God has got inconceivable power, acintya-sakti, we cannot understand.

 

Srila Prabhupada lecture, London, August 27, 1973

[Guest guest]

Hopefully this helps: The entire present population of the world

could fix into either France or Texas, with every man, woman, and

child having 1500 square feet of space.

 

Your servant, Urmila devi dasi