sp hitler ?? vs essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam

[Guest guest]

OK I wil try to explain once more. All I`m trying to do is to understand

Srila Prabhupada. Now Prabhupada is saying the moon might be 95,000,000

miles away. Why is he saying that when the surya sidhanta is saying

(paraphrased by Sadhaputa in his book "Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy) "The

S™rya-siddh€nta lists the diameter of the moon as 480 yojanas and the

circumference of the moon’s orbit as 324,000 yojanas. If we convert these

figures into miles by multiplying by the S™rya-siddh€nta value of 5 miles

per yojana, we obtain 2,400 and 1,620,000. According to modern Western

figures, the diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, and the circumference of

the moon’s orbit is 2Š times the earth-to-moon distance of 238,000 miles, or

1,495,000 miles. Thus the S™rya-siddh€nta agrees closely with modern

astronomy as to the size of the moon and its distance from the earth."

 

"Q: In SB 8.10.38p, ®r…la Prabhup€da says, “The sun is supposed to be

93,000,000 miles above the surface of the earth, and from the

®r…mad-Bh€gavatam we understand that the moon is 1,600,000 miles above the

sun. Therefore the distance between the earth and the moon would be about

95,000,000 miles.” Doesn’t this plainly say that the moon is farther from

the earth than the sun?

A: In the summary at the end of Chapter 23 of the Fifth Canto ®r…la

Prabhup€da says, “The distance from the sun to the earth is 100,000

yojanas.” At 8 miles per yojana, this comes to 800,000 miles. We suggest

that when ®r…la Prabhup€da cites the modern Western earth-sun distance of

93,000,000 miles, he is simply making the point that if you put together the

Bh€gavatam and modern astronomy you get a contradictory picture. His

conclusion is that one should simply accept the Vedic version, and he was

not interested in personally delving into astronomical arguments in detail.

Q: What is your justification for going into these arguments in detail?

A: ®r…la Prabhup€da ordered some of his disciples to do this for the sake of

preaching. In a letter to Svar™pa D€modara d€sa dated April 27, 1976, ®r…la

Prabhup€da said, “Now our Ph.D.’s must collaborate and study the 5th Canto

to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium.… So now all you Ph.D.’s

must carefully study the details of the 5th Canto and make a working model

of the universe. If we can explain the passing seasons, eclipses, phases of

the moon, passing of day and night, etc., then it will be very powerful

propaganda.” In this regard, he specifically mentioned Svar™pa D€modara

d€sa, Sad€p™ta d€sa, and M€dhava d€sa in a letter to Dr. Wolf-Rottkay dated

October 14, 1976.

Q: If the distance from the earth to the sun is 800,000 miles, how can this

be reconciled with modern astronomy?

A: This distance is relative to the plane of Bh™-maŠala. The distance from

the center of Jamb™dv…pa to the orbit of the sun around M€nasottara Mountain

is 15,750,000 yojanas according to the dimensions given in the Fifth Canto.

This distance lies in the plane of Bh™-maŠala and comes to 126,000,000

miles at 8 miles per yojana and 78,750,000 miles at 5 miles per yojana.

Since values for the yojana ranging from 5 to 8 miles have been used in

India, this distance is compatible with the modern earth-sun distance of

93,000,000 miles.

Q: Using radar and lasers, scientists have recently obtained very accurate

estimates of the earth-moon distance. This distance is about 238,000 miles.

How do you reconcile this with Vedic calculations?

A: According to the S™rya-siddh€nta, the distance from the earth globe to

the moon is about 258,000 miles (see Section 1.e). This is in reasonable

agreement with the modern value.

Q: If the moon is 258,000 miles from the earth globe, then how can it be

100,000 yojanas above the sun? This seems hard to understand, even if the

latter distance is relative to the plane of Bh™-maŠala.

A: This question is answered in detail in Section 4.b, and the reader should

specifically study Tables 8 and 9 in that section. Briefly, we propose the

following: The heights of the planets from Bh™-maŠala correspond to the

maximum heights of the planets from the plane of the ecliptic in the visible

solar system. This correspondence is approximate because the Fifth Canto

gives the viewpoint of the demigods, whereas in modern astronomy and the

jyotia €stra the viewpoint is that of ordinary humans.

In summary, we propose that the Fifth Canto description of the universe is

broadly compatible with what we see. The differences are due to the

difference in viewpoint between human beings and demigods. Thus, from the

higher-dimensional perspective of a demigod, Bh™-maŠala should be directly

visible, and the relative positions of Bh™-maŠala, the sun, and the moon

should appear as described in the Fifth Canto."