Occam's Razor is Broken

[Guest guest]

> "Whether the Vedic calculations or modern ones are better

> may remain a mystery for others, but as far as we are concerned, we accept

> the Vedic calculations to be correct." SB 5.22.9

>

> Did you get that, prabhu? "As far as we are concerned, we accept the Vedic

> calculations to be correct."

 

 

The verse you have quoted is 5.22.8, not 5.22.9: even when dealing with the

sastras human failure can be a factor.

 

As far as numerical values in the Fifth Canto are concerned: watch out!

 

The sun is said to be 800.000 miles above the earth.

Verse 8 states that the moon is 800.000 above the sun.

Verse 11 states that "many stars" are situated 1.600.000 above the moon.

 

The Bhagavatam thus, in effect, says that, "many stars are situated

3.200.000 miles above the earth". But Prabhupada in his purport to verse 11

writes:

 

"The stars referred to herein are 1.600.000 miles above the sun, and thus

they are 4,000,000 miles above the earth."

 

Prabhupada's calculation is off by 800.000 miles.

 

To make things even worse, from now on all the following verses show figures

that are 800.000 miles too big.

 

What went wrong?

 

Prabhupada generally copies his verse translations from Bhaktisiddhanta's

and bases his purports on Visvanatha's. In this case too Prabhupada's

purport is identical with Visvanatha's commentary, and his verse translation

is taken straight from Bhaktisiddhanta's Bengali verse translation. So it is

not Prabhupada who miscalculated? He probably didn't notice that the number

in his purport didn't match the numbers in his verse translations.

The figures in the Sanskrit verses add up to 3.200.000 miles, while the

figure in the purport to 5.22.11 is 4.000.000 miles.

 

When one looks carefully at VCT's commentary, one will find that the

Sanskrit verse 5.22.11 he comments upon says, "tri-laksa-yojanatah", 300.000

yojanas — while the same verse in the BBT edition says

"dvi-laksa-yojanatah", 200.000 yojanas. Visvanatha then concludes that the

stars are situated 500.000 yojanas (4.000.000 miles) above the earth." This

means that Visvanatha's Bhagavatam differed from Bhaktisiddhanta's (which is

the edition that Prabhupada used as source text for the BBT Bhagavatam). I

found three Sanskrit editions of the Bhagavatam that have "tri-laksa", and

two Bengali editions that have "dvi-laksa".

 

This means that there are different recensions of the Bhagavatam. Which one

is the pramanam amalam, the perfect evidence?

 

 

Never put blind faith even in the sastra. Strive to find out what the

primary source text says. The perfection of the Srimad-bhagavatam remains

unchallenged only in those of its statements that are not materially

verifiable.

 

ys end