Trying to Prove the Unprovable (06/06/19)

Trying to Prove the Unprovable (06/06/19)

Dear ________ Prabhu,

All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I appreciate very much that you are reading and thus quoting Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja. Please continue in that way and you will find many more things of interest and of even greater value than arguing over that which can never be perceived perfectly.

As Śukadeva Gosvāmī has stated:

“My dear King, there is no limit to the expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s material energy. This material world is a transformation of the material qualities (sattva–guṇa, rajo–guṇa and tamo–guṇa), yet no one could possibly explain it perfectly, even in a lifetime as long as that of Brahmā. No one in the material world is perfect, and an imperfect person could not describe this material universe accurately, even after continued speculation. O King, I shall nevertheless try to explain to you the principal regions, such as Bhū-goloka, with their names, forms, measurements and various symptoms. (Śukadeva to Parikṣit Mahārāja, SB 5.16.4)

So, it appears that not only can no one possibly explain it, as Śukadeva has stated, but no one, at least on the TOVP committee, can properly understand what explanation Śukadeva has given. According to our dearly departed godbrother, Śrīman Sadāputa Prabhu, who was very intelligent and highly trained in science, your understanding of Purāṇic cosmology is “naive”.

May I also point out that the evil NASA, being the perpetrator of the “Global hoax”, has also gained the support of the Space Agencies of their most vile and bitter enemies such as Russia, China and North Korea — all of whom agree, not only with NASA, but also with all Vedic authorities and Acharyas that our little planet Earth is indeed a “gola” as in Bhū-gola.

As stated by Śrīla Prabhupāda:

“Yes, world is round. That is fact. Goloka. In Vedic literature it is bhū-gola, jagad-aṇḍa. These words are there. We can see also it is round, jagad-aṇḍa. The universe is round. And Goloka. Or Bhū-gola. Bhu-gola, the earth is round. So in the Vedic literatures…therefore their knowledge is also imperfect because they do not refer to the Vedic literatures. It is already there. Bhū-gola. Bhū means the earth; gola means round. It is already there. And the geography’s called, according to Sanskrit, it is called Bhū-gola. Long, long ago, before Galileo.” (December 9th, 1973 LA)

“The earth was flat. They believed that the world is flat. So how much imperfect knowledge they have got. So imperfect knowledge, how long it can go? Just like we are going to challenge all these rascals that life is grown out of matter. We are going to challenge. It is not a fact. So how long you can cheat people? For hundred, two hundred, thousand years, but you cannot cheat for all the time.” (May 15th 1973 LA)

Prabhupāda: The people were under the impression that this world is square. Is it not?

Devotees: Flat.

Prabhupāda: Flat. Flat, yes. But in the Vedic śāstra, millions of years ago it is mentioned: bhū–gola. Gola means round. Just see. And these rascals say that formerly people were not so intelligent. They are intelligent because they are thinking that this world is flat. And those who have spoken millions of years ago, “It is round,” they will have less intelligence. Just see. Bhū, gola. Gola means round. Bhū-gola. Similarly, jagad–aṇḍa. Aṇḍa means round, just like egg. Aṇḍa means egg. Jagad–aṇḍa. This universe is egg-shaped. And we can see also, the sky is round. This is the wall of this universe. (London July 30, 1973)

Śrīla Prabhupāda has also said that this topic is of no interest to us, so why spend millions of dollars on such?

“Regarding details of the universe, be satisfied by reading only Bhāgavatam. What is the use of reading other books—you are not going there. Some portion of the earth is flat. When you stand in any place you see flat, so for us to some extent it appears flat, but it is round. Simply keep faith that whatever we describe, that is a fact. After all, we are an insignificant creature in the universe, so whether you take the modern scientists or Śukadeva Gosvāmī, it is inconceivable. It is best to keep faith in Śukadeva Gosvāmī, because actually our only business is to go back to home, back to Godhead. So whether Śukadeva Gosvāmī or the modern scientists are right or wrong, it is nothing interesting to us. We want to go back to home, back to Godhead.” (Letter to Mādhava, Vrndavana, 3rd Oct 1976)

It is a charming topic in that what Śukadeva has described is not visible to the eyes and senses of those under the three modes of material nature. Similarly, the Universal Form is ever present in the sky and universe, but only when Kṛṣṇa wills it, can it be seen. So to spend millions of dollars on a temple that wants to prove the unprovable, that the Earth is flat, at the great loss of neglecting to show the universe of śraddhā as shown in Bṛhat Bhāgavatāmṛta is indeed tragic. Had the TOVP committee consulted with those who had heard from Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja about what the grand temple in Māyāpura was supposed to represent, to be built with Prabhupāda’s men and money under the direction of Śrīdhara Mahārāja , then they would not be wasting their time straining their brains to show something that is impossible to get right in any case, when they should be focused on the highest conception of Divinity, Śrī Śrī Gaura Rādhā-Mādhava, and not simply the aiśvarya of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava  and the Aṣṭa-sakhīs.

At least we agree on one thing, and that is the falsity of the so-called ‘ecstatic’ kīrtanas. But just imagine what is coming in the form of nonsense kīrtanas once all the ‘Flattards’ start their antics in the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. Hopefully no on falls off the edge! Or have they already gone off the edge??

Hoping this meets you well.

Your obedient servant,

Swami Narasiṅgha

PS: Do you remember the story that Srila Prabhupada told about the scissors and the knife argument?