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PRABHUPADA ON GRAVITY
750517 - Conversation - Perth
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His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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750517R1-PERTH - May 17, 1975 - 10:11 Minutes
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) . . . but it has got some arrangement, it does not fall down.
Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, well they accept that also. They say only if there is no such arrangement, then it will fall down.
Prabhupāda: That means conditional. And who makes that condition? That means ultimately you have to accept existence of God.
Śrutakīrti: Just like they say the moon does not go away because the earth is attracting it.
Prabhupāda: Oh. What is earth? (laughs) All bogus.
Paramahaṁsa: But if we tell them that there is no law of gravity, they will say that why is it that if you throw up a ball, then it comes down?
Prabhupāda: It comes down, heavy, then it comes down, that's all. (laughs)
Śrutakīrti: But that heaviness, they say, is gravity.
Prabhupāda: You can call anything. (laughs) But if Kṛṣṇa desires, a football may not fall. Just like so many planets, they are carried up by the air. All these planets are moving only by the air. So the heavy land, heavy cloud is carried by the air. It is a question of adjustment of air, not the law of gravity. Now the whole universal planetary system are floating and rotating round the polestar. Is that law of gravity, rotating? It is the arrangement of the air. By the air it is up. Just like there is dust storm, so many are floating in the air. There is no question of law of gravity; it is the air. And the . . . who is controlling the air? That is Supreme Personality. Just like in Darwin, the motor buses were floating by the air. It was a great storm there?
Amogha: Yes, hurricane.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Hurricane?
Amogha: On Christmas day.
Prabhupāda: Motor buses were floating. Is that law of gravity? Air, different adjustment of air. If Kṛṣṇa desires, simply by air this whole city will be devastated. The other day we saw so many trees fell from Kurukṣetra. All trees and houses will be smashed within half an hour if some hurricane is sent. Poking nose in the affairs of God. They'll simply try to prove that there is no God. This is their attempt. And they say "nature." What is this nature? Nature is an instrument, machine. The authority is God, Kṛṣṇa. So I have given the right name: fourth-class men, not even third class. All fourth class. Śūdra. Śūdra and less than śūdra. This is the whole pack-up of population at the present moment. First-class man, his definition is there: śama, dama, tapa, śaucam, titikṣā, ārjavam, jñāna vijñānam āstikyam (BG 18.42). That is first class. They are snatching a motorcar mechanic as first class. Because he knows some mechanical arrangement how to do it, he is first class. Such things are being done by the demons. Machine or wonderful building, these things are done by the demons. Now to begin? Time is up?
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Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 The Impetus for Creation, Chapter 23 The Sisumara Planetary Systems, Verse 3:
Translation:
When bulls are yoked together and tied to a central post to thresh rice, they tread around that pivot without deviating from their proper positions — one bull being closest to the post, another in the middle, and a third on the outside. Similarly, all the planets and all the hundreds and thousands of stars revolve around the polestar, the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, in their respective orbits, some higher and some lower. Fastened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the machine of material nature according to the results of their fruitive acts, they are driven around the polestar by the wind and will continue to be so until the end of creation. These planets float in the air within the vast sky, just as clouds with hundreds of tons of water float in the air or as the great śyena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.
Purport:
According to the description of this verse, the hundreds and thousands of stars and the great planets such as the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not clustered together because of the law of gravity or any similar idea of the modern scientists. These planets and stars are all servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda or Kṛṣṇa, and according to His order they sit in their chariots and travel in their respective orbits. The orbits in which they move are compared to machines given by material nature to the operating deities of the stars and planets, who carry out the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by revolving around Dhruvaloka, which is occupied by the great devotee Mahārāja Dhruva. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (BS 5.38) as follows:
yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ
rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ
yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time. The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light." This verse from Brahma-saṁhitā confirms that even the largest and most powerful planet, the sun, rotates within a fixed orbit, or kāla-cakra, in obedience to the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This has nothing to do with gravity or any other imaginary laws created by the material scientists.
Material scientists want to avoid the ruling government of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they imagine different conditions under which they suppose the planets move. The only condition, however, is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All the various predominating deities of the planets are persons, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also a person. The Supreme Personality orders the subordinate persons, the demigods of various names, to carry out His supreme will. This fact is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 9.10), wherein Kṛṣṇa says:
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
"This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again."
The orbits of the planets resemble the bodies in which all living entities are seated because they are both machines controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 18.61):
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy." The machine given by material nature—whether the machine of the body or the machine of the orbit, or kāla-cakra—works according to the orders given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead and material nature work together to maintain this great universe, and not only this universe but also the millions of other universes beyond this one.
The question of how the planets and stars are floating is also answered in this verse. It is not because of the laws of gravity. Rather, the planets and stars are enabled to float by manipulations of the air. It is due to such manipulations that big, heavy clouds float and big eagles fly in the sky. Modern airplanes like the 747 jet aircraft work in a similar way: by controlling the air, they float high in the sky, resisting the tendency to fall to earth. Such adjustments of the air are all made possible by the cooperation of the principles of puruṣa (male) and prakṛti (female). By the cooperation of material nature, which is considered to be prakṛti, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is considered the puruṣa, all the affairs of the universe are going on nicely in their proper order. prakṛti, material nature, is also described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (BS 5.38) as follows:
sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
"The external potency, māyā, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit [spiritual] potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself." Material nature, the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is also known as Durgā, or the female energy that protects the great fort of this universe. The word Durgā also means fort. This universe is just like a great fort in which all the conditioned souls are kept, and they cannot leave it unless they are liberated by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself declares in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so 'rjuna
"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna." Thus simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can be liberated, or, in other words, one can be released from the great fort of this universe and go outside it to the spiritual world.
It is also significant that the predominating deities of even the greatest planets have been offered their exalted posts because of the very valuable pious activities they performed in previous births. This is indicated herein by the words karma-nirmita-gatayaḥ. For example, as we have previously discussed, the moon is called jīva, which means that he is a living entity like us, but because of his pious activities he has been appointed to his post as the moon-god. Similarly, all the demigods are living entities who have been appointed to their various posts as the masters of the moon, the earth, Venus and so on because of their great service and pious acts. Only the predominating deity of the sun, Sūrya Nārāyaṇa, is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mahārāja Dhruva, the predominating deity of Dhruvaloka, is also a living entity. Thus there are two kinds of entities—the supreme entity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the ordinary living entity, the jīva (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)). All the demigods are engaged in the service of the Lord, and only by such an arrangement are the affairs of the universe going on.
Regarding the great eagles mentioned in this verse, it is understood that there are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants. They fly so high that they can travel from one planet to another. They start flying in one planet and land in another, and while in flight they lay eggs that hatch into other birds while falling through the air. In Sanskrit such eagles are called śyena. Under the present circumstances, of course, we cannot see such huge birds, but at least we know of eagles that can capture monkeys and then throw them down to kill and eat them. Similarly, it is understood that there are gigantic birds that can carry off elephants, kill them and eat them.
The two examples of the eagle and the cloud are sufficient to prove that flying and floating can be made possible through adjustments of the air. The planets, in a similar way, are floating because material nature adjusts the air according to the orders of the Supreme Lord. It could be said that these adjustments constitute the law of gravity, but in any case, one must accept that these laws are made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists have no control over them. The scientists can falsely, improperly declare that there is no God, but this is not a fact.
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CC Adi 2.10
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta - Ādi-līlā - Chapter 2: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Is the Supreme Personality of GodheadĀdi-līlā 2.9 Ādi-līlā 2.9 - Ādi-līlā 2.11 Ādi-līlā 2.11
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 10
prakāśa-viśeṣe teṅha dhare tina nāma
brahma, paramātmā āra svayaṁ-bhagavān
SYNONYMS
prakāśa—of manifestation; viśeṣe—in variety; teṅha—He; dhare—holds; tina—three; nāma—names; brahma—Brahman; paramātmā—Paramātmā (Supersoul); āra—and; svayam—Himself; bhagavān—the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
In terms of His various manifestations, He is known in three features, called the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramātmā and the original Personality of Godhead.
PURPORT
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained the word bhagavān in his Bhagavat-sandarbha. The Personality of Godhead, being full of all conceivable and inconceivable potencies, is the absolute Supreme Whole. Impersonal Brahman is a partial manifestation of the Absolute Truth realized in the absence of such complete potencies. The first syllable of the word bhagavān is bha, which means “sustainer” and “protector.” The next letter, ga, means “leader,” “pusher” and “creator.” Va means “dwelling” (all living beings dwell in the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord dwells within the heart of every living being). Combining all these concepts, the word bhagavān carries the import of inconceivable potency in knowledge, energy, strength, opulence, power and influence, devoid of all varieties of inferiority. Without such inconceivable potencies, one cannot fully sustain or protect. Our modern civilization is sustained by scientific arrangements devised by many great scientific brains. We can just imagine, therefore, the gigantic brain whose arrangements sustain the gravity of the unlimited number of planets and satellites and who creates the unlimited space in which they float. If one considers the intelligence needed to orbit man-made satellites, one cannot be fooled into thinking that there is not a gigantic intelligence responsible for the arrangements of the various planetary systems. There is no reason to believe that all the gigantic planets float in space without the superior arrangement of a superior intelligence. This subject is clearly dealt with in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 15.13), where the Personality of Godhead says, “I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit.” Were the planets not held in the grip of the Personality of Godhead, they would all scatter like dust in the air. Modern scientists can only impractically explain this inconceivable strength of the Personality of Godhead.
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Tridandi Goswami
A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI
Founder-Acharya:
INTERNATIONALE SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS
CENTER: ISKCON Tokyo
(reply ISKCON Honolulu)
May 3, 1972
My dear Rupanuga,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated April 11 and April 26, 1972, along with tape of three "revelations." The tape is nice, a good advertisement. Now similar tapes should be made. Another revelation is that the needle, when put into the water, it goes down quickly to the bottom. But a big, big log, weighing one ton, does not go down. Who has made this law? If the law of gravity is there, why does it not apply to the big log? We can understand that Lord Ramachandra was able to make a bridge by causing the big stones to float on the water, so counteracting the law of gravitation is the law of the Supreme. Gravitation is caused by the Supreme Lord, so He is also able to remove that law or do anything and everything at His will. If you know something like swimming, then the law of gravitation will not work, and who knows better than Krishna how to do everything, so Krishna can change anything, therefore we worship Him as the greatest Scientist.
If a man knows swimming he can stay up. So if this much power has a man, what to speak of God. So we see that Ramachandra has the art how to make stones float. It is a question of knowing the art. Art means the display of intellectual energy. Everywhere we can see intelligence in everything, so the Lord knows the art of everything, so He can change anything, we cannot. The atheists and scientists are trying to get God out of things, we are doing just the opposite, trying to put God into everything. They are God-less, nonsense—we are God-full, God-sense or God-conscious.
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720604R1-MEXICO CITY - June 04, 1972
"Prabhupāda: Scientist business is he can become a great devotee. Just like,
idam hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā
sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca buddhi-dattayoḥ
avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito
yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam
(SB 1.5.22)
(aside:) You sit down. Why you don't sit down, like that.
Yad-uttamaśloka-guṇanuvarṇanam. Idam hi puṁsa, sviṣṭasya..., tapa..., sūktasya tapasaḥ. If you are scientist, scientist means you are learned, learned scholar. You know; you've heard from the books so many things. So your duty will be that whatever you have learned, you try to explain all these scientific research work as qualification of the Supreme Lord. Any scientific law, just like law of gravity...
(aside:) You are following?
Devotee: Si, si.
Prabhupāda: Law of gravity... The big, big planets are floating in the air. Now you can explain how it is floating. The hint is already there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that He enters. Viṣṭabhyā idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42), dharayani(?) aham ojasam, that "I enter into this universe, and by My prowess they are floating." These hints are there. Now you are a scientist; if you are actually devotee, then you try to explain from your scientific explanation that this floating is possible because God has entered within it.
That is your duty. And because you're scientist, your explanation from the scientific point of view, how God has entered, how He is acting, that will be very well received by the public. So that will be great service. Actually that is the fact. It is already stated there that "I enter." We can understand. Yes. We believe. I'll explain. Just like that balloon. What is that gas? Hydrogen gas?
Martin: Helium.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Martin: Helium gas.
Prabhupāda: Helium gas. So helium gas has entered within the balloon, and it is floating. (laughter) So if the helium gas can float, cannot God float? If helium gas has so much power, the God is less than helium gas or He is more than helium gas? So what is the difficulty to understand? God says, "I enter." So similarly, the helium gas enters and it makes possible that it floats. So where is the difficulty to understand? I see in my eyes. So He can become big helium gas. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8): "I am the taste of the water." Water is important. We are drinking water for the taste. That taste is Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, if you explain this law of gravitation which we have discovered is Kṛṣṇa, prove it by your scientific knowledge, that will be your service.
Actually that is the fact. That is the fact. But you have to explain, just like I have given you this example. This is scientific. As you can float a balloon by creating helium gas, so there must be some gas like that; Kṛṣṇa enters into each and every planet or universe and it floats, that's all. They, not only the planets are floating, the universes are also floating. So you accept this theory or not? If not, clearly explain.
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LOS ANGELES - December 17, 1973 - 38:24 Minutes
Prajāpati: ...need for God.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Prajāpati: Need for God.
Prabhupāda: Need for God. Yes. Scientist, you are also writing?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes.
Prabhupāda: There is need. (break) ...not falling down. Why the law of gravitation is violated?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They say the cells are alive when the...
Prabhupāda: They say. They have got this cell theory.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So there is...
Prabhupāda: Therefore under condition, this law of gravitation works. It is not unconditional. Then the question will..., who will make the condition?
Karandhara: Well, they say that the ripe..., the green apple's not falling is just a case of an opposite factor being stronger than the pull of gravity. The strength of the twig holding the apple on is stronger than the pull of gravity.
Prabhupāda: That I say, that the law of gravitation acts under certain condition. This is also conditional.
Karandhara: Well, the law of gravitation is always working, so the energy is always there. It's just not strong enough to pull the apple down.
Prabhupāda: Working under condition. Working under condition.
Karandhara: Well, scientists say that everything works under condition.
Prabhupāda: Just like you take a little needle, it will go immediately down the water, and you give a big log, it will not go. The weight of the needle and the weight of the big log, much different. Still, the needle will go; the gravitation will work. But to the log it will not work.
Karandhara: Well, there is a counter-law, called buoyancy.
Prabhupāda: So anyway, there are so many laws. If the laws are fulfilled, then your so-called gravitation work. So who made the laws? That is the point. Under certain law, condition, it will not act, and under certain condition it will act. So who made the condition? That is the question. You cannot make finalize the laws of gravitation. It is also under condition. Who makes this condition? That is the point.
(break) ...Lord Rāmacandra constructed the bridge with stone on the ocean, it began to float. So He is the condition-maker. He made the condition. He changed the condition: "Now these stones will float." That's all. Therefore God is supreme. (break) Law of gravitation did not work when Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana Hill. (break)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So that is nice. The scientific discoveries act under relative condition. That is not absolute, final. If such-and-such conditions are there, then the so-called scientific laws will act. Otherwise it will not act. (break) ...see. But you cannot see even so many things. Now you cannot see there, what is there. So what is that seeing power?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's limited.
Prabhupāda: Therefore everything is limited. Under condition you can see. So what is your seeing? Imperfect seeing. If the sun rises, then you can see. That also not correctly. So what is the value of your seeing? You say, "We want to see God." And what is the value of your seeing?
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LOS ANGELES - July 14, 1974 -
Prabhupāda: Yes. The whole thing is managed by the law of gravitation, but when Kṛṣṇa lifted the hill, there was no weight. He's not conditioned by the law of gravity. He can lift up. We cannot do, because we are conditioned. And when they cannot understand God's inconceivable power, they think it is all mythology. Because he is a rascal, he thinks Kṛṣṇa also rascal.
Bali-mardana: They try to put Kṛṣṇa within the framework of their own...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because Kṛṣṇa is kindly become visible to our eyes, these rascal immediately take Him as one of us. By His kindness He's coming to be visible by us, to listen Him, His instruction, but these mūḍhā will take Him as ordinary human being. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (BG 7.13).
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the consciousness, my consciousness... The consciousness of those living cells are dependent on my consciousness.
Prabhupāda: No, that consciousness is not developed. It is not equal to your consciousness. Just like a child's consciousness is not equal to your consciousness because he's not yet developed, similarly, this human life is the full-fledged... Not full-fledged; almost full demonstration of consciousness. We have to utilize it for higher understanding. From material condition, the consciousness develops. On account of loss of consciousness, they become godless. So it requires time. So this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is to help them to develop consciousness very quickly. Yes. Otherwise, it will take millions of years. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścit yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). We are helping people to develop that original consciousness very quickly. (break)
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LONDON - August 07, 1973
The impersonalist rascal, they cannot understand what is the nature of God. In the Bible also it is said, "Man is made after God." You can study God's quality by studying your quality, or anyone's quality. Simply the difference is the quantity's different. I have got some quality, some productive capacity. We also produce; every individual soul is producing something. But his production cannot be compared with the production of God. That is the difference. We are producing one flying machine. We are taking very much pride that "Now we have discovered the sputnik. It is going to the moon planet." But that is not perfect. It is coming back. But God has produced so many flying planets, millions and trillions of planets, very heavy, heavy planets.
Just like this planet is carrying so many big, big mountains, sea, but still it is flying. It is floating in the air just like a cotton swab. This is God's power. Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). In the Bhagavad-gītā, you'll find: ahaṁ dhārayāmy ojasā. Who is sustaining all these big, big planets? We are explaining "gravity." And in the śāstra we find that it is being carried by Saṅkarṣaṇa.
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LOS ANGELES - April 26, 1973
So there is bhuva-bhara. Bhuva-bhara. It is said, bhārāvatāraṇāyānye bhuvo nāva ivodadhau. Bhuva-bhara, this world becomes overburdened. Overburdened. As soon as it becomes overburdened, there must be a war, pestilence, famine, epidemic and finish. This is natural. Overburdened. Nature's law. This is called... In economics there is some law. So why the world becomes overburdened? The earth planet... Not only earth planet; there are many millions of other planets also. They are bearing big, big mountains, big, big ocean. So why it becomes overburdened? Yes.
First of all, you have to consider how this planet is floating in the air. It is floating in the air, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, gām āviśya (BG 15.13). Because Kṛṣṇa enters within this... Kṛṣṇa, just like He enters within the atom. So He's the spirit, Supreme Spirit. So because the Supreme Spirit is within, therefore it is floating. Not that weightlessness. Weight is there, very heavy weight. Just like you can test: This body will float in the water so long you are living. And as soon as the spirit soul goes, then immediately the body goes down. The law of gravity acts, the so-called law of gravity. This is an example. A child, so long it is living you can take in one hand. But as soon as the child is dead, it becomes heavier. That is natural.
So everything is lighter as soon as it is spiritually advanced or there is spirit. Similarly, when we'll be spiritually advanced, then there will be no impediment. Now we cannot fly in the air, but when you are free from this body, your spirit soul, within a second you can go to the Vaikuṇṭhaloka. It is so light. Within a second. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9).
So the conclusion is, when the world becomes overloaded with the demons, nondevotees, it becomes disturbed; it becomes... The mother earth feels load, very much load. So at that time, Kṛṣṇa comes. Therefore it is said, bhāra-avatāraṇāya: just to unload. And bhārāvatāraṇāyānye. Somebody says, bhuvo nāva ivodadhau. Just like if a ship or boat is overloaded, it is very dangerous. It can be drowned at any moment. So sīdantyā bhūri-bhāreṇa.
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MELBOURNE - May 19, 1975 - 33:16 Minutes
Paramahaṁsa: ...purports. And that purport that you gave is very, very...
Prabhupāda: Basic.
Paramahaṁsa: Yeah. It explains it very clearly. That will clear up any misconception.
Prabhupāda: That law of gravity is a bogus theory. The... Sixteen hundred thousand miles... Sixteen hundred thousand miles below the sun is the Rāhu. They are going there.
Paramahaṁsa: Rāhu. Seems like all the planets, they have that space interval of sixteen hundred thousand miles. Most of the sun...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Paramahaṁsa: ...and then the moon and Venus. That two hundred thousand yojanas.
Prabhupāda: When the Rāhu happens to be between the two planets, sun and moon, there is eclipse.
Paramahaṁsa: When the orbits intercross.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: Ketu is below Rāhu?
Prabhupāda: Ketu is not mentioned there.
Paramahaṁsa: Oh. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...another part of Rāhu.
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BOMBAY - August 14, 1976
Prabhupāda: What is that news?
Indian man (2): Somebody has given the prediction, I forget his name, but he says that in the next thirty years or so the human beings will discover some things on which gravity does not act.
Prabhupāda: Something?
Yaśomatīnandana: Human beings will discover some things on which the law of gravity does not work.
Prabhupāda: Law of gravity does not work now also. There is no question of this discovery. You take one small needle and you take one big log. The log will float and the needle will go down. The needle is so less weight, but it goes down. And the log is so heavy, it floats. Where is law of gravity?
Indian man (2): But that is, that is only relative. Both are being acted upon...
Prabhupāda: Therefore relative. It is not absolute, law of gravity.
Indian man (2): The thing is, till now we are thinking that light (indistinct) things, and all our thinking was conditioned by that. At least in the scientific context.
Prabhupāda: Scientific context... In Hawaii they cut all the coconuts because they are very scientist—law of gravity. But we don't care for this. We don't care. We are keeping the coconut on our head. We never think of law of gravity, that it will fall down. And those who are very much advanced in law of gravity, they have lost all the beauty of the trees, they have thrown the... They are afraid they will...
Indian man (2): Fall on the head.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They will fall down. This is their gain of life. We have discussed this point. Why the green apple does not fall down? So this is their concoction. And why the other planets do not fall down, with so many rocks?
Kartikeya Mahadevia: Millions of rocks.
Prabhupāda: Millions. They do not fall down. Where is the law of gravity acting? That means..., law means it is made by somebody. And the maker, if He likes, it will act; if He does not like, it will not act. Just like Lord Rāmacandra, all the stones He threw over the sea and they began to float. Not that when He made that bridge with stones, they are solidified. No, they began to float. And all the monkeys went over them. So the lawmaker is Lord Rāmacandra. If He likes, the stone will go down. If He doesn't like, it will float. The lawmaker is fact, not the law. Just like in the state law, today it is law, tomorrow it is no law. It depends on the lawmaker. (break) ...so there is the Govardhana Hill. What law is there?
Indian man (2): Kṛṣṇa's law.
Prabhupāda: No, even these yogīs, they can do that. Aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti-siddhi. Aṣṭa-siddhi-yoga. By yogic process you can become so stout and strong that you can take a hill on your... Mahimā. Aiye. You are leaving?
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Srimad-Bhagavatam - Third Canto - Chapter 29: Explanation of Devotional Service by Lord Kapila
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 42
sravanti sarito bhītā
notsarpaty udadhir yataḥ
agnir indhe sa-giribhir
bhūr na majjati yad-bhayāt
SYNONYMS
sravanti—flow; saritaḥ—rivers; bhītāḥ—fearful; na—not; utsarpati—overflows; uda-dhiḥ—the ocean; yataḥ—because of whom; agniḥ—fire; indhe—burns; sa-giribhiḥ—with its mountains; bhūḥ—the earth; na—not; majjati—sinks; yat—of whom; bhayāt—out of fear.
TRANSLATION
Out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the rivers flow, and the ocean never overflows. Out of fear of Him only does fire burn and does the earth, with its mountains, not sink in the water of the universe.
PURPORT
We can understand from the Vedic literature that this universe is half filled with water, on which Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is lying. From His abdomen a lotus flower has grown, and within the stem of that lotus flower all the different planets exist. The material scientist explains that all these different planets are floating because of the law of gravity or some other law; but the actual lawmaker is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When we speak of law, we must understand that there must be a lawmaker. The material scientists can discover laws of nature, but they are unable to recognize the lawmaker. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā we can know who the lawmaker is: the lawmaker is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
It is said here that the planets do not sink. Since they are floating under the order or energy of the Supreme Godhead, they do not fall down into the water which covers half the universe. All the planets are heavy, with their various mountains, seas, oceans, cities, palaces and buildings, and yet they are floating. It is understood from this passage that all the other planets that are floating in the air have oceans and mountains similar to those on this planet.
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-PERTH - May 17, 1975 -
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) But it has got some arrangement, it does not fall down.
Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, well they accept that also. They say only if there is no such arrangement, then it will fall down.
Prabhupāda: That means conditional. And who makes that condition? That means ultimately you have to accept existence of God.
Śrutakīrti: Just like they say the moon does not go away because the earth is attracting it.
Prabhupāda: Oh. What is earth? (laughs) All bogus.
Paramahaṁsa: But if we tell them that there is no law of gravity, they will say that why is it that if you throw up a ball, then it comes down?
Prabhupāda: It comes down, heavy, then it comes down, that's all. (laughs)
Śrutakīrti: But that heaviness, they say, is gravity.
Prabhupāda: You can call anything. (laughs) But if Kṛṣṇa desires, a football may not fall. Just like so many planets, they are carried up by the air. All these planets are moving only by the air. So the heavy land, heavy cloud is carried by the air. It is a question of adjustment of air, not the law of gravity. Now the whole universal planetary system are floating and rotating round the polestar. Is that law of gravity, rotating? It is the arrangement of the air. By the air it is up. Just like there is dust storm, so many are floating in the air. There is no question of law of gravity; it is the air. And the..., who is controlling the air? That is Supreme Personality. Just like in Darwin, the motor buses were floating by the air. It was a great storm there?
Amogha: Yes, hurricane.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Hurricane?
Amogha: On Christmas day.
Prabhupāda: Motor buses were floating. Is that law of gravity? Air, different adjustment of air. If Kṛṣṇa desires, simply by air this whole city will be devastated. The other day we saw so many trees fell from Kurukṣetra. All trees and houses will be smashed within half an hour if some hurricane is sent. Poking nose in the affairs of God. They'll simply try to prove that there is no God. This is their attempt. And they say "nature." What is this nature? Nature is an instrument, machine. The authority is God, Kṛṣṇa. So I have given the right name: fourth-class men, not even third class. All fourth class. Śūdra. Śūdra and less than śūdra. This is the whole pack-up of population at the present moment. First-class man, his definition is there: śama, dama, tapa, śaucam, titikṣā, ārjavam, jñāna vijñānam āstikyam (BG 18.42). That is first class. They are snatching a motorcar mechanic as first class. Because he knows some mechanical arrangement how to do it, he is first class. Such things are being done by the demons. Machine or wonderful building, these things are done by the demons. Now to begin? Time is up?
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May 15 1973 morning walk
Śrīla Prabhupāda: For perfect knowledge we have to approach a superior person, a guru. One may try to learn a subject by reading books at home, but he can learn much better by going to college and approaching a professor. In the same way, we have to approach a guru. Of course, if we encounter a false guru, our knowledge is false. But if our guru is perfect, our knowledge is perfect. We accept Kṛṣṇa as our guru. If He is perfect in knowledge, our knowledge is also perfect. As far as we're concerned, we do not have to be perfect in ourselves, but if we receive knowledge from the perfect, our knowledge is perfect. We cannot say that we understand that there are nine hundred thousand species of life in the ocean because we have studied the entire ocean. Rather, we say that we take this information from scriptures, and therefore it is perfect. This is the Vedic process.
Scientists may carry out much research work, but however great a scientist may be, his senses are imperfect. Therefore he cannot have perfect knowledge. What is the value of our eyes? We cannot see without sunlight, nor can we see small things without a microscope. Our eyes are imperfect, and the instruments our eyes have discovered are also imperfect. How, then, is it possible to get perfect knowledge? Because the living entity is limited, his knowledge is limited. A child may know that two plus two equals four, but when he speaks of higher mathematics, we do not take him seriously. The senses through which a scientist acquires knowledge are limited and imperfect; therefore his knowledge is limited and imperfect. In his ignorance he may claim to know everything, but that is simply nonsense.
A blind man may lead another blind man, but what does it avail them when they both fall into a ditch? The laws of nature bind us hand and foot, yet we think we are free to speculate. This is illusion. Although conditioned by so many of nature's laws, the rascals think they are free. Yet if there is a cloud, they cannot see the sun. What power have we to see? Only when nature's laws give us some facility are we able to see. Indeed, we can only experiment under certain conditions, and if the conditions are not favorable, our experiments fail. Why then are we so proud of experimental knowledge?
Why experiment? Things are already there. The sun's energy is there, given by God for us to use. What else is there to know? So many apples fall from trees. What further need is there to explain the law of gravity? Actually the scientists are lacking in common sense. They are simply concerned with "scientific" explanations. They say the law of gravity works only under certain conditions, but who has made these conditions? When Kṛṣṇa appeared as Lord Rāmacandra, He threw stones on the water, and the stones floated. The law of gravity did not work in that case. Therefore the law of gravity works only under the direction of the Supreme Lord. The law in itself is not final. A king may give a law, but he can change that law immediately. The ultimate law-giver is Kṛṣṇa, and a law will only work by His will. Scientists try to explain God's will in so many ways, but because they are conditioned by māyā, illusion, they can only talk like a person haunted by ghosts. Tell me, what is the scientific explanation that accounts for all the varieties of trees?
Karāndhara dāsa: They say that nature mutates and makes these varieties.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Then it must be nature's will. And what is that will? Does the land have any will?
Karāndhara dāsa: Well, they are very vague on that point.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That means that they do not have perfect knowledge. They do not know that behind nature is the will of Kṛṣṇa.
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LA - April 28, 1970
So nobody is uncontrolled. Now, so many big, big planets, huge planets... This earth planet is only... It's a minute, small planet, and still, you'll see, on this planet there are so big oceans like Atlantic and Pacific, and so big mountains, and what to speak of your skyscraper buildings. With all this load it is floating in the air just like a swab of cotton. Who is controlling? Can you float even a small piece of grain in the space? You can say "law of gravity" and so many other things, but you cannot utilize it. Or you can put it in... Your machine, airplane, is running on the space—but so long the machine is working. As soon as your petrol is finished, immediately it will fall down. Immediately.
But these big, big planets... This is only one of the small. The sun planet is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet. So that is also... We can see the sun is floating in one corner of this big space. So how you can say that it is not controlled; it is floating out of its own self? No. The answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "I enter into this material planets, and then I keep it floating." Gām āviśya aham, dhārayāmy aham ojasā (BG 15.13). Dhārayāmy aham ojasā. Something mak... Just like you float this airplane; so somebody has entered within it, that driver or pilot. So actually, he is keeping this airplane floating, not the machine. This is simple truth.
So if you take this analogy, then this planet is floating, there must be somebody entering here. Somebody must have entered. So Kṛṣṇa says, "I have entered." So what is the difficulty to understand how it is keeping floating? The analogy is there. Everyone can understand that this big airplane is floating in the sky because the pilot has entered within it. Similarly, if this planet is floating, then somebody, either you or somebody, God, has entered it. And that answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "I enter into these planets, and therefore I keep them floating." That is our answer. And the scientists, they say the law of gravitation... How far it is true...
But we have to take knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. Our process is that. We don't accept any other process of knowledge. Our knowledge is to receive the knowledge from the authority, and that is fact. That is first-class knowledge. If you get one authority who can speak on the subject matter, and if you take that knowledge, that is perfect.
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MONTREAL - August 16, 1968
Therefore no external agent can prevent Kṛṣṇa's existence. And it is again self-contradictory to attribute any imperfection to the perfect being. Therefore the conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa necessarily exists because no one can prevent His existence. By definition, God is the perfect entity. So just as we've seen that existence of Kṛṣṇa cannot be checked... And actually, nobody can prove that Kṛṣṇa does not exist, neither can they prevent Him from existing.
This is sort of an indirect way to prod you to think about the position that you're in now. People become very proud because they have some material opulence or material knowledge, and they tend to think that they are self-sufficient. But actually, we're dependent upon so many things. For example, we are just taking it for granted that our bodies will remain unmutilated by various forces in nature, when actually at any moment the bodies could be totally destroyed. And, even granted that our bodies will be with us for some time in operable condition, this field of our activities has many laws which we're dependent upon, just as the other day we were discussing the law of gravity.
This idea of laws in nature necessarily implies the existence of the lawmaker, and this can be demonstrated very easily in many, many ways. We'll take the law of gravity again. If some object in nature which has no consciousness behaves in a regulated manner, then it's obvious that it's under the control of a law. We call it a law. For example, if an apple drops from a tree, the apple is obeying the law of gravity.
The apple does not know the law of gravity; therefore that law is being enforced by some superior entity. In our dealings in society, people know laws. Still, they don't obey them. They have to be forced to obey the laws, and still, people disobey the law. But the laws of nature are so perfectly enforced that nobody can disobey. Just a little thought will make this a little bit more clear to anyone.
So there are twofold implications, namely the law proceeds from lawmaker; law enforcement proceeds from law enforcer. Man has tried so hard to establish law and order. Law and order is already there in this existence which he's now facing. I think that we don't need to consider any more on these points just now. The main point, or the main information which we're considering now, is that by understanding Kṛṣṇa's existence, understanding Kṛṣṇa's appearance before the perception of ourselves, that we can terminate this material existence which we now face.
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Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill
Śyāmasundara: What about if it accidentally fell off; a thunderbolt hit the rock and it moved, like that, or gravity made it fall.
Prabhupāda: Gravity, but when you say law of gravity, then the question is that somebody has made that law. One - we should give, of course - these materialistic philosophers... Just like when Rāmacandra threw stones on the sea, the gravity did not work. It was floating. The rocks were floating. Therefore the law of gravity ultimately is made by the Supreme Lord. So he can change it. So my study of gravity is not final.
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LoN 1 God and The Law of Karma-
We can also see Kṛṣṇa's control on the universal level. For example, there are so many huge planets; this earth planet is only a small one. Still, on this planet there are big oceans like the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as big mountains and skyscraper buildings. Yet despite all this load, the earth is floating in the air just like a swab of cotton. Who is floating it? Can you float even a grain of sand in the air? You may talk about the law of gravity and so many other things, but you cannot control it. Your airplane is flying in the air, but as soon as the petrol is finished, it will immediately fall. So if it takes so many scientists to build an airplane that can float only temporarily in the air, is it possible that this huge earth is floating of its own accord? No. Lord Kṛṣṇa declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.13), "I enter into the material planets and keep them aloft." Just as to keep an airplane aloft a pilot has to enter it, so to keep this earth aloft Kṛṣṇa has entered it. This is the simple truth.
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Morning Walk May 8 1973
The Cheaters and the Cheated
Śrīla Prabhupāda. Natural phenomena such as the law of gravity or weightlessness are acintya-śakti, inconceivable energies, and real science means to understand this acintya-śakti. To observe a chain of events only from a certain point in time is unscientific and gives only incomplete knowledge. We must know where things begin. If we carry our investigation far enough, we will find that the origin of nature is acintya-śakti. For example, with brain, brush and color we can paint a flower. But we cannot conceive how vegetation throughout the whole earth is automatically growing and fructifying. We can explain the painted flower, but we cannot explain the real flower. Scientists actually cannot explain biological growth. They simply juggle words like molecule and chromosome, but they cannot actually explain the phenomena.