VEDASONIC

Standard Objection to accepting Sukadeva Goswami literally:

“What’s wrong with saying that the Puranic model is in ‘another dimension’? Are you saying that ordinary human devotees can see the same things as the Great Sages and Devas?”

Response:

“So Sukadeva Gosvami has described all the planetary system, where and how they are situated, how many miles they are different from one another. The calculation of the whole universe is made there. The diameter is described: four billion miles up and down, this way and that. And where is the sun is situated and how far above the sun the moon is situated, how far above the moon the Mars, Jupiter—everything is clearly described. And where the hellish planets are situated, and how in the hellish planets different sinful men are suffering.” (SB 6.1.7, Honolulu, June 15 1975)

Ordinary human devotees have human-limited senses and thus our eyes cannot be considered divine instruments to percieve the fullness of the Lords unlimited creation, however, we can “see through the eyes of shastra”. What we are able to see via this descending method of shabda brahma is conclusive, even in our conditioned state. The words of Sukadeva Goswami, the great mahajana, are conclusive regarding the actual dimensions of our universe. If you are a true follower of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, there is no reason whatsoever to doubt the numerical dimensions that Sukadeva gives us in yojanas in the ten chapters of the 5th canto that specifically describe the universe in terms that we can easily understand.

In the same way that Shankaracharya covered the self-evident import of Vedanta by imposing an interpretation NOT FOUND IN THE TEXT ITSELF, a great thinker in ISKCON has covered the direct meaning of Sukadeva Goswami with something created from his powerful mind: The “other dimensions” theory of bhu-mandala. The achilles heel of the “other dimensions” theory is precisely that of Shankaracharya’s mayavada. In classic mayavada the world that we perceive is false yet brahman is real. In fact, the theory holds that this world of illusion can neither be said to not exist nor exist because only brahman is real. The problem is that these two worlds of “illusion” and “brahman” don’t touch, there is no bridge from one to the other, they don’t connect. There is no way to get from here to there.

The vaishnava philosophy–which accepts the statements of Vedanta at face value–actually gives the world the status of REAL, because it is an emanation from the Supreme Lord, but temporary. By hearing from shastra we can get liberation because the Vedas–the real teachings of the Supreme Lord have the power to enlighten the jivas to go from darkness to light and become free from samsara by bhakti.

In the same way, the ISKCON concept currently in vogue is that “in the world of our experience” there is a spinning-globe-earth-ball which orbits the sun in a heliocentric system and the “scientists” and space agencies all confirm this with their empiric experiments. Therefore, Sukadeva Goswami must be speaking about bhu-mandala and our home island, jambudvipa, as the realm as it is seen from the perspective of the devas and great sages who have perfected senses. The “other dimension” corresponds to “brahman” and the “spinning-globe-earth-ball” corresponds to “illusion” or “jagat” and there is no bridge between the two; they are disconnected and there is no path from here to there.

Just as with Shankaracharya, this concept is the work of a stellar mind, yet it is invalid. This idea can be discovered NOWHERE IN THE TEXT of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and thus it holds equal status to the speculative ruminations of Shankaracharya. The idea is brilliant and slick, but false. Our method of understanding the Srimad-Bhagavatam is simple and in parampara: We accept the words of Sukadeva Goswami completely as they are given by their dictionary definitions. This is also known as mukhya-vritti.

Furthermore, the hidden assumption in the “other dimensions” theory, is that the conclusions that we have been presented by the modern empirical scientists are the result of honest discovery and research. The assumption is that they are honest brokers and their experiments using their limited mind and senses along with their deductive reasoning skills present a true challenge to what we read in the antiquated puranic texts. I am exposing this hidden assumption for what it is: False on two counts, one far worse than the other.

The first count of falsity is the simple error of placing pratyaksha above shabda. Pratyaksha may be useful, but shabda is CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE according to our vaishnava epistemology. Under no circumstances is pratyaksha able to displace shabda in revealing the absolute truth. The “other dimensions” theory undermines the proper method for gaining conclusive truth at the outset by prioritizing empiricism over Vedanta and thus disqualifies itself from the outset.

The second count of falsity can be divided into two parts. The first is that Prabhupada warned us clearly about the “cheating” and “bluffing” of the atheistic scientists, therefore, we have heard from the Acharya directly and thus we can assess the truth value of their words a priori. The second is that even from the material viewpoint, an ordinary person using common sense can easily pick apart their ever-expanding network of lies.

In summary, if we are to be faithful disciples of His Divine Grace, we must ALWAYS trust the divine words of the unimpeachable sages and mahajanas such as Sukadeva Goswami and accept their words at face value.