Flights to the Moon (Srila Prahupada)

Distance to the Moon
	Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.6-7. June 8, 1975, Honolulu. This universe is one of the universes. There are millions of universes. We do not know. We do not know even one universe. We cannot study even one universe. They are... They were -- not are -- trying to go to the moon planet, but that has become a failure. From sastra we understand that the moon planet is situated 1,600,000 miles away from the sun, and the sun is situated in the middle of the universe. And the total diameter from one circumference to the other of the universe, it is four billions of miles. So the sun is situated at the point of two billions of miles from the circumference of the universe, and above the sun planet, 1,600,000, there is the moon. And above that there is Venus, there is Jupiter, there is Mars -- all difference of 1,600,000s of miles. So it is not possible to go to the moon planet, because first of all the sun is a little... According to the modern scientists' calculation it is 93,000,0000. Taking it, accepted, as 93,000,000's from this earthly planet, then again add 1,600,000, that means 94,600,000 miles away from the earth there is the moon planet. It is not possible. Therefore they are now silent. They cannot go there; neither ever they went there. This is the conclusion.	Conversation at Bhaktivedanta Manor. July 24, 1976, London. Prabhupada: It requires a little mathematical astronomy knowledge to translate this very difficult subject in the Sanskrit language. I have done as far as possible, but when we make our planetarium, we have to consult the Indian astronomers or mathematicians. In this way, we have to correct if there is discrepency. Harikesa: Every time I tried, it was a failure. I couldn't find anybody who knew.
	Conversation at Bhaktivedanta Manor. July 24, 1976, London. That's all right, you can calculate [indistinct] now. I want just a rough estimate that if moon is accepted above the sun, it is their calculation the sun is from the earth at a distance of 93 million miles. So 93 million miles and 1,600,000 is about 95 million miles. So 95 million miles, even at the speed of 25,000 per hour, how they can they go in four days? When there is argument, I shall take your words in my favor. [laughter] That is the way. Whatever is in my favor, I shall take as good. And Mars is beyond that. So theother day we calculated that. At the rate of 18,000 miles per hour, it takes about seven months to go to the moon planet. And above that, another 1,600,000 miles above, will be Mars. So it will take about nine months for that.	(relativity of time, space and speed) Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.23. July 7, 1975, Chicago. Ten thousand of years means according to the demigods' years. Their duration and our duration is: our one day..., our six months, their one day. That is admitted by scientists that you go higher, the relative time is different. Just like when the Russians first of all sent that Sputnik, in one hour, twenty-five minutes, they surrounded all over the world. Now it is relative. You have got a speedy vehicle. So generally, the 25,000 miles, this earth, it takes long, long time, even you go by aeroplane But you have got..., when you have got a better machine, it is finished within one hour, twenty-five minutes. So as you go higher, higher, the time duration becomes different. This is called relativity. We hear from the Bhagavad-gita the duration of life of Brahma, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmano viduh [Bg 8.17]. Our some millions of years is equal to twelve hours of Brahma.
	Morning Walk. May 16, 1975, Perth. My point is: if the moon is the first planet nearer, why they did not start Monday? If the sun is after, then Sunday. This is the proof that first sun, then moon, not that first moon and then sun. Hmm? That is the description in the Bhagavatam. One after another, one after another. Sixteen thousand, sixteen hundred thousand miles apart. First of all sun, then moon, then, what is called? Mars. You have seen... This "Sunday, Monday," means first sun, then moon. Where they are going? They are going to hell, not in the moon. This Vedic description is right. Because first study, Sunday... That, we offer gayatri to the sun. So the moon is after the sun -- this is the proof, first Sunday, then Monday... And if they go, then they will have the right information. But they will never be able to go... That was his only demonic proposal, that "He make staircase." He said that "Why you are undergoing so much austerities to go to the heavenly planets? I shall make a staircase. You will go."... Therefore it is a common say in, hearsay in the, in India, that ravanera svargera sindi: "The proposal is just like Ravana proposed to make a staircase to the heavenly planets."
Surface, dust, rocks and glow, plants, atmosphere, passage	Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.33. June 1, 1976, Honolulu. So don't take it is mythology. No. This is fact. Vyasadeva or big, big saintly person, they have no business to present before you something mythology. Why they should waste time in that way? It is simply rascaldom to think all the statement as mythology. Not mythology. We have no knowledge. In the sastra we understand, yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti [Bs 5.40]. Yasya prabha. The rays of Krsna's body, when it is expanded, brahma-jyoti, within that brahma-jyoti there are innumerable universes. Just like within the sunlight, sunshine, there are innumerable planets. We are seeing daily. Similarly, there are innumerable universes in the brahma-jyoti. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti. And kotisu, and each and every universe, millions, kotisu. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-kotisu asesa-vasudhadi-vibhuti-bhinnam [Bs 5.40]. Vasudha, vasudha means planet. Just like this is also vasudha, this planet here. We can see there are so many millions of planets, at night we can see, and each of them is peculiar, different from the others. Why they have failed to utilize the moon planet? It is a different atmosphere. It is different atmosphere. These rascals cannot go there. It is not possible. They have simply made false propaganda. They cannot go there. So because the atmosphere is different... There is also blazing fire surrounded by ice. That is the description. I am speaking from the description. And therefore at night it is so pleasing. You have got experience. Fire coming through ice, the rays, that is very pleasing. Therefore sunshine is making the whole thing very hot, and the moonshine making them pleasing. So God's arrangement is so nice that everything is going on nicely. There is brain behind it. Why there is sunshine, why there is moonshine, everything described. You'll read in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, moon is the cause of vegetation, and there is no vegetation. Just see. Moon is the cause of vegetation in all planets, and they say there is no vegetation, it is simply dust. So we have to believe that? And when you present actual fact, it is mysticism or mythology. Anyway, we are not concerned with their statement. Our process is to know things from the sastra. Sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya tinete kariya aikya. [Sri Prema-bhakti-candrika, Song 2, Stanza 6]	(They flew, but they weren't allowed in, they didn't see anything and immediately returned with a handful of dust) Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.23. July 7, 1975, Chicago. There is kingdom. There is city. There is, I mean, population. Otherwise, how Krsna went there long, long ago, forty millions of years, and He instructed this Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god, Vivasvan? His name is also there. Not fictitious. This is the parampara system. Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam. So we have got picture in our Bhagavad-gita: the sun-god is listening. The sun-god, there is sun-god. Just like here we have got a god, Ford or Nixon, similarly, in every planet there is a god. Therefore it is described, yanti deva-vrata devan [Bg 9.25]. All these gods, they are demigods. They are not God. God is one. So deva. That... If you try to go to the sun planet, moon planet or any other planet, millions and trillions of planet, you can go. Higher planetary system, lower planetary system, that you can go. That is... The description is there in the sastras. They are going to the moon. Of course, I have several times... They have never gone, but anyway... You can go to the moon planet. How you can go, the description is there. So moon planet is not vacant. That is counted amongst the heavenly planets. If anyone can go there, he can live there for ten thousands of years. So in this way, if you like to go to the other, higher planetary system, there is system how to go there. As we have got system here in this world... If anyone wants to come to America, he has to arrange for visa and passport and so many things. Without going through the system, you cannot enter by force. So these foolish people are thinking that "There is no living entity. It is lying vacant, and by force we can go there." And after spending millions of dollars, we come back with some dust, that's all. [laughter] And become proud that we have gone to moon planet. So the Vedic sastra does not say so. But you can go there. You can live there, a higher standard of comfortable life, higher duration of life. Yanti deva-vrata devan [Bg 9.25].
	Room Conversation with Scientists. July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C. So similar, then atmosphere cannot be dissimilar. It is common sense. And this is also bogus, that such a brilliant illuminating planet, it is full of some rocks and sand... Yes. It is so brilliant that it is illuminating the whole universe... Why reflection not come in our Sahara desert? Why you don't see such reflection in the Sahara desert so that the whole world may be illuminated?... That's all. They are not going. Arizona is there, only asset. Why they are taking Arizona? That means they are in Arizona. Just like one man was stealing from the room, and there were some sounds, and the master of the house said, "Who is there? What is that sound?" The man said, "No, I am not stealing. No, no, I am not stealing." It is like that. [laughter]... And there is no man. Just see the foolishness. The same logic, "No, no, I am not stealing." Who asked you that you are stealing? He asked for the sound, but he disclosed. It is like that. Why they are bringing Arizona?...  Useless. Who asked them to speak of Arizona? You are speaking of Arizona. "No, no, I am not stealing." [laughter] It is like that. They could have mentioned other places... That means they are working in Arizona. The mind is there. Arizona-minded because they are working in Arizona, so they are disclosing mind... just to cheat people that they are very big scientists, give them fat salary. That's all. But what people will benefit by this?
		(they have gone to the Rahu) Morning Walk. June 22, 1975, Los Angeles. That I am doubtful. Always. They have... They might have gone... Mostly, most probably they have not gone. Simply propaganda. But even they have gone, not to the moon. Maybe the Rahu planet. Or there are so many other planets... Rahu planet orbit is in between moon and sun. So when it comes in between moon and sun there is eclipse... They might have gone to that hellish planet, that's all... Even in this planet, unless one is bona fide, he is not allowed to enter America. How you can go to the moon planet? That is demigods' planet... Yes, they might [to the Rahu] ... That is also very difficult.
	(the program was curtailed) Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.32. July 17, 1975, San Francisco. So universe is not so small that you can ride on your 747 and go. [laughter] It is not so easy. It is not so easy. So therefore, from the circumstances we can conclude that they could not approach the moon planet. And now they are saying that "It is useless. There is no need of going there. The grapes are sour." [laughter] The jackal jumping, jumping, jumping. When he could not get the grapes, then he is rejecting, "Oh, this is sour. It is no use." So after jumping so many years and spending so much money, they are now rejecting: "The moon planet is not habitable." But we get there... This is one of the heavenly planets, and it is habitable by the most advanced pious men. So these are the difference. Now it is your business to believe the so-called scientist or the sastra, as you like. But we cannot believe. Because we are Krsna conscious, we have to believe what is stated in the sastra.	Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal, Questions 8 through 9. June 30, 1976, New Vrindavan. They say; you believe. But we are common man, layman, we say that if you have gone there, why you do not live there?... If there is rock, if there is sand, then why don't you colonize there? What is their answer? If there is same sand, same rock there, then why not... [break] ...some money and can bring some sand and bluff people that "We have gone to moon planet." And people are satisfied. They're paying for another excursion, to the Mars. This is going on. If you have gone there, there is land. If you fly in the sky and if you get a land, then you can stay there. And because you cannot stay there, you come back again. So their... The Mayavadi's position is there, aruhya krcchrena param: they merge into the impersonal Brahman, but there is no place to stay; they come down again to this material world. You may go many thousands and millions of miles in the sky, but you want to stay somewhere. But if you cannot get any place to stay, then again you come to this Moscow and New York. So our enquiry is that "If you have gone there, then why don't you stay there?... Then why, rascal, you go there? [laughter] And spend so much money, rascal? You could not understand the atmosphere is not good for us, go there and spend so much money?... And again you are going to the Mars. Are you fixed up what is the position there? Then you'll again bring something, some dust and rock. [laughter] And this business will go on at the expense of the... You can do. You have got money... If one tenth of the expenditure you would have given to us for spreading this Krsna consciousness movement... No. Not a single paisa they will give. And they'll spoil money for going to the moon planet and bring some dust... And it is sure certainly, you can write down, their Mars going also will be failure. Let it, you take in writing. I may die. I am old man. Take it down: It will be failure. I told ten years before that "It is childish." One press reporter inquired in San Francisco, "What is your..." "No, this is childish, wasting money." The reporter came to see me in Los Angeles. He remembered that. If you want to spend for nothing like that, you can do that. You have got money.