Going to Mars

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

“We should not be concerned if the upcoming Mars probe returns to Earth
with no evidence of life, for as amazing as it is to have gone there
technologically, those involved have not gone to a higher planet in the
sense that the Vedic scriptures speak of.”

Q. I was wondering whether any Vedic texts make reference to the
existence of dinosaurs on earth. It would seem that the existence of
dinosaurs is irrefutable, yet I’ve never heard of any religious texts that make
any mention of them.

A. The legends and lore of most pre-modern cultures contain
descriptions of very large animals and it seems that there is irrefutable evidence
that very large animals did inhabit the earth in the distant past.
Vedic scriptures mention this as well. For example, Srimad-Bhagavatam
8.7.18 speaks of large water elephants and whale-swallowing fish,
timi-dvipa-graha-timingilakulat. The Bhagavatam also speaks of large birds
compared to clouds, yatha meghah syenadayo vayu-vasah.

Q. Will there ever be a time when all reach nirvana or is the wheel of
birth and death in the material world kept continually turning by an
infinite number of souls?

A. The number of jiva souls in this material world is unlimited. The
material world is a particular pastime of God known as srsti-lila. This
lila is sometimes manifest and sometimes unmanifest, and this cycle from
unmanifest to manifest will never cease. Thus there will never be a
time when all jivas are liberated.

In the Visnu-dharma Purana a similar question is posed: “One by one,
kalpa after kalpa, the individual souls attain liberation. O brahmana, in
this way would not the material world become gradually empty in the
course of time?” To this question, Sri Markendeya Rsi replies,
jivasyanyasya sargena nare muktim upagate acintya-saktir bhagavan jagat purayate
sada: “When one individual soul attains liberation, Bhagavan, who has
inconceivable potencies, replaces it by creating another soul. In this
way he keeps the material world always filled.” Sri Jiva Goswami cites
and comments on this verse in his Priti-sandarbha, explaining that in the
innumerable material universes there are numberless individual souls
whose karma is not awakened and who are as if asleep, merged in material
nature. When Bhagavan awakens these souls and gives them external
material bodies, this is what is referred to as the srsti-lila “creation of
souls.” In reality souls do not have a beginning or a moment in time
when they were created.

Q. I read your comments on aprthak-siddhi and acintya-shakti:
http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/
pages/volume_five/m220.html
I still feel that there was no need for Jiva Goswami to use the special
term “acintya-sakti” (inconceivable power) to explain what can be
understood by logic. Can you comment further?

A. I think it is folly to deny that God has inconceivable power. The
jiva is constituted of one of his saktis and all such saktis of God are
dependent on him. He is their source. They have no existence independent
of him. In this sense they are one with him. At the same time, the
jivas are different from God, who presides over them. Just because one can
explain this to some extent with logic does not change the fact that it
takes place because God has inconceivable powers.

In other words, if one asks why the relationship between the jiva and
Brahman should be called acintya when it can be explained with the above
logic, the answer is that what is explained by this logic is that the
relationship involves Brahman being simultaneously one with and
different (bhedabheda) from its sakti. Just how the simultaneous presence of
oneness and difference in Brahman can occur in the first place is beyond
our comprehension, for logic precludes the simultaneous presence of
oneness and difference in the same object.

Fire and its energy, heat, are simultaneously one and different, and we
can cite this example of the simultaneous presence of oneness and
difference in a material object in order to explain that Brahman and the
jiva are simultaneously one and different. However, all that this example
tells us is that as Brahman is acintya-bhedabheda and so too are
material objects one and different from their energy, and thus the metaphysic
of actinya-bhedabheda is unlimited in its scope. Such is the nature of
being, yet even while observing this truth we cannot understand how
such a logical contradiction is possible. All we can say is that it is
possible because reality is possessed of inconceivable power by which that
which contradicts mundane logic can nonetheless take place.

Q. It is said in Katha Upanisad (1.2.20) that God knows the thoughts of
all living entities because he resides in their hearts as Paramatma,
the divine Supersoul, who sits next to the individual soul in the
material body. What happens when a soul is liberated and does not have a
material body? It is said that the Paramatma feature of God does not exist
in the spiritual world, so how does Krsna know every thought and desire
of the liberated soul?

A. The Paramatma feature of God is the omniscient overseer of the
material world in srsti-lila. He presides over the cosmos, each universe,
and each atom. Thus he is described in three phases (Karanodakasayi
Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, and Ksirodakasayi Visnu). The point here is
that he is all-pervasive (Visnu); he is everywhere and knows everything.
Nothing is a mystery to him. The description given in scripture of
Paramatma as being the size of a thumb and residing in the human heart next
to the individual soul is for conceptualization during meditation. His
omniscience with regard to the individual soul is not dependent on his
residing next to the jiva in the human heart. This is explained by our
Gaudiya acarya Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya
commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. (1.2.7, 1.3.24-25.) During meditation
Paramatma does appear to the yogi or devotee as a localized form in his heart,
but in general Paramatma is all-pervasive and all-knowing. God
manifests in relation to the material world as the Paramatma and in the
spiritual world as Bhagavan. Because the Paramatma is a partial manifestation
of Bhagavan, the omniscience of Paramatma must also be present in
Bhagavan.

In Vaikuntha, Bhagavan Narayana’s omniscience is tied to his love for
his devotees rather than being employed for the purpose of witnessing
the deeds of the jivas, as in the case of Paramatma in the material
world. Narayana is all-knowing in the context of a loving relationship with
his devotees, who in Vaikuntha are all in the mood of servitorship.

In Goloka, Maha-Vaikuntha, God’s loving relationship with his devotees
shifts from formal, as in Vaikuntha, to intimate. In loving intimacy,
God’s omniscience necessarily recedes to the background to facilitate
that intimacy. His power to do this is known as yoga-maya, or divine
self-forgetfulness. For example, in Dvaraka-lila in order to experience an
intimate loving exchange, Bhagavan Krsna sometimes asks Uddhava for
advice as if he were not omniscient. This is one way that Krsna in Dvaraka
subordinates himself to his devotee.

In Dvaraka his omniscience is prominent and his divine
self-forgetfulness less so. However, this equation is reversed in Vrndavana-lila, where
his omniscience is clearly subordinate to his divine
self-forgetfulness. In Vrndavana he thinks of himself not as God, but as the son of
Yasoda, the friend of Madhumangala, and the lover of Radha. God never loses
his omniscience, but to the extent that intimate love permeates his
relationship with the individual soul, his omniscience becomes less
important.

Q. Bhagavad-gita asserts that life is everywhere (sarva-gatah) and
Vedic literature speaks of demigods and other beings enjoying life on other
planets including the moon and Mars. Scientists say that astronauts
have gone to the moon and that there have been a number of robotic probes
sent to Mars, but in both cases they found no evidence of life. I don’t
accept science as an absolute authority but if there is life on the
moon and Mars why has science as of yet found no evidence? Some devotees
believe that scientists are simply deceiving everyone about their going
to the moon and Mars but I suspect otherwise. Is there a Vedic
explanation as to why science can find no evidence of life on the moon and
Mars?

A. When Vedic scripture speaks of planets on which higher life forms
exist, it speaks more of the macrocosmic mental and intellectual planes
of experience than it does of the planets we see in the sky with our
physical senses. Although the sages did acknowledge some correspondence
between the two, when they speak of attaining other planets, they
describe a course to do so that is much different than technological means.
Just as there is a physical plane of experience in which the senses are
predominant, similarly there are planes of experience where the mind or
intelligence are predominant (bhur bhuvah svah). On the physical plane,
we cannot experience all of our dreams. Here we can see gold and a
mountain, but not a golden mountain. In the mental plane, however, we can
experience a golden mountain and more.

Thus the mind is a plane of experience that is particularly active at
night when the physical plane (our sense experience) shuts down. Thus it
is identified with the moon, the light of the night, which is said to
preside over the mind and desire, as opposed to reason–chandrama manaso
jathah. The moon is also identified with heaven, which in one sense is
the land of dreams where all our material desires can be fulfilled. In
the heavenly plane of mind, there are possibilities that do not exist
on the physical plane, and there one can dwell and enjoy almost
unlimited heavenly pleasure. However, it is all a fantasy in one sense because
it does not endure.

Our senses are dependent upon aspects of the cosmos in order to
function and bring us pleasure. For example, in order to see with our eyes we
are dependent on the light of the sun. The senses are not ours in all
respects, and by acknowledging their dependence on aspects of nature we
live sensually yet mindfully. This in turn enables the self to
experience increased material enjoyment in the heavenly mental realm without
having to undergo as many negative karmic reactions after leaving one’s
present material body. Thus the means to go to heavenly realms involves
relatively little sense control. All that is required is that while
enjoying sense objects one acknowledge the deities and aspects of the
cosmos that preside over the senses. In Vedic terms this is called yajna,
or sacrifice. To live in this way is to live with a sense of gratitude
and understanding of how the universe works.

Above the mental plane is the intellectual plane attained by sadhana
(spiritual practice). The waning of the moon is the symbol for the waning
of the mind, for the flickering of the mind’s influence has to be
eliminated. All spiritual practice is directed toward this in its beginning
stages. Such practice is initially directed by purified intellect
derived from saints and scripture. Intellect, as opposed to mind, brings
certainty rather than fantasy. Macrocosmically, sages who have controlled
minds and senses inhabit the plane of intellect. They live in samadhi
awaiting liberation. Such saints have no desire for sense pleasure
because of the knowledge and mystic insight they possess. They have
controlled their minds and thus their senses as well, and by doing so they have
come closer to the self and to God.

Therefore, we should not be concerned if the Mars probe returns to
Earth with no evidence of life, for as amazing as it is to have gone there
technologically, those involved have not gone to a higher planet in the
sense that the Vedic scriptures speak about doing so. As interesting as
the prospect of going to other planets or experiencing higher realms of
material enjoyment may be, we should always be more concerned with
sadhana. Sadhana and the grace of saints is infinitely more important than
going to Mars.

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