In modern astronomy stars are regarded as suns that are so far away from us that they appear as the minute points of light we see at night. Some stars are regarded as being as large and bright as our sun, and some are regarded as being much brighter or much dimmer. Modern astronomers have worked out an elaborate theory of the inner workings of stars, and they claim to be able to explain in detail their origin, life history, and final demise.

In contrast, Śrīla Prabhupāda has repeatedly compared the stars to reflecting planets or moons. His reasoning is presented in the purport to the verse in Bhagavad-gītā, where Kṛṣṇa states, “Among the stars I am the moon” (BG 10.21). There Śrīla Prabhupāda says, “It appears from this verse that the moon is one of the stars; therefore the stars that twinkle in the sky also reflect the light of the sun. The theory that there are many suns within the universe is not accepted by Vedic literature. The sun is one, and as by the reflection of the sun the moon illuminates, so also do the stars. Since the Bhagavad-gītā indicates herein that the moon is one of the stars, the twinkling stars are not suns but are similar to the moon.”

In BG 15.12 it is directly said that the sun illuminates the entire universe, and Śrīla Prabhupāda comments, “From this verse we can understand that the sun is illuminating the whole solar system. There are different universes and solar systems, and there are different suns, moons, and planets also, but in each universe there is only one sun.” A similar statement is made in BG 13.34, and Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks of the unique position of the sun and the moonlike nature of the stars in SB 3.15.2p, 4.29.42p, and 5.16.1p, as well as in TQK,20 p. 102.

It is clear that from the viewpoint of demigods and yogīs, all the stars and planets of the universe lie within a fairly small neighborhood and can be reached by interplanetary travel. Thus, the stars in the Kṛttikā constellation (corresponding to the Pleiades) are associated with the wives of the moon-god (SB 6.6.23), and the seven stars of the big dipper are associated with the seven sages. (We also read in SB 1.9.8p that Candramāsī, the wife of Bṛhaspati, was “one of the reputed stars.”)

In SB 5.22.11 it is stated that 28 important stars headed by Abhijit are located 200,000 yojanas above the moon. This distance seems short indeed, but we should consider that in this verse the word nakṣatra, or star, has a special meaning. In Vedic astronomy there are 28 important constellations, headed by Abhijit. Of these, 27 lie along the ecliptic and are used to divide it into 27 equal units of 13-1/3 degrees. These constellations are referred to as nakṣatras, or lunar mansions. They are particularly connected with the motion of the moon, since the moon completes one orbit in about 27.3 days. In SB 5.22.5 the nakṣatras are referred to in the following statement: “According to stellar calculations, a month equals two and one quarter constellations.” (Note that 2-1/4 times 13-1/3 degrees equals 30 degrees.)

The 28 nakṣatras are mentioned in the description of the śiśumāra-cakra in Chapter 23 of the Fifth Canto. The śiśumāra-cakra is an imaginary form in the heavens that is made up of constellations and visualized as a gigantic animal. This form is worshiped by some yogīs as a manifestation of the virāṭa-rūpa, or the external form of Kṛṣṇa. Table 14 lists the 28 nakṣatras and the Western (Greek and Arabic) names for their principal stars, or yoga-tāras. These identifications are from SS, p. 62. We have also indicated the different parts of the śiśumāra-cakra that these nakṣatras represent. These are taken from SB 5.23.7.

The Lunar Mansions

The central column lists the 28 nakṣatras, or lunar mansions. The column on the right lists the Western names for their principal stars. On the left are the parts of the body of the śiśumāra-cakra represented by these stars. The n’s represent the right side and the course of the sun to the north; the s’s represent the left side and the course of the sun to the south.

Apart from the 28 nakṣatras, the only stars for which distances are given in the Bhāgavatam are the planets of the seven sages, which are said to lie 1,100,000 yojanas above Saturn, and the polestar, Dhruvaloka, which is said to be 1,300,000 yojanas above these planets (SB 5.22.17 and 5.23.1).

These distances, of course, are also very small (and as we have indicated in Chapter 5, they should be interpreted as heights perpendicular to the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala). They conform to the idea that the stars in general are fairly close by, from the point of view of the demigods, that they are planets reflecting the light of the sun, and that the sun has the unique role of illuminating the entire universe.
This does not mean, however, that the distances to the stars as they appear to us will necessarily be this small. The distances may seem larger to us than they would to a demigod who was actually traversing them. As we have already indicated, the higher modes of travel used by the demigods may involve transformations of both space and time that make the distances shorter for them than they would be for a manmade machine traveling in the ordinary three-dimensional fashion. Thus, it might be that a spaceship launched from the earth toward the polestar would actually have to travel for many years at nearly the speed of light to get there.

In SB 3.15.26p Śrīla Prabhupāda makes an interesting remark: “By present standards, scientists calculate that if one could travel at the speed of light, it would take forty thousand years to reach the highest planet of this material world. But the yoga system can carry one without limitation or difficulty.” If the distances to the stars are really very short, one might ask why Śrīla Prabhupāda would apparently give credence to this example of the modern idea of interstellar travel. It makes perfect sense to do so, however, if the distances as experienced by a three-dimensional traveler are very large, whereas the distances experienced by a yogī are relatively small.

At this point one might object that if the ordinary, three-dimensional distances to the stars are very large, then the inverse square law for the diminution of light intensity with distance implies that the stars must be shining very brightly. For the stars to appear as bright as they do to us, they must actually be shining as brilliantly as suns. Furthermore, the fact that the light of the stars has an emission spectrum shows that they are actively generating light and not just passively reflecting it.

In response to this objection, two points should be made. The first is that it is not necessary to suppose that stars do not generate their own light. Śrīla Prabhupāda compares the stars to moons, but he also gives an “educated guess” to the effect that there are mild and pleasing flames on the moon that generate illumination (SB 5.20.13p). Thus the conclusion is that stars may be fiery and thus generate an emission spectrum, but they are not independent suns. Indeed, Śrīla Prabhupāda has said, “The stars may have the same composition as the sun, but they are not suns” (letter to Svarūpa Dāmodara dāsa, Nov. 21, 1975).The second point is that the inverse square law for the propagation of light may not hold universally.

If that is the case, then we cannot conclude that if a star is at a distance of many light-years, it must therefore be as brilliant as the sun. In general, we propose that it cannot be taken for granted that the laws prevailing in remote parts of the universe are the same as the laws that hold here on the earth. The Vedic literatures describe phenomena on the higher planets that are quite different from the phenomena we experience on the earth, and they also indicate that the operation of the material energy on the earth was significantly different in earlier yugas (SB 1.4.17p). This suggests that laws governing the production and propagation of light might also be different in different parts of the universe. Of course, if the laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe, then it might also be that stars appear to be more distant than they actually are. It may even be that the very idea of distance as we know it breaks down in remote regions of the universe. Once we allow the laws of physics to vary, the possibilities are limitless.

According to the Bhāgavatam, this universe consists of a spherical inner portion four billion miles in diameter, surrounded by a series of seven coverings. In this subsection we will describe the nature and dimensions of these coverings and compare this aspect of Vedic cosmology with the modern conception of the distant regions of the universe.

Modern Western cosmologists have generally regarded the universe as having the same basic nature in all locations. One uniform geometrical framework is used to describe all space. Matter is regarded as existing in space, and it is assumed that the physical laws of our earthly laboratory experience govern the interactions between material elements in all parts of the universe. Thus the different conditions prevailing in different locations are attributed solely to the different arrangements of matter temporarily existing at those locations.
Traditionally, the geometrical framework has been three-dimensional Euclidian geometry, and thus the universe has been assumed to extend uniformly to infinity in all directions. In recent years, however, Einstein introduced four-dimensional non-Euclidian geometries, in which space can curve back on itself in a manner analogous to the curved surface of a sphere. This allowed people to formulate models of the universe in which the total volume of space is finite but there are no boundaries, and in which conditions are still essentially the same everywhere.

In Vedic cosmology the material world is not assumed to be of the same nature in all places, and space is not postulated as an absolute background within which all phenomena take place. Rather, material space, or ether, is generated at a certain phase in the process of creation, and this takes place only in certain bounded domains, called brahmāṇḍas. Śrīla Prabhupāda has spoken of these domains as universes and thus given a new meaning to this English word.

As we have described in Chapter 2, the Vedic literature takes the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the ultimate source of all manifestations, and it maintains that the universes are generated by the transformation of the Lord’s external energy. In the process of creation, the material elements are generated in the following order: mahat-tattva, false ego, mind, intelligence, sound, ether, touch, air, form, fire, taste, water, odor, and earth (SB 3.26.23-44).

Here the term mahat-tattva refers to the manifest form of Kṛṣṇa’s total material energy, which is produced from pradhāna, the unmanifest or undifferentiated form of that energy (SB 3.26.10 and 17-20). The mahat-tattva is the source of the false ego, a material energy that serves to cover the true self-awareness of the conditioned living beings. The false ego operates in three modes, called goodness, passion, and ignorance, and thereby generates mind, intelligence, and subtle sound. Here, sound (śabda-tanmātra) refers not to a vibration within gross matter but to a subtle energy that generates the gross material elements and vibrates within the element of false ego in ignorance. Ether, the first element produced from this energy, is the source of the subsequent elements in our list.

When the Vedic ether is mentioned, the objection will often be raised that the idea of an ether was banished from physics by Einstein’s theory of relativity. This objection refers to the classical “luminiferous ether,” which was shown by the Michelson-Morley experiment to be stationary with respect to the earth (see Section 6.a). This conception of the ether was indeed rejected by Einstein, but he simply replaced it with another conception. In fact, Einstein said, “According to the general theory of relativity, space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there would not only be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time” (CH, pp. 53-54).
According to the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ether is the basic fabric of material space. Since air, fire, water, and earth are produced from ether, these gross material elements can be regarded as transformations of space.

It is interesting to note that such ideas have been recently contemplated by modern physicists. For example, the theory of geometrodynamics created by the physicist John Wheeler is an attempt to define all matter in terms of perturbations in the fabric of space. Also, the scientists working on quantum mechanical versions of general relativity are all trying, in effect, to show how the fabric of space can be derived from some kind of wave motion (or quantum wave function). This can be compared with the Vedic idea that ether is generated from subtle sound.

It is also interesting to note that in the Vedic process of creation, the sequential unfolding of the elements from ether involves an alternation of gross material substances and modes of sense perception (tanmātras). Thus, according to the Vedic conception, the properties of matter are intimately tied together with the processes of sense perception occurring in conscious living entities. This aspect of matter is completely disregarded in modern physics, although there is some recognition by quantum theorists such as Eugene Wigner that a complete theory of matter must take into account the existence of a conscious observer (WG).

Since our theme in this book is the structure of the universe, we will not discuss the process of creation of the elements in more detail. For us the key feature of this process is as follows: In the first step, “a part of the material nature, after being initiated by the Lord, is known as the mahat-tattva” (SB 2.2.28p). The generation of false ego occurs within a restricted part of the mahat-tattva. Within part of this region, subtle sound becomes manifest, and then ether becomes manifest within part of the region of subtle sound. In general, each successive element becomes manifest within a small portion of the region in which the preceding element is present. This is described by Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, who is cited by Śrīla Prabhupāda in this connection in SB 2.2.28p.

The result is that the material energy becomes filled with innumerable spherical regions of mahat-tattva and false ego. Each of these regions constitutes a particular universe, or brahmāṇḍa, and contains concentric spherical regions in which the successive material elements are manifest. Within the center of each of these systems of concentric globes is a hollow region containing the inhabited planetary systems of that universe.

The part of the universe in which one element is manifest but the subsequent element is not is called the universal shell or covering corresponding to that element. Generally, it is said that the inner, hollow portion of the universe is covered by seven successive shells, each ten times as thick as the one within it (SB 3.11.41). In different parts of the Bhāgavatam Śrīla Prabhupāda gives a number of partial lists of these different coverings. Since doubt is sometimes expressed as to what elements the various coverings consist of, we have collected together some of these lists in Table 13.

TABLE 13
The Coverings of the Universe

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) 

1 earth earth earth earth
2 water water water water water water
3 fire fire, effulgence fire fire fire fire fire
4 air air air air air air
5 sky ether ether sky ether sky
6 ego,
noumenon ego mind material energy
7 material nature mahat-tattva ego false ego
Here we compare seven different lists of the coverings of the universe given in the Bhāgavatam. These are taken from: (1) SB 2.1.25p, (2) SB 2.2.28p, (3) SB 3.11.41p, (4) SB 3.26.52p, (5) SB 3.29.43p, (6) SB 3.32.9, and (7) SB 6.16.37p. (In two cases, air is listed before fire in one place and also listed in the standard order on the same page. We have taken these to be typographical errors and assumed that the standard order is correct.)

One question that is sometimes raised is, Does the first covering of the universe consist of earth or water? From this table we conclude that Śrīla Prabhupāda was generally alluding only briefly to the coverings and not trying to give an exhaustive enumeration of them. We therefore suggest that the innermost layer of the universe must be of earth, since it is listed as earth four times. In the cases where water is listed as the first covering, it may be that the earth-covering is being amalgamated with the inner, earthly region of the universe. In general, it would seem that in some lists certain layers are amalgamated together, while in others they are subdivided.

In SB 5.21.11p Śrīla Prabhupāda indicates that the coverings of the universe make it impossible for us to see the suns of other universes. We note that this should be impossible even if the layers of earth, water, and air were perfectly transparent. The reason for this is that light as we experience it is a manifestation of the fire element, and thus where there is light there is fire (SB 3.26.38-40). Therefore, it should not be possible for light from the interior of a given universe to pass beyond that universe’s shell of fire. (There is light in the region beyond the universal coverings, but this is not material light, and it cannot be seen unless one has attained a certain level of spiritual advancement. Thus, the light of the all-pervading brahma-jyoti is all around us, but it cannot be seen with ordinary vision.)

In the Bṛhad-bhāgavātamṛta the coverings are listed as being made of earth, water, light, air, ether, ego, and mahat-tattva (BB, pp. 134-35). There it is stated that variegated activities take place within each shell. Each shell is presided over by a demigoddess, beginning with the earth goddess, Bhūmi, in the first shell and ending with Prakṛti, the personified material energy, in the last. A yogī who is trying to attain liberation by leaving the material universe is presented with temptations within each shell, which he must overcome in order to continue his journey.

In SB 3.11.41p it is stated that the earthly covering of the universe is ten times the thickness of the universe itself, or 40 billion miles. This is confirmed in other places in the Bhāgavatam, including SB 3.29.43p. However, it is stated in SB 2.2.28p that the first covering extends “eighty million miles.” This can be reconciled with the other statements about the first layer if it is a misprint and should read “eighty billion miles.” In that case the figure of 80 would refer to the total thickness of the first shell along a diameter of the universe, whereas 40 billion refers to its thickness along a radius.

If we assume that the first shell has a radial thickness of forty billion miles, and that each successive shell is ten times as thick as the one preceding it, then the outer radius of the seventh shell comes to 44,444,442 billion miles. The inner region containing the planetary systems is therefore extremely small compared to the thickness of the outer coverings of the universe. According to CC AL 5.22p the universes are themselves innumerable, and they float in foamlike clusters within the unlimited Causal Ocean. Thus we can see that the idea of vast cosmic distances is present in the Vedic literature, and is not solely a product of recent cosmological thinking.

The Scale of Cosmic Distances

At this point the objection may be raised that although the scale of the clustered universal globes may be very large, the inner globe of this particular universe is described as being far too small to accommodate everything we can observe in the sky. It is not possible to fit even the solar system within a 2-billion-mile radius, what to speak of stars and distant galaxies. Thus, if what we can see must indeed lie within the earthly, or even the fiery, shell of this universe, then the Vedic account is seriously contradicted by modern observations.

In response to this objection we can offer the following tentative observations. In Section 4.c we observed that the rate of passage of time is much slower on Satyaloka than it is on the earth. We suggested that there might also be a comparable transformation of space in the region of Satyaloka. Thus, while a yogī traveling to Satyaloka may experience that he is crossing 2 billion miles, from our point of view he might be covering a much greater distance. We therefore suggest that when the Vedic literature speaks of a distance of 2 billion miles to the shell of the universe, it is referring to this distance as it would be perceived by the demigods, yogīs, and ṛṣis who can actually make this trip.

In Chapter 1 we discussed a purport from Caitanya-caritāmṛta that is consistent with this idea. CC ML 21.84 states that the diameter of this universe is 4 billion miles. This yields a circumference of approximately 12.566 billion miles. Yet in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda cites information from Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī indicating that the circumference of the universe is 18,712,069,200,000,000 x 8, or 149,696,553.6 billion miles. If we are to take this figure seriously, then we must accept that there exist different scales of distance that can be applied to the universe. In Chapter 1 we calculated on the basis of this figure (plus some considerations involving the length of the yojana) that the radius of the universe must be about 5,077 light-years. This would mean that the diameter of the fiery shell (marking the ultimate limit for the travel of material light) must be 4,442 X 5,077, or some 22.5 million, light-years, a respectable distance even by modern cosmological standards.

In SB 3.26.52p Śrīla Prabhupāda states, “The space within the hollow of the universe cannot be measured by any human scientist or anyone else.” This also suggests that something unexpected must happen to space (as well as time) as one approaches the universal shell, for it hardly seems impossible to measure a distance of 2 billion miles in ordinary space. That such a transformation of space and time should occur is in agreement with the basic character of the universal coverings themselves. As one passes from covering to covering, the nature of the material manifestation is progressively transformed, until finally one emerges into a purely spiritual realm (SB 2.2.28p). Thus, it would not be surprising if transformations of the material energy and its laws of operation were to occur as one approached the first universal shell.

In recent years the public has received many reports of flights through outer space made by manned and unmanned vehicles launched from the United States and Russia. These include manned and unmanned orbital flights around the earth and journeys by robot vehicles to Venus, Mars, and other planets. And, of course, the most spectacular of these adventures in outer space were the Apollo flights to the moon. In this subsection we will discuss what Śrīla Prabhupāda had to say about these flights. We will begin by discussing the Vedic idea of space travel.
The Vedic literature contains many references to the idea of traveling from planet to planet through outer space. For some beings, such as great yogīs and demigods, it is possible to travel from one part of the universe to another by the direct use of mystic siddhis. No machines are required, and the empowered being is able to transcend the constraints of ordinary space and time. However, as we mentioned in Chapter 5, machines are also used for interplanetary travel, and it would seem that many beings who are capable of traveling through space on their own also customarily make use of such machines.

We can gather from various references that these machines, which are typically called vimānas, or airplanes, fall into a number of different categories, including literal space ships (ka-pota-vāyu) and also mind ships (ākāśa-patana) (SB 4.12.27p). In SB 4.6.27p, vimānas run by mantric hymns are mentioned, and in CC AL 5.22p, it is stated that the airplanes in Satyaloka are controlled not by gross mechanical means (yantra) but by psychic action (mantra). The higher-dimensional milieu of the upper planetary systems is the natural domain of flying machines of this type. It is interesting to note that Brahmā’s swan carrier is apparently a subtle mechanism of this kind, and not a sentient living entity (SB 3.24.20p). Also, even though yogīs are capable of traveling through space under their own power, we read that at the time of annihilation, the yogīs living on Maharloka use airplanes to escape from the fire emanating from Ananta and fly to Satyaloka (SB 2.2.26).

In SB 2.2.23p, Śrīla Prabhupāda states that it is not possible to go beyond Svargaloka or Janaloka by either gross or subtle mechanical means. This suggests that in the heavenly planets below the level of Tapoloka and Satyaloka there are classes of subtle machines that are not capable of reaching these higher realms. There are many references to the vimānas of the demigods, which typically seem to be used as celestial pleasure craft. These vehicles, like the demigods themselves, must operate at a level beyond the limits of our ordinary, gross senses. However, the existence of still more powerful vehicles is indicated by the story of Kardama Muni’s flying city (SB 3.33.15p), and also, of course, by the accounts of transcendental vimānas, such as the one that carried Dhruva Mahārāja to Vaikuṇṭha (SB 4.12.34p).

Up to the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, vimānas of the demigods regularly visited the earth (SB 1.19.18p), and persons such as Śālva would occasionally acquire remarkable flying machines by performing penances to satisfy demigods. It would seem that during this period, even materialistically inclined people were well aware of the existence of higher beings, and thus instead of trying to develop their own technology, such people would naturally turn to the demigods to satisfy their material desires. However, with the advent of the Kali-yuga, the earth (or at least the portion of the earth known to us) was placed under celestial quarantine, and access to higher planets was largely cut off (SB 2.6.29p).

It does seem, however, that flight to other planets is sometimes possible for human beings during the Kali-yuga. In SB 2.7.37 we read, “When the atheists, after being well versed in the Vedic scientific knowledge, annihilate inhabitants of different planets, flying unseen in the sky on well-built rockets prepared by the great scientist Maya, the Lord will bewilder their minds by dressing Himself attractively as Buddha and will preach on subreligious principles.” According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, this remarkable verse refers to a different Kali-yuga than the present one. We gather from the nature of the rockets and the name of their designer that in this age, atheistic people of this earth had mastered some techniques of higher-dimensional travel and were able to challenge the authority of the demigods.

The Moon Flight

Śrīla Prabhupāda has often said that the astronauts have never actually visited the moon. Since this is a very controversial topic, we will discuss his various statements on this issue at some length. As we will see, these statements mainly fall into two categories. These are (1) that the demigods will not allow human beings to enter higher planets because human beings are not qualified to do so, and (2) that the astronauts have not experienced the celestial opulences actually existing on the moon, and therefore they could not have gone there.
In SB 1.5.18p Śrīla Prabhupāda states, “Some are trying to reach the moon or other planets by some mechanical arrangement…. But it is not to happen.

By the law of the Supreme, different places are meant for different grades of living beings according to the work they have performed.” He has said that the moon, Venus, and the sun are inaccessible to the “inexperienced scientists” because they are higher planets that can be attained only by works done in the mode of goodness (SB 2.8.14p). He has described the attempt of the scientists of this earth to reach the moon as being as demonic as the attack of Rāhu (SB 5.24.3p), and has said that such travel will be barred by Indra, who has a standard policy of preventing unqualified people from reaching the heavenly planets (SB 8.11.5p). Thus the immigration policy of the demigods is one important reason Śrīla Prabhupāda gives for why the astronauts could not have gone to the moon.

Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently uses the fact that the astronauts did not experience the celestial conditions on the moon as evidence that they did not go there. Thus he points out that the astronauts did not meet anyone on the moon, “what to speak of meeting the moon’s predominating deity” (SB 4.22.54p). In SB 6.4.6p and 8.5.34p he comments that since the moon-god is the presiding deity of vegetation, there must be vegetation on the moon, and yet the scientists say that it is a barren desert. In SB 2.3.11p, 8.2.14p, and 8.22.32p, he cites the scientists’ lack of knowledge of the variety of life on other planets as evidence that the moon trip failed. And in SB 10.3.27p he argues that those who reach the moon attain a life of 10,000 years, and thus the astronauts could not have gone.

Śrīla Prabhupāda makes several statements suggesting that higher-dimensional travel is needed to reach the moon. Thus in SB 1.9.45p he refers to the futility of trying to use mechanical spacecraft, and says that finer methods are needed. In SB 3.32.3p he points out that “it is not possible to reach the moon by any material vehicle like a sputnik,” even though it hardly seems impossible to hurl a gross material object over a few thousand miles of space, or even several million. Finally, he indicates that to reach the orbit of the moon, it is first necessary to cross the Mānasa Lake and Sumeru Mountain (LB, p. 48). As we have already pointed out, no ordinary trajectory to the moon will pass by these particular landmarks.

We therefore suggest that when Śrīla Prabhupāda says that the astronauts did not go to the moon, he is referring to higher-dimensional travel to the celestial realm of the moon. From the Vedic point of view it is natural to interpret “travel to the moon” as travel in this sense. After all, if the moon is actually a celestial planet, then a journey to a place full of nothing but dust and rocks certainly couldn’t count as a trip to the moon.

In an interview with a reporter in 1968 Śrīla Prabhupāda stressed that the human body is not suited to live in the atmosphere of the moon. When asked whether spacesuits could make up for this deficiency, he said that if we could use scientific methods to change the nature of our bodies, then we might be able to visit the moon. But he regarded this possibility as very remote, and said that the spacesuits would not be sufficient.

When the reporter asked whether the inhabitants of the moon would be visible or invisible, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that they would be “almost invisible,” with subtle material bodies (CN, p. 179). This implies that the world of the demigods, including their dwellings, food, conveyances, and so on, would also be invisible to us. By definition, such a world is higher-dimensional: it is invisible to us but not to the beings living in it. To enter into it, we would indeed require more than a spacesuit: we would also need an “invisible” bodily form that could interact with the world of the lunar demigods.

This leaves open the question of whether or not the astronauts traveled in three-dimensional space to the moon that we directly perceive in the sky. We have pointed out that a higher-dimensional location can have a three-dimensional projection, just as a three-dimensional office address in New York City (given by avenue, street, and floor) has a two-dimensional projection (namely avenue and street). Thus the astronauts may have gone to the three-dimensional location of the moon without making the higher-dimensional journey needed to actually reach the kingdom of Candra. This would be comparable to visiting Vṛndāvana on the earth without being able to perceive the spiritual world that is actually there.

This is a definite possibility, although we do not know for certain whether it is true. A second possibility is that the astronauts may have been deluded by the demigods at some stage of their journey and may never have reached the gross moon planet. Thus, Śrīla Prabhupāda has suggested that the astronauts may have been diverted to the planet Rāhu (SB 4.29.69p). A third possibility, of course, is that the true story of the moon trip has been obscured by manmade illusions. Śrīla Prabhupāda has expressed doubt as to the honesty of the moon explorers, both in the Bhāgavatam 5.17.4p and in private conversations.

This brings us to the question of whether or not there was a moon hoax. Obviously, this is a very touchy question, and we have no definite evidence that settles it one way or another. Here we will simply give one piece of evidence suggesting that published reports of the moon landings may not have been fully honest. Figure 18 shows an official published picture of the Apollo lunar module on the surface of the moon (MSF, p. 397). The clearly visible footprints confirm the astronauts’ statements that the lunar surface was soft and dusty. The rocket engine of the lunar module can be seen beneath the craft, a few feet above the surface.

As the lunar module descended to the surface of the moon, these rockets would have been firing continuously to break the vehicle’s downward motion and also support its weight. Under the lunar gravitational pull (which is 1/6 as strong as the earth’s gravity) the module would have weighed some 1,300 kg after expending most of its descent-stage propellant (MSF, p. 298). The question is, With the engine firing with enough power to support this much weight and break the module’s fall, why do we see no disturbance caused by the rocket exhaust in the soil beneath the engine? The engine was supposedly shut down when the vehicle was about 1.52 meters above the surface (MSF, p. 300). One would think that its exhaust would have left some recognizable streaks or markings on the soft lunar soil. Yet none can be seen in this picture or in other, similar ones.

In summary, Śrīla Prabhupāda rejected the idea that men had visited the moon on the grounds that these men were not qualified to enter a higher planet and that their descriptions of their journey indicated they had not done so. He also indicated that their gross mechanical methods were not suitable for entering a higher planet. Apart from these firm conclusions, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned a few tentative possibilities as to what might have actually transpired on the moon flight, and he expressed general doubts as to the honesty of the people involved with space exploration. In this area there are many opportunities for cheating, and there is evidence suggesting that some cheating has taken place. However, to obtain conclusive proof of large-scale cheating would be very difficult, and possibly dangerous.