The Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam occupy a central place in Vedic cosmology and sacred astronomy. The sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn are described not merely as physical globes, but as luminous markers of divine order (ṛta), regulating time, karma, and destiny under the supreme will of Bhagavān.

In the Fifth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, these planets are presented within a sophisticated cosmological framework centered on Bhū-maṇḍala, the vast cosmic plane. Śrīla Prabhupāda consistently emphasized that Vedic descriptions must be understood through śāstra-cakṣuḥ—“seeing through the eyes of scripture.”

Thus, the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam are to be studied not superficially, but philosophically and devotionally.

The Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam and Svargaloka

The seven traditional planets visible to human beings are:

• Sun (Sūrya)
• Moon (Candra)
• Mars (Maṅgala)
• Mercury (Budha)
• Jupiter (Bṛhaspati)
• Venus (Śukra)
• Saturn (Śanaiścara)

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the moon belongs to Svargaloka—the heavenly planetary system. Although planetary systems are described as layered vertically, he clarified in a 1968 letter that different types of planets—heavenly, earthly, and hellish—may exist within the same horizontal layer.

He compared the arrangement to lotus petals in layers, with Brahmaloka at the summit. Thus, the earth and the moon may share the same layer dimensionally, yet differ categorically—one being madhyama-loka (middle planetary system), the other svarga-loka (heavenly realm).

This nuanced understanding prevents simplistic literalism when studying the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam.

Heights Above Bhū-maṇḍala: A Sacred Geometry

The Bhāgavatam provides specific heights for the planets above Bhū-maṇḍala:

• Sun – 800,000 miles
• Moon – 1,600,000 miles
• Venus – 4,800,000 miles
• Mercury – 6,400,000 miles
• Mars – 8,000,000 miles
• Jupiter – 9,600,000 miles
• Saturn – 11,200,000 miles

At first glance, critics claim these figures contradict modern astronomy. However, these distances are vertical heights above the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala—not linear distances from the Earth globe.

If one assumes vast horizontal distances along the cosmic plane, the apparent discrepancy diminishes. Indeed, modern astronomy observes that all planets move close to the ecliptic—the great celestial circle corresponding to the sun’s apparent path.

One compelling interpretation suggests that the “height” of the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam describes their deviation from this celestial plane.

Ecliptic Motion and Higher-Dimensional Imagery

Modern astronomical data shows that planets move slightly above and below the ecliptic due to orbital inclinations.

For example:

• Moon deviates about 5°
• Mercury deviates about 7°
• Saturn deviates about 2.5°

These deviations produce maximum vertical distances consistent in order with the Bhāgavatam’s hierarchy.

A possible reconciliation is that the Fifth Canto employs three-dimensional imagery to describe a higher-dimensional reality perceived by devas (demigods), ṛṣis (sages), and perfected yogīs.

Thus, the “height” of the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam may represent a metaphysical attribute reflected through visible astronomical motion.

Planetary Motion in the Srimad-Bhagavatam

The Bhāgavatam describes the sun as moving at three speeds:

• Fast (southern course)
• Slow (northern course)
• Moderate (at equinoxes)

Modern astronomy confirms that the sun’s apparent motion along the ecliptic varies due to Earth’s elliptical orbit. The Earth moves faster at perihelion (near January) and slower at aphelion (near July).

Similarly, the Bhāgavatam gives remarkably accurate orbital periods:

• Jupiter: one sign per Parivatsara (≈ 4,320 days)
• Saturn: one revolution in 30 Anuvatsaras (≈ 10,800 days)

Modern values differ by less than half a percent.

Such precision indicates that the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam were not described through primitive guesswork, but through refined astronomical tradition.

The Moon and the Nakṣatras

The moon passes through 27 nakṣatras (lunar mansions), completing a sidereal orbit in approximately 27 days.

Modern value: 27.321 days
Sūrya-siddhānta: 27.322 days

The Bhāgavatam gives 27 days—an excellent approximation.

The waxing and waning of the moon are described as creating day and night for specific classes of celestial beings. This illustrates the relativity of time in Vedic cosmology.

Thus, the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam function not only astronomically but cosmologically, linking time to consciousness.

Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn: Striking Accuracy

The Bhāgavatam states that Mars crosses one zodiac sign in three fortnights (45 days), yielding a speed of 2/3 degree per day.

Modern calculations confirm that Mars spends much of its orbital time near this rate, excluding retrograde motion.

Similarly:

• Jupiter’s orbital period differs from modern data by about 0.3%
• Saturn’s differs by about 0.38%

Such close correspondence suggests deep astronomical sophistication embedded within sacred narrative.

The Days of the Week and Planetary Order

The seven-day week derives from the seven traditional planets.

This sequence arises mathematically from the planetary rulership of 30-day months described in the Sūrya-siddhānta.

Western historians attribute this system to Greek influence. However, given India’s ancient astronomical heritage, it is equally plausible that this calendrical science originated within Vedic civilization.

The Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam thus influence not only cosmology but the very structure of human timekeeping.

Reconciling Apparent Contradictions

Some object that planets move on both sides of the ecliptic, whereas the Bhāgavatam assigns fixed heights.

Yet Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke of Bhū-maṇḍala as a system of globes floating in space. He also affirmed that different planetary types may mix within layers.

The solution may lie in understanding that the Fifth Canto provides a simplified descriptive model of a higher-dimensional reality.

Just as modern physics employs curved spacetime imagery to describe gravity, Vedic cosmology may employ vertical height imagery to describe metaphysical positioning.

Thus, the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam reflect both observable astronomy and transcendental cosmography.

Conclusion: The Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam and Divine Order

The Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam reveal a universe governed not by blind mechanism but by conscious design. Their heights, motions, and cycles regulate time, seasons, karma, and ritual observance.

Far from being naive, the Bhāgavatam’s astronomical descriptions display notable accuracy when properly interpreted. Its language is devotional, yet mathematically structured.

Through śāstra-cakṣuḥ we understand that these planetary systems operate under the supervision of the Supreme Lord, who declares in Bhagavad-gītā that He is the light of the sun and the moon.

Therefore, the study of the Seven Planets in the Bhagavatam is not merely scientific—it is spiritual. It reveals a cosmos harmonized by divine intelligence, inviting humanity to align its life with the eternal order of dharma.

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Along this vertical direction, the universe is divided into three and also fourteen subdivisions. The three subdivisions are called the three worlds: lower, middle, and upper. These worlds are often referred to by the names Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ, as well as the names Pātāla, Martya, and Svarga (SB 3.11.28p). However, these two sets of names are not synonymous. Svaḥ and Svarga both denote the realm of the demigods, which lies above Bhū-maṇḍala. Bhūḥ or Bhūrloka refers to the earthly planetary system, including Bhū-maṇḍala and this earth (SB 4.20.35p), and Bhuvaḥ or Bhuvarloka refers to a planetary system lying between Bhūḥ and Svar (SB 2.5.40p). Apparently, human beings live in both the Bhūḥ and Bhuvaḥ systems (SB 1.9.45p).

Going from lowest to highest, the fourteen subdivisions are Pātāla, Rasātala, Mahātala, Talātala, Sutala, Vitala, Atala, Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Svargaloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka. The word Pātāla is sometimes used to refer collectively to the seven lower planetary systems from Pātāla up to Atala. These are all described as discs lying below Bhū-maṇḍala and parallel to it. The words Martya and Martyaloka also designate the Bhūrloka system and refer to the fact that this system is a place of suffering and death. The six planetary systems from Bhuvarloka to Satyaloka are known as the higher planets. Śrīla Prabhupāda also uses the terminology “upward” planetary systems for Bhūrloka through Satyaloka, and “downward” planetary systems for Atala through Pātāla (SB 2.1.26p).

We have already noted that the three worlds-Pātāla, Martya, and Svarga-are also sometimes known as three kinds of Svargas, or heavenly regions (SB 5.17.11p). These three Svargas are explicitly defined as follows in the Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī: “(1) Vila-svarga: Atal, Bital, Sutal, Talātal, Mahātal, Rasātal, and Pātal…. (2) Bhauma-svarga: Jambu, Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Crouncha, Shaka, and Puskara…. (3) Divya-svarga: the world of the devatās” (BB, p. 107). Here the three subdivisions Bila-svarga, Bhauma-svarga, and Divya-svarga correspond exactly to Pātālaloka, Martyaloka, and Svargaloka.

“The universe is like a tree with the roots being upwards. The polestar which is situated within the Asking question star constellation is the root. The universe is pivoting around the pole star. That is one movement. The second movement is that the sun is revolving around the universe, as if it were going around the tree” (letter from Śrīla Prabhupāda to Svarūpa Dāmodara dāsa, November 21, 1975).

In this section we will discuss what the Bhāgavatam has to say about the movement of the sun, and then we will use this information to develop the two hypotheses about the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala on the sky that we mentioned in Section 3.b.2. As Śrīla Prabhupāda indicates in the above quote, the sun moves with respect to the reference frame of this earth in two different ways. The most noticeable motion is the daily rotation of the sun from east to west around the earth, which produces the phenomena of day and night. The stars and planets also participate in this motion, and they all appear to revolve once per day around a fixed axis passing through the polestar.

The second motion is the slow movement of the sun from west to east with respect to the stars. This movement takes place along the celestial great circle known as the ecliptic. To visualize this, consider that stars are present during the day, but we cannot see them due to the brilliant sunlight. If we could see them, we would see that on a particular day the sun is surrounded by certain stars. A day later, the sun will have shifted eastward relative to these stars by about one degree. Day by day the sun continues to shift until it completes one revolution around the ecliptic in one year. In the course of this revolution it passes by the various star constellations of the zodiac, which are laid out along the ecliptic (see Figs. 10 and 15).

The ecliptic is tilted at a 23.5 degrees angle to the celestial equator, which is perpendicular to the polar axis. Thus, as the sun moves along the ecliptic, it moves toward the celestial north pole (the polestar) for half the year, and it moves toward the celestial south pole for the other half. When it is north of the celestial equator, days are longer than nights in the Northern Hemisphere, and the opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere. This situation is reversed when the sun is south of the celestial equator.

3.d.1. The Ecliptic as the Projection of
Bhū-maṇḍala on the Celestial Sphere
Our first hypothesis is that the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala on the celestial sphere coincides closely with the ecliptic. The basic argument for this goes as follows: In the Fifth Canto we read that the sun orbits Mount Meru, moving above a ring-shaped mountain in Bhū-maṇḍala called Mānasottara. This ring is centered on Mount Meru, and it has a circumference of 95,100,000 yojanas (SB 5.21.7). The radius of this ring is about 15,750,000 yojanas, and the height of the sun above Bhū-maṇḍala is 100,000 yojanas (SB 5.23.9p). (Here the Bhāgavatam is using 3 as an approximation for pi.) This means that the distance from the sun to an observer on the earth is much greater (by a factor of 157.5) than the distance from the sun to the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala.

Therefore, the part of Bhū-maṇḍala that lies directly underneath the sun at any given time must seem to be very close to the sun from the point of view of an observer on the earth. In other words, that part of Bhū-maṇḍala must project to a point on the celestial sphere that is very close to the location of the sun. We know where the sun is on the celestial sphere at any given time. So, if we can find out where the sun is in Bhū-maṇḍala at successive moments in time, then we can see where Bhū-maṇḍala falls on the celestial sphere.

The following statements from the Bhāgavatam indicate that the sun makes one circuit around Mānasottara Mountain per year, and that the sun is due north of Mount Meru when it moves farthest to the north on the celestial sphere. (This is called the summer solstice, and it occurs in June.)

[1] Encircling Sumeru Hill on his chariot, the sun-god illuminates all the surrounding planetary systems. However, when the sun is on the northern side of the hill, the south receives less light, and when the sun is in the south, the north receives less [SB 5.1.30]. [Śrīla Prabhupāda comments,] According to Jyotir Veda, the science of astronomy in the Vedic literature, the sun moves for six months on the northern side of Sumeru Hill and for six months on the southern side. We have practical experience on this planet that when there is summer in the north there is winter in the south and vice versa.

[2] In the chariot of the sun-god, the sun travels on the top of the [Mānasottara] mountain in an orbit called Saṁvatsara, encircling Mount Meru. The sun’s path on the northern side is called Uttarāyaṇa, and its path on the southern side is called Dakṣiṇāyana. One side represents a day for the demigods, and the other represents their night [SB 5.20.30].

[3] Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, as stated before, the learned say that the sun travels over all sides of Mānasottara Mountain in a circle whose length is 95,100,000 yojanas [760,800,000 miles]. On Mānasottara Mountain, due east of Mount Sumeru, is a place known as Devadhānī, possessed by King Indra. Similarly, in the south is a place known as Saṁyamanī, possessed by Yamarāja, in the west is a place known as Nimlocanī, possessed by Varuṇa, and in the north is a place named Vibhāvarī, possessed by the moon-god. Sunrise, midday, sunset, and midnight occur in all those places according to specific times, thus engaging all living entities in their various occupational duties and also making them cease such duties [SB 5.21.7].

Passages (1) and (2) indicate that the sun takes one year to make a complete circuit around Mānasottara Mountain. From passage (3) we see that on the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala, the directions north, south, east, and west are laid out in the same way as on a flat Mercator projection of the earth’s surface. In Jambūdvīpa, Bhārata-varṣa is to the south of Mount Meru, and Uttarakuru-varṣa is to the north. Saṁyamanī is much further to the south, on the ring-shaped dvīpa of Puṣkaradvīpa, and Vibhāvarī is located on this dvīpa equally far to the north of Mount Meru. It would seem that the sun spends half the year in the part of its orbit lying to the north of Mount Meru, and half the year in the part lying to the south. This yearly circuit of the sun through Bhū-maṇḍala provides a simple explanation for the many statements in the Bhāgavatam indicating that the demigods’ day (24 hours) lasts for one earthly year.

The motion of the sun through Bhū-maṇḍala is described as follows in the Bhāgavatam:
The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as Saṁvatsara. The twelve months are calculated to be its twelve spokes, the six seasons are the sections of its rim, and the three cātur-māsya periods are its three-sectioned hub. One side of the axle carrying the wheel rests upon the summit of Mount Sumeru, and the other rests upon Mānasottara Mountain. Affixed to the outer end of the axle, the wheel continuously rotates on Mānasottara Mountain like the wheel of an oil-pressing machine [SB 5.21.13].

According to this description, we can imagine the sun moving in a circle around Bhū-maṇḍala in much the same way as a horse-drawn chariot moves around a race track. In discussing this verse, we should comment on the use of metaphor in the Bhāgavatam. One example of metaphorical description is the story of the city of nine gates entered by King Purañjana. There the different gates of the city symbolize different bodily senses. In the verse we have just quoted, the different parts of the wheel of the sun-god’s chariot similarly symbolize different divisions of the year. Thus one might take this verse as a metaphorical description of the movement of the sun during the year. As a general rule, since the purpose of metaphor is to increase understanding and not to obscure it, such indirect interpretation is justified only if the intended metaphorical meaning is transparently clear. One should not devise a metaphorical interpretation simply to replace a clear direct meaning.

Whether the Saṁvatsara wheel should be taken metaphorically or not, the verse clearly states that the sun is moving only a short distance above Bhū-maṇḍala. The comparison with an oil-pressing machine indicates that the chariot of the sun is always directly in contact with the upper surface of the ring-shaped Mānasottara Mountain. The identification of the wheel with the year is also consistent with the view that the sun takes one year to make a complete circuit of Bhū-maṇḍala.

When the path of the sun is projected onto the sky from our vantage point, it lies in the zodiac. According to SB 5.22.5, “Passing through twelve months on the wheel of time, the sun comes in touch with twelve different signs of the zodiac and assumes twelve different names according to those signs. The aggregate of those twelve months is called a saṁvatsara, or an entire year.” If the circuit of the sun through Bhū-maṇḍala (called “Saṁvatsara” in (2) above) takes one year, then the successive parts of Bhū-maṇḍala visited by the sun must correspond to the successive parts of the zodiac lying along the ecliptic. From this we conclude that when Bhū-maṇḍala is projected in the sky, it must lie on the ecliptic, with the northernmost part of Mānasottara Mountain corresponding to the summer solstice.

This means that Bhū-maṇḍala remains stationary with respect to the stars, with the signs Gemini and Cancer (Mithuna and Karkaṭa) in the direction of Vibhāvarī to the north of Mount Meru, and the signs Capricorn and Sagittarius (Makara and Dhanur) in the direction of Saṁyamanī to the south of Mount Meru (see SB 5.21cs). Since the stars rotate once per day around the polar axis, it must be that Bhū-maṇḍala also rotates once per day around this axis. This in turn implies that there is a relative rotation between Bhū-maṇḍala and the earth of our experience.

It is not correct to assume naively that this earth and the rest of Bhū-maṇḍala form a single rigid plate.
Now, this conclusion might be regarded as a drawback to the hypothesis that Bhū-maṇḍala corresponds to the ecliptic. It could be argued that the “earth,” or Bhū, is motionless according to the Vedic literature. If Bhū-maṇḍala rotates daily with the stars and planets, then its system of directions-north, south, east, and west-also rotates and therefore does not correspond to our earthly system of directions. It could also be argued that in the statement that the sun spends half the year to the north of Mount Meru, “north” should be interpreted as meaning the north of the celestial sphere, and “Mount Meru” should be taken as the equator of this sphere.

In response to these arguments, one can reply that if Bhū-maṇḍala is indeed a system of spherical planets floating in space, then why shouldn’t it rotate daily around the celestial pole along with the other stars and planets? We can see how the yearly circling of the sun through this system would produce a day of one year for the higher beings on each of these planets, if they do not rotate about their own axes. In any event, whether Bhū-maṇḍala rotates or not, its system of directions cannot correspond to the earthly system: The earthly north, south, east, and west point in different directions at different points on the spherical earth, while a set of directions on a plane have the same orientation at every point. (For example, at the North Pole every direction is south, but at Mount Meru the four directions are clearly defined.)

3.d.2. The Celestial Equator as the Projection of
Bhu-maṇḍala on the Celestial Sphere
These objections to our first hypothesis suggest a second hypothesis about the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala. This is that the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala on the sky coincides with the celestial equator. This implies that the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala is parallel to the earth’s surface at the poles. At the North Pole, the sun is visible in the sky for half the year. It rises above the horizon at the time of the vernal equinox and spirals slowly up into the sky, making one turn per day. At the time of the summer solstice it reaches a high point of 23.5 degrees above the horizon, and then slowly spirals down, reaching the horizon again at the autumnal equinox. According to this hypothesis, this is how the behavior of the sun would appear to a hypothetical observer standing on one of the dvīpas of Bhū-maṇḍala.

To back up this hypothesis, we first note the following verses, which seem to contradict the idea that the sun makes one circuit through Bhū-maṇḍala per year:
When the sun travels from Devadhānī, the residence of Indra, to Saṁyamanī, the residence of Yamarāja, it travels 23,775,000 yojanas [190,200,000 miles] in fifteen ghaṭikās [six hours].
From the residence of Yamarāja the sun travels to Nimlocanī, the residence of Varuṇa, from there to Vibhāvarī, the residence of the moon-god, and from there again to the residence of Indra. In a similar way, the moon, along with the other stars and planets, becomes visible in the celestial sphere and then sets and again becomes invisible.
Thus the chariot of the sun-god, which is trayīmaya, or worshiped by the words oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, travels through the four residences mentioned above at a speed of 3,400,800 yojanas [27,206,400 miles] in a muhūrta” [SB 5.21.10-12].

Here we should note some technical details. First, 15 ghaṭikās equals one fourth of a day, and 23,775,000 yojanas is indeed one fourth of the 95,100,000-yojana circumference of Mount Mānasottara. The figure of 3,400,800 yojanas per muhūrta is more difficult to interpret. Normally, there are 30 muhūrtas in a day. However, SB 3.11.8 implies that standards of 24 or 28 muhūrtas per day were also used. If we use 28, we see that 28 times 3,400,000 is 95,200,000. Also, in SB 5.21.19 the sun is said to move 2,000.5 yojanas per moment, or kṣaṇa. This is consistent with 3,400,800 yojanas per muhūrta if we use 1,700 moments per 20 muhūrta. (SB 3.11.7-8 indicates 2,250 kṣaṇas per muhūrta.)

All of these verses say that the sun makes one circuit through Bhū-maṇḍala in a day. If we take this to be the case, then on each day there will be a time when the sun is located above Vibhāvarī, the residence of the moon-god on Mount Mānasottara. At this time on successive days, the sun will occupy a succession of different positions along the ecliptic. The ecliptic itself makes one rotation per sidereal day around the polar axis, and in one solar day it makes slightly more than one rotation. (A sidereal day is measured from star-rise to star-rise, and a solar day is measured from sunrise to sunrise.) If we argue, as before, that Vibhāvarī must be close to the sun on the celestial sphere when the sun passes over it, then it follows that the projection of Vibhāvarī on the celestial sphere must make one orbit per year through the ecliptic.

Combining this motion with the motion of the ecliptic on successive days, and assuming that the sun rotates around Mānasottara Mountain once per solar day, we find that the position of Vibhāvarī on successive days moves slowly up and down between the uppermost and lowermost limits of the ecliptic. By applying this reasoning to a number of other locations in Bhū-maṇḍala, we arrive at the following picture: Bhū-maṇḍala itself moves up and down parallel to the celestial equator in a cyclic motion taking one year to complete.

This is a very strange motion, and it contradicts the assumption that the earth is located in the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala. Clearly something has to give here. One possibility is to relax the requirement that the sun is always close to Bhū-maṇḍala (relative to its distance from us). This allows us to place Bhū-maṇḍala in the plane of the celestial equator. We now suppose that the sun moves up and down with respect to Bhū-maṇḍala in a yearly cycle while also circling Bhū-maṇḍala once per day. This gives the pattern of solar motion that is seen at the North Pole.
This is our second hypothesis. Although it conforms with SB 5.21.10-12, it does have the drawback that it allows the sun to move quite far from the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala.

According to the Bhāgavatam, the distance from Jambūdvīpa to Mānasottara Mountain is 126 million miles. Thus at the summer solstice, when the sun is 23.5Ṭ above the celestial equator, our second hypothesis implies that the sun is about 54,786,000 miles above Bhū-maṇḍala. At the vernal and autumnal equinoxes it is in the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala, and at the winter solstice it is 54,786,000 miles below this plane. This does not agree very well with the descriptions of the sun’s motion around Mount Meru on a chariot comparable to an oil-pressing machine. It also does not agree with the story of Mahārāja Priyavrata, who followed the sun in a chariot that moved over the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala and created the seven oceans by making ruts with its wheels.

The point can also be made that the daily clockwise (or east-to-west) motion of the sun is due to the dakṣiṇāvarta wind, according to SB 5.21.8-9. In general, the movement of the planets around the polar axis is attributed to a wind (SB 5.23.3). If the daily motion of the sun is also due to this wind, then one can suggest that the sun’s yearly counter-clockwise motion could be due to the movement of the sun’s chariot through Bhū-maṇḍala. This interpretation supports our first hypothesis, and it is confirmed by the following remark by Śrīdhara Svāmī in his commentary on SB 5.21.8-9:

Although leftward movement, facing the constellations, is their own motion [svagatya], the luminaries [sun, moon, etc.] move around Meru to the right daily, being blown by the pravaha wind, due to the power of the [kāla] cakra.
Here the svagatya, or “own motion,” of the sun must be its yearly motion around the ecliptic, since this movement is to the left (if one faces the constellations of the zodiac) and the daily motion due to the wind is to the right. Thus the sun’s chariot should be moving counter-clockwise around Mount Meru. (This assumes that the observer is, say, in northern India, where the constellations of the zodiac are to the south. In the southern hemisphere, south of the tropic of Capricorn, everything would be reversed, but the same conclusion about the movement of the sun would hold.)

We suggest that further research will be necessary for us to give a final conclusion regarding the celestial orientation of Bhū-maṇḍala in Vedic cosmology. Here we tentatively propose that the Fifth Canto of the Bhāgavatam is presenting a combined description of the two types of solar motion. Bhū-maṇḍala is being used as the underlying framework in each description, and thus a contradictory picture of its position seems to emerge. We note that a combined description of the two forms of solar motion is explicitly made in SB 5.21.8-9 and SB 5.22.1-2, and the idea of relative motion is introduced. These verses speak of the sun-god circling Mount Meru with the mountain on his left and on his right. Unfortunately, however, they do not specify which motion is actually taking place, relative to the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala.

In spite of these ambiguities, it does appear that the intent of the Bhāgavatam is to present Bhū-maṇḍala as an actually-existing, disc-shaped domain. We have suggested that its location in space must be related to the geocentric orbit of the sun. In Section 4.b we will also argue that its location can be related to the orbits of the moon and other planets. This argument will provide further evidence in support of the hypothesis connecting Bhū-maṇḍala with the ecliptic.

We would finally like to draw attention to the statement in SB 5.21.11 that “in a similar way, the moon, along with the other stars and planets, becomes visible in the celestial sphere and then sets and again becomes invisible.” This statement seems to be another indirect reference to the spherical shape of the earth planet: Since the luminaries are rotating once per day around this sphere, they seem to rise and set daily at any given place (between the Arctic and Antarctic circles).

In this book we will take it for granted that the earth planet on which we live our daily lives can be practically thought of as a globe with a diameter of about 8,000 miles. In the age of international travel by jet airplanes, it is easy for people in general to accumulate abundant evidence that confirms this. Commercial airlines fly regularly scheduled flights along a network of routes that completely covers the inhabited areas of the earth. A glance at an airline’s route map shows that each of these routes follows a great circle-the shortest path connecting two points on the surface of a sphere.

(There are some exceptions, of course, due to political considerations.) One can experience changes in time zones of the kind that one would expect to find if the earth is a globe, and one can consider that if the airline authorities do not properly understand the size and shape of the earth, along with the location of various cities on it, then how is it possible for them to arrange regular flights from one city to another?

There are many regions on the earth that have not been thoroughly explored. However, it would be difficult to argue that airplanes have not flown over most areas of the earth’s surface, including the Arctic and Antarctic regions. One can read popular articles describing life during the winter at an American base at the South Pole, and one can also read about artificial satellites with orbits ranging from equatorial to circumpolar. Thus human experience with remote, seldom-visited regions of the earth is also consistent with the idea that the earth is a sphere.

Yet, even though the earth can be regarded as a globe from the viewpoint of our ordinary sensory experience, we have already argued that there is a sense in which the earth is definitely not a globe. The very idea of a sphere is based on three-dimensional Euclidian geometry. Thus, if the three-dimensional continuum of our ordinary experience is simply a limited aspect of a higher-dimensional reality, it follows that the globe of the earth is also simply an aspect of that higher reality. To properly describe what that reality is, in and of itself, we must go beyond three-dimensional constructs such as a sphere or a plane. A yogī who can reach directly to another continent by means of the prāpti-siddhi is not experiencing the earth as a sphere.

Similarly, a person who is able to realize that Vṛndāvana in India is nondifferent from the unlimited spiritual realm of Goloka cannot be thinking of the earth simply_as a small globe. The earth globe may be one aspect of the reality that he is experiencing, but he may choose to describe that reality by emphasizing other aspects that for him are more important.

We propose that although the total reality of the world is very difficult, or even impossible, to fully describe in words, different aspects of it can be described in readily comprehensible language. These aspects correspond to different perspectives, which depend on the different situations and sensory capacities of different observers. Simple geometric imagery may be quite fitting for the description of the universe from many of these different individual perspectives, even though it is completely inadequate to describe the material world as a whole.

In this book we propose that the cosmological system of the Bhāgavatam is a simplified description of the universe as it appears from the viewpoint of demigods, ṛṣis, and highly elevated human beings, who are the principal characters in this work. In contrast, our familiar conception of the earth globe is a valid account of our immediate environs as they appear from the viewpoint of persons with ordinary human senses. This can also be said of the world system of the astronomical siddhāntas, which we have proposed in Chapter 1 to be an integral and long-standing part of the Vedic culture. There the earth is also described as a small globe, and the astronomical discussions are limited to phenomena that people can observe with their gross senses.

3.b.1. Bhārata-varṣa
In an abstract form, the foregoing is our general idea about the nature of the relationship between Vedic cosmology and our modern world view. However, to make this idea more vivid and concrete, it is necessary to work it out in much greater detail. We will now proceed to do this, beginning with the question of how this earth relates to Bhū-maṇḍala as a whole.

In SB 5.19.21p Śrīla Prabhupāda refers to Bhārata-varṣa as India, and he points out that the demigods aspire to take birth there. In SB 2.7.10p this earth planet is identified with Bhārata-varṣa, and a similar reference is made in SB 1.12.20p. In SB 3.18.19p Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the earth planet was once known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa, but when Mahārāja Parīkṣit ruled the earth it was called Bhārata-varṣa. By the process of political fragmentation, Bhārata-varṣa gradually came to mean India alone. The idea that Bhārata-varṣa once referred to the entire earth is also indicated in SB 4.22.36p, where Śrīla Prabhupāda suggests on the basis of Purāṇic references that Brazil, rather than Ceylon, was Rāvaṇa’s kingdom.

In SB 1.12.5 the earth ruled by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is referred to as Jambūdvīpa, and in SB 4.12.16 the earth ruled by Dhruva Mahārāja is referred to as Bhū-maṇḍala itself. Going further, SB 5.1.22 states that Mahārāja Priya-vrata ruled all the planets of the universe (akhila-dharā-maṇḍala), and Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that it is difficult for us to understand just where Mahārāja Priyavrata was situated.

In addition to his statements identifying our earth with Bhārata-varṣa, Śrīla Prabhupāda also makes statements indicating that some regions of Bhū-maṇḍala are not part of this earth. We have already noted his reference to the other eight varṣas of Jambūdvīpa as “the lower heavenly planets.” In SB 4.18.20 one of these varṣas, known as Kiṁpuruṣa-varṣa, is spoken of as a planet whose inhabitants are endowed with remarkable mystic powers. In SB 3.23.39p Śrīla Prabhupāda describes Mount Meru as being a resort area for demigods that is “situated somewhere between the sun and the earth,” and in SB 3.2.8p he says that the moon was born from the milk ocean “in the upper planets.” In SB 5.1.8p he speaks of “a planet covered mostly by great mountains, one of which is Gandhamādana Hill.” This mountain marks one of the boundaries of Ilāvṛta-varṣa (SB 5.16.10). When commenting on the description of Ilāvṛta-varṣa in SB 5.16.10, he distinguishes between the mountains of this planet earth and the “greater mountainous areas of the universe.” Finally, in SB 8.2.14-19p he describes Trikūṭa Mountain, surrounded by the ocean of milk, as being on another planet.

All of these statements can be reconciled if we adopt the idea that the earth of the Bhāgavatam is the disc of Bhū-maṇḍala, but that only a small portion of this earth is accessible to the limited senses of modern-day human beings. In previous yugas larger regions of Bhū-maṇḍala were accessible, and people experienced a correspondingly larger earth. Thus in Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira’s time, at the end of the Dvāpara-yuga, people had access to the entire region of Jambūdvīpa, and people living in the Satya-yuga during the reign of Dhruva Mahārāja had access to the whole of Bhū-maṇḍala. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that persons from the various dvīpas of Bhū-maṇḍala visited the home of Lord Caitanya disguised as human beings.

To these persons it is presumably still natural to think of the earth as Bhū-maṇḍala.
3.b.2. The Projection of Bhū-maṇḍala on the Sky
If Bhū-maṇḍala is a disc 4 billion miles in diameter, one natural question is, Where is this disc located? We have indicated that our own location on the earth corresponds to part of Bhārata-varṣa, which lies almost exactly in the center of Bhū-maṇḍala. In SB 1.1.4p we read that Lord Brahmā once envisioned the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya in India as the center of a great wheel that enclosed the universe. This suggests that this well-known site in India is located exactly in the center of the vast disc depicted in Figure 3. In any case, both India and the rest of the earth of our experience must lie close to this center.

Let us consider a person somewhere on this earth. If he is standing in the center of a disc that extends for millions of miles into space, then from his perspective most of that disc will be very far away from him, and it will appear to be projected into a circular band running through the heavens. We can discuss this circular band more precisely by introducing the celestial sphere of the astronomers.

In observational astronomy it is customary to visualize celestial objects such as stars and planets as lying on the surface of an enormous imaginary sphere centered on the earth. The system of earthly latitude and longitude is projected onto this sphere, and thus the sphere has celestial north and south poles corresponding to the north and south poles of the earth, and also a celestial equator corresponding to the earth’s equator (see Fig. 10). Any disc centered on the earth and extending millions of miles into space will intersect this sphere in a great circle tilted at some angle to the celestial equator. Our question thus becomes, What great circle on the celestial sphere corresponds to the disc of Bhū-maṇḍala?

In Section 3.d we will discuss the daily and yearly motion of the sun. We will argue that the projected orbit of the sun on the celestial sphere provides a marker that will help us locate the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala. We will present two hypotheses regarding this projection: (1) The projection of Bhū-maṇḍala coincides with the great circle known as the ecliptic. This circle marks the yearly path of the sun through the heavens, and it passes through the circular band of constellations known as the zodiac. (2) The projection of Bhū-maṇḍala corresponds to the celestial equator. Although we tend to favor hypothesis (1), we present both hypotheses, since some śāstric support can be provided for each one.

We will discuss these hypotheses in detail in Section 3.d, but for the moment we will consider some questions that naturally arise from them. First of all, it might seem that the Bhāgavatam is presenting a simple model of the earth as a flat plane. According to this idea, the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala should be parallel to the surface of the earth, and therefore the projection of Bhū-maṇḍala on the sky should correspond to the circle of the horizon. One problem with this is that the Bhāgavatam contains a number of verses indicating that the sun moves in a circular path on the surface of Bhū-maṇḍala (or very close to it) at a very large distance from Jambūdvīpa (for example, see SB 5.20.30). If the celestial projection of Bhū-maṇḍala corresponds to the horizon, then these verses imply that the sun must always remain close to the horizon, instead of rising in the east, going high in the sky, and setting in the west as we observe. In fact, the Indian astronomer Bhāskarācārya seems to believe that the Purāṇas do imply this, and he takes this as a reason for rejecting the Purāṇic view (SSB1, p. 114).

Actually, in the Arctic and Antarctic regions the sun does behave in this way at certain times of the year. However, since the earth of our experience is a globe, the inclination of the sun’s path in the sky changes as we go north and south, and over most of the earth’s inhabited regions this inclination is very steep. In Chapter 1 we have argued that the spherical nature of this earth planet was known in Vedic times, and this, of course, is incompatible with a flat-earth interpretation of Vedic cosmology. However, even if we disregard this point, we can hardly suppose that a hypothetical pre-scientific sage living by the side of the Ganges would not have noticed that the sun moves high overhead in the course of a day. We therefore propose that the Purāṇas could not be identifying the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala with the horizon.

At this point, the objection will be raised that when we look at the sky at night, we do not see anything unusual in the direction of either the zodiac or the celestial equator. Indeed, we see nothing but stars in all directions. If the surface of Bhū-maṇḍala bisects the sky along one of these great circles, then we should see stars only on one side of the circle. On the other side we should see solid earth, as we do in the case of the horizon. Our answer to this objection is that since most of Bhū-maṇḍala is not accessible to our senses, we cannot see it.

This may initially seem to be a rather unsatisfactory answer, but it is consistent with all of the material that we have gathered from the Bhāgavatam thus far. For example, the height of Mount Meru is nearly equal to the diameter of the sun (according to modern data), so if it is indeed located “somewhere between the sun and the earth,” then why can’t we see it? Also, if the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala exists at all, and acts as a barrier to our vision, then the sky must be bisected along some circle, with all visible stars lying on one side. Yet, if we go from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, it is possible to look at the night sky in all directions, and wherever we look, we simply see stars. This is true, for example, if we look towards the south celestial pole from New Zealand or South Africa (see Figs. 11 and 12).

Another question that may be raised is, If you are saying that Bhū-maṇḍala is higher-dimensional and therefore invisible, why do you try to assign it a location in three-dimensional space at all? The answer is that a higher-dimensional structure can also have a three-dimensional location. To illustrate this idea, consider a person who is trying to find a particular office in Manhattan. By moving north-south and east-west through the grid of streets, he may arrive at the address of the office but be disappointed to find that he cannot see it. To actually reach the office he may have to move fifty stories in the vertical direction by taking an elevator. Thus, the office has a two-dimensional location, but to reach it, three-dimensional travel is necessary. Likewise, to reach a given location in Bhū-maṇḍala, both three-dimensional and higher-dimensional travel may be required.

In summary, we propose that the Vedic cosmology corresponds to our observable world in the following way: The earth of our experience is a small globe surrounded by the starry heavens in all directions. Bhū-maṇḍala is a vast disc that extends for millions of miles into space but is not perceivable by our present senses. Its projection on the celestial sphere must be ascertained on the basis of the movement of the sun, and this projection does not correspond to the variable horizon of this earth. We suggest that this is not simply an artificial reconciliation of Vedic cosmology with modern astronomical views. Rather, we propose that this is how Vedic cosmology was understood in ancient times.

3.b.3. A Historical Interlude
In this subsection we will briefly consider some historical evidence suggesting that Vedic cosmology, or something very similar to it, may once have been widely accepted throughout the world. Some of this evidence supports the ideas we have just outlined on the nature and position of Bhū-maṇḍala.

Societies throughout the world have traditionally passed down ancient legends and myths describing the nature and origin of the universe. In this seemingly chaotic array of diverse stories, two historians named Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend thought they could see evidence for a common ancestral culture. According to them, this “archaic” culture antedated all the ancient civilizations we know of today, including those of Babylon, China, and India. They argued that this culture possessed a sophisticated scientific understanding of astronomy, but that it expressed this understanding in terms we today call mythological because we do not understand them.

Here is what de Santillana and von Dechend have to say about how this archaic culture viewed the earth:
(1) First, what was the “earth”? In the most general sense, the “earth” was the ideal plane laid through the ecliptic. The “dry earth,” in a more specific sense, was the ideal plane going through the celestial equator [HM, p. 58].
(2) The name of “true earth” (or of the “inhabited world”) did not in any way denote our physical geoid for the archaics. It applies to the band of the zodiac, two dozen degrees right and left of the ecliptic [HM, pp. 61-62].
(3) At the “top,” in the center high above the “dry” plane of the equator, was the Pole star. At the opposite top, or rather in the depth of the waters below, unobserved from our latitudes, was the southern pole, thought to be Canopus” [HM, p. 63].

The idea of the earth presented here runs parallel to the ideas we have discussed regarding Bhū-maṇḍala. According to the Bhāgavatam, below the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala are seven lower planetary systems and then the Garbhodaka Ocean, which fills one half of the universal globe. Here we see a similar conception of the earth as a plane projected against either the celestial equator or the band of the zodiac, with a region of water in the direction of the southern pole.

Many bits and pieces of information can be collected from old myths and legends suggesting that a cosmology similar to that of the Bhāgavatam was widely disseminated in ancient times. In many cases this information comes down to us in the form of what may be called fossilized stories, or stories that have lost their original meaning but have been preserved in a distorted, fragmentary form in various traditions. One interesting example of this is the following story taken from Norse mythology: At the time of the destruction of the cosmos (the Norse ragnarok), all-engulfing flames come out of Surt the Black. This Surt is said to be “the king of eternal bliss ‘at the southern end of the sky.'” It is also stated in the Norse myths that “there are many good abodes and many bad; best it is to be in Gimle with Surt” (HM, p. 157).

Here one cannot help but think of Saṅkarṣaṇa, or Ananta Śeṣa, who destroys the three worlds with fire at the time of annihilation, and who reclines on the Garbhodaka Ocean. If we project the location of Saṅkarṣaṇa on the sky, it should be to the south, in the direction of the watery region mentioned in (3) above. Saṅkarṣaṇa is known as tāmasī, or “dark,” since He is in charge of annihilation, but He is also certainly the king of eternal bliss (SB 5.25.1). This passage from Norse mythology is therefore very curious, since standard historical accounts describe the ancient Scandinavians as polytheists who had no conception of one Supreme Godhead.

Whatever the true significance of the story of Surt may be, the ancient Scandinavians clearly had a concept of the earth that is very similar to Jambūdvīpa as described in the Bhāgavatam. They regarded the earth as a circular island surrounded by a world ocean. In the center of the island is an enormous mountain, crowned by Asgard, the home of the gods (see Fig. 13). Interestingly enough, the number of warriors of the gods stationed in Asgard is 432,000, a number that often appears in the Vedic literature (HM, p. 162).

In his book Shamanism (SH), Mircea Eliade points out that the idea of three worlds with a universal axis marked by a cosmic mountain is extremely widespread. It is found in the ancient cultures of Egypt, India, China, Greece, and Mesopotamia, and it is also found in tribal societies throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In central Asia, the names for the central mountain, such as Sumber, Sumur, or Sumer, are clearly related to the Sanskrit name Sumeru. The Greeks, of course, had their Mount Olympus; the Iranians had Haraberezaiti (Elbruz); the Germans had Himingbjorg; the Saxons had Irminsul, “the universal column that sustains everything” (SH, p. 261); and the Chinese had Mount Khun-Lun, where the dwellings of the immortals were situated (ND, pp. 566-67). Among the Babylonians, the ziggurat represented the cosmic mountain, and the central pillar of tribal dwellings in Asia and North America carried a similar symbolic meaning (SH, pp. 261-62). Needham, in his Science and Civilization in China, notes that “wheel maps,” depicting the earth as a circle surrounding a central mountain, were very common in the ancient world. He is uncertain as to whether these maps had ultimately an Indian or a Babylonian origin, but he notes that they seem to represent a tradition of great antiquity in both places (ND, pp. 588-90).

It may perhaps seem far-fetched to link the traditions of North American Indians with Vedic civilization, but even here we find some suggestive connections. For example, the Sioux Indians tell of a cycle of four ages. There is a buffalo that loses one leg during each age; at present we are in the last age-an age of degradation-and the buffalo has one leg. In the Bhāgavatam, of course, the same story is told about the bull named Dharma; at present we are in the last age (the Age of Kali), and Dharma is standing on one leg (EB, p. 9).

In Figure 14 we give another example of what may be a remnant of the Vedic world view. This is a picture from the Maya Codex Tro-Cortesianus. Some people have interpreted it as a depiction of the churning of the milk ocean, as described in the Vedic literature. The picture is difficult to interpret, but it does seem to contain a tortoise, a central churn, and a serpent being pulled like a rope by what may be demigods and asuras. This picture illustrates both the attractive and the discouraging aspects of this kind of evidence. It seems highly suggestive, but its history is difficult, if not impossible, to trace out. We would suggest, however, that the presence of Vedic cosmological themes in many widely separated cultures throughout the world does provide evidence for the existence of a single culture in the remote past that widely disseminated these themes.

3.b.4. The Principle of Correspondence
Thus far we have developed the idea that the earth of our experience is a small globe and simultaneously a part of a region called Bhārata-varṣa in a larger, higher-dimensional structure called Bhū-maṇḍala. We have proposed that the connection between the earth globe and Bhū-maṇḍala is higher-dimensional. Since this idea is very foreign to the Western way of thinking, we will devote this subsection to a discussion of further examples from the Bhāgavatam indicating that this earth (and India in particular) is linked with a higher level of reality. To borrow a phrase from modern physics, we can speak of this idea of a higher-dimensional connection as the principle of corres-pondence linking our familiar earth globe with the domain described in the Vedic literature.

There are many references in the Bhāgavatam indicating that in previous ages many activities of demigods and great ṛṣis were regularly carried out on this earth. These include the following:
(1) Trita Muni, who became one of the seven sages in the Varuṇaloka, came from the western countries of this earth (SB 1.9.7p).
(2) Inhabitants of the Vāyuloka (airy planets) were invited to expedite the cooking work at the sacrifice of Mahārāja Marutta. (Also, a golden mountain peak belonging Mahārāja Marutta is located somewhere in the Himalayas.) (SB 1.12.33p)
(3) Viśvāvasu, the leader of the Gandharvas, fell from his vimāna (airplane) upon seeing Devahūti playing ball on her palace roof. This took place in India (SB 3.22.17).
(4) Atri Muni performed austerities in a valley of Ṛkṣa Mountain near the river Nirvindhya in India (SB 4.1.17).
(5) The sacrifice in which Dakṣa offended Lord Śiva took place at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamunā (SB 4.2.35).
(6) Parvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva, took birth as the daughter of the Himalayas (SB 4.7.58-59).
(7) Svāyambhuva Manu ruled from Brahmāvarta, which is located in India where the river Sarasvatī flows toward the east (SB 4.19.1).
(8) Indra became intoxicated on soma-rasa at Mahārāja Gaya’s sacrifice (SB 5.15.12).

These items all indicate that in the past this earth was the setting for many activities that lie beyond the range of our present senses. In the Bhāgavatam (including both the Sanskrit texts and Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports) these activities are described from the viewpoint of persons whose sensory level is higher than that of ordinary people of today, and thus they are presented as normal, day-to-day affairs. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is evidence indicating that similar activities are still taking place on the earth today. For example, CC ML 9.174-77 describes a meeting that took place between Lord Caitanya and Lord Śiva on the hill of Śri Śaila in south India. It is pointed out that Lord Śiva and Devī lived on that hill, along with Lord Brahmā and all the demigods. In this description, however, it is clear that this was not visible to the general human population.

In KB p. 494 we read that the dowry of King Nagnajit’s daughter included 90,000,000 horses and “a hundred times more slaves than horses.” Modern scholars use statements like this as an excuse to reject Vedic scripture as “Hindu mythology,” or utterly irresponsible fantasy. However, as we have already suggested, their interpretation is contradicted by the abundant evidence indicating the Vedic literature’s gravity and seriousness of purpose. We suggest that these very large numbers refer to activities taking place on a higher earthly domain, which was experienced by the people of those times (the late Dvāpara-yuga).

In many cultures around the world we find the idea that in an earlier age people had direct contact with higher realms and their inhabitants (SH). This direct contact is often thought to have been broken in the distant past by a fall, which consigned human beings to a life of struggle in a state of cosmic alienation. The fall of Adam and Eve in Judeo-Christian tradition is an example of this. The Vedic literature, however, can be thought of as being written from a pre-fall perspective. Although this literature describes the degradation of human society in the Age of Kali, it generally describes activities and events taking place in societies where communication with higher-dimensional realms was taken for granted.

In SB 6.10.16p Śrīla Prabhupāda comments that the battle between Indra and Vṛtrāsura took place not by the Narmadā River in India, as one might surmise from the text, but by its celestial counterpart. He points out that “the five sacred rivers in India-the Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Narmadā, Kāverī, and Kṛṣṇā-are all celestial. Like the Ganges River, the Narmadā River also flows in the higher planetary systems.” For this to be possible, the connection between the celestial river and the earthly river that we can directly see must be higher-dimensional.

Likewise, in SB 3.21.25p Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that Brahmāvarta, where Svāyambhuva Manu ruled, is said by some to be a place in India and by others to be a place in Brahmaloka. He says, “There are many places on the surface of this earth which are also known in the higher planetary systems; we have places on this planet like Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, and Mathurā, but they are also eternally situated in Kṛṣṇaloka.” Thus, a place in India on this earth may correspond on a higher-dimensional level to part of Brahmaloka.

In a number of places, Śrīla Prabhupāda cites traditions identifying features of the earth with features of Bhū-maṇḍala and the higher planets in general. Some examples are:
(1) “Bhauma-svarga [which corresponds to the eight varṣas of Jambūdvīpa other than Bhārata-varṣa] is sometimes accepted as the tract of land in Bhārata-varṣa known as Kashmir” (SB 5.17.11p).
(2) It is said that Śivaloka is “supposed to be situated near the Himalaya Mountains” (SB 4.24.22p).
(3) The Yakṣas (who are associated with the demigod Kuvera) are identified as Himalayan hill tribes like the Tibetans (SB 4.10.5p).
(4) The words ā-mānasa-acalāt, meaning “up to Mānasa Mountain,” are translated as referring to the Arctic region (SB 4.16.14).
(5) “Sapta-dvīpa refers to the seven great islands or continents on the surface of the globe: (1) Asia, (2) Europe, (3) Africa, (4) North America, (5) South America, (6) Australia, and (7) Oceania” (SB 4.21.12p). Similar statements are made in SB 3.21.2p and TLC, p. 80.

We suggest that identifications of this kind either refer directly to higher-dimensional associations between earthly and celestial locations, or else they refer to traditions that have arisen because of ancient experience of the earth as a higher realm. Thus, Lord Śiva is always associated with the Himalayas, and in the Vedic literature there are many stories about him that take place in a Himalayan setting. It is therefore natural to think of the Himalayas as the place of Lord Śiva, and he may indeed be especially accessible there to advanced yogīs. Of course, we cannot simply regard Śivaloka or Sapta-dvīpa as places in the three-dimensional earthly realm of our ordinary experience.
The astronomical siddhāntas also contain passages identifying features of Bhū-maṇḍala with parts of the earth globe. Thus the Sūrya-siddhānta describes Mount Meru as a small mountain at the North Pole, and the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi places the seven dvīpas in the Southern Hemisphere. In his purports to CC AL 5.111 and CC ML 20.218, Śrīla Prabhupāda cites the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi’s description of the seven dvīpas. Since Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura also cites this description in his Anubhāṣya commentary on these verses of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we will reproduce it here:

Most learned astronomers have stated that Jambūdvīpa embraces the whole northern hemisphere lying to the north of the salt sea; and that the other six dvīpas and the seven seas … are all situated in the southern hemisphere.
To the south of the equator lies the salt sea, and to the south of it the sea of milk,… where the omnipresent Vāsudeva, to whose lotus feet Brahmā and all the gods bow in reverence, holds his favorite residence.
Beyond the sea of milk lie in succession the seas of curds, clarified butter, sugar cane juice, and wine; and, last of all, that of sweet water, which surrounds Vadavānala. The Pātāla lokas, or infernal regions, form the concave strata of the earth [SSB1, p. 116].

We should note that these verses of Siddhānta-śiromaṇi describe a correspondence between the earth globe and Bhū-maṇḍala that can be expressed in mathematical form. The points on the plane of Bhū-maṇḍala can be mapped onto the earth globe by a stereographic projection. This is a standard kind of map projection, in which countries on the curved surface of the earth are represented on a flat plane.

In this particular case, one can use a modified polar stereographic projection, which sends the North Pole of the earth to the center point on the plane and sends circles of latitude on the earth to ever-widening concentric circles on the plane. It is possible to set up such a projection so that
(1) The path of the sun in Puṣkaradvīpa maps to the tropic of Capricorn (see Section 3.d).
(2) The six dvīpas surrounding Jambūdvīpa map to bands along parallels of latitude in the Southern Hemisphere.
(3) The equator cuts the salt ocean between Jambūdvīpa and Plakṣadvīpa in half. Thus Jambūdvīpa lies in the Northern Hemisphere.
(4) The base of Mount Meru maps to the Arctic Circle. Thus Mount Meru corresponds to the “land of the midnight sun,” north of the Arctic Circle.

This correspondence agrees with the description of the dvīpas in the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, and it agrees with the account given in the Sūrya-siddhānta of the life of the demigods on Mount Meru. There it is stated that the demigods experience days and nights of six months each, and that their dawn and evening occur at the times of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (SS, p. 81). This, of course, is the situation at the North Pole.
The question is, What is the meaning of this mapping between Bhū-maṇḍala and the earth globe? It is not possible for us to take it as a literal description of the earth, since the continents in the Southern Hemisphere are not at all arranged in concentric rings. It may be that this mapping refers to actual higher-dimensional connections between parts of this earth and parts of Bhū-maṇḍala. This is suggested by the fact that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī refers to it, and Śrīla Prabhupāda, following in disciplic succession, does also.

However, since the authors of the astronomical siddhāntas often expressed doubts about Purāṇic cosmology, it seems likely that for them, at least, the mapping was simply an artificial attempt to force this cosmology into a three-dimensional framework and thereby make sense out of it. We therefore suggest that although historical Indian astronomers such as Bhāskarācārya were carrying on a genuine Vedic tradition of astronomy, their understanding of Vedic cosmology was nonetheless imperfect. They did not understand the higher-dimensional nature of structures such as Bhū-maṇḍala, and they consequently focused their attention on those features of Vedic astronomy that can be readily understood in three-dimensional terms.

In recent centuries, many Vaiṣṇavas have also experienced perplexity in their efforts to understand the relationship between Bhū-maṇḍala and the earth globe of our direct experience. This is shown in Appendix 1, where we reproduce a discussion of this relationship by the Vaiṣṇava commentator Vaṁśīdhara. If the existing Vedic literature consists of materials dating to an era in which people had direct experience of higher-dimensional reality, then it is not surprising that many statements in it are bewildering from our gross sensory perspective. It is therefore reasonable to follow the example of the ācāryas and simply receive these statements with faith. If this is done, then further insight may come in due course of time. (In contrast, the approach of skeptical rejection is not likely to lead to further study and insight.)

We will end this subsection by noting another correspondence principle involving Vedic cosmology-the principle of correspondence between microcosm (the body) and macrocosm (the universe and the universal form). In SB 5.23cs there is the statement that “yogīs worship the Śiśumāra planetary system, which is technically known as the kuṇḍalini-cakra.” It appears that yogīs in meditation would identify the central axis of the universe (which we will discuss in Chapter 4) with the series of cakras in the spinal column. By moving their life airs up the series of cakras, they would prepare their subtle bodies to travel up the axis of the universe to Brahmaloka. This basic idea appears in mystical traditions throughout the world, but it would take us too far afield to discuss it further here (again, see SH).

In the pastime of Lord Varāha’s lifting the earth from the ocean, the earth is frequently depicted by artists as our familiar earth globe. However, the Sanskrit verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describing this pastime do not use any words denoting a sphere when referring to the earth, and the Viṣṇu Purāṇa indicates that Lord Varāha lifted Bhū-maṇḍala as a whole. The relevant passage states that after lifting the earth from the waters, Lord Varāha divided it into seven great continents, as it was before, thus indicating that the earth that was lifted included the seven dvīpas of Bhū-maṇḍala (VP, p. 65). The Vaiṣṇava commentator Vaṁśīdhara, in his commentary on SB 5.20.38, also points out that the earth lifted by Lord Varāha is Bhū-maṇḍala (see Appendix 1).

In the Fifth Canto the earth is directly described as the vast disc of Bhū-maṇḍala. The word bhū-golam, or “earth-globe,” generally refers to the sphere of the universe, and the Bhāgavatam seems to make no direct reference to the earth as a small globe. However, the astronomical siddhāntas do explicitly describe the earth as a small globe, and the following verse in the Fifth Canto can be interpreted as referring to the earth as a sphere:
People living in countries at points diametrically opposite to where the sun is first seen rising will see the sun setting, and if a straight line were drawn from a point where the sun is at midday, the people in countries at the opposite end of the line would be experiencing midnight. Similarly, if people residing where the sun is setting were to go to countries diametrically opposite, they would not see the sun in the same condition [SB 5.21.8-9].

We have argued that the earth was understood to be a sphere in Vedic times, and that it was also understood to be part of Bhū-maṇḍala. It is therefore natural to ask whether or not the other parts of Bhū-maṇḍala also correspond to spheres in some sense. In fact, Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently refers to the idea of planets as globes floating in space. Since this point is quite important, we shall quote a number of his statements at length:

(1) “The earth floats in space among many millions of other planets, all of them bearing huge mountains and oceans. It floats because Kṛṣṇa enters into it, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (gām āviśya), just as He enters the atom” (TQK, p. 122).

(2) “Seated on His chariot with Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa began to proceed north, crossing over many planetary systems. These are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as Saptadvīpa. Dvīpa means ‘island.’ These planets are sometimes described in the Vedic literature as dvīpas. The planet on which we are living is called Jambūdvīpa. Outer space is taken as a great ocean of air, and within that great ocean of air there are many islands, which are the different planets. In each and every planet there are oceans also. In some of the planets the oceans are of salt water, and in some of them there are oceans of milk. In others there are oceans of liquor, and in others there are oceans of ghee or oil” (KB, pp. 855-56). Similar remarks are made in KB p. 12.

(3) “The planets are called dvīpas. Outer space is like an ocean of air. Just as there are islands in the watery ocean, these planets in the ocean of space are called dvīpas, or islands in outer space” (CC ML 20.218p). This purport begins with a quotation of the Sanskrit verses from Siddhānta-śiromaṇi describing the seven dvīpas of Bhū-maṇḍala, and thus Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly does not limit the dvīpas to the Southern Hemisphere.

(4) “Sometimes the planets in outer space are called islands. We have experience of various types of islands in the ocean, and similarly the various planets, divided into fourteen lokas, are islands in the ocean of space. As Priyavrata drove his chariot behind the sun, he created seven different types of oceans and planetary systems, which altogether are known as Bhū-maṇḍala, or Bhūloka” (SB 5.1.31p).

(5) “According to Vedic understanding, the entire universe is regarded as an ocean of space. In that ocean there are innumerable planets, and each planet is called a dvīpa, or island” (SB 8.19.19p).

(6) “Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down into the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist. The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes” (SB 2.7.1p).

(7) In SB 2.7.13p, 1.3.41p, and 3.15.2p it is indicated that the universe contains millions of planets, and that many are not visible to the naked eye.

In these passages Śrīla Prabhupāda refers to the seven dvīpas of Bhū-maṇḍala as a planetary system consisting of many globes floating in space. He compares outer space to an ocean of air and interprets the word dvīpa to mean an island hovering in that airy ocean. Since the Bhāgavatam does not specifically refer to the dvīpas as separated globes, this naturally gives rise to the question, Is the Bhāgavatam giving a metaphorical description of the universe, and if so, then how far can we go in giving indirect interpretations to its statements? We note that passage (4) refers to a verse in which it is said that Mahārāja Priyavrata created the seven dvīpas and oceans of Bhū-maṇḍala with the rims of his chariot wheels. We can easily see how a very large chariot could produce circular ruts that would become oceans and islands, but it is not so easy to see how it could produce systems of spherical planets.

In answer to the above question, we suggest that the statements of the Bhāgavatam can sometimes be given indirect interpretations, but this should be done very carefully in accordance with the overall meaning of the text and the tradition of paramparā. According to the Vedic literature, the universe is very difficult to understand, and a complete element-by-element description in the modern Western style is not possible. Any description can depict only a limited aspect of the total reality, and to do this the description must make use of familiar concepts and images. Thus to some extent any description of the universe must be indirect and metaphorical.

Whenever we read a statement and arrive at some understanding of it, we are necessarily interpreting it in the context of many underlying assumptions, some of which we may hold unconsciously. Thus, as we have already pointed out, a literal reading of a text is also an interpretation, and it may be an incorrect one. What then is the right way to understand a text? We suggest that this can be properly done only if one makes a sincere effort to enter into the spirit of the text as a whole and tries to realize the meaning intended by its author. Since the author is invariably writing in the context of some tradition, this also means immersing oneself in that tradition in an effort to assimilate its world view.

Thus far we have been presenting a picture of Vedic cosmology based on the observation that the Vedic literature is using familiar three-dimensional imagery to describe an inherently non-three-dimensional material and spiritual reality. According to this interpretation, the simple image of the disc of Bhū-maṇḍala has been used to describe a higher-dimensional situation in which the earth can be seen in a variety of ways at different levels of sensory perception. The simple image of travel in outer space has likewise been used to describe modes of yogic travel that defy understanding in three-dimensional terms.

If we proceed with this interpretation of the Vedic world view, then one way to understand the idea of the dvīpas as islands in space is as follows: As the earth, which is part of Bhū-maṇḍala, appears to be a small globe to our ordinary senses, so various parts of Bhū-maṇḍala (and other regions of the universe) may also be experienced as globes floating in space by beings with certain levels of sensory development. On the basis of logic alone, we would offer this idea only as a tentative conjecture. However, since Śrīla Prabhupāda is writing in accordance with the paramparā tradition, we suggest that this idea of Bhū-maṇḍala as a system of floating planetary globes must be in accord with the Vedic literature as a whole. It simply represents the appearance of Bhū-maṇḍala at one sensory level.

The Vedic literature describes the material cosmos as an unlimited ocean situated within a small part of the unlimited spiritual world. Within this ocean there are innumerable universes, or brahmāṇḍas, which can be compared to spherical bubbles of foam grouped in clusters. Each of these universal globes consists of a series of spherical coverings and an inner, inhabited portion.

Within the inner region of the brahmāṇḍa, the most striking feature is Bhū-maṇḍala, or the earthly planetary system. Bhū-maṇḍala is described in the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a flat disc with a diameter of 500 million yojanas, or 4 billion miles (using 8 miles per yojana). The surface of this disc is marked with a series of ring-shaped oceans and islands surrounding a central island called Jambūdvīpa.

The total surface area of our familiar earth planet is some 197 million square miles, and, according to modern information, the total surface area of the sun is about 2.4 million million square miles. In contrast, the total area of Bhū-maṇḍala comes to about 12.6 billion billion square miles. In SB 2.5.40p Śrīla Prabhupāda refers to this as the area of the universe, and it seems that Bhū-maṇḍala is indeed one of the most significant and frequently mentioned features in the Vedic account of the universe. Its size is on the scale of the solar system as a whole, as conceived in modern Western astronomy.

The Fifth Canto gives specific figures for the size, shape, and position of many of the geographic structures of Bhū-maṇḍala. The most striking characteristic of these structures is that although their description employs names for familiar features of earthly geography, such as mountains, oceans, and islands, they are all on the same cosmic scale as Bhū-maṇḍala itself. Thus the smallest mountains on Bhū-maṇḍala mentioned in the Bhāgavatam are 2,000 yojanas, or 16,000 miles, high. Many mountains are 80,000 miles or even 672,000 miles high. In contrast, the diameter of the earth is about 8,000 miles, and Mount Everest, the highest known mountain, extends about 5.5 miles above sea level. References to such immense sizes are not limited to the Fifth Canto.

For example, SB 4.6.32 gives a description of Lord Śiva meditating underneath a banyan tree 800 miles in height and 600 miles in breadth. In SB 8.2.1 we read that Trikuta Mountain, where the elephant Gajendra achieved liberation, is 80,000 miles in length and breadth. This mountain is situated in the ocean of milk, one of the geographical features of Bhū-maṇḍala. In SB 8.7.9 it is pointed out that when Kūrma, the tortoise incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu, was supporting Mandara Mountain during the churning of the milk ocean, His back extended for 800,000 miles (lakṣa-yojana), “like a large island.” Finally, the Matsya avatāra, Lord Viṣṇu’s fish incarnation, expanded from an initial small size to a final length of 8 million miles (SB 8.24.44).

Modern scholars tend to reject dimensions such as these as ludicrous exaggerations made by poets who were completely devoid of scientific knowledge. However, even common men in primitive societies can tell that the earthly mountains of our experience have heights of thousands of feet rather than thousands of miles. The highly rational philosophical discussions in the Bhāgavatam indicate that it was not written by some kind of mad fanatic who was devoid of common sense. We suggest, therefore, that the descriptions in the Bhāgavatam of gigantic sizes refer to an actually existing world that is built on the scale of the solar system and that contains features built on a similar scale.

We will assume that this is the case, and later on we will consider what the relation might be between this world and the earth of our experience. For the present we will give a brief overview of the most significant features of Bhū-maṇḍala. We will do this with the aid of a series of computer-generated illustrations that portray the features of Bhū-maṇḍala as they would appear to an observer approaching Bhū-maṇḍala from a great distance.

In the first view (Fig. 3) we are looking down on the center of Bhū-maṇḍala at an angle of 45 degrees from a distance of some 600 million miles. We can discern five ring-shaped structures surrounding a central region that is too far away to see clearly. Going from the outside in, these are respectively the dvīpas, or islands, named Puṣkaradvīpa, Śākadvīpa, Krauñcadvīpa, Kuśadvīpa, and Śālmalīdvīpa. Puṣkaradvīpa has inner and outer radii of 100.4 million and 151.6 million miles, and each successive ring, going inward, is half as wide as the one preceding it. To give an idea of the scale, the distance from the earth to the sun is currently accepted to be 93 million miles.

The intervals between the dvīpas are occupied by oceans, each of which has the same width as the dvīpa that it surrounds. The oceans surrounding the five dvīpas we have mentioned are said to be composed respectively of clear water, yogurt, milk, ghee, and liquor. Of course, these substances are celestial counterparts of the corresponding ordinary substances of our day-to-day experience. In Figure 4 we have moved in to a distance of about 150 million miles from the center of Bhū-maṇḍala. Now Krauñcadvīpa, Kuśadvīpa, and Śālmalīdvīpa have expanded in apparent size, and the ring of Plakṣadvīpa has become visible within Śālmalīdvīpa. We can also begin to discern the central island of Jambūdvīpa within Plakṣadvīpa.

In Figure 5 we have moved in to a distance of 15 million miles, and in Figure 6, at a distance of some 3 million miles, we can obtain a detailed view of Jambūdvīpa.
Jambūdvīpa is described as a disc-shaped island 100,000 yojanas, or 800,000 miles, in diameter. (For comparison, the currently accepted diameter of the sun is 865,110 miles.) The most striking feature of Jambūdvīpa is a central structure called Mount Meru, which is 84,000 yojanas high. This structure is generally referred to as a mountain, although it clearly has a unique form quite different from that of a typical mountain. The upper surface of Mount Meru is said to be occupied by Brahmapurī, the city of Lord Brahmā, and by cities belonging to eight other demigods.

Jambūdvīpa is divided into nine regions, or varṣas, by a series of mountain ranges. In Figure 7 we see a more detailed view of the central region of Ilāvṛta-varṣa, which contains Mount Meru and is square in shape. To get some idea of the scale of this figure, we should note that the low mountain chain stretching from A to B in the figure is called Gandhamādana and reaches 16,000 miles in height. This is twice the diameter of the earth.

Of the nine varṣas of Jambūdvīpa, eight are described as places of heavenly enjoyment. These are intended for persons who have returned to earth after using up their allotted time on the heavenly planets but who have some remaining pious credits entitling them to enjoy great material opulence. The inhabitants of these varṣas are described as living for 10,000 years by earthly calculations, as having the bodily strength of 10,000 elephants, and as having a standard of pleasure like that of the human beings of Tretā-yuga (SB 5.17.12). These regions are also said to contain beautiful gardens that are visited by important leaders among the demigods. The Bhāgavatam refers to these eight varṣas as bhauma-svarga, or the heavenly places on earth (SB 5.17.11), while Śrīla Prabhupāda describes them as “the lower heavenly planets” and contrasts their inhabitants to those of “this earth” (SB 5.17.13p).

The remaining varṣa of Jambūdvīpa is called Bhārata-varṣa. It is described as the field of fruitive activities, in which human beings struggle with adverse conditions and elevate or degrade themselves by their actions. Bhārata-varṣa is the southernmost region of Jambūdvīpa, and it is illustrated in Figures 8 and 9, in which we view Jambūdvīpa from the southeast at a lower elevation. In shape, Bhārata-varṣa is a semicircular piece of land bounded on the south by the salt-water ocean and on the north by the Himalayan Mountains. Bhārata-varṣa is the only part of Bhū-maṇḍala at all reminiscent of the earth, and it is frequently identified with either the earth or with India in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books.

Yet the Himalayas bounding Bhārata-varṣa are described in the Fifth Canto as being 80,000 miles high, and Bhārata-varṣa itself runs some 72,000 miles (9,000 yojanas) from north to south. This naturally leads us to ask, What is the relationship between the earth of our experience and Jambūdvīpa and Bhārata-varṣa, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?