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.
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