Descriptions of the planetary systems in the Vedas

The construction of the endlessness

Descriptions of the planetary systems in the Vedas

Did you know that your distance to hell is 100.000 yojanas and the distance to the spiritual planets 555.555.555.750.000.000 yojanas?
We use yojanas because Krishna created the universe using these units. And it is the metric unit of the gods. The Vedas and the Srimad bhagavatam is a scripture for gods.
The descriptions in this text are of the subtle level of the universe, as perceived by mystics and godly beings.
In the gross dimension there is the use of 8 miles for a yojana.

There are 14 planetary systems. These are horizontal planes, parallel to the orbit of the sun around the earth, as seen from the earth, and extend close to the inner layer of the spherically shaped universe.

130.000 yojanas beneath the bhumandala - the great earth, or the round flat disk-form of the planetary system to which the planet earth belongs - begins the Garbha ocean (see figure). Just above this ocean are the countless Narakalokas or hellish planets. The area where these planets are orbiting has a thickness of 3000 yojanas and a diameter of 1000 yojanas, and has like the other planetary levels, the form of a disk, like a CD. On all these planets, living entities are punished according to the principle of “paying the sinner in his own coin." These planets are described in Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 5, chapter 26, verse 8 - 36. (S.B. 5.26.8-36).

Above the hellish planets are seven planetary systems, called bila-svarga (underground heavenly planets). Bila means dark, a den, or grotto. These planetary systems are between 80.000 and 100.000 yojanas beneath the bhumandala. Instead of sunlight, they are lit by shining jewels. The demons living there can enjoy heavenly sense-gratification because of their karma. These planets described in the S.B. 5.24.8-31.

The bhumandala itself comprises planets extended in the form of rings with, in-between each ring, ring-shaped oceans of salt water (lavanoda), sugar cane juice (iksura), strong drinks (suroda), ghi (ghrtoda), milk (ksiroda), yoghurt (dadhyoda) and very tasty sweet water (svadudaka).

At the centre is Jambudvipa (dvipa means: island). It is surrounded by akasa (ether, space). It is divided in nine varsas (planets, provinces or islands) and one of them is bharata-varsa. This is the (only) planet where the bharata (light) of the Veda can and does shine.

The other varsas and dvipas (see figure) are called bhauma-svarga or paradisiacal areas in the bhumandala. The description of these heavens and life there is in S.B. 5.16.12-25 and S.B. 5.20. The inhabitants of these varsas are at least part-time devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhauma-svarga and the oceans in-between are not visible with gross senses; they are higher dimensional. However, these dimensions are connected with each other. For example, the farthest point of the orbit of the planet Uranus (measured from bharata-varsa) is the same as aloka varsa (= uninhabited area, see figure). The farthest point of the orbit of Saturn is in adarsa-talopama (= the land with a surface like a mirror) that lies before the lokaloka mountain. The nearest point of the orbit of Jupiter is in the golden land. The farthest point of the orbit of Mercury is the ring inside of Puskara Dwipa and the nearest point of the orbit of Mercury is in the ocean of milk.

Above the bhumandala is the 100 yojanas thick Antariksa (space, or the bhumandala atmosphere). Then begins bhuvarloka: the middle heaven where the lokas (= planets) belong to different entities, also known to ufologists. These entities may or may not come to the bhumandala in vimanas (flying saucers or plates). They come for example from Raksasa-loka (hairy monsters), pretaloka (ghosts), Bhutaloka (associates of Shiva), Pisacaloka (witches, female ghosts), Yaksaloka (half pious ghosts and associates of Kuvera) or from Siddhaloka (also in Bhuvarloka), which lies 79.900 yojanas above antariksa and 80.000 yojanas above the bhumandala. Everyone at Siddhaloka is born with twenty-three yoga-siddhis, mystical perfections (see Bhagavad Gita 6.20, purport and S.B. 11.15.4-13).

Beyond Siddhaloka is Caranaloka (the planet of angels and heavenly musicians) and then Vidyadharaloka (where the inhabitants have great material knowledge, vidya). Sometimes UFOs come from bilasvargas talatalaloka (S.B.2.7.37).

100.000 yojanas above the bhumandala is the sun from where the divya-svarga or heavenly planetary system starts - also called devalokas or bhogalokas because the demigods enjoy them (bhoga means enjoyment). The distance from the sun to bharatavarsa at the bhumandala is however 150 million km at the physical level, because the orbit of the sun (around the Sumeru Mountain) is sakadvipa, dividing the island in two. The moon is also a heavenly planet. It has a position that is higher dimensional and therefore it is not accessible by any human space craft, which can enter only its gross dimension.

Indraloka (one of the planets in divyasvarga) is the kingdom of Indra. Indra is the king of the demigods who reign over the cosmos. The stairs of Indra's palace are made of coral, the floors are covered with emeralds, the walls are made of crystal, the pillars of vaidurya gems, the seats are covered with diamonds and rubies, the silk bedspreads are white like foam, and there are immensely beautiful lakes, gardens and rivers. The crossroads are made of pearls; the plating of the doors of gold; the doorways of marble; the windows of golden networks; and the flags of pearls and golden stitches. All this is thousands and thousands of times more luxurious than here on the earth planet.

Everyone is very beautiful and nicely dressed. Apsaras (angels) and gandharvas (musicians) sing and dance. There are 100,000,000 vimanas for pleasure journeys. There are no atheists. There is no criminality, jealousy, violence, craftiness, false pride, lust, greed or fraud. Their lives last 3,600,000 solar years. Indra's city is surrounded by a moat of Ganges water and fortifications because sometimes asuras (asu= immediately; rama = enjoyment: those who want only temporary material enjoyment) or demons come to plunder.

Above divyasvarga are mahar-, jana-, tapa- and satyaloka where the yogis (ascetics and mystics) try to become fully absorbed in meditation, so that at the moment of leaving the material body they can attain liberation from the material universe and go back to the spiritual world.

The first wall around the universe is ten times the diameter of the universe. The second layer is ten times the thickness of the first layer. The third layer is ten times the thickness of the second layer, and so on. In this way, there are ten prison-walls totaling., 555,5555555555x10**15 yojanas. Each succeeding covering or layer around the universe is composed of a different substance (see Bhagavad Gita 7.4). First solid matter, then fluid, the luminous element, the gaseous, the ethereal the mental, buddhih (intelligence), ahankara (false ego), mahat-tattva (visible age-old matter) and then pradhana (not manifested age-old matter) till there is ultimately the spiritual nature. The laws of nature that are valid on bharata-varsa change in these layers; time and space bend. Therefore, the layers around the universe are beyond the reach of our earthly telescopes and spaceships.

The way out of this universe is from the bharata-varsa. At the above-mentioned divya-, bhauma- and bilasvarga and also in the heavens in-between there is too much hedonism, this rare is someone looking for something non-material. In the narakalokas there is only pain and there is no time for deliberation and meditation. At mahar-, jana-, tapa- and satyaloka a certain type of sattva-guna (the quality of goodness) is dominating and thus there are mainly impersonalists on these lokas. Therefore, a yogi who lives there can at best, with a lot of pain and trouble, attain only the brahmajyoti (= spiritual light) around Krishna's spiritual planets. However, from there, the yogi again falls down to the material universe because of his isolation from other souls and Krishna as well. Consequently, we can understand that there is no complete happiness.

According to the Vedas, Bharata-varsa is the most suitable place for practicing spiritual life in this age by chanting the holy name of God with increasing devotion, mainly: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Only souls who rejoice and take cheer in love of God can dance through these layers around the cosmos, through the spiritual light and go back to their spiritual home. In the years of the spiritual golden age that started in 1486 A.D. with the advent of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, more souls are going to Krsnaloka then to narakaloka, in spite of the fact that Krishnaloka is farther away.

The vertical cross-section of the universe.

The universe is a gigantic building or machine, created and controlled by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can see that the universe has the form of an egg (andah-kosah) and is divided in fourteen parts. Looking at the rounded figures (for example 100,000 yojanas and not 161,000 yojanas or 98,000 yojanas) of the relative distances; recognizing that all the planets and stars are exactly synchronized in relation to each other and rotate harmoniously in their respective circular orbits helps us in visualizing this. For simplification, on the map the planets are placed under each other. They each have their own orbit around Meru. The fourteen planetary systems to which these planets belong are placed vertically under each other and parallel to the orbit of the sun.