Q: When we look at the sky at night do we see the moon or some otherplanet like Rahu? I have a lot of trouble explaining and understandingthe whole lunar controversy. I am willing to accept that the lunarmission landed elsewhere other than the moon. I just feel like astubborn idiot when trying to defend Srila Prabhupada's comments on thematter by using the theory that the whole landing was filmed in somefake stage. The hard bit is to accept that the lunar mission traveledtowards the moon that we see in the night sky, but didn't get there.
Answer: Srila Prabhupada, based on his firm conviction in the Vedictruth, challenged the lunar-mission on two accounts: (1) it is notpossible to reach the heavenly moon by mechanical means; (2) the moon isnot a barren desert devoid of life.
According to Vedic evidence, the moon is counted among the heavenlyplanets and is inhabited by heavenly denizens who live for 10,000 yearsand is presided by the Deity Candra; only those with much pious creditscan enter the moon, and that only after attaining a suitable body fit tolive there. Even if humans made the effort for mechanical travel towardsthe moon, we are dependent on the authority of Candra to actually reachthere. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada was convinced that man could not havelanded on the moon.
One explanation offered by Prabhupada was perhaps they were deluded anddiverted by higher authorities to the invisible planet Rahu(incidentally, Rahu is connected to the ascending node of the moon,astronomically.) He also offered other possible explanations, includingone that the whole thing might have been faked (which, by the way, is aprominent proposal by several modern writers).
In any case, the basic principle that Prabhupada wanted us to understandis the unreliability of empirical methods which are always open toquestion. At present, we do not have sufficient empiric facts to proveeither way, while based on Vedic assertions, to the contrary, he urgedus to think and question rather than blindly accept the claim of manlanding on the moon and finding it lifeless.
One of the scientist-disciples of Prabhupada, Sadaputa dasa, who hasdone much work in laying the scientific framework for understanding thecosmological materials from Bhagavatam, explores this subject from ahigher-dimensional perspective: A higher dimensional realm may have a3-dimensional location, just as a three-dimensional object has itslocation in two-dimensional space. For example, if one needs to reach acertain office in Manhattan, one could move up, down and across the gridof streets and arrive at the right address, and yet may not be able toperceive the office one is looking for; to reach the actual destination,they may have to further move 50 stories in the vertical dimension, anda being whose sense-perception is restricted to two-dimensions onlycannot access this region. (Cf. Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy bySadaputa Dasa, Ch 3) This is a crude example but by way of drawing aparallel, even supposing that astronauts might have reached thephenomenal moon -- which the event itself is not beyond question -- evenso, they still could not have made the higher-dimensional travelnecessary to perceive the moon's heavenly inhabitants and surroundings.Being restricted in the gross realm, they would have had to return withthe impressions of a lifeless planet.
For those who are scientifically trained and keen on such details, thereare works as mentioned above that analyze this subject with technical rigor. For our purposes or in preliminary discussions with others,however, it would suffice to stick to the basic principle ofestablishing faith in Vedic authority, which is our goal, rather thanget into involved technical debates.
Absolute-Truth Forums » Truth Musings
On Moon Landing
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Posted 2 years ago #
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Inhabitants of earth are limited by Space and Time. Space has three dimensions, length, breadth and height and we can go forward and back in it. Time the fourth dimension - is where we can only forward and not go back. These are our limitations.
Do Vedic texts ascertain extra capabilities in terms of space and time for inhabitants of moon ?
Posted 2 years ago #
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