(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore)
Note: Yesterday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately.
Download the audio for this lecture here: Download
From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir!
Date: February 23, 2014
Speaker: HH Sivarama Swami
Subject: The Glories of the ToVP
HH Sivarama Swami: In the little time that we have, I would just like to concentrate on a certain purpose of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium [TOVP] as I have understood it from Srila Prabhupada, from our senior God brothers.
In one morning walk, Srila Prabhupada said that our worship of Radha-Krishna is our own private business, but actually, in terms of preaching, our business is to dismantle the materialistic philosophy, such as evolution, which the material scientists have actually bewildered the whole world with. And this Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is the emblem of the instrument which is meant to achieve that.
There are of course many different tributaries or ways in which modern science has evolved and has built up a very, very convincing structure by which ultimately people accept that there is no God, or at best, God is impersonal and ultimately, therefore, the goal of life is sense gratification. You just live once, enjoy at all costs, and whether it is the cost of the planet, or whether the cost of the other half of the people on this world, they can starve to death, it doesn’t matter, whoever has access, they should enjoy.
And of course our teaching, our worship of Radha and Krishna as the form of the Absolute Truth, as taught to us by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Pancatattva, is presented in Srimad-Bhagavatam. And Srimad-Bhagavatam, along with Bhagavad Gita, Caitanya-caritamrita, and of course all of the other Vedic literature, is our law book. This is what we put forward, this is what we are distributing, this is what are spreading all over the world.
And then this chanting of Hare Krishna is our philosophy, is our teachings, and we accept that srimad-bhagavate maha-muni-krte kim va parair isvarah (SB 1.1.2)
We don’t need anything else, this is compiled and written by Srila Vyasadeva the incarnation of the Lord and is perfect as it is. But if it is perfect as it is, then we need to be able to defend everything that Srimad-Bhagavatam states.
In the Fifth Canto is the structure of the universe, which is one of the main functions why we call this the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The structure of the universe is related to the process of creation, also, but it is certainly related through the empiric approach of modern science that what we see is what reality is. What Sukadeva Goswami sees is what reality is. But his reality and the reality of the scientists are different.
The scientists don’t see four elephants holding up Bhumandal. Neither do they see Anantadeva stabilizing Bhumandala. Neither do they see Anantadeva from the bottom, this huge thousand headed snake holding up what we call the solar system, which is equivalent to the solar system.
How do you equate those two things? And unless we can actually show; I won’t use the word prove because neither have they proven that what they see is reality, and ultimately, neither are we going to prove to them that Srimad-Bhagavatam in the version of the universe of Srimad Bhagavatam is the way it’s written. But we can certainly give a very relevant argument, a better argument, and an argument that also harmonizes with what they see.
And that’s very important because if we can’t, if the statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam anywhere doesn’t stand on its feet, then it immediately puts to question every other statement of Bhagavatam.
Yajnaih sankirtana-prayair. Why is sankirtana-yajna the religious principle of this age?
So, of course, we as Vaisnavas. We believe that everything that Bhagavatam says, not every verse, but every word, is perfect because it is spoken from the transcendental sphere. And therefore, we need to be able to actually defend all of those statements in order to then also support our own personal statement that the Absolute Truth is a person, that He is Krishna, that God is blue and He does play the flute and He engages in so many wonderful pastimes.
So of course, one of the functions of this Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, besides from showing what our personal business is, which is to worship Radha and Krishna in a way that Pancattatva did, is to actually to show the scientific basis of Krishna consciousness.
And Srila Prabhupada was very fond of using this word ‘science’. That Krishna conscious approach, the Bhagavatam’s approach in describing reality, is as and more scientific than that which modern science has presented.
Another example which is not there in the chandelier and in the whole evolution of the main dome is how actually, goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya, how the different levels or the structure of this universe evolves.
There is also the very important principle of evolution. The evolution, which of course to modern science basically means that from very simple basic elemental particles, you get this planet, you get this building, and ultimately, you get conscious living entities, human beings. We don’t see this taking place anywhere. It’s not logical. It’s not something that is either experimentally being verified. And it is just the opposite of actually what people see.
Because what do we see? We see very complex forms degrade to very simple elementary particles. We don’t see the opposite.
And so the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is also meant to show what our scientific preachers have termed ‘inverse evolution’. It is a much more systematic presentation, something that confirms with that which is observable, that life creates life, that life is the cause of structure and organization within this world. And that ultimately, it makes sense that the topmost life, namely a Supreme person, is the cause of all other persons, is the cause of all other creations, of planets and universes and down to the, yas tv indra-gopam, right down to the smallest little germ, or right down to the smallest little insect.
We need to be able to present that and logical argument needs to be given for that. Bhagavatam says very far out things. The daughters of Daksa give birth to clouds, mountains, mosquitoes, aquatics, animals. It’s possible. What is the logical argument? What is the presentation? This is not just the temple. This is scientific. This building presents the scientific basis of Krishna consciousness.
We see, for instance, how we as human beings, our genes, we have limited genes. We give birth to other humans. Although nowadays, those humans are starting to act less and less human. But why should living beings be limited just to having genes of their own nature? Why not genes of other living entities, higher living entities, who are able to do that, living entities who have the genes to produce other types of living entities? It’s logical. It’s something that can be acceptable.
So our Temple of Vedic Planetarium is meant to present these scientific principles to back up the teachings of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which then actually gives added force and support to the fact that yes, if you chant Hare Krishna, you will see God face-to-face.
Everything else that we are proposing, ‘this fact and this is also the fact’. But how will you prove it? If you do it. And if you do it and if you attain that type of transcendental vision where you see.
For instance, Brahma-samhita states that, I just forgot the verse, how Krishna is present in His fullness in everything, everywhere.
Inconceivable statement. Of course, we understand that Krishna is within everything. And yet at the same time, Lord Brahma says that not only is everything within Krishna, but Krishna is also within every atom along with everything. That means that all the atoms that make up the universe also contain all the universes along with Krishna. It’s acintya, inconceivable.
But when we attain that state of transcendental consciousness where we can both understand such inconceivable things and approach that Supreme Personality of Godhead, then yes, then we can actually see reality for what it is. And that will be the ultimate proof.
Do the experiment. Chant Hare Krishna, follow Pancatattva, and ultimately, yes, we can see reality for what it really is in a way that Sukadeva Goswami also saw and described reality. And also show that the reality of the scientists is actually just the reality of conditioned living entities who have a very, very limited three-dimensional perspective of what they see.
So just in conclusion, all of you have heard what Srila Prabhupada really encouraged us, and especially encouraged the scientific preachers, in regards to the scientists: ‘Kick them in the face with boot.’ Prabhupada would say, ‘I will kick them in the face with a boot.’
I haven’t see Srila Prabhupada. I know that when Srila Prabhupada was in England, in Tittenhurst Park, he was wearing boots. He was wearing wellingtons to walk around. I don’t know many other places that Srila Prabhupada was wearing boots but my conviction is that this building is Srila Prabhupada’s boot.
[Devotees: Haribol!]
And this is Prabhupada’s boot in the face of science and scientists. And when this building is up, not only is Pancatattva and Radha Madhava situated there in the altar and showing what it is that’s going on in our hearts, but when all of the inside preaching is done and the planetarium is there and everything else is there, all of those scientific principles which substantiate Srimad-Bhagavatam’s statements, then this will really be a boot in the face of the scientists.
Hare Krishna! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
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