Beyond Birth and Death by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: krishnapath.org
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4. The Sky Beyond the Universe

4

The Sky Beyond the Universe

If even the higher planets in this universe are subject to birth and death, why do great yogīs strive for elevation to them? Although they may have many mystic powers, these yogīs still have the tendency to want to enjoy the facilities of material life. On the higher planets, it is possible to live for incredibly long lifetimes. The time calculation on these planets is indicated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa:

sahasra-yuga-paryantam

ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ

rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ

te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ

"By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night." (Bg. 8.17)

One yuga covers 4,300,000 years. This number multiplied by one thousand is calculated to be twelve hours of Brahmā on the planet Brahmaloka. Similarly, another twelve hour period covers the night. Thirty such days equal a month, twelve months a year, and Brahmā lives for one hundred such years. Life on such a planet is indeed long, yet, even after trillions of years, the inhabitants of Brahmaloka have to face death. Unless we go into the spiritual planets, there is no escape from death.

avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ

prabhavanty ahar-āgame

rātry-āgame pralīyante

tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake

"When Brahmā's day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the arrival of Brahmā's night, they are all annihilated." (Bg. 8.18)

At the end of the day of Brahmā, all the lower planetary systems are covered with water, and the beings on them are annihilated. After this devastation and after the night of Brahmā passes, in the morning when Brahmā arises, there is again creation and all these beings come forth. Thus subjection to creation and destruction is the nature of the material world.

bhūta-gramaḥ sa evāyaṁ

bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate

rātry-āgame 'vaśaḥ pārtha

prabhavaty ahar-āgame

"Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved." (Bg. 8.19)

Although the living entities do not like devastation, that devastation will come and overflood the planets until all living beings on the planets stay merged in water throughout the night of Brahmā. But as day comes, the water gradually disappears.

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo

'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ

yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu

naśyatsu na vinaśyati

"Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is." (Bg. 8.20)

We cannot calculate the extent of the material universe, but we have Vedic information that there are millions of universes within the entire creation, and beyond these material universes there is another sky which is spiritual. There all the planets are eternal, and the lives of all the beings on them are eternal. In this verse the word bhāvaḥ means nature, and here another nature is indicated. In this world we have experience also of two natures. The living entity is spirit, and as long as he is within matter, matter is moving, and as soon as the living entity, the spiritual spark, is out of the body, the body is immovable.

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