Rahu at it again?.... or going beyond myth?

[theist 1]

Well I will leave it to you to harmonize those two quotes you provided from Srila Prabhupada. In the letter he states some demon's head chasing the Chandraloka is an allegory and here he states no allegory in the sentence you have made bold.

 

It does look like a problem for one who takes every word of Srila Prabhupada as coming from an omniscent being. I do not think of him that way but I do not want to disturb the minds of those that do with my opinon.

 

But as for myself I choose the letter. In that letter I am convinced I hear the truth. In the sentence you made bold above I do not have that sense and what else do I have to go on.

 

I don't see how one can have it both ways.

[mahak 0]

We can have it both ways. We must. Just because we surely die when someone beheads us, thats no reason to assume this happens to everyone. Do we take it that it is only allegory that Ravanna cut off nine heads. Or that King Prthu karate chopped this planet, shaped it like we do play dough.

 

No, this allegory stuff dont fly. Ill do a guruvani here and say prabhupada only used the word allegory to ease the radical change of thinking of things in other ways.

 

Think of things another way. This is Lord Sivas Instruction to Lord Brahma. Prabhupadas instruction to us, in fact. Why does one insist that things cannot happen in other realms that we may witness. What happened at the dawn of Kali Yuga that made both suras and asuras invisible to the eye of the human? Could it be chaos, quarrel, and confusion? These three words are a description of the gift of material science to the world, the ultimate mind control, used by man, not God or gods.

 

And science cannot explain nothing, at least have their "answers" survive the test of time. Vaisnavism is personality based. The very rudimentary tenet of vaisnavism is that there is no energy bereft of the wielder of such energy, the energetic. The person with the gun makes the big bang.

 

The moon is not a beach without waves, a dead rock that any fool can pretend to walk on. The moon is chandraloka, the cool one, of platinum goblets of amrita, the personality, and no one walks there.

 

The wind is not just a gust with made up descriptions of the scientist. The wind is Vayu, father of Hanuman, the father of Sri Bhimasena. Those were not allegories that came to queen kunti. Allegories cannot be the vehicle of such mahabhagavatas like Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. The skeletal Lord Yamaraja, the first to die, the Wind, the Lord of Heaven, and beings that look like horses, fer gods sake. Good thing they're allegories, is that what goes beyond the stretch of thinking of things another way?

 

I was there when the moon controversy had folks walking away from prabhupada, the last straw. I never batted an eye. Still dont. I have the right to think of things in another way. Its easy, just do it. And Ill stack my vision against anyone, especially as such vision of the diamond thread and red buffalo of my lord yamaraja conteracts any contrived and actually really lame presentation produced by silly humans in their lame laboratories, that can only create death, BTW. My billy goat has better results.

 

hare krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[Guruvani 0]

These astrological calculations of Srimad Bhagavatam come from antiquity.

Originally, the Vedic knowledge was realized by Lord Brahma in the dawn of the universal creation.

There has been many partial creations and dissolutions of the universe since this Vedic knowledge was first imparted to Lord Brahma and the great sages of bgyone ages.

 

There have been billions of years and thousands of partial dissolutions and rebuilding of the universe since then.

 

Considering how ancient and how many billions of years and thousands of universal dissolutions have taken place since the Vedic knowledge was first revealed to Lord Brahma, the Chatusana etc., there might have been some changes made in the planetary scheme of things even though it is told that the universe is rebuilt the same after each dissolution.

 

This configuration of planets as described in Srimad Bhagavatam is billions of years old and preceding thousands of universal dissolutions.

 

My idea is that maybe the universe has gone through some changes since then and certain aspects of the universal arrangement have changed.

[mahak 0]

Doesnt Prabhupada directly teach that all contro diction is destroyed by remembering ones swarupa, engages in direct service to Krsna, by the samkirtana process?

 

What is that story of the folks Narada sent to Lord Narayana. The story of the one who watched Lord Narayana threading elephants thru the eye of a needle? He actually proved to Sri Narada Muni that he in fact was in the presence of Lord Narayana by noting the utter impossibility of what he was really witnessing.

 

This is the nectar of Vaisnavism, this "other world" vision. Einstein had to find out the hard way, thru endless labors, that the sum of all available descriptions of the world by man is paltry at best, that at the top of this science, their is also beginning. Harinam is the ultimate shortcut.

 

It is interesting that folks thru history have penetrated this view of the other world, multiverse, hyperdimension. Interesting interpretations abound. Velikovsky and some of his students have awesome theories, such as the large planet that actually perched atop Mt. Meru, beings traveling between the two planets. Velikovsky cites Visnu Purana and presents a good case for his theory about why there is an asteroid belt between mars and jupiter, and why mars got its face sucked right off its skull, and why venus began spinning the other way, and why the earth is a wobbling. If I were to talk to velakovsky today, I woulod be perfectly comfortable to add that perhaps those weapons used at kuruksetra had residual effect, collateral damage.

 

Just like our friend, Michael Cremo, is not all that frightened to ask his student to think of things another way. He has a basis for his science, it is solved, no contradiction, by harinama. So he is able to pluck a diamond necklace from igneous rock that is dated 750,000,000 years old. No problem for Cremo to guess where that necklace came from. Queen Arci dropped it one morning, and it got stuck in King Prthus coveralls, and when he was doing his plowing, he lost it. He had plenty more where that cam from, so He let Cremo find it three quarters of a billion years later.

 

Imagination, ya see, I just did it. Science is so lame, so dry. My vision of things in another way have value, answers by citing the Lords Version.

 

Answers by citing the Lords Version. This is the title of the first book I bought by Srila Prabhupada. On the cover was a pig doing war with a huge being, and the earth sitting in the mud. Never read so much reality in my life. Been a Varahavadi ever since, my Lord is a Boar. Science is a bore, too. Good thing I dont believe in shadows.

 

mahaksadasa

[mahak 0]

 

These astrological calculations of Srimad Bhagavatam come from antiquity.

Originally, the Vedic knowledge was realized by Lord Brahma in the dawn of the universal creation.

There has been many partial creations and dissolutions of the universe since this Vedic knowledge was first imparted to Lord Brahma and the great sages of bgyone ages.

 

There have been billions of years and thousands of partial dissolutions and rebuilding of the universe since then.

 

Considering how ancient and how many billions of years and thousands of universal dissolutions have taken place since the Vedic knowledge was first revealed to Lord Brahma, the Chatusana etc., there might have been some changes made in the planetary scheme of things even though it is told that the universe is rebuilt the same after each dissolution.

 

This configuration of planets as described in Srimad Bhagavatam is billions of years old and preceding thousands of universal dissolutions.

 

My idea is that maybe the universe has gone through some changes since then and certain aspects of the universal arrangement have changed.

 

good point, bro. Thinking outta di box, are we. Lord Siva would approve. I always think of Sri Sri Arci Prthu whenever the discussion goes to universal archaeology. Think of the world of King Vena. After Prthu, his first successor, there was nothing even similar.

 

mahak

[theist 1]

Mahak, Your posts are all over the place so I take it you are not into a conversation. That's fine. I feel no need tro try to change your opinion and hopefully you will not get all emotionally worked up when I present mine.

[Guruvani 0]

 

good point, bro. Thinking outta di box, are we. Lord Siva would approve. I always think of Sri Sri Arci Prthu whenever the discussion goes to universal archaeology. Think of the world of King Vena. After Prthu, his first successor, there was nothing even similar.

 

mahak

Considering that at the end of each day of Lord Brahma all the middle and lower planetary systems are turned into ashes by the fires coming out of the mouth of Lord Sankarshan and that Lord Brahma is approximately 50 years old, there must have been thousands of these partial dissolutions of the universe.

 

The rishis are "seers" as they can access the Vedic knowledge from the akashic records of the subtle plane.

So, the rishis read these ancient records than have been in the akashic records since the beginning of the universe.

 

Even though the universe is partially destroyed at the end of each of Lord Brahma's day, the akashic records remain the same.

 

Maybe when Lord Brahma rebuilds the universe after each dissolution there are some differences to the original design of the original creation.

 

It's just a theory.

 

The description of the universe in the Vedic records might be something of a generic description that has slight variations from pralaya to pralaya.

[theist 1]

There May Be More to the Story

All of these literary examples imply that it is foolish to be afraid of an eclipse. Their authors would agree with Bryan Brewer, who, in his book Eclipse, put the idea this way: "With advance notice of the event and a higher level of scientific understanding among people, there is no need for anyone to be frightened by what should be a marvelous experience of the beauty of nature."

<center> </center> *But is it really superstitious to react to an eclipse with fear and wonder? Do scientists really feel no awe or amazement when the sun disappears behind the moon? Often science is portrayed as a struggle in which the discovery of facts liberates us from the tyranny of emotional reaction to experience. But a look at some other literary reactions to eclipses, and a look at the feelings of modern scientists themselves, reveals a different picture. Perhaps these people would agree with Thomas Carlyle that "The man who cannot wonder is but a pair of spectacles behind which there is no eye."

 

 

* I would say abandon the fear and keep the wonder.

[Guruvani 0]

Mahaprabhu himself appeared at the occasion of a Lunar eclipse.

 

 

Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 13.91

 

a-kalańka gauracandra dilā daraśana

sa-kalańka candre āra kon prayojana

 

SYNONYMS

a-kalańka — without contamination; gauracandra — the moon of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu; dilā — gave; daraśana — audience; sa-kalańka — with contamination; candre — for a moon; āra — also; kon — what; prayojana — necessity.

 

 

TRANSLATION

When the spotless moon of Caitanya Mahāprabhu became visible, what would be the need for a moon full of black marks on its body?

 

 

 

Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 13.92

 

eta jāni' rāhu kaila candrera grahaṇa

'kṛṣṇa' 'kṛṣṇa' 'hari' nāme bhāse tri-bhuvana

 

SYNONYMS

eta jāni' — knowing all this; rāhu — the zodiac figure Rāhu; kaila — attempted; candrera — of the moon; grahaṇa — eclipse; kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa — the holy name of Kṛṣṇa; hari — the holy name of Hari; nāme — the names; bhāse — inundated; tri-bhuvana — the three worlds.

 

 

TRANSLATION

Considering this, Rāhu, the black planet, covered the full moon, and immediately vibrations of "Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Hari!" inundated the three worlds.

PURPORT

According to the Jyotir-veda, a lunar eclipse takes place when the Rāhu planet comes in front of the full moon. It is customary in India that all the followers of the Vedic scriptures bathe in the Ganges or the sea as soon as there is a lunar or solar eclipse. All strict followers of the Vedic religion stand up in the water throughout the whole period of the eclipse and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. At the time of the birth of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, such a lunar eclipse took place, and naturally all the people standing in the water were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

 

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

I don't see how one can have it both ways.

 

Light is both a particle and a wave (two very different things). Science can demonstrate this.

 

It's tough to comprehend, I know.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Oftentimes, it seems like Mahaksa Prabhu is playing the role of the zen master advising us to meditate on the sound of one hand clapping.

 

It's good to transcend reason from time to time, isn't it?

 

 

Mahak, Your posts are all over the place so I take it you are not into a conversation. That's fine. I feel no need tro try to change your opinion and hopefully you will not get all emotionally worked up when I present mine.

[Guruvani 0]

This Rahu planet appears to exist on the mental platform according to the implications of this verse and purport.

Rahu is said to be invisible.

Srila Prabhupada says that the "darkness" occuring before the full moon can be considered as a planet.

 

Rahu is compared to subtle material desires that we can't see, but exist in a stockpile within the mind

 

As Srila Sridhar Maharaja also tried to explain that the Vedic rishis see everything in the universe as having some character or personality behind it.

As such, he explained that the Vedic rishis even consider the shadow that covers the Moon during an eclipse aslo represents a character known as Rahu.

 

Within that shadow realm exists an invisible planet, a mental planet that is known in the Vedic lore as Rahu.

 

Rahu exists in the realm of obstructed Sunlight, the darkness or shadow consciousness realm.

 

 

 

 

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.29.69

 

sattvaika-niṣṭhe manasi

bhagavat-pārśva-vartini

tamaś candramasīvedam

uparajyāvabhāsate

 

 

SYNONYMS

sattva-eka-niṣṭhe — in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness; manasi — in a mind; bhagavat — with the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pārśva-vartini — being constantly associated; tamaḥ — the dark planet; candramasi — in the moon; iva — like; idam — this cosmic manifestation; uparajya — being connected; avabhāsate — becomes manifest.

 

 

TRANSLATION

Kṛṣṇa consciousness means constantly associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in such a mental state that the devotee can observe the cosmic manifestation exactly as the Supreme Personality of Godhead does. Such observation is not always possible, but it becomes manifest exactly like the dark planet known as Rāhu, which is observed in the presence of the full moon.

 

 

PURPORT

It has been explained in the previous verse that all desires on the mental platform become visible one after another. Sometimes, however, by the supreme will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the whole stockpile can be visible all at one time. In Brahma-saḿhitā (5.54) it is said, karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām. When a person is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his stockpile of material desires is minimized. Indeed, the desires no longer fructify in the form of gross bodies. Instead, the stockpile of desires becomes visible on the mental platform by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In this connection, the darkness occurring before the full moon, the lunar eclipse, can be explained as being another planet, known as Rāhu. According to Vedic astronomy, the Rāhu planet, which is not visible, is accepted. Sometimes the Rāhu planet is visible in the presence of full moonlight. It then appears that this Rāhu planet exists somewhere near the orbit of the moon. The failure of modern moon excursionists may be due to the Rāhu planet. In other words, those who are supposed to be going to the moon may actually be going to this invisible planet Rāhu. Actually, they are not going to the moon but to the planet Rāhu, and after reaching this planet, they come back. Apart from this discussion, the point is that a living entity has immense and unlimited desires for material enjoyment, and he has to transmigrate from one gross body to another until these desires are exhausted.

No living entity is free from the cycle of birth and death unless he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness; therefore in this verse it is clearly stated (sattvaika-niṣṭhe) that when one is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in one stroke he is freed of past and future mental desires. Then, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, everything becomes simultaneously manifest within the mind. In this regard, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura cites the example of mother Yaśodā's seeing the whole cosmic manifestation within the mouth of Lord Kṛṣṇa. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, mother Yaśodā saw all the universes and planets within the mouth of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person can see all his dormant desires at one time and finish all his future transmigrations. This facility is especially given to the devotee to make his path clear for returning home, back to Godhead.

Why we see things not experienced in this life is explained herein. That which we see is the future expression of a gross body or is already stocked in our mental stockpile. Because a Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not have to accept a future gross body, his recorded desires are fulfilled in a dream. We therefore sometimes find things in a dream never experienced in our present life.

 

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Furthermore, our own "reality" is but a shadow (reflection) of the *true* reality--Goloka Vrindavana.

 

You're right that Srila Sridhar Maharaja stresses that matter is a precipitate of consciousness and not vice-versa. Consequently, there is a personality behind everything.

 

 

This Rahu planet appears to exist on the mental platform according to the implications of this verse and purport.

Rahu is said to be invisible.

Srila Prabhupada says that the "darkness" occuring before the full moon can be considered as a planet.

 

Rahu is compared to subtle material desires that we can't see, but exist in a stockpile within the mind

 

As Srila Sridhar Maharaja also tried to explain that the Vedic rishis see everything in the universe as having some character or personality behind it.

As such, he explained that the Vedic rishis even consider the shadow that covers the Moon during an eclipse aslo represents a character known as Rahu.

 

Within that shadow realm exists an invisible planet, a mental planet that is known in the Vedic lore as Rahu.

 

Rahu exists in the realm of obstructed Sunlight, the darkness or shadow consciousness realm.

[Guruvani 0]

 

TRANSLATION

Kṛṣṇa consciousness means constantly associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in such a mental state that the devotee can observe the cosmic manifestation exactly as the Supreme Personality of Godhead does.

 

From the verse quoted above, we can conclude that the universal descriptions given in the Bhagavatam were rendered in such a state of consciousness.

 

Obviously, the Lord is not under the same illusions we are and sees the universe differently than we do.

 

Rahu represents the shadow consciousness that the soul passes through to be able to perceive the material creation.

(per Srila Sridhar Maharaja)(I'll have to look for the exact reference, this is just from memory).

 

In order for the spiritul soul to perceive the material energy the consciousness must past through this shadow of consciousness.

 

When consciousness is eclipsed by the material energy it is called Rahu.

 

I'll try to find the reference in the sayings of Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

[Guruvani 0]

Srila Sridhar Maharaja deals with the issue in the first chapter of this book.

You can open it and read the first chapter and read for yourself.

I couldn't copy and paste it because of the font used.

 

 

 

http://scsmath.com/books/Subjective_Evolution.pdf

[gHari 0]

If we accept the planet, Rahu as that area which the earth blocks from the sun, then it is fitting that a demon would control it. The happiness of the sun is nowhere there. Sometimes this planet (the personality of the earth's shadow) travels in front of the moon. The pastime on the higher level is given in the Bhagavatam, but with this material understanding we can be happy with the scientific speculations as well. That will be the answer. How the upper pastimes are mapped into our physical reality could well be a fascinating study indeed. That is, if we hadn't been bitten by that poisonous snake.

[Guruvani 0]

Srila Sridhar Maharaja:

 

 

We see that by the movement of the different planets, a

solar eclipse is caused by the moon's shadow falling upon the Earth.

And yet in the scriptures it has been described that during an eclipse,

the planet Rahu is devouring the sun or the moon. When Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura was in Puri during his last days

and an eclipse came, one devotee who was supposed to know

siddhanta, the conclusions of scripture, was sitting next to

Prabhupada. He suddenly ridiculed the idea given in the Bhagavatam

that during a solar or lunar eclipse Rahu devours the sun or moon.

I could not tolerate that such a remark should be passed in regard to

the Bhagavatam and argued that what Srimad-Bhagavatam has stated

is not to be taken lightly. I offered what seemed like some far-fetched

support. I said that in his Jaiva Dharma, Bhaktivinoda Thakura has

created so many characters, but I think that they are not imaginary.

What he has written might have occurred during some other

millennium (kalpa), or day of Brahma, and that has now come to the

surface. In this way I went on to support the cosmological position of

the Bhagavatam by arguing that what is necessary to prove reality

must also have some real position. It cannot but be. In this way my

argument went and Prabhupada supported me. In understanding the

position of the planet Rahu, what Sukadeva and Vyasadeva have said

is geographically impossible, but their statements are there in Srimad-

Bhagavatam, and the literal meaning of the scriptures is not to be

taken lightly. Considering the importance of the literal meaning of

scripture, Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja presented Bhagavad-gita

As 1t Is. I thought, "How am I to prove what the Bhagavatam says? I

don't know. But what is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam must be true. I

have faith in that."

There are so many statements on the cosmology of the universe in the

scriptures. The Aryans, the spiritually developed men of former times,

used to see everything as consciousness. They saw that the shadow is

also conscious. The shadow, abhasa, is also considered to be a stage of

consciousness. Only through that shadowy stage of consciousness can

we come to the material conception of a thing. Before we reach the

conception of a shadow, we must pass through some mental stage, and

personification may be attached to that mental stage. The

personification of the shadow may be referred to as "Rahu."

The soul approaches matter, the material world, but before that, he

must pass through a shadowy stage of consciousness called cidabhasa.

Consciousness passes through the shadow level of consciousness into

matter, non-consciousness. And that shadow stage of consciousness

has its personality. It is also conscious, and may be known as "Rahu."

Every material conception presupposes a spiritual conception of that

particular thing. The shadow through which consciousness must pass

in order to perceive things as material has personality, and in the

Bhagavatam, the rsis, the seers of the truth, are addressing it as Rahu.

Because they are highly developed, they find the personal aspect of

existence everywhere. What we perceive to be dead matter, they

perceive to be conscious. Therefore, they always take the personal

perspective.

The soul, when going to experience any material conception, will have

to pass through a medium which influences his consciousness to see

things as material. What is concrete matter is unknown. It is a mere

effect of consciousness. As everything material must have some

conscious origin, or origin in personal consciousness, there must be a

personal conception of the sun, the moon, the Earth, and all the

planets. Before we reach the conception of a shadow or any other

object, the soul has to pass through a conscious stage. That stage has

some spiritual existence as a person. Therefore the Bhagavatam refers

to the sun, the moon, and the planet Rahu, as persons. Everything - the

Earth, the moon, the stars, the planets - has a personal conception. In

the background of what we can perceive with our dull senses,

everything that is said to be matter, there must be a personal

conception. Without the influence of a personal conception,

consciousness cannot reach the stage of gross matter.

Therefore, in the ancient scriptures we find that the great sages and

rsis are always addressing everything within this world as a person.

Although to us it is dead matter, they have considered them as

persons. Why? The matter is rather the shadow of the personal entity.

The personal, conscious entity is more real, and the matter we

perceive through dimmed consciousness is less real.

Dr. Murphey: So that shadow is Rahu?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: When we conceive of the personal

representation of that shadow, it will be known as Rahu. Everything is

conscious. The shadow, its effect - everything. When the moon is

between the sun and the Earth, the shadow of the moon is coming

here, and what is coming is also conscious. Everything is conscious

first - then there is matter. From the personal conception things evolve

to gross consciousness. It is all personal. So the rsis with such a vision

of reality used to address everything as a person the trees, the

mountains, the sun, the moon, the ocean. When pure consciousnessis

coming to experience pure matter, then there must first be some mixed

stage, and that is a person suffering in karma. Person means they are

not a fully developed spiritual person at present, but in a mixed

condition. So what the rsis are saying - that everything is a person - is

real; it is not a concoction.

Everything is conscious. As the present scientists say everything is

matter, we have real cause to think that everything is conscious.

Whatever you see does not matter; we can directly feel what is in our

nature. That is conscious. Our consciousness may be in a developed or

degraded position, but consciousness is nearer to us. We feel our

mental energy only.

Dr. Murphey: This is a bit difficult for us to fully grasp. When we

see color, what are we actually seeing?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: That is a mental stage.

Dr. Singh: What is the reality of that object?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Reality - that is in the soul. Only the soul is

real; the seer is reality. The subject is real. And whatever the subject

feels also emanates from the subject.

Dr. Singh: But are the objects the subject perceives also persons?

When we are seeing the color red, now is red also a personality?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Everything has its representation in the

original, personal, conscious, spiritual reality. Otherwise, there is no

possibility of its being reflected into this plane as matter. First there is

consciousness and then when it is in a more gross condition, it appears

to be matter. In the study of ontology it is taught that when studying a

particular thing, although we can know that it has certain attributes to

the eye, and that it appears to the ear in a particular way, these are all

appearances. Independent of appearances, the ontological aspect of a

thing - what it is, the reality of a thing - is unknown and unknowable.

My contention is that when consciousness is going to feel nonconscious

matter it will have to pass through a conscious area to meet

the material object. So the full perception of that material thing cannot

but be conscious; and consciousness always indicates person. First

there is conception and then the material idea.

The conscious world is very near and the material world is very far

off. Therefore the great rsis, whose thinking is highly developed,

address whatever they find within the environment as if they are all

persons. In the Vedas, the ancient scriptural literature of India, we find

that the saints and sages are always in the midst of so many persons;

in the background everything is a person.

[Guruvani 0]

Srila Sridhar Maharaja says:(as in the above quote)

 

 

Considering the importance of the literal meaning of

scripture, Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja presented Bhagavad-gita

As It Is. I thought, "How am I to prove what the Bhagavatam says? I

don't know. But what is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam must be true. I

have faith in that."

 

So, Srila Sridhar Maharaja considered that in the same vein as our Srila Prabhupada presented Bhagavad Gita As It Is, he felt he needed to consider this issue of Rahu in the Bhagavatam and support the conception with something more satisfying to reason and intellect than the irrelevancy of some ancient fable.

As such, he rendered his very thoughtful and meaningful purport to the

Rahu legend as referred to in Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

I think his explanation is the most profound of any explanation to date.

I doubt that it will ever be surpassed.

[theist 1]

 

Light is both a particle and a wave (two very different things). Science can demonstrate this.

 

It's tough to comprehend, I know.

 

Sorry. That is not helpful. How is that is context with Srila Prabhupada's diametrically opposite statements. Please be specific.

[theist 1]

 

Oftentimes, it seems like Mahaksa Prabhu is playing the role of the zen master advising us to meditate on the sound of one hand clapping.

 

It's good to transcend reason from time to time, isn't it?

 

And how did Mahaksas's post transcend reason exactly.

[mahak 0]

Its all laid out, now we accept or reject, and all the gray areas in between. This is actually our duty. As Krsna Speaks to Arjuna in the chariot while Arjuna is freakin out, He lays it all out there. There are multi levels which are acceptable, and these levels are an individuals propensity. Regardless of level, the Gita only deals with pure devotional service. I do not discriminate based on whether others have the same realizations as myself, nor am I about to accept or reject anything said by devotees of the Supreme Lord who are speaking about their own individualized realizations.

 

I dont try to prosetylize for Velikovski, but I accept him as an awesome thinker, scientist, and somewhat like einstein, so full of empiricism that they have come to simply bow down to the Supreme Lord. I do that with all whom I have studied, accept them to the level of how their points jive with the self realization caused not by my own effort, but by the effort of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.

 

All the weird stuff that cannot be explained by science, huge beings without bodies like Rahu to the great Excavator King Prthu, the Moon being outside our dimensional capability to ever land there, Ten headed demons who succumb to the attack of bears and monkeys who have language, intellect and even the highest form of bhakti yoga that humans simply desire, but seldom achieve. Yeah, its wierd, my sister says so, my neighbor says so, even my direct family think I am insane for treating these myths as the absolute truth.

 

But it roicks my boat. I never said or even pretended to be sane, ever, when I was 15 and a white follower of Malcolm X to today, the gravedigger in exile, my insane world is acceptance of such insanity. I actually have symp[athy for those not nad.

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa.

 

But it rocks my boat, and like they say, whatever rocks yer boat.

 

AS FAR AS RAMBLIN ALL OVER THE PLACE, WE SPEAKING MULTIVERSE HERE, i AM ALLOWED. (OOPS. Not yellin, my fingers slipped.

[Guruvani 0]

 

Sorry. That is not helpful. How is that is context with Srila Prabhupada's diametrically opposite statements. Please be specific.

Consider the audience.

One statement was directed in letter to a struggling neophyte and the other was in shastra for the advanced devotees who study shastra.

 

The audience and the statements are relevant.

 

Time and circumstance.

 

Letters to neophytes are not on the same level as what Srila Prabhupada wrote in his purports to the shastra.

[theist 1]

 

Furthermore, our own "reality" is but a shadow (reflection) of the *true* reality--Goloka Vrindavana.

 

You're right that Srila Sridhar Maharaja stresses that matter is a precipitate of consciousness and not vice-versa. Consequently, there is a personality behind everything.

 

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote --> Quote:

<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-left: 3ex; padding-right: 3ex;" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"> Originally Posted by Guruvani

This Rahu planet appears to exist on the mental platform according to the implications of this verse and purport.

Rahu is said to be invisible.

Srila Prabhupada says that the "darkness" occuring before the full moon can be considered as a planet.

Rahu is compared to subtle material desires that we can't see, but exist in a stockpile within the mind

As Srila Sridhar Maharaja also tried to explain that the Vedic rishis see everything in the universe as having some character or personality behind it.

As such, he explained that the Vedic rishis even consider the shadow that covers the Moon during an eclipse aslo represents a character known as Rahu.

Within that shadow realm exists an invisible planet, a mental planet that is known in the Vedic lore as Rahu.

Rahu exists in the realm of obstructed Sunlight, the darkness or shadow consciousness realm.

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So now a shadow of a planet is a separate planet? So does Rahu still exist after the eclipse is over. Must exist if there is a personality behind the earth's shadow.

 

And that must mean there is a personality behind every shadow doesn't. Like the shadow your body gives off. I would say the personality behind your bodies shadow is you the soul. Likewise the personality behind earth's shadow would be Bhumi.

 

But now it appears you folks are suggesting a separate personality for shadows. That doews not sound right to me.It is like saying that the aura given off by my mind has a personality behind it separate from myself.

 

And what is the cause then of a solar eclipse where Earth's shadow is not the cause of the eclipse in fact it is in the opposite direction being project out into space. You ay it is Rahu but then that Rahu of the solar eclipse is not the same Rahu of the lunar eclipse.

 

Funny how the moon can be seen and tracked as it goes between the Earth and the Sun causing the solar eclipse. So does that mean only the lunar eclipse is due to Rahu the shadow planet and the solar eclipse is due to the Moon. But wait I thought the Moon was so much farther away than the Sun so how does it get inbetween the Earth and the Sun?

 

Must be one of those interdimensional mysteries that us gross materialists just can't get our minds around.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

Sorry. That is not helpful. How is that is context with Srila Prabhupada's diametrically opposite statements. Please be specific.

 

As my professors in college used to say: that is left as an exercise for the reader.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

And how did Mahaksas's post transcend reason exactly.

 

As my professors in college used to say: that is left as an exercise for the reader.