The last chapter of the second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam is called “Bhāgavatam Is the Answer to All Questions”.

This chapter is called like this because in this chapter Sukadeva Goswami expands the meaning of the four original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam and shows how they answer all the remaining answers of Maharaja Pariksit.

Although there are just four verses in the chatuh-sloki, they present ten separate topics, which are described in each of the 12 cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam in different levels of detail. These ten topics may not be obvious in the text, but when the four verses are fully understood, all the ten topics become apparent.

1- The creation of the universe (sarga)

This topic includes the creation of the material elements, including the five elements (fire, water, earth, air, and ether), sound, form, taste, smell, touch, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and mind. This is called sarga, or the primary creation.

When we think about matter we think about atoms, but Srimad Bhagavatam explains it in a different way, focusing on the practical aspects of material experience. It explains how the material experience, as well as the tools we use to experience it, are created.

According to the Vedas, all material objects are a combination of the five material elements. These elements are created together with the senses that can experience them. There is no point in having eyes if there are no forms to be seen, there is no point in having ears if there are no sounds to be heard, etc. Similarly, there would be no point in form, sound, and taste existing if there were no one to experience them, therefore, they come together. From the moment sound is created, the possibility of hearing such sounds (the sense of hearing) is created, when forms are created, the possibility of seeing such forms (vision) is created, and so on.

The element ether mentioned here is not connected with the disproven theory of the luminiferous ether from past centuries, nor is it just a vacuum, like in space. The Vedic conception of ether is a subtle element that serves as a fabric or support for all the other material manifestations.

While life on our planet lasts just 100 years or so, life in Swargaloka (the planetary system of the demigods) lasts for 10,000 years of the demigods (3.6 million years of our time, since 24 hours for them equals 360 earthly days). When a yogi reaches Maharloka (the next planetary system after Swargaloka), however, he can live for an entire day of Brahma or 4.32 billion years.

When the day of Brahma finishes, the fire emitted by Lord Ananta destroys all the lower planets of the universe (up to Swargaloka). Maharloka is not directly destroyed, but it becomes too hot even for the great sages who live there. The ones who are sufficiently qualified have at this point the possibility of ascending to the next planetary systems (Janaloka, Tapoloka, or Brahmaloka), according to their level of qualification, where they can live longer. The lifespan in Satyaloka is extraordinarily long since it’s tied to the life of Lord Brahma.

Although Brahma lives for 311.04 trillion years, his life is divided into two parardhas or two halves. This is mentioned in SB 3.11.34 and a few other references. In his commentary to SB 3.11.37, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura mentions that at the end of the first half of the life of Brahma, the Universe is completely destroyed (including Brahmaloka) and all the great sages living there have to enter the body of Maha-Vishnu and wait to the reborn in the next Kalpa.

In this way, the lifespan in Brahmaloka is only half of the 311.040 trillion years of the total life of Brahma, or 155.52 trillion years. Not too bad still… 🙂

“In that planet of Satyaloka, there is neither bereavement, nor old age nor death. There is no pain of any kind, and therefore there are no anxieties, save that sometimes, due to consciousness, there is a feeling of compassion for those unaware of the process of devotional service, who are subjected to unsurpassable miseries in the material world.” (SB 2.2.27)

We have thus the following life expectancies for the inhabitants of the different planetary systems:

Just 50 years ago, the conclusions given in the Vedas seemed very distant from scientific conclusions. The conclusions of the Vedas remained the same for thousands of years, but just recently, with the evolution of scientific theories, the different branches of modern science started coming to conclusions that are similar to the Vedas. In other words, the Vedas and modern science were further apart 50 years ago than they are now because, at the time, scientific theories were not evolved enough to experimentally confirm what the Vedas say.

Take for example the idea of multiple universes existing simultaneously given in the Vedas. Although the idea of multiple universes has existed for a long time in the field of science fiction, it started gaining serious traction in scientific circles only in the 1980s, with the development of inflationary cosmology. Alan Guth (1981), for example, suggested that the rapid expansion of the early universe could lead to the creation of multiple, bubble-like universes. The multiverse theory gained further traction in the 1990s and 2000s, as the string theory evolved.

Many speculate that different universes may not be only the stage for different events, but also have different physical laws, and that consequently most of them may not offer the conditions for the appearance of life. This is something we can only speculate about, since it’s not possible to for us to visit any other universe. According to the Vedas, however, all the different material universes are similar, and life is present everywhere because the conditions in each universe are not the result of chance but of a conscious design.

Different universes are not exactly the same, some universes are bigger and more complex than others, and the material manifestations of each universe may be different, but they share the same basic organization and physical laws. The Vedas offer us descriptions of some of these other universes, which helps us to understand them. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, for example, there is a description of the saga of Gopa Kumara in search of the Absolute Truth. The events described in the book happened a very long time ago, in a different cycle of creation and in a different universe, but we can notice that it describes people and planets, just like we have here. We can thus see that all universes follow the same basic process of development, although they vary in terms of complexity.

When we think about matter we think about atoms, but Srimad Bhagavatam explains it in a different way, focusing on the practical aspects of material experience. It explains how the material experience, as well as the tools we use to experience it, are created.

According to the Vedas, all material objects are a combination of the five material elements:

1- nabha or ākāśa (space, or ether)
2- anila or marut (air)
3- tejas or agni (fire, light and electricity)
4- ambha or āpas (water and liquids)
5- pṛthvī or bhūḥ (earth, including all the other gross elements)

These elements are created together with the senses that can experience them. There is no point in having eyes if there are no forms to be seen, there is no point in having ears if there are no sounds to be heard, etc. Similarly, there would be no point in form, sound, and taste existing if there were no one to experience them, therefore, they come together. From the moment sound is created, the possibility of hearing such sounds (the sense of hearing) is created, when forms are created, the possibility of seeing such forms (vision) is created, and so on.

Nabha, the element ether mentioned here is not connected with the disproven theory of the luminiferous ether from past centuries, nor is it just a vacuum, like in space. The Vedic conception of ether is a subtle element that serves as a fabric or support for all the other material manifestations. Ether is everywhere and pervades everything. It sustains all forms of matter and energy, just like the canvas used to make a painting. Everything starts with this fabric of ether, and everything else exists on top of it.

There is a verse in the Taittiriya Upanisad that speaks a lot about the organization of the cosmos and the life standards of the different inhabitants of different planets:

“Take a noble young man, who is well versed in the Vedas, very intelligent, handsome, and strong. Let the world be full of wealth for him. That is the measure of human bliss.
If we multiply this limit of human bliss a hundred times, it equals the bliss of a manuṣya-gandharva. If we multiply the bliss of a manuṣya-gandharva one hundred times, it equals the pleasure of a deva-gandharva, and if we multiply that one hundred times, it equals the bliss of the ancestors living in Pitṛloka. If we go further and multiply this standard of bliss of the Pitṛs one hundred times, we come to the standard of bliss of a lower demigod born in Swargaloka.
If we multiply the bliss of the lower demigods by one hundred, we reach the standard of bliss of the sacrificial demigods, and one hundred times that is the bliss of principal demigods. If we again multiply this one hundred times, we reach the standard of bliss of Indra. Each one of these different standards of bliss is matched by a self-realized soul who has no material desires.” (TU 2.8)

What are the manuṣya-gandharvas? What are the sacrificial demigods?

In the Bhagavatam, the universe of Brahma is described as being just 500 million yojanas (4 billion miles) in diameter, which is quite small compared to be whole observable universe studied in modern science, which is supposed to be billions of light-years in diameter. How can we reconcile the two views?

The universe created by Brahma is described as including Bhu-Mandala (the intermediate planetary system, of which the Earth is part), as well as the different planets that compose our solar system. After that there is the path of Sisumara (the Milky Way) in which the yogis meditate. At the end of Sisumara is Druvaloka, and after Druvaloka there are the planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka. Each of these planetary systems is composed of numerous stars and other universal structures. After Satyaloka there are the seven universal coverings, each covering 10 times the length of the previous.

So, we can see that the universe is described in the Vedas as both a relatively small structure (roughly the size of the solar system) and as an extremely huge structure that goes far beyond the limits of our galaxy.

In the Bhagavad-Gita Krsna explains that we are not the body or the mind, but the soul. Together with Paramatma, we go from one body to the next the same way a person changes clothes, abandoning old and damaged bodies in favor of new ones. When a soul abandons one particular body, we call it “death”, and when he accepts a new body, we call it “birth”. This is a cycle that has been going on for a very long time.

How long? According to the Vedas, the particular universe we are in now was created about 155 trillion years ago and chances are we have been here since the beginning, and this may not even be all: chances are we joined other universes before this one. That’s why we are called nitya-badha or “eternally conditioned”. We have been here for so long that it is not possible to trace the beginning of it. Although Kala, or time is described as eternal, being an energy of Krsna, the effect of time over matter (what we may call material time) has a beginning. The trouble is that the soul is in contact with matter since before its beginning, therefore is not possible to describe when the soul came here in terms of years or centuries since the soul has been here since before the start of time.

The Vedas explain that there are 8.400.000 forms of life in this universe, amongst which there are 400.000 species of intelligent life, spread through different planets. Different from the modern scientific definition, which classifies species according to their capacity of generating viable offspring, the species described in the Vedas describe different levels of consciousness. A dog living on a different planet may have a different type of body, and thus not be able to mate with a she-dog from the Earth, but they still may still be considered one species, according to the Vedas, if their level of consciousness is similar.

The souls transmigrate through these different species of life according to their consciousness, actions, and desires in the cycle of samsara. But when was this started? When it’s going to end? How the spiritual soul enters into this material universe, and how he can leave?

On his purport to SB 2.4.18 Srila Prabhupada gives us a glimpse on how most of the ancient civilizations were actually formed by people who emigrated from India or were connected with Vedic culture. This gives us a quite valuable resource to better understand the history of humanity from the Vedic perspective.

For example, in the Vedas, the Greeks are called Pulindas and were in the past classified amongst the kṣatriya kings. However, later on, they gave up Brahminical culture and thus started being classified as mlecchas. When Maharaja Yudisthira became the king, the Pulindas were conquered by Bhima and Sahadeva. The Greeks are largely considered the birthplace of Western culture, therefore their Vedic origins are quite significant. In the Vana-Parva of Mahābhārata, it is mentioned that during Kali-yuga the Greeks would rule the world, which became true with Alexander the Great.

Many movies nowadays start with the end. A scene from the end of the story is shown in the beginning to make the viewer avid to try to understand how things came to that point. Sometimes there are flashbacks or two or more connected stories from different timelines are shown in parallel. Many think that this is a new trend in modern movies, but when we study the Srimad Bhagavatam we can see that Srila Vyasadeva actually used many of the same concepts.

In a sense, the Srimad Bhagavatam starts from the end of the story: Krsna leaving this world. Considering that Krsna is the great hero of the Srimad Bhagavatam, this is very surprising, since the first rule in Sanskrit poetry is that the hero never dies. Of course, the rest of the Srimad Bhagavatam is dedicated to helping us to understand the eternal nature of Krsna and to understand that all His activities, culminating with His disappearance, are transcendental. In a wonderful turn of events, the reader realizes at a certain point that the same Krsna who supposedly left at the beginning of the book was with Him the whole time in the form of the Srimad Bhagavatam itself!