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.

One may be inclined to conclude that the solar system is the creation of Brahma, the rest of the Milky Way galaxy corresponds to the seven coverings of the universe and other galaxies correspond to the creation of other Brahmas. While this would be a logical conclusion, it may not be correct. Sadaputa Prabhu, for example, argues that we are not supposed to be able to see outside of the seven coverings, and that’s also the conclusion of Srila Prabhupada on his purport to SB 5.21.11.

An idea that I raise in my book ‘The Intriguing Vedic Universe’ is that it could very well be that the length of the yojana changes as we go up in the vertical dimension, progressing to Swargaloka, Maharloka, and so on. If we take the Yojana as a variable unit, then the universe described in the Vedas could be almost infinitely big. In this case, it would not be very difficult to imagine that everything we see in the sky is part of our own universe, and the universes created by other Brahmas are completely separated from ours.

What would be the argument for believing so? The point is that the yojana is a measure of distance based on the characteristics of the human body, much like the inches and feet used in the imperial system. One definition is that a yojana equals 8,000 times the height of a man. Another is that it equals 32,000 sets of 24 finger widths. Yet another definition states that a yojana equals four times the maximum distance a healthy man can shout and still be heard. That’s one of the reasons the length of the yojana varies through different sources, sometimes as 5 miles, 8 miles, etc.

Thus, we may contemplate the possibility that the yojana may vary across the cosmos, reflecting the perception of distance of the inhabitants in different planetary systems. As food for thought we can mention that according to the description of the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Puranas, the demigods are gigantic. It’s described that Lord Shiva is almost as big as Great Britain, for example.

Therefore, although Bhu-Mandala is only 500,000,000 yojanas from one extreme to the other (roughly the size of our solar system), the vertical dimension could be extraordinarily larger, since the size of the yojana would become exponentially longer as one advances to higher planetary systems.

There are three images attached to this article. The first represents the Sisumara, the path of the Milky Way in which the yogis meditate. The second one is an artistic representation of the universe described in the Vedas (including the coverings) with the distances represented in a logarithmic scale (as we go away from the center, each unit of distance corresponds to 10 times the length of the previous).

The third image contains an artistic representation of the universe according to modern science with the distances also represented in a logarithmic scale, with our solar system in the middle and the rest of the structures of our Milky Way galaxy, as well as other galaxies positioned around it, with the distances increasing at a logarithmic scale. This means that everything becomes exponentially smaller as we move away from the center of the image. In this way, we have our solar system in the center, surrounded by the other stars of the Milky Way galaxy and by other galaxies.

We can see that when we put both the Vedic universe and the modern universe on the same logarithmic scale, they look awfully similar.

Following this thesis, Bhu-Mandala is on a scale similar to our solar system, with the Kuiper belt representing the boundary described as the ring-shaped Lokaloka mountain. On the vertical dimension, however, the distances would increase on a logarithmic scale, and thus we would have the planetary system of Swargaloka extending to the limits of the galaxy, all the way to the polestar, and from there the planetary systems of Maharloka, Tapoloka, Janaloka and Brahmaloka, that would include other observable galaxies. After that, there are still the seven coverings, which extend for exponentially larger distances.

If we take it like this, then the universe of Brahma would include all the observable universe (and possibly beyond it!), and outside of it, there would be the causal ocean and all the other universes. Maha-Vishnu would them be inconceivably big since universes pass through the pores of His body.

Another point we may consider is that the cosmic distances calculated in modern astronomy may not be accurate. The modern theory is that all stars we see in the sky are similar in nature to our sun, emitting enormous quantities of light. All the distances are thus calculated under this assumption, which leads to the gigantic distances mentioned in modern observations. The Vedas, however, insist that the stars we see in the sky are fundamentally different from our sun, emitting rather modest amounts of light. In some passages, it mentioned that stars reflect the light of the sun, just like the moon, and Prabhupada offers that stars may emit a type of pleasant light, which may be significant, but still less than the sun.

For someone observing from Earth, it’s very difficult to understand if it’s one or the other because all stars appear as just small dots of light in the sky. There is thus the possibility that our Universe may actually be much smaller than believed by modern science, with the stars being much smaller and much closer together. Even if it would not be the case in our gross dimension, we can’t tell how things work in higher dimensions.

In the end, we just need to accept that the material cosmos is much more complex than we can conceive and there are many structures that we just don’t understand. The knowledge given in the Vedas helps us to understand the general structure of the Universe and presents us with an opportunity to find our way out of it, but we should not expect that we will ever be able to fully understand everything we can see in the sky.