On January 8th 2013 Mars One, a Netherlands based non-profit, announced that it would be seeking volunteers to help colonize Mars and hopes to land there by 2023. While the world is anticipating and marveling at the idea of travel to other planets like the Moon or Mars, devotees of the Krishna Consciousness Movement are peacefully chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra through out the world. They are hardly amazed at such endeavors, as interplanetary travel has been going on for billions of years. In the Bhagavad-gita (8.16) it is stated,
ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino 'rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
"My dear Arjuna, even if you go to the highest planetary system, which is called Brahmaloka, you will have to come back."
The Bhagavad-Gita is the most famous of the Vedic texts and dates back over 5,000 years. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a Vcdic text that documents the entire History of the universe, (4.21.13) it is stated,
ekadāsīn mahā-satra-
dīkṣā tatra divaukasām
samājo brahmarṣīṇāṁ ca
rājarṣīṇāṁ ca sattama
“Once upon a time King Pṛthu initiated the performance of a very great sacrifice in which great saintly sages, brāhmaṇas, demigods from higher planetary systems and great saintly kings known as rājarṣis all assembled together.”
The Vedas state that the universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems, seven different systems going upwards from earth and seven going downwards from earth. The earth resides in the middle and is situated in the planetary system called Bhurloka. In the 14th Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is (14.18) it is stated,
ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti
sattva-sthā madhye
tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ
jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā
adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ
“Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.”
So we can see from the above quoted verses that interplanetary travel as well as air travel has always been possible, but the method of travel was different. The Ancient flying machines were called Vimana's and they worked on mantras (spiritual hyms that enabled the flying machine to function) where as modern flying machines rely on material functions such as propellers, engines, wings, and wheels. Due to the Age of Kali (Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy) which lasts 432,000 years, man's spiritual potency has been diminished. In previous ages yogis could achieve “siddhis” or “spiritual competence” through meditation and penance, and with this spiritual competence they were able to move objects with their mind, operate Vimanas, or even travel using beams of light. That age was called, “Dwarpa Yuga” and lasted roughly 800,000 years. But as foretold in the Vedas, the Kali Yuga age has brought shorter life span for the human being, less intelligence, and a mind that is always disturbed.
The modern governments are claiming that they have gone to the Moon planet and the next mission is to set foot on Mars. Today many governments are going bankrupt and are worried about spending money and collecting taxes, yet they spend billions of dollars on plans to send men to other planets. Even if they could walk on the Mars planet, what would be the benefit? Humans are subjected to the same laws of nature whether on earth or on another planet. No one can avoid birth, disease, old age, and death.
Therefore devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement are not interested in traveling aimlessly through out space, going to the Moon, or Mars. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita (9.25):
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām
“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.”
If one has the desire to go to any planetary system even in this day and age of Kali it is still possible. In the darśa-paurṇamāsī, the part of the Veda's prescribed for material benefit, there are prescriptions for worshiping different demigods who live in different planetary systems through out the universe and by worshiping them one can go live there. There are also prescriptions to go to the lower planets by “black magic” practitioners. But all these demigods and rulers of the different planets must ultimately be subjected to the four miseries of Material life namely; birth, disease, old age, and death. Therefore the devotees of Krishna are interested in worshiping Krishna because it is the Vedic conclusion that He is the the maintainer of all the planetary systems. The very first verse of the Srimad-Bhagavatam states:
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
“O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.”
This Krishna Consciousness Movement is now distributing this most important information for the benefit of all human society. In any walk of life, one can learn that they are not the body but the soul that runs the body. The body is temporary and last but only 75 to 100 years at most. At the time of death the soul will enter a new body depending on the consciousness of the soul. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita,
yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.”
By chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra one can immediately connect to Krishna because Krishna and His name are non-different. In Kali Yuga chanting His names are the most effective way to worship. It is stated in the Padma-Purana,
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
'The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa's name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no questionof its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa's name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.'
By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa Maha Mantra:
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
one can become perfect and go back home Back to Godhead.
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