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Re: The Moon (was Re: ISKCON etc)
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Sai Ram
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O Master, O friend of those that bow to thee, thou ocean of mercy, I
bow to thee; save me, fallen as I am into this sea of birth and death,
with a straightforward glance of thine eye, which sheds nectar-like
grace supreme.
-Shankara, Vivekacudamani 1.35
I was one of the correspondents in the original thread about Swami
Prabhupaada's assertion that Americans never landed on the moon. The
principal person was Eric Pement, who first made that assertion that His
Divine Grace had concluded, based on His Vedic study, that the mooon was
much much farther away from the earth than the astronauts planned, and
thus they could not have really journeyed that far in so short a time, nor
could they have landed on the moon. The implication, in my view, was that
Swamiji thought the US government lied.
In a previous article, susarla.krishna@studentserver1.swmed.edu (Hari
Krishna Susarla) however recalls:
>> >What Sadaputa dasa said (and he backed it up with references from the
>> >Bhaagavatam) was that the higher planetary systems like Candraloka require a
>> >higher state of consciousness to perceive. Therefore, he concluded that
>> >Prabhupada was referring to the fact that the astronauts did not see
>> >Candraloka, but saw only what they were allowed to see according to their
>> >consciousness- a lifeless rock.
Nice to see such states of mind posited by Susarla. That is a lovely
idea, but a state of mind does not address the matter of DISTANCE, as was
mentioned also in previous articles at ase-c in the thread UNCONDITIONAL
LOVE. There, Istvan and Eric Pement addressed purported statements of
Swami Prabhupaada that the moon landings were faked by the U.S.
government. I asked for the actual quotes, then Pai offered the same
interpretation as of late which Susarl echoed, and when Pement got
specific about DISTANCE Pai then changed the heading. Pement was not
distracted, rebutted, and showed why he held that Prabhupaadaji was
talking about the moon, not a state of mind, and was therefore in error.
Those who can search the Usenet might look at:
Subject: Re: Vedic scriptures and language meaning
Message-ID: <DI4D52.Mpr@rci.ripco.com>
wherein Eric first responded to my request for quotes. Key excerpts follow:
>> This may not totally satisfy you, but it's a start. When I first heard
>> that the Krishna devotees had an unusual cosmology, it was from a young man
>> in his mid-twenties who had been very close to the devotees and had visited
>> several Krishna temples. He told me (circa 1980 or 1981, I think) that he
>> has personally been present when Prabhupada had spoken in a lecture that
>> the moon landings were faked because the moon is a spiritual planet, and
>> that since the astronauts didn't see what he (Prabhpada) "knows" is there -
>> I can't fill in the gaps here -- that therefore the U.S. government's claim
>> to have visited the moon must be false. The man left the Krishna movement,
>> and was astounded at this belief.
[...]
>>Then in
>> 1992 or 1993, I bought a copy of VEDIC COSMOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY, by
>> Richard L. Thompson (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1990). Although Thompson
>> has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell, I was amazed at the things he was
>> attempting to explain or scientifically justify. I will grant that
>> Thompson is an educated man -- however, he is in the unfortunate position
>> of having to intellectually justify some very bizarre assertions.
>>
>> If you will read pages 130-134, you will see an extended discussion in
>> which Thompson attempts (unsuccessfully, I believe) to justify Prabhupada's
>> claims about the moon. "Srila Prabhupada has often said that the
>> astronauts have never actually visited the moon." (pg. 130 [...]
Any who have the full quotes, might please supply them?
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http://www.inside-info.co.uk/BABA/bon.htm
(submitted 3/24 20:00 PST from lafn, whose netfeed has been off and on
for 24 days in a row)
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A goodly word ever produces its fruit, as a goodly tree rooted firmly
ever branches into heaven, only by leave of its Lord. -Quran 15.24,25
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