They have not gone to the moon

Founder-Acharya of the world-wide Hare Krishna Movement, Brahma Sampradaya Acharya

Prabhupada: They have not gone to the moon planet.

Paramahamsa: Really?

Prabhupada: Yes. It is far, far away. Their calculation is wrong. They are going to a wrong planet.

Paramahamsa: It must be the Rahu planet.

Prabhupada: Yes, or something else. Not moon planet.

Paramahamsa: How many...

Prabhupada: It is above the sun planet.

Paramahamsa: Moon planet is further?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Paramahamsa: Oh. Because they say that the moon planet is the closest planet to the earth. That is their calculation. And they say that it orbits around the earth, and then that the earth orbits the sun.

Prabhupada: All wrong. What is the... According to them, what is the distance of sun planet?

Paramahamsa: Sun planet is 93,000,000 miles.

Ganesa: They say the moon planet is only 250,000 miles.

Prabhupada: It is wrong thing.

Paramahamsa: Is their calculation for the distance of the sun wrong also?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Paramahamsa: 93,000,000? It says in the Bhagavatam exactly what the distance?

Prabhupada: The whole universe, diameter, is panchshat-koti-yojana. One yojana equal to eight miles, and one koti is ten miles, er, ten million. So panchashata, fifty into 10,000,000 into eight.

Paramahamsa: Yeah. So it's fifty crores yojana. Fifty crores yojanas?

Prabhupada: Yes, fifty crore yojanas, panchashat. So one yojana equal to eight miles, one crore equal to ten million.

Paramahamsa: That's eighty million.

Prabhupada: Hmm?

Paramahamsa: Eighty million times fifty.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Paramahamsa: Means 400,000,000

Srutakirti: Hmm. More than that. Four billion.

Paramahamsa: Four thousand million, which is four billion?

Srutakirti: Four billion miles.

Paramahamsa: Four billion miles is the diameter.

Prabhupada: Is the diameter.

Paramahamsa: You gave that in The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya also.

Prabhupada: Yes. And the sun is in the middle.

Paramahamsa: So two billion miles from the edge of the universe.

Prabhupada: Yes. And they say? 93,000,000.

Srutakirti: That's from the earth to the sun. That's not from the sun to the edge. That's from earth to the sun.

Amogha: Is earth near the edge of the universe?

Prabhupada: No. There are many other planets down. Seven planetary system.

Paramahamsa: The higher planetary systems are closest to the sun? And then...

Prabhupada: No, sun is the middle. This is circumference. Sun is the middle. And the whole diameter is fifty lakhs and... What is...? And moon is above, 200,000 yojanas above the sun.

Paramahamsa: Ah. 200,000 yojanas. That means 1,600,000 miles above the sun.

Prabhupada: Above the sun. How they'll go? [laughter] They are going to the wrong... bluffing only. I am repeatedly saying, they have never gone, simply bluff. How it is that they brought some dust? So brilliant, it is blazing, full. There is fire blazing.

Paramahamsa: They say that they measured the moon and that it's very small compared to the earth, very tiny.

Prabhupada: All wrong.

Paramahamsa: If it's a longer distance than the sun but still it appears so big in the sky, it must be a very large planet.

Prabhupada: Yes. Similarly Venus and others, they are also above.

Paramahamsa: Oh, above the sun.

Prabhupada: The sun is moving near about that. This is one universe, and there are thousands and millions of universe. Jagad-anda-koti. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti [Brahma-samhita 5.40]. That is God's creation. And they are becoming God, "I am God." Yasyaika-nishvasita-kalam athavalambya [Bs. 5.48]. If we simply think of the creation of God, we can appreciate how great He is.

Paramahamsa: That's why it's described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam?

Prabhupada: They say, "God is great," but they do not know how great He is. That is explained in the Vedic literature. Of course, those who are saying "God is great," they are pious. And those who are saying that "I am God," how foolish they are. Therefore I say that anyone who says, "I am God," immediately kick with your shoes on his face. Such a cheater.

Amogha: There is... One of the disciples of Guru Maharaj-ji, Bala Yogesvara, is in Perth. They have their center here. And he is giving lectures daily, and many people are attending.

Prabhupada: That he is God.

Amogha: There was an article in the paper yesterday from India that says that the Indian court has banned Guru Maharaj-ji from leaving India. They have issued an order that he must stay until the court has finished because his brother is suing. Because his brother published a photo showing Guru Maharaj-ji embracing and kissing an American girl in the paper. So the Guru Maharaj-ji published a picture of his brother doing the same thing. But they say it was a fake photo, so the court is holding him in India, and they're having a legal battle, suing each other to see who is God.

Prabhupada: Farce.

Paramahamsa: It seems like these demons who say that they are God, eventually they will end up destroying each other.

Prabhupada: Yes. Now they are fools, rascal, bluffing, but even the scientists, they are also bluffing. Now Russia and America combined together, going? Just see where they are going.

Paramahamsa: Here's one article about scientists in the paper. It says, "Wonder food will help control heart disease." They say they have a new way of feeding beef and poultry so that the food now, when they eat the beef, it won't give them heart attack.

Prabhupada: Huh?

Paramahamsa: They say if they feed them a special diet they have found it changes the cholesterol level in the beef, so if they eat it, they won't get heart attack like they used to. And it says, "The director of the National Heart Foundation, Ralph Reeder, said he believed the process was one of the most significant contributions in recent years toward controlling heart disease. 'It should not be taken lightly by skeptics. It is a world's first,' he said."

Amogha: Now they are also thinking that different types of meat cause cancer, not only heart disease but cancer.

Ganesa: What have the scientists got to gain by bluffing?

Prabhupada: Position. Material world means they want some material gain, some adoration, and some fame. That's all. This is material world. So if by bluffing you I get some material profit and adoration and fame, why shall I not do it? Everyone is doing that.

Amogha: That's the cheating propensity.

Prabhupada: Yes. In material world they have come to imitate God—adoration, fame, material profit. Just like this man. He has come to this country. He is getting money, he is getting woman, and becoming God amongst the fools. He is satisfied. That's all. This is not gain? If I get woman, money and adoration, is it not gain for me?

Ganesa: Yes, just like Hiranyakashipu.

Prabhupada: Yes. Materialistic man means he wants all these things in different way. Somebody is becoming God, somebody is becoming philosopher, somebody is becoming scientist, in this way. Real purpose is these three things: abha-puja-pratishtha [woman, money and adoration]. And our philosophy? We don't want anything of this. Just see. Negation. Na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam [Chaitanya-charitamrita Antya 20.29, Shikshashtaka 4]. Say... All denial, "We don't want." That is Vaishnavism. Then what do you want? "We want simply to serve Krishna." This is our position. They don't want to serve Krishna; they want to imitate Krishna. And that is their satisfaction.