The Vedic Cosmos

The universe as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes it, and the spiritual world above it: a humble attempt to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision of a Vedic planetarium. Every passage is quoted from his books, each with its source; where his translation of the Bhāgavatam ends, his disciples’ is named as theirs.

Begin with yourself: where am I? →

Realms

The descent

From Goloka through the spiritual sky and the Causal Ocean into one universe, down to where we live. Scroll, and the scene follows.

Also: Goloka, its rasas and associates · the twenty-four forms of Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha · the Lord’s forms and all the kinds of avatāras · Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna beyond the universe

Places

The planetarium

Bhū-maṇḍala in three dimensions: its islands and oceans, Meru, the sun on Mānasottara, the planets above — every measure from the Fifth Canto.

Also: Jambūdvīpa: its nine varṣas and the Lord in each · the Ganges’ descent · the Śiśumāra-cakra · the worlds below · why it looks different from modern astronomy

Time

The wheel of time

The four ages within a day of Brahmā, his days within his life, his life within one breath of Mahā-Viṣṇu — and where we stand now.

Also: the kinds of avatāras · the avatāras in time · the dynasties of the sun and the moon

Creation

How it unfolds

The twenty-four elements, one from another, as Lord Kapila taught (SB 3.26); the golden egg; the demigods of the senses.

Also: The universal form: the planetary systems as His limbs

You

Where am I?

From the soul and the Supersoul in your heart, out through your body, Bhārata-varṣa, the universe and the cycles of time, to where the soul goes next.

Personalities

Who is there

The Lord and His associates, and the beings of each world — drawn from their descriptions in his books. Tap one to read about them.

All the views

Every page of the cosmos, by the way it belongs to. The bar at the edge of every page lists them too: hover or tap a way.

The ten subjects of the Bhāgavatam

Śukadeva Gosvāmī names ten subjects (SB 2.10.1). Each is a way into the cosmos.

    Read the verses, SB 2.10.1–7

    Personalities

    Our own drawings, from the descriptions in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Each opens where they are in the cosmos, with the verses about them.

    In Goloka, the eight principal sakhīs, Nanda and Yaśodā, the cowherd friends and servants: Goloka by rasa. The kings of this Manu’s time, from the sun-god to Lord Rāmacandra and from the moon to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Parīkṣit: the dynasties of the sun and the moon. The four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, and the Gauḍīya line from Kṛṣṇa to Śrīla Prabhupāda: the disciplic succession. The figures themselves, each beside the verses it is drawn from: the figures.