Death on the Higher Planets

In the material world the topmost planets are called Satya Lokas or Brahma Lokas. In this group of planets, beings of the highest talents live. The presiding Deity of the Brahma Lokas is called Brahma, the first living being created in this material world. Contrary to the popular fallacy of a "Hindu trinity," Brahma is a living being like so many of us, but he is the most talented personality in the material world. He is not in the category of God (as Vishnu is), but he is in the category of the living entities dominated by God.

God and the living entities both belong to the anti-material world. The scientist, therefore, will do well to research into the constitution of this anti-material world-how it is administered, how things are shaped there, who is the predominating personality there and so on. In the Vedic literature, especially in the Srimad Bhagwatam, these subject matters are elaborately dealt with, and The Bhagavad-gita is the preliminary study of the Bhagwatam. These two important books of knowledge must be thoroughly studied by all men of the scientific world. They will give them many, many clues with which to go forward in the matter of scientific discoveries.

There are two classes of men, namely the transcendentalist and the materialist. The transcendentalist gathers knowledge from the authoritative scriptures like the Vedic literature. The Vedic literature is properly received from the authoritative sources, who are in the line of disciplic succession. This disciplic succession is also mentioned in The Bhagavad-gita. It is said there that hundreds of millions of years ago the principles of the Gita were spoken to the presiding Deity of the Sun-globe, who delivered the knowledge to his son Manu, from whom the present generation of man has come down. The Manu again delivered the transcendental knowledge to his son, known as the king Ikshaku, who is the forefather of the dynasty in which the Personality of Godhead Sri Rama appeared.

This long chain of disciplic succession was broken during the advent period of Lord Sri Krishna 5,000 years ago, and then the same chain was again reforged, with Arjuna as the first disciple of Godhead in this age. The transcendentalist of this age, therefore, gathers knowledge from the disciplic succession of Arjuna so that without troubling himself in the matter of materialistic research work, he acquires the truths of matter and antimatter in the most perfect way, and saves time and botheration-unlike the gross materialist.

The gross materialist who does not believe in the words of the Personality of Godhead is an unfortunate creature. He may be very talented, educated and advanced in knowledge to some extent, but he is at the same time bewildered by the influence of material manifestations, without any knowledge of the anti-material realm. It is a good sign therefore that the materialistic scientist is gradually progressing towards the region of antimatter, and it may be possible for him to make further progress and thus one day know-better late than never-the details of the anti-material world where the Personality of Godhead resides as the Predominating Figure. There are many individual entities who live there with Him in equal status, but who are predominated over as servitors. In the anti-material world there is no difference between the predominated and the predominator, but yet the sense in perfection of the predominator and the predominated prevails there without any of the inebriety of the material world.

The nature of the material world is destructible. The assumption of the physical scientist about the annihilation of the two worlds-namely, the material and the nonmaterial-by a chance clash is thus partially true as far as we get it from The Bhagavad-gita. The material world is a creation of changing modes of Nature, called by the names Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas (goodness, passion and ignorance). It is created by the Rajas (passion) mode, it is maintained by the Sattwa (goodness) mode and it is annihilated by the Tamas (ignorance) mode.

These modes are present everywhere within the material world, and as such at every second, every minute and every hour of creation, maintenance and annihilation are taking place all over the universe.

The highest planet of the material world, the Brahma Loka, is also subjected to these modes of Nature, although the duration of life on that planet-on account of a predominance of the Sattwa (goodness) mode-is said to be 4,300,000 x 1000 x 2 x 12 x 100 (about 310 trillion) years, as we know years on this planet. But with all these long periods of time, the Brahma planet is destructible. In comparison to the eternal life in the nonmaterial world, these countable years on the highest planet of the material world form a quite negligible span.

The Speaker of The Bhagavad-gita, the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna, asserts therefore the importance of the anti-material world, which is His abode. He says that all the planets within the material world are destructible at the end, and that all the living beings docilely dwelling on these planets are also destroyed-bodily-along with the destruction of the material world.

The living entities are anti-material particles. And, unless they elevate themselves to the region of the anti-material spiritual world by a rigid culture of anti-material activities, then at the time of dissolution such living entities remain within the material world in the nonmanifested state. Again, they later resume their material shape along with the rebirth of the material world. Only those living entities who take to the loving service of the Personality of Godhead during the manifested stage of material life can be transferred to that anti-material world, after quitting the material body. Life immortal is obtained by those who go back to Godhead by the practice of anti-material activities.

What are these anti-material activities? The anti-material activities are just like medicinal doses. When a man falls ill he goes to the doctor. The physician prescribes some medicines, and when they are carefully prescribed by the expert physician such medicinal doses cure the ailments of the suffering patient.

But the foolish materialist does not put himself under the expert transcendental physician. Otherwise he would be cured of his material disease, which puts him under the tribulations of repeated birth, death, illness and old age. Such a foolish materialist can best put himself under the treatment of "Back to Godhead," and thus transfer himself to the anti-material world where there is eternal life without birth or death.

The annihilation of the material world takes place in two ways:

Partial annihilation takes place at the end of every 4,300,000 x 1000 solar years, or at the end of every daytime of the Brahma Loka, the topmost area of the material world. During the ensuing nighttime of partial annihilation, the higher planets of the material world are not annihilated, but all else is. Then, after a period of 4,300,000 x 1000 x 2 x 30 x 12 x 100 (about 310 trillion, as above) solar years, the whole cosmic manifestation is closed up and merged into the anti-material body whence the material principles originally emanate. Over and over again matter emerges, is manifest and again merges back into that body.

The anti-material world, however, which is far away from this material sky, does not cease to be at any time; it only absorbs the material world. It may be that a clash takes place between the material and anti-material worlds, as has been suggested by the scientists, and that as a result of this clash the annihilation of the material world occurs-but so far as antimatter is concerned, there is no annihilation at all, even when all the material worlds are obliterated.