SB 2.4.8

The acts of the Supreme Lord, in the creation of just this one universe, appear to be inconceivably wonderful. And there are innumerable universes, and all of them aggregated together are known as the created material world. And this part of His creation is only a fractional portion of the complete creation. The material world stands as a part only (ekamsena sthito jagat). Supposing that the material world is a display of one part of His energy, the remaining three parts consist of the Vaikuntha-jagat or spiritual world described in the Bhagavad-gita as mad-dhama or sanatana-dhama, or the eternal world. We have marked in the previous verse that He creates and again winds up the creation. This action is applicable in the material world only because the other greater part of His creation, namely the Vaikuntha world, is neither created nor annihilated; otherwise the Vaikuntha-dhama would not have been called eternal. The Lord exists with dhama; His eternal name, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all a display of His different energies and expansions. The Lord is called anadi, or having no creator, and adi, or the origin of all. We think in our own imperfect way that the Lord is also created, but the Vedanta informs us that He is not created. Rather, everything else is created by Him (narayanaḥ paro 'vyaktat). Therefore for the common man these are all very wonderful matters for consideration. Even for the great scholars they are inconceivable, and thus such scholars present theories contradictory to one another. Even for the insignificant part of His creation, this particular universe, they have no complete information as to how far this limited space is extended, or how many stars and planets are there, or the different conditions of those innumerable planets. Modern scientists have insufficient knowledge of all this. Some of them assert that there are 100,000,000 planets scattered all over space. In a news release from Moscow dated 21/2/60, the following piece of knowledge was relayed:

"Russia's well-known professor of astronomy Boris Vorontsov-Velianino said that there must be an infinite number of planets in the universe inhabited by beings endowed with reason.

"It could be that life similar to that on earth flourishes on such planets.

"Doctor of Chemistry Nikolat Zhirov, covering the problem of atmosphere on other planets, pointed out that the organism of a Martian, for instance, could very well adapt itself to normal existence with a low body temperature.

"He said that he felt that the gaseous composition of Martian atmosphere was quite suitable to sustain life of beings which have become adapted to it."

Maharaja Pariksit's statement regarding the working of the creative energy of the Lord discloses that he knew everything of the process of creation. Why then did he ask Sukadeva Gosvami for such information? Maharaja Pariksit, being a great emperor, a descendant of the Panḍavas and a great devotee of Lord Krsna, was quite able to know considerably about the creation of the world, but that much knowledge was not sufficient. He said therefore that even greatly learned scholars fail to know about that, even after great effort. The Lord is unlimited, and His activities are also unfathomed. Any living being, up to the standard of Brahmaji, the highest perfect living being within the universe, with a limited source of knowledge and with imperfect senses can never imagine knowing about the unlimited. We can know something of the unlimited when it is explained by the unlimited, as it has been done by the Lord Himself in the unique statements of the Bhagavad-gita, and it can also be known to some extent from realized souls like Sukadeva Gosvami, who learned it from Vyasadeva, a disciple of Narada, and thus the perfect knowledge can descend by the chain of disciplic succession only, and not by any form of experimental knowledge, old or modern.