Bhagavad-gita in Outer Space

By Nanda Dulala Dasa

MRS. SUNITA WILLIAMS was onboard a December launch of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery. Sunita's parents are from Gujarat, India, and though raised in the U.S., she has been exposed to Indian culture. In her luggage for the space flight, Sunita carried along some samosas, a deity of Ganesa, and a Bhagavad-gita.

Mankind has long felt the drive to conquer the unknown, the mysterious. First came the lure of seas and foreign lands; now endless space beckons. We want to visit other planets, even live in outer space. And that's natural, because as a spirit soul, we have the constitutional right to go to any part of the material or the spiritual skies.

The uninformed might think that this temptation to conquer space is only recent. But Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita (8.16) says, a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino 'rjuna: "My dear Arjuna, even if you go to the highest planet, Brahmaloka, you will have to come back." This statement has two implications for us. First, interplanetary travel is not new to the human race. It took place in Vedic times. For example, The Srimad-Bhagavatam tells of King Kakudmi's trip to Brahmaloka and Bhrgu Muni's travels to Brahmaloka, Mount Kailasa, and Vaikuntha. Second, and more important, according to the Lord Himself even if someone succeeds in going to the higher planets, his efforts are ultimately fruitless. Imagine someone investing in a company knowing well that it is rushing toward bankruptcy. He would surely be considered a fool. But we ourselves fail to understand that everything in the material world, including the planets around us, is temporary and so everything we invest here is fruitless.

The Vedas do recommend many sacrifices for elevation to the heavenly planets, and some scholars even think that this is the whole purpose of Vedic wisdom. But the reality is something else. Why should we waste our time trying to go to a place that will one day be destroyed? Today, people move frequently; they don't like to stay in the same apartment for more than a few years. This tendency exists because all of us are away from our original, permanent home: the spiritual world, where Lord Sri Krsna resides. Searching for a suitable residence within the temporary material world will never work out. So, paying heed to Lord Krsna's advice, we should all try to go to Krsnaloka. Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah (Bhagavad-gita 8.20). A life of eternity, bliss, and knowledge awaits us there.

On the other hand, life in the material world is just like prison life. Just as a prisoner cannot freely change from one cell to another, we cannot move from one planet to another. Under the laws of God, we are on earth because of our karma. Even if we could go from one planet to another, that would not make us happy, any more than changing from one cell to another will make a prisoner happy. We can be truly happy only in the spiritual world, outside the prison walls of the material world.

If we simply take to Lord Sri Krsna's instructions and try to engage in His devotional service, we will be granted eternal residence on His planet. Then the temptation to venture out into space won't haunt us. Lord Krsna says (Bhagavad-gita 8.15):

mam upetya punar janma duhkhalayam asasvatam napnuvanti mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatah

"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." Though we are tempted by the impermanent, we should aim for the permanent.

I can only wish that Sunita the astronaut glanced through the pages of Bhagavad-gita during her stay in outer space and was attracted to the descriptions of the spiritual world. That would be to her true and lasting benefit.

Nanda Dulala Dasa joined ISKCON in India in 2000. He is part of the BTG India team and helps in teaching Krsna consciousness to college students in Mumbai.