The Flat Earth TOVP Model

TOVP = Temple Of Vedic Planetarium – Iskcon Mayapur, India

The Flat Earth TOVP Model
BY: RAJASEKLHARA DASA BRAHMACHARI

Sampradaya Sun – Feb 17, 2016 — INDIA

Dear friends – please don’t be misled by the foolish idea that the earth is flat.

No devotee should be misled into believing that the Earth is flat by the false propaganda being churned out by the people behind the TOVP Mayapur, or others like Patita Pavana das of Mithuna Twiins Astrological Services Public Group. The recent post by Patita Pavana on ‘200 PROOFS THAT THE WORLD IS FLAT‘ is a complete joke. The author of this article sounds more like a child from the kindergarten who learned his 2x table and now wants to lecture the university students on quantum mechanics – based on his knowledge of the 2x table. What to speak of 200, or even 200 million so-called proofs, they are completely useless in the face of the transcendental words emanating from the lotus-mouth of a pure devotee.

Morning Walk, December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: “Yes, world is round. That is fact. Goloka. In Vedic literature it is bhū-gola, jagad-aṇḍa. These words are there. We can see also it is round, jagad-aṇḍa. The universe is round. And Goloka. Or Bhū-gola. Bhū-gola, the earth is round. So in the Vedic literatures… Therefore their knowledge is also imperfect because they do not refer to the Vedic literatures. It is already there. Bhū-gola. Bhū means the earth; gola means round. It is already there. And the geography’s called, according to Sanskrit, it is called Bhū-gola. Long, long ago, before Galileo.”

The fact that the Iskcon GBC also have accepted the Flat Earth model is simply due to desperation and a very poor fund of knowledge. What is even more surprising is that a person of stature like Alfred Brush Ford, the financier of TOVP, is also taken in by such a misguided hypothesis. The TOVP is going to end up as the laughing stock of the whole world if they continue with this invalid interpretations of the Shrimad Bhagavatam, that the Earth is flat.

It is very clear from studying the 5th canto, that although the Bhu-mandala is without doubt a flat plane, the Bhu-gola, or Earth planet, is a globe (gola), and this is not only confirmed by Shrila Prabhupada, but also confirmed in the Bhagavatama and all the Vedic siddhantas. Bhu-mandala and Bhu-gola are two different dimension of the Vedic cosmos. Get real people at the TOVP, which planet are you guys living on, maybe its cloud 9, but surely it can’t be planet Earth. If the TOVP people under the guidance of the GBC, go ahead with their preposterous ‘Flat Earth’ conceptions, they will simply be laughed of the face of their ‘Flat Earth’ and made a laughing stock before the whole world – which is hardly what Shrila Prabhupada had in mind when he proposed the construction of the TOVP.

Shrila Prabhupada wanted to show to the world – through the medium of the Bhagavatam’s 5th canto, the passing seasons on this Earth , eclipses as seen from this Earth, phases of the Moon as seen from this Earth, the passing of day and night on this Earth. Shrila Prabhupada said that if this can be explained through the medium of the Bhagavatam, it would be very powerful propaganda against the modern scientists. The present TOVP model has no Earth planet (Bhu-gola) and does not conform to Shrila Prabhupada’s conception for the TOVP.

“Now our Ph.D.’s must collaborate and study the Fifth Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium. My final decision is that the universe is just like a tree, with root upwards. Just as a tree has branches and leaves, so the universe is also composed of planets which are fixed up in the tree like the leaves, flowers, fruits, etc….So now all you Ph.D.’s must carefully study the details of the Fifth Canto and make a working model of the universe. If we can explain the passing seasons, eclipses, phases of the moon, passing of day and night, etc., then it will be very powerful propaganda” (Letter from Shrila Prabhupäda to Svarüpa Dämodara däsa, April 27, 1976)

Since I posted a similar message at 8am-Feb 12th, on Mithuna Twiins Astrological Services, the article on that site entitled ‘200 FROOFS’ has been withdrawn. Will the GBC and the brains behind TOVP also withdraw their doomed ‘Flat Earth’ model and present the correct model that will be in accordance with Shrila Prabhupada’s teachings and based exclusively on the 5th canto, instead of on someone’s wild speculation. If you don’t know – then don’t pretend that you do, just for the sake of getting some cheap credit or opening the TOVP on a certain date. Otherwise, Alfred Brush Ford and everyone else involved, is going to end-up with Brahma’s egg – all over his face.

There has been a lot of news in the world’s press about Alfred Ford’s involvement and large monetary contribution to the TOVP. ‘Alfred Ford is Building a Multi-Million Dollar Monument in India’. However, if the press find out about the ‘Flat Earth’ model being presented by the TOVP, the worlds’ news headlines might just start saying: ‘Alfred Ford is Building a Multi-Million Dollar Monument(al fiasco) in India’.

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Prabhupāda: Regarding details of the universe, be satisfied by reading only Bhagavatam. What is the use of reading other books—you are not going there. Some portion of the earth is flat. When you stand in any place you see flat, so for us to some extent it appears flat, but it is round.

Simply keep faith that whatever we describe, that is a fact. After all, we are an insignificant creature in the universe, so whether you take the modern scientists or Sukadeva Goswami, it is inconceivable. It is best to keep faith in Sukadeva Goswami, because actually our only business is to go back to home, back to Godhead. So whether Sukadeva Goswami or the modern scientists are right or wrong, it is nothing interesting to us. We want to go back to home, back to Godhead—yanti mad-yajino’pi mam. (Letter to: Madhava, Vrindavan 3 October, 1976)

The Flat Earth Theory is Flat-Out-Wrong