“Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.41)

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यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा ।
तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोऽशसम्भवम् ॥

yadyadvibhūtimatsattvaṃ śrīmadūrjitameva vā
tattadevāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejo’śasambhavam

1. Safe and effective

“Wow, we are so lucky. Crisis averted. They produced this miracle medication in record time. It will save the world’s population from calamity. Do not worry, it is entirely safe and works practically all of the time.

“I am serious. No need for a medical exam. There are zero contraindications. The medicine is so great that the manufacturers skipped listing any of the ingredients. Typically, these medicines which are administered through injection have an accompanying fact sheet. The medical professionals can then compare those ingredients against any known issues. They can see if there might be problems because of medication patients are currently on.

“But nope, not this time. Entirely safe. From young to old, healthy to sick. Stop worrying about it. Take the life-saving drug without thinking twice. They will even give you a free doughnut or slice of pizza to show their gratitude for participating in their experiment, I mean, distribution.”

2. Proper distancing

“Wow, we are so lucky. By just standing a certain number of feet apart, we are keeping everyone safe. In addition, there are these coverings to the face. Don’t worry, it is not actually obstructing breathing. You only feel like you are suffocating, but there is no damage taking place inside; your organs will be just fine. Just relax. Take a deep breath. Oh whoops, sorry. Well, you know what I mean.

“Okay, sometimes people get too close to one another anyway, but that is for a brief amount of time. Yes, sometimes people remove the covering in order to cough into their mouth. Someone has counted that the public figure telling everyone else to obstruct their breathing took off their own covering like fifty times during a particular speech. They happened to be touching their nose and mouth each time. Anyway, stop being such a cynic. This will save us. The health professionals have assured us.”

3. Man controlling the weather

“Wow, we are so lucky. Did you hear the latest proposal? These billionaires are considering manufacturing this giant shade to put into outer space. It will block the sun. The earth will be protected from those harmful rays. Then we can prevent all of these severe weather events.

“You know, like hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, snowstorms, wildfires, and the like. Yes, I realize that these have occurred throughout the course of history, but just see how bad it is now. Yes, the seasons still flow, as if on a schedule, but trust me, we are so close to being able to control everything.”

4. A species suddenly growing an additional hand or leg

“Stop being so negative. It is called adaptation. A species needed an extra hand, so they decided to grow one. No, not every member of the species. Just the fittest ones. They adapted, while the rest did not. Yes, the ones that failed to adapt are still around. They are here along with the evolved version of the species. That is the cause of the variety we see. Human beings are simply a version of the old species that happened to adapt.

“No, I have not seen the mechanism for how something grows an extra hand or leg. The change takes place over thousands of years; that is why we cannot see it. Stop asking so many questions. The proof is in the fossil evidence. This is the evolution that has taken place. It is established science.”

5. Chemicals randomly colliding to create the universe

“There is no God. Stop following make-believe. It was a single chemical that then led to the creation of the universe. Okay, maybe it was several chemicals. There was this big collision that occurred at some time.

“Why is there only one sun? Why did not the collision create multiple suns? Why is there predictability to the fixtures of nature? I don’t know. Stop asking questions. I can tell you one thing, it sure wasn’t because some grand designer thought up of everything. That is a bunch of nonsense only our ancestors believed in.”

…

The contention is that while Vedic literature is nice, with profound philosophy and wisdom in principles that will make you stop in your tracks and ponder issues you never considered before, there is an overreliance on the side of fantasy. In other words, the mythology plays too large of a factor, to the point of taking away from the seriousness of the presentation. It dominates the conversation when other, more important aspects could be highlighted.

An elephant-like figure removing obstacles from his worshipers. A monkey-like character who can not only talk, but leap over oceans and carry mountains in his hands. A person fixed in the meditational seat, with ashes smeared over his body, holding poison in his throat. He is the embodiment of renunciation and yet also powerful enough to destroy the entire cosmic manifestation.

He does so at an allotted time, you see. If there is destruction, then there must also be creation. That occurs from a four-armed, blue-complexioned deity who merely lies down to rest. From an involuntary act like breathing, the many universes emerge.

As if that were not enough to accept, the same figure then miraculously expands Himself to control every one of those universes. Since He is Ishvara at every level, including within the individual, He is actually Parameshvara.

The argument is that no sane or rational person is going to believe these descriptions. The depictions might be beautiful in the artistic sense, but they have no basis in reality. If a person has affinity towards the culture, they might resolve the contradictions by speculating that the descriptions are just stories. You see, they must be ways to present complex topics in a manner suited to the masses, who otherwise lack intelligence.

The antagonistic will dismiss the entire proposal based on what they see as mythology. It cannot possibly be true that an ancient sage swallowed up an entire ocean. How can a small boy lift up a massive hill and hold it in the air, above His head, for seven straight days? And since when does rain fall in an intentional manner, as if the heavens are delivering a targeted strike?

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada refers to this kind of comparative assessment as the philosophy of Dr. Frog. Consider a frog who has lived inside of a well for a long time. When hearing of something like the Pacific Ocean, they try to measure the size based on their only point of reference, which is the well.

“The froggish philosophers and mundane wranglers in science and mathematical calculation may not believe in the inconceivable potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they are sometimes puzzled by the wonderful jugglery of man and nature. Such jugglers and magicians of the mundane world are actually puzzled by the jugglery of the Lord in His transcendental activities, but they try to adjust their bewilderment by saying that it is all mythology. There is, however, nothing impossible or mythological in the Supreme Omnipotent Person.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.6.39 Purport)

In the manner of Dr. Frog, we are grossly deficient in our ability to perceive. What to speak of trying to retain the information that we experience directly, it is not possible to accurately measure the length and breadth of the creation. Just because we cannot lift a hill does not mean the feat is impossible. Just because we do not know anyone who has meditated for thousands of years does not automatically dismiss the possibility of the same occurring elsewhere in the universe.

Just what kind of experience do we really have? What meaningful conclusions can we actually reach from a lifetime of observation, which may span one hundred years at the higher end of the range? Who are we to boldly assert that descriptions in Vedic literature are impossible, when there is evidence at every turn that the principles described are true and predictable?

इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत
सर्वभूतानि संमोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप

icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata
sarvabhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa

“O scion of Bharata [Arjuna], O conquerer of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.27)

We see from the above review that people, including those highly credentialed and considered experts in their field, are easily duped. For whatever reason, they are prone to accept theories which are nonsense at the foundation. Even a little common sense applied in those areas dispels the illusion. When confronted with the evidence contradicting their beliefs, the people previously fooled pretend like nothing ever happened, that there was no mistake committed.

Instead of staying with the side of skepticism, we should be sober in our analysis and realize that whatever we witness at the moment that we consider to be amazing is actually nothing. We cannot believe that the sun remains where it is, distributing heat and light for billions of years without any external source of energy.

The planets, which are the largest collections of matter we can imagine, remain floating in space. They stay in the same position; otherwise there would be chaos. Fruits, vegetables, and grains have their own protection provided by nature; with packing material to safeguard against damage during transport.

As described in Bhagavad-gita, these aspects represent but a spark of the splendor of the Almighty. If He wanted, He could hold thousands of hills on the tip of His finger. He could produce thousands of beautiful songs, gitas, with each output more profound than its predecessor.

To halt progress in the purification of consciousness based on the issue of mythology is not a wise choice. A little humility, some rational thought, and some common-sense assessments as to the position of the living entity relative to the source of everything help in understanding such complex topics and more.

In Closing:

Rather than reject as unable,
Some humility bring to the table.

Know that very little so far I have seen,
Not even close to all that has been.

God the greatest and the best,
His potency impossible to test.

His lifting hill only sample from store,
Can surpass that and even more.

Categories: the five

Tags: hare krishna, hinduism, mythology, poem, poems, poetry, science