The Srimad Bhagavatam frequently refers to the universe as "the cosmic ocean," with the planets as "islands." This analogy was used countless times in my astronomy textbook, since outer space is composed mostly of, well, space. Although we know how our universe began, our astronomy textbook concluded that modern scientists are not sure how (or if) our universe will come to an end. Will it expand forever? Will it end with a "big crunch"? Scriptures reveal that our unive...

Time does not have characteristics the way earth and the other elements do and is not interdependent as the other elements are. Many commentators hold forth on this point of properties, or propertylessness. Gosvami Giridhara-lala writes that time “is not characterized by any peculiarity, and hence it is beginningless and endless.” How being without peculiarity leads to endlessness is not explained, but another commentator echoes the same idea, saying that time “is not dependent on another ...

And that is the activity of Lord Hari, when that fear is taken away by remembrance of the Lord. Lord Hari is the ‘One who takes away’, but He also takes away our fear because generally, it’s the fear which is the cause of so much anxiety. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, ‘fear’ means to not know what lays in the future. That’s why we fear. “If I do this, what’s going to happen? If I get on the plane, is it going to land?” Fear comes from the anticipa...

Longevity attracts me because I’m an eternal spiritual being, an imperishable soul. In my natural state I don’t transmigrate. So, since I’m not meant to be helplessly, traumatically dragged from one body to another, I crave permanence in this life. But I don’t really want the permanence of a giant Sequoia. Although by comparison to mine, the length of its life is awe-inspiring, to stand in one place, immobile and incommunicative, would be awful. I’m not ...