Recently We all saw a so-called successful launch to land on the Moon in the name of Chandrayaan 3.

For those who don’t understand what Chandrayaan means, here is the explanation. The name comes from Sanskrit, where “Chandra” means Moon, and “Yaan” basically originates from “prayaan,” which means travelling. So, this mission to travel to the Moon was launched by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation).

The following questions will be answered in this article

• Why are we travelling to the Moon?
• What will we achieve by doing that?
• What is the best solution to solve our problems if we don’t go to the Moon?

Read till the last of the article for many interesting answers.

Why are we travelling to the Moon?

• The answers given by the so-called advanced civilized society are as follows: In the next few years, the Earth will be a place where we can’t live. So, these are the baby steps to find life on other planets, and we need to establish a living place there.

• The answer is that this is a foolish way to think, both materially and spiritually. Our current living styles, greed for overindustrialization, and many other negative qualities within us are spoiling the Earth. What’s the use of going to another place when, with the same bad qualities in our hearts, we will soon spoil that place in the same way after reaching there? This thinking is foolish and does not provide a real solution.
• Spiritually speaking, going to the Moon with the current physical body we possess is a myth. The Moon is considered a heavenly planet where inhabitants reside with subtle bodies. Our current human body is composed of eight elements (Earth, water, fire, air, and ether related to the gross body, while mind, intelligence, and false ego are related to the subtle body), all of which are material in nature. Our earthly existence is a combination of both gross and subtle bodies, unlike the purely subtle existence on heavenly planets like the Moon.
• Apart from that, people living on heavenly planets like the Moon are in Sattva Guna (mode of goodness), whereas people currently trying to travel to the Moon are not at all in the mode of goodness. Therefore, there will be no chance for them to reach the Moon.
• The correct way to go to the Moon is to get elevated to the mode of goodness, not by firing up a rocket and sitting with seat belts up strongly tied.

BG 14.18
urdhvam gacchanti sattva-stha
madhye tisthanti rajasah
jaghanya-guna-vrtti-stha
adho gacchanti tamasah

Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.

• The saying “A dwarf who wants to catch the moon” implies that attempting to achieve something beyond one’s capabilities or using impractical and foolish methods to reach a lofty goal is futile. Comparing this saying to the scientists’ endeavours to land on the Moon, suggests that their aspirations might be unrealistic and based on mere imaginations and mental speculations. The idea of building structures on the Moon with playing cards, which would inevitably collapse due to their fragile nature, serves as a metaphor for the unsuitability and impracticality of their approach.

What will we achieve by doing that?

• From the point of view of India and Indians, the answer will be that NASA and many other countries have already landed on the Moon. So, it would be a great honour for Indians as well to land on the Moon and join the elite club of Moon landing nations.

• This is the disease that we have — to see another fool and get inspired to become an even bigger fool. Srila Prabhupada gives a short story as an example of this aspect: “One of Prabhupada’s Bengali stories was about a doctor visiting a house to diagnose two patients, a rich housewife and her maidservant. The doctor said, “The maidservant’s fever is 105, so there is some anxiety. I will give her some medicine. But the landlady of the house has practically no fever, 99, so there is no anxiety for her.” When she heard this, the landlady became angry and said, “This doctor is useless. I’m the landlady. I’ve only got 99 and my maidservant has 105. The maidservant should have 98, I should have 110!” Prabhupada compared this to the modern civilization, which is inclined to increase the degree of its fever up to 110. As in the human body there is death as soon as the temperature reaches 107, so Prabhupada said that by the nuclear weapons, modern civilization will come to the point of 107 and over. But devotees want to decrease the fever, by living the highest, ideal life and decreasing the demands of the body.”

• Indias are not meant for this run-after mirage like other foolish people. Their main duty as prescribed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is to engage in devotional service to the Supreme Lord and seek spiritual enlightenment. “ bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya janma yārajanma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra — One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people. (CC Adi 9.41)”
  Apart from this, India is the land of culture and sacred scriptures like Bhagavad Gita, Vedas, Upanishads, and Srimad Bhagavatam kind of Puranas, all born here. Our real duty is to preach these teachings all over the world to truly save humanity. Many saintly persons have dedicated their lives to this purpose, and one of the greatest such saints is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), who pioneered the spread of the Krishna Consciousness movement worldwide.

What is the best solution to solve our problems if we don’t go to the Moon?

SB 11.13.7, Translation: In a bamboo forest, the wind sometimes rubs the bamboo stalks together, and such friction generates a blazing fire that consumes the very source of its birth, the bamboo forest. Thus, the fire is automatically calmed by its own action. Similarly, by the competition and interaction of the material modes of nature, the subtle and gross material bodies are generated. If one uses his mind and body to cultivate knowledge, then such enlightenment destroys the influence of the modes of nature that generated one’s body. Thus, like the fire, the body and mind are pacified by their own actions in destroying the source of their birth.

• We got this body somehow and now make the best use of a bad bargain

“The best way to make the best use of a bad bargain is to use everything in relation with the supreme spiritual being. Everything is an emanation from the Supreme Spirit, and by His inconceivable power He can convert spirit into matter and matter into spirit. Therefore a material thing (so-called) is at once turned into a spiritual force by the great will of the Lord. The necessary condition for such a change is to employ so-called matter in the service of the spirit. That is the way to treat our material diseases and elevate ourselves to the spiritual plane where there is no misery, no lamentation and no fear. When everything is thus employed in the service of the Lord, we can experience that there is nothing except the Supreme Brahman. ” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.33, Purport)

• A simple way to travel to the topmost planet, which is farther and better than the Moon, is Goloka Vrindavan, where The Supreme Lord Krishna stays in that abode.
• The easiest and best process to reach him in this age is to chant Hare Krishna(harer nāmaiva kevalam — CC Adi 7.76) and realise that we are eternal servants of Krishna(jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’-CC Madhya 20.108) and to go back to home i.e., Back to Godhead Krishna instead of going to Moon by getting birth and death again and again with severe suffering and pain. (janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-
  duhkha-dosanudarsanam — Bhagavad Gita 13.9)

Bhagavad Gita 8.16

a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino ‘rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.

• Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!! May you have a safe landing to eternal Goloka Vrindavan with this process, rather than to the temporary Moon.

– Article written by Venu Gopal Dasa