A Book Review: Easy Journey to Other Planets
By Narasimha das
Easy Journey to Other Planets was one of the first of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s books published in the West. In the early 1970s many people started hearing from and following Srila Prabhupada after reading this concise and potent small book that summarizes the process of self-realization and liberation.
“A living being, especially civilized man, has a natural desire to live forever in happiness. This is quite natural because, in his original state, the living being is both eternal and joyful. However, in the present conditioned state of life, he is engaged in a struggle against recurring birth and death. Therefore, he has attained neither happiness nor immortality.
“The latest desire man has developed is the desire to travel to other planets. This is also quite natural, because he has the constitutional right to go to any part of the material or spiritual skies. Such travel is very tempting and exciting because these skies are full of unlimited globes of varying qualities, and they are occupied by all types of living entities. The desire to travel there can be fulfilled by the process of yoga, which serves as a means by which one can transfer himself to whatever planet he likes–possibly to planets where life is not only eternal and blissful, but where there are multiple varieties of enjoyable energies. Anyone who can attain the freedom of the spiritual planets need never return to this miserable land of birth, old age, disease, and death.
“One can attain this stage of perfection very easily by his individual effort. He can simply follow, in his own home, the prescribed method of bhakti–yoga. This method, under proper guidance, is simple and enjoyable. An attempt is made herein to give information to the people in general, and to philosophers and religionists in particular, as to how one can transfer oneself to other planets by this process of bhakti–yoga—the highest of all yogic processes.” (Easy Journey to Other Planets, Preface)
In this book, Srila Prabhupada debunks the theory that mechanical space travel is a viable means of traveling to other planets. He points out that even if men were somehow able to travel to Mars or the Moon by rocket propulsion, they would be unable to live there due to different atmospheres, which are unsuitable for living beings from Earth. He further explains that even in the highest planets of the universe, where the duration and standard of life and enjoyment are far superior to life on Earth, one must eventually die.
Quoting Vedic scriptures, such as Srimad-Bhagavvatam, Bhagavad-gita and Sri Isopanisad, Srila Prabhupada establishes that all great Vedic teachers, or acharyas, have concluded that life in this world is miserable by nature and that one should therefore strive to achieve liberation. The path to liberation begins when we understand that the soul is eternal and meant to reside in the spiritual world, which is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. In that world everyone is totally happy and free. The spiritual world is far beyond this visible world, which is temporary, full of ignorance and miserable. It is the original and natural home of all living beings.
The Vedas recognize, however, that materialistic persons cannot immediately accept the path of liberation or the ideal of servitude to and dependence upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna). Therefore, the Vedas offer incentives for such persons to become Vedic followers by promising rewards in heaven, the higher planets in this mundane universe. Materialistic people can achieve heavenly planets via the lifestyles and rituals prescribed in the Vedas for gradual elevation. Elevation to the heavenly planets is progressive because demigods are aware of God and generally free of sin and gross ignorance. But because demigods often remain attached to material happiness and powers, they may fall from their exalted posts. Elevation to the heavenly planets is not an assured step to liberation. Worship of demigods is never promoted or encouraged by genuine Vedic teachers of spiritual science.
“Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshippers of the Absolute.” (Sri Isopanisad, Mantra Twelve)
Because their aim is sense gratification and mundane powers, worshippers of demigods are impatient and lusty. They often deviate from religious principles due to incomplete knowledge and strong material attachments. When such materialists are finally frustrated with the pursuit of mundane opulence and power, they sometimes become renunciates or pseudo-yogis, attempting to become “one with God” by merging into the Supreme Lord’s bodily effulgence, the brahmajyoti. Srila Prabhupada explains:
“The Lord states that as soon as one reaches Him by devotional service–which is the one and only way to approach the Personality of Godhead–one attains complete freedom from the bondage of birth and death. In other words, the path of salvation from the material clutches fully depends on the principles of knowledge and detachment gained from serving the Lord. The pseudo religionists have neither knowledge nor detachment from material affairs, for most of them want to live in the golden shackles of material bondage under the shadow of philanthropic activities disguised as religious principles. By a false display of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional service while indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. In this way they pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God. Such violators of religious principles have no respect for the authoritative acharyas, the holy teachers in the strict disciplic succession. They ignore the Vedic injunction acharyopasana—‘One must worship the acharya’–and Kṛishna’s statement in the Bhagavad-gītā, evaṁ paramparā–prāptam, ‘This supreme science of God is received through the disciplic succession.’ Instead, to mislead the people in general they themselves become so-called acharyas, but they do not even follow the principles of the acharyas.
“These rogues are the most dangerous elements in human society. Because there is no religious government, they escape punishment by the law of the state. They cannot, however, escape the law of the Supreme, who has clearly declared in the Bhagavad-gita that envious demons in the garb of religious propagandists shall be thrown into the darkest regions of hell. (Bg. 16.19,20). Sri Isopanisad confirms that these pseudo religionists are heading toward the most obnoxious place in the universe after the completion of their spiritual master business, which they conduct simply for sense gratification.” (Sri Isopanisd, Mantra Twelve, Purport)
The real way of liberation, as well as the progressive path to the highest heavenly planets where great sages live, is obscured by false religious teachers and their foolish followers. Such miscreants do the greatest disservice to mankind by misleading people from their opportunity to achieve the highest potential of human life through Krishna consciousness and detachment from material enjoyment. They instead cause people to increase their attachment to material existence. Unfortunately, they do this in the name of religion and Vedic scriptures.
The path of liberation is based on following the bona fide teachers, the Vaishnava acharyas, who always teach pure knowledge of God consciousness and renunciation through devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, the highest yoga system. Sinful persons do not appreciate the advice of the genuine acharyas. Such folks suggest that anyone can become a guru and teach his own principles—even those that clearly defy the instructions of the guru-parampara.
Srila Prabhupada ends “Easy Journey to Other Planets” with this hopeful advice: “The purpose of our developed human consciousness is to understand how nature works. Aside from human consciousness, there is consciousness in dogs, cats, worms, trees, birds, beasts. and all other species. But we are not meant to live in that consciousness. The Srimad-Bhagavatam says that after many, many births we have attained the human form of body. Now we should not misuse it. Please utilize this human life to develop Krishna consciousness and be happy.”