Strict Interpretation

BY: MAYESA DASA (ACBSP) - 2.1 2017

Note that B to E is 56,400,000 for arc of ayana

Traveling to India to work with H.G. Danavir Gosvami Maharaja some years ago I became interested in cracking the mystery of distances to the planets. Returning to America, I learned that I had to learn some math. I dedicated 8 hours a day, 365 days a year for 2 years before I made the following discovery:

In 5th canto Bhagavatam we find four sizes for the Sun's chariot ("chariot" is not confined to the Sun alone. In Matsya Purana we find the Sun and other planets described as chariots.)

These four sizes are 27,206,400 and 25,360,000 and 26,389,378 and 28,800,000.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and other previous acaryas have multiplied a couple of these by 30 to give us 760,800,000 and 816,192,000.

These are circumferences or circles. The reason 30 is used is that there are thirty time periods in a day and night consisting of 48 minutes.

Vedic time calculation is: 
48 min x 30 muhurtas x 60 seconds = 86,400 seconds

Our modern calculation of time is: 60 min x 24 hours x 60 seconds = 86,400 seconds

When we multiply the largest measurement of the Sun's chariot by 30 we get 28,800,000 x 30 = 864,000,000

Notice the figure 86400 here. 
Coincidence?
No.

Now in order to make sense of this we need to know what arc is. Arc is the amount of miles of ayana or movement north and south. (The Sun and other planets have two simultaneous movements – around a circle and upward or downward.)

Finding the arc of 864,000,000 we must know what is the extreme declination of the Sun. Declination means degree calculated on a circle or on the angle of a right triangle.

The declination of the Sun that astronomers give us for the Sun is 23.5.

Now we apply this simple formula since a circle or circumference always has 360 degrees: 
864,000,000 ÷ 360 x 23.5 = 56,400,000

It was finding the figure 56,400,000 in the Linga Purana that helped me to finally understand the movement of the Sun.

It is important to understand that Sukadeva Gosvami in 5th canto says that the figure 28,800,000 is an estimate.

Nevertheless we can diagram the Sun and know exactly how it moves. We can also understand the seasons. We can understand how the Moon is sometimes further away than the Sun.

We can also understand where the Earth planet is.

By guidance from other verses we can know if there is only a flat Earth or that there is a globe Earth AND a flat Earth.

All this is accomplished by literal interpretation of the 5th canto.