SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM - Prabhupada

Text 18] Hira:r_1yaka8ipu Terrorizes the Universe 183PURPORTThe water of the seas and oceans of this planet, of which we have experience,are salty, but other planets within the universe contain oceansof sugarcane juice, liquor, ghee, milk and sweet water. The rivers arefiguratively described as wives of the oceans and seas because they glidedown to the oceans and seas as tributaries, like the wives attached to theirhusbands. Modern scientists attempt excursions to other planets, butthey have no information of how many different types of oceans and seasthere are within the universe. According to their experience, the moon isfull of dust, but this does not explain how it gives us soothing rays from adistance of millions of miles. As far as we are concerned, we follow theauthority of Vyasadeva and Sukadeva Gosvami, who have described theuniversal situation according to the Vedic literature. These authoritiesdiffer from modern scientists who conclude from their imperfect sensualexperience that only this planet is inhabited by living beings whereas theother planets are all vacant or full of dust.TEXT 18 ituftOSbi gtJfl'l: I lifNII"'Iit II IIsaili.i dror:tibhir iikrU}amsarvartU§u guTJ-iin drumii/:tdadhiira loka-piili.iniimeka eva prthag guTJ-iinsaili.i/:t-the hills and mountains; dror:tibhi/:t-with the valleys betweenthem; iikrU}am-pleasure grounds for Hiral)yakasipu; sarva-all;rtU§u-in the seasons of the year; guTJ-iin-different qualities (fruits andflowers); drumii/:t-the plants and trees; dadhiira-executed; lokapiiliiniim-ofthe other demigods in charge of different departments ofnatural activity; eka/:t-alone; eva-indeed; prthak-different;guTJ-iin-qualities.TRANSLATIONThe valleys between the mountains became fields of pleasurefor Hira:r_Iyaka5ipu, by whose influence all the trees and plants