Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral was the site of one of mankind’s more remarkable achievements- the moon landing. The picture shows launchpad 39A (taken with my iphone through the window of a NASA organized bus). Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins achieved the historic landing (Collins did not actually walk on the moon’s surface; he orbited the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin touched down).
For their remarkable courage and accomplishment, they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After all, it requires tremendous courage to sit in a rocket going at 5 miles per second, carrying enough fuel to blow up a small town!
The moon landings are testimony to what human minds can accomplish given the right conditions.
Since then, nine people have landed on the moon. NASA has left three land rovers there. India has landed chandrayaan, and just last week, China landed Yutu-2 on the far side of the moon. Russia of course has achieved craft landings there multiple times.
The moon is no longer the next frontier- it is Mars. NASA is planning a new manned space mission to Mars, using Orion, NASA’s newest spacecraft. Of course, NASA has already crash landed crafts on Mars – the question is how to get humans there and back. Orion will be launched from a huge launch pad system that is inside a building (see below)!
Remarkable as the moon landings are, it is amazing that there are many people in modern bhakti sects who peddle the idea that the moon landings are a hoax. Bhakti scriptures dont seem to mention any restrictions that human beings cannot do interplanetary travel with machines. On the contrary, the Bhagavatam contains descriptions of interplanetary travel, whether through yogic powers or on vimanas, i.e. planes.
Such idiosyncratic views about the moon landings are surprisingly common. In a paper published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Swami et al note that upto a quarter of respondents in North America believe that moon landings did not occur. They write that such moon landing conspiracy theories have the following features to them:
“[These are] a set of claims that some or all elements of the Apollo programme were hoaxes, perpetrated by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) and related organizations (Kaysing, 2002). The most notable of these claims is that the NASA manned landings were faked and that Apollo astronauts have never landed on the moon. Conspiracy theorists argue that NASA knowingly misled the general public into believing that astronauts landed on the moon by manufacturing or tampering with evidence, particularly photographs of the moon landings.”
Swami et al define conspiracy theories thus:
Conspiracy theories (CTs) are a subset of false beliefs in which the ultimate cause of an event is believed to be due to a malevolent plot by multiple actors working together, usually unlawfully and in secret.
The study by Swami et al with individuals who believed in such conspiracy theories resulted in the following conclusion: “Results showed that acceptance of the moon landings CT was associated with the adoption of a conspiracist worldview and schizotypal tendencies.”
Similarly many people are skeptical of the big bang, of modern astronomical explanations of the universe, of evolution, and even of that most basic of physical phenomena- gravity!
Such conspiracy theories can cause harmful and irreversible psychological damage, particularly to children, and make them total misfits in society. It is better to face and evaluate reality head on, than to succumb to delusional thinking. Uttama bhakti requires a healthy and balanced mind.
An interesting observation I have made is that when evidence is provided to the advocates of CTs, particularly the “devotees”, against their unfounded bias, they enter into a sort of mental hibernation and refuse to discuss the topic further. The defensive antennas activate.
Not everyone is like that. Also, most don’t care about these things either way. They are busy struggling to put food on the table and science is hardly a priority. Different things matter to different people.
This article is the first that I felt was really not necessary. Even though I understand the implications of unfounded conspiracies and fanaticism (by devotees), what you have related as far as the moon landings is your belief that NASA is an agency incapable of deceit. Perhaps you yourself have gone to the moon and have verified NASA’s excursions, however there are videos and documentation that show a lot of inconsistencies about the moon landings. Those who have a doubt about such events may be called names but those who unquestionably believe such an event actually took place may also be faced with their own bias when trying to explain away the inconsistencies about the moon landings. To not have faith in some “scientific “ narratives doesn’t mean to not have faith in all science.
Thanks for your comment. You are of course welcome to believe whatever.
So,you mean to say there are no living beings or devatas there?This is what every country says..then that means there are no cities on moon which is contradicting sastra??
Say you were given a powerful telescope to observe the moon’s surface. You see no cities there. Would your response be:
A) shastra is not false, so what I am seeing is a conspiracy
B) obviously there are no cities there
Which one?
I shall see cities there,because shastra says so
There are enormous numbers of photos of the moon’s surface. There are no cities there. So answer the question. A or B.
I beleive telescope can’t show me conspiracy,but how to understand sastric statements about moon god and opulence there..how to reconcile..Do you believe moon god exists?
Ok. So first you have to understand that you cannot deny what is in front of you. Because if you do, you cannot believe anything including shastra.
I will respond to the question about the moon god later. Have to drive that modern invention called a car which is obviously not mentioned in shastra.
So,you have read entire Veda?You came to conclude there is no car in sastra?😅
Yes,I chose B,but sastra is also pratyakshya of someone
See this article. Maybe it helps
http://bhaktitattva.com/2020/05/16/when-sastra-clashes-with-pratyaksa/
Yes,But still I wanted to pose you some questions 1)that do you believe does moon god exist?
2)And refering to the above article,you say Bhagavatam is kavya and so author can say anything to acheive his goal.There is already a controversy here since I haven’t seen any acarya commenting like ‘Vyanjana vrtti’ type
And another most important thing is that the description of jambudvipa,bharata varsha don’t exist only in Srimad Bhagavatam but also in Mahabharata,vayu puranam,Vishnu purana etc..these are not kavyas.
I accept that the devatas exist. Since you think there is no such thing as vyanjana vrtti, we can have no further discussion. Good luck!
No,no I mean to say that in the case of this description of universe…I accept Vyanjana vritti otherwise but how to reconcile if their descriptions are in Mahabharata,Vayu puran etc
There is no need to reconcile anything else. The Bhagavata, the emperor of all pramanas, is telling you that you will not understand it. So don’t bother.
You say you accept devatas and accept the photographs of NASA,how does it prove then?
You mean to say no need to reconcile means.. descriptions in the vayu puran or Vishnu Puran are false??
No I mean that you cannot understand them. And they are not true when it comes to the observable universe. They are true for adhidavika experience – maybe- or they are kavya- or who knows what.
The important thing is that they cannot be understood.
Prove what?
That there are no living entities
I don’t know what you are trying to say. Where did I try to prove that there are no living entities? Krsna is present at every point in space. The Bhagavat Sandarbha states this to be the case. So Krsna is everywhere and everything is in Him. Including all planets, stars, galaxies, universes and space itself.
But there are no cities on the moon and no visible beings. That is common sense.
Yes,it is in this sense that.. it is not possible to completely understand the creation of the supreme lord and that’s why Sukadeva Goswami says that he is describing important places(This is clear in that sloka) which we are trying to reconcile now.
I don’t know what is clear to you in the sloka but you can continue to believe what you want. I have spent enough time on this. Bye bye.