pañcÄÅ›at-koá¹­i-yojana pá¹›thivÄ«-vistÄra
yÄá¹…ra eka-phaṇe rahe sará¹£apa-ÄkÄra

 pañcÄÅ›at - fifty; koá¹­i - ten millions; yojana - eight miles; pá¹›thivÄ« - of the universe; vistÄra - breadth; yÄá¹…ra - whose; eka-phaṇe - on one of the hoods; rahe - stays; sará¹£apa-ÄkÄra - like a mustard seed.


Text

The universe, which measures five hundred million yojanas in diameter, rests on one of His hoods like a mustard seed.

Purport

The Lord of ÅšvetadvÄ«pa expands Himself as Åšeá¹£a NÄga, who sustains all the planets upon His innumerable hoods. These huge global spheres are compared to grains of mustard resting on the spiritual hoods of Åšeá¹£a NÄga. The scientists’ law of gravity is a partial explanation of Lord Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa’s energy. The name “Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa†has an etymological relationship to the idea of gravity. There is a reference to Åšeá¹£a NÄga in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (5.17.21), where it is said:

yam Ähur asya sthiti janma-saá¹yamaá¹
 tribhir vihÄ«naá¹ yam anantam á¹á¹£ayaḥ
na veda siddhÄrtham iva kvacit sthitaá¹
 bhÅ«-maṇá¸alaá¹ mÅ«rdha-sahasra-dhÄmasu

“O my Lord, the hymns of the Vedas proclaim that You are the effective cause for the creation, maintenance and destruction. But in fact You are transcendental to all limitations and are therefore known as unlimited. On Your thousands of hoods rest the innumerable global spheres, like grains of mustard so insignificant that You have no perception of their weight.†The BhÄgavatam further says (5.25.2):

yasyedaá¹ ká¹£iti-maṇá¸alaá¹ bhagavato ’nanta-mÅ«rteḥ sahasra-Å›irasa ekasminn eva śīrá¹£aṇi dhriyamÄṇaá¹ siddhÄrtha iva laká¹£yate.

“Lord Anantadeva has thousands of hoods. Each sustains a global sphere that appears like a grain of mustard.â€