The Attempt to Reach the Moon is Another Example of Spoiling Energy
Śrīla Prabhupāda critiques modern lunar expeditions as a hallmark of a bewildered civilization that prioritizes "scientific jugglery" over spiritual realization. He argues that the enormous expenditure of wealth and human effort to reach the moon has yielded no tangible benefit for society, as it fails to address the root causes of suffering. According to the Vedas, the moon is not a barren rock but a lush, heavenly planet that can only be accessed by those who have prepared themselves through pious activities and yogic discipline. By attempting to take the kingdom of heaven by force through mechanical means, modern scientists are simply wasting energy on a pursuit that is destined for failure or, at best, a temporary stay followed by an inevitable return to Earth.
The Limitation of Mechanical Means
Man-made satellites and mechanical space vehicles are insufficient for traveling to the higher planetary systems because the universe is governed by strict laws of entry. Śrīla Prabhupāda compares the attempt to reach the moon by jet propulsion to a prisoner trying to move between cells without permission, or a foreigner trying to enter America without a visa. To enter the moon, which is a cold and heavenly environment, one must develop a suitable body and possess the requisite pious merit. Therefore, the attempt to force entry into such a subtle and superior atmosphere with a gross earthly body is a "childish" endeavor that contradicts the authorized information found in the Vedic literatures.
- Any man outside America, he cannot come here by force. He must take the permission of the American government, visa; then he can come. So how you can go to the moon planet without taking the visa? Simply by your bodily strength? That will not be allowed.
- Man-made satellites and mechanical space vehicles will never be able to carry human beings to the planets of outer space. Men cannot even go on their much-advertised trips to the moon.
- The whole Vedic philosophy is that if you want to go to some planet - just like people are trying to go to moon planet - so you have to create a body like that. You cannot go in this body. They're attempting to go with this body. That will be failure.
- How you're expecting that you go to the moon planet, which is inhabited by the demigods, by your machine which will push you? No, you cannot go. This is all nonsense. That is a scandal, childish.
A Colossal Waste of Resources
Spending billions of dollars of public money to collect sand and rocks from the moon is described by Śrīla Prabhupāda as "not very good business." While scientists celebrate these missions as successes, they are actually defeats because they do not mitigate the essential miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease. Human energy is meant for spiritual elevation, not for "spoiling" on expensive excursions that leave the soul exactly where it began—subject to the laws of material nature. This misguided focus is a symptom of a godless civilization that has lost its common sense and its understanding of the ultimate goal of life.
- Although they (material scientists) spend billions of dollars of the public's money for ventures like going to the moon and collecting dust there, they cannot solve the basic miserable conditions of birth, death, old age and disease.
- Going to the moon planet, the arambha was so much expensive. And the result is to bring some sand and rocks. This is hoax.
- The attempt to reach the moon is another example of spoiling energy because even if the moon is reached, the problems of life will not be solved.
- The American government has stopped financing this foolish excursion, going to the moon planet. They have stopped. They have now come to sense that simply these so-called scientists, they're experi . . . experimenting on public money and wasting.
The Vedic Reality of the Moon
The descriptions of the moon in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic scriptures differ fundamentally from the reports of modern scientists. According to the Vedas, the moon is a planet of intense enjoyment where residents live for ten thousand years and drink the celestial soma-rasa. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that if the scientists had truly reached the moon, they would have found it populated by demigods, not a barren desert. He also raises a logistical challenge based on Vedic cosmology: if the moon is millions of miles further than the sun, it would be impossible to reach it in just four days. These discrepancies suggest that the modern expeditions may have mistakenly reached the shadow planet Rāhu rather than the actual moon.
- If our so-called scientists are going to the moon, why should they come back here? We must conclude without a doubt that they have never gone to the moon - because one who goes to the moon receives a life with a duration of ten thousand years to enjoy.
- If the sun is 93,000,000 miles and moon is above the sun 1,600,000, then how they can go to the moon planet in four days? It requires seven and a half months. That is my challenge.
- We suggest that the modern expeditions attempting to reach the moon are mistakenly going to Rahu.
- It may be noted that the moon is one of the heavenly planets. From the Vedic literature we understand that one who goes to the moon receives a life with a duration of ten thousand years in which to enjoy the fruits of pious activities.
The Goal of Spiritual Travel
Rather than struggling to reach temporary material planets like the moon, human beings should strive for the "easy journey" back to Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that even if one successfully reaches the moon through pious karma, they must eventually fall back to Earth once their merit is exhausted. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement offers a superior program: by becoming a devotee, one can bypass all material planetary systems and go directly to Kṛṣṇaloka, from which there is no return to this world of suffering. This spiritual travel is not dependent on gasoline or rockets but on the development of a pure, spiritualized consciousness that can penetrate the material sky.
- Better that you travel on this planet and serve Krishna. We don't care for such moon travel. Rather after this life we want to travel to Krishna. If even we go to Brahmaloka, the topmost planet, still we have to come down.
- The Srimad-Bhagavata says that if you want to be free . . . free means just like you are trying to go to the moon planet by so many mechanical arrangements, but if you are free spiritually, then you can go any planet you like, immediately.
- So the Krsna consciousness movement is to give that highest, topmost position, that no more coming to this material world, either this planet or that planet. We may go to the moon planet, but that will not solve our real problem.
- Sound is all-pervading, that is a fact, scientific fact. If that sound is potent, then it can penetrate even this material sky and go to the spiritual sky and go to Krsna directly.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s perspective on going to the moon reveals the deep chasm between modern materialistic ambition and Vedic spiritual science. The attempt to reach the moon by mechanical force is presented as an exercise in futility that squanders the precious energy of human life on temporary, inconclusive results. Because modern scientists ignore the higher laws of the universe and the authorized information of the scriptures, their missions are plagued by doubt and failure. Ultimately, the quest for the moon is a distraction from the real purpose of life: solving the problems of birth and death. By diverting these resources toward the cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, human society could instead achieve the highest perfection—attaining an eternal spiritual body and returning to the kingdom of God, far beyond the reach of any man-made rocket.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Going To The Moon. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.