138
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 3]
solve the problems of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The history of the universe is full of such planmakers, and many kings and emperors come and go, leaving a planmaking story only. But the prime problems of life remained unsolved despite all endeavors by such planmakers.
Actually human life is meant for making a solution to the problems of life. Such problems can never be solved by satisfying the different demigods, by different modes of worship, or by so-called scientific advancement of knowledge without the help of God or the demigods. Apart from the gross materialists, who care very little either for God or for the demigods, the  Vedas  recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, so they are neither false nor imaginary. The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord by managing different departments in the universal government. The  Bhagavad-gītā  affirms this, and the different planets of the demigods are mentioned there, including the one of the supreme demigod Lord Brahmā. The gross materialists believe neither in the existence of God nor the demigods. Nor do they believe that different planets are dominated by different demigods. They are creating a great commotion about reaching the closest celestial body, the Candraloka or the moon, but even after much mechanical research, they have only very scanty information of this moon, and in spite of much false advertisement for selling land on the moon, the puffed up scientists or gross materialists cannot live there, and what to speak of reaching other innumerable planets which they are unable even to count. However, the followers of the  Vedas  have a different method of acquiring knowledge. They accept the statements of the Vedic literatures as authority  in toto , as we have already discussed in Canto One, and therefore they have full and reasonable knowledge of God and demigods and of their different residential planets situated within the compass of the material world and beyond the limit of the material sky. The most authentic Vedic literature accepted by the great Indian  ācāryas  like Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva, Viṣṇusvāmī, Nimbārka, Caitanya, etc., and studied by all important personalities of the world, is the  Bhagavad-gītā , in which the worship of the demigods and their respective residential planets are mentioned. The  Bhagavad-gītā  affirms:
yānti deva-vratā devān pitṛn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti mad-yājino ‘pi mām