Text 3]
The Śiśumāra Planetary System
359
clouds;  śyena-ādayaḥ —birds such as the big eagle;  vāyu-vaśāḥ —controlled by the air;  karma-sārathayaḥ —whose chariot drivers are the results of their own past activities;  parivartante —move around;  evam —in this way;  jyotiḥ-gaṇāḥ —the luminaries, the planets and stars in the sky;  prakṛti —of material nature;  puruṣa —and of the Supreme Personality,  Kṛṣṇa ;  saṁyoga-anugṛhītāḥ —supported by the combined efforts;  karma-nirmita —caused by their own past fruitive activities;  gatayaḥ —whose movements;  bhuvi —on the ground;  na —not;  patanti —fall down.
TRANSLATION
When bulls are yoked together and tied to a central post to thresh rice, they tread around that pivot without deviating from their proper positions—one bull being closest to the post, another in the middle, and a third on the outside. Similarly, all the planets and all the hundreds and thousands of stars revolve around the polestar, the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, in their respective orbits, some higher and some lower. Fastened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the machine of material nature according to the results of their fruitive acts, they are driven around the polestar by the wind and will continue to be so until the end of creation. These planets float in the air within the vast sky, just as clouds with hundreds of tons of water float in the air or as the great śyena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.
PURPORT
According to the description of this verse, the hundreds and thousands of stars and the great planets such as the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not clustered together because of the law of gravity or any similar idea of the modern scientists. These planets and stars are all servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda or  Kṛṣṇa , and according to His order they sit in their chariots and travel in their respective orbits. The orbits in which they move are compared to machines given by material nature to the operating deities of the stars and planets, who carry out the orders of the Supreme Personality of