Steering Toward the Supreme 71

ness in trees, plants and animals. The objective is the
same, but due to different angles of vision, sages
have different conceptions of the Absolute Truth.
Another example: there is the sunshine, the sun disc
and the sun god. One who is in the sunshine
cannot claim that he is on the sun itself, and one
who is situated in the sun is, from the point of view
of vision, better situated. The sunshine may be com-
pared to the all-pervasive brahmajyoti effulgence, the
localized sun-disc may be compared to the localized
aspect of the Supersoul, and the sun god who resides
within the sun may be compared to the Personality
of Godhead. As on this earth planet we have a multi-
variety of living entities, we can understand from
Vedic literatures that in the sun also there is a
variety of living entities, but their bodies are made
of fire, just as ours are made of earth.

In material nature there are five gross elements:
earth, water, air, fire and space. In different planets
there are different atmospheres due to one of these
five elements prevailing, and there are different
bodies for the living entities composed of whatever
element may be predominant in a particular planet.
We should not think that all planets have the same
quality of life, yet there is uniformity in the sense
that these five elements are present in some form or
other. Thus on some planets earth is prominent, fire
is prominent, water is prominent, and air and space
are prominent. We should not think, therefore, that
just because a planet is not composed primarily of
earth, or because the atmosphere does not duplicate
ours, that there is no life on these planets. Vedic
