Text 3] The Sigumara Planetary System 359

clouds; syena-ddayah—birds such as the big eagle; vaéyu-vasah—con-
trolled by the air; karma-sérathayah—whose chariot drivers are the
results of their own past activities; parivartante—move around; evam—
in this way; jyotth-ganaéh—the luminaries, the planets and stars in the
sky; prakrti—of material nature; purusa—and of the Supreme Per-
sonality, Krsna; samyoga-anugrhitah—supported by the combined
efforts; karma-nirmita—caused by their own past fruitive activities;
gatayah—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 Maharaja 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 syena
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 Krsna,
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
