All World
Gayatri Pariwar

It is the law of nature that things in close vicinity appear big and assume disproportionate significance whereas much bigger things begin to look insignificant with increasing distance. This fact becomes apparent when we observe the vast expanse of the universe around us. The small moon has a stature no more than a satellite of the earth. But its nearness to earth gives it an importance next only to the sun among the celestial bodies. In the night sky, massive stars appear tiny to the naked eyes while a ridiculously small moon becomes the largest bright object.
Among all celestial bodies moon is closest to us. Scientific investigations have provided us with a lot of information about it. Its average distance from the earth is slightly less than 4 lakh kilometers. We can reach it in one month by an aeroplane cruising at a speed of 500 kms per hour in vacuum. In size, too, moon is much smaller than the sun or the earth. With a diameter of 5000 kms it would take 49 moons to equal one earth. In weight, it is 81 times lighter than the earth. The rocks of the earth and the moon form a ratio of 5:3. The moon has a very weak gravitational force. An object on the moon will fall from a height with 6 times lesser velocity than it would do on the earth. Similarly, a 100-kg object on earth will weigh only about 17 kg on the moon.
These modern findings are at complete variance with the previously held presumptions about the moon. It is not the Nishanath or Tarapati as the traditional belief is wont to eulogize it. Many other planets of the solar system are larger than the earth in size but they look insignificant on account of great distances involved. Truth is not limited to the pool of knowledge, which we presently have. Powerful radio telescopes constantly observe very distant stars and have gathered much information about them - their birth, death, size, expansion, position, temperature, gravitational pull, etc.
They have discovered a tenth planet of the solar system. Nicknamed Xena by the discoverers, it is positioned farther than the Pluto, its mass is 300 times that of the earth and it completes one revolution around the sun in 558 earth years. The strangest thing about this planet is that it revolves around the sun in a direction opposite to all other planets. The farthest planet in the solar system is Pluto. But some findings indicate that Neptune is the farthest. According to scientists, Pluto and Neptune kept changing their orbits regularly for thirty years from January 1969 to March 1999. Thereafter, Pluto reverted to its original position. Astrophysicists consider this unique phenomenon as indicative of the mystique of the universe. Neptune takes 164 years to complete one elliptical revolution around the Sun. Astrophysicist Lowell had predicted about the possibility of another planet, at a distance of 6.4 billion kilometers from the Sun, which would take 284 years for one revolution. Fourteen years after his death in 1916, an American scientist Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto, the ninth planet. Pluto is 5.86 billion kilometers from the Sun and makes one revolution in 284 years. But the path of its orbit does not appear to be very precise. After the discovery of these two planets scientists do not rule out the possibility of the existence of more planets in our solar system. Even though invisible to the naked eye owing to distance they might be very large and important. In the vast expanse of the universe our Sun is merely a tiny bright speck. The universe contains numerous known and unknown worlds. Evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane observed about the universe, "The universe is not as strange as we imagine, it is much stranger than we can imagine." American astrophysicist Shapley found that the distance from earth of the cluster of stars forming the Milky Way galaxy ranges from 20,000 to 2,00,000 Light years (1 light year = the distance traveled by light in 1 year at the speed of 3 lakh kilometers per second). These form a very large saucer like circle whose center lies in the Milky Way, which, like a wood panel, cuts across the middle of this circle. The center lies 50,000 light years from the Sun. Thus Shapley proved that, unlike what earlier scientists had said, the Sun is not at the center of the Milky Way. Thousands of galaxies form a super-galaxy and there are myriads of such super-galaxies in the vast space. �Coma Cluster� is such a super-galaxy containing thousands of Milky Way-like galaxies. Galaxies are millions of light years apart from one another. The reasons behind the apparent big size of the moon and speck-like smallness of the stars scattered throughout the universe are the same � importance we give to things nearby and neglect of those far away. The seekers of truth know how misconceptions and errors keep cropping up about the existence and significance of both near and far objects. The above examples prove that not everything that the eyes see or the brain pictures is the reality. What looks close may not be actually so. The present being very close, its results tend to acquire the greatest significance, whereas the future, being distant, is given only cursory attention. Actions done in self-interest give immediate results, while service to others bears fruit only in the future. This induces man to indulge in acts of immediate self-interest. For him, wisdom lies in such a course of behavior. But the reality is contrary to this wrong notion. If we were to develop a telescopic vision to look into the distant future and see its permanent brightness, we would realize that good deeds and right means are not fruitless; they prove in the long run rewarding and important. The vastness of the moon and the smallness of the Milky Way are nothing but an optical illusion. Similarly, it is myopic to remain engrossed in the present only and in its narrow selfish considerations, to the complete exclusion of the ultimate goal. Only those who rise above this temptation are able to reach the ultimate truth and attain bliss.