There are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants

Expressions researched:
"big eagle bird" |"eagles elephant-eating" |"eagles so big" |"giant birds like eagle" |"great syena eagles" |"very big eagle"

SB Canto 5

Great śyena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.

SB 5.23.3, Purport:

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."

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 Godhead by revolving around Dhruvaloka, which is occupied by the great devotee Mahārāja Dhruva.

There are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants.

SB 5.23.3, Purport, Purport:

Regarding the great eagles mentioned in this verse, it is understood that there are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants. They fly so high that they can travel from one planet to another. They start flying in one planet and land in another, and while in flight they lay eggs that hatch into other birds while falling through the air. In Sanskrit such eagles are called śyena. Under the present circumstances, of course, we cannot see such huge birds, but at least we know of eagles that can capture monkeys and then throw them down to kill and eat them. Similarly, it is understood that there are gigantic birds that can carry off elephants, kill them and eat them.

The two examples of the eagle and the cloud are sufficient to prove that flying and floating can be made possible through adjustments of the air. The planets, in a similar way, are floating because material nature adjusts the air according to the orders of the Supreme Lord. It could be said that these adjustments constitute the law of gravity, but in any case, one must accept that these laws are made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists have no control over them. The scientists can falsely, improperly declare that there is no God, but this is not a fact.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

There are very, very big, big birds. They are floating in the air, very, very big eagle.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Mayapur, October 14, 1974:

We can understand there are so many oceans and so many big, big hills, besides your skyscraper building, and certainly the whole lump of matter is very heavy. But not only this planet, but many other planets, even the sun planet. It is heavier by fourteen hundred thousand times. Still, they are floating in the air by... Why? Because Kṛṣṇa enters in each of them.

In each of them... Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). Dhārayāmy aham ojasā. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I enter into each planetary system, each universe, and by My power I hold it. It is floating." Why it is floating? Because Kṛṣṇa is there. The atheist may not believe it, but it is a fact. It is a fact. How? Just like an animal or a man, while he is living, he can float in the air or in the water. That everyone has seen. But if the man is dead, it will not float. It will fall down. Is it not a fact? So why it is floating? Because a very small particle of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual potency is there. That is living entity. Big, big... An elephant, he can also float in the water, and the horses, elephant, and what to speak of man? This is practical. Because a small particle of the Supreme is there within this body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Very small particle. How much small? One ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, so small. It has got so power that it can hold the whole body floating in the air. Air... There are very, very big, big birds. They are floating in the air, very, very big eagle. They fly from one planet to another. Their resting place is... They start from one planet, and they go and rest in other planet. And they lay their eggs while flying. That eggs also become a bird simply by air cohesion. That's all.

And there are eagles elephant-eating. (laughter) We get all this information. Elephant, they will capture elephant and take it away.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

At any moment we can die. And what we are doing? That is the foolishness. One must be ready, that "I will have to die. And 'die' means I will have to accept another body." Now, there are so many forms of body. As I was explaining aquatics, 900,000, then trees. As the water dries, the vegetation comes. You have got experience. That is the nature's process. And after vegetation, then the flies, insects, moving, up to trees and plants, not moving. Then they move—flies, grasshoppers. And they turn into birds again, very freely flying. And there are many, many big birds in the sky, eagles. Some of the eagles, you have got experience. There are monkey-eating eagles. They capture the monkey. And there are eagles elephant-eating. (laughter) We get all this information. Elephant, they will capture elephant and take it away. (laughter) Just imagine. It is no joking. This is a fact.

So there are so many birds, eagle birds, they fly, and they go from one planet to another. They are resting... Just like a bird you see, they fly from one tree to another tree. So their resting place is one planet to another. Just see. You are trying to go to the moon planet bogusly. I'll say bogusly because you could not go there. The moon planet is far away from the sun planet. So it is not possible to go there by the so-called jets plane. No. It is far, far away. It is sixteen hundred thousand miles away from the sun. The modern scientist calculation is ninety-three million miles, the sun is situated, and above that, sixteen hundred thousand miles up, there is moon planet. So by the Vedic calculation it is not possible to go there by the method we are attempting. That is not possible. And the proof is that why, if they are going to the moon planet, why they cannot stay there? Now, the argument is that "There is no vegetation. The atmosphere is different, where living being cannot stay." They say like that. But from the Vedic information we understand that moon planet influence the vegetation in all other planets. So if the moon planet helps vegetation in all other planets, how it is that there is no vegetation? So there are many thing, contradiction, and practically we see, they are going to the moon planet, but they cannot stay, uselessly going and coming. So let them do that, but we have got our other inform..., other sources of information, that we cannot go to the moon planet. It is not possible.

So anyway, the nature's law is very strict. We cannot surpass. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī

mam māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

You cannot go, or you may go, but so far you have not gone or you have not been successful. But there are many, many other planets. That we see at night, many, many. But spiritual process is so made... Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Māyā, the material nature, is very, very strict, but if one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he surpasses the laws of material nature. That is possible. Māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). How? Just like we are trying to go to this planet or that planet, but we have been unsuccessful. But if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then immediately after death you immediately go to the Kṛṣṇa planet, immediately. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). So we Kṛṣṇa conscious people, we believe in the statement of Kṛṣṇa and act accordingly. So we have no difficulty, because we are under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. So we are assured, if we actually act according to the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then we are sure to go back to Kṛṣṇa, back to Godhead, without any difficulty.

They also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

So what is the difference between going to the heavenly planet and going to Kṛṣṇa? The difference is ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino 'rjuna: "My dear Arjuna, if you go even to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, you will again fall down." Then? Mad-gatvā na nivartante: "If you come to Me, you will have not..." So why not select this, that "I have to work for the next life. Why not devote this life for Kṛṣṇa? I shall go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa"? This is intelligence. I am suffering so many lives, accepting this fish life or the tree life, the plant life, the moth life, the insect life, the serpent life, the bird's life. And not only bird's life—there are so many varieties of birds, beginning from the eagle. There is a big eagle bird. We have no information. They are very big bird. They are flying in the sky, and their rest is from one planet to another. Just like here you find the birds, they are flying from one tree to another. Similarly, there are so big birds... They are called garuḍa. So garuḍa, these birds, they start their flying from one planet and sits in another planet. Just try to understand what is their flying. Not only that, they also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating. So this is God's creation. So if you want to become such a big bird, you can become. (laughter) Yes. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). God is so kind. Whatever you desire, you will get. Therefore it is depending upon our discretion, that "What kind of desire I shall maintain?" That desire is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be happy. Otherwise, you prepare your next life and you suffer or enjoy and again next life, again next life... That is not very good. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Nobody wants that, that "I accept some position: again it is lost. Again I accept another position, again it is lost."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

There are birds who can take away the elephant for eating. Such big birds. They can carry elephant like a small rat.

Garden Conversation -- September 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Caraṇāravindam: You wrote in the Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that in outer space there are those giant birds like eagle. Very, very big. Giant size. Enormous.

Prabhupāda: They go from one planet to another.

Caraṇāravindam: It is like a big plane. Bigger than jet.

Prabhupāda: And while flying they lay down eggs. And the eggs, while falling down, they become birds. By the, what is called?

Hari-śauri: Friction?

Prabhupāda: No, no. When they, what it is called. Velocity of falling down, it becomes fomented, and then the birds come out. Just like parasites. No? Parachute?

Hari-śauri: Yes, parachute.

Prabhupāda: While falling down, it opens. This is God's creation. Inconceivable. And that aeroplane, flying machine, is so perfect.

Caraṇāravindam: And it will find its own food.

Prabhupāda: There are birds who can take away the elephant for eating. Such big birds. They can carry elephant like a small rat.

Caraṇāravindam: Is such a bird the bird that was a servant of Sītā?

Prabhupāda: And monkey-eating birds I have seen in Los Angeles. They go very high on the top of a tree and capture a monkey. And take him high and drop him. As soon as he falls he dies, then again comes down and eats it.