Question: What is the significance of number 108 (Astottara-sata)?

Answer by Romapada Swami:

The number 108 (aṣṭottara-śata) has considerable popularity across a spectrum of aspects of life that have a background in Indian or Vedic culture, such as cosmology, astrology, medical science, architecture, philosophy, theology, to name but a few. Many natural phenomena and cultural practices find a relationship involving 108. Thus, it may not be straightforward to trace down an unequivocal origin of its popularity.

In his writings and teachings, there are two things Śrīla Prabhupāda made a connection with 108:

Japa beads
1. “Sometimes people ask why Vaiṣṇavas use 108 prayer beads for chanting the holy names. We think it is because there are 108 Upaniṣads containing full knowledge of the Absolute Truth. On the other hand, some Vaiṣṇava transcendentalists think that the 108 beads represent the 108 companions of Lord Kṛṣṇa in His rāsa dance.” (Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24)
2. “He taught the boys how to tie a double knot between each of the 108 beads. The number 108 had a special significance: there were 108 Upaniṣads, as well as 108 principal gopīs, the chief devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa.” (Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, Chapter 19)
3. “So chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa with 108 beads means that we are surpassing the study of 108 Upaniṣads. Another meaning is that there are 108 damsels who served Kṛṣṇa with all respect at Vṛndāvana. So that is also another explanation, 108. We are serving Kṛṣṇa’s servitors, hundred and…, chief damsels of…, at Vṛndāvana.” (Lecture on Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.108)

The name of the spiritual master

“Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has very nicely described this vasudeva, or śuddha-sattva, in his Bhagavat-sandarbha. He explains that aṣṭottara-śata (108) is added to the name of the spiritual master to indicate one who is situated in śuddha-sattva, or in the transcendental state of vasudeva.” (SB 4.3.23 Purport). [NOTE: No direct reference is found in Bhagavat-sandarbha.]

Selected references in the disciplic succession where connections with 108 can be made:

Worship and deity
1. The number of pots of water for bathing the deity in rituals (Bhaktisiddhāta Sarasvatī Ṭhakura’s translation and commentary on Caitanya Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 9.35):
  nāma-mātra aṣṭottara-śata ghaṭa jala
  sahasra ghaṭe o anta nā pāi sakala

As a formality there was supposed to be one hundred eight pots of water, but thousands of pots could not actually hold all that water. In ordinary auspicious rituals, the number one hundred eight is considered important, but in this case it was hundreds and hundreds.

The procedure for bathing the Lord is described in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (19.88) as follows: “According to one’s capacity, one should bath the Lord with gold, silver, copper, bell metal, or clay pots of water numbering one thousand, five hundred, two hundred fifty, one hundred eight, sixty-four, thirty-two, sixteen, or four.”

b. The height of a deity (Sanātana Gosvāmī’s Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 18.30, 18.37):
Text 30
Śrī naradiye ca (In the Naradiya purāṇa it is stated)
vimvamanantu navadha procchrayat samvibhajya vai bhagam bhagam tato bhuyo bhaved dvadasadha dvija tadangulam syadvimvasya

brahmana, divide the total height of the Deity into nine parts, and then again divide each part into twelve. That should be the size of the Deity’s finger.

Text 37
iti syat sarvvato dairghye sastottarasatanguldh caturddasahgulo maulih kvacicca dvadasangulah

According to this calculation, the Deity should be about one hundred and eight fingers tall [NOTE: añgula, finger-width]. According to some opinion, the height of the Deity’s head should be about fourteen fingers, or twelve fingers.

c. The Payo-vrata process of worship (SB 8.16.42):

“Thereafter, one should silently murmur the mantra [NOTE: oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya]108 times and offer prayers to the Lord for His glorification. …”

ii. Cosmology
a. Orbital period of Jupiter and Saturn as described in SB (Sadāpūta Dāsa’s The Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 8.5)
“…the Bhagavatam verse 5.22.15 states that Jupiter completes its orbit in 12 years of 360 days, or 4,320 = 108 x 40 days. Verse 5.22.16 says that Saturn completes its orbit in 30 years or 10,800 = 108 x 100 days.”

b. Sun-earth distance and earth-moon distance in terms of their diameters (Sadāpūta Dāsa’s The Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 8.5)
“Subash Kak (1993a) has pointed out yet another relationship involving 108. He notes that this number is roughly the average distance of the sun from the earth in terms of its own diameter, and it is also the average distance of the moon from the earth in terms of the moon’s diameter. The true averages according to modern data come to 107.6 and 110.6, respectively. It is due to this coincidence in ratios that the moon has the same apparent size as the sun and can almost exactly cover the disk of the sun during a solar eclipse.”

iii. Groups of cows in Vṛndāvana and Kṛṣṇa’s jewel-beads (Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Sārārtha Darśinī, 10.35.18.-19. Also cited in SB 10.35.18-19 Purport):
“To count these 108 groups of cows, distinguished by color and form, Kṛṣṇa uses a string of 108 jewel-beads.”

iv. The duration of Kṛṣṇa’s earthly pastimes based on Madhvācārya’s Mahābhārata-Tātparya-Nirṇaya, verse 32.9: