SB 3.13.42 – PURPORT
“The so-called law of gravitation which sustains the planets is described herein as the potency of the Lord.”
1.
The Vedas do not describe gravitation as the cause of planetary orbits being held constant over time.
Gravitation is described by Srila Prabhupada as being a partial explanation of Lord Sankarsana’s energy.
Certainly it is the Lord’s potency that is keeping the planets in their orbits. This must be true, as the entire material energy is the Lord’s potency, so whatever is the direct cause of their motion and maintenance is a potency of the Lord.
What the Vedas describe, both the Puranas and the Jyotir-veda texts, is that the cause of motion of the planets is Vayu. The Srimad Bhagavatam describes a wind called daksinavarta that makes the sun, planets and stars rotate daily around Meru. In addition to this, each of the planetary chariots, and stellar personalities, is attached to Dhruvaloka by ropes of air, also Vayu. Dhruvaloka is a Vaikuntha planet and as such, being unaffected by material conditions, it is self-situated and does not fall. It in turn holds all the other planets and stars in svargaloka from falling because they are attached to it by these ropes of wind. As Dhruva turns, he makes all of them turn with him.
The Jyotir-veda also describes different winds, or Vayus, that cause the motion of the planets in their orbits. As such, we should understand that all of the motions are caused by varieties of wind.
As Ananta Sesa, Sankarsana is the Lord of the downward direction and lives in His abode below the fourteen worlds. By His attractive power, everything tends to be attracted towards him, and thus we experience that objects tend to move in a downward direction unless they are stopped by something else. Considering that everything is falling down by His attractive energy, it is not sensible to consider this force as the cause of orbits of planets.
Detail: Ananta Sesa is described as holding the planets on his hoods, however, the words that are usually used to describe what he is holding are synonyms for Earth. Either prithvi, or Bhu, or ksiti; all meaning earth.
2.
Example:
When Maharaja Prithu was about to chastise the earth, she stated that if He were to break her to pieces, then all the living entities she is supporting would drown in the Garbha Ocean. Prithu Maharaja responded that she was speaking like a crazy person. It is His energy that is maintaining the living beings on her, and He can do it without her assistance. Thus, the potency of the Earth to support living beings is the Lord’s potency that is invested in her. But He can easily uphold the entire population by His own mystic powers.
