Verse 2.2.225

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.225:

ब्रह्माण्डात् कोटि-पाञ्चाषद्-योजन-प्रमिताद् बहिः ।
यथोत्तरं दश-गुणाण्य् अष्टाव् आवरणाणि हि ॥ २२५ ॥

brahmāṇḍāt koṭi-pāñcāṣad-yojana-pramitād bahiḥ |
yathottaraṃ daśa-guṇāṇy aṣṭāv āvaraṇāṇi hi || 225 ||

brahma-aṇḍāt–of the universe; koṭi-pañcāśat–five hundred million; yojana–a distance of eight miles; pramitāt–in measurement; bahiḥ–outside; yathā–as; uttaram–higher; daśa–by ten; guṇāni–multiplied; aṣṭau–eight; āvaraṇāni–coverings; hi–indeed.

This universe is five hundred million yojanas in diameter and is surrounded by eight coverings. Each covering is ten times larger than the previous one.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

What is the great secret regarding the truth of liberation? The bhakti-śāstras speak five verses, beginning here with brahmāṇḍāt to explain this. They say, “This universe is surrounded by eight causal layers: earth, water, fire, air, sky, false ego, mahat-tattva (the total material energy), and pradhāna (the sum total manifestation of the three modes of material nature). Beyond these eight causal layers is the abode of liberation, or mukti-pada.”

Some people regard the earth layer to be a covering that is part of the universe, and so imagine that there are seven outer coverings. However, this is not logical. As just stated, the earth layer should be ten times bigger than the brahmāṇḍa. Therefore, if the brahmāṇḍa and the earth layer were one, and both of them measure 500 million yojanas, then this calculation would be contradictory. Furthermore, if they are one, then how can the transformation of the primordial element earth [in the earth layer] become the cause of the brahmāṇḍa?