What exactly are the stars?

From: padmini chandraker

vedic cosmology say only sun is the source which gives light to whole universe and stars receive light from sun? whereas science says sun and stars are the same and even some stars r bigger than the sun itself?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Padmini Chandrakar Mataji. What are stars? Vedic cosmology says only sun is the source which gives light to whole universe and stars receive light from the sun. Whereas science says sun and stars are the same and even some stars are bigger than the sun itself.
Answer, Vedic cosmology and non-cosmology see from different perspectives. And you can read the article, Will Man Go to the Moon? to understand this particular point. And the basic principle is that although there may be some common terms used in both modern and Vedic cosmology, the terms do not necessarily refer to the same concepts.
Concepts are subtle, they are mental. And terms are like verbal handles to access the concepts. So, sometimes in English and in Sanskrit, there are certain concepts which seem similar at first glance.
And then when we translate one word into one word from Sanskrit into a word in English, which has a distinct connotation, then there can often be confusion. Just like in Sanskrit the word avatar is often translated as incarnation. And the word incarnation indicates karnar, related with karnivoras, it indicates flesh.
Incarnation means to come in flesh. Now, the Bhagavad Gita is quite clear that Krishna never comes in flesh, Krishna never comes in a material world. But still the word incarnation is used, because that is a familiar verbal handle to that concept.
Now, though it is familiar, it is inaccurate. And that inaccuracy has to be kept in mind. So, now when we talk about the word stars, so when we are looking at the word stars as is used in modern cosmology, and when we look at the similar range of terms that are there in Vedic cosmology, it is referring to different concepts.
And more importantly, when Srila Prabhupada says also that the sun is the only source of light, the important point to understand is that the Vedic literature is very clear that there are different kinds of lights. In the Vishnu Sahasranama, Saptarci is one of the names of Lord Vishnu, which refers to Arjuna, he is the source of seven kinds of light. So, Srila Prabhupada himself mentions that, at one place he mentions that the moon reflects the light from the sun, other place he also says the moon as food, and that light has the quality of nourishing.
And other cycles, they sometimes use different names. But the point is that they have found that the presence of the moon, the growth of vegetation, especially vegetables, in the farms and grains also to some extent. But the point is that, so when we are talking about light, there are different kinds of light.
And that’s why the word star, as it is used in Vedic literature, there are different words, there is Tara, there is Nakshatra, there are a whole gamut of terms. And rather than just simplistically superimposing one on the other and getting confused and trying to resolve the resulting contradictions, we need to understand that there are two different ways of looking at the world. And when we understand this particular point, then it is not necessary that Vedic cosmology and modern cosmology are contradictory.
It is just that they are looking at things from a different perspective. Just like if you look at a map of India, you look at the physical terrain, you look at the river flow, you look at the transportation, different points are highlighted. So, similarly, whether it is modern cosmology or Vedic cosmology, there are different ways of looking at the universe.
So, the important point in the Vedic cosmology is not necessarily exhaustive documentation of everything that is there in terms of the way it is done in modern times. Vedic cosmology developed, Vedic cosmology was centered and very intimately connected with Vedic astrology. So, astrology was used to calculate the auspicious and inauspicious times for doing certain activities.
And the movement of the stars was charted out primarily for that purpose. So, because the purpose is different, the focus is different. And there is no need to get confused.
It is true that modern science says that there are many stars, some are bigger than the sun itself. But what we are talking about is entirely different things over here. We are talking about different concepts being addressed by similar terms.
All the terms sound to be similar, but the concepts that are being addressed are different. So, according to Vedic cosmology, there are many different kinds of lights. And, yes, stars also give a particular kind of light.
When we say sun is the only source of light, it is referring to a different kind of light. And that is what is exclusively coming from the sun. But there are many other kinds of lights which may be coming from other planets.
And this idea of different kinds of lights may not be entirely familiar with modern science, but it is not entirely unfamiliar because we understand that there is a wide variety of radiation that comes through. And a particular band of that radiation is said to be within the visible spectrum which facilitates our visibility, our capacity to see things. But in general, there is no need to get confused by the similarity of verbal handles when they are referring to different concepts.
This answer is a little abstract because, it may seem a little abstract because I have already answered this question in several places. And if you read the article on the moon, things will become clear for you. Thank you.