Aug 22, 2013 — SWEDEN (SUN) — In Shyamasundara Prabhu's reply to my post, he writes:
"...the burden of proof is the obligation resting on a party in a trial to produce the evidence that will shift the conclusion away from the default position to one's own position"
and
Regarding the first quote, I agree, but regarding the second quote, perhaps Shyamasundara Prabhu means something else than what he actually writes, or he misunderstands my point. The point is not whether the center of the moon is used as its position or not. The point is whether the geocentric or topocentric position of the moon (its center) is used.
However, I remember a discussion about this some years ago with a devotee whose name I don't remember, and according to that devotee, Shyamasundara Prabhu had written that he thinks the geocentric position should be used, so I assume that's what he actually means now as well. I disagree with that.
Please note that Shyamasundara Prabhu doesn't give us any reason why the geocentric position of the moon should be considered the true position, or why that opinion should be considered the default position.
The reason for considering the use of the topocentric position of the moon as the default position is simple: observation. When you look into the sky at the moon, what you see is the topocentric position. If you want a quote on this, here's one.
If you want a quote for accepting the observed position of the planets as the true ones, here's one (using Harvard-Kyoto transliteration):
Translated as: "any siddhanta that coincides with observations must be used". This verse was also quoted by Markandeya Rishi Prabhu in his work, Vaishnava Calendar Report from around 1990, although that work didn't mention anything about the topocentric or
geocentric positions of the moon. (The verse was supposedly spoken by Varahamihira or one of his disciples.)
My conclusion is that I still consider using the topocentric position of the moon to be the reasonable default position because that's what we observe. Here's another way of saying it: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then the reasonable default position is that it is a duck.
Attempting to serve the Vaishnavas,
Rishabhadeva dasa
