BY: SUN STAFF
Jul 07, CANADA (SUN) —
Sri Krsna-sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
Anuccheda 106 (Part 5)
61 On this lotus flower of Goloka Vrndavana are many petals known as ‘patrani sriyam’, the many gardens which are abodes of Srimati Radharani and the gopis. Where these petals join the whorl of the Goloka lotus flower, the paths of Goloka are situated, and the extensions of these petals are the places of the cow-pastures of Goloka. In this way the different parts of the lotus flower of Gokula Vrndavana are described.
62 Now we will discuss the Brahma-samhita verses quoted in text 54. These verses describe the quadrangular place named Svetadvipa, which surrounds the outskirts of Gokula. The external part of that quadrangle is known as Svetadvipa, and the central part is known as Vrndavana. The entire area is known as Goloka-Svetadvipa.
63 The abodes of the four expansions of Lord Krsna (Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha) are situated in the four sides of the quadrangle of Svetadvipa. These four sides of Svetadvipa are also the places where the four-fold mundane requirements (piety, wealth, passion and liberation), are situated. Also situated in these quadrants are the four Vedas which contain mantras enabling one to attain the four mundane requirements, the ten protectors (dik-palas) of the directions in the form of mantras, the associates of the hue of blue, yellow, red and white, and the extraordinary potencies bearing the names of Vimala etc.
64 This is also described in Srimad Bhagavatam (10.28.18):
“When the cowherd men saw Krsna, being glorified by the Personified Vedas in the spiritual world, they felt wonderfully blissful.”*
65 This description of the Goloka Vrndavana planet is confirmed by the passage following the prayers of the personified Vedas in the Vamana Purana:
66 “The Personified Vedas said: O Lord, if You wish to bestow a benediction upon us, then please show us Your original blissful form, which was known to the great sages of ancient times.
67 “Hearing His devotees; request, the Lord revealed to them His own planet, where there is no decay or death, where there is only transcendental bliss, which is above the world of matter,...
68 ...where is the forest named Vrndavana, which is pleasant in every season and rich with charming groves and desire trees,...
69 ...where is the beautiful and opulent hill named Govardhana, which is filled with pleasant streams, waterfalls, and caves with many minerals and precious jewels, and crowded with many handsome birds,...
70 ...where is the Yamuna river, whose waters are pure nectar, which is crowded with many swans, lotus flowers, and other pleasant flowers and birds, and the shores of which are paved with precious gems,...
71 ...where the youthful Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally stays, surrounded by a multitude of gopis and intoxicated with the nectar of the rasa dance.”
72 That the abode of Sri Krsna is the highest spiritual planet is also confirmed in the following verses of the Hari-vamsa, where King Indra says:
“Above the celestial material planets is the spiritual world, where the Personified Vedas, Narada, Siva, the ganas, the impersonalists merged in the Brahman effulgence, and the great devotees reside.
73 “Above that realm is the planet of surabhi cows. Great saints protect that place. The all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, resides there.
74 “O Lord, that is Your splendid abode is manifested above all. Although we asked Grandfather Brahma, none of us could understand it.
75 “They who act piously and control the mind and senses easily attain Svargaloka. They who perform spiritual austerities attain the spiritual world. However, the planet Goloka, the realm of surabhi cows, is very difficult to attain.
76 “O hero, this is the same place where You personally protected the surabhi cows from all dangers.”
77 The word ‘svarga’ is defined in the following verse (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.5.42):
“Others may divide the whole planetary system unto three divisions, namely the lower planetary systems on the legs (up to the earth), the middle planetary systems on the navel, and the upper planetary systems (Svarloka) from the chest to the head of the Supreme Personality.”*
78 The Brahmaloka planet described in these verses as above Svargaloka is the spiritual world of Vaikuntha, the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and not the abode of the demigod Brahma. The word Brahma, which means ‘great’, here refers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is supremely great, His greatness is shown by the fact that His transcendental form is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss.
79 That the word ‘brahmaloka’ means the spiritual world of Vaikuntha is confirmed by the words of Srimad Bhagavatam (10.28.17) where the word ‘brahmaloka’ is clearly used to mean the spiritual world:
“Thus Krsna led all the cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja to the lake where Akrura was later shown Brahmaloka (the Vaikuntha planetary system). They took their bath immediately and saw the real nature of Brahmaloka (the Vaikunthalokas).”
80 The following verse from Srimad Bhagavatam (2.5.39) also uses the word ‘brahmaloka’ to mean the spiritual world of Vaikuntha:
“Satyaloka, the topmost planetary system is situated on the head of the universal form. The spiritual planets (brahmaloka), however, are eternal.”*
81 This interpretation of the word ‘brahmaloka’ is confirmed by Sridhara Svami, who comments on this verse:
“In this verse the word ‘brahmaloka’ refers to the Vaikuntha planetary system, which is ‘sanatanah’, or eternal. The Vaikuntha world is not within the material creation.”
82 In the third line of the verse from Hari-vamsa quoted in text 72, the word ‘brahma’ means ‘the Personified Vedas”, ‘rsi’ means ‘Narada and the great sages’, and ‘gana’ means ‘Garuda, Visvaksena, and other great souls’. These are described as the residents of Brahmaloka. These great souls are all perfectly qualified to reside in the spiritual world, and therefore the word ‘brahmaloka’ here refers to the spiritual world.
83 In the third line of this verse the word ‘tatra’ means ‘in Brahmaloka’, and the word ‘soma’ means Lord Siva, who stays with (sa) Uma (sa+uma=soma). Brahmaloka is here described as the ‘gati’ (destination) of Soma (Siva). The word ‘soma-gati’ is a sasthi-tatpurusa-samasa, defined in grammatical terms by the phrase ‘supam suluk’. The word ‘gati’ is then added to that word.
84 In the last line of this verse, the word ‘jyotisam’ means ‘the liberated souls who consider that they have become one with the impersonal effulgence.” Not everyone there is like them. The word ‘mahatmanam’ means ‘the great such, such as Sanaka-kumara and others like him, who worship the Lord and reject impersonal liberation.” These are the definitions of the words in this verse.
85 That these mahatmas (the devotees) are better than the liberated impersonalists is confirmed in the following statement of Srimad Bhagavatam (6.14.5):
“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge, one may be a devotee of Lord Narayana, or Krsna. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”*
86 The superiority of the devotees of the Lord is confirmed by Lord Krsna Himself in the following verse from Bhagavad-gita (6.47):
“And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshipping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.”*
87 In the next verse (quoted in text 73), the word ‘tasya’ means ‘Brahmaloka’, ‘upari’ means ‘above all’, and ‘gavam lokah’ means ‘Sri Goloka’. The word ‘tam’ (that) refers to Sri Goloka. “Sadyah’ means ‘the primordial, eternal demigods who bring great pleasure to us material demigods’. “Palayanti’ (they protect) means that as protectors of the directions they assume forms that cover Sri Goloka.
88 The spiritual demigods who protect the Goloka planet are described in the Rg Veda (10.90.16):
“Many eternally perfect and glorious demigods protect that spiritual world.”
89 These protectors of the Goloka planet are also described in the following verse from the Maha-vaikuntha-varnana in the Uttara-khanda of the Padma Purana:
“Many eternally perfect, glorious and handsome demigods serve that spiritual planet.”
Go to Anuccheda One Hundred-six (Part 6)
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