1|Adi 5-1975: The Glories of Lord Nityananda Balarama
2|Chapter 5
3|The Glories of Lord Nityananda Balarama
4|This chapter is chiefly devoted to describing the essential
>|nature and glories of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Lord Sri Krsna
>|is the absolute Personality of Godhead, and His first
>|expansion in a form for pastimes is Sri Balarama.
5|Beyond the limitation of this material world is the
>|spiritual sky, paravyoma, which has many spiritual planets,
>|the supreme of which is called Krsnaloka. Krsnaloka, the
>|abode of Krsna, has three divisions, which are known as
>|Dvaraka, Mathura and Gokula. In that abode the Personality
>|of Godhead expands Himself into four plenary portions-Krsna,
>| Balarama, Pradyumna (the transcendental Cupid) and
>|Aniruddha. They are known as the original quadruple forms.
6|In Krsnaloka is a transcendental place known as Svetadvipa
>|or Vrndavana. Below Krsnaloka in the spiritual sky are the
>|Vaikuntha planets. On each Vaikuntha planet a four-handed
>|Narayana, expanded from the first quadruple manifestation,
>|is present. The Personality of Godhead known as Sri
>|Balarama in Krsnaloka is the original Sankarsana (
>|attracting Deity), and from this Sankarsana expands another
>|Sankarsana, called Maha-sankarsana, who resides in one of
>|the Vaikuntha planets. By His internal potency, Maha-
>|sankarsana maintains the transcendental existence of all
>|the planets in the spiritual sky, where all the living
>|beings are eternally liberated souls. The influence of the
>|material energy is conspicuous there by its absence. On
>|those planets the second quadruple manifestation is present.
7|Outside of the Vaikuntha planets is the impersonal
>|manifestation of Sri Krsna, which is known as the
>|Brahmaloka. On the other side of the Brahmaloka is the
>|spiritual karana-samudra, or Causal Ocean. The material
>|energy exists on the other side of the Causal Ocean,
>|without touching it. In the Causal Ocean is Maha-Visnu, the
>|original purusa expansion from Sankarsana. This Maha-Visnu
>|places His glance over the material energy, and by a
>|reflection of His transcendental body He amalgamates
>|Himself within the material elements.
8|As the source of the material elements, the material energy
>|is known as pradhana, and as the source of the
>|manifestations of the material energy it is known as maya.
>|But material nature is inert in that she has no independent
>|power to do anything. She is empowered to make the cosmic
>|manifestation by the glance of Maha-Visnu. Therefore the
>|material energy is not the original cause of the material
>|manifestation. Rather, the transcendental glance of Maha-
>|Visnu over material nature produces that cosmic
>|manifestation.
9|Maha-Visnu again enters every universe as the reservoir of
>|all living entities, Garbhodakasayi Visnu. From
>|Garbhodakasayi Visnu expands Ksirodakasayi Visnu, the
>|Supersoul of every living entity. Garbhodakasayi Visnu also
>|has His own Vaikuntha planet in every universe, where He
>|lives as the Supersoul or supreme controller of the
>|universe. Garbhodakasayi Visnu reclines in the midst of the
>|watery portion of the universe and generates the first
>|living creature of the universe, Brahma. The imaginary
>|universal form is a partial manifestation of Garbhodakasayi
>|Visnu.
10|In the Vaikuntha planet in every universe is an ocean of
>|milk, and within that ocean is an island called Svetadvipa,
>|where Lord Visnu lives. Therefore this chapter describes
>|two Svetadvipas-one in the abode of Krsna and the other in
>|the ocean of milk in every universe. The Svetadvipa in the
>|abode of Krsna is identical with Vrndavana-dhama, which is
>|the place where Krsna appears Himself to display His loving
>|pastimes. In the Svetadvipa within every universe is a Sesa
>|form of Godhead who serves Visnu by assuming the form of
>|His umbrella, slippers, couch, pillows, garments, residence,
>| sacred thread, throne and so on.
11|Lord Baladeva in Krsnaloka is Nityananda Prabhu. Therefore
>|Nityananda Prabhu is the original Sankarsana, and Maha-
>|sankarsana and His expansions as the purusas in the
>|universes are plenary expansions of Nityananda Prabhu.
12|In this chapter the author has described the history of his
>|leaving home for a personal pilgrimage to Vrndavana and his
>|achieving all success there. In this description it is
>|revealed that the author's original paternal home and
>|birthplace were in the district of Katwa, in the village of
>|Jhamatapura, which is near Naihati. Krsnadasa Kaviraja's
>|brother invited Sri Minaketana Ramadasa, a great devotee of
>|Lord Nityananda, to his home, but a priest named Gunarnava
>|Misra did not receive him well, and Krsnadasa Kaviraja
>|Gosvami's brother, not recognizing the glories of Lord
>|Nityananda, also took sides with the priest. Therefore
>|Ramadasa became sorry, broke his flute and went away. This
>|was a great disaster for the brother of Krsnadasa Kaviraja
>|Gosvami. But on that very night Lord Nityananda Prabhu
>|Himself graced Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in a dream and
>|ordered him to leave on the next day for Vrndavana.
13|Adi 5.1
14|TEXT 1
15|TEXT
16|vande 'nantadbhutaisvaryam
17|sri-nityanandam isvaram
18|yasyecchaya tat-svarupam
19|ajnenapi nirupyate
20|SYNONYMS
21|vande-let me offer my obeisances; ananta-unlimited; adbhuta-
>|and wonderful; aisvaryam-whose opulence; sri-nityanandam-
>|unto Lord Nityananda; isvaram-the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead; yasya-whose; icchaya-by the will; tat-svarupam-His
>|identity; ajnena-by the ignorant; api-even; nirupyate-can
>|be ascertained.
22|TRANSLATION
23|Let me offer my obeisances to Lord Sri Nityananda, the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose opulence is wonderful
>|and unlimited. By His will, even a fool can understand His
>|identity.
24|Adi 5.2
25|TEXT 2
26|TEXT
27|jaya jaya sri-caitanya jaya nityananda
28|jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda
29|SYNONYMS
30|jaya jaya-all glories; sri-caitanya-to Sri Caitanya
>|Mahaprabhu; jaya nityananda-all glories to Lord Nityananda;
>|jaya advaita-candra-all glories to Advaita Acarya; jaya
>|gaura-bhakta-vrnda-all glories to the devotees of Lord Sri
>|Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
31|TRANSLATION
32|All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. All glories to Lord
>|Nityananda . All glories to Advaita Acarya . And all
>|glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu .
33|Adi 5.3
34|TEXT 3
35|TEXT
36|ei sat-sloke kahila krsna-caitanya-mahima
37|panca-sloke kahi nityananda-tattva-sima
38|SYNONYMS
39|ei-this; sat-sloke-in six verses; kahila-described; krsna-
>|caitanya-mahima-the glories of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu;
>| panca-sloke-in five verses; kahi-let me explain;
>|nityananda-of Lord Nityananda; tattva-of the truth; sima-
>|the limitation.
40|TRANSLATION
41|I have described the glory of Sri Krsna Caitanya in six
>|verses. Now, in five verses, I shall describe the glory of
>|Lord Nityananda.
42|Adi 5.4
43|TEXT 4
44|TEXT
45|sarva-avatari krsna svayam bhagavan
46|tanhara dvitiya deha sri-balarama
47|SYNONYMS
48|sarva-avatari-the source of all incarnations; krsna-Lord
>|Krsna; svayam-personally; bhagavan-the Supreme Personality
>|of Godhead; tanhara-His; dvitiya-second; deha-expansion of
>|the body; sri-balarama-Lord Balarama.
49|TRANSLATION
50|The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is the
>|fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarama is His
>|second body.
51|PURPORT
52|Lord Sri Krsna, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is the
>|primeval Lord, the original form of Godhead, and His first
>|expansion is Sri Balarama. The Personality of Godhead can
>|expand Himself in innumerable forms. The forms that have
>|unlimited potency are called svamsa, and forms that have
>|limited potencies (the living entities) are called
>|vibhinnamsa.
53|Adi 5.5
54|TEXT 5
55|TEXT
56|eka-i svarupa donhe, bhinna-matra kaya
57|adya kaya-vyuha, krsna-lilara sahaya
58|SYNONYMS
59|eka-i-one; svarupa-identity; donhe-both of Them; bhinna-
>|matra kaya-only two different bodies; adya-original; kaya-
>|vyuha-quadruple expansions; krsna-lilara-in the pastimes of
>|Lord Krsna; sahaya-assistance.
60|TRANSLATION
61|They are both one and the same identity. They differ only
>|in form. He is the first bodily expansion of
>|Krsna, and He assists in Lord Krsna's transcendental
>|pastimes.
62|PURPORT
63|Balarama is a svamsa expansion of the Lord, and therefore
>|there is no difference in potency between Krsna and
>|Balarama. The only difference is in Their bodily structure.
>|As the first expansion of Godhead, Balarama is the chief
>|Deity among the first quadruple forms, and He is the
>|foremost assistant of Sri Krsna in His transcendental
>|activities.
64|Adi 5.6
65|TEXT 6
66|TEXT
67|sei krsna-navadvipe sri-caitanya-candra
68|sei balarama-sange sri-nityananda
69|SYNONYMS
70|sei krsna-that original Krsna; navadvipe-at Navadvipa; sri-
>|caitanya-candra-Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; sei balarama-
>|that Lord Balarama; sange-with Him; sri-nityananda-Lord
>|Nityananda.
71|TRANSLATION
72|That original Lord Krsna appeared in Navadvipa as Lord
>|Caitanya, and Balarama appeared with Him as Lord Nityananda.
73|Adi 5.7
74|TEXT 7
75|TEXT
76|sankarsanah karana-toya-sayi
77|garbhoda-sayi ca payobdhi-sayi
78|sesas ca yasyamsa-kalah sa nitya-
79|nandakhya-ramah saranam mamastu
80|SYNONYMS
81|sankarsanah-Maha-sankarsana in the spiritual sky; karana-
>|toya-sayi-Karanodakasayi Visnu, who lies in the Causal
>|Ocean; garbha-uda-sayi-Garbhodakasayi Visnu, who lies in
>|the Garbhodaka Ocean of the universe; ca-and; payah-abdhi-
>|sayi-Ksirodakasayi Visnu, who lies in the ocean of milk;
>|sesah-Sesa Naga, the couch of Visnu; ca-and; yasya-whose;
>|amsa-plenary portions; kalah-and parts of the plenary
>|portions; sah-He; nityananda-akhya-known as Lord Nityananda;
>| ramah-Lord Balarama; saranam-shelter; mama-my; astu-let
>|there be.
82|TRANSLATION
83|May Sri Nityananda Rama be the object of my constant
>|remembrance. Sankarsana, Sesa Naga and the Visnus who lie
>|on the Karana Ocean, Garbha Ocean and ocean of milk are His
>|plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions.
84|PURPORT
85|Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami has recorded this verse in his
>|diary to offer his respectful obeisances to Lord Nityananda
>|Prabhu. This verse also appears as the seventh of the first
>|fourteen verses of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.
86|Adi 5.8
87|TEXT 8
88|TEXT
89|sri-balarama gosani mula-sankarsana
90|panca-rupa dhari' karena krsnera sevana
91|SYNONYMS
92|sri-balarama-Balarama; gosani-the Lord; mula-sankarsana-the
>|original Sankarsana; panca-rupa dhari'-accepting five
>|bodies; karena-does; krsnera-of Lord Krsna; sevana-service.
93|TRANSLATION
94|Lord Balarama is the original Sankarsana. He assumes five
>|other forms to serve Lord Krsna.
95|Adi 5.9
96|TEXT 9
97|TEXT
98|apane karena krsna-lilara sahaya
99|srsti-lila-karya kare dhari' cari kaya
100|SYNONYMS
101|apane-personally; karena-performs; krsna-lilara sahaya-
>|assistance in the pastimes of Lord Krsna; srsti-lila-of the
>|pastimes of creation; karya-the work; kare-does; dhari'-
>|accepting; cari kaya-four bodies.
102|TRANSLATION
103|He Himself helps in the pastimes of Lord Krsna, and He does
>|the work of creation in four other forms.
104|Adi 5.10
105|TEXT 10
106|TEXT
107|srsty-adika seva,-tanra ajnara palana
108|'sesa'-rupe kare krsnera vividha sevana
109|SYNONYMS
110|srsti-adika seva-service in the matter of creation; tanra-
>|His; ajnara-of the order; palana-execution; sesa-rupe-the
>|form of Lord Sesa; kare-does; krsnera-of Lord Krsna;
>|vividha sevana-varieties of service.
111|TRANSLATION
112|He executes the orders of Lord Krsna in the work of
>|creation, and in the form of Lord Sesa He serves Krsna in
>|various ways.
113|PURPORT
114|According to expert opinion, Balarama, as the chief of the
>|original quadruple forms, is also the original Sankarsana.
>|Balarama, the first expansion of Krsna, expands Himself in
>|five forms: (1) Maha-sankarsana, (2) Karanabdhisayi, (3)
>|Garbhodakasayi, (4) Ksirodakasayi, and (5) Sesa. These five
>|plenary portions are responsible for both the spiritual and
>|material cosmic manifestations. In these five forms Lord
>|Balarama assists Lord Krsna in His activities. The first
>|four of these forms are responsible for the cosmic
>|manifestations, whereas Sesa is responsible for personal
>|service to the Lord. Sesa is called Ananta, or unlimited,
>|because He assists the Personality of Godhead in His
>|unlimited expansions by performing an unlimited variety of
>|services. Sri Balarama is the servitor Godhead who serves
>|Lord Krsna in all affairs of existence and knowledge. Lord
>|Nityananda Prabhu, who is the same servitor Godhead,
>|Balarama, performs the same service to Lord Gauranga by
>|constant association.
115|Adi 5.11
116|TEXT 11
117|TEXT
118|sarva-rupe asvadaye krsna-sevananda
119|sei balarama-gaura-sange nityananda
120|SYNONYMS
121|sarva-rupe-in all these forms; asvadaye-tastes; krsna-seva-
>|ananda-the transcendental bliss of serving Krsna; sei
>|balarama-that Lord Balarama; gaura-sange-with Gaurasundara;
>|nityananda-Lord Nityananda.
122|TRANSLATION
123|In all the forms He tastes the transcendental bliss of
>|serving Krsna. That same Balarama is Lord Nityananda, the
>|companion of Lord Gaurasundara.
124|Adi 5.12
125|TEXT 12
126|TEXT
127|saptama slokera artha kari cari-sloke
128|yate nityananda-tattva jane sarva-loke
129|SYNONYMS
130|saptama slokera-of the seventh verse; artha-the meaning;
>|kari-I do; cari-sloke-in four verses; yate-in which;
>|nityananda-tattva-the truth of Lord Nityananda; jane-one
>|knows; sarva-loke-all over the world.
131|TRANSLATION
132|I have explained this seventh verse in four subsequent
>|verses. By these verses all the world can know the truth
>|about Lord Nityananda.
133|Adi 5.13
134|TEXT 13
135|TEXT
136|mayatite vyapi-vaikuntha-loke
137|purnaisvarye sri-catur-vyuha-madhye
138|rupam yasyodbhati sankarsanakhyam
139|tam sri-nityananda-ramam prapadye
140|SYNONYMS
141|maya-atite-beyond the material creation; vyapi-all-
>|expanding; vaikuntha-loke-in Vaikunthaloka, the spiritual
>|world; purna-aisvarye-endowed with full opulence; sri-catuh-
>|vyuha-madhye-in the quadruple expansions (Vasudeva,
>|Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha); rupam-form; yasya-
>|whose; udbhati-appears; sankarsana-akhyam-known as
>|Sankarsana; tam-to Him; sri-nityananda-ramam-to Lord
>|Balarama in the form of Lord Nityananda; prapadye-I
>|surrender.
142|
143|TRANSLATION
144|I surrender unto the lotus feet of Sri Nityananda Rama, who
>|is known as Sankarsana in the midst of the catur-vyuha [
>|consisting of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha]
>|. He possesses full opulences and resides in Vaikunthaloka,
>|far beyond the material creation.
145|PURPORT
146|This is a verse from Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami's diary.
>|It appears as the eighth of the first fourteen verses of
>|Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.
147|Adi 5.14
148|TEXT 14
149|TEXT
150|prakrtira para 'paravyoma'-name dhama
151|krsna-vigraha yaiche vibhuty-adi-gunavan
152|SYNONYMS
153|prakrtira-the material nature; para-beyond; para-vyoma-the
>|spiritual sky; name-in name; dhama-the place; krsna-vigraha-
>|the form of Lord Krsna; yaiche-just as; vibhuti-adi-like
>|the six opulences; guna-van-full with transcendental
>|attributes.
154|TRANSLATION
155|Beyond the material nature lies the realm known as
>|paravyoma, the spiritual sky. Like Lord Krsna Himself, it
>|possesses all transcendental attributes, such as the six
>|opulences.
156|PURPORT
157|According to Sankhya philosophy, the material cosmos is
>|composed of twenty-four elements: the five gross material
>|elements, the three subtle material elements, the five
>|knowledge-acquiring senses, the five active senses, the
>|five objects of sense pleasure, and the mahat-tattva (the
>|total material energy). Empiric philosophers, unable to go
>|beyond these elements, speculate that anything beyond them
>|must be avyakta, or inexplicable. But the world beyond the
>|twenty-four elements is not inexplicable, for it is
>|explained in the Bhagavad-gita as the eternal (sanatana)
>|nature. Beyond the manifested and unmanifested existence of
>|material nature (vyaktavyakta) is the sanatana nature,
>|which is called the paravyoma, or the spiritual sky. Since
>|that nature is spiritual in quality, there are no
>|qualitative differences there; everything there is
>|spiritual, everything is good, and everything possesses the
>|spiritual form of Sri Krsna Himself. That spiritual sky is
>|the manifested internal potency of Sri Krsna; it is
>|distinct from the material sky manifested by His external
>|potency.
158|The all-pervading Brahman, the impersonal
>|glowing ray of Sri Krsna, exists in the spiritual world
>|with the Vaikuntha planets. We can get some idea of that
>|spiritual sky by a comparison to the material sky, for the
>|rays of the sun in the material sky can be compared to the
>|brahmajyoti, the glowing rays of the Personality of Godhead.
>| In the brahmajyoti there are unlimited Vaikuntha planets,
>|which are spiritual and therefore self-luminous, with a
>|glow many times greater than that of the sun. The
>|Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, His innumerable plenary
>|portions and the portions of His plenary portions dominate
>|each Vaikuntha planet. In the highest region of the
>|spiritual sky is the planet called Krsnaloka, which has
>|three divisions, namely Dvaraka, Mathura and Goloka
>|.
159|To a gross materialist this kingdom of God, Vaikuntha, is
>|certainly a mystery. But to an ignorant man everything is a
>|mystery for want of sufficient knowledge. The kingdom of
>|God is not a myth. Even the material planets, which float
>|over our heads in the millions and billions, are still a
>|mystery to the ignorant. Material scientists are now
>|attempting to penetrate this mystery, and a day may come
>|when the people of this earth will be able to travel in
>|outer space and see the variegatedness of these millions of
>|planets with their own eyes. In every planet there is as
>|much material variegatedness as we find in our own planet.
160|This planet earth is but an insignificant spot in the
>|cosmic structure. Yet foolish men, puffed up by a false
>|sense of scientific advancement, have concentrated their
>|energy in a pursuit of so-called economic development on
>|this planet, not knowing of the variegated economic
>|facilities available on other planets. According to modern
>|astronomy, the gravity of the moon is different from that
>|of earth. Therefore one who goes to the moon will be able
>|to pick up large weights and jump vast distances. In the
>|Ramayana, Hanuman is described as being able to lift huge
>|weights as heavy as hills and jump over the ocean. Modern
>|astronomy has confirmed that this is indeed possible.
161|The disease of the modern civilized man is his disbelief of
>|everything in the revealed scriptures. Faithless
>|nonbelievers cannot make progress in spiritual realization,
>|for they cannot understand the spiritual potency. The small
>|fruit of a banyan contains hundreds of seeds, and in each
>|seed is the potency to produce another banyan tree with the
>|potency to produce millions more of such fruits. This law
>|of nature is visible before us, although how it works is
>|beyond our understanding. This is but an insignificant
>|example of the potency of Godhead; there are many similar
>|phenomena that no scientist can explain.
162|Everything, in fact, is inconceivable, for the truth is
>|revealed only to the proper persons. Although there are
>|varieties of personalities, from Brahma down to the
>|insignificant ant, all of whom are living beings, their
>|development of knowledge is different. Therefore we have to
>|gather knowledge from the right source. Indeed, in reality
>|we can get knowledge only from the Vedic sources. The four
>|Vedas, with their supplementary Puranas, the Mahabharata,
>|the Ramayana and their corollaries, which are known as
>|smrtis, are all authorized sources of knowledge. If we are
>|at all to gather knowledge, we must gather it from these
>|sources without hesitation.
163|Revealed knowledge may in the beginning be unbelievable
>|because of our paradoxical desire to verify everything with
>|our tiny brains, but the speculative means of attaining
>|knowledge is always imperfect. The perfect knowledge
>|propounded in the revealed scriptures is confirmed by the
>|great acaryas, who have left ample commentations upon them;
>|none of these acaryas has disbelieved in the sastras. One
>|who disbelieves in the sastras is an atheist, and we should
>|not consult an atheist, however great he may be. A staunch
>|believer in the sastras, with all their diversities, is the
>|right person from whom to gather real knowledge. Such
>|knowledge may seem inconceivable in the beginning, but when
>|put forward by the proper authority its meaning is revealed,
>| and then one no longer has any doubts about it.
164|Adi 5.15
165|TEXT 15
166|TEXT
167|sarvaga, ananta, vibhu-vaikunthadi dhama
168|krsna, krsna-avatarera tahani visrama
169|SYNONYMS
170|sarva-ga-all-pervading; ananta-unlimited; vibhu-greatest;
>|vaikuntha-adi dhama-all the places known as Vaikunthaloka;
>|krsna-of Lord Krsna; krsna-avatarera-of the incarnations of
>|Lord Krsna; tahani-there; visrama-the residence.
171|TRANSLATION
172|That Vaikuntha region is all-pervading, infinite and
>|supreme. It is the residence of Lord Krsna and His
>|incarnations.
173|Adi 5.16
174|TEXT 16
175|TEXT
176|tahara upari-bhage 'krsna-loka'-khyati
177|dvaraka-mathura-gokula-tri-vidhatve sthiti
178|SYNONYMS
179|tahara-of all of them; upari-bhage-on the top; krsna-loka-
>|khyati-the planet known as Krsnaloka; dvaraka-mathura-
>|gokula-the three places known as Dvaraka, Mathura and
>|Vrndavana; tri-vidhatve-in three departments; sthiti-
>|situated.
180|TRANSLATION
181|In the highest region of that spiritual sky is the
>|spiritual planet called Krsnaloka. It has three divisions-
>|Dvaraka, Mathura and Gokula.
182|Adi 5.17
183|TEXT 17
184|TEXT
185|sarvopari sri-gokula-vrajaloka-dhama
186|sri-goloka, svetadvipa, vrndavana nama
187|SYNONYMS
188|sarva-upari-above all of them; sri-gokula-the place known
>|as Gokula; vraja-loka-dhama-the place of Vraja; sri-goloka-
>|the place named Goloka; sveta-dvipa-the white island;
>|vrndavana nama-also named Vrndavana.
189|TRANSLATION
190|Sri Gokula, the highest of all, is also called Vraja,
>|Goloka, Svetadvipa and Vrndavana.
191|Adi 5.18
192|TEXT 18
193|TEXT
194|sarvaga, ananta, vibhu, krsna-tanu-sama
195|upary-adho vyapiyache, nahika niyama
196|SYNONYMS
197|sarva-ga-all-pervading; ananta-unlimited; vibhu-the
>|greatest; krsna-tanu-sama-exactly like the transcendental
>|body of Krsna; upari-adhah-up and down; vyapiyache-expanded;
>| nahika-there is no; niyama-regulation.
198|TRANSLATION
199|Like the transcendental body of Lord Krsna, Gokula is all-
>|pervading, infinite and supreme. It expands both above and
>|below, without any restriction.
200|PURPORT
201|Srila Jiva Gosvami, the great authority and philosopher in
>|the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has discussed the
>|abode of Krsna in his Krsna-sandarbha. In the Bhagavad-gita
>|the Lord refers to "My abode." Srila Jiva Gosvami,
>|examining the nature of Krsna's abode, refers to the Skanda
>|Purana, which states:
202|ya yatha bhuvi vartante
203|puryo bhagavatah priyah
204|tas tatha santi vaikunthe
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
205|tat-tal-lilartham adrtah
206|"The abodes of Godhead in the material
>|world, such as Dvaraka, Mathura and Goloka, are facsimiles
>|representing the abodes of Godhead in the kingdom of God,
>|Vaikuntha-dhama." The unlimited spiritual atmosphere of
>|that Vaikuntha-dhama is far above and beyond the material
>|cosmos. This is confirmed in the Svayambhuva- tantra in a
>|discussion between Lord Siva and Parvati regarding the
>|effect of chanting the mantra of fourteen syllables. There
>|it is stated:
207|nana -kalpa -latakirnam
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
208|vaikuntham vyapakam smaret
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
209|adhah samyam gunanam ca
210|prakrtih sarva-karanam
211|"While chanting the mantra, one should always remember the
>|spiritual world, which is very extensive and full of desire
>|trees that can yield anything one desires. Below that
>|Vaikuntha region is the potential material energy, which
>|causes the material manifestation." The places of the
>|pastimes of Lord Krsna, such as Dvaraka, Mathura and
>|Vrndavana, eternally and independently exist in Krsnaloka.
>|They are the actual abode of Lord Krsna, and there is no
>|doubt that they are situated above the material cosmic
>|manifestation.
212|The abode known as Vrndavana or Gokula is also known as
>|Goloka. The Brahma-samhita states that Gokula, the highest
>|region of the kingdom of God, resembles a lotus flower with
>|thousands of petals. The outer portion of that lotuslike
>|planet is a square place known as Svetadvipa. In the inner
>|portion of Gokula there is an elaborate arrangement for Sri
>|Krsna's residence with His eternal associates such as Nanda
>|and Yasoda. That transcendental abode exists by the energy
>|of Sri Baladeva, who is the original whole of Sesa, or
>|Ananta. The tantras also confirm this description by
>|stating that the abode of Sri Anantadeva, the plenary
>|portion of Baladeva, is called the kingdom of God.
>|Vrndavana-dhama is the innermost abode within the
>|quadrangular realm of Svetadvipa, which lies outside of the
>|boundary of Gokula Vrndavana.
213|According to Jiva Gosvami, Vaikuntha is also called
>|Brahmaloka. The Narada-pancaratra, in a statement
>|concerning the mystery of Vijaya, describes:
214|tat sarvopari goloke
215|tatra lokopari svayam
216|viharet paramanandi
>|
>|
217|govindo 'tula
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|-nayakah
218|"The predominator of the gopis, Govinda, the principal
>|Deity of Gokula, always enjoys Himself in a place called
>|Goloka in the topmost part of the spiritual sky."
219|From the authoritative evidence cited by Jiva Gosvami we
>|may conclude that Krsnaloka is the supreme planet in the
>|spiritual sky, which is far beyond the material cosmos. For
>|the enjoyment of transcendental variety, the pastimes of
>|Krsna there have three divisions, and these pastimes are
>|performed in the three abodes Dvaraka, Mathura and Gokula.
>|When Krsna descends to this universe, He enjoys the
>|pastimes in places of the same name. These places on earth
>|are nondifferent from those original abodes, for they are
>|facsimiles of those original holy places in the
>|transcendental world. They are as good as Sri Krsna Himself
>|and are equally worshipable. Lord Caitanya declared that
>|Lord Krsna, who presents Himself as the son of the King of
>|Vraja, is worshipable, and Vrndavana-dhama is equally
>|worshipable.
220|Adi 5.19
221|TEXT 19
222|TEXT
223|brahmande prakasa tara krsnera icchaya
224|eka-i svarupa tara, nahi dui kaya
225|SYNONYMS
226|brahmande-within the material world; prakasa-manifestation;
>|tara-of it; krsnera icchaya-by the supreme will of Lord
>|Krsna; eka-i-it is the same; svarupa-identity; tara-of it;
>|nahi-not; dui-two; kaya-bodies.
227|TRANSLATION
228|That abode is manifested within the material world by the
>|will of Lord Krsna. It is identical to that original Gokula;
>| they are not two different bodies.
229|PURPORT
230|The above-mentioned dhamas are movable, by the omnipotent
>|will of Lord Krsna. When Sri Krsna appears on the face of
>|the earth, He can also make His dhamas appear, without
>|changing their original structure. One should not
>|discriminate between the dhamas on the earth and those in
>|the spiritual sky, thinking those on earth to be material
>|and the original abodes to be spiritual. All of them are
>|spiritual. Only for us, who cannot experience anything
>|beyond matter in our present conditioned state, do the
>|dhamas and the Lord Himself, in His arca form, appear
>|before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see
>|spirit with material eyes. In the beginning this may be
>|difficult for a neophyte to understand, but in due course,
>|when one is advanced in devotional service, it will be
>|easier, and he will appreciate the Lord's presence in these
>|tangible forms.
231|Adi 5.20
232|TEXT 20
233|TEXT
234|cintamani-bhumi, kalpa-vrksa-maya vana
235|carma-cakse dekhe tare prapancera sama
236|SYNONYMS
237|cintamani-bhumi-the land of touchstone; kalpa-vrksa-maya-
>|full of desire trees; vana-forests; carma-cakse-the
>|material eyes; dekhe-see; tare-it; prapancera sama-equal to
>|the material creation.
238|TRANSLATION
239|The land there is touchstone [cintamani], and the forests
>|abound with desire trees. Material eyes see it as an
>|ordinary place.
240|PURPORT
241|By the grace of the Lord His dhamas and He Himself can all
>|be present simultaneously, without losing their original
>|importance. Only when one fully develops in affection and
>|love of Godhead can one see those dhamas in their original
>|appearance.
242|Srila Narottama dasa Thakura, a great acarya in the
>|preceptorial line of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has said
>|for our benefit that one can perfectly see the dhamas only
>|when one completely gives up the mentality of lording it
>|over material nature. One's spiritual vision develops
>|proportionately to one's giving up the debased mentality of
>|unnecessarily enjoying matter. A diseased person who has
>|become diseased because of a certain bad habit must be
>|ready to follow the advice of the physician, and as a
>|natural sequence he must attempt to give up the cause of
>|the disease. The patient cannot indulge in the bad habit
>|and at the same time expect to be cured by the physician.
>|Modern material civilization, however, is maintaining
>|a diseased atmosphere. The living being is a spiritual
>|spark, as spiritual as the Lord Himself. The only
>|difference is that the Lord is great and the living being
>|is small. Qualitatively they are one, but quantitatively
>|they are different. Therefore, since the living being is
>|spiritual in constitution, he can be happy only in the
>|spiritual sky, where there are unlimited spiritual spheres
>|called Vaikunthas. A spiritual being conditioned by a
>|material body must therefore try to get rid of his disease
>|instead of developing the cause of the disease.
243|Foolish persons engrossed in their material assets are
>|unnecessarily proud of being leaders of the people, but
>|they ignore the spiritual value of man. Such illusioned
>|leaders make plans covering any number of years, but they
>|can hardly make humanity happy in a state conditioned by
>|the threefold miseries inflicted by material nature. One
>|cannot control the laws of nature by any amount of
>|struggling. One must at last be subject to death, nature's
>|ultimate law. Death, birth, old age and illness are
>|symptoms of the diseased condition of the living being. The
>|highest aim of human life should therefore be to get free
>|from these miseries and go back home, back to Godhead.
244|Adi 5.21
245|TEXT 21
246|TEXT
247|prema-netre dekhe tara svarupa-prakasa
248|gopa-gopi-sange yanha krsnera vilasa
249|SYNONYMS
250|prema-netre-with the eyes of love of Godhead; dekhe-one
>|sees; tara-its; svarupa-prakasa-manifestation of identity;
>|gopa-cowherd boys; gopi-sange-with the cowherd damsels;
>|yanha-where; krsnera vilasa-the pastimes of Lord Krsna.
251|TRANSLATION
252|But with the eyes of love of Godhead one can see its real
>|identity as the place where Lord Krsna performs His
>|pastimes with the cowherd boys and cowherd girls.
253|Adi 5.22
254|TEXT 22
255|TEXT
256|cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
257|laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
258|laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
259|govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
260|SYNONYMS
261|cintamani-touchstone; prakara-groups made of; sadmasu-in
>|abodes; kalpa-vrksa-of desire trees; laksa-by millions;
>|avrtesu-surrounded; surabhih-surabhi cows; abhipalayantam-
>|tending; laksmi-of goddesses of fortune; sahasra-of
>|thousands; sata-by hundreds; sambhrama-with great respect;
>|sevyamanam-being served; govindam-Govinda; adi-purusam-the
>|original person; tam-Him; aham-I; bhajami-worship.
262|TRANSLATION
263|"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor,
>| who is tending cows yielding all desires in abodes built
>|with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose
>|trees. He is always served with great reverence and
>|affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune.
>|"
264|PURPORT
265|This is a verse from the Brahma-samhita (5.29). This
>|description of the abode of Krsna gives us definite
>|information of the transcendental place where not only is
>|life eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, but there are
>|ample vegetables, milk, jewels, and beautiful homes and
>|gardens tended by lovely damsels who are all goddesses of
>|fortune. Krsnaloka is the topmost planet in the spiritual
>|sky, and below it are innumerable spheres, a description of
>|which can be found in Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the beginning
>|of Lord Brahma's self-realization he was shown a
>|transcendental vision of the Vaikuntha spheres by the grace
>|of Narayana. Later, by the grace of Krsna, he was shown a
>|transcendental vision of Krsnaloka. This transcendental
>|vision is like the reception of television from the moon
>|via a mechanical system for receiving modulated waves, but
>|it is achieved by penance and meditation within oneself.
266|Srimad-Bhagavatam (Second Canto) states that in
>|Vaikunthaloka the material modes of nature, represented by
>|the qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, have no
>|influence. In the material world the highest qualitative
>|manifestation is goodness, which is characterized by
>|truthfulness, mental equilibrium, cleanliness, control of
>|the senses, simplicity, essential knowledge, faith in God,
>|scientific knowledge and so on. Nevertheless, all these
>|qualities are mixed with passion and imperfection. But the
>|qualities in Vaikuntha are a manifestation of God's
>|internal potency, and therefore they are purely spiritual
>|and transcendental, with no trace of material infection. No
>|material planet, even Satyaloka, is comparable in quality
>|to the spiritual planets, where the five inherent qualities
>|of the material world-namely, ignorance, misery, egoism,
>|anger and envy-are completely absent.
267|In the material world, everything is a creation. Anything
>|we can think of within our experience, including even our
>|own bodies and minds, was created. This process of creation
>|began with the life of Brahma, and the creative principle
>|is prevalent all over the material universe because of the
>|quality of passion. But since the quality of passion is
>|conspicuous by its absence in the Vaikuntha planets,
>|nothing there is created: everything there is eternally
>|existent. And because there is no mode of ignorance, there
>|is also no question of annihilation or destruction. In the
>|material world one may try to make everything permanent by
>|developing the above-mentioned qualities of goodness, but
>|because the goodness in the material world is mixed with
>|passion and ignorance, nothing here can exist permanently,
>|despite all the good plans of the best scientific brains.
>|Therefore in the material world we have no experience of
>|eternity, bliss and fullness of knowledge. But in the
>|spiritual world, because of the complete absence of the
>|qualitative modes, everything is eternal, blissful and
>|cognizant. Everything can speak, everything can move,
>|everything can hear, and everything can see in fully
>|blessed existence for eternity. The situation being so,
>|naturally space and time, in the forms of past, present and
>|future, have no influence there. In the spiritual sky there
>|is no change because time has no influence. Consequently,
>|the influence of maya, the total external energy, which
>|induces us to become more and more materialistic and forget
>|our relationship with God, is also absent there.
268|As spiritual sparks of the beams emanating from the
>|transcendental body of the Lord, we are all permanently
>|related with Him and equal to Him in quality. The material
>|energy is a covering of the spiritual spark, but in the
>|absence of that material covering, the living beings in
>|Vaikunthaloka are never forgetful of their identities: they
>|are eternally cognizant of their relationship with God in
>|their constitutional position of rendering transcendental
>|loving service to the Lord. Because they constantly engage
>|in the transcendental service of the Lord, it is natural to
>|conclude that their senses are also transcendental, for one
>|cannot serve the Lord with material senses. The inhabitants
>|of Vaikunthaloka do not possess material senses with which
>|to lord it over material nature.
269|Persons with a poor fund of knowledge conclude that a place
>|void of material qualities must be some sort of formless
>|nothingness. In reality, however, there are qualities in
>|the spiritual world, but they are different from the
>|material qualities because everything there is eternal,
>|unlimited and pure. The atmosphere there is self-
>|illuminating, and thus there is no need of a sun, a moon,
>|fire electricity and so on. One who can reach that abode
>|does not come back to the material world with a material
>|body. There is no difference between atheists and the
>|faithful in the Vaikuntha planets because all who settle
>|there are freed from the material qualities, and thus suras
>|and asuras become equally obedient loving servitors of the
>|Lord.
270|The residents of Vaikuntha have brilliantly black
>|complexions much more fascinating and attractive than the
>|dull white and black complexions found in the material
>|world. Their bodies, being spiritual, have no equals in the
>|material world. The beauty of a bright cloud when lightning
>|flashes on it merely hints at their beauty. Generally the
>|inhabitants of Vaikuntha dress in yellow clothing. Their
>|bodies are delicate and attractively built, and their eyes
>|are like the petals of lotus flowers. Like Lord Visnu, the
>|residents of Vaikuntha have four hands decorated with a
>|conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower. Their chests are
>|beautifully broad and fully decorated with necklaces of a
>|brilliant diamondlike metal surrounded by costly jewels
>|never to be found in the material world. The residents of
>|Vaikuntha are always powerful and effulgent. Some of them
>|have complexions like red coral cat's eyes and lotus
>|flowers, and each of them has earrings of costly jewels. On
>|their heads they wear flowery crowns resembling garlands.
271|In the Vaikunthas there are airplanes, but they make no
>|tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe:
>|they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is
>|imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however,
>|the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually
>|brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business
>|executives, politicians or planning commissions as
>|passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for
>|these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure
>|trips only, and the residents of Vaikuntha fly in them with
>|their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore
>|these airplanes, full of residents of Vaikuntha, both male
>|and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky. We
>|cannot imagine how beautiful they are, but their beauty may
>|be compared to the clouds in the sky accompanied by silver
>|branches of electric lightning. The spiritual sky of
>|Vaikunthaloka is always decorated in this way.
272|The full opulence of the internal potency of Godhead is
>|always resplendent in Vaikunthaloka, where goddesses of
>|fortune are ever-increasingly attached to serving the lotus
>|feet of the Personality of Godhead. These goddesses of
>|fortune, accompanied by their friends, always create a
>|festive atmosphere of transcendental mirth. Always singing
>|the glories of the Lord, they are not silent even for a
>|moment.
273|There are unlimited Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky,
>|and the ratio of these planets to the material planets in
>|the material sky is three to one. Thus the poor materialist
>|is busy making political adjustments on a planet that is
>|most insignificant in God's creation. To say nothing of
>|this planet earth, the whole universe, with innumerable
>|planets throughout the galaxies, is comparable to a single
>|mustard seed in a bag full of mustard seeds. But the poor
>|materialist makes plans to live comfortably here and thus
>|wastes his valuable human energy in something that is
>|doomed to frustration. Instead of wasting his time with
>|business speculations, he might have sought the life of
>|plain living and high spiritual thinking and thus saved
>|himself from perpetual materialistic unrest.
274|Even if a materialist wants to enjoy developed material
>|facilities, he can transfer himself to planets where he can
>|experience material pleasures much more advanced than those
>|available on earth. The best plan is to prepare oneself to
>|return to the spiritual sky after leaving the body. However,
>| if one is intent on enjoying material facilities, one can
>|transfer himself to other planets in the material sky by
>|utilizing yogic powers. The playful spaceships of the
>|astronauts are but childish entertainments and are of no
>|use for this purpose. The astanga-yoga system is a
>|materialistic art of controlling air by transferring it
>|from the stomach to the navel, from the navel to the heart,
>|from the heart to the collarbone, from there to the
>|eyeballs, from there to the cerebellum and from there to
>|any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are
>|taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he
>|has no information of the velocity of the mind and
>|intelligence. We have some limited experience of the
>|velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer
>|our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away.
>|Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the
>|soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is
>|spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of
>|times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can
>|thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling
>|from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul
>|travels by its own strength and not with the help of any
>|kind of material vehicle.
275|The bestial civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing and
>|sense-gratifying has misled modern man into forgetting how
>|powerful a soul he has. As we have already described, the
>|soul is a spiritual spark many, many times more
>|illuminating, dazzling and powerful than the sun, moon or
>|electricity. Human life is spoiled when man does not
>|realize his real identity with his soul. Lord Caitanya
>|appeared with Lord Nityananda to save man from this type of
>|misleading civilization.
276|Srimad-Bhagavatam also describes how yogis can travel to
>|all the planets in the universe. When the vital force is
>|lifted to the cerebellum, there is every chance that this
>|force will burst out from the eyes, nose, ears, etc., as
>|these are places that are known as the seventh orbit of the
>|vital force. But the yogis can block these holes by
>|complete suspension of air. The yogi then concentrates the
>|vital force in the middle position, that is, between the
>|eyebrows. At this position, the yogi can think of the
>|planet into which he wants to enter after leaving the body.
>|He can then decide whether he wants to go to the abode of
>|Krsna in the transcendental Vaikunthas, from which he will
>|not be required to descend into the material world, or to
>|travel to higher planets in the material universe. The
>|perfect yogi is at liberty to do either.
277|For the perfect yogi who has attained success in the method
>|of leaving his body in perfect consciousness, transferring
>|from one planet to another is as easy as an ordinary man's
>|walking to the grocery store. As already discussed, the
>|material body is just a covering of the spiritual soul.
>|Mind and intelligence are the undercoverings, and the gross
>|body of earth, water, air and so on is the overcoating of
>|the soul. As such, any advanced soul who has realized
>|himself by the yogic process, who knows the relationship
>|between matter and spirit, can leave the gross dress of the
>|soul in perfect order and as he desires. By the grace of
>|God, we have complete freedom. Because the Lord is kind to
>|us, we can live anywhere-either in the spiritual sky or in
>|the material sky, upon whichever planet we desire. However,
>|misuse of this freedom causes one to fall down into the
>|material world and suffer the threefold miseries of
>|conditioned life. The living of a miserable life in the
>|material world by dint of the soul's choice is nicely
>|illustrated by Milton in Paradise Lost. Similarly, by
>|choice the soul can regain paradise and return home, back
>|to Godhead.
278|At the critical time of death, one can place the vital
>|force between the two eyebrows and decide where he wants to
>|go. If he is reluctant to maintain any connection with the
>|material world, he can, in less than a second, reach the
>|transcendental Vaikuntha and appear there
>|completely in his spiritual body, which will be suitable
>|for him in the spiritual atmosphere. He has simply to
>|desire to leave the material world both in finer and in
>|grosser forms and then move the vital force to the topmost
>|part of the skull and leave the body from the hole in the
>|skull called the brahma-randhra. This is easy for one
>|perfect in the practice of yoga.
279|Of course, man is endowed with free will, and as such if he
>|does not want to free himself from the material world he
>|may enjoy the life of brahma-pada (occupation of the post
>|of Brahma) and visit Siddhaloka, the planet of materially
>|perfect beings who have full capacities to control
>|gravity, space and time. To visit such higher planets in
>|the material universe, one need not give up his mind and
>|intelligence (finer matter), but need only give up grosser
>|matter (the material body).
280|Each and every planet has its particular atmosphere, and if
>|one wants to travel to any particular planet within the
>|material universe, one has to adapt his material body to
>|the climatic condition of that planet. For instance, if one
>|wants to go from India to Europe, where the climatic
>|condition is different, one has to change his dress
>|accordingly. Similarly, a complete change of body is
>|necessary if one wants to go to the transcendental planets
>|of Vaikuntha. However, if one wants to go to the higher
>|material planets, he can keep his finer dress of mind,
>|intelligence and ego, but has to leave his gross dress (
>|body) made of earth, water, fire, etc.
281|When one goes to a transcendental planet, it is necessary
>|to change both the finer and gross bodies, for one has to
>|reach the spiritual sky completely in a spiritual form.
>|This change of dress will take place automatically at the
>|time of death if one so desires.
282|The Bhagavad-gita confirms that one will attain his next
>|material body according to his desires at the time he
>|leaves his body. The desire of the mind carries the soul to
>|a suitable atmosphere as the wind carries aromas from one
>|place to another. Unfortunately, those who are not yogis
>|but gross materialists, who throughout their lives indulge
>|in sense gratification, are puzzled by the disarrangement
>|of the bodily and mental condition at the time of death.
>|Such gross sensualists, encumbered by the main ideas,
>|desires and associations of the lives they have led, desire
>|something against their interest and thus foolishly take on
>|new bodies that perpetuate their material miseries.
283|Systematic training of the mind and intelligence is
>|therefore needed so that at the time of death one may
>|consciously desire a suitable body, either on this planet
>|or another material planet or even a transcendental planet.
>|A civilization that does not consider the progressive
>|advancement of the immortal soul merely fosters a bestial
>|life of ignorance.
284|It is foolish to think that every soul that passes away
>|goes to the same place. Either the soul goes to a place he
>|desires at the time of death, or upon leaving his body he
>|is forced to accept a position according to his acts in his
>|previous life. The difference between the materialist and
>|the yogi is that a materialist cannot determine his next
>|body, whereas a yogi can consciously attain a suitable body
>|for enjoyment in the higher planets. Throughout his life,
>|the gross materialist who is constantly after sense
>|gratification spends all day earning his livelihood to
>|maintain his family, and at night he wastes his energy in
>|sex enjoyment or else goes to sleep thinking about all he
>|has done in the daytime. That is the monotonous life of the
>|materialist. Although differently graded as businessmen,
>|lawyers, politicians, professors, judges, coolies,
>|pickpockets, laborers and so on, materialists all simply
>|engage in eating, sleeping, fearing and sense gratification
>|and thus spoil their valuable lives pursuing luxury and
>|neglecting to perfect their lives through spiritual
>|realization.
285|Yogis, however, try to perfect their lives, and therefore
>|the Bhagavad-gita enjoins that everyone should become a
>|yogi. Yoga is the system for linking the soul in the
>|service of the Lord. Only under superior guidance can one
>|practice such yoga in his life without changing his social
>|position. As already described, a yogi can go anywhere he
>|desires without mechanical help, for a yogi can place his
>|mind and intelligence within the air circulating inside his
>|body, and by practicing the art of breath control he can
>|mix that air with the air that blows all over the universe
>|outside his body. With the help of this universal air, a
>|yogi can travel to any planet and get a body suitable for
>|its atmosphere. We can understand this process by comparing
>|it to the electronic transmission of radio messages. With
>|radio transmitters, sound waves produced at a certain
>|station can travel all over the earth in seconds. But sound
>|is produced from the ethereal sky, and as already explained,
>| subtler than the ethereal sky is the mind, and finer than
>|the mind is the intelligence. Spirit is still finer than
>|the intelligence, and by nature it is completely different
>|from matter. Thus we can just imagine how quickly the
>|spirit soul can travel through the universal atmosphere.
286|To come to the stage of manipulating finer elements like
>|mind, intelligence and spirit, one needs appropriate
>|training, an appropriate mode of life and appropriate
>|association. Such training depends upon sincere prayers,
>|devotional service, achievement of success in mystic
>|perfection, and the successful merging of oneself in the
>|activities of the soul and Supersoul. A gross materialist,
>|whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a
>|psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success
>|through blunt efforts and word jugglery.
287|Materialists who perform yajnas, or great sacrifices, are
>|comparatively better than grosser materialists who do not
>|know anything beyond laboratories and test tubes. The
>|advanced materialists who perform such sacrifices can reach
>|the planet called Vaisvanara, a fiery planet similar to the
>|sun. On this planet, which is situated on the way to
>|Brahmaloka, the topmost planet in the universe, such an
>|advanced materialist can free himself from all traces of
>|vice and its effects. When such a materialist is purified,
>|he can rise to the orbit of the pole star (Dhruvaloka).
>|Within this orbit, which is called the Sisumara-cakra, are
>|situated the Aditya-lokas and the Vaikuntha planet within
>|this universe.
288|A purified materialist who has performed many sacrifices,
>|undergone severe penances and given the major portion of
>|his wealth in charity can reach such planets as Dhruvaloka,
>|and if he becomes still more qualified there, he can
>|penetrate still higher orbits and pass through the navel of
>|the universe to reach the planet Maharloka, where sages
>|like Bhrgu Muni live. In Maharloka one can live even to the
>|time of the partial annihilation of the universe. This
>|annihilation begins when Anantadeva, from the lowest
>|position in the universe, produces a great blazing fire.
>|The heat of this fire reaches even Maharloka, and then the
>|residents of Maharloka travel to Brahmaloka, which exists
>|for twice the duration of parardha time.
289|In Brahmaloka there is an unlimited number of airplanes
>|that are controlled not by yantra (machine) but mantra (
>|psychic action). Because of the existence of the mind and
>|intelligence on Brahmaloka, its residents have feelings of
>|happiness and distress, but there is no cause of
>|lamentation from old age, death, fear or distress. They
>|feel sympathy, however, for the suffering living beings who
>|are consumed in the fire of annihilation. The residents of
>|Brahmaloka do not have gross material bodies to change at
>|death, but they transform their subtle bodies into
>|spiritual bodies and thus enter the spiritual sky. The
>|residents of Brahmaloka can attain perfection in three
>|different ways. Virtuous persons who reach Brahmaloka by
>|dint of their pious work become masters of various planets
>|after the resurrection of Brahma, those who have worshiped
>|Garbhodakasayi Visnu are liberated with Brahma, and those
>|who are pure devotees of the Personality of Godhead at once
>|push through the covering of the universe and enter the
>|spiritual sky.
290|The numberless universes exist together in foamlike
>|clusters, and so only some of them are surrounded by the
>|water of the Causal Ocean. When agitated by the glance of
>|Karanodakasayi Visnu, material nature produces the total
>|elements, which are eight in number and which gradually
>|evolve from finer to gross. A part of ego is the sky, a
>|part of which is air, a part of which is fire, a part of
>|which is water, a part of which is earth. Thus one universe
>|inflates to an area of four billion miles in diameter. A
>|yogi who desires gradual liberation must penetrate all the
>|different coverings of the universe, including the subtle
>|coverings of the three qualitative modes of material nature.
>| One who does this never has to return to this mortal world.
291|According to Sukadeva Gosvami, the above description of the
>|material and spiritual skies is neither imaginary nor
>|utopian. The actual facts are recorded in the Vedic hymns,
>|and Lord Vasudeva disclosed them to Lord Brahma when Brahma
>|satisfied Him. One can achieve the perfection of life only
>|when he has a definite idea of Vaikuntha and the Supreme
>|Godhead. One should always think about and describe the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead, for this is recommended in
>|both the Bhagavad-gita and the Bhagavata Purana, which are
>|two authorized commentaries upon the Vedas. Lord Caitanya
>|has made all these subject matters easier for the fallen
>|people of this age to accept, and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
>|has therefore presented them for the easy understanding of
>|all concerned.
292|Adi 5.23
293|TEXT 23
294|TEXT
295|mathura-dvarakaya nija-rupa prakasiya
296|nana-rupe vilasaye catur-vyuha haina
297|SYNONYMS
298|mathura-in Mathura; dvarakaya-in Dvaraka; nija-rupa-
>|personal body; prakasiya-manifesting; nana-rupe-in various
>|ways; vilasaye-enjoys pastimes; catuh-vyuha haina-expanding
>|into four wonderful forms.
299|TRANSLATION
300|He manifests His own , form in Mathura and Dvaraka.
>| He enjoys pastimes in various ways by expanding into the
>|quadruple forms.
301|Adi 5.24
302|TEXT 24
303|TEXT
304|vasudeva-sankarsana-pradyumnaniruddha
305|sarva-catur-vyuha-amsi, turiya, visuddha
306|SYNONYMS
307|vasudeva-Lord Vasudeva; sankarsana-Lord Sankarsana;
>|pradyumna-Lord Pradyumna; aniruddha-and Lord Aniruddha;
>|sarva-catuh-vyuha-of all other quadruple expansions; amsi-
>|source; turiya-transcendental; visuddha-pure.
308|TRANSLATION
309|Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are the
>|primary quadruple forms from whom all other quadruple
>|forms are manifested. They are all purely transcendental.
310|Adi 5.25
311|TEXT 25
312|TEXT
313|ei tina loke krsna kevala-lila-maya
314|nija-gana lana khele ananta samaya
315|SYNONYMS
316|ei-these; tina-three; loke-in the locations; krsna-Lord
>|Krsna; kevala-only; lila-maya-consisting of pastimes; nija-
>|gana lana-with His personal associates; khele-He plays;
>|ananta samaya-unlimited time.
317|TRANSLATION
318|Only in these three places [Dvaraka, Mathura and Gokula]
>|does the all-sporting Lord Krsna perform His endless
>|pastimes with His personal associates.
319|Adi 5.26
320|TEXT 26
321|TEXT
322|para-vyoma-madhye kari' svarupa prakasa
323|narayana-rupe karena vividha vilasa
324|SYNONYMS
325|para-vyoma-madhye-within the spiritual sky; kari'-making;
>|svarupa prakasa-manifesting His identity; narayana-rupe-the
>|form of Lord Narayana; karena-performs; vividha vilasa-
>|varieties of pastimes.
326|TRANSLATION
327|In the Vaikuntha planets of the spiritual sky the Lord
>|manifests His identity as Narayana and performs pastimes in
>|various ways.
328|Adi 5.27-28
329|TEXTS 27-28
330|TEXT
331|svarupa-vigraha krsnera kevala dvi-bhuja
332|narayana-rupe sei tanu catur-bhuja
333|sankha-cakra-gada-padma, mahaisvarya-maya
334|sri-bhu-nila-sakti yanra carana sevaya
335|SYNONYMS
336|svarupa-vigraha-personal form; krsnera-of Lord Krsna;
>|kevala-only; dvi-bhuja-two hands; narayana-rupe-in the form
>|of Lord Narayana; sei-that; tanu-body; catuh-bhuja-four-
>|handed; sankha-cakra-conchshell and disc; gada-club; padma-
>|lotus flower; maha-very great; aisvarya-maya-full of
>|opulence; sri-named sri; bhu-named bhu; nila-named nila;
>|sakti-energies; yanra-whose; carana sevaya-serve the lotus
>|feet.
337|TRANSLATION
338|Krsna's own form has only two hands, but in the form of
>|Lord Narayana He has four hands. Lord Narayana holds a
>|conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower, and He is full of
>|great opulence. The sri, bhu and nila energies serve at His
>|lotus feet.
339|PURPORT
340|In the Ramanuja and Madhva sects of Vaisnavism there are
>|extensive descriptions of the sri, bhu and nila energies.
>|In Bengal the nila energy is sometimes called the lila
>|energy. These three energies are employed in the service of
>|four-handed Narayana in Vaikuntha. Relating how three of
>|the Alwars, namely Bhuta-yogi, Sara-yogi and Bhranta-yogi,
>|saw Narayana in person when they took shelter at the house
>|of a brahmana in the village of Gehali, the Prapannamrta of
>|the Sri-sampradaya describes Narayana as follows:
341|tarksyadhirudham tadid-ambudabham
342|laksmi-dharam vaksasi pankajaksam
343|hasta-dvaye sobhita-sankha-cakram
344|visnum dadrsur bhagavantam adyam
345|a-janu-bahum kamaniya-gatram
346|parsva-dvaye sobhita-bhumi-nilam
347|pitambaram bhusana-bhusitangam
348|catur-bhujam candana-rusitangam
349|"They saw the lotus-eyed Lord Visnu, the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, mounted on Garuda and holding
>|Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, to His chest. He resembled
>|a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of
>|His four hands He held a conchshell and disc. His arms
>|stretched down to His knees, and all His beautiful limbs
>|were smeared with sandalwood and decorated with glittering
>|ornaments. He wore yellow clothes, and by either side stood
>|His energies Bhumi and Nila."
350|There is the following reference to the sri, bhu and nila
>|energies in the Sitopanisad: maha-laksmir devesasya
>|bhinnabhinna-rupa cetanacetanatmika. sa devi tri-vidha
>|bhavati, sakty-atmana iccha-saktih kriya-saktih saksac-
>|chaktir iti. iccha-saktis tri-vidha bhavati, sri-bhumi-
>|nilatmika. "Maha-Laksmi, the supreme energy of the Lord, is
>|experienced in different ways. She is divided into material
>|and spiritual potencies, and in both features she acts as
>|the willing energy, creative energy and the internal energy.
>| The willing energy is again divided into three, namely sri,
>| bhu and nila."
351|Quoting from the revealed scriptures in his commentary on
>|the Bhagavad-gita (4.6), Madhvacarya has stated that mother
>|material nature, which is conceived of as the illusory
>|energy, Durga, has three divisions, namely sri, bhu and
>|nila. She is the illusory energy for those who are weak in
>|spiritual strength because such energies are created
>|energies of Lord Visnu. Although each energy has no direct
>|relationship with the unlimited, they are subordinate to
>|the Lord because the Lord is the master of all energies.
352|In his Bhagavat-sandarbha (Part 23 , Texts 8-9), Srila Jiva
>|Gosvami Prabhu states : "The Padma Purana refers to the
>|eternally auspicious abode of Godhead, which is full in all
>|opulences, including the energies sri, bhu and nila. The
>|Maha-samhita, which discusses the transcendental name and
>|form of Godhead, also mentions Durga as the potency of the
>|Supersoul in relationship with the living entities. The
>|internal potency acts in relation with His personal affairs,
>| and the material potency manifests the three modes."
>|Quoting elsewhere from the revealed scriptures, he states
>|that sri is the energy of Godhead that maintains the cosmic
>|manifestation, bhu is the energy that creates the cosmic
>|manifestation, and nila, Durga, is the energy that destroys
>|the creation. All these energies act in relation with the
>|living beings, and thus they are together called jiva-maya.
353|Adi 5.29
354|TEXT 29
355|TEXT
356|yadyapi kevala tanra krida-matra dharma
357|tathapi jivere krpaya kare eka karma
358|SYNONYMS
359|yadyapi-although; kevala-only; tanra-His; krida-matra-
>|pastime only; dharma-characteristic function; tathapi-still;
>| jivere-to the fallen souls; krpaya-by the causeless mercy;
>|kare-does; eka-one; karma-activity.
360|TRANSLATION
361|Although His pastimes are His only characteristic functions,
>| by His causeless mercy He performs one activity for the
>|fallen souls.
362|Adi 5.30
363|TEXT 30
364|TEXT
365|salokya-samipya-sarsti-sarupya-prakara
366|cari mukti diya kare jivera nistara
367|SYNONYMS
368|salokya-the liberation called salokya; samipya-the
>|liberation called samipya; sarsti-the liberation called
>|sarsti; sarupya-the liberation called sarupya; prakara-
>|varieties; cari-four; mukti-liberation; diya-giving; kare-
>|does; jivera-of the fallen souls; nistara-deliverance.
369|TRANSLATION
370|He delivers the fallen living entities by offering them the
>|four kinds of liberation-salokya, samipya, sarsti and
>|sarupya.
371|PURPORT
372|There are two kinds of liberated souls-those who are
>|liberated by the favor of the Lord and those who are
>|liberated by their own effort. One who gets liberation by
>|his own effort is called an impersonalist, and he merges
>|in the glaring effulgence of the Lord, the brahmajyoti.
>|But devotees of the Lord who qualify themselves for
>|liberation by devotional service are offered four kinds of
>|liberation, namely salokya (status equal to that of the
>|Lord), samipya (constant association with the Lord), sarsti
>|(opulence equal to that of the Lord) and sarupya (features
>|like those of the Lord).
373|Adi 5.31
374|TEXT 31
375|TEXT
376|brahma-sayujya-muktera taha nahi gati
377|vaikuntha-bahire haya ta'-sabara sthiti
378|SYNONYMS
379|brahma-sayujya-of merging into the Supreme Brahman; muktera-
>|of the liberation; taha-there (in Vaikuntha); nahi-not;
>|gati-entrance; vaikuntha-bahire-outside the Vaikuntha
>|planets; haya-there is; ta'-sabara sthiti-the residence of
>|all of them.
380|TRANSLATION
381|Those who attain brahma-sayujya liberation cannot gain
>|entrance into Vaikuntha; their residence is outside the
>|Vaikuntha planets.
382|Adi 5.32
383|TEXT 32
384|TEXT
385|vaikuntha-bahire eka jyotir-maya mandala
386|krsnera angera prabha, parama ujjvala
387|SYNONYMS
388|vaikuntha-bahire-outside the Vaikunthalokas; eka-one;
>|jyotih-maya mandala-the atmosphere of the glowing
>|effulgence; krsnera-of Lord Krsna; angera-of the body;
>|prabha-rays; parama-supremely; ujjvala-bright.
389|TRANSLATION
390|Outside the Vaikuntha planets is the atmosphere of the
>|glowing effulgence, which consists of the supremely bright
>|rays of the body of Lord Krsna.
391|Adi 5.33
392|TEXT 33
393|TEXT
394|'siddha-loka' nama tara prakrtira para
395|cit-svarupa, tanha nahi cic-chakti vikara
396|SYNONYMS
397|'siddha-loka'-the region of the Siddhas; nama-named; tara-
>|of the effulgent atmosphere; prakrtira para-beyond this
>|material nature; cit-svarupa-full of knowledge; tanha-there;
>| nahi-there is not; cit-sakti-vikara-change of the
>|spiritual energy.
398|TRANSLATION
399|That region is called Siddhaloka, and it is beyond the
>|material nature. Its essence is spiritual, but it does not
>|have spiritual varieties.
400|Adi 5.34
401|TEXT 34
402|TEXT
403|surya-mandala yena bahire nirvisesa
404|bhitare suryera ratha-adi savisesa
405|SYNONYMS
406|surya-mandala-the sun globe; yena-like; bahire-externally;
>|nirvisesa-with out varieties; bhitare-within; suryera-of
>|the sun-god; ratha-adi-opulences like chariots and other
>|things; sa-visesa-full of varieties.
407|TRANSLATION
408|It is like the homogeneous effulgence around the sun. But
>|inside the sun are the chariots, horses and other opulences
>|of the sun-god.
409|PURPORT
410|Outside of Vaikuntha, the abode of Krsna, which is called
>|paravyoma, is the glaring effulgence of Krsna's bodily rays.
>| This is called the brahmajyoti. The transcendental region
>|of that effulgence is called Siddhaloka or Brahmaloka. When
>|impersonalists achieve liberation, they merge into that
>|Brahmaloka effulgence. This transcendental region is
>|undoubtedly spiritual, but it contains no manifestations of
>|spiritual activities or variegatedness. It is compared to
>|the glow of the sun. Within the sun's glow is the sphere of
>|the sun, where one can experience all sorts of varieties.
411|Adi 5.35
412|TEXT 35
413|TEXT
414|kamad dvesad bhayat snehad
415|yatha bhaktyesvare manah
416|avesya tad agham hitva
417|bahavas tad gatim gatah
418|SYNONYMS
419|kamat-influenced by lusty desire; dvesat-by envy; bhayat-by
>|fear; snehat-or by affection; yatha-as; bhaktya-by devotion;
>| isvare-in the Supreme Personality of Godhead; manah-the
>|mind; avesya-fully absorbing; tat-that; agham-sinful
>|activity; hitva-giving up; bahavah-many; tat-that; gatim-
>|destination; gatah-achieved.
420|TRANSLATION
421|"As through devotion to the Lord one can attain His abode,
>|many have attained that goal by abandoning their sinful
>|activities and absorbing their minds in the Lord through
>|lust, envy, fear or affection."
422|PURPORT
423|As the powerful sun, by its glowing rays, can purify all
>|kinds of impurities, so the all-spiritual Personality of
>|Godhead can purify all material qualities in a person He
>|attracts. Even if one is attracted by Godhead in the mode
>|of material lust, such attraction is converted into
>|spiritual love of Godhead by His grace. Similarly, if one
>|is related to the Lord in fear and animosity, he also
>|becomes purified by the spiritual attraction of the Lord.
>|Although God is great and the living entity small, they are
>|spiritual individuals, and therefore as soon as there is a
>|reciprocal exchange by the living entity's free will, at
>|once the great spiritual being attracts the small living
>|entity, thus freeing him from all material bondage. This is
>|a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.1.30).
424|Adi 5.36
425|TEXT 36
426|TEXT
427|yad arinam priyanam ca
428|prapyam ekam ivoditam
429|tad brahma-krsnayor aikyat
430|kiranarkopama-jusoh
431|SYNONYMS
432|yat-that; arinam-of the enemies of the Supreme Personality
>|of Godhead; priyanam-of the devotees, who are very dear to
>|the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ca-and; prapyam-
>|destination; ekam-one only; iva-thus; uditam-said; tat-that;
>| brahma-of impersonal Brahman; krsnayoh-and of Krsna, the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead; aikyat-due to the oneness;
>|kirana-the sunshine; arka-and the sun; upama-the comparison;
>| jusoh-which is understood by.
433|TRANSLATION
434|"Where it has been stated that the Lord's enemies and
>|devotees attain the same destination, this refers to the
>|ultimate oneness of Brahman and Lord Krsna. This may be
>|understood by the example of the sun and the sunshine, in
>|which Brahman is like the sunshine and Krsna Himself is
>|like the sun."
435|PURPORT
436|This verse is from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.278) of
>|Srila Rupa Gosvami, who further discusses this same topic
>|in his Laghu-bhagavatamrta (Purva 5.41). There he refers to
>|the Visnu Purana (4.15.1), where Maitreya Muni asked
>|Parasara, in regard to Jaya and Vijaya, how it was that
>|Hiranyakasipu next became Ravana and enjoyed more material
>|happiness than the demigods but did not attain salvation,
>|although when he became Sisupala, quarreled with Krsna and
>|was killed, he attained salvation and merged into the body
>|of Lord Krsna. Parasara replied that Hiranyakasipu failed
>|to recognize Lord Nrsimhadeva as Lord Visnu. He thought
>|that Nrsimhadeva was some living entity who had acquired
>|such opulence by various pious activities. Being overcome
>|by the mode of passion, he considered Lord Nrsimhadeva an
>|ordinary living entity, not understanding His form.
>|Nevertheless, because Hiranyakasipu was killed by the hands
>|of Lord Nrsimhadeva, in his next life he became Ravana and
>|had proprietorship of unlimited opulence. As Ravana, with
>|unlimited material enjoyment, he could not accept Lord Rama
>|as the Personality of Godhead. Therefore even though he was
>|killed by Rama, he did not attain sayujya, or oneness with
>|the body of the Lord. In his Ravana body he was too much
>|attracted to Rama's wife, Janaki, and because of that
>|attraction he was able to see Lord Rama. But instead of
>|accepting Lord Rama as an incarnation of Visnu, Ravana
>|thought Him an ordinary living being. When killed by the
>|hands of Rama, therefore, he got the privilege of taking
>|birth as Sisupala, who had such immense opulence that he
>|could think himself a competitor to Krsna. Although
>|Sisupala was always envious of Krsna, he frequently uttered
>|the name of Krsna and always thought of the beautiful
>|features of Krsna. Thus by constantly thinking and chanting
>|of Krsna, even unfavorably, he was cleansed of the
>|contamination of his sinful activities. When Sisupala was
>|killed by the Sudarsana cakra of Krsna as an enemy, his
>|constant remembrance of Krsna dissolved the reactions of
>|his vices, and he attained salvation by becoming one with
>|the body of the Lord.
437|From this incident one can understand that even a person
>|who thinks of Krsna as an enemy and is killed by Him may be
>|liberated by becoming one with the body of Krsna. What then
>|must be the destination of devotees who always think
>|favorably of Krsna as their master or friend? These
>|devotees must attain a situation better than Brahmaloka,
>|the impersonal bodily effulgence of Krsna. Devotees cannot
>|be situated in the impersonal Brahman effulgence, into
>|which impersonalists desire to merge. The devotees are
>|placed in Vaikunthaloka or Krsnaloka.
438|This discussion between Maitreya Muni and Parasara Muni
>|centered on whether devotees come down into the material
>|world in every millennium like Jaya and Vijaya, who were
>|cursed by the Kumaras to that effect. In the course of
>|these instructions to Maitreya about Hiranyakasipu, Ravana
>|and Sisupala, Parasara did not say that these demons were
>|formerly Jaya and Vijaya. He simply described the
>|transmigration through three lives. It is not necessary for
>|the Vaikuntha associates of the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead to come to take the roles of His enemies in all the
>|millenniums in which He appears. The "falldown" of Jaya and
>|Vijaya occurred in a particular millennium; Jaya and Vijaya
>|do not come down in every millennium to act as demons. To
>|think that some associates of the Lord fall down from
>|Vaikuntha in every millennium to become demons is totally
>|incorrect.
439|The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all the tendencies
>|that may be found in the living entity, for He is the chief
>|living entity. Therefore it is natural that sometimes Lord
>|Visnu wants to fight. Just as He has the tendencies to
>|create, to enjoy, to be a friend, to accept a mother and
>|father, and so on, He also has the tendency to fight.
>|Sometimes important landlords and kings keep wrestlers with
>|whom they practice mock fighting, and Visnu makes similar
>|arrangements. The demons who fight with the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead in the material world are sometimes
>|His associates. When there is a scarcity of demons and the
>|Lord wants to fight, He instigates some of His associates
>|of Vaikuntha to come and play as demons. When it is said
>|that Sisupala merged into the body of Krsna, it should be
>|noted that in this case he was not Jaya or Vijaya; he was
>|actually a demon.
440|In his Brhad-bhagavatamrta, Srila Sanatana Gosvami has
>|explained that the attainment of salvation by merging into
>|the Brahman effulgence of the Lord cannot be accepted as
>|the highest success in life, because demons like Kamsa, who
>|were famous for killing brahmanas and cows, attained that
>|salvation. For devotees such salvation is abominable.
>|Devotees are actually in a transcendental position, whereas
>|nondevotees are candidates for hellish conditions of life.
>|There is always a difference between the life of a devotee
>|and the life of a demon, and their realizations are as
>|different as heaven and hell.
441|Demons are always accustomed to be malicious toward
>|devotees and to kill brahmanas and cows. For demons,
>|merging in the Brahman effulgence may be very glorious,
>|but for devotees it is hellish. A devotee's aim in life is
>|to attain perfection in loving the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead. Those who aspire to merge into the Brahman
>|effulgence are as abominable as demons. Devotees who aspire
>|to associate with the Supreme Lord to render Him
>|transcendental loving service are far superior.
442|Adi 5.37
443|TEXT 37
444|TEXT
445|taiche para-vyome nana cic-chakti-vilasa
446|nirvisesa jyotir-bimba bahire prakasa
447|SYNONYMS
448|taiche-in that way; para-vyome-in the spiritual sky; nana-
>|varieties; cit-sakti-vilasa-pastimes of spiritual energy;
>|nirvisesa-impersonal; jyotih-of the effulgence; bimba-
>|reflection; bahire-externally; prakasa-manifested.
449|TRANSLATION
450|Thus in the spiritual sky there are varieties of pastimes
>|within the spiritual energy. Outside the Vaikuntha planets
>|appears the impersonal reflection of light.
451|Adi 5.38
452|TEXT 38
453|TEXT
454|nirvisesa-brahma sei kevala jyotir-maya
455|sayujyera adhikari tanha paya laya
456|SYNONYMS
457|nirvisesa-brahma-the impersonal Brahman effulgence; sei-
>|that; kevala-only; jyotih-maya-effulgent rays; sayujyera-
>|the liberation called sayujya (oneness with the Supreme);
>|adhikari-one who is fit for; tanha-there (in the impersonal
>|Brahman effulgence); paya-gets; laya-merging.
458|TRANSLATION
459|That impersonal Brahman effulgence consists only of the
>|effulgent rays of the Lord. Those fit for sayujya
>|liberation merge into that effulgence.
460|Adi 5.39
461|TEXT 39
462|TEXT
463|siddha-lokas tu tamasah
464|pare yatra vasanti hi
465|siddha brahma-sukhe magna
466|daityas ca harina hatah
467|SYNONYMS
468|siddha-lokah-Siddhaloka, or impersonal Brahman; tu-but;
>|tamasah-of darkness; pare-beyond the jurisdiction; yatra-
>|where; vasanti-reside; hi-certainly; siddhah-the
>|spiritually perfect; brahma-sukhe-in the transcendental
>|bliss of becoming one with the Supreme; magnah-absorbed;
>|daityah ca-as well as the demons; harina-by the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead; hatah-killed.
469|TRANSLATION
470|"Beyond the region of ignorance [the material cosmic
>|manifestation] lies the realm of Siddhaloka. The Siddhas
>|reside there, absorbed in the bliss of Brahman. Demons
>|killed by the Lord also attain that realm."
471|PURPORT
472|Tamas means darkness. The material world is dark, and
>|beyond the material world is light. In other words, after
>|passing through the entire material atmosphere, one can
>|come to the luminous spiritual sky, whose impersonal
>|effulgence is known as Siddhaloka. Mayavadi philosophers
>|who aspire to merge with the body of the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, as well as demoniac persons who are
>|killed by Krsna, such as Kamsa and Sisupala, enter that
>|Brahman effulgence. Yogis who attain oneness through
>|meditation according to the Patanjali yoga system also
>|reach Siddhaloka. This is a verse from the Brahmanda Purana.
473|Adi 5.40
474|TEXT 40
475|TEXT
476|sei para-vyome narayanera cari pase
477|dvaraka-catur-vyuhera dvitiya prakase
478|SYNONYMS
479|sei-that; para-vyome-in the spiritual sky; narayanera-of
>|Lord Narayana; cari pase-on four sides; dvaraka-Dvaraka;
>|catur-vyuhera-of the quadruple expansions; dvitiya-the
>|second; prakase-manifestation.
480|TRANSLATION
481|In that spiritual sky, on the four sides of Narayana, are
>|the second expansions of the quadruple expansions of
>|Dvaraka.
482|PURPORT
483|Within the spiritual sky is a second manifestation of the
>|quadruple forms of Dvaraka from the abode of Krsna. Among
>|these forms, which are all spiritual and immune to the
>|material modes, Sri Baladeva is represented as Maha-
>|sankarsana.
484|The actions in the spiritual sky are manifested by the
>|internal potency in pure spiritual existence. They expand
>|in six transcendental opulences, which are all
>|manifestations of Maha-sankarsana, who is the ultimate
>|reservoir and objective of all living entities. Although
>|belonging to the marginal potency known as jiva-sakti,
>|the spiritual sparks known as the living entities are
>|subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is
>|because these sparks are related with both the internal and
>|external potencies of the Lord that they are known as
>|belonging to the marginal potency.
485|In considering the quadruple forms of the absolute
>|Personality of Godhead, known as Vasudeva, Sankarsana,
>|Pradyumna and Aniruddha, the impersonalists, headed by
>|Sripada Sankaracarya, have interpreted the aphorisms of the
>|Vedanta-sutra in a way suitable for the impersonalist
>|school. To provide the intrinsic import of such aphorisms,
>|however, Srila Rupa Gosvami, the leader of the six Gosvamis
>|of Vrndavana, has properly replied to the impersonalists in
>|his Laghu-bhagavatamrta, which is a natural commentary on
>|the aphorisms of the Vedanta-sutra.
486|The Padma Purana, as quoted by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his
>|Laghu-bhagavatamrta, describes that in the spiritual sky
>|there are four directions, corresponding to east, west,
>|north and south, in which Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha
>|and Pradyumna are situated. The same forms are also
>|situated in the material sky. The Padma Purana also
>|describes a place in the spiritual sky known as Vedavati-
>|pura, where Vasudeva resides. In Visnuloka, which is above
>|Satyaloka, Sankarsana resides. Maha-sankarsana is another
>|name of Sankarsana. Pradyumna lives in Dvaraka-pura, and
>|Aniruddha lies on the eternal bed of Sesa, generally known
>|as ananta-sayya, on the island called Svetadvipa, in the
>|ocean of milk.
487|Adi 5.41
488|TEXT 41
489|TEXT
490|vasudeva-sankarsana-pradyumnaniruddha
491|'dvitiya catur-vyuha' ei-turiya, visuddha
492|SYNONYMS
493|vasudeva-the expansion named Vasudeva; sankarsana-the
>|expansion named Sankarsana; pradyumna-the expansion named
>|Pradyumna; aniruddha-the expansion named Aniruddha; dvitiya
>|catuh-vyuha-the second quadruple expansion; ei-this; turiya-
>|transcendental; visuddha-free from all material
>|contamination.
494|TRANSLATION
495|Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha constitute
>|this second quadruple. They are purely transcendental.
496|PURPORT
497|Sripada Sankaracarya has misleadingly explained the
>|quadruple form (catur-vyuha) in his interpretation of the
>|forty-second aphorism of Chapter Two of the second khanda
>|of the Vedanta-sutra (utpatty-asambhavat). In verses 41
>|through 47 of this chapter of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta,
>|Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami answers Sripada
>|Sankaracarya's misleading objections to the personal
>|feature of the Absolute Truth.
498|The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is
>|not like a material object that can be known by
>|experimental knowledge or sense perception. In the Narada-
>|pancaratra this fact has been explained by Narayana Himself
>|to Lord Siva. But Sankaracarya, the incarnation of Siva,
>|under the order of Narayana, his master, had to mislead the
>|monists, who favor ultimate extinction. In the conditioned
>|stage of existence, all living entities have four basic
>|defects, of which one is the cheating propensity.
>|Sankaracarya has carried this cheating propensity to the
>|extreme to mislead the monists.
499|Actually, the quadruple forms explained
>|in the Vedic literature cannot be understood by the
>|speculation of a conditioned soul. The quadruple forms
>|should therefore be accepted just as They are described.
>|The authority of the Vedas is such that even if one does
>|not understand something by his limited perception, he
>|should accept the Vedic injunction and not create
>|interpretations to suit his imperfect understanding. In his
>|Sariraka-bhasya, however, Sankaracarya has increased the
>|misunderstanding of the monists.
500|The quadruple forms have a spiritual existence that can be
>|realized in vasudeva-sattva (suddha-sattva), or unqualified
>|goodness, which accompanies complete absorption in the
>|understanding of Vasudeva. The quadruple forms, who are
>|full of the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead, are the enjoyers of the internal potency. Thinking
>|the absolute Personality of Godhead to be poverty-stricken
>|or to have no potency-or, in other words, to be impotent-is
>|simply rascaldom. This rascaldom is the profession of the
>|conditioned soul, and it increases his bewilderment. One
>|who cannot understand the distinctions between the
>|spiritual world and the material world has no qualification
>|to examine or know the situation of the transcendental
>|quadruple forms. In his commentary on Vedanta-sutra 2.2.42 -
>|45, His Holiness Sripada Sankaracarya has made a futile
>|attempt to nullify the existence of these quadruple forms
>|in the spiritual world.
501|Sankaracarya says (sutra 42) that devotees think the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead Vasudeva, Sri Krsna, to be
>|one, to be free from material qualities and to have a
>|transcendental body full of bliss and eternal existence. He
>|is the ultimate goal of the devotees, who believe that the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four
>|other eternal transcendental forms-Vasudeva, Sankarsana,
>|Pradyumna and Aniruddha. From Vasudeva, who is the primary
>|expansion, come Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha in that
>|order. Another name of Vasudeva is Paramatma, another name
>|of Sankarsana is jiva (the living entity), another name of
>|Pradyumna is mind, and another name of Aniruddha is
>|ahankara (false ego). Among these expansions, Vasudeva is
>|considered the origin of material nature. Therefore
>|Sankaracarya says that Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha
>|must be creations of that original cause.
502|Great souls assert that Narayana, who is known as
>|Paramatma, the Supersoul, is beyond material nature, and
>|this is in accordance with the statements of the Vedic
>|literature. Mayavadis also agree that Narayana can expand
>|Himself in various forms. Sankara says that he does not
>|attempt to argue that portion of the devotees'
>|understanding, but he must protest the idea that Sankarsana
>|is produced from Vasudeva, Pradyumna is produced from
>|Sankarsana, and Aniruddha is produced from Pradyumna, for
>|if Sankarsana is understood to represent the living
>|entities created from the body of Vasudeva, the living
>|entities would have to be noneternal. The living entities
>|are supposed to be freed from material contamination by
>|engaging in prolonged temple worship of the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, reading Vedic literature and
>|performing yoga and pious activities to attain the Supreme
>|Lord. But if the living entities had been created from
>|material nature at a certain point, they would be
>|noneternal and would have no chance to be liberated and
>|associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a
>|cause is nullified, its results are nullified. In the
>|second chapter of the Vedanta-sutra's second khanda, Acarya
>|Vedavyasa has also refuted the conception that the living
>|beings were ever born (natma sruter nityatvac ca tabhyah).
>|Because there is no creation for the living entities, they
>|must be eternal.
503|Sankaracarya says (sutra 43) that devotees think that
>|Pradyumna, who is considered to represent the senses, has
>|sprung from Sankarsana, who is considered to represent the
>|living entities. But we cannot actually experience that a
>|person can produce senses. Devotees also say that from
>|Pradyumna has sprung Aniruddha, who is considered to
>|represent the ego. But Sankaracarya says that unless the
>|devotees can show how ego and the means of knowledge can
>|generate from a person, such an explanation of the Vedanta-
>|sutra cannot be accepted, for no other philosophers accept
>|the sutras in that way.
504|Sankaracarya also says (sutra 44) that he cannot accept the
>|devotees' idea that Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are
>|equally as powerful as the absolute Personality of Godhead,
>|full in the six opulences of knowledge, wealth, strength,
>|fame, beauty and renunciation, and free from the flaw of
>|generation at a certain point. Even if They are full
>|expansions, the flaw of generation remains. Vasudeva,
>|Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, being distinct
>|individual persons, cannot be one. Therefore if They are
>|accepted as absolute, full and equal, there would have to
>|be many Personalities of Godhead. But there is no need to
>|accept that there are many Personalities of Godhead,
>|because acceptance of one omnipotent God is sufficient for
>|all purposes. The acceptance of more than one God is
>|contradictory to the conclusion that Lord Vasudeva, the
>|absolute Personality of Godhead, is one without a second.
>|Even if we agree to accept that the quadruple forms of
>|Godhead are all identical, we cannot avoid the incongruous
>|flaw of noneternity. Unless we accept that there are some
>|differences among the personalities, there is no meaning to
>|the idea that Sankarsana is an expansion of Vasudeva,
>|Pradyumna is an expansion of Sankarsana, and Aniruddha is
>|an expansion of Pradyumna. There must be a distinction
>|between cause and effect. For example, a pot is distinct
>|from the earth from which it is made, and therefore we can
>|ascertain that the earth is the cause and the pot is the
>|effect. Without such distinctions, there is no meaning to
>|cause and effect. Furthermore, the followers of the
>|Pancaratric principles do not accept any differences in
>|knowledge and qualities between Vasudeva, Sankarsana,
>|Pradyumna and Aniruddha. The devotees accept all these
>|expansions to be one, but why should they restrict oneness
>|to these quadruple expansions? Certainly we should not do
>|so, for all living entities, from Brahma to the
>|insignificant ant, are expansions of Vasudeva, as accepted
>|in all the srutis and smrtis.
505|Sankaracarya also says (sutra 45) that the devotees who
>|follow the Pancaratra state that God's qualities and God
>|Himself, as the owner of the qualities, are the same. But
>|how can the Bhagavata school state that the six opulences-
>|wisdom, wealth, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation-are
>|identical with Lord Vasudeva? This is impossible.
506|In his Laghu-bhagavatamrta (Purva 5.165-193), Srila Rupa
>|Gosvami has refuted the charges directed against the
>|devotees by Sripada Sankaracarya regarding their
>|explanation of the quadruple forms Vasudeva, Sankarsana,
>|Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He says that these four
>|expansions of Narayana are present in the spiritual sky,
>|where They are famous as Mahavastha. Among Them, Vasudeva
>|is worshiped within the heart by meditation because He is
>|the predominating Deity of the heart, as explained in
>|Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.3.23).
507|Sankarsana, the second expansion, is Vasudeva's personal
>|expansion for pastimes, and since He is the reservoir of
>|all living entities, He is sometimes called jiva. The
>|beauty of Sankarsana is more than that of innumerable
>|full moons radiating light beams. He is worshipable as the
>|principle of ego. He has invested Anantadeva with all the
>|potencies of sustenance. For the dissolution of the
>|creation, He also exhibits Himself as the Supersoul in
>|Rudra, irreligiosity , sarpa (the snake
>|), Antaka (
>|death) and the demons.
508|Pradyumna, the third manifestation, appears from Sankarsana.
>| Those who are especially intelligent worship this
>|Pradyumna expansion of Sankarsana as the principle of the
>|intelligence. The goddess of fortune always chants the
>|glories of Pradyumna in the place known as Ilavrta-varsa,
>|and she always serves Him with great devotion. His
>|complexion appears sometimes golden and sometimes bluish
>|like new monsoon clouds in the sky. He is the origin of the
>|creation of the material world, and He has invested His
>|creative principle in Cupid. It is by His direction only
>|that all men and demigods and other living entities
>|function with energy for regeneration.
509|Aniruddha, the fourth of the quadruple expansions, is
>|worshiped by great sages and psychologists as the principle
>|of the mind. His complexion is similar to the bluish hue of
>|a blue cloud. He engages in the maintenance of the cosmic
>|manifestation and is the Supersoul of Dharma (the deity of
>|religiosity), the Manus (the progenitors of mankind) and
>|the devatas (demigods). The Moksa-dharma Vedic scripture
>|indicates that Pradyumna is the Deity of the total mind,
>|whereas Aniruddha is the Deity of the total ego, but
>|previous statements regarding the quadruple forms are
>|confirmed in the Pancaratra tantras in all respects.
510|In the Laghu-bhagavatamrta (Purva 5.86-100), there is a
>|lucid explanation of the inconceivable potencies of the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead. Negating Sankaracarya's
>|statements, the Maha-varaha Purana declares:
511|sarve nityah sasvatas ca
512|dehas tasya paratmanah
513|hanopadana-rahita
514|naiva prakrti-jah kvacit
515|"All the varied expansions of the Personality of Godhead
>|are transcendental and eternal, and all of them repeatedly
>|descend to all the different universes of the material
>|creation. Their bodies, composed of eternity, bliss and
>|knowledge, are everlasting; there is no chance of their
>|decaying, for they are not creations of the material world.
>|Their forms are concentrated spiritual existence, always
>|complete with all spiritual qualities and devoid of
>|material contamination."
516|Confirming these statements, the Narada-pancaratra asserts:
517|manir yatha vibhagena
518|nila- pitadibhir yutah
519|rupa-bhedam avapnoti
520|dhyana-bhedat tathacyutah
521|"The infallible Personality of Godhead can manifest His
>|body in different ways according to different modes of
>|worship, just as the vaidurya gem can manifest itself in
>|various colors, such as blue and yellow." Each incarnation
>|is distinct from all the others. This is possible by the
>|Lord's inconceivable potency, by which He can
>|simultaneously represent Himself as one, as various partial
>|forms and as the origin of these partial forms. Nothing is
>|impossible for His inconceivable potencies.
522|Krsna is one without a second, but He manifests Himself in
>|different bodies, as stated by Narada in the Tenth Canto of
>|Srimad-Bhagavatam:
523|citram bataitad ekena
524|vapusa yugapat prthak
525|grhesu dvy - asta- sahasram
>|
>|
>|
526|striya eka udavahat
527|"It is wonderful indeed that one Krsna has
>|simultaneously become different Krsnas in 16,000 palaces to
>|accept 16,000 queens as His wives." (Bhag. 10.69.2) The
>|Padma Purana also explains:
528|sa devo bahudha bhutva
529|nirgunah purusottamah
530|eki-bhuya punah sete
531|nirdoso harir adi-krt
532|"The same Personality of Godhead, Purusottama, the original
>|person, who is always devoid of material qualities and
>|contamination, can exhibit Himself in various forms and at
>|the same time lie down in one form."
533|In the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, yajanti
>|tvan-mayas tvam vai bahu-murty-eka-murtikam: "O my Lord,
>|although You manifest Yourself in varieties of forms, You
>|are one without a second. Therefore pure devotees
>|concentrate upon You and worship only You." (Bhag . 10.40.7)
>| In the Kurma Purana it is said:
534|asthulas cananus caiva
535|sthulo 'nus caiva sarvatah
536|avarnah sarvatah proktah
537|syamo raktanta-locanah
538|"The Lord is personal although impersonal, He is atomic
>|although great, and He is blackish and has red eyes
>|although He is colorless." By material calculation all this
>|may appear contradictory, but if we understand that the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead has inconceivable potencies,
>|we can accept these facts as eternally possible in Him. In
>|our present condition we cannot understand the spiritual
>|activities and how they occur, but although they are
>|inconceivable in the material context, we should not
>|disregard such contradictory conceptions.
539|Although it is apparently inconceivable, it is quite
>|possible for the Absolute to reconcile all opposing
>|elements. Srimad-Bhagavatam establishes this in the Sixth
>|Canto (6.9.34-37):
540|"O my Lord, Your transcendental pastimes and enjoyments all
>|appear inconceivable because they are not limited by the
>|causal and effective actions of material thought. You can
>|do everything without performing bodily work. The Vedas say
>|that the Absolute Truth has multifarious potencies and does
>|not need to do anything personally. My dear Lord, You are
>|entirely devoid of material qualities. Without anyone's
>|help, You can create, maintain and dissolve the entire
>|qualitative material manifestation, yet in all such
>|activities You do not change. You do not accept the results
>|of Your activities, unlike ordinary demons and demigods,
>|who suffer or enjoy the reactions of their activities in
>|the material world. Unaffected by the reactions of work,
>|You eternally exist with Your full spiritual potency. This
>|we cannot fully understand.
541|"Because You are unlimited in Your six opulences, no one
>|can count Your transcendental qualities. Philosophers and
>|other thoughtful persons are overwhelmed by the
>|contradictory manifestations of the physical world and the
>|propositions of logical arguments and judgments. Because
>|they are bewildered by word jugglery and disturbed by the
>|different calculations of the scriptures, their theories
>|cannot touch You, who are the ruler and controller of
>|everyone and whose glories are beyond conception.
542|"Your inconceivable potency keeps You unattached to the
>|mundane qualities. Surpassing all conceptions of material
>|contemplation, Your pure transcendental knowledge keeps You
>|beyond all speculative processes. By Your inconceivable
>|potency, there is nothing contradictory in You.
543|"People may sometimes think of You as impersonal or
>|personal, but You are one. For persons who are confused or
>|bewildered, a rope may manifest itself as
>|different kinds of snakes. For similar confused persons who
>|are uncertain about You, You create various philosophical
>|methods in pursuance of their uncertain positions."
544|We should always remember the differences between spiritual
>|and material actions. The Supreme Lord, being all-spiritual,
>| can perform any act without extraneous help. In the
>|material world, if we want to manufacture an earthen pot,
>|we need the ingredients, a machine and also a laborer. But
>|we should not extend this idea to the actions of the
>|Supreme Lord, for He can create anything in a moment
>|without that which appears necessary in our own conception.
>|When the Lord appears as an incarnation to fulfill a
>|particular purpose, this does not indicate that He is
>|unable to fulfill it without appearing. He can do anything
>|simply by His will, but by His causeless mercy He appears
>|to be dependent upon His devotees. He appears as the son of
>|Yasodamata not because He is dependent on her care but
>|because He accepts such a role by His causeless mercy. When
>|He appears for the protection of His devotees, He naturally
>|accepts trials and tribulations on their behalf.
545|In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that the Lord, being
>|equally disposed toward every living being, has no enemies
>|and no friends but He has special affection for a
>|devotee who always thinks of Him in love. Therefore
>|neutrality and partiality are both among the transcendental
>|qualities of the Lord, and they are properly adjusted by
>|His inconceivable energy. The Lord is Parabrahman, or the
>|source of the impersonal Brahma, which is His all-pervading
>|feature of neutrality. In His personal feature, however, as
>|the owner of all transcendental opulences, the Lord
>|displays His partiality by taking the side of His devotees.
>|Partiality, neutrality and all such qualities are present
>|in God; otherwise they could not be experienced in the
>|creation. Since He is the total existence, all things are
>|properly adjusted in the Absolute. In the relative world
>|such qualities are displayed in a perverted manner, and
>|therefore we experience nonduality as a perverted
>|reflection. Because there is no logic to explain how things
>|happen in the realm of spirit, the Lord is sometimes
>|described as being beyond the range of experience. But if
>|we simply accept the Lord's inconceivability, we can then
>|adjust all things in Him. Nondevotees cannot understand the
>|Lord's inconceivable energy, and consequently for them it
>|is said that He is beyond the range of conceivable
>|expression. The author of the Brahma-sutras accepts this
>|fact and says, srutes tu sabda-mulatvat: the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, being inconceivable to an ordinary
>|man, can be understood only through the evidence of the
>|Vedic injunctions. The Skanda Purana confirms, acintyah
>|khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet: "Matters
>|inconceivable to a common man should not be a subject for
>|argument." We find very wonderful qualities even in
>|material jewels and drugs. Indeed, their
>|qualities often appear inconceivable. Therefore if we do
>|not attribute inconceivable potencies to the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, we cannot establish His supremacy.
>|It is because of these inconceivable potencies that the
>|glories of the Lord have always been accepted as difficult
>|to understand.
546|Ignorance and the jugglery of words are very common in
>|human society, but they do not help one understand the
>|inconceivable energies of the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead. If we accept such ignorance and word jugglery, we
>|cannot accept the Supreme Lord's perfection in six
>|opulences. For example, one of the opulences of the Supreme
>|Lord is complete knowledge. Therefore, how could ignorance
>|be conceivable in Him? Vedic instructions and sensible
>|arguments establish that the Lord's maintaining the cosmic
>|manifestation and simultaneously being indifferent to the
>|activities of its maintenance cannot be contradictory,
>|because of His inconceivable energies. To a person who is
>|always absorbed in the thought of snakes, a rope always
>|appears to be a snake, and similarly to a person bewildered
>|by material qualities and devoid of knowledge of the
>|Absolute, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears
>|according to diverse bewildered conclusions.
547|Someone might argue that the Absolute would be affected by
>|duality if He were both all-cognizance (Brahman) and the
>|Personality of Godhead with six opulences in full (Bhagavan)
>|. To refute such an argument, the aphorism svarupa-dvayam
>|iksyate declares that in spite of appearances, there is no
>|chance of duality in the Absolute, for He is but one in
>|diverse manifestations. Understanding that the Absolute
>|displays varied pastimes by the influence of His energies
>|at once removes the apparent incongruity of His
>|inconceivably opposite energies. Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.4.16)
>|gives the following description of the inconceivable
>|potency of the Lord:
548|karmany anihasya bhavo 'bhavasya te
549|durgasrayo 'thari-bhayat palayanam
550|kalatmano yat pramada-yutasrayah
551|svatman-rateh khidyati dhir vidam iha
552|"Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to
>|do, He nevertheless acts; although He is always unborn, He
>|nevertheless takes birth; although He is time, fearful to
>|everyone, He flees Mathura in fear of His enemy to take
>|shelter in a fort; and although He is self-sufficient, He
>|marries 16,000 women. These pastimes seem like bewildering
>|contradictions, even to the most intelligent." Had these
>|activities of the Lord not been a reality, sages would not
>|have been puzzled by them. Therefore such activities should
>|never be considered imaginary. Whenever the Lord desires,
>|His inconceivable energy (yogamaya) serves Him in creating
>|and performing such pastimes.
553|The scriptures known as the Pancaratra-sastras are
>|recognized Vedic scriptures that have been accepted by the
>|great acaryas. These scriptures are not products of the
>|modes of passion and ignorance. Learned scholars and
>|brahmanas therefore always refer to them as satvata-
>|samhitas. The original speaker of these scriptures is
>|Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is
>|especially mentioned in the Moksa-dharma (349.68), which is
>|part of the Santi-parva of the Mahabharata. Liberated sages
>|like Narada and Vyasa, who are free from the four defects
>|of conditioned souls, are the propagators of these
>|scriptures. Sri Narada Muni is the original speaker of the
>|Pancaratra-sastra. Srimad-Bhagavatam is also considered a
>|satvata-samhita. Indeed, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu declared,
>|srimad-bhagavatam puranam amalam: "Srimad-Bhagavatam is a
>|spotless Purana." Malicious editors and scholars who
>|attempt to misrepresent the Pancaratra-sastras to refute
>|their regulations are most abominable. In the modern age,
>|such malicious scholars have even commented misleadingly
>|upon the Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken by Krsna, to prove
>|that there is no Krsna. How the Mayavadis have
>|misrepresented the pancaratrika-vidhi will be shown below.
554|(1) In commenting on Vedanta-sutra 2.2.42, Sripada
>|Sankaracarya has claimed that Sankarsana is a jiva, an
>|ordinary living entity, but there is no evidence in any
>|Vedic scripture that devotees of the Lord have ever said
>|that Sankarsana is an ordinary living entity. He is an
>|infallible plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead in the Visnu category, and He is beyond the
>|creation of material nature. He is the original source of
>|the living entities. The Upanisads declare, nityo nityanam
>|cetanas cetananam: "He is the
>|supreme living entity among all the living entities."
>|Therefore He is vibhu-caitanya, the greatest. He is
>|directly the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the
>|infinitesimal living beings. He is the infinite living
>|entity, and ordinary living entities are infinitesimal.
>|Therefore He is never to be considered an ordinary living
>|being, for that would be against the conclusion of the
>|authorized scriptures. The living entities are also beyond
>|the limitations of birth and death. This is the version of
>|the Vedas, and it is accepted by those who follow
>|scriptural injunctions and who have actually descended in
>|the disciplic succession.
555|(2) In answer to Sankaracarya's commentary on Vedanta-sutra
>|2.2.43, it must be said that the original Visnu of all the
>|Visnu categories, which are distributed in several ways, is
>|Mula-sankarsana. Mula means "the original." Sankarsana is
>|also Visnu, but from Him all other Visnus expand. This is
>|confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, wherein it is said
>|that just as a flame transferred from another flame acts
>|like the original, so the Visnus who emanate from
>|Mulasankarsana are as good as the original Visnu. One
>|should worship that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda,
>| who thus expands Himself.
556|(3) In reply to the commentary of Sankaracarya on the forty-
>|fourth aphorism, it may be said that no pure devotees
>|strictly following the principles of Pancaratra will
>|ever accept the statement that all the expansions of Visnu
>|are different identities, for this idea is completely false.
>| Even Sripada Sankaracarya, in his commentary on the forty-
>|second aphorism, has accepted that the Personality of
>|Godhead can automatically expand Himself variously.
>|Therefore his commentary on the forty-second aphorism and
>|his commentary on the forty-fourth aphorism are
>|contradictory. It is a defect of Mayavada commentaries that
>|they make one statement in one place and a contradictory
>|statement in another place as a tactic to refute the
>|Bhagavata school. Thus Mayavadi commentators do not even
>|follow regulative principles. It should be noted that the
>|Bhagavata school accepts the quadruple forms of Narayana,
>|but that does not mean that it accepts many Gods. Devotees
>|know perfectly well that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. They are
>|never pantheists, worshipers of many Gods, for this is
>|against the injunction of the Vedas. Devotees completely
>|believe, with strong faith, that Narayana is transcendental
>|and has inconceivable proprietorship of various
>|transcendental potencies. We therefore recommend that
>|scholars consult the Laghu-bhagavatamrta of Srila Rupa
>|Gosvami, where these ideas are explicitly stated. Sripada
>|Sankaracarya has tried to prove that Vasudeva, Sankarsana,
>|Pradyumna and Aniruddha expand through cause and effect. He
>|has compared Them with earth and earthen pots. That is
>|completely ignorant, however, for there is no such thing as
>|cause and effect in Their expansions (nanyad yat sad-asat-
>|param). The Kurma Purana also confirms, deha-dehi-vibhedo '
>|yam nesvare vidyate kvacit: "There is no difference between
>|body and soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Cause
>|and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a
>|father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is
>|neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there
>|are none of the differences we find in cause and effect.
>|Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
>|are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of
>|material nature. Standing on the fourth dimension, They are
>|predominating figures on the transcendental platform. There
>|is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions
>|because material laws cannot influence Them. There is no
>|such rule as cause and effect outside of the material world.
>| Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot
>|approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of
>|the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature
>|proves this:
557|om purnam adah purnam idam
558|purnat purnam udacyate
559|purnasya purnam adaya
560|purnam evavasisyate
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
>|
561|"
>|the Personality of Godhead is perfect
>|and complete , and
>|
>| because
>|He is completely
>| perfect, all emanations from Him ,
>|such as this phenomenal
>|
>| world,
>|are
>|perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever
>|is produced of the complete whole is
>|also complete by itself . Because He
>|is the complete whole, even
>| though so many
>|complete units emanate from Him , He remains the
>|complete balance." (Brhad
>|-aranyaka Upanisad 5.1)
>|It is most apparent that
>|nondevotees violate the rules and
>|regulations of devotional service to
>|equate the whole cosmic manifestation ,
>|which is the external feature of Visnu , with
>| the Supreme Personality of Godhead , who is
>|the controller of maya, or with His
>|quadruple expansions. the equalization of maya
>|and spirit , or maya and
>| the Lord, is a sign of atheism
>|. The cosmic creation, which manifests life in
>|forms from Brahma to the ant , is
>|the external feature of the
>|Supreme Lord . It comprises one fourth of the Lord '
>|s energy , as confirmed in the Bhagavad -gita (
>|ekamsena sthito jagat ) . the
>|cosmic manifestation of the illusory
>| energy is material nature
>|, and everything within
>|material nature is made of matter . Therefore
>|, one should not try to
>|compare the expansions of material nature
>| to the
>|catur- vyuha , the quadruple
>|expansions of the Personality of
>|Godhead , but unfortunately the Mayavadi
>|school unreasonably attempts
>| to do this
>|.
562|(4) To answer Sankaracarya's commentary on Vedanta-sutra 2.
>|2.45, the substance of the transcendental qualities and
>|their spiritual nature is described in the Laghu-
>|bhagavatamrta (Purva 5.208-214) as follows: "Some say that
>|transcendence must be void of all qualities because
>|qualities are manifested only in matter. According to them,
>|all qualities are like temporary, flickering mirages. But
>|this is not acceptable. Since the Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead is absolute, His qualities are nondifferent from
>|Him. His form, name, qualities and everything else
>|pertaining to Him are as spiritual as He is. Every
>|qualitative expansion of the absolute Personality of
>|Godhead is identical with Him. Since the Absolute Truth,
>|the Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all
>|pleasure, all the transcendental qualities that expand from
>|Him are also reservoirs of pleasure. This is confirmed in
>|the scripture known as Brahma-tarka, which states that the
>|Supreme Lord Hari is qualified by Himself, and therefore
>|Visnu and His pure devotees and their transcendental
>|qualities cannot be different from their persons. In the
>|Visnu Purana Lord Visnu is worshiped in the following words:
>| 'Let the Supreme Personality of Godhead be merciful toward
>|us. His existence is never infected by material qualities.'
>|In the same Visnu Purana it is also said that all the
>|qualities attributed to the Supreme Lord, such as knowledge,
>| opulence, beauty, strength and influence, are known to be
>|nondifferent from Him. This is also confirmed in the Padma
>|Purana, which explains that whenever the Supreme Lord is
>|described as having no qualities, this should be understood
>|to indicate that He is devoid of material qualities. In the
>|First Chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.16.29) it is said: 'O
>|Dharma, protector of religious principles, all noble and
>|sublime qualities are eternally manifested in the person of
>|Krsna, and devotees and transcendentalists who aspire to
>|become faithful also desire to possess such transcendental
>|qualities.' " It is therefore to be understood that Lord
>|Sri Krsna, the transcendental form of absolute bliss, is
>|the fountainhead of all pleasurable transcendental
>|qualities and inconceivable potencies. In this connection
>|we may recommend references to Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third
>|Canto, Chapter Twenty-Six, verses 21, 25, 27 and 28.
563|Sripada Ramanujacarya has also refuted the arguments of
>|Sankara in his own commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, which
>|is known as the Sri-bhasya: "Sripada Sankaracarya has tried
>|to equate the Pancaratras with the philosophy of the
>|atheist Kapila, and thus he has tried to prove that the
>|Pancaratras contradict the Vedic injunctions. The
>|Pancaratras state that the personality of jiva called
>|Sankarsana has emerged from Vasudeva, the supreme cause of
>|all causes, that Pradyumna, the mind, has come from
>|Sankarsana, and that Aniruddha, the ego, has come from
>|Pradyumna. But one cannot say that the living entity (jiva)
>|takes birth or is created, for such a statement is against
>|the injunction of the Vedas. As stated in the Katha
>|Upanisad (2.18), living entities, as individual spiritual
>|souls, can have neither birth nor death. All Vedic
>|literature declares that the living entities are eternal.
>|Therefore when it is said that Sankarsana is jiva, this
>|indicates that He is the predominating Deity of the living
>|entities. Similarly, Pradyumna is the predominating Deity
>|of the mind, and Aniruddha is the predominating Deity of
>|the ego.
564|"It has been said that Pradyumna, the mind, was produced
>|from Sankarsana. But if Sankarsana were a living entity,
>|this could not be accepted, because a living entity cannot
>|be the cause of the mind. The Vedic injunctions state that
>|everything-including life, mind and the senses-comes from
>|the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is impossible for
>|the mind to be produced by a living entity, for the Vedas
>|state that everything comes from the Absolute Truth, the
>|Supreme Lord.
565|"Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha have all the potent
>|features of the absolute Personality of Godhead, according
>|to the revealed scriptures, which contain undeniable facts
>|that no one can refute. Therefore these
>|quadruple forms are never to be considered ordinary
>|living beings. Each of Them is a plenary expansion of the
>|Absolute Godhead, and thus each is identical with the
>|Supreme Lord in knowledge, opulence, energy, influence,
>|prowess and potencies. The evidence of Pancaratra
>| cannot be neglected. Only untrained persons who
>|have not genuinely studied the Pancaratras think that the
>|Pancaratras contradict the srutis regarding the birth or
>|beginning of the living entity. In this connection, we must
>|accept the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which says : 'The
>|absolute Personality of Godhead, who is known as Vasudeva
>|and who is very affectionate toward His surrendered
>|devotees, expands Himself in quadruple forms who are
>|subordinate to Him and at the same time identical with Him
>|in all respects.' The Pauskara-samhita states : 'The
>|scriptures that recommend that brahmanas worship the
>|quadruple forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are
>|called agamas [authorized works of Vedic literature].' In
>|all Vaisnava literature it is said that worshiping these
>|quadruple forms is as good as worshiping the Supreme
>|Personality of Godhead Vasudeva, who in His different
>|expansions, complete in six opulences, can accept offerings
>|from His devotees of the results of their prescribed duties.
>| Worshiping the expansions for pastimes, such as Nrsimha,
>|Rama, Sesa and Kurma, promotes one to the worship of the
>|Sankarsana quadruple. From that position one is raised to
>|the platform of worshiping Vasudeva, the Supreme Brahman.
>|In the Pauskara-samhita it is said : 'If one fully worships
>|according to the regulative principles, one can attain the
>|Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.' It is to be
>|accepted that Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are as
>|good as Lord Vasudeva, for They all have inconceivable
>|power and can accept transcendental forms like Vasudeva.
>|Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are never born, but
>|They can manifest Themselves in various incarnations before
>|the eyes of pure devotees. This is the conclusion of all
>|Vedic literature. That the Lord can manifest Himself before
>|His devotees by His inconceivable power is not against the
>|teaching of the Pancaratra. Since Sankarsana, Pradyumna
>|and Aniruddha are actually the predominating
>|Deities of all living entities, the total mind and the
>|total ego, the descriptions of Sankarsana, Pradyumna and
>|Aniruddha as jiva, mind and ego are never
>|contradictory to the statements of the scriptures. These
>|names identify these Deities, just as the terms 'sky' and '
>|light' sometimes identify the Absolute Brahman.
566|"The scriptures completely deny the birth or production of
>|the living entity. In the Parama-samhita it is described
>|that material nature, which is used for others' purposes,
>|is factually inert and always subject to transformation.
>|The field of material nature is the arena of the activities
>|of fruitive actors, and since the material field is
>|externally related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
>|it is also eternal. In every samhita, the jiva (living
>|entity) has been accepted as eternal, and in the
>|Pancaratra the birth of the jiva is completely denied.
>|Anything that is produced must also be annihilated.
>|Therefore if we accept the birth of the living entity, we
>|also have to accept his annihilation. But since the Vedic
>|literature says that the living entity is eternal, one
>|should not think the living being to be produced at a
>|certain time. In the beginning of the Parama-samhita it is
>|definitely stated that the face of material nature is
>|constantly changeable. Therefore 'beginning,' 'annihilation'
>| and all such terms are applicable only in the material
>|nature.
567|"Considering all these points, one should understand that
>|Sankaracarya's statement that Sankarsana is born as a jiva
>|is completely against the Vedic statements. His assertions
>|are completely refuted by the above arguments. In this
>|connection the commentary of Sridhara Svami on Srimad-
>|Bhagavatam (3.1.34) is very helpful."
568|For a detailed refutation of Sankaracarya's arguments
>|to prove Sankarsana an ordinary living being,
>|one may refer to Srimat Sudarsanacarya's commentary on
>|Sri-bhasya, which is known as the Sruta-prakasika.
569|The original quadruple forms Krsna, Baladeva, Pradyumna and
>|Aniruddha expand into another quadruple, which is present
>|in the Vaikuntha planets of the spiritual sky. Therefore
>|the quadruple forms in the spiritual sky are the second
>|manifestation of the original quadruple in Dvaraka. As
>|explained above, Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and
>|Aniruddha are all changeless, transcendental plenary
>|expansions of the Supreme Lord who have no relation to the
>|material modes. The Sankarsana form in the second quadruple
>|is not only a representation of Balarama but also the
>|original cause of the Causal Ocean, where Karanodakasayi
>|Visnu lies asleep, breathing out the seeds of innumerable
>|universes.
570|In the spiritual sky there is a spiritual creative energy
>|technically called suddha-sattva, which is a pure spiritual
>|energy that sustains all the Vaikuntha planets with the
>|full opulences of knowledge, wealth, prowess, etc. All
>|these actions of suddha-sattva display the potencies of
>|Maha-sankarsana, who is the ultimate reservoir of all
>|individual living entities who are suffering in the
>|material world. When the cosmic creation is annihilated,
>|the living entities, who are indestructible by nature, rest
>|in the body of Maha-sankarsana. Sankarsana is therefore
>|sometimes called the total jiva. As spiritual sparks, the
>|living entities have the tendency to be inactive in the
>|association of material energy, just as sparks of a
>|fire have the tendency to be extinguished as soon as they
>|leave the fire. The spiritual nature of the living being
>|can be rekindled, however, in association with the Supreme
>|Being. Because the living being can appear either in matter
>|or in spirit, the jiva is called the marginal potency.
571|Sankarsana is the origin of Karana Visnu, who is the
>|original form who creates the universes, and that
>|Sankarsana is but a plenary expansion of Sri Nityananda
>|Rama.
572|Adi 5.42
573|TEXT 42
574|TEXT
575|tanha ye ramera rupa-maha-sankarsana
576|cic-chakti-asraya tinho, karanera karana
577|SYNONYMS
578|tanha-there; ye-which; ramera rupa-the personal feature of
>|Balarama; maha-sankarsana-Maha-sankarsana; cit-sakti-asraya-
>|the shelter of the spiritual potency; tinho-He; karanera
>|karana-the cause of all causes.
579|TRANSLATION
580|There the personal feature of
>|Balarama called Maha-sankarsana is the shelter of the
>|spiritual energy. He is the primary cause, the cause of all
>|causes.
581|Adi 5.43
582|TEXT 43
583|TEXT
584|cic-chakti-vilasa eka-'suddha-sattva' nama
585|suddha-sattva-maya yata vaikunthadi-dhama
586|SYNONYMS
587|cit-sakti-vilasa-pastimes in the spiritual energy; eka-one;
>|suddha-sattva nama-named suddha-sattva, pure existence,
>|free from material contamination; suddha-sattva-maya-of
>|purely spiritual existence; yata-all; vaikuntha-adi-dhama-
>|the spiritual planets, known as Vaikunthas.
588|TRANSLATION
589|One variety of the pastimes of the spiritual energy is
>|described as pure goodness [visuddha-sattva]. It comprises
>|all the abodes of Vaikuntha.
590|Adi 5.44
591|TEXT 44
592|TEXT
593|sad-vidhaisvarya tanha sakala cinmaya
594|sankarsanera vibhuti saba, janiha niscaya
595|SYNONYMS
596|sat-vidha-aisvarya-six kinds of opulences; tanha-there;
>|sakala cit-maya-everything spiritual; sankarsanera-of Lord
>|Sankarsana; vibhuti saba-all different opulences; janiha
>|niscaya-know certainly.
597|TRANSLATION
598|The six attributes are all spiritual. Know for certain that
>|they are all manifestations of the opulence of Sankarsana.
599|Adi 5.45
600|TEXT 45
601|TEXT
602|'jiva'-nama tatasthakhya eka sakti haya
603|maha-sankarsana-saba jivera asraya
604|SYNONYMS
605|jiva-the living entity; nama-named; tata-stha-akhya-known
>|as the marginal potency; eka-one; sakti-energy; haya-is;
>|maha-sankarsana-of the name Maha-sankarsana; saba-all;
>|jivera-of living entities; asraya-the shelter.
606|TRANSLATION
607|There is one marginal potency, known as the jiva. Maha-
>|sankarsana is the shelter of all jivas.
608|Adi 5.46
609|TEXT 46
610|TEXT
611|yanha haite visvotpatti, yanhate pralaya
612|sei purusera sankarsana samasraya
613|SYNONYMS
614|yanha haite-from whom; visva-utpatti-the creation of the
>|material cosmic manifestation; yanhate-in whom; pralaya-
>|merging; sei purusera-of that Supreme Personality of
>|Godhead; sankarsana-of the name Sankarsana; samasraya-the
>|original shelter.
615|TRANSLATION
616|Sankarsana is the original shelter of the purusa, from whom
>|this world is created and in whom it is dissolved.
617|Adi 5.47
618|TEXT 47
619|TEXT
620|sarvasraya, sarvadbhuta, aisvarya apara
621|'ananta' kahite nare mahima yanhara
622|SYNONYMS
623|sarva-asraya-the shelter of everything; sarva-adbhuta-
>|wonderful in every respect; aisvarya-opulences; apara-
>|unfathomed; ananta-Ananta Sesa; kahite nare-cannot speak;
>|mahima yanhara-the glories of whom.
624|TRANSLATION
625|He [Sankarsana] is the shelter of everything. He is
>|wonderful in every respect, and His opulences are infinite.
>|Even Ananta cannot describe His glory.
626|Adi 5.48
627|TEXT 48
628|TEXT
629|turiya, visuddha-sattva, 'sankarsana' nama
630|tinho yanra amsa, sei nityananda-rama
631|SYNONYMS
632|turiya-transcendental; visuddha-sattva-pure existence;
>|sankarsana nama-named Sankarsana; tinho yanra amsa-of whom
>|that Sankarsana is also a partial expansion; sei nityananda-
>|rama-that person is known as Balarama or Nityananda.
633|TRANSLATION
634|That Sankarsana, who is transcendental pure goodness, is a
>|partial expansion of Nityananda Balarama.
635|Adi 5.49
636|TEXT 49
637|TEXT
638|astama slokera kaila sanksepe vivarana
639|navama slokera artha suna diya mana
640|SYNONYMS
641|astama-eighth; slokera-of the verse; kaila-I have done;
>|sanksepe-in brief; vivarana-description; navama-the ninth;
>|slokera-of the verse; artha-the meaning; suna-please hear;
>|diya mana-with mental attention.
642|TRANSLATION
643|I have briefly explained the eighth verse. Now please
>|listen with attention as I explain the ninth verse.
644|Adi 5.50
645|TEXT 50
646|TEXT
647|maya-bhartajanda-sanghasrayangah
648|sete saksat karanambhodhi-madhye
649|yasyaikamsah sri-puman adi-devas
650|tam sri-nityananda-ramam prapadye
651|SYNONYMS
652|maya-bharta-the master of the illusory energy; aja-anda-
>|sangha-of the multitude of universes; asraya-the shelter;
>|angah-whose body; sete-He lies; saksat-directly; karana-
>|ambhodhi-madhye-in the midst of the Causal Ocean; yasya-
>|whose; eka-amsah-one portion; sri-puman-the Supreme Person;
>|adi-devah-the original purusa incarnation; tam-to Him; sri-
>|nityananda-ramam-to Lord Balarama in the form of Lord
>|Nityananda; prapadye-I surrender.
653|TRANSLATION
654|I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Sri Nityananda
>|Rama, whose partial representation called Karanodakasayi
>|Visnu, lying on the Karana Ocean, is the original purusa,
>|the master of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all
>|the universes.
655|Adi 5.51
656|TEXT 51
657|TEXT
658|vaikuntha-bahire yei jyotir-maya dhama
659|tahara bahire 'karanarnava' nama
660|SYNONYMS
661|vaikuntha-bahire-outside the Vaikuntha planets; yei-that;
>|jyotih-maya dhama-impersonal Brahman effulgence; tahara
&n