The words “chaturasram catur-murteh” refer to the quadruple expansions of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. “Catur-dhama catus-krtam” refers to the four abodes placed in four directions to accommodate the Lord’s different pastimes. “Hetubhih” refers to the four purusarthas (piety, wealth, passion and liberation). “Manu-rupaih” refers to the mantras of the Sama, Rg, Yajur and Atharva Vedas chanted by Indra and his followers. “Saktibhih” refers to Vimala-devi and other potencies of the Lord.
The planet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also described in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.28.10-17):
“Nanda Maharaja had been astonished to see for the first time the great opulence of Varuna, the ruler of the ocean planet, and also to see how Varuna and his servants had offered such humble respect to Krishna. Nanda described all this to his fellow cowherd men.***
“Hearing about Krishna’s pastimes with Varuna, the cowherd men considered that Krishna must be the Supreme Lord, and their minds, O king, were filled with eagerness. They thought, ‘Will the Supreme Lord bestow upon us His transcendental abode?’
“Because He sees everything, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, automatically understood what the cowherd men were conjecturing. Wanting to show His compassion to them by fulfilling their desires, the Lord thought as follows.”
“Lord Krishna thought: Certainly people in this world are wandering among higher and lower destinations, which they achieve through activities performed according to their desires and without full knowledge. Thus people do no know their real destination.”
“Thus deeply considering the situation, the all-merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari revealed to the cowherd men His abode, which is beyond material darkness.”
“Lord Krishna revealed the indestructible spiritual effulgence, which is unlimited, conscious, and eternal. Sages see that spiritual effulgence in trance, when their consciousness is free of the modes of material nature.”
“The cowherd men were brought by Lord Krishna to the Brahma-hrada, made to submerge in the water, and then lifted up. From the same vantage point that Akrura saw the spiritual world, the cowherd men saw the planet of the Absolute Truth.”
“Nanda Maharaja and the other cowherd men felt the greatest happiness when they saw that transcendental abode. They were especially amazed to see Krishna Himself there, surrounded by the Personified Vedas, who were offering Him prayers.”
In these verses the word “atindriyam” means “never seen before”, “sva-gatim” means “own abode”, “suksman” means “difficult to understand”, and “upadhasyat” means “the people of Vraja desired that Lord Krishna would take them to His own spiritual abode”. Understanding their desire, the Lord then mercifully (krpaya) considered (acintayat) how their desire might be fulfilled (sankalpa-siddhaye). The word “janah” here means “O, My friends and relatives, the residents of Vraja”. In Shrimad-Bhagavatam (3.29.13) the Supreme Personality of Godhead declares:
“A pure devotee does not accept any kind of liberation, salokya, sarsti, samipya, sarupya, or ekatva, even though they are offered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
In either the spiritual or material worlds no devotees are said to be greater devotees than the people of Vraja. That the people of Vraja are the dear friends and relatives are described in these words of Lord Krishna:
“The people of Vraja are My friends. They have taken shelter of Me and they consider Me their Lord and master. I will now protect them with My mystic power. I vow that I will rescue them.”
The word “etasmin loke” means “in this material world”, and “uccavaca” means “engaged in ignorant materialistic activities, the conditioned souls rotate in various species of life, becoming sometimes a demigod and sometimes an animal”, and “svam gatim brahman” means “Overcome by ignorance, they do not understand the existence of the spiritual world”. This means, “because they have no knowledge of My transcendental pastimes in this world, they remain in ignorance”. Knowledge of Lord’s Krishna’s pastimes in this world frees one from the bonds of material ignorance. That is described in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.11.58):
“In this way all the cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja, enjoyed topics about the pastimes of Krishna and Balarama with great transcendental pleasure, and they could not even perceive material tribulations.”*
From this statement of the Tenth Canto of Shrimad-Bhagavatam we may understand that the Lord’s pastimes in this world are completely unlike the ignorant materialistic activities of the conditioned souls. The words “svam loka” mean “the Goloka planet that the Lord revealed to the gopas. Because of the manifestation of the Lord’s personal transcendental potency, the Goloka planet is “tamasah param” (above the darkness of the material world).
In the verse beginning with the word “satyam”, the author explains that the Goloka planet is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss. Here someone may protest: “Why do you insist that these words describe Shri Vrndavana? They may describe many other places in the spiritual world as well.” To answer this question the author speaks the next verse, where he specifically describes the geography of Vrndavana. In that verse he says, “Lord Krishna took them to Brahma-hrada (also known as Akrura-tirtha). They entered (magna) the water and then rose (uddhrta) again out of the water, and then they saw their own abode in the spiritual world (brahmano lokam). In other words, the spiritual planet they saw was Goloka. That the word “brahmaloka” may be used to mean “the spiritual world” is confirmed by these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (2.5.39):
“Satyaloka, the topmost planetary system, is situated on the head of the form. The spiritual planets (brahmaloka), however, are eternal.”*
Someone may ask, “What is Brahma-hrada?” The author answers this question with the words “yatrakruro ‘dhyagat pura” (where Akrura was later shown the spiritual world). The author mentions this point to establish the glory of this sacred place.
The word “svam gatim” means “their abode”, or in other words “the planet of the gopas”, the intention being clearly possessive (sasthi-vibhakti). For this reason it should be understood that the planet described here is Goloka. The use of the word “Krishna” in the last verse also affirms that the spiritual planet described here is Goloka and not any other planet in the Vaikuntha planetary system.
The Goloka planet is also described in the Hari-vamsa, where the demigod Indra says:
“Above the moon and above Svargaloka is the spiritual world of Vaikuntha, which is served by the sages and brahmanas, and which is the abode of effulgent liberated souls.”
“Above Vaikuntha is Goloka, the planet of surabhi cows. It is splendid and all-pervading. Lord Krishna stays there. The great liberated souls stay there.”
“We do not know of any realm higher than this. We asked grandfather Brahma and he also did not know.”
“They who control their senses and perform pious deeds go to Svargaloka. They who perform spiritual austerities go to the spiritual world of Vaikuntha.”
“Goloka, the realm of surabhi cows, is very difficult to attain. O hero, you are always active in service to Lord Krishna, therefore you are qualified to enter Goloka.”
In these verse the author explains that Goloka is above all other planets. The phrase “svargad urdhvam” means that Goloka is above the three material planetary systems. “Soma-gatih” means that Goloka is above the moon”. “Jyotisam” means that it is above Dhruvaloka. “Sadhyas tam palayanti” means that it is not the residence of the demigods in the upper material planets. It is above that residence. Goloka is the transcendental abode of surabhi cows.
Here someone may protest: “You say this planet is all-pervading (sa hi sarva-gatah). It is not possible for a planet of surabhi cows to be all-pervading”.
To this objection I reply: The influence of the inconceivable internal potency of the Supreme Lord make it possible for Goloka to be all-pervading. This all-pervasiveness is not possible for other, for ordinary places. Because Goloka is above all other planets, Indra became struck with wonder to see it. His wonder is expressed by the word “api” in the phrase “tatrapi tava gatih”, and it is also expressed in the phrase “yam no vidmo vayam sarve”. In this way it is proved that Goloka is not a material planet that is a residence for ordinary cows.
Goloka is also described in the Moksa-dharma, Narayaniyopakhyana, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
“Appearing in many different forms, O son of Kunti, I wander on this earth, on Brahmaloka, and on the eternal planet of Goloka.”
The word “svargaloka” used in these verses of Hari-vamsa is explained in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (2.5.42):
“Others may divide the whole planetary system into three divisions, namely the lower planetary systems on the legs (up to the earth), the middle planetary systems on the navel, and the upper planetary systems (svarloka) from the chest to the head of the Supreme Personality.”*
In this verse the word “svarloka” means “the five planets beginning with Svarloka and reaching up to Satyaloka”. “Urdhvam” means “above that”. “Brahmaloka” may mean the great (brahma) planet because it is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss, or it may mean “the planet of the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead”. This interpretation of the word “brahmaloka” is confirmed by the following statement of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (2.5.39):
“Satyaloka, the topmost planetary system, is situated on the head of the form. The spiritual planets (brahmaloka), however, are eternal.”
Shridhara Svami comments on this verse in the following words:
“Brahmaloka here means Vaikunthaloka. “Sanatana” means “eternal”, or “not within the realm of the created material world”.”
This definition of “brahmaloka” is also confirmed by the following words of the Sruti-sastra:
“The spiritual world (brahmaloka) is the residence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
The phrase “brahmarsi-gana-sevitah” means that the Goloka planet is worshipped by the brahmanas, Personified Vedas, the sages headed by Narada, and the ganas headed by Garuda and Visvaksena. The eternal residents of that Brahmaloka are described in the words “tatra soma-gatih” (Lord Siva resides there with His wife Uma).”
Lord Siva himself describes the Goloka planet in these words of the Rudra-gita in Shrimad-Bhagavatam (4.24.29):
“A person who executes his occupational duty properly for one hundred births becomes qualified to occupy the post of Brahma, and if he becomes more qualified, he can approach Lord Siva. A person who is directly surrendered to Lord Krishna, or Vishnu, in unalloyed devotional service is immediately promoted to the spiritual planets. Lord Siva and other demigods attain these planets after the destruction of this material world.“*
The word “soma” is a sasthi-tatpurusa-samasa as described by Panini in the sutras beginning “supam su-luk”. The word “jyotih” refers to the Brahman effulgence of the liberated impersonalists. Not all transcendentalists are impersonalists, however. The devotees, who reject the liberation attained by “mahatmanam”. The devotees are described in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (6.14.5):
“O sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Narayana, or Krishna. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”
In the Bhagavad-gita (6.47) Lord Krishna declares:
“And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within Himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me, he is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. that is My opinion.”
In this way the greatness of the devotees is proved. The word “tasya” means “of Brahmaloka” and the words “upari gavam lokah” refer to Goloka. The word “sadhyah” refers to the class of material demigods who protect the various directions leading to Goloka. They are described in these words of the Sruti-sastra:
“The Sadhya demigods guard the approach to the spiritual sky.”
In the Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda’s description of Maha-Vaikuntha it is said:
“The splendid and eternal sadhyas and visvadevas guard the approach to the spiritual sky.”
In order to attain perfection in devotional service the sadhyas carefully protect the gopas, gopis, and other residents of Goloka, who are all glorified in the following prayer of Brahma (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 10.1.4.34):
“My dear Lord, I am most humbly praying at Your lotus feet for You to please give me any sort of birth within this Vrndavana forest so that I may be able to be favoured by the dust of the feet of some of the devotees of Vrndavana. Even if I am given the chance to grow just as the humble grass in this land, that will be a glorious birth for me. But if I am not so fortunate to take birth within the forest of Vrndavana, I beg to be allowed to take birth outside the immediate area of Vrndavana so that when the devotees for out they will walk over me. Even that would be a great fortune for me. I am just aspiring for a birth in which I will be smeared by the dust of the devotees’ feet. I can see that everyone here is simply full of Krishna consciousness. They do not know anything but Mukunda. All the Vedas are indeed searching after the lotus feet of Krishna.”*
The all-pervasiveness of Goloka is described in the phrase “sa hi sarva-gatah”, where “hi” means “certainly” “sah” refers to Goloka, and “sarva-gatah” means “present everywhere in both material and spiritual worlds, in the same way that Lord Narayana is also present there”. As the Second Canto of Shrimad-Bhagavatam describes Brahma’s vision of Vaikunthaloka, so this passage describes the spiritual realm inhabited by the Vrajavasis.
The word “mahan” refers to the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is described in the following words of the Sruti-sastra:
“The transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is great (mahan)”.
The word “mahakasam” refers to the spiritual sky known as Paravyoma. This is described in the following words of the Nyaya-siddhi:
“The spiritual sky is manifested from the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
The word “tad-gatah” means “manifesting a spiritual form and entering the spiritual world of Vaikuntha as Ajamila did.” “Upary upari” means “above everything else”, “tatra” means “in Shri Goloka”, and “tava gatih” means “where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His form as Govinda enjoys transcendental pastimes”. This is not an ordinary place, but is “tapomayi”, or “full of transcendental opulence”. This interpretation of the word “tapomayi” is confirmed by these words of the Sahasra-nama-bhasya:
“‘Tapah’ here means ‘transcendental opulence’”.
In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
“The spiritual sky is full of transcendental opulence’.”
Because Goloka cannot be understood by the philosophical speculations of Brahma and other philosophers, the words “yam na vidmo vayam sarve” (we cannot understand Goloka) were spoken. Now we will explain the origin of the word “goloka”. This is given in the verse beginning with the word “gatih”. In this passage the word “brahme” means “in the realm of Brahmaloka”, “tapasi” means “fixing the mind on Shri Krishna”, and “yuktanam” means “of the pure devotees”. This explanation of the word “tapah” is confirmed by the following words of the Sruti-sastra:
“Tapah means awareness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
“Brahmaloka” here means “Vaikunthaloka” and “para” means “beyond the influence of material energy”. “Gavam” means “of the cows who reside in Vraja”. These cows are described in the following words of the Tenth Canto of Shrimad-Bhagavatam:
“He protected the cows from the heat of the day.”
The exalted status of these cows and the other residents of Goloka is only attained by persons who have pure love for Lord Krishna. It cannot be attained by performing severe austerities or by any method, and for this reason the word “duraroha” (Goloka is very difficult to attain) is spoken. Here the word “dhrtah” means “protected”.
By lifting Govardhana Hill and by performing many other pastimes, Lord Krishna protected Goloka. Goloka is also described in these words of the Rg Veda:
“O Krishna and Balarama, we aspire to attain that place where You enjoy transcendental pastimes, and where there are beautiful surabhi cows with large horns. The Vedas describe that place as the transcendental abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who fulfils all desires.”
In this verse the word “tah” means “these”, “vam” means “of You both”, or in other words “of Krishna and Balarama”, “vastuni” means “places of pastimes”, “gomadhyai” means “to attain”, and “usmasi” means “we desire”. The question may be asked: “How may the pastime places be more elaborately described?” The answer is given in the phrase beginning with the word “yatra”. “Yatra” means “in which places”, and “bhuri-srngyah” means “cows with large horns”. The word “bhuri” is explained in the passage from the Upanisads:
“The word ‘bhuri’ here means ‘great’ not ‘numerous’. The dictionary explains: The word bhuri means either numerous or great.”
“Ayasah” here means “beautiful”. This is confirmed by the Amara-kosa, which gives the following definition:
“The word ‘ayah’ here means beautiful’”.
The word “ayasah” here uses the affix ‘asah” as in the word “devasah”. “Vrsnah” means “fulfilling all desires”, “atra” means “in this place celebrated in the Vedas as Goloka’, “urugayasya” means “of the Supreme Personality of Godhead”, “bhuri’ means “manifested in many ways”, and “aha” means “the Vedas declares”. An example of this Vedic description is found in the following words of the Madhyandina Yajur Veda:
“We aspire to go to the transcendental abode of Lord Vishnu, which is filled with many wonders.”
In these words, and in many other passages of the Vedas, the realm of Goloka is described.
Bs 5.6 — The Lord of Gokula is the transcendental Supreme Godhead, the own Self of eternal ecstasies. He is the superior of all superiors and is busily engaged in the enjoyments of the transcendental realm and has no association with His mundane potency.
Commentary by Srila Jiva Gosvami
Now we will explain the words of this verse. Just as the non-difference of the virat-purusa (universal form) and the antaryami (the all-pervading Supersoul) was explained in the Purusa-sukta and other passages of the scriptures, in the same way the author of the Brahma-samhita speaks this verse to establish the identity of Goloka and its superintending Deity.
In this verse the word “devah” means Shri Govinda, the presiding Deity of Goloka”. The word “sad-anandadah” (eternal and full of bliss) describes His transcendental form. This is described in the following words of Sruti-sastra:
“The form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full of transcendental knowledge and bliss.”
The word “atmaramasya” “of He who does not need anyone else to obtain happiness”, “prakrtya” means “with the material potency maya”, and “na samaagamah” means “has no association”. This is described in the following words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (2.9.10):
“In that personal abode of the Lord, the material modes of passion and ignorance do not prevail, nor is there any of their influence in goodness. There is no predominance of time, so what to speak of the illusory external energy. It cannot enter that region.”
Bs 5.7 — Kṛṣṇa never consorts with His illusory energy. Still her connection is not entirely cut off from the Absolute Truth. When He intends to create the material world the amorous pastime, in which He engages by consorting with His own spiritual [cit] potency Ramā by casting His glance at the deluding energy in the shape of sending His time energy, is an auxiliary activity.
Commentary by Srila Jiva Gosvami
In this verse the author explains that the purusa-avatara, who appears in the material world and is a partial expansion of Lord Krishna, does not manifest the same features as Lord Krishna. This is true because when the material world becomes unmanifested, then the purusa-avatara declines to manifest His transcendental form. All this is described in the verse beginning with the word “yasyamsamsamsa-bhagena”.
Here someone may object: “Is it not true that because He is in contact with the material energy, as are the conditioned souls, the purusa-avatara should not be considered to be an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
To answer this objection the author has spoken the second half of this verse. The word “atmana” here means “by the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is present in the material world”, “ramaya” means “with His personal potency”, and “reme” means “enjoys pastimes”. The external potency maya assumes a different function, for she serves the Lord in a different capacity. The Lord’s internal potency Rama is described by Lord Brahma in the following words (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.23):
“The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, is always the benefactor of the surrendered souls. His activities are always enacted through His internal potency, Rama, or the goddess of fortune.”
Arjuna prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.23):
“You are the original Personality of Godhead who expands Himself all over the creations and is transcendental to material energy. You have cast away the effects of the material energy by dint of Your spiritual potency. You are always situated in eternal bliss and transcendental knowledge.”
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