View source for Viraja is a river that divides the material world from the spiritual world

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[[Category:Viraja River]]

[[Category:Divide]]

[[Category:Material World (Prakrti)]]

[[Category:Spiritual World]]

== Srimad-Bhagavatam ==

=== SB Canto 2 ===

<span class="q_heading">'''The marginal line between the material manifestation and the spiritual manifestation is the Virajā River.'''</span>

<span class="SB-statistics">'''[[Vanisource:SB 2.9.10|SB 2.9.10, Purport]]:''' In the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, it is stated that beyond the one-fourth part of God's creation is the three-fourths manifestation. The marginal line between the material manifestation and the spiritual manifestation is the Virajā River, and beyond the Virajā, which is a transcendental current flowing from the perspiration of the body of the Lord, there is the three-fourths manifestation of God's creation. This part is eternal, everlasting, without deterioration, and unlimited, and it contains the highest perfectional stage of living conditions. In the Sāṅkhya-kaumudī it is stated that unalloyed goodness or transcendence is just opposite to the material modes. All living entities there are eternally associated without any break, and the Lord is the chief and prime entity. In the Āgama Purāṇas also, the transcendental abode is described as follows: The associated members there are free to go everywhere within the creation of the Lord, and there is no limit to such creation, particularly in the region of the three-fourths magnitude. Since the nature of that region is unlimited, there is no history of such association, nor is there end of it.</span>

== Sri Caitanya-caritamrta ==

=== CC Madhya-lila ===

<span class="q_heading">'''Between the two creations—the material creation and the spiritual creation—is a river known as Virajā, as well as a place known as Brahmaloka.'''</span>

<span class="CC-statistics">'''[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 8.64|CC Madhya 8.64, Translation and Purport]]: After hearing Rāmānanda Rāya speak in this way, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again rejected his statement and said, “Go ahead and say something more.”
Rāmānanda Rāya then replied, “Devotional service mixed with empiric knowledge is the essence of perfection.”'''

Devotional service mixed with non-Vedic speculative knowledge is certainly not pure devotional service. Therefore Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī in his Anubhāṣya preaches that self-realization following the execution of ritualistic ceremonies is in the neutral stage between liberation and conditioned life. It is a place beyond this material world, in the river Virajā, where the three modes of material nature are subdued or neutralized in the unmanifest stage. However, the spiritual world is a manifestation of spiritual energy and is known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka, “the place where there is no anxiety.” The material world, known as brahmāṇḍa, is the creation of the external energy. Between the two creations—the material creation and the spiritual creation—is a river known as Virajā, as well as a place known as Brahmaloka. Virajā-nadī and Brahmaloka are shelters for living entities disgusted with material life and inclined to impersonal existence by way of denying material variegatedness. Since these places are not situated in the Vaikunṭḥalokas, or the spiritual world, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu proclaims them to be external. In the Brahmaloka and Virajā-nadī, one cannot conceive of the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Brahmaloka and Virajā-nadī are also attained after difficult austerities, but in these realms there is no understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His transcendental loving service. Without such spiritual knowledge, simple detachment from material conditions is but another side of material existence. From the spiritual point of view, it is all external.</span>

<span class="q_heading">'''Virajā is a river that divides the material world from the spiritual world.'''</span>

<span class="CC-statistics">'''[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 15.172|CC Madhya 15.172, Translation and Purport]]: “Just as there are millions of fruits on the uḍumbara tree, millions of universes float on the waters of the river Virajā.'''

Virajā is a river that divides the material world from the spiritual world. On one side of the river Virajā is the effulgence of Brahmaloka and innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and on the other side is this material world. It is to be understood that this side of the Virajā River is filled with material planets floating in the Causal Ocean. The name Virajā indicates a marginal position between the spiritual and material worlds, but the Virajā River is not under the control of the material energy. Consequently it is devoid of the three guṇas.</span>