The spiritual sky contains innumerable spiritual planets, the Vaikuṇṭhas, which are manifestations of the Supreme Lord's internal energy. Innumerable material universes are similarly exhibited by His external energy, and the living entities are manifested by His marginal energy. Because Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is not different from Lord Kṛṣṇa, He is the cause of all causes; there is no cause beyond Him. He is eternal, and His form is spiritual. Lord Caitanya is directly the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, as the evidence of authoritative scriptures proves. This chapter stresses that a devotee who wishes to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must have knowledge of Kṛṣṇa's personal form, His three principal energies, His pastimes and the relationship of the living entities with Him.
Spiritual planets (CC and other books)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
In the previous chapter it has been established that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vrajendra (the King of Vraja), is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with six opulences. He eternally enjoys transcendentally variegated opulences on His planet, which is known as Goloka. The eternal pastimes of the Lord in the spiritual planet Kṛṣṇaloka are called aprakaṭa, or unmanifested, pastimes because they are beyond the purview of the conditioned souls. Lord Kṛṣṇa is always present everywhere, but when He is not present before our eyes, He is said to be aprakaṭa, or unmanifested.
Beyond the limitation of this material world is the spiritual sky, paravyoma, which has many spiritual planets, the supreme of which is called Kṛṣṇaloka. Kṛṣṇaloka, the abode of Kṛṣṇa, has three divisions, which are known as Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula. In that abode the Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four plenary portions-Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Pradyumna (the transcendental Cupid) and Aniruddha. They are known as the original quadruple forms.
In the highest region of that spiritual sky is the spiritual planet called Kṛṣṇaloka. It has three divisions—Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula.
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 Vaikuṇṭha 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.
There are two kinds of research to find the original cause of creation. One conclusion is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all-blissful, eternal, all knowing form, is indirectly the cause of this cosmic manifestation and directly the cause of the spiritual world, where there are innumerable spiritual planets known as Vaikuṇṭhas, as well as His personal abode, known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. In other words, there are two manifestations—the material cosmos and the spiritual world. As in the material world there are innumerable planets and universes, so in the spiritual world there are also innumerable spiritual planets and universes, including the Vaikuṇṭhas and Goloka. The Supreme Lord is the cause of both the material and spiritual worlds. The other conclusion, of course, is that this cosmic manifestation is caused by an inexplicable unmanifested void. This argument is meaningless.
"After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable oṁ, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets." If one actually understands that oṁkāra is the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whether he chants oṁkāra or the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the result is certainly the same.
CC Madhya-lila
The goal of human perfection is stated here in brief. One has to surpass all the planetary systems of the material universe, pierce through the covering of the universe and reach the spiritual world, known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka. The Vaikuṇṭhalokas are variegated spiritual planets situated in the Lord's impersonal bodily effulgence, known as the brahmajyoti. One may aspire to elevate himself to a heavenly planet within the material world, such as the moon, the sun or Venus, but if one is spiritually advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not wish to remain within the material universe, even in a higher planetary system. Rather, he prefers to penetrate the covering of the universe and attain the spiritual world. He can then be situated in one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets there. However, the devotees under the guidance of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu aspire to reach the topmost spiritual planet, known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, the residence of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His eternal associates.
Just as there are many orbs in the material world called stars or planets, in the spiritual world there are many spiritual planets called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. The spiritual universe, however, is situated far, far away from the cluster of material universes. Material scientists cannot even estimate the number of planets and stars within this universe. They are also incapable of traveling to other stars by spaceship.
"Pure devotees always reject the five kinds of liberation, which include living in the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets, possessing the same opulences as those possessed by the Supreme Lord, having the same bodily features as the Lord"s, associating with the Lord and merging into the body of the Lord. The pure devotees do not accept these benedictions without the service of the Lord.’
"Only Lord Rāmacandra has the power to send seven palm trees to the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets."
As one waters the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed sprouts, and the creeper gradually grows to the point where it penetrates the walls of this universe and goes beyond the Virajā River, lying between the spiritual world and the material world. It attains brahma-loka, the Brahman effulgence, and penetrating through that stratum, it reaches the spiritual sky and the spiritual planet Goloka Vṛndāvana.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “All the transcendental forms of the Lord are situated in the spiritual sky. They preside over spiritual planets in that abode, but there is no counting those Vaikuṇṭha planets.
At Vṛndāvana, the Lord immediately created all material and spiritual planets in one moment. Indeed, all of them were created with their predominating deities.
When Lord Kṛṣṇa was present in the earthly Vṛndāvana, Lord Brahmā, taking Him to be an ordinary cowherd boy, wanted to test His potency. Therefore Lord Brahmā stole all the calves and cowherd boys from Kṛṣṇa and hid them by his illusory energy. When Kṛṣṇa saw that Brahmā had stolen His calves and cowherd boys, He immediately created many material and spiritual planets in Lord Brahmā’s presence. Within a moment, cowherd boys, calves and unlimited Vaikuṇṭhas—all expansions of the Lord's spiritual energy—were manifested. As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). Not only did Kṛṣṇa create all the paraphernalia of His spiritual energy, but He also created unlimited material universes with unlimited Brahmās. All these pastimes, which are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, will cleanse one's consciousness. In this way one can actually understand the Absolute Truth. The spiritual planets in the spiritual sky are called Vaikuṇṭhas, and each of them has a predominating Deity (Nārāyaṇa) with a specific name. Similarly, in the material sky there are innumerable universes, and each is dominated by a specific deity, a Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa simultaneously created all these Vaikuṇṭha planets and universes within a moment after Brahmā’s return.
This is a quotation from the Viśva-prakāśa dictionary. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-pervasive. Not only does He carry the three worlds by His inconceivable energy, but He maintains them also. He is also maintaining His spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, by His conjugal love, and He is maintaining the Vaikuṇṭhalokas by His opulences. He maintains the material universes through His external energy. The material universes are perfectly situated because they are created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
By executing regulative devotional service, one becomes an associate of Nārāyaṇa and attains the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, the spiritual planets in the spiritual sky.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
The Lord next explained the situation of different spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. The spiritual planets are also known as Vaikuṇṭha planets. The universes of the material creation have a limited length and breadth, but as far as the Vaikuṇṭha planets are concerned, there is no limitation to their dimensions because they are spiritual.
In this universe even the largest planet lies in one corner of outer space. Although the sun is thousands of times larger than the earth, it still lies in one corner of outer space. Similarly, each of the infinite planets, although unlimited in length and breadth, lies in a corner of the spiritual sky known as the brahmajyoti. In the Brahma-saṁhitā this brahmajyoti is described as niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtam, or undivided and unlimited and without a trace of the material modes of nature. All the Vaikuṇṭha planets are like petals of a lotus flower, and the principal part of that lotus, called Kṛṣṇaloka or Goloka Vṛndāvana, is the center of all the Vaikuṇṭhas. Thus the expansions of Kṛṣṇa in various forms, as described herein, as well as His various abodes on the spiritual planets in the spiritual sky, are unlimited. Even demigods like Brahmā and Śiva cannot see or even estimate the extent of the Vaikuṇṭha planets.
The associates of Kṛṣṇa are also full with six opulences. In the Pādmottara-khaṇḍa (225.57) it is stated that the material energy and the spiritual energy are separated by water known as the Virajā River. That river flows from the perspiration of the first puruṣa incarnation. On one bank of the Virajā is the eternal nature, unlimited and all-blissful, called the spiritual sky, and this is the spiritual kingdom, or the kingdom of God. The spiritual planets are called Vaikuṇṭhas because there is no lamentation or fear there; everything is eternal.
Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is situated in His internal potency, which is known as svarūpa-śakti or ātma-śakti, as described in Bhagavad-gītā. He expands Himself in various multiple forms, and some of these are known as His personal forms and some as His separated forms. Thus He enjoys Himself in all the spiritual planets, as well as in the material universes. The expansions of His separated forms are called living entities, and these living entities are classified according to the energies of the Lord.
The higher planetary systems begin with the sun planet, which is situated in the middle of the universe. Beyond the sun there are other planetary systems where persons who are elevated by great austerities and penances are situated. The entire material universe is called Devīdhāma, and above it there is Śivadhāma, where Lord Śiva and his wife Pārvatī eternally reside. Above that planetary system is the spiritual sky where innumerable spiritual planets, known as Vaikuṇṭhas, are situated. Above these Vaikuṇṭha planets there is Kṛṣṇa's planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. The word goloka means "planet of the cows." Because Kṛṣṇa is very fond of cows, His abode is known as Goloka. Goloka Vṛndāvana is larger than all the material and spiritual planets put together.
Another meaning of the word dhṛti is "to realize oneself as elevated." When one realizes his own elevation, he feels that he is free from all miseries and is elevated to the highest platform of life. All devotees of Kṛṣṇa in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness are free from all kinds of material pleasures and miseries. They are fully absorbed in the service of the Lord, and they are always jolly by virtue of their engagement in His transcendental service. They are experienced men of happiness. Indeed, they are so happy that they do not even wish to be promoted to the spiritual planets, for they are happy in every sphere of life. Being full in the transcendental service of the Lord, they desire neither material objects or material sense pleasures. As stated by the Gosvāmīs: "Persons whose senses are fixed in the service of the Supreme Lord can be called peaceful."
Lord Caitanya also rejected this third proposal, for He wanted to demonstrate that renunciation in itself is not sufficient. There must be positive engagement. Without positive engagement, the highest perfectional stage cannot be attained. Generally there are two kinds of philosophers in the renounced order of life. The goal of one is nirvāṇa, and the goal of the other is the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Such philosophers cannot imagine that they can reach beyond nirvāṇa and the Brahman effulgence to the Vaikuṇṭha planets of the spiritual sky. Because in simple renunciation there is no conception of spiritual planets and spiritual activities, Lord Caitanya rejected this third proposal.
Nectar of Devotion
Sometimes an impersonalist may gradually elevate himself to the personal conception of the Lord. Bhagavad-gītā confirms this: "After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me." By such surrender, an impersonalist can be elevated to the Vaikuṇṭhaloka (spiritual planet) where, as a surrendered soul, he attains bodily features like those of the Lord.In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it is stated, "Those who have achieved liberation from material contamination and those who are demons and are killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead become absorbed in the Brahman concept of life and reside in the spiritual sky of the brahmajyoti." That spiritual sky is far beyond the material sky, and it is confirmed also in Bhagavad-gītā that beyond this material sky there is another, eternal sky. The enemies and the impersonalists may be allowed to enter into this Brahman effulgence, but the devotees of Kṛṣṇa are promoted all the way to the spiritual planets. Because the pure devotees have developed their spontaneous love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are allowed to enter into the spiritual planets to enjoy spiritual bliss in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa is called Parambrahman (the Supreme Brahman) or Parameśvara (the supreme controller). Śrī Yāmunācārya has prayed as follows: "My dear Lord, I know that the gigantic universe and gigantic space and time within the universe are covered by the ten layers of the material elements, each layer ten times larger than the previous one. The three material modes of nature, the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Mahā-Viṣṇu, and beyond them the spiritual sky and its spiritual planets, known as Vaikuṇṭhas, and the Brahman effulgence in that spiritual sky—all of these taken together are nothing but a small exhibition of Your potency."
Easy Journey to Other Planets
The latest desire man has developed is the desire to travel to other planets. This is also quite natural, because he has the constitutional right to go to any part of the material or spiritual skies. Such travel is very tempting and exciting because these skies are full of unlimited globes of varying qualities, and they are occupied by all types of living entities. The desire to travel there can be fulfilled by the process of yoga, which serves as a means by which one can transfer himself to whatever planet he likes—possibly to planets where life is not only eternal and blissful, but where there are multiple varieties of enjoyable energies. Anyone who can attain the freedom of the spiritual planets need never return to this miserable land of birth, old age, disease and death.
As far as the planetary system of the spiritual sky is concerned, there are unlimited Vaikuṇṭha planets in the para-vyoma. The Vaikuṇṭhas are spiritual planets which are manifestations of the internal potency of the Lord, and the ratio of these planets to the material planets (external energy) in the material sky is three to one. So the poor materialist is busy making political adjustments on a planet which is most insignificant in God's creation.
When a satellite is thrown into outer space, a child may not understand that there are scientific brains behind it, but an intelligent adult realizes that scientific brains on earth are controlling the satellite. Similarly, less intelligent persons do not have information of the creator and His eternal abode in the spiritual world, which is far beyond our range of visibility, but in actuality there is a spiritual sky, and spiritual planets which are more spacious and greater in number than planets in the material sky.
Similarly, one can go to a lower planetary system, or if one desires he can remain on this planet. Finally, if one desires, he can enter the planet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is all a matter of preparation. However, all planetary systems within our material universe are temporary. The duration of life on certain material planets may be very long, but all living entities in the material universe are eventually subject to annihilation and have to again develop other bodies. There are different types of bodies. A human body exists one hundred years, whereas an insect body may exist for twelve hours. Thus the duration of these different bodies is relative. If one enters the planet called Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the spiritual planet. however, he then achieves eternal life, full of bliss and knowledge. A human being can attain that perfection if he tries. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā when the Lord says, "Anyone who knows in truth about the Supreme Personality of Godhead can attain to My nature."
There is a spiritual sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets and innumerable spiritual living entities, but those who are not fit to live in that spiritual world are sent to this material world. Voluntarily we have accepted this material body, but actually we are spirit souls who should not have accepted it.
"After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable oṁ, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets." (BG 8.13) In this way all the senses have to be stopped in their external activities, and the mind must be concentrated on viṣṇu-mūrti, the form of Lord Viṣṇu. That is the perfection of yoga.
As stated in our pamphlet Kṛṣṇa, the Reservoir of Pleasure, if we transfer ourselves to the spiritual world, to Kṛṣṇa's planet or to any other spiritual planet, then we will get a body similar to God's: sac-cid-ānanda—eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. So those who try to be Kṛṣṇa conscious have a different aim of life than those who are trying to promote themselves to the better planets in this material world.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
In the meantime, a devotee-tailor took the opportunity of service and prepared some nice clothes from the cloth for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Thus being very nicely attired, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma looked like elephants dressed with colored clothing on the full-moon day or the dark-moon day. Kṛṣṇa was very much pleased with the tailor and gave him the benediction of sārūpya-mukti, which means that after leaving his body he would be liberated and would attain a four-handed body exactly like that of Nārāyaṇa in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Kṛṣṇa also granted him that as long as he would live he would earn sufficient opulence to be able to enjoy sense gratification. By this incident Kṛṣṇa proved that those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees will not be lacking material enjoyment of sense gratification. They will have sufficient opportunity for such things, but after leaving this body they will be allowed to enter the spiritual planets of Vaikuṇṭhaloka or Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana.
Before entering the heavenly planets, King Nṛga circumambulated the Lord, touched his helmet to the Lord's lotus feet and bowed before Him. Seeing the airplane from the heavenly planets present before him, he was given permission by the Lord to board it. After the departure of King Nṛga, Lord Kṛṣṇa expressed His appreciation for the King's devotion to the brāhmaṇas as well as his charitable disposition and his performance of Vedic rituals. Therefore, it is recommended that if one cannot directly become a devotee of the Lord, one should follow the Vedic principles of life. This will enable him, one day, to see the Lord by being promoted either directly to the spiritual kingdom or, indirectly, to the heavenly kingdom, where he has hope of being transferred to the spiritual planets.
If one feeds Nārāyaṇa sumptuously, the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, automatically becomes a guest in one's house, which means that one's home becomes opulent. The learned brāhmaṇa Sudāmā passed that night at the house of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and while there he felt as if he were living on a Vaikuṇṭha planet. Actually he was living in Vaikuṇṭha, because wherever Lord Kṛṣṇa, the original Nārāyaṇa, and Rukmiṇīdevī, the goddess of fortune, live is not different from the spiritual planets, Vaikuṇṭhaloka.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
This material creation is manifested and subsequently destroyed during Lord Brahmā's day and night. But beyond this material world is an eternal existence—the spiritual sky—which is untouched by creation and annihilation. That spiritual abode is known as the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Even when this material creation is destroyed, the Vaikuṇṭha planets remain unscathed and intact. Once anyone enters these planets, he never again suffers the repetition of birth and death, which is inevitable for earthly beings. While the material world is covered and pervaded by the material sky, the spiritual planets are suspended in the spiritual sky, known as paravyoma. All the planetary systems within the paravyoma are transcendental abodes where the Supreme Lord performs His pastimes eternally.
Light of the Bhagavata
Men with developed consciousness, therefore, do not waste time making excursions, real or imaginary, to the moon. Such intelligent persons do not endeavor to achieve temporary sense enjoyment. Rather, they apply their conserved energy for the sake of spiritual cultivation. They discharge religious duties for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, and not for personal sense enjoyment. The signs of such exceptional devotees of the Lord are that they are unattached to material enjoyment, contented, pure in heart, attached to devotional service, free from affection for temporary things, and devoid of false ego. According to Vedic injunctions, such great personalities ultimately attain the place where the Supreme Personality of Godhead predominates and where there is no death, no birth, no old age, and no disease. On the way to these spiritual planets, such personalities pass through the sun line called arcir-mārga. And on the way they can see all the planets between here and the spiritual world.
Sri Isopanisad
Those living beings who reside on higher planets like the sun and the moon, as well as those on Martyaloka, this earth planet, and also those who live on lower planets—all are merged into the waters of devastation during the night of Brahmā. During this time no living beings or species remain manifest, although spiritually they continue to exist. This unmanifested stage is called avyakta. Again, when the entire universe is vanquished at the end of Brahmā's lifetime, there is another avyakta state. But beyond these two unmanifested states is another unmanifested state, the spiritual atmosphere, or nature. There are a great number of spiritual planets in this atmosphere, and these planets exist eternally, even when all the planets within this material universe are vanquished at the end of Brahmā's life.
The karmīs, or fruitive workers, can elevate themselves to the Svargaloka planets, which include the sun and the moon. Jñānīs and yogīs can attain still higher planets, such as Maharloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka, and when they become still more qualified through devotional service they can enter into the spiritual nature, either the illuminating cosmic atmosphere of the spiritual sky (Brahman) or the Vaikuṇṭha planets, according to their qualification. It is certain, however, that no one can enter into the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets without being trained in devotional service.On the material planets, everyone from Brahmā down to the ant is trying to lord it over material nature, and this is the material disease. As long as this material disease continues, the living entity has to undergo the process of bodily change. Whether he takes the form of a man, demigod or animal, he ultimately has to endure an unmanifested condition during the two devastations—the devastation during the night of Brahmā and the devastation at the end of Brahmā's life. If we want to put an end to this process of repeated birth and death, as well as the concomitant factors of old age and disease, we must try to enter the spiritual planets, where we can live eternally in the association of Lord Kṛṣṇa or His plenary expansions, His Nārāyaṇa forms.
The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29)
The brahmajyoti is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord.
The Lord fully maintains His unalloyed devotees, and He guides them progressively on the path toward devotional perfection. As the leader of His devotees, He ultimately awards the desired results of devotional service by giving Himself to them. The devotees of the Lord see the Lord eye to eye by His causeless mercy; thus the Lord helps His devotees reach the supermost spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Being the creator, He can bestow all necessary qualifications upon His devotees so that they can ultimately reach Him.
| Page Title: | Spiritual planets (CC and other books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Sureshwardas |
| Created: | 08 of Jun, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=17, OB=26, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 43 |