Perhaps you know that once upon a time Rūpa Gosvāmī desired that "If I would get some nice foodstuff, I would have invited Sanātana Gosvāmī and cook some nice food." He desired like that. They were living in Vṛndāvana here and there, under the shade of a tree. They had no stock, nothing. So one very beautiful girl came and offered rice, ḍāl, ghee. She said, "Bābā, we have got some festival." In this country they address saintly person as Bābā. So she offered so many things, and he immediately invited Sanātana Gosvāmī—they were living separately. And Rūpa Gosvāmī was very good cook also. So he prepared very nice preparation and offered to Sanātana Gosvāmī prasādam. So Sanātana Gosvāmī astonishingly inquired that "Where you got all these nice things in this forest?" So he told the whole story, that "In the morning I desired, and in just a few hour, time, little time, one very beautiful girl came and offered this ingredients." So after hearing the description of the beautiful girl, Sanātana Gosvāmī could understand that she was Rādhārāṇī. So immediately he chastised Rūpa Gosvāmī, that "You have taken service from Rādhārāṇī. This is not good. We are trying to give service to Rādhārāṇī, and you have taken service from Rādhārāṇī."
So this is Vaiṣṇava consideration. They are firmly determined not to bother Kṛṣṇa with anything. Simply to serve Him. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Similarly, Kṛṣṇa also finds opportunity when to serve His devotee. This is the reciprocation. The devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa without any return, and Kṛṣṇa also wants to serve devotee whenever there is opportunity. This is the transaction of love: not to take anything return.
- āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām
- adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā
- yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
- mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ
- (CC Antya 20.47)
This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching, that "From Kṛṣṇa's side, He may do whatever He likes"—that is full surrender—"still, He is my master. He's nobody else. He is still my worshipable master." Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung,
- mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor
- arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda-kiśor
Nanda-kiśora is Kṛṣṇa. So this is full surrender. "My dear Nanda-kiśora, whatever I have got, now I am offering everything to You." What I have got? Mānasa deho geho: "I have got my body, I have got my mind, and a so-called home or a wife or a few children. What I have got? So everything is offered to You." Mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor. This is full surrender. Now he says, mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā: "I am surrendering to You everything. Now if You like You can save me, or if You like You can kill me." This is full surrender.
So these Pāṇḍavas are the best example, and better than the Pāṇḍavas, there are other devotees. And the topmost surrendered devotees are the gopīs. There is no more higher exalted devotees than the gopīs. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended that the gopīs, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā. There is no better type of worshiping Kṛṣṇa than the method by which gopīs worship Kṛṣṇa. They, their love was so intense that they did not care for any family, any honor, or any prestige—nothing. That is the highest, topmost loving stage of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa also loved the gopīs, so much so that Kṛṣṇa asked them that "You cannot expect any return from Me for your ecstatic love. I cannot give you. It is beyond My power." So they purchased Kṛṣṇa. And the topmost gopī is Rādhārāṇī. So we should not consider these gopīs' dealings with Kṛṣṇa as ordinary material dealings. It is not that. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). The gopīs are expansion of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. That is described by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt. Hlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa has got the pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is also said, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we see, that is display of the potencies, different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like the sun is ninety-three millions of miles away from this earthly planet. Still we are getting heat and light energy of the sun. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Although He is in the Goloka planet, which is the topmost planet in the spiritual world... You cannot estimate the how far the spiritual world is from this material world. From material calculation they say it takes about some forty thousands of years to go to the limit of this universe. Then beyond that universe there is the spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20), another nature, avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ. Then you pass through the spiritual world, brahmajyoti. There are innumerable, unlimited number of Vaikuṇṭha planets. Then, above all of them, there is the planet Goloka Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṇa resides.
It is said in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya (Bs. 5.43). Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. That is Kṛṣṇa's personal planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu (Bs. 5.43). There are other planetary system, Hari-dhāma, Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma. Then, this is, this material world is called Devī-dhāma, and between the Goloka, between the spiritual world and material world there is...Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu (Bs. 5.43). So there are so many status (?) of planetary system. Each planet is full with living entities. The spiritual planet, they are full of living entities: they are all liberated, nitya-mukta. And those who are within this material world, planets, they are nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta. There are two kinds of living entities. The nitya-baddhas are only few, but the nitya-muktas are many, many. This material world is only one fourth energy of the creation. The three-fourths energy is in the spiritual world. And here in the one-fourth energy there are innumerable universes, and each universe is full with different types of planets, and each planet is full of living entities. But these rascals, they say it is..., there is no living entity; it is sand and rocks. So this is not the fact. You have to understand from the Vedic literature about the planets, where which planet is existing, where is spiritual world, where is material world. All informations are there. Don't speculate and simply think that this planet is full of living entities, all other planets are vacant. This is most unusual argument. There is no meaning. But we are not concerned with that. We have got our own information from the Vedas.