গোবিন্দ-শরীর সত্য, তাহার সেবক নিত্য,
বৃন্দাবন-ভূমি তেজোময় ।
ত্রিভুবনে শোভাসার, হেন স্থান নাহি আর,
যাহার স্মরণে প্রেম হয় ॥ ৬৬ ॥
gobinda-śarīra satya, tāhāra sebaka nitya,
bṛndābana-bhūmi tejomaya |
tribhubane śobhā-sāra, hena sthāna nāhi āra,
yāhāra smaraṇe prema haya || 66 ||
Govinda’s body is real, his servants are eternal and the land of Vṛndāvana is radiant. It is the most beautiful place in the three worlds. Nowhere else compares. Simply by remembering it one obtains prema.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Form, His Devotee and Vraja
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya describes the reality of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s form, the nature of the bhakta and the nature of Śrī Vṛndāvana. First, to establish the reality of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s form, he says, gobinda-śarīra satya. The body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Being in human form, exists eternally. This eternality is only one component of his saccidānanda form. Though the jīvas are by nature particles of spirit and thus eternal, their illusory bodies have been fabricated with the materials of prakṛti and are therefore transitory or perishable. There is no difference in God’s body and his soul: deha-dehī-bhidā caiva neśvare vidyate kvacit. In his Sarva-Saṁvādinī commentary on Bhagavat-Sandarbhaḥ, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has given a quote from the Mahābhārata: na bhūta-saṁgha-saṁsthāno deho’sya paramātmanaḥ. “The body of the Supreme Being is never composed of the five elements.” In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.19, Śrī Rṣabhadeva said, idaṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyam. “This body of mine is difficult to understand.” In his commentary, Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmī writes, idaṁ manuṣyākāraṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyam avitarkyaṁ mad-icchā-vilasitaṁ na tv ahaṁ prākṛto manuṣya ity arthaḥ. “My humanlike body is indeed beyond logic. It is manifested by my desire and is the embodiment of spiritual joy. I am never an ordinary man.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s natural state is undivided spiritual joy; his body is the same. tam ekaṁ govindaṁ sac-cid-ānanda-vigraham (śruti). In Śrī-Bhagavad-Gītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said to Śrī Arjuna, brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham (14.27), and nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (7.25). “I am the condensed foundation of brahma. Concealed by yogamāyā, I am not manifest to all.” In the Gopāla-Tāpanī Upaniṣad we see, kṛṣṇo vai paramaṁ daivatam; kṛṣṇa eva paro devas taṁ dhyāyet taṁ raset taṁ yajed iti. Śrī Sanaka and other sages asked Brahmā, “Who is the Supreme God?” Brahmā replied, “Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God.” At the end of the same book, we see, “Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the parama-devatā because he surpasses all others. Meditate upon him, relish his sweetness and worship him.” All these statements establish that the cause of the superiority of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s humanlike form is that this form is the supreme spiritual truth. ānanda-mātraḥ kara-pāda-mukhodarādi (śruti). Just as all the limbs of a sugar-doll are made of sugar, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s hands, feet and all other limbs are made of saccidānanda: existence, consciousness and joy.
Therefore, in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the essence of all vedānta, the great sage Vedavyāsa has meditated upon the embodiment of truth, the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, with the words satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. At the beginning of their glorification of Śrī Kṛṣṇa within the womb of Devakī Devī in Kaṁsa’s prison, Brahmā and the other gods established in various ways that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the embodiment of truth and that he exists in past, present and future. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.26:
satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ
satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye |
satyasya satyam ṛta-satya-netraṁ
satyātmakaṁ tvāṁ śaraṇaṁ prapannāḥ ||
Brahmā and the other gods said, “We take shelter of Śrī Govinda, the embodiment of truth. He is always truthful; devoted to truth; true in the past, present and future. He is the source of earth and the rest of the five elements. (By this, he establishes truth in the time before creation.) He is the antaryāmī or inner guide. (By this, he displays the truth in the present time.) He is paramārtha-tattva, spiritual truth. (By this, he establishes the truth after the universal dissolution.) He is the originator of true speech and impartiality.” Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said, gobinda-śarīra satya.
Then he said, tāhāra sebaka nitya. All of Śrī Govinda’s servants and other nitya-siddha companions are also made of saccidānanda and exist eternally. ātma-koṭi-guṇaṁ kṛṣṇe premāṇaṁ paramaṁ gatāḥ, nityānanda-guṇāḥ sarve nitya-siddhā mukundavat (Śrī-Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 2.1.290). mukundavad ye nityānanda-guṇās te nitya-siddhā ity anvayah. nityāś cānanda-svarūpāś ca guṇās tad-upalakṣita-dehāś ca yeṣāṁ ta iti (Śrī Jīvapāda’s commentary). Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s nitya-siddha companions love him a million times more than they love themselves. Like Śrī Kṛṣṇa, they possess qualities full of spiritual happiness and have bodies made of consciousness and joy. By Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, even all of his earthly bhaktas who faithfully follow his companions also obtain bodies made of saccidānanda. In Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Antya 4.191-193, Śrīman Mahāprabhu said to his dear companion Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda,
prabhu kahe–baiṣṇabera deha prākṛta kabhu naya |
aprākṛta-deha bhaktera cid-ānanda-maya ||
dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa |
sei kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama ||
sei deha tāṅra kare cid-ānanda-maya |
aprākṛta dehe tāṅra caraṇa bhajaya ||
“The body of a Vaiṣṇava is never material. His transcendental body is composed of consciousness and joy. At the time of initiation, the bhakta dedicates himself to kṛṣṇa-sevā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa makes him equal to himself. He makes the bhakta’s body spiritual, and in that body the bhakta serves the Lord’s lotus feet.”
Later, Śrīman Mahāprabhu established the reliability of his own words with evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.29.34:
martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā
niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me |
tadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamāno
mayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai ||
Śrī Kṛṣṇa said to Śrī Uddhava, “O Uddhava! When a man gives up all duties and dedicates himself to me,* I want to favor him above even the jñānīs or yogīs. After attaining immortality, he receives a cidānandamaya body like mine.” The purport of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s sei kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama statement is that for the faithful devotee who has obtained the mercy of a great soul, this process begins with taking shelter of the lotus feet of a sad-guru and receiving dīkṣā. By the practice of bhajana, the sādhaka’s heart and mind become cleansed and he is gradually lifted to the levels of niṣṭhā, ruci and āsakti. As he advances, his body, senses, mind and intellect give up their material nature and slowly but surely attain the spiritual nature. When the bhakta is lifted to the stage of rati, his inner sense (meaning his mind, intellect, heart, ego and so on) becomes fully spiritual. At the stage of prema, his body and senses also attain full spirituality. Therefore Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda has written the following in his Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam:
kṛṣṇa-bhakti-sudhā-pānād deha-daihika-vismṛte |
teṣāṁ bhautika dehe’pi sac-cid-ānanda-rūpatā ||
“Those who drink the nectar of devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa forget their bodies and all related to them. Even those bodies made of the five elements attain the state of saccidānanda.” One may ask that if the bhakta’s physical body becomes saccidānanda, then why do we see disease, old age and death in it? Moreover, it is described that after the destruction of the bhakta’s body (death), he obtains a spiritual body and becomes one of Śri Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s companions. But how is it possible to destroy a supernatural body? If the body is not destroyed, then when the bhakta obtains a pārṣada body, where is the prior body located and in what way does it remain? Thus, many doubts arise about this matter. A satisfactory answer to them all is obtained in the śāstras and the words of the mahājanas. The gist is that Śrī Bhagavān always wants to keep his esoteric bhakti and the actions or results of bhakti-sādhanā hidden. If its fruit is visible to everyone, unqualified people might meddle with bhakti-sādhanā and make some offense. Secondly, mysterious Bhakti Devī always likes to remain concealed, and humble-hearted devotees always want to keep the fruits of their bhakti or bhakti-sādhanā hidden away. In this way, nourishment is given to their humility, the natural treasure of prema-sādhanā. Therefore, the great magician Śrī Bhagavān, the lord of māyā, causes the eyes of ordinary people to see old age, disease and death in the devotee’s cidānandamaya body just as in a material body. In truth, the devotee’s cidānandamaya body unites with his pārṣada body and enters the kingdom of līlā. As with the Yādavas, an illusory form of the siddha-bhakta is seen burning in the funeral fire. To prove this mystery with sthālīpulāka-nyāya,** Śrī Bhagavān has caused devotees such as Dhruva in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Gopakumāra in Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam to enter the kingdom of līlā in their existing bodies.
Then, to establish that Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma has a saccidānanda form like Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, bṛndābana-bhūmi tejomaya. This world, for example, is a transformation of the external māyā-śakti or an alteration of prakṛti (material nature). The places of Śrī Bhagavān’s pastimes, such as Śrī Vṛndāvana and the other dhāmas, are not like that. Śrī Dhāma is a manifestation of his internal sandhinī-śakti.
sandhinīra sāra aṁśa–śuddha-sattva nāma |
bhagavānera sattā haya yāhāte biśrāma ||
mātā pitā sthāna gṛha śayyāsana āra |
e saba kṛṣṇera śuddha-sattvera bikāra ||
“The essence of the sandhinī-śakti, in which Śrī Bhagavān’s existence rests, is called śuddha-sattva. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mother, father, habitat, home, bed, seat and so on are all transformations of śuddha-sattva.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.64-65)
Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.24 says, sa bhagavaḥ kasmin pratiṣṭhita iti sve mahimni. “Where is that Bhagavān situated?” The reply: “He is situated in his own inconceivable glory.” Gopāla-Tāpanī śruti says, gokulaṁ vana-vaikuṇṭham, sākṣād brahma gopālapurī hi, and so on. “Another name of Gokula is Vana-Vaikuṇṭha. Gopāla Purī is directly brahma.” Much scriptural evidence has remained that Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma is beyond the phenomenal reality, eternal, transcendent, the place of Śrī Bhagavān’s infinite pastimes, luminous yet imperceptible to the physical eye. In Bṛhad-Gautamīya-Tantra, Śrī Nārada asks Śrī Kṛṣṇa, “O king of cowherds! What is the nature of this Śrī Vṛndāvana consisting of twelve forests? If I am eligible to hear this, please be merciful and describe it.” In reply, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said the following:
idaṁ vṛndāvanaṁ ramyaṁ mama dhāmaiva kevalam |
atra ye paśavaḥ pakṣi-vṛkṣāḥ kīṭānarāmarāḥ ||
ye vasanti mamādhiṣṇe mṛtā yānti mamālayam ||
---------------------------------
pañca-yojanam evāsti vanaṁ me deha-rūpakam |
kālindīyaṁ suṣumnākhyā paramāmṛta-vāhinī ||
atra devāś ca bhūtāni vartante sūkṣma-rūpataḥ |
sarva-deva-mayaś cāhaṁ na tyajāmi vanaṁ kvacit ||
āvirbhāvas tirobhāvo bhaved atra yuge yuge |
tejo-mayam idaṁ ramyam adṛśyaṁ carma-cakṣuṣā ||
“O Nārada! This delightful Vṛndāvana is my only abode. All of the animals, birds, trees, worms, insects, humans, gods and so on who live in this dhāma enter my eternal abode after death. This forty-five-square-mile Vṛndāvana is my metaphorical body. The transcendental nectar-bearing Kālindī River is known as its suṣumnā or main artery. The gods and creatures reside here in subtle forms. I, who contain all the gods, never leave Vṛndāvana. Indeed, in age after age, I appear and disappear here. This charming Vṛndāvana is luminous and beyond the range of the physical eye.”
Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, tribhubane śobhā-sāra, hena sthāna nāhi āra, yāhāra smaraṇe prema haya. Some people have the conception that Vṛndāvana and the other dhāmas that we can see are not the real cinmaya-dhāmas; they are just specific regions on earth. “At the time of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, the dhāma descends here; and when the līlā disappears, the dhāma also disappears.” Such a conception is detestable to the sādhus and śāstras. Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the embodiment of saccidānanda and exists beyond māyā, he manifests his pastimes in this world and accepts many kinds of human dharmas for the purpose of his nara-līlā (humanlike pastimes). The only cause for this is his mercy. In the same way, out of extreme compassion toward the jīvas of the world, the transcendental cinmaya-dhāma of Vraja accepts a worldly dharma at the end of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s manifest līlā and personally remains here. The illusion-bound humans of earth would not be able to obtain the mercy of Śrī Dhāma if it remained in its transcendental cinmaya form. Thus, Śrī Dhāma is a manifestation of compassion. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has called this display of great mercy a dṛśyamāna-prakāśa or visible manifestation. Clear evidence of that is the fact that many great premika devotees remain here even today, perceiving directly the true cinmaya form of Śrī Dhāma: viśeṣatas tādṛg laukika-rūpatva bhagavan-nitya-dhāmatve tu divya-kadambāśokādi-vṛkṣādayo’py adyāpi mahābhāgavataiḥ sākṣāt kriyante iti prasiddheḥ (Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Sandarbhaḥ). This is described in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 5.17-21:
sarbopari śrī-gokula braja-loka-dhāma |
śrī-goloka śvetadvīpa bṛndābana nāma ||
sarba-ga ananta bibhu kṛṣṇa-tanu sama |
upary adho byāpi āche nāhika niyama ||
brahmāṇḍe prakāśa tāra kṛṣṇera icchāya |
ekai svarūpa tāra nāhi dui kāya ||
cintāmaṇi-bhūmi kalpa-bṛkṣa-maya bana |
carma-cakṣe dekhe tāre prapañcera sama ||
prema-netre dekhe tāra svarūpa-prakāśa |
gopa-gopī-saṅge yāṅhā kṛṣṇera bilāsa ||
gopa-gopī-saṅge yāṅhā kṛṣṇera bilāsa ||
“Above all lies Śrī Gokula, known as Vrajaloka Dhāma, Śrī Goloka, Śvetadvīpa and Vṛndāvana. Like Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s body, it is all-pervading, boundless and eternal. It extends above and below without limit. It manifests in the universe by Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s will. It is of one nature; it does not have two bodies.*** It is the land of the wishing gem, with forests full of desire trees. Physical eyes see it as of the material world; eyes of love see the manifestation of its true form as the place of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes with the gopas and gopīs.”
Even remembrance of this love-filled Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma from a distance incites prema in the innocent heart, not to speak of residing there and performing other types of sevā. yāhāra smaraṇe prema haya. Another reading of this half of the verse is tāhāte yamunā-jala, kare nitya jhalamala, tāra tīre aṣṭa kuñja haya. “Therein, the waters of the Yamunā always sparkle; there are eight bowers on its banks.” In this, the words ‘always sparkle’ describe the Yamunā’s eternal nature, saccidānanda form and extreme beauty. In the previously quoted verses from Bṛhad-Gautamīya-Tantra, Śrī Bhagavān called the Yamunā River the paramāmṛta-vāhinī-suṣumnā or ‘transcendental nectar-bearing artery’ in Vṛndāvana, which is of the same nature as his transcendental form. By saying, “There are eight bowers on its banks,” he has described the location of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s charming pleasure groves on the beautiful, solitary banks of the Yamunā.
*After receiving the spontaneous mercy of my supremely independent devotee
**If, when boiling rice, one pinches a few grains from the pot to test whether all the rice in the pot has cooked, that is called sthālīpulāka-nyāya, or the logic of the boiled rice in the cooking pot.
***It exists simultaneously in both the spiritual and the material worlds.
