Gopa Kumar describes Vaikunthaloka by Romapada Swami.
Summary: During this past weekend a number of devotees participated in a Retreat at our Gita Nagari farm, part of which was hearing from “Sri Brhat-bhagavatamrta” by Sanatana Goswami. Gopa Kumara had entered into Vaikuntha on a Vaikuntha airship, by the blessings of Lord Siva and others, and was relating his experiences there to another. The splendor of the Vaikuntha realm was so amazing to Gopa Kumara, who explained that even metaphors indicating it’s magnificence were grossly inadequate. He explains in Chapter 4 Text 51: “Except by direct experience, no one can rightly understand Vaikuntha. No more than this can I accurately describe. Nonetheless, his well-wishes for his student, the Mathura Brahmana, include his becoming inspired to attain that direct experience. However, that demands prior discipline and austerity (see below). Thus, Gopa Kumar gives the gist of his experience what quality the Vaikuntha realm represents, as an *inspiration* to undergo needed discipline to reach there. May you also become inspired to reach Vaikuntha, and to be prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes to get there!
Reading Assignment
“Sri Brhat-bhagavatamrta” by Sanatana Goswami a) Part 2, Chapter 4, Text 51, b) Texts 53-54
a) Sri Brhat-bhagavatamrta Part 2, Chapter 4, Texts 51
Commentary: A condition soul may discover the transcendental world of Vaikuntha, but only if he sees that higher reality for himself. By hearing from someone who has seen Vaikuntha one may gain only a glimmer of understanding. Nonetheless, when a devotee aspiring for the Lord’s service hears the pure instructions of his self-realized spiritual master and faithfully practices the disciplines such a guru recommends, the devotee gradually becomes pure in heart. And when his faith sufficiently matures, he can see the spiritual world. Only by that direct perception does knowledge become perfect. Casual hearing, even from those who have seen the truth, is not enough. One must become a disciple of such an authority and accept the disciplines that lead to self-realization.
b) Sri Brhat-bhagavatamrta Part 2, Chapter 4, Texts 53-54
Translation Those who are self-satisfied, fulfilled in all desires, and free from all material concerns, who have renounced everything they know and possess, who have associated with Vaisnavas and have acquired the power to discern between the essential and the nonessential — it is they who can enter the path of devotional service. When I went to Vaikuntha, that is what I vividly saw.
Commentary Even though Gopa-kumara’s student has been told that only direct perception can give him true understanding of the nature of Vaikuntha, he may still be anxious to have some other means to gain the special faith which the discipline of bhakti-yoga demands. Anticipating that anxiety, Gopa-kumara here describes the logic by which one can know theoretically the superexcellent happiness of Vaikuntha. Advanced mystics who have realized the Supreme Truth in its impersonal aspect sometimes abandon the happiness of Brahman for the opportunity to realize Vaikuntha. They leave aside both their knowledge and their perfectly developed realizations to enter the path of devotional service. Once they experience the bliss of Vaikuntha life, they condemn what they formerly considered happiness in impersonal realization. This is evidence of the wonder of Vaikuntha.