Namaste Indiaspirituality Amrut
Originally Posted by
Indiaspirituality Amrut
My study in Vaishnav Philosophy is very very limited. Out of curiosity, I just checked translations by VAishnava Acharya-s of BG 2.51, 8.11, 15.4, 15.5, 18.56, which contains the word 'padam' and the famous 9.25 (anya devata verse)
Surprisingly, I did not find that any acharya used to word 'Vaikuntha' or tried to explain Pada here means 'Vaikuntha', nor did they quote BhAgavat Purana.
...
Acharya-s had opportunity and they were much intelligent than us. If we can connect, they too could have connected padam with Vaikuntha.
In the Bhagavad gita Lord Krishna does not mention his abode under the name Vaikuntha, but just as "abode". In the Bhagavad gita there are several Sanskrit terms that are used as an "abode".
See for example verse 8.28 (http://vedabase.net/bg/8/28/en) where the word sthānam is used. In verse 8.21 (http://vedabase.net/bg/8/21/en) and verse 15.6 (http://vedabase.net/bg/15/6/en) the word dhāma is used.
What is interesting to note is that the verses of Bhagavad gita 8.21 and Katha Upanishad 1.3.8-9 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe15/sbe15012.htm) are very similar:
"That which the Vedāntists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns — that is My supreme abode." (Bhagavad-gītā 8.21)
'But he who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place, from whence he is not born again.' (Katha Upanishad 1.3.8)
'But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and who holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the end of his journey, and that is the highest place of Vishnu.' (Katha Upanishad 1.3.9)
The only difference between them is that word dhāma is used in Bhagavad-gītā 8.21, whereas in Katha Upanishad 1.3.9 word padam is used in the sense of "place, abode". Those two words dhāma and padam are synonymous and mean the same thing "abode".
In the Bhagavad gita 18.56 (http://vedabase.net/bg/18/56/en) word padam is used: śāśvataḿ padam avyayam. In Gaudiya vaishnava sampradaya Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur commented on this verse:
"... bhakta attains my eternal dhamas (padam), such as Vaikuntha, Mathura, Dvaraka, and Ayodhya"
Here Visvanatha Cakravarti took the word dhāma to mean padam, and he says that it refers to Vaikuntha and some places in the Vaikuntha such as Mathura, Dvaraka, and Ayodhya. According to this view places such as Mathura, Dvaraka, and Ayodhya are not only the material places on the earth, but they also exist in the spiritual world of Vaikuntha as an eternal abodes of the Lord Krishna, Narayana and Rama.
regards
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