It is interesting to note that even in Bhagavata Purana there is not explicit mention of eternality of Vaikuntha Loka. It is considered as Salokata Moksha. But we have Vedanta. Vedanta says that everything which have form gets destroyed at final dissolution or after realisation of Brahman. The support is as Vedanta doesn't give any exception for this and Vaikuntha has a form as it has doors to enter. Vaikuntha is a sport of god Vishnu by his Maya. Devotees themselves created this Vaikuntha.
Shukadeva himself declares in concluding chapters of Bhagavata Purana [12.5.11] that self itself is the Absolute Abode. So I think, there's nothing to argue on this.The lOka or pada or dhAma is explained by vaiSNava AcArya-s as jyOti which means a state of consciousness (as mAdhva says in his gItA bhASya. mAdva further goes on to quote nArada purANa in support of his explanation of the word padam)
Interesting, I thought that Ai Shankara never commented on Bhagavata Purana. But I have one question- Why Shankaracharya never mentioned Bhagavata Purana in Upanishada & Gita Bhashya ?Adi Sankara in his prabOdh sudhAkara has quoted some verses from bhAgavat purANa. He says that each bramhANDa has it's own trinity - brahma, viShNu and maheSa / Sambhu.
Yes, Sant Eknatha and Dnyaneshwara says the same. They say : Just as there is no difference between between Moon and its disc, there's no diffference between Brahman and Krishna. Paramatma hold a form through his own Maya. The defination of Ishwara is Holder/Ruler of Maya.Interestingly Adi Sankara in pra. su. goes on to say that Krishna is the descend of this very paramAtmAn i.e. paramAtmAn taking a particular form and trinity is under his sway.
That's why I call him Advaitian Vaishnawa. He was a clone of Sant Dnyaneshwar.He also says that krishNa is his ISTa devatA
What's Vivarta Vada ? Requesting to explain me.Advaita supports vivarta vAda and not pariNAm vAda.
All Muktis are mentioned by Bhagavata Purana. No doubt , Sayujyata/Kaivalya is the highest Moksha. Because Shukadeva himself declared in Bhagavata Purana ( 12.5.11) - "The aim of all Vedanta is the unity of Atma and Brahman and this is also narrated for the same reason. The goal of this Purana is Kaivalya Moksha." [From this we have concluded that Kaivalya is nothing but the unity of Atma and Brahman.]Infact one of the mukti-s mentioned in bhAgavat is sarupya. Perhaps someone can explain what exactly it is.
Another quote from padma Purana:
In second adhyaya of bhagavatam mahatmya ,
Narada muni says:
सत्यदित्रीयुगे बोधवैरग्यी मुक्तीसाधकी
कली तु केवला भक्तिर्ब्रम्हसायुज्यकरीनी ।।
Meaning =
In satya dvapar and treta yuga there were knowledge and detachment to attain liberation but in kaliyuga only bhakti(devotion) can give bramhasayujya mukti (ie. unity of Brahman & Atma).
From this we came to know that bhakti is not the highest goal as some people think and sayujyata is the final supreme state .Devotion of lord krishna in oneness with him is the highest. Because only such devotion gives us the highest bliss bramhan.
Ther's no difference between Kaivalya and Sayujyata. Kaivalya is the state of truth where there is no second.
Read how Sant Eknatha describes four types of Moksha. It's really beautiful. Read this :
In bhagavat puran, Lord krishna says: My devotees surely, without mistake come to me only.
Those who have some personal aim, some selfish desire in the worship they do for me, have
to remain satisfied with the fruit of their desire which is as a Law given to them by me. But those who are unselfish reach total unity with me.
I always remove the desires of my devotees by fulfilling them once for all and make them
unselfish and then only I, the Supreme Person take them to my abode.
O Uddhava, it was in this way that fulfilling the sexual desires of Gopis I made them free of
that bondage, the desire which binds everybody, and gave them Sayujjya Liberation.
Without verifying whether I practised debauchery with them or I killed out their very desires, ignorant people criticize my behaviour and accuse me of adultery.
If my devotees like Salokata Liberation I take them to Vaikuntha. If my devotee wants
Sameepata, I have the pleasure of being their friend.
O Uddhava, as I like you because I want to talk friendly private things, sweet things in my
mind with you, so, similarly I love that devotee to have any time the sweetest dialogue.
If my devotee wants Saroopata, I give him four arms and give him the lotus etc and make his
as beautiful as dark cloud,
I give him crown, ear-rings, waist-band, yellow apparel with golden border, rings around
ankles, Kaustubh gem.
The shape of the body, virtues with their signs, courage, valour, serenity are also given,
which are similar to my ornaments, and he appears just like me in all respects.
If Laxmi, my spouse would look at us both, she would not be able to recognize me separately. My servants stop in their service because they cannot find out who is the devotee and who is the Lord -, myself.
The attendant who holds umbrella over my head is also confused if my devotee is with me,as to who is his Lord and who is the devotee. And the man who uses feathered fan (Chawri)
cannot make out whom he has to serve.
Brahma and other deities come to bow before me but they also cannot identify me and this
devotee.
We cannot know which is the first candle and which is the second candle lit by the flame of
one candle, similarly when the devotee attains SAROOPATA (identical appearance), others
cannot make out me separately.
Just as the image in the mirror being exactly similar to the object in front of it, we feel that
the image is itself the object, Saroopata is such similarity!
(Though the Lord gives this Saroopata to the devotee, he does not give him the Shreevatsa
sign, which is the symbol of the kick of the Brahmin Bhrugu).
The Lord Vishnu says � I have no power to give that imprint of the foot of the Brahmin on my chest to others. Only Brahmins can do so. If the devotee holds with faith in the heart, the feet of the Brahmin, he will get the sign by the grace of the Brahmin.
In this Saroopata state, the only difference is �Shreevatsa� imprint. He who has this is the Lord and the other is the devotee.
Though �Saroopata� state is gained there is still the notion of duality as �This is God and
That is his devotee�.
So as long as this notion remains in the mind of the devotee, the term Saroopata is not yet fully applicable. So long as the consciousness does not grasp the essential unity, the devotee
does not enjoy the highest bliss, the highest joy.
So wise devotee therefore does not seek only Saroopata. He prays for the final state of
Sayujjyata. I know the details of this extra ordinary state and now I shall tell you about it.
This ecstasy of this state is only known by myself. O Uddhava, I shall tell you!
Though the bodies of the devotee and the God are identical with each other, there is in the mind of the devotee, a sense of �I am� and �the God is separate from me�. So, wise people do not give much value to Saroopata�.
My devotees do not touch duality. They become one with me and that is itself the true and
highest worship of Me.
The devotees and the God are one and only one, eternally, ever perfectly united, but those
who create a sense of duality, are really to be considered as without devotion and bound by
Maya.
The categories of devotees are only within the field of Maya and only those who worship
me being united and undivided from me, attain Sayujjyata.
Sayujjyata is for them who feel same sympathy for the king and beggar
He who considers his body as false as our own shadow, seemingly attached to the body, and is not attached to it, reaches this state.
The shadow is born together with us, and is always with us, but generally, nobody feels
proud and says � �This is my shadow�. Similarly, one who is not disturbed by what happens
to his physical body reaches this Sayujjyata.
O Uddhava, please understand that he, faithfully, and devotedly worships me dropping all
his attachments to objects of senses.
This state can be reached only by a person, who does not see I-ness in his body, and You-
ness in any other Being.
O Uddhava, my consciousness and his consciousness are equally vast, and that is why he is
having Sayujjyata.
He has no desire that his body should look like Lord Vishnu. He knows that the body of Lord
Vishnu and his own body are unreal, and, therefore, he does not desire Saroopata.
If we ourselves think about this matter, we realize that any physical body as such is
everywhere unreal. Then where is the scope for similarity of appearance between man and
God? And how will any wise man pray for it?
When this state is achieved, the person does not find any place empty, where Brahman is
not. The definition of Sayujjyata is to see ourselves everywhere in every creature.
Such a person looks at thousands and thousands of figures and bodies by which the world is filled, but realizes that all this is within him, and he is unbroken, continuous universal
Atman.
One who feels that occupying everything in and out is himself, he is the Atman of all the
living and the non-living in all creatures, finds that this highest state is living with him in his
house.
Only the man, who has the concept that he is singly occupying the entire world without division can reach this state.
In short, I give my devotees everything that my devotees ask or wish for whatever they want
according to their natural thinking. So, as described, my devotee attains all the four
liberations.
There are other devotees also whom I love, whose power of devotional involvement is such
that they are always indulgent selflessly in my worship.
These great devotees do not care about the three types of devotion, in which the devotee is
in difficulty, or the devotee is inquisitive about Me or the devotee wants to achieve the
human perfections. They simply, without any motive and with great love always worship me.
They do not desire the stages of liberation known as Salokata, Sameepata, Saroopata and
even Sayujjyata but only selflessly worship Me and this is the real devotion.
The effect of worship is very miraculous. By love more love is created towards me and
every moment the joy of love goes on increasing.
Such a devotee, in the ecstasy, gives up his whole life but his trust in me is so great that he
does not care a bit, his mind is never sorry about anything given up in this way.
His confirmed faith makes him think that he himself and Me, as Atman and as God are permeating in every creature. This faith is never moved, is never spoiled though others may
make efforts to create doubt distrust and disbelief in him.
He is so great in his attitude that all men and women are for him, My living images and he has so much respect for Me dwelling in all these creatures that he offers salutations most humbly even to dogs and swine.
These devotees simply discard liberation, freedom at any level in the extreme force of their
emotions for me.
However great the calamity may be, they are not afraid, nor do they request others for any
help because they believe that all these calamities are nothing, faced with the din of the name
of Rama.
Such a devotee calmly continues to recite my name with love even if there is total catastrophe or the Earth may collapse before his eyes.
When I see such loyal one-pointed love I am won over by him and without considering his
caste or status I run to his home to meet him.
Such devotees have not to go to Vaikuntha. I make their home Vaikuntha itself. Then the
dawn of knowledge arises there and groups of saints begin to gather.
Upanishads make friends with them and Religion comes to stay happily with them. Further
such great devotees like Narada, Sanaka etc have great love for their Lord.
Such devotees loudly proclaim the importance of repeating the name of God, sing about my
fame with great love and as the name of Rama is ruling in their mind the troubles arising out
of pain and pleasure do not remain there.
When there is such devotion, the Atmic bliss runs with love towards them and forgets to
leave their house.
Every blemish which comes and tries to spoil their character actually becomes their virtue.
This is the complete happiness in my devotion.
All the four liberations come to serve them in their life and whatever objects these devotees
use or experience become part of the Sayujjyata, which is their servant.
Though all powers and all pleasures and capacities become their housemaids such devotee
does not turn their attention to them, their whole faith is in the devotion only.
I also love these devotees and whenever such devotee looks I myself become the object of
their sight.
I become the speech of such devotee. I live in and out of his speech in the form of the content
and the meaning of their sentences.
He may play with pebbles. I become the pebbles and I release from bondage of this worldly life of the man towards whom this devotee looks with grace and kindness.
I shower happiness wherever he glances and I myself uplift and take him to the highest state
that man about whom he intends to do so.
Even if such devotee is faced with slight nuisance I jump to remove that trouble. Not only
this but I release from bondage those people who recite the name of that devotee.
My care about these devotees is like the love of a mother for her little child. I do not hesitate
to do any work to serve them.
As the mother pampers her child I also do so in case of my devotees. I like their love for me
and various offerings in the performances of worship are not so important to me.
I am the body and he is my Atman. I like a devotee who loves me and all the greatness of
devotion reaches its limit in that love.
I love such devotee that I become a fortress to protect him from death.
To protect such devotees from Death and destruction, I guide them towards the path of
realisation of Absolute Brahman and bring them to the state of Unity with me so that they live
in the bliss of the Atman.
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