(Canto 1, Chapter 2: Description of the Abode of Śrī Goloka)
Śrī Nārada said: Now I will describe to you how Śrī Kṛṣṇa came to this earth during the Varāha-kalpa. O king, please listen to what happened.
In ancient times the earth was overburdened by many daityas, dānavas, and demonic kings who had taken birth as human rulers. Unable to bear the weight, the earth took the form of a cow. Crying helplessly, trembling, and describing her troubles, she went to take shelter of Lord Brahmā. Brahmā comforted her, and then, accompanied by Lord Śiva and all the demigods, he went to the palace of Lord Hari in Vaikuṇṭha.
Bowing down before four-armed Lord Viṣṇu, Brahmā explained why they had come. Then the Lord, the husband of the goddess of fortune, spoke to Brahmā and the worried demigods.
The Supreme Lord said, “Without Kṛṣṇa, this problem will not be solved. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of countless universes, perfect and complete, above all the demigods, and the enjoyer of transcendental pastimes. You should go at once to His eternal and effulgent abode.”
Lord Brahmā said, “I do not know anyone greater or more perfect than You. If there is such a person, then please show Him to us, O Lord.”
Śrī Nārada said: When Brahmā said this, Lord Hari, the perfect Lord, showed all the demigods a path. It was a spiritual river flowing out through the hole that Lord Vāmana had made in the covering of the universe with the toenail of His left foot.
Travelling by boat along this river, the demigods passed outside the universe. Looking down, they saw that their own universe, far below them, appeared like a small round kuṭaja fruit. Then they saw many other universes floating like countless such fruits in the water of the Causal Ocean. Seeing this, they all became both frightened and astonished.
Travelling millions of yojanas higher, they came to eight cities made charming by groves of glittering jewel trees. Higher still, the demigods saw the splendid shore of the Virajā River. Its waves were white as silk, and its banks were beautified by many flights of steps. Beyond it they entered a city that shone like countless millions of suns.
As they looked at that splendor, their eyes were struck by the light and they were overpowered. By Lord Viṣṇu’s order, Brahmā offered his obeisances to that effulgence and meditated upon it. Within that circle of light he saw a peaceful spiritual realm. There the demigods saw the wonderful thousand-headed Lord Śeṣa, white like the stem of a lotus, and they bowed down to offer Him respect.
On Lord Śeṣa’s heads rested the transcendental realm of Goloka, which is worshiped by all the worlds. In that realm time, which conquers the proud, has no influence. Illusion cannot enter there, nor the material mind, intelligence, and false ego, nor the transformations of matter and the mahat-tattva. How then could the three modes of material nature enter?
At the entrance stood Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s associates, whose forms were more beautiful than Kāmadeva himself.
The demigods said, “We, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the protectors of the planets, and the demigods headed by Indra, have come here to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa.”
Then a gopī named Śatacandrānanā, whose face was as beautiful as a hundred moons, came out from within. She was a friend of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She was dressed in yellow and held a staff in her hand, and she asked the demigods what they wanted.
Śrī Śatacandrānanā said, “All you demigods who have come here, of which universe are you the rulers? Tell me, and I shall go at once to inform the Lord.”
The demigods said, “We have never seen any other universe. We know only one universe. O beautiful one, there is no universe other than ours.”
Śrī Śatacandrānanā said, “O Brahmā, millions of universes are floating up and down in the Causal Ocean. Just as you are the demigods of one universe, so in each and every universe there are many demigods like you.”
Śrī Nārada said: Mocked in this way, the demigods were silent. Seeing them humbled, Lord Viṣṇu spoke.
Lord Viṣṇu said, “We live in the universe where the eternal Lord Pṛśnigarbha appeared, the universe whose shell was broken by the toenail of Lord Trivikrama.”
Hearing this, Śatacandrānanā praised Him at length. Then she went back into the palace, returned, and gave the demigods permission to enter, and the demigods entered.
Then the demigods saw Goloka. There the king of mountains, named Govardhana, shone splendidly. It was filled with many cows and with gopīs garlanded with forest flowers, and it was decorated with circles for the rāsa dance. There the dark river Yamunā flowed as she wished, her banks built with steps of lapis lazuli and decorated with millions of pavilions.
There the forest of Vṛndāvana was manifest, filled with splendid trees and vines, glorious with bumblebees and colorful birds, and beautified by the banyan tree beneath which Kṛṣṇa plays His flute. A cool breeze carrying the pollen of thousand-petalled lotuses blew gently toward the shore.
In the center was the Lord’s personal woodland of thirty-two forests. It was surrounded by walls and moats, had a reddish courtyard shaded by eternal banyan trees, and was enclosed by seven walls made of rubies. Pearls hung from its canopies like millions of moons. Flags fluttered in the breeze, the paths were lined with flower palaces, and everywhere one heard the singing of bees, maddened peacocks, and cuckoos.
There many young women, effulgent as a hundred moons, walked about as they liked. They wore earrings shining like the rising sun, necklaces, bracelets, and tinkling ankle-bells, and jewels in their hair, and they smiled when they saw their own beautiful faces reflected in the jeweled courtyards.
At door after door stood millions and millions of beautiful cows, glorious as white mountains and decorated with glittering ornaments. They were young and full of milk, well-behaved, virtuous, and beautiful, with yellow tails. They walked happily with their calves, like happiness personified. They were adorned with networks of tiny bells, tinkling anklets, golden necklaces, and flower garlands, and their horns were covered with gold. They were of many wonderful colors: some pink, some green, some red, some yellow, some black, some smoky, and some the color of cuckoos. They gave oceans of milk, leaped about like deer, and were surrounded by many calves. Wandering among them were great bulls with long horns and necks, very pious and opulent. And there were many handsome cowherd boys carrying flutes and sticks, singing sweet melodies about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.
Bowing down to offer respects, the demigods entered the Lord’s private forest grove. It was a thousand-petalled lotus, a great circle of light. Above it was a sixteen-petalled lotus, above that an eight-petalled lotus, and above that a long pathway with three staircases.
There all the demigods saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa accompanied by Śrī Rādhā, seated on a splendid throne studded with beautiful kaustubha jewels. He was accompanied by eight splendid gopī friends and served by eight cowherd boys headed by Śrīdāmā. He was fanned by cāmaras with diamond handles, white as swans, and shaded by millions of parasols like millions of moons.
His left arm was decorated by Śrī Rādhikā. His right foot was bent as He wished. He held a flute and smiled gently and gracefully, and His eyebrows enchanted hosts of Kāmadevas. He was dark and splendid like a raincloud. His large eyes were like lotus petals and His arms were long. He wore yellow garments and a beautiful forest garland filled with the humming of intoxicated bees. He was adorned with bracelets, anklets, and a belt; His smile was glittering, charming, and glorious; the Śrīvatsa mark decorated His chest, and a jewel shone in His curly hair. He wore a crown, a necklace, armlets, and earrings.
Seeing Him, the demigods felt as if they were plunged into an ocean of bliss. Their eyes filled with tears, and with folded hands and bowed heads they offered their respectful obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Lessons to be learned
This pastime shows that even Lord Viṣṇu of Vaikuṇṭha directs the demigods to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda often explained that Kṛṣṇa’s abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, is the highest planet in the spiritual sky, above even the Vaikuṇṭha planets, as described in the Brahma-saṁhitā.
When the demigods left the universe, they saw how small it was among countless others. Brahmā, the creator of our universe, thought his universe was the only one. The gopī Śatacandrānanā gently broke his pride. If even Brahmā’s position is tiny in the eyes of the residents of Goloka, how insignificant is our pride in our little bodies, families, and possessions!
The humbled demigods did not gain entry by their titles, but by Lord Viṣṇu’s reference to His devotional pastimes as Pṛśnigarbha and Vāmana. The door to the spiritual world opens by humility and relationship with the Lord, not by material position.
Goloka is described in great detail so that we understand that the spiritual world is not void or formless. It is full of variety: hills, rivers, forests, cows, friends, and above all loving exchanges with Kṛṣṇa. As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura taught, spiritual variety is real, and material variety is only its perverted reflection.
Time, illusion, and the modes of nature cannot enter Goloka. Therefore in that realm there is no birth, death, old age, or disease. Anyone who develops pure love for Kṛṣṇa can go there, and that is the real goal of human life.
Finally, when the demigods saw Kṛṣṇa, they forgot their mission for a moment and simply wept in bliss. This shows that seeing the Lord is itself the highest perfection.
