Goloka-Vṛndāvana is considered the transcendent prototype that is replicated on the material plane in Vṛndāvana, the earthly Vraja-dhāman, and thus the transcendent prototype and its immanent counterpart are represented as structurally reduplicative of one another. Both the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana and the earthly Vraja are replete with cows and forests, but the transcendent dhāman, as the “loka of cows” (go-loka) and the “loka of trees” (vana-loka), is full of wish-fulfilling cows whose flow of milk is never ending and wish-fulfilling trees whose flowers are perpetually in bloom. Both the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana and the earthly Vraja are marked by distinguishing features such as the Yamunā River and Mount Govardhana, but the transcendent Yamunā flows with the nectar of immortality (amṛta) and its banks are paved with gems, and the transcendent Govardhana is likewise composed of precious minerals and gems and its waterfalls flow with ambrosial nectar (amṛta). Jīva invokes the following passage from the Bṛhadvāmana Purāṇa to encapsulate his vision of the transcendent Vraja-dhāman:
If a boon is to be bestowed upon us, show to us that form made of bliss (ānanda-rūpa) that was known by the sages of old (pūra-vids). Having heard this [request], he [Kṛṣṇa] showed them his own loka beyond (para) prakṛti, which is imperishable (akṣara), nonchanging (avyaya), and made entirely of bliss (ānanda-mātra) known only by direct experience (anubhava). In that [loka] there is a forest named Vṛndāvana, which abounds with wish-fulfilling trees and charming bowers and bestows happiness (sukha) in every season. In that [loka] there is a glorious [mountain] named Govardhana, which is composed of precious minerals and gems and is filled with splendid waterfalls and caves and with hosts of beautiful birds. In that [loka] is the Kālindī [Yamu32"/>whose waters are pure nectar and are filled with swans, lotuses, and so on and whose banks are inlaid with gems. In that [loka] Acyuta [Kṛṣṇa] eternally (śaśvat) remains in his youthful form (kiśorākṛti) in the midst of a multitude of gopīs intoxicated with the rasa of the rāsa[-līlā].289
Jīva emphasizes the ways in which the transcendent dhāman of Goloka-Vṛndāvana interpenetrates its terrestrial counterpart so that Vṛndāvana, the earthly Vraja-dhāman, partakes of the nature of its transcendent prototype. In this context Jīva invokes the following passage from the Bṛhadgautamīya Tantra, which, as discussed earlier, is also cited in the Mathurā Māhātmya of Rūpa Gosvāmin and is a variant of a passage from the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa.
This delightful Vṛndāvana is my [Kṛṣṇa’s] only dhāman. Those who reside here in my abode (dhiṣṇya)—whether cows, birds, trees, insects, humans, or gods—attain my abode (ālaya) at death. Those cowmaidens who reside here in my abode (ālaya) are eternally (nityam) connected with me and are devoted to serving me. This forest [Vṛndāvana], measuring five yojanas, is my body (deha-rūpaka). This Kālindī [Yamunā], which flows with transcendent nectar (paramāmṛta), is called the suṣumṇā, the central channel [of my body]. The gods and other beings exist here in subtle forms (sūkṣma-rūpatā). And I, who embody all the gods (sarva-deva-maya), never leave this forest, although my appearance (āvirbhāva) in and disappearance (tirobhāva) from this place occur yuga after yuga. This delightful abode consisting of blazing splendor (tejo-maya) cannot be seen (adṛśya) with the material eye (carma-cakṣus).290
Jīva cites this passage as an illustration of the nonphenomenal nature (prapañcātītatva) of the earthly Vṛndāvana, which he argues is nondifferent (abheda) from the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana even though there is a certain difference in the manner in which it manifests (prakāśa-bheda). While the earthly Vṛndāvana, as a prakāśa-viśeṣa, special manifestation of Goloka-Vṛndāvana, can be perceived with the material senses, the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana is unmanifest and not visible (adṛśya) to the material eye (carma-cakṣus). As discussed earlier, Jīva maintains that in Dvāpara Yuga when Kṛṣṇa descends to earth and manifests his vigraha in the form of a cowherd boy, the transcendent dhāman descends with him and becomes visible in the phenomenal world (prāpañcika-loka) for the duration of his prakaṭa līlā. At the conclusion of the prakaṭa līlā, he withdraws his vigraha and his transcendent dhāman from visible manifestation. However, the blazing splendor (tejas) of the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana continues to shine forth above the earthly Vṛndāvana, interpenetrating its visible counterpart with its invisible presence—and although not accessible to the material senses, it can be directly cognized by mahā-bhāgavatas.
Immediately after invoking the Bṛhadgautamīya Tantra’s portrayal of Vṛndāvana, Jīva comments that “even today mahā-bhāgavatas have had a direct visionary experience (root kṛ + sākṣāt) of the divine (divya) kadamba, aśoka, and other trees and objects in the transmundane (alaukika), eternal (nitya) dhāman of Bhagavān.”291 He then invokes an unidentified passage from the Varāha Purāṇa that describes a “great wonder” (mahad āścarya) on the eastern shore of Kāliya-hrada: a luminous kadamba tree that sends forth its dazzling light in ten directions and blossoms perpetually throughout the twelve months of the year. He subsequently cites a second passage that describes another “wonder” (āścarya) in Vṛndāvana on the northern shore of Brahma-kuṇḍa: a radiant aśoka tree that is made of white light and suddenly bursts into bloom at the exact same time each spring. As discussed earlier, both of these passages are also cited in the Mathurā Māhātmya of Rūpa Gosvāmin.292
Jīva’s analysis suggests that “even today” mahā-bhāgavatas can directly cognize the luminous nonmaterial forms of Goloka-Vṛndāvana intermingling with the mundane forms of Vṛndāvana like a golden veil over the terrestrial landscape. In the forest of Vṛndāvana filled with kadamba trees, acacia trees, banyan trees, lotuses, and other forms of vegetation, mahā-bhāgavatas cognize the divine (divya) kadamba and aśoka trees made of pure luminous being (śuddha-sattva) that shine forth there. Intermingling with the waters of the earthly Yamunā that flow through the groves of Vṛndāvana, they cognize the luminous ambrosial nectar (amṛta) of the transcendent Yamunā that conveys immortality. Throughout the landscape of Vraja mahā-bhāgavatas discern the footprints of Kṛṣṇa that mark the sites of his appearance (āvirbhāva) and disappearance (tirobhāva), but beyond these traces they cognize the abiding presence of Kṛṣṇa embodied in the geographic place itself. Even though his vigraha in the form of a cowherd boy appears in Dvāpara Yuga and then disappears, his body (deha-rūpaka) in the form of a geographic place—Vṛndāvana, the earthly Vraja-dhāman—remains.293
I would argue that in Jīva’s analysis the earthly Vraja-dhāman functions as a mesocosmic mode of divine embodiment in which Kṛṣṇa becomes embodied in the form of a geographic place, dhāman. As we have seen, the Gauḍīya discourse of embodiment includes three other mesocosmic forms of Kṛṣṇa that are termed avatāras: grantha-avatāra, Kṛṣṇa’s avatāra in the form of a scriptural text, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa; nāma-avatāras, Kṛṣṇa’s avatāras in the form of names, nāmans; and arcā-avatāras, Kṛṣṇa’s avatāras in the form of ritual images, arcās or mūrtis. I would suggest that the earthly Vraja-dhāman similarly functions as what I term a dhāma-avatāra—even though, to my knowledge, the term itself is not used by Jīva or other Gauḍīya authorities—in that, like the other mesocosmic avatāras, it is represented as a form through which Kṛṣṇa descends to the material realm and that he “leaves behind” on earth as an enduring mode of divine embodiment—in this case, a geographic place—that human beings can access and engage over time.
The Immanent as the Portal to the Transcendent
When Goloka-Vṛndāvana, the transcendent Vraja-dhāman, descends to earth and becomes instantiated in Vṛndāvana in the geographic area of Vraja, it becomes immanent while at the same time maintaining its transcendent status as an unmanifest dhāman beyond the earth. Therefore, Jīva suggests, even during the period of the prakaṭa līlā when Kṛṣṇa manifests Vraja-dhāman in the material realm, the earthly Vṛndāvana, as
the immanent counterpart, functions as a kind of portal that opens onto its transcendent prototype, Goloka-Vṛndāvana.
In order to establish Vṛndāvana’s function as a portal through which the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana can be accessed, Jīva invokes the following passage, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.28.11–17, mentioned earlier.294 Jīva’s commentaries on this passage in the Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha and the Digdarśanīṭīkā emphasize how during the prakaṭa līlā Kṛṣṇa bestowed upon the gopas a visionary experience, or darśana, of his transcendent dhāman in Goloka-Vṛndāvana, and he did so by taking them to a particular locale in the earthly Vṛndāvana called Brahma-hrada.
Thinking him [Kṛṣṇa] to be the Lord, Īśvara, the gopas thought with eager minds, “Perhaps the supreme Lord would take us to his own abode (sva-gati) that is imperceptible.” The all-seeing Bhagavān, having spontaneously discerned his own people’s [thoughts], graciously pondered with a view to fulfilling their desire, “Because of ignorance, desire, and karma, people (jana) are wandering in this world through higher and lower states and do not know their own destination (svāṃ gati).” Reflecting in this way, Hari, the most merciful Bhagavān, revealed to the gopas his own loka (sva loka) beyond tamas—that which is the effulgence of Brahman, which is limitless (ananta), eternal (sanātana) truth (satya) and knowledge (jñāna), and which sages see (root dṛś) when established in samādhi beyond the guṇas. Brought by Kṛṣṇa to Brahma-hrada (pool of Brahman), immersed in it, and then lifted out, they [the gopas] saw (root dṛś) the loka of Brahman where Akrūra had previously attained [a vision]. Having seen that [loka] as well as Kṛṣṇa being glorified there by the Vedas, Nanda and the other gopas were exhilarated with supreme bliss (paramānanda) and were greatly amazed.295
In his commentaries on this Bhāgavata passage in the Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha and the Digdarśanīṭīkā, Jīva provides an innovative interpretation that goes beyond the plain sense of the passage, utilizing it as a prooftext to establish three points that are critical to the Gauḍīya project: (1) The loka that Kṛṣṇa revealed to the gopas during the prakaṭa līlā in the earthly Vṛndāvana was Goloka-Vṛndāvana, the transcendent dhāman beyond the material realm of prakṛti where Kṛṣṇa resides eternally as Bhagavān, the supreme personal Godhead in the form of a cowherd boy. (2) This transcendent dhāman of Bhagavān can be accessed through becoming immersed in Brahma-hrada, which is understood in two different senses: immersion in the pool of Brahman by becoming established through meditation in the state of samādhi, and immersion in the waters of Akrūra-tīrtha, a particular locale in the earthly Vṛndāvana. (3) The gopas to whom Kṛṣṇa revealed his transcendent dhāman during the prakaṭa līlā in the terrestrial Vṛndāvana are part of Kṛṣṇa’s retinue of parikaras, eternal associates, with whom he revels perpetually in the aprakaṭa līlā in Goloka-Vṛndāvana. I will analyze briefly the hermeneutical strategies that Jīva uses to establish each of these points.
Jīva’s first concern is to establish that the loka that Kṛṣṇa revealed to the gopas was Goloka-Vṛndāvana, and in this context he interprets the Bhāgavata’s description of Kṛṣṇa’s loka in terms that accord with Gauḍīya representations of the transcendent dhāman of Bhagavān. He interprets the Bhāgavata’s statement that Kṛṣṇa “revealed to the gopas (gopānām) his own loka (svaṃ lokam) beyond tamas” (10.28.14) to mean that he revealed his own loka to be the loka of the gopas (gopānāṃ svaṃ lokam), Goloka.296 He glosses “they saw (root dṛś) the loka of Brahman” (10.28.16) as “they saw that loka called Goloka which is the abode of Kṛṣṇa, who is the supreme Brahman in the shape of a human being (narākṛti-parabrahman).”297 Jīva’s gloss accomplishes a critical Gauḍīya objective by establishing that the term Brahman in the phrase “loka of Brahman” does not refer to the impersonal, formless Brahman but rather to Bhagavān, the supreme personal Godhead “in the shape of a human being,” whose abode, Goloka, is beyond the impersonal Brahman. Jīva comments further that Goloka is described as “beyond tamas” (10.28.14) because it is beyond the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—that constitute the material realm of prakṛti and is not manifested in the phenomenal world (prapañcānabhivyaktatva). In commenting on the Bhāgavata’s description of Kṛṣṇa’s loka as “limitless (ananta), eternal (sanātana) truth (satya) and knowledge (jñāna)” (10.28.15), Jīva understands satya and jñāna as alluding to sat and cit, respectively, which together with ānanda constitute Goloka’s essential nature as described in Gauḍīya theology: sat-cit-ānanda-rūpa.298
Jīva’s second concern is to establish the means through which Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent dhāman can be accessed. The Bhāgavata itself explicitly mentions the role of meditation in accessing Kṛṣṇa’s loka, which is represented as the transcendent reality that “sages see (root dṛś) when established in samādhi beyond the guṇas” (10.28.15). In his commentary on this verse, Jīva maintains that Kṛṣṇa revealed to the gopas this same transcendent reality by manifesting a special mode of his svarūpa-śakti (svarūpa-śakti-vṛtti-viśeṣa) during the prakaṭa līlā.299 In commenting on the Bhāgavata’s statement that the gopas were “brought by Kṛṣṇa to Brahma-hrada, immersed in it, and then lifted out” and thereby “saw (root dṛś) the loka of Brahman where Akrūra had previously attained [a vision]” (10.28.16), Jīva suggests that immersion in Brahma-hrada should not be interpreted as simply a state of meditative absorption in which the gopas were immersed internally in the pool of Brahman where, like the earlier sages, they cognized Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent abode beyond the guṇas. Rather, he claims that this transcendent state of consciousness was itself catalyzed by Kṛṣṇa taking the gopas to a particular place in the earthly Vṛndāvana where they were immersed externally in Brahma-hrada, which he interprets as a bathing place in the Yamunā River known as Akrūra-tīrtha. Akrūra-tīrtha marks the site where, according to Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.39.40–57, Akrūra bathed in a pool (hrada) in the Yamunā River and, while immersed in the water, attained a visionary experience in which he “saw” (root dṛś) Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent abode together with his brother Balarāma. Jīva maintains that Kṛṣṇa brought the gopas to this same tīrtha in Vṛndāvana, where they immersed themselves in the water and, like Akrūra, “saw (root dṛś) the loka of Brahman” (10.28.16). As mentioned earlier, Jīva interprets this to mean that they attained a direct visionary experience of Goloka, the loka of Kṛṣṇa, “the supreme Brahman in the shape of a human being (narākṛti-parabrahman).”300 In Jīva’s hermeneutical reframing, this Bhāgavata passage thus serves as a prooftext to substantiate the Gauḍīya principle that a direct cognition of the transcendent Goloka-Vṛndāvana can be most easily attained in its immanent counterpart, the earthly Vṛndāvana.
Jīva’s third concern, in commenting on Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.28.11–17, is to establish that the gopas who received darśana of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent dhāman during the prakaṭa līlā are themselves Kṛṣṇa’s parikaras, eternal associates, in the aprakaṭa līlā. Jīva notes that the Bhāgavata’s description of the gopas’ cognition of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent dhāman does not mention the parikaras who reside with him in Goloka-Vṛndāvana, and he argues that this indicates that the gopas themselves are the parikaras. Jīva maintains that just as Goloka-Vṛndāvana and its immanent counterpart, the earthly Vṛndāvana, are nondifferent (abheda) from one another although there is a difference in their manifestation (prakāśa-bheda), in the same way the parikaras who engage in the aprakaṭa līlā in Goloka-Vṛndāvana are nondifferent from the parikaras who engage in the prakaṭa līlā in Vṛndāvana although there is a difference in their manifestation (prakāśa-bheda) in the two līlās. In order to increase the distinctive rasa of each līlā in the parikaras, the līlā-śakti produces in each a different self-conception (abhimāna-bheda) so that the parikaras who are Kṛṣṇa’s companions in the manifest līlā in Vṛndāvana are not aware that they are also his eternal associates in t
he unmanifest līlā in the transcendent Vraja-dhāman, Goloka-Vṛndāvana. Thus the gopas, as Kṛṣṇa’s “own people” (sva-jana), are described by the Bhāgavata as “wandering in this world” and not knowing “their own destination” (svāṃ gati) (10.28.13). Jīva maintains that this confusion on the part of the gopas was caused by the līlā-śakti, which during the prakaṭa līlā concealed from their awareness their true identity as eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa in the aprakaṭa līlā. However, in order to fulfill their desire, Kṛṣṇa took away their confusion momentarily and revealed to them their extraordinary gati, which is ultimately identical with Kṛṣṇa’s own gati (sva-gati), his transcendent abode.301 Thus in the prakaṭa līlā in Vṛndāvana the gopas ask to receive darśana of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent gati, while in the aprakaṭa līlā in Goloka-Vṛndāvana they reside eternally with Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent gati, which is their own gati. Similarly, in the prakaṭa līlā the gopīs experience viraha, the agony of separation, when their cowherd lover Kṛṣṇa departs Vṛndāvana, while in the aprakaṭa līlā they are eternally united with Kṛṣṇa in Goloka-Vṛndāvana as expressions of his hlādinī-śakti. In the final analysis, Jīva concludes, Kṛṣṇa’s vigraha, dhāmans, līlās, and parikaras all have the power to manifest themselves on more than one plane simultaneously.302
Fashioning Devotional Bodies through Engaging Vraja-Dhāman
Jīva Gosvāmin’s interpretation of Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.28.11–17 points to two principal ways in which a visionary experience of the transcendent dhāman of Goloka-Vṛndāvana can be attained even today by contemporary practitioners. Emulating the example of the gopas and of Akrūra, the bhakta can undertake a pilgrimage, or tīrtha-yātrā, to Vṛndāvana, the earthly Vraja-dhāman, where he or she can become immersed in the ponds at tīrthas such as Brahma-hrada, Akrūra-tīrtha, and glimpse the transcendent dhāman through the mediation of its immanent counterpart. Alternatively, emulating the example of the sages, the bhakta can become established through meditation in the state of samādhi beyond the guṇas and thereby become immersed in Brahma-hrada, the pool of Brahman, which is identical with the transcendent reality of Goloka-Vṛndāvana. The regimen of sādhana-bhakti delineated by Rūpa Gosvāmin in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu and elaborated by Jīva Gosvāmin in the Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha and Bhakti Sandarbha suggests that these two modes of accessing the dhāman should be combined, especially in rāgānugā-bhakti, the advanced form of sādhana-bhakti. In addition to engaging the earthly Vraja-dhāman with the sādhaka-rūpa through external bodily practices such as physically residing in Vraja, circumambulating its network of tīrthas in pilgrimage, and bathing in the ponds associated with the tīrthas, the bhakta should engage the transcendent Vraja-dhāman through the internal meditative practices of dhyāna and smaraṇa that involve immersion of his or her consciousness in the blissful streams of rasa that pervade the dhāman. By means of this twofold regimen of engaging Kṛṣṇa’s embodiment in the dhāman on both the transcosmic and earthly planes, the bhakta gradually transforms the sādhaka-rūpa, the material body, culminating in the realization of a siddha-rūpa, a perfected nonmaterial devotional body, which is suffused with the qualities and substance of Bhagavān’s absolute body.
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