By Kesava Krsna Dasa
We all practice sadhana-bhakti, and to achieve perfection in it by taking another happy birth enables a Vaisnava/i to associate with and obtain blessings from those eternally liberated souls forever serving with the Lord. In this regard, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur explains: "In this context we will make our analysis according to the method described in Srila Rupa Gosvami's Ujjvala-nilaman?i. There are two categories of gopis: the eternally perfect (the nitya-siddhas) and those who have become perfect by practicing bhakti-yoga (the sadhana-siddhas). The sadhana-siddhas are of two categories: those who belong to special groups and those who do not. And there are also two classes of the gopis belonging to special groups: namely the sruti-caris, who come from the group of the personified Vedas, and the rsi-caris, who come from the group of sages who saw Lord Ramacandra in the Dandakaran?ya forest.” (SB 10.29.9 purport)