Attaining Krishna’s Abode.
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapada
Lecture given on Nov. 17, 1966, in New York City
From the Bhagavad-gita we learn about the spiritual world and the means to go there.
mam upetya punar janma
duhkhalayam ashashvatam
napnuvanti mahatmanah
samsiddhim paramam gatah
“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.”—Bhagavad-gita 8.15
Krishna says, “Anyone who comes to Me …” Krishna is everywhere, but still, He has His abode. The difference between Krishna and the ordinary living being is that we can be at one place only but Krishna can be in all places.
Krishna’s abode in the transcendental kingdom is called Goloka Vrindavana. The city in India named Vrindavan, where I have come from, is called Bhauma Vrindavan, which means the same Goloka Vrindavana descended to earth. Just as Krishna descends to earth out of His own internal potency, His dhama, or His abode—Vrindavana dhama—also descends. In other words, when Krishna descends to earth He manifests Himself in that particular land. Therefore that land, Vrindavan, is sacred.
Krishna has His own abode in the spiritual world. And Krishna says, “Anyone who comes to My abode is not born again in the material world, which is full of threefold miseries.” Such a person is called a mahatma. Perhaps you have heard this word. Our leader Gandhi was known as Mahatma, but mahatma is not the title of a politician. Mahatma means the first-class Krishna conscious person who is eligible to enter the abode of Krishna. He is called a mahatma.
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