NoI 9 refers to the Mathura in the material world being the birthplace of Krishna as higher than Vaikuntha Where does Mathura in the spiritual world fit in this hierarchy?
Transcript
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So, where does the Mathura in this spiritual world fit into this hierarchy? If we say that Mathura is higher because, say, it is like a jewel in a dark setting. Yes. At one level, the Bhauma Vrindavan and the Goloka Vrindavan are non-different.
At another level, they are different. Bhakta Nathaka talks about Navdeva Dham Mahatmya, about that, how there is a covering of Yogamaya, which prevents the unqualified from accessing Dham, actually. And you stay on the Dham, they do not enter into the Dham.
So, on the Dham means one is just geographically there. But in the Dham means one has actually gained access to the consciousness of the Dham and the Dhamavasis, eternal Dhamavasis. So, when we talk about Mathura over here, another point that is mentioned over here, Janito, that Lord appeared over here.
Lord appeared over here means that it is clearly talking about the Mathura in the material world. It is not talking about Mathura in the spiritual world. The Lord does not appear over there.
So, now, in the Brahma Samhita, in his, in Jiva Goswami’s commentary on the Brahma Samhita, and in that commentary, he analyzes quite elaborately the spiritual world, because Brahma Samhita describes the spiritual world. And he describes that actually the Brahma Samhita, sorry, the spiritual world has multiple parts. There is Dwarka, there is Vrindavan, and then there is Navadeva.
So, now, he says that, is Mathura itself there in this spiritual world? Because we see that Krishna has a particular rasa of past times in Dwarka, and a particular rasa of past times in Vrindavan. But what exactly is the rasa of the past times in Mathura? So, actually, the Mathura Mandal, as a Vrindavan, Vrindavan is a part of the Mathura Mandal. So, in that sense, Mathura exists, but there is no specific form of Krishna, which exists eternally in Mathura.
So, Mathura as a extension of Vrindavan, is in the neighborhood of Vrindavan. So, we know that in the spiritual world, there are no demons, but there are sometimes rumors of demons, is to increase the anxiety, the dependence, the ecstasy that is there. So, Vrindavan has its pastoral, rural flavor.
But there is also the understanding that there is an urban city, which is in the vicinity. So, in that sense, Mathura is there, but there is no separate form of Krishna, which resides in Mathura. So, with respect to the hierarchy, which we are talking about, basically, the understanding would be that what is referred to over here, that will also apply to the spiritual world.
That means, the spiritual Mathura and the spiritual Govardhan, the spiritual Vrindavan, the spiritual Radhakunda, they will be higher than Vaikuntha. That we also see demonstrated in the Brihadbhagavatam. And the Gopakumara is not satisfied in the other abodes.
And ultimately, he goes to Vrindavan, that is where he becomes satisfied. So, specifically, Mathura is there, but not as a separate place where Krishna appears. So, what we talked about as the speciality of Mathura, that would apply generically to everything.
All the places in the material world where the Lord performs His pastimes, because those places are special. But there is the concept of Tirtha and there is Dham. Tirtha is a place where the Lord performs pastimes.
Dham is a place where the Lord resides. So, the word Tirtha is connected with the word like a bridge. And the bridge is a place where you cross over.
Where Dham refers to the place where one resides forever. So, there are many Tirthas. So, practically, every place where Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went in South India too, that is the Tirtha.
But we do not consider all of them to be Dhams. It is not that all the places Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is eternally residing. In our view, it is eternal abode.
So, like that, there are eternal abodes of the Lord. So, but from the point of view of hierarchy, because even in Mathura, which is close to Vrindavan, in the spiritual world, the Madhurya Bhava of Krishna is manifested. Because Krishna in Vrindavan is manifesting Madhurya Bhava.
So, that is considered higher than that. Does that answer your question?