As only pure devotees are promoted to the spiritual world, why are doorkeepers needed there?

In the Bhagavatam, it is described how only pure devotees are   promoted to the Kingdom of God (verse 25). What is Jaya and Vijaya’s   job description? The duty of a doorkeeper in the material world is to regulate entry of people, but anyone who has reached Vaikuntha should not be denied entry (verse 32). As it happened, they denied entry to unfamiliar persons and got punished.

And everything that is associated with Krishna. The duty of a doorkeeper in the material world is to regulate entry of people.
But anyone who has reached Vaikuntha should not be denied entry. Verse 32 As it happened, they denied entry to unfamiliar persons and got punished. Answer Yes, only pure devotees are promoted to the kingdom of God in the sense that they can live over there.
If you look at the main canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, even Durvasamuni goes to Vaikuntha. How does he go to Vaikuntha? He is not yet a pure devotee. In fact, he has offended a pure devotee.
So how does he reach Vaikuntha? Some yogis, by their mystic powers, can reach Vaikuntha. So, those with exceptional powers can reach Vaikuntha. But the important point is not to reach Vaikuntha, but to reach the Vaikuntha mentality.
Because without the Vaikuntha mentality, even if one reaches Vaikuntha, one will feel bored. Not just bored, one will feel neglected and envious. Because the mentality in the middle world is that all of us want to be the centers.
And in the spiritual world, Krishna or his various Vishnu rupas, they are the center. So, as long as we have not given up the desire to be at the center, we will not want to be in the spiritual world even if we go there. So, that’s why purification is essential.
So, when the word says that only pure devotees are promoted in the name of God, that refers to being promoted to stay there forever. So, again when it says, yad gatvan nivartante, so that refers not just to the to placing oneself in the spiritual world, but placing oneself there with the right consciousness. Of course, when we talk of placing oneself in the spiritual world, there is not a physical location like it, like we conceive of different places in the material world.
But still, it has its own ontological reality in the spiritual realm. And the point is that promotion to the spiritual world is not just a matter of relocating one’s body or one’s soul, whatever. But it is a matter of redirecting one’s desires and especially one’s love So, without that one cannot stay in Vaikuntha, even if one can go to Vaikuntha, temporarily.
So now, as far as the doorkeepers are concerned, Jaya and Vijaya, in the spiritual world, whatever is necessary for enhancing the rasa, the experience of Krishna in the spiritual world, is present. So, in the spiritual world, in the Vaikuntha planets, Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, they are actually in the Aishwarya Bhava. Lord Krishna in Goloka is in Madhurya Bhava.
Madhurya is the Bhava of intimacy. Aishwarya is the Bhava of aristocracy, opulence. So, in that mood, whatever is required to enhance that mood will be there in the spiritual world.
So naturally, if there is a king, the king has palaces. And when there are palaces, there are guards. So, if there are guards, it is not that there are any attackers who are going to come and who, from whom, the spiritual world needs to be protected.
But the idea is, actually nothing needs to be done in the spiritual world. In the same section of the Bhagavatam, it is described how the Lakshmis clean the floor and the wall and the ceilings of the palaces there, although there is no dust over there. But they know by service they will attract the attention of the Lord.
So, that way there is no necessity to do anything. In the spiritual world, it is described that all the trees are Kalpataru. So now, one of Radharani’s most cherished activities is to daily go to Nandga and cook for Krishna.
And she cooks for Krishna. She cooks simultaneously 50 stoves. And is in great anxiety to ensure that everything is cooked to a high quality.
And she works very hard. Anandana Champu describes how Radharani was cooking in this way. Vishuddha Mai went and saw.
And she sort of mildly chastised Kirtan Devi. She said that Radharani’s body is just like a flower. And in the presence of all these stoves and the heat that is there in this in the fire in the stoves, she has now become like a wilted flower.
Because of the heat. Why did you put her to do such a difficult and harsh service? So, of course Kirtan Devi says that she wanted to do it. That’s why she did it.
And she further says that actually this what she has cooked is only the most delicious items in the menu. The real cooking is happening elsewhere. And there are practically hundreds of items we have cooked over there.
So now, in the spiritual world there are Kalpatarus. And desirous trees can give us whatever they want. So now if Radharani wants she can just ask the Kalpatarus to provide whatever delicacies Krishna wants or whatever she wants to offer to Krishna.
What she wants to offer to Krishna is ultimately what Krishna wants. Because she can intuit Krishna’s heart by her devotional potency. But anyway she can easily get the things from the Kalpataru.
But if we look at Gopalachampu, Anandvindavanchampu, they are everywhere in all the other books of the Acharyas, in the Tenth Canto, Ashwamedha Bhagavatam, we see the devotees striving to do services for Krishna. All the Kalpatarus are there. Nobody is using the Kalpatarus to avoid services.
Because the devotees in the spiritual world don’t have the mood of okay, service is a burden and somehow I have to do it. If I could just avoid it and get somebody else to do it, it would be so nice, I’ll just be peaceful. No, service is nectar for them over there.
And that’s why they are eager to do services. So yes, normally speaking in Jai Bhai Jai, you can say they have no work to do. No work to do doesn’t mean that they are bored.
They are absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna. And that is their ecstasy. But, the point is that a service is not a necessity in the spiritual world.
Service is a joy, it’s a privilege. And even when there is no necessity for the service, the devotee will do the service just to taste the joy of having done something for Krishna and having pleased Krishna and intensified one’s remembrance of Krishna through that. Now it is to the specifics of they having denied entry to the unfamiliar person getting punished, that was the plan of the Lord for a double purpose.
The first purpose was to reveal to the Kumaras the glory of His love for His devotees. So the Kumaras in one sense, if you look at the chapter carefully, the Kumaras are treated more as Brahmanas than as devotees. They are exalted because they are saintly people.
The saintliness is not necessarily equated with devotion. Saintliness, sages or saints, means those who are beyond this material world and absorbed in spirituality. So Prabhupada says, शाद्धवः परपोटोदोति तिक्षवा कारुने का The impersonalists can also have these qualities.
They are also to some extent sadhus. So, the whole part of the sages being stopped by the doorkeepers, and then the sages cursing the doorkeepers, and even then the Lord coming Himself, and apologizing to them. And saying that, इस मैं उन हैंड उफन्स दि ब्राह्मणद, and I will cut off my hand.
And actually their offence is my offence, and therefore I wait for unison. And whatever your curse you have done, that is, I accept it. I don’t oppose it.
So, through all this, the Lord actually revealed the love that He had for His devotees. So here, the devotees in one sense are Jain Vijay. And the Lord is actually showing His respect for the Kumaras, but He is also showing His affection for His servants.
And through that, as well as through the fragrance of the Tushri from His lotus feet, He attracts the hearts of the Kumaras, and they rise from the impersonal conception to the personal conception. From Brahmavadis, they become Dattas. किंजल कमिश्रितुलसी मकरंदवायू संक्षोगमक्षर्जुसाम्पिल्स तृत्तःन्वू So, Tulsi, the fragrance of the wind that carried that carried over from the leaves in the lotus feet of the Lord, Tulsi leaves, to the nostrils of the Kumaras, agitated their meditation on the impersonal aspect of the Lord, and brought them to devotion.
So in one sense, the whole cursing of the Kumaras, cursing by the Kumaras, Vijaya and Vijaya, was a part of the Leela to reveal the glory of devotion to the Kumaras. And secondly, it was for the Lord to enjoy the Leela of Maukshalaras, of fighting in the material world with His devotees. So He has to fight, and nobody has as much power as His devotees have.
And so when the devotees become demons, the Lord releases the rasa of fighting. So the doorkeepers in the spiritual world also sometimes accompany the Lord when He descends in the material world. At that time, they have the active service of fighting on the behalf of the Lord.
So when the past time of Bali Maharaj is there in the 8th Canto, at that time, when Bali Maharaj is arrested by the Lord for not having given third foot worth of charity, at that time the demons start attacking Bali Maharaj. And immediately, the associates of the Lord come, and Nanda, Upananda, and they all beat back the demons. So at that time, it is mentioned, Jaya and Vijaya are also there.
And at that point, Vishwanath Chakraborty tells in the commentary, how can Jaya and Vijaya be present over here, when actually they have fallen in this material world, and they have not yet gone back. So how are they still present over here? Bhagavatam is in its own way, going on chronologically. And after the deliverance of Shishupal and Nanda Bhakta, then they go back.
Then he says, actually, in the spiritual world, there cannot be anything incomplete. So even if the doorkeepers fall, that doesn’t mean that the doorkeepers’ post will become empty. So what he says is, actually, he explains that the point that nobody can even fall from the spiritual world is also explained in the sense that, actually Jaya and Vijaya, they expand into two.
And one expansion falls to the material world, and another expansion continues the service in the spiritual world. And in that expansion, which is still continuing the service, which is there in the eighth canto, to fight on behalf of the Lord. So they have the active service over there, in such situations also.
So to summarize, the pure devotees, only those who have Vaikuntha mentality can stay in Vaikuntha consciousness. And in the spiritual world, there is no necessity for any service including the doorkeeper’s service. But all services are practically there, because the devotee wants to relish the love through their service.
And this cursing of the doorkeepers was actually a plan for the Lord to elevate the Kumaras and to himself relish Maushalas. Thank you.