Do all the residents of Dhams go back to the spiritual world?
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Question from Purushottam Kumar Prabhu. Do all residents of the dhams go back to godhead? What is the position of those who are born in holy places like Jagannath Puri, Mayapur, Vrindavan, etc. Who becomes eligible to take birth in the holy places? When we visit these holy places, we find that some of the residents are engaged in sinful activities like meat-eating, intoxication, etc.
In fact, some of the residents of the holy places have been convicted of murder, rape, etc. Do all the residents of the dhams go back to the spiritual world at the end of this life? If not, then what is the destination of those who, in spite of being born as dhams, are leading a sinful life? How should we see the residents of dhams? Answer, going back to godhead, depends on whether one loves Krishna or one at least desires strongly to love Krishna. Either we should have love for Krishna or at least our desire for that love for Krishna should be greater than the desire for other worldly things.
Without having that desire to love Krishna, actually if Krishna takes us back to the spiritual world also, we will be miserable there. We will be misfits there because everybody will be loving and serving Krishna and we will want to be independent enjoys over there. So, this is a principle that applies for everyone that only when we desire to love and serve Krishna will we go back to godhead.
So, this applies even to the residents of the dham. Within the scriptural canon, there are often different principles which are given and these different principles, they are individually valid but in real life there is no one individual principle that works. Multiple principles have to be taken into consideration which ultimately determines the result.
So, the dham mahatmas like say of Puri or Mayapur or Vrindavan, they profusely describe the glories of the various dhams and when they describe that the residents of these dhams will directly go back home, back to godhead, then we have to understand that this is true but it is also assuming certain things to be applying over there. So, Bhaktisiddhan Siddhakar was very clear that if somebody lives in Radhakund which is the holiest of all places for Gaudiya Vaishnavas and somebody lives in Radhakund and commits illicit activities over there, then for such a person Radhakund will become Narakkund. Narakkund means it will become the pathway to hell for such a person because the more exalted a place, the greater the responsibility that we act purely over there and if we act responsibly, we can get severe reactions for that.
So, it's certainly not true that just by being born in a dham or just by living in a dham one goes back home, back to godhead. So, when we talk about residents of the dham, there are many migrants who have come there for business or professional purposes. They may be residing in the dham but they are not exactly considered to be dhamavasis in terms of having been born in the dham and there may be people who may be born in the dham, physically speaking, their birth might have taken place over there but still, when we talk about residents of dham, the residence is not just philosophical, it is actually a matter of the heart.
There are many people who reside in the dham but their desires are in materialistic places. They may desire to go abroad to enjoy more and their desires are not at all in the dham in terms of they are living on the dham but not in the dham. On the dham means they are on the surface.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur talks in Navdeep Mahatmya and other places that the holy dham is covered by a mystical potency, by the maya shakti of the lord which conceals the glory of the dham from common people or at least materialistic people who come there not for the purpose of purification but for just the sake of sensual enjoyment. So, from the philosophical perspective, we have to be clear that residence in the dham is a matter of consciousness and those who are living in Vrindavan in terms of desiring Vrindavan, dreaming about Vrindavan, loving Vrindavan, they are mentally and devotionally residing in Vrindavan wherever they are and they will go back to the spiritual world. Now to help us reside internally in Vrindavan, residence physically in Vrindavan is also helpful because remembrance of Krishna is easier over there but what is important is remembrance of Krishna.
The dham, if we see among the 64 limbs of devotional service that Rupa Goswami talks about, the dham is one of the most important ones. It's among the five potent forms of devotional services but still Rupa Goswami also tells us all rules and regulations are subordinate to the one principle that that all the other principles are subordinate to the one principle of remembering Krishna. So, Krishna says clearly that one has to remember him at the end of his life and for that the one has to remember him throughout the life, then one can go back to him.
So, this is from the philosophical perspective. From the practical perspective, if somebody is residing in the dham, somehow the other, the Lord for whatever reason has mercifully allowed that person to either be born in the dham or to be presently residing in the dham and for that purpose that person deserves respect. So, the respect doesn't mean an uncritical faith in everything that that person says or an uncritical naive acceptance that whatever that person does is right.
No. Guru, sadhu, shastra are the barometer by which we have to see everything. So, if some people are born in the dham but they are engaging in immoral or even illegal activities, then certainly this cannot be considered to be exemplars for us.
They may have some devotion, they may have had some credits in the past life because of having done some devotional service in the past because of which they have got the opportunity to come to the dham or to be born in the dham. But our devotional credits are like our wealth. Our wealth is useful depending on how we use it.
If somebody has a lot of wealth but the person misuses it, then the wealth gets lost and it doesn't lead to anything and it doesn't build any further anything for that person. So, similarly the past devotional credits may allow a person to come to the dham but that doesn't mean that that person automatically just by being in the dham is an exalted devotee. One has to practice.
So, Srila Prabhupada would follow Bhakti Sankhya Thakur and tell devotees to discriminate about whom to follow, whom to emulate, whom to hold as an example. But at the same time, at the other extreme, Srila Prabhupada would also tell devotees that don't just take the dham as mundane. We never know who is at what status.
So, once when a dog came along and the devotees were trying to shoo the dog away a bit perfunctorily, so Prabhupada told them, never know who is who in Vrindavan. Be careful. So, that means that as far as our personal guidance, inspiration, exam and exemplary models are concerned, we should look only at those residents of the dham who are living model lives according to Guru Sadhu Shastra.
For all others, we have to see them through the eyes of Guru Sadhu Shastra and accordingly understand that they have done something in the past, some kind of a gyan sakuti or devotional service by which they are allowed to stay in the dham, but they're not using it right now. And we can respect them from a distance. Vishwanath Chitra Thakur says that if a person is practicing devotional service but is not having good moral behavior, then one should respect such a person from a distance.
Now, what will be their destination, that is ultimately between them and Krishna. But in general, the broad principles are that it is not that just by staying in a dham, one gets automatic waiver from the laws of karma. Srila Prabhupada explains that sometimes people who come to be transcendentalists or who are in the dham but then fall to immorality, then often they are born as animals in the holy places.
So, they were yogis in the past, but they have become animals now. They may even become hogs and then by living in the dham in the next life, they become purified because in the animal body, they cannot commit a sinful activity. And then subsequently, gradually, they will come to the standard of moral and spiritual integrity.
Then they will go back home, back to God. So, in general, we should have discrimination, but along with discrimination, we should also have respect towards the residents of the dham. Thank you.