Is their a hierarchy of devotees at higher and lower levels even in the spiritual world?

Transcript

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Say Radharani is the topmost devotee. Does that mean that there are different levels of devotees? Yes. Relationships are there in the spiritual world.
And relationships means that there are varying levels of intimacy. So that sort of differentiation is there. But the center point is Krishna.
And because everybody is remembering Krishna, everybody is ecstatic. But there are different kinds of ecstasy. That means it is said that there are Manjiris.
In the Gaudiya tradition, there was some verses from Bhattashyam Sindhu. Even after the commentary given by Jiva Goswami, they were quite difficult to understand. So just before the Ramavrishnas, there was a sort of a dispute among the Gaudiya Vishnas.
What do these verses actually mean? So he made it very clear that can a devotee aspire to become a Gopi directly? Or can a devotee or two devotees, when they become purified, they become Manjiris? Now what is the difference between Gopi and Manjiri? Gopis are directly performing pastimes with Krishna. Manjiris are those who assist in the pastimes and then they observe the pastimes. So actually, so while no sadhaka can advance to any level, Krishna reciprocates according to desire.
But Vishwanath Chakravarth explains, according to Gaudiya Siddhanta, just as Krishna is Supreme Lord, but the Gopis get more ecstasy than Krishna. That’s why Krishna comes in the mood of the Gopis as Radharani. Similarly, Vishwanath Chakravarth explains, he analyses Rupa Goswami’s writings accordingly.
And based on that, he explains that actually the Manjiri, when Krishna is performing pastimes with the Gopis, the Manjiris who observe those pastimes get a far greater pleasure. Because, this is a very exotic topic, but the point is that they are able to sort of relish the pastime from both perspectives. How Krishna is enjoying and then how the Gopis are enjoying.
So, either way, the point is that although the Manjiris may not be directly engaged in associating with Krishna, but still their happiness is not considered low. They are fully satisfied at their level of happiness. So certainly, there is a differentiation.
The Manjiris don’t directly associate with Krishna. The Gopis associate with Krishna. And even among the Gopis, there are more intimate Sakhis.
There are the appreciative Sakhis. There are a lot of classification that is given. Like that.
But the point is, everybody in their role, they serve Krishna in the way Krishna wants them to serve him and they feel satisfied in that service. They don’t feel that they are missing something. In fact, they feel perfection in the Brihad-Bhagavata Amrita, when the Gopakumar goes to, you know, there are two stories in Brihad-Bhagavata Amrita.
One is about Narada Muni seeking whom he talked most about. And the other is the Gopakumar going up to the spiritual world. When the Gopakumar goes to Vaikuntha, and after that, he even goes to Dwarka.
So, actually, even when he is in Vaikuntha, he meets the Vaikunthavasis who consider Krishna to be supreme. And they are completely satisfied in devoting themselves to Vishnu. They consider Vishnu to be supreme and they don’t consider that Vishnu is coming from Krishna.
And there is no indication which Shri Atma Goswami gives that they are to be considered wrong. There is a transcendental subjectivity in the spiritual realm which indicates that devotees are satisfied in their relationship. So, the Dwarkavasis, at one level, they understand that the Rajivasis are higher, but they are satisfied in their relationship.
There is a hierarchy, definitely, there are levels of progression, but that does not make much difference because all devotees at their individual levels are perfectly satisfied in their relationship with Krishna.