Page 62 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

‘by My special grace.’ This is also confi rmed in Bhagavad-gita. Only those who engage in
devotional service with love and faith receive the necessary intelligence from the Supreme
Personality of Godhead so that gradually and progressively they can advance to the abode of
the Personality of Godhead.
Nihsreyasa means ‘the ultimate destination.’ Sva-samsthana indicates that the
impersonalists have no particular place to stay. The impersonalists sacrifi ce their
individuality so that the living spark can merge into the impersonal effulgence emanating
from the transcendental body of the Lord, but the devotee has a specifi c abode. The planets rest
in the sunshine, but the sunshine itself has no particular resting place. When one reaches a
particular planet, then he has a resting place. The spiritual sky, which is known as kaivalya,
is simply blissful light on all sides, and it is under the protection of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (14.27), ‘brahmano hi pratishthaham:’ the
impersonal Brahman effulgence rests on the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In other words, the bodily effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is kaivalya,
or impersonal Brahman. In that impersonal effulgence there are spiritual planets, which
are known as Vaikunthas, chief of which is Krishnaloka. Some devotees are elevated to the
Vaikuntha planets, and some are elevated to the planet Krishnaloka. According to the desire
of the particular devotee, he is offered a particular abode, which is known as sva-samsthana,
his desired destination. By the grace of the Lord, the self-realized devotee engaged in devotional
service understands his destination even while in the material body. He therefore performs
his devotional activities steadily, without doubting, and after quitting his material body he
at once reaches the destination for which he has prepared himself. After reaching that abode,
he never comes back to this material world. (SB 3.27.28 - Purport)
There are different types of rasas or fl avorful relationships with the Lord
which pure devotees can aspire to have in the eternal spiritual world. Prabhupada
explains the nuances of the possibilities taught by the Vaisnava sampradayas
(disciplic successions): Letter to Madhusudana -- London 23 November, 1969:
Prabhupada: Regarding your second question about the rasas in Narayana’s Abode, it
does not go higher than servitude and reverential friendship.

Your question: If in the Vaikunthas ecstatic love between Lord Narayana and His
devotees and Lord Krishna Consciousness and His devotees on Krishna Loka is qualitatively
the same, then what is the advantage of following the path of Krishna Consciousness, whose
philosophy austerity is diffi cult to understand?

Krishna Consciousness philosophy includes the whole Vaisnava philosophy. When
we speak Krishna, the very word means, Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha, and all other similar
expansions and incarnations. So Krishna Consciousness includes Vaikuntha consciousness,
but Vaikuntha consciousness does not include Krishna Consciousness. Those who are strictly
following the rules and regulations of Vaisnava activities, they are promoted to Vaikuntha
lokas. But those who have developed a spontaneous love for Krishna, they are promoted
to the Krishna Loka. Therefore, although Krishna Consciousness includes Vaikuntha
consciousness, pure Krishna Consciousness is spontaneous love for Krishna without any
regulative principles. The idea can be explained that a young boy or a young girl are
spontaneously attracted, without following any regulative principles previously. When one
develops such spontaneous love for God that is called pure Krishna Consciousness. In our
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