CREATIONS BY KRISHNA – 3 : BRAHMAM & INTERMEDIATE WORLDS!
READ THE FIRST TWO PARTS OF THIS POST BEFORE READING THIS POSTHEREandHERE.
BRAHMAM (or) BRAHMA JOTHI (or) BRAHMAN (Not BRAHMA DEVA)
The Vaikuntha planets (spiritual world) are floating in the Brahman effulgence or simply Brahmam.
Merging into this Brahman (Mukti) is for those who prefer to exist in a spiritual vacuum, floating in an eternal sky without any form or activities such as serving the supreme Being. So, it is an incomplete level of spiritual realization and existence.
(SHOULD A DEVOTEE PRAY FOR MUKTHI or MOKSHA FROM KRISHNA? READ HERE!)
The Brahma-samhita (5.40) States:
“I worship Govinda [Krishna], the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferential Brahman mentioned in the Upanishads, being differentiated from the mundane universe, and appears as indivisible, infinite, and limitless truth.”
Thus, the Brahman effulgence is Unlimited White Light in the spiritual sky, coming from the body of Krishna. In those Brahman effulgence that the unlimited Vaikuntha planets float.
The impersonalist philosophers who got liberation from material existence, but without a target of going to Krishna or His expansions, get merged with this Brahman effulgence. However, such liberated souls who merge into the Brahman have no spiritual form or body, but remain only as a spiritual spark without any activity, floating in the Vaikuntha sky.
The Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.10-12) says:
“In the spiritual realm, beyond the material covering, is the unlimited Brahman effulgence, which is free from material contamination. That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all lights. In that realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies.”
INTERMEDIATE WORLDS (VRAJA RIVER)
First, understand that the space occupied by Brahmam or Brahma jothi forms the spiritual planets and this Brahmam spreads to material sky also. But, this brahmam out of spiritual sky forms a cloud just at the corner of spiritual sky where Intermediate words called Brahma loka and Vraja Rivers are situated. Beyond this Vraja river or Intermediate sky, material worlds exist.
In this Vraja River, transformations from material and spiritual skies take place.
Between the material universes and the brilliant effulgence of the Brahman is what is called the Virajanadi or Brahmaloka. It is like a river, also called the Viraja River, which is the separation between the spiritual world and the material world. It is within the confines of the cloudy Viraja River that the material manifestation takes place.
The millions of universes in the material creation float on the waters of the Viraja River. On one side of this river are the material universes, and on the other are the spiritual Vaikuntha planets which float within the Brahman effulgence. The Viraja River is a marginal position between the material and spiritual realms, and is thus not under the control of the material energy. That is why those persons who merge into the Viraja River are considered to have escaped material existence, yet have still not quite entered the real spiritual worlds.
In this way, the Viraja River is also a shelter for those living beings who are disgusted with material life and who become successful in a religious or philosophical discipline that is bereft of true spiritual knowledge.
MATERIAL WORLDS
As said above, At the corner of spiritual sky, Brahmam extends to form a cloud of Intermediate world called Brahma loka where the transformations take place and where the Vraja river exist.
Beyond this intermediate sky, material worlds exist.
Those who like to master others are sent from spiritual sky to the material sky through the intermediate sky.
Once a soul enters into this material sky, it comes under the clutch of time and three modes: Satva Guna (Mode of Goodness), Rajo Guna (Mode of passion) and Thamo Guna (Mode of Ignorance).
READ THIS POST: THREE GUNAS OR MODES: Why Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 14.19 that Only the gunas act, not the persons?
So, he starts to function in such a way that he adds karma in his account. If he uses his thamo and rajo gunas repeatedly, he is made to take births among 84,00,000 types of births. Then, he gets human form again and practice devotion and goes back to Krishna again.
The Creation of these material worlds itself is a very big mechanism.
The following posts explain all types of creations nicely. Read these posts and know how the material creations and living beings are created by Krishna:
(1) HOW KRISHNA CREATED ALL THE CREATIONS AND LIVING BEINGS? READ HERE
(2) How all creations originated from the transcendental body of Lord Krishna? READ HERE!
We will read the types of worlds in the next part (Part-4) of this article.