Devanagari
ते तु ब्रह्मह्रदं नीता मग्ना: कृष्णेन चोद्धृता:
ददृशुर्ब्रह्मणो लोकं यत्राक्रूरोऽध्यगात् पुरा ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
te tu brahma-hradam nītā
magnāḥ kṛṣṇena coddhṛtāḥ
dadṛśur brahmaṇo lokaṁ
yatrākrūro ’dhyagāt purā
Synonyms
te
—
they
;
tu
—
and
;
brahma
—
hradam — to the lake known as Brahma-hrada
;
nītāḥ
—
brought
;
magnāḥ
—
submerged
;
kṛṣṇena
—
by Kṛṣṇa
;
ca
—
and
;
uddhṛtāḥ
—
lifted out
;
dadṛśuḥ
—
they saw
;
brahmaṇaḥ
—
of the Absolute Truth
;
lokam
—
the transcendental planet
;
yatra
—
where
;
akrūraḥ
—
Akrūra
;
adhyagāt
—
saw
;
purā
—
previously .
Translation
The cowherd men were brought by Lord Kṛṣṇa to the Brahma-hrada, made to submerge in the water, and then lifted up. From the same vantage point that Akrūra saw the spiritual world, the cowherd men saw the planet of the Absolute Truth.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The cowherd men were brought by Lord Kṛṣṇa to the Brahma-hrada, made to submerge in the water, and then lifted up. From the same vantage point that Akrūra saw the spiritual world, the cowherd men saw the planet of the Absolute Truth.
KB 10.28.16
Thus Kṛṣṇa led all the cowherd men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, to the lake where Akrūra would later be shown the Vaikuṇṭha planetary system. They took their bath immediately and saw the real nature of the Vaikuṇṭhalokas.
Purport
The unlimited extension of spiritual light, called the
brahmajyoti
in text 15, is compared to a lake called Brahma-hrada. Lord Kṛṣṇa submerged the cowherd men in that lake in the sense that He submerged them in the awareness of the impersonal Brahman. But then, as indicated by the word
uddhṛtāḥ,
He lifted them up to a higher understanding, that of the Personality of Godhead in His own planet. As clearly stated here,
dadṛśur brahmaṇo lokam:
They saw, just as Akrūra did, the transcendental abode of the Absolute Truth.
The evolution of consciousness may be briefly summarized as follows: In ordinary consciousness we perceive and are attracted to the variety of material things. Rising to the first stage of spiritual consciousness, we transcend material variety and focus instead on the undifferentiated One, which lies behind and gives existence to the many. Finally, rising to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we find that the absolute, spiritual One contains its own eternal variety. In fact, since this world is a mere shadow of eternal existence, we would expect to find spiritual variety within the One, and indeed we do find it in the sacred text of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Astute readers may note that the pastime involving Akrūra takes place later in the
Bhāgavatam,
after the present affair with the cowherd men. The reason Śukadeva Gosvāmī says Akrūra saw Vaikuṇṭha
purā,
“previously,” is that all these incidents took place many years before the conversation between Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Krsna gave them realization of Brahman, in which there is no particular awareness, as if immersing them in a lake (hradam). He then pulled them out of that realization by his remarkable powers and let them see vaikuntha (lokam). This is stated in the second canto of bhagavatam (2.7.31): he let them see the Gokula in Vaikuntha. As the materialist is taken from the lake of matter to realization of Brahman, so the cowherd men were taken from the lake of Brahman realization to realization of Vaikuntha. Krsna delivered them from the dangerous, destructive sayujya to the blissful Vaikuntha. The realization of Vaikuntha with prema is superior to the realization of happiness in Brahman with no prema. But superior to the realization of happiness in Vaikuntha with prema is the realization of happiness in Gokula with prema. To this Vaikuntha previously Akrura had gone, or in this Vaikuntha previously Akrura saw his Lord.
"Previously" indicates that it was previous to the conversation between Sukadeva and Pariksit, though in the narrative it occurs later.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Giving details, what they saw is now described. He brought them to that place which is beyond prakṛti (brahman) and difficult to enter like a lake (hradam). He immersed them in it: by his power, he made them inquire about this condition, and they attained realization of that state. Then he pulled them out. Surpassing the initial general manifestation of spirituality, they then saw the place of parabrahman in human form (brahmaṇaḥ lokam) since they were qualified for the manifestation of his special form revealed through his svarūpa-śakti. They saw this directly with their eyes. This was not something never experienced before: in this manifestation (yatra), Akrūra also saw or praised (adhyagāt) Vaikuṇṭha-loka.
tasmai sva-lokaṁ bhagavān sabhājitaḥ
sandarśayām āsa paraṁ na yat-param |
vyapeta-saṅkleśa-vimoha-sādhvasaṁ
sva-dṛṣṭavadbhir vibudhair abhiṣṭutam ||
The Lord, gratified by his worship, showed Brahmā Mahā-vaikuṇṭha, to which nothing is superior, which is free of suffering, confusion and fear of offenses and which is praised by the devatās who constantly see the self.
pravartate yatra rajas tamas tayoḥ
sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla-vikramaḥ |
na yatra māyā kim utāpare harer
anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāḥ ||
In Vaikuṇṭha there is no rajas or tamas, and no sattva mixed with rajas and tamas. There is no influence of time. There is no influence of māyā at all, what to speak of its products such as material elements. In Vaikuṇṭha the inhabitants are fully dedicated to the Lord and are worshipable by the devas, asuras and devotees. SB 2.9.10
Sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na means no material sattva mixed with material rajas and tamas. Itihāsa-samucchaya in the story of Mudgala says:
brahmaṇaḥ sadanād ūrdhvaṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam
sanātanaṁ jyotiḥ paraṁ brahmeti tad viduḥ.
Above Brahma-loka is the supreme abode of Viṣṇu. They know this as parabrahma, the eternal light.
Ūrdhvam means a place from which one does not return. In Nārada-Pāñcarātra it is said:
lokaṁ vaikuṇṭha-namānaṁ divyaṁ ṣaḍ-guṇa-samyutam
avaiṣṇavānām aprāpyaṁ guṇa-traya-vivartitam
The place called Vaikuṇṭha is beyond the material world, endowed with six qualities, devoid of the three material guṇas and not obtainable by non-devotees.
Brahma Purāṇa says:
tam ananta-guṇāvāsaṁ mahat-tejo durāsadaṁ
apratyakṣaṁ nirupamaṁ parānandam atīndriyam
That place is endowed with unlimited qualities, great effulgence, difficult to understand, invisible to material eyes, incomparable, supremely blissful, and beyond the senses.
Śruti says:
pareṇa nākaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ vibhrājate yad yatayo viśanti
When the world becomes invisible by the Lord, that place which the renounced sages enter shines. Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad 86
Or Kṛṣṇa brought them to Brahma-hrada, the holy place of Akrūra in order to glorify that place or because of sport. By his order they went in and came out and then saw Goloka. They saw Vṛndāvana as a special place. In that holy place, Akrūra previously saw Vaikuṇṭha. Special respect is given to this place since it is mentioned in the Bhāgavatam, the crest jewel of all scriptures. Because the sequence of events is being narrated (at a later date), the statement does not correspond with later events (the verse says Akrūra went there previously.)
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
The word ca means certainly. Being raised up by Kṛṣṇa, they saw their svarūpas (Brahman). They were completely absorbed (magnāḥ). With Kṛṣṇa as his object (yatra) Akrura had gone to Brahman previously. This means that Brahman is included within Kṛṣṇa, being his aṁśa. This incident shows the Lord’s mercy, power and pervasion in regards to devotees.
Kṛṣṇa brought them to the lake of Brahman, the great reservoir of Brahman, Vaikuṇṭha, having the condensed form of Brahman. This means he made them have a direct vision of this (nītāḥ). They became attached to this vision (magnāḥ). They were pulled out by Kṛṣṇa since it was not desirable, being an obstacle to the rasa of Vṛndāvana pastimes. Though they were pulled out of this vision, they saw Vaikuṇṭha, full of eternity, knowledge and bliss, the source of Brahman, without transforming Brahman, because by absorption in it they saw a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa alone. But because they played with Kṛṣṇa and saw Kṛṣṇa directly they did not find this too significant. Even Akrura, who caused suffering by separating them from Kṛṣṇa, had seen it by jñāna (adhyagāt). But the cowherds saw it directly with their eyes. Thus they were greater.
He saw it also in some place. They however bathed in it directly (te tu magnāḥ). Later they were lifted out by Kṛṣṇa. Their eyes showed fear without the flow of the Yamunā. At the lake of Brahman, their eyes were outside of Vraja with its special rasa.
Or brought to the lake of Brahman, they saw Vaikuṇṭha (brahmaṇo lokam). They became absorbed in it. Kṛṣṇa removed that vision when they lost taste for it and brought them to his place for play.