Vaikuntha

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Dear Ananta Purusottama Prabhu,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

>What I am wondering from reading below, is who are those devotees who

>would attain the types of liberation offered, at what stage of

>devotional service?

 

 

I cannot verify the information below by a reference to the sastra, but I

heard an analysis that the 5 types of liberation (sayujya etc.) are included

in the 5 kinds of rasas in the following manner:

 

 

(1) sayujya is included in santa, because in santa-rasa a devotee often

becomes either functionally non-different from the Lord (like His flute, His

necklace, His kaustubha gem etc.) or predominantly controlled and protected

by Him, (like the cows and calves) or passively waiting to be used by Him

whenever He desires (like Vraja grass or trees).

 

This is a personalistic version of sayujya or merging with the existence of

the Lord -- by fully turning one's existence unto His will and allowing Him

to use you as an instrument or dependent. As I have learned from

knowledgeable Vaisnavas, this is considered, for instance, the highest

attainment in bhakti in some schools of Ramanuja-sampradaya.

 

 

(2) dasya includes salokya because it implies it -- one cannot serve the

Lord personally unless he or she resides on the same planet with Him.

 

 

(3) sakhya includes sarupya because one has to be pretty much the same age,

stature and form to be able to relate to Krsna as His friend.

 

Indeed, a four-handed cowherd boy would be out of place in Krsna's sakhya

pastimes, perhaps because he would always have an upper hand in wrestling

and other games. :-)

 

Mother Yasoda, for instance, was once denied participation in sakhya

pastimes of Krsna exactly under the pretext that she was too old and thus

unfit for plays with young boys.

 

 

(4) vatsalya includes sarsti-mukti, because whatever possession is there in

Krsna's house or in His land is actually not His but His parents'. They

functionally own all Krsna's assets and use them in His service at their own

discretion -- to the point that they sometimes chastise Krsna when He tries

to take something like pearls or butter without their permission.

 

 

(5) madhurya includes samipya for obvious reasons.

 

 

>"Pure devotees", however, do not accept these various forms of

>liberation. They only want

>to be engaged in Krsna's service. Does this imply some are "impure",

>or tainted I wonder?

 

 

It means that if in one's spiritual life a devotee is motivated not by the

desire for pure devotional service, but by some by-products of bhakti,

including 4+ types of liberation, his or her devotional service is not pure

and he is thus called a separatist (prthag-bhavah):

 

 

SB 3.29.10

 

karma-nirharam uddisya

parasmin va tad-arpanam

yajed yastavyam iti va

prthag-bhavah sa sattvikah

 

"When a devotee worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offers the

results of his activities in order to free himself from the inebrieties of

fruitive activities, his devotion is in the mode of goodness".

 

 

When one attains his or her original position in the spiritual world, the

devotee automatically receives all or some of the above-mentioned types of

liberation even without aspiring for them separately. Otherwise, if salokya,

sarupya, sarsti, and samipya are devoid of any service of the Lord, then

devotees never want them under any circumstances.

 

 

Srila Rupa Goswami explains this topic lucidly in BRS saying that desire for

liberation can also be favorable for bhakti if it is subservient to it:

 

BRS 1.2.55:

 

atra tyajyatay aivokta muktih panca vidhapi cet |

salokyadi stathapy atra bhaktya nativirudhyate ||55||

 

Translation: Though all the five forms of mukti have been stated here as to

be discarded (by a pure devotee), yet the first four, salokya-sarsti-

samipya-sarupya are not altogether incompatible with Bhakti.

 

Commentary: Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti points out that the various references

that have been cited by Sri Rupa Gosvami in the previous slokas to establish

the desirelessness of pure devotees for all the five forms of mukti, in the

present text Sri Rupa wants to show that salokya, sarsti, samipya are not

very much antagonistic to Bhakti, i.e. they are partially unsuited to pure

Bhakti, because it is said that Bhakti has some place in these first four

forms of mukti. Sri Mukunda dasa says that salokya-mukti, sarsti-mukti,

samipya-mukti and sarupya-mukti are partly unsuited and partly conducive to

Bhakti, while ekatva or sayujya-mukti has absolutely no place in Bhakti.

 

BRS 1.2.56:

 

sukhaisvaryottara seyam prema-sevottarety api |

salokyadir dvidha tatra nadya seva jusam mata ||56||

 

Translation: Salokya-sarsti-samipya-sarupya muktis are of two kinds:

firstly, as grandeur-and-pleasure-giving to the individual, i.e. mukti in

which the individual desires his personal pleasures from the grandeur and

wealth, and secondly mukti in which Prema-seva dominates, i.e. in which the

dominant desire is to serve the Lord for His delight. But the first of these

two aspects of mukti is not welcome to those who are devoted to the service

of the Lord, i.e. they do not seek personal pleasures from the grandeur and

wealth of the first four forms of mukti.

 

 

As for the attainment of one's original position at the time of death, SB

12.3.50 speaks about it quite explicitly:

 

mriyamanair abhidhyeyo

bhagavan paramesvarah

atma-bhavam nayaty anga

sarvatma sarva-samsrayah

 

TRANSLATION: My dear King, the Personality of Godhead is the ultimate

controller. He is the Supreme Soul and the supreme shelter of all beings.

***When meditated upon by those about to die, He reveals to them their own

eternal spiritual identity.*** [emphasis mine -- Mmd]

 

 

Please forgive me for the long text. I hope it is of some use.

 

 

Begging to remain

 

your servant,

Madana-mohana das