Spiritual article I wrote in Vrindavan-dham in 1971

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The Vaisnava Concept of Dhama

 

by Richard Shaw Brown © 1971

 

The Sanskrit etymology of the word dhama traces the term to dha, which

means "prime support" and also "to nurture." The suffix man creates

dhaman, denoting loka, or the residence of God. The Supreme Lord alone

is the prime support and nurture for all spiritual existences, and

therefore His dhama is the eternal home and goal of all living beings.

 

Vaisnavas further define dhama as Vaikuntha, or that transcendental

place beyond all the limitations and misery of the material world of

birth and death. Dhama is completely different from mundane existence,

both gross and subtle, because it is a limitless, supra-mundane reality

utterly beyond the power of maya. Dhama is identical in nature with the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus we hear in the Mundaka-upanisad

(III.3.7),

 

yah sarvajnah sarva-vidyasyaisa mahima bhuvi

divye brahma-pure hyesa vyomnyatma pratisthitah

 

The Supreme Self, who is all-wise, omniscient, and whose glory is

pervertedly reflected in the mundane world, resides eternally in the

divine city of Brahman, within the great vacuum."

 

(Vyoma literally means "vacuum," according to the Visvakosa Sanskrit

dictionary, and as Vaisnavas we were somewhat hesitant to use this

translation because of its suggestion that the kingdom of God is merely

some kind of void. However, we can understand that the Upanisad used

the term vyoma to erase completely any hint of materiality in relation

to the Supreme Lord's personal realm, or dhama.)

 

Grammatically, vyoma is in the locative case, and thus it literally

'locates' the kingdom of God in a place perfectly free of all matter.

This accords with our Vaisnava understanding that the personal realm of

the Supreme Godhead, Sri Krsna, is devoid of any material attributes,

being a limitless eternal plane of spiritual existence wholly different

from prakrti, or mundane nature. Divya-brahma-puri, in the above sloka,

is the dhama itself, the transcendental abode of God, and it includes

all His divine and glorious qualities, associates, paraphernalia, and

pastimes. The holy and eternal kingdom of God, His sacred dhama, is

therefore as worshipful as He is.

 

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has conclusively proved the fact that the

Supreme Godhead's personal dhama is identical with the Lord's own

completely spiritual nature. All material forms are reflections of

activities and forms that take place in that divine realm. Everything

in the spiritual world--persons, places objects, conditions, moods

tastes, etc.--are direct expansions of the Personality of Godhead, and

thus they are inseparable parts and parcels of that holy dhama.

Everything in the spiritual world exists for the unrestricted pleasure

and happiness of God Himself. Non-Vaisnavas, relying on their own

imperfect senses, cannot comprehend the actual nature and the

activities of the supra-mundane dhama, and therefore they wrongly

conclude that brahma-puri is either an allegorical realm or, even

granting its eternal spiritual nature, that erroneous view of any

transcendent al attributes and variegatedness. This erroneous view of

Lord Krsna's dhama is refuted in many places by Vaisnava acaryas, as in

the following sutra (aphorism) by Sri Dvaipayana Vedavyasa in the

Vedanta-sutra (III, 3, 36)---antara-bhutagramavat svatmanah: "In the

kingdom of God, things look similar to that of any ordinary village in

the material world, but they are actually different in essence. Self

realized devotees of the Supreme Lord can see this difference."

 

Thus, self-realized devotees of God can actually see the holy dhama by

the grace of the Supreme Lord, and such a spiritual vision permits the

devotee to perceive and experience the sublime varieties of

transcendental manifestations present there. This spiritual

variegatedness is non-different from the Lord Himself, and thus like

Him the holy dhama is all-perfect and ever-fresh. Lord Brahma himself

described the kingdom of God at the dawn of creation: "I worship that

transcendental realm, known as Svetadvipa, where as loving consorts

thee Laksmis in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the amorous

service of the Supreme Lord Krsna as their only lover; where every tree

is a transcendental purpose tree; where the soil is the purpose-gem,

all water is nectar, and every word is a song; where every gait is a

dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, the effulgence is full of

transcendental bliss, and the supreme spiritual entities are all

enjoyable and tasty: where numberless milk cows always emit

transcendental oceans of milk; where there is eternal existence of

transcendental time, which is ever-present and without past or future

and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the

space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very

few self-realized souls in this world." (Brahma-samhita, V. 56).

 

In this Govinda-bhasya, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana has stated that the

Supreme Godhead, Who is satyam jnanamanantam brahma, or the absolute

embodiment of truth and knowledge, appears to His devotees in His

original transcendental form, complete with hands, feet, and all

attributes of personality. The devotee also sees the Lord's holy dhama

as a perfect transcendental land sublimely complete with limitless

varieties of birds, tree, waterfalls, and activity. Form Vaisnava

commentaries we can understand that all this splendidly beautiful

variety of activity emanates from Lord Sri Krsna. The Gopala-tapani

Upanisad tells us in the passage, saksad brahma gopala-puri-hi, that

"The city of Gopala, or the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, is verily Brahman.

"The Lord and His realm, in other words are identical in nature.

 

Each Vaisnava-acarya has revealed confidential aspects of the holy

dhama. According to Sri Ramanujacarya and Sri Madhvacarya, the Supreme

Lord as Sri Narayana resides eternally in Vaikuntha. Here the Lord

portrays His majestic form, and thus He is worshiped by His devotees in

the mood of reverential service, dasya-rati. Sri Nimbarka and Sri

Vallabhacarya glorify the Personality of Godhead as Sri Krsna, residing

in Goloka-dhama, where the predominating mood is prema-bhakti. It was

Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, however, who revealed the deepest

secrets of prema-bhakti and the special glories of Vraja-dhama. It was

He who revealed the ecstasy of intimate attachment to Lord Krsna which

culminates in Srimati Radharani's mahabhava, and thus from Lord

Caitanya we learn precisely how the sacred dhama directly assists in

arranging for the loving relationships between the Divine Couple Sri

Sri Radha and Krsna.

 

The philosophy of madhura-prema, as explained by Lord Caitanya

Mahaprabhu, is based upon this concept of rasa-tattva, and it finds its

highest and most confidential manifestation in Vraja-dhama. This

concept is the crest jewel of all theology, and its brilliant facets

have been thoroughly analyzed by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in

his books, particularly Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. From Srila

Prabhupada's translations and commentaries we can understand beyond any

doubt or misunderstanding that all the gradations and varieties of

spiritual activity in the holy dhama are identical with Lord Krsna

Himself although all the Lord's devotees and transcendental

paraphernalia retain their individual identities. This concept of

simultaneous transcendental similarity and difference is called

acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, and it reveals the deepest understanding of

Lord Krsna's supreme personality and pastimes, while also revealing the

intimate role of Krsna's Vraja-dhama in rendering Him direct loving

service. In this way, we can understand how each of the Lord's infinite

abodes, and especially Vraja-dhama, exists to render Krsna

transcendental loving service.

 

The dhama of the eternal Personality of Godhead is manifested with the

Supreme Lord Himself and His associates whenever He chooses to appear

in the material world. Because the dhama is not different from Krsna

and exists to make the many wonderful arrangements necessary for

satisfying the Lord's transcendental desires, yogamaya first manifested

the dhama on this earthly planet before the advent of the Lord Himself.

Although the Lord has since withdrawn His transcendental form from our

view, the reflection of the Lord's personal abode has remained in the

material world for those blessed with the spiritual vision needed to

behold it in its spiritual glory and sweetness.

 

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana states in his Prameya-ratnavali (Para.

XXVII):

 

prapance svatmakam lokam avatarya mahesvara

avirbhavati tatreti matam brahmadi-sabdatah

govinde saccindanande naradarakata yatha

ajnair nirupyate tadvadhamni prakrta kila

 

"The Supreme Godhead first manifests His supra-mundane realm in the

mundane world, and then He Himself makes His divine descent therein.

But just as the ignorant fallen souls deluded by the forces of maya

attribute mortal form and qualities to the Supreme Lord Govinda, who is

in reality the absolute embodiment of truth, consciousness, and bliss,

so also the Lord's dhama is misconceived by fallen souls to be a

mundane place subject to laws of material nature--while in reality it

is the eternal realm of the Supreme Autocratic Lord."

 

 

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