Text 153] The Lord Instructs Srila Rapa Gosvami 335

TEXT 153

Coifen Ace Tesi ‘sane’ cof# waW7 |
Feae’, ‘ance’ cofe “tacasra” atta useon

upajiyd bade lata ‘brahmanda’ bhedi’ yaya
‘viraja’, ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ paya

SYNONYMS

upajiya—being cultivated; bdde—increases; Jati—the creeper of devotional
service; brahmanda—the whole universe; bhedi’—penetrating; yaya—goes;
viraja—the river between the spiritual world and the material world; brahma-
loka—the Brahman effulgence; bhedi’—penetrating; para-vyoma—the spiritual
sky; pdya—attains.

TRANSLATION

“As one waters the bhakti-lata-bija, the seed sprouts, and the creeper
gradually increases to the point where it penetrates the walls of this universe
and goes beyond the Viraja River between the spiritual world and the material
world. It attains brahma-loka, the Brahman effulgence, and, penetrating
through that stratum, it reaches the spiritual sky and the spiritual planet
Goloka Vrndavana.

PURPORT

A creeper generally takes shelter of a big tree, but the bhakti-latd, being the
creeper of spiritual energy, cannot take shelter of any material planet, for there is
no tree on any material planet that the bhakti-lata creeper can utilize for shelter.
In other words, devotional service cannot be utilized for any material purpose.
Devotional service is meant only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some-
times men with a poor fund of knowledge maintain that bhakti can be applied to
material things also. In other words, they say that devotional service can be ren-
dered to one’s country or to the demigods, but this is not a fact. Devotional ser-
vice is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it is beyond
this material range. There is a river, or causal ocean, between the spiritual and ma-
terial natures, and _ this river is free from the influence of the three modes of ma-
terial nature; therefore it is called Viraja. The word vi means vigata (completely
eradicated), and rajah means “the influence of the material world.” On this plat-
form, a living entity is completely free from material entanglement. For the jAdnis
who want to merge into the Brahman effulgence, there is brahma-loka. Bhakti-
lata, however, has no shelter in the material world, nor has it shelter in brahma-
loka, although brahma-loka is beyond the material world. The bhakti-lata in-
creases until it reaches the spiritual sky, where Goloka Vrndavana is situated.
