476 Srimad Bhagavatam {Canto 2, Ch. 9
supposed to be situated in the mode of goodness in the material world.
Goodness in the material world also at times becomes contaminated with
touches of the modes of passion and ignorance. In the Vaikunthaloka, it is
unalloyed goodness only.

The whole situation there is one of freedom from the illusory manifes-
tation of the external energy. Although illusory energy is also part and
parcel of the Supreme Lord, still illusory energy is differentiated from the
Lord. The illusory energy is not, however, false, as claimed by the monist
philosophers. The rope accepted as a snake may be an illusion to a particu-
lar person, but the rope is a fact, and the snake is also a fact. The illu-
sion of water on the hot desert may be illusion for the ignorant animal
searching out water in the desert, but the desert and water are actual facts.
Therefore the material creation of the Lord may be an illusion to the non-
devotee class of men, but to a devotee even the material creation of the
Lord is a fact, as the manifestation of His external energy. But this energy
of the Lord is not all. The Lord has His internal energy also, which has
another creation known to be the Vaikunthalokas, where there is no
ignorance, no passion, no illusion and no past and present. With a poor
fund of knowledge one may be unable to understand the existence of such
things as the Vaikuntha atmosphere, but that does not nullify its existence.
That spacecraft cannot reach these planets does not mean that there are
no such planets, for they are described in the revealed scriptures.

As quoted by Srila Jiva Gosvami, we can know from the Ndrada-
pajicaratra that the transcendental world or Vaikuntha atmosphere is
enriched with transcendental qualities. These transcendental qualities, as
revealed through the devotional service of the Lord, are distinct from the
mundane qualities of ignorance, passion and goodness. Such qualities are
nonattainable by the nondevotee class of men. In the Padma Purana,
Uttara-khanda, it is stated that beyond the one-fourth part of God’s
creation, there is the three-fourths part manifestation. The marginal line
between the material manifestation and the spiritual manifestation is the
Viraja River, and beyond the Viraja, which is a transcendental current
flowing from the perspiration of the body of the Lord, there is the three-
fourths part manifestation of God’s creation. This part is eternal, ever-
lasting, without any deterioration, and unlimited, and contains the highest
perfectional stage of living conditions. In the Saikhya-kaumudi it is
stated that unalloyed goodness or transcendence is just opposite to the
material modes. All living entities are eternally associated without any
break, and the Lord is the chief and prime entity there. In the Agama
Puranas also, the transcendental abode is described as follows: The asso-
