“Sanatan Dharm” is the last chapter of “The True History and the Religion of India,” an 800-page concise encyclopedia of authentic Hinduism.

नमो नमस्तेऽस्त्वृषभाय सात्वतां विदूरकाष्ठाय मुहु: कुयोगिनाम् ।

निरस्तसाम्यातिशयेन राधसा स्वधामनि ब्रह्मणि रंस्यते नम: ॥

(भा. २/४)

Sanatan Dharm is the universal religion
of the Upnishads, Gita and the
Bhagwatam which Bharatvarsh has
 introduced for the whole world.

(Part II, Part III)

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Sanatan Dharm and the true path to God.

What is Sanatan Dharm?

The religion which eternally exists in God, which is revealed by God, which describes the names, forms, virtues and the abodes of God, and which reveals the true path of God realization for all the souls is called Sanatan Dharm, the universal religion for the whole world.The word dharm is formed from the root word dhryan (dhryan dharne); it means such actions and such spiritual or religious practices that finally result in all-good for a soul. A general description of dharm is:

It means that such actions, thoughts and practices that promote physical and mental happiness in the world (abhyudaya) and ensure God realization (nishreyas) in the end, are called dharm.

There are two kinds of dharmas: (a) Apar dharm, or varnashram dharm, or seemit dharm, or general dharm, and (b) par dharm or bhagwat dharm.

(a) Apar dharm, or varnashram dharm, or seemit dharm, or general dharm. The word dharm means the religious practices and thoughts that are aimed to fulfill a pious goal in life. Accordingly the apar or varnashram dharm is the religious discipline and injunctions of do’s and don’ts that are explained in the scriptures for uplifting the sattvic qualities of a human being in general. Varnashram word refers to all kinds and classes of people of this world living various orders of life (like a family man, a priest, a monk or a sanyasi), and apar word means ‘secondary’ or ‘general’ or ‘preliminary’ because it is not the absolute or prime dharm, it is the preliminary dharm for everyone in the world.The discipline and rules of apar dharm vary according to the state of the spiritual consciousness of a person, and its rigidness also varies from age to age, that is, from satyug to kaliyug. In short you can understand that (for the existing age) all kinds of good deeds and philanthropic works that are beneficial to the society, and sincere observance of the religious discipline of the ‘order of life’ (religious student, family man, or a renounced person) you are following, come in this category, provided, that they are done with sattvic motivation. Sattvic motivation means having faith in God and then doing all the good karmas only to please God and not for any kind of personal gain. Even if you think of receiving compliments for your good karmas or the religious practices which you observe, it will not be classified as sattvic, it will become rajas, because you desired for the compliments and you have received them. Thus you have already availed the outcome of your so-called good deeds. According to the Gita:

There is hardly any further good outcome of such good looking karmas in the next lifetime.

So, apar dharm means good karmas with sattvic motivation where a person is devoted to God in a conventional manner, which means a general faith in all the forms of God. Such good karmas pacify the mind of the doer in the existing life, and in the next lifetime they create a good destiny which is called ‘abhyudaya’ that brings physical and mental well-being in a person’s life.

(b) Par dharm or bhagwat dharm. This is the main dharm which brings the absolute good (the nishreyas) of a soul, and the absolute good of a soul is only God realization which happens through the direct devotion to God in His personal form. It is called bhakti. It gives both, peace and happiness in life as well as God realization. Apar dharm is the general dharm for all and is only a preliminary dharm, which is like the preparatory practice for entering into bhakti for those who cannot accept it in their life right away. Bhakti is above all the religious formalities, rituals and intellectual practices of meditation. In one sentence you can say that bhakti is the true ‘love’ for your soul-beloved God. It could be observed by any person of the world. It is universal; it is for every age; it is said and revealed by God Himself; and it is sanatan which means eternal. Thus, the dharm which is based on such bhakti, which is eternally established in bhakti, and which establishes bhakti for God as a universal religion of the world, is called Sanatan Dharm.God is: “dharmadhishthan.” It means that the Sanatan (eternal) Dharm is established in God and resides in God as a Divine power. It is revealed by God through Brahma before the human civilization and is represented through the Upnishads and the Puranas.

God and His path of attainment are both eternal.

Material beings are eternally under the bondage of maya and are ignorant. So the Divine matters are beyond the reach of human mind. It is thus quite obvious that a material mind can never find a way to approach the Divine. It cannot even know the nature of the Divine power on its own. It is thus only God Who Himself reveals His knowledge to the human beings. It is seen in the world that nature produces milk in the bosom of a woman before the birth of a child as the child may need it immediately on birth. So, even before the birth of human beings on this earth planet, God produces the knowledge of His attainment through the Upnishads, and the Puranas.

These scriptures reveal the form of God, personality of God, nature of God, greatness of God, Graciousness of God, path to God and also the procedure of the path. This path is called bhakti or divine-love-consciousness. Everything that relates to God is eternal because God is eternal. Thus, all the knowledges of the Upnishads and the Puranas along with the path of bhakti are eternal. Bhakti and the Grace of God are very closely related to each other.

The definition of bhakti (devotion).

Bhakti is the submission of the deep loving feelings of a devotee’s heart for his beloved God where all of his personal requisites are merged into his Divine beloved’s overwhelming Grace which He imparts for His loving devotee. This loving submission has been described in the scriptures and in the writings of the acharyas and Saints in many ways.

The Gita uses the terms surrender and single-mindedness.

These are the famous verses of the Gita that tell about surrendering all the social and religious (apar dharm) commitments at the lotus feet of Krishn and then wholeheartedly and single-mindedly worshipping Him with faith and confidence.

The Bhagwatam stresses on the selflessness of a devotee (bhakt) of Krishn and tells that the leela Bliss of Krishn is so deep, profound and limitlessly charming that even God Shiv’s heart was entangled in its fascination and He always wandered in Braj absorbed in the love of Krishn. So the Bhagwatam advises the souls, to drink the nectar of the leela Bliss of Krishn and selflessly desire for His vision and the Divine love.

The Ramayan emphasizes on the sincere humbleness of a devotee. Goswami Tulsidas says,

O my supreme beloved Bhagwan Ram, the crown jewel of the dynasty of King Raghu! I am the most fallen and humble soul of this world, and You are the most kind friend of all such souls. Your Graciousness has no compare. So, please lift me up from this unlimited cosmic ocean and make me Your own forever.” Selfless devotion to God with such feelings of devotional humbleness are constantly expressed in the Ramayan and also in the Vinay Patrika.

Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya introduced a method of devotional remembrance and meditation called ashtyam seva, which means that a selfless devotee should remember the leelas of Radha Krishn, whatever They normally do since the early morning when They get up from the bed and till the night when They go to sleep. In this way, meditating upon Their leelas, the devotee should feed and decorate Radha Krishn accordingly. (Ashtyam literally means the 24 hours.) This is just a procedure of meditation where a devotee develops his longing to see the Divine leelas of Radha Krishn and to be in Their Divine service forever in Vrindaban or Golok.

Jagadguru Ramanujacharya used a word prapatti to express the feelings of a devotee who very humbly surrenders his heart, mind and soul at the lotus feet of his loving God and earnestly desires for His Divine vision.

Vallabhacharya defined his path of devotion as the pushti marg. Pushti means the loving Graciousness of Krishn which fosters the devotional feelings of a selfless devotee, and marg means the path. So pushti marg means the path of devotion to Krishn where a devotee, depending upon the Graciousness of Krishn, humbly surrenders and dedicates his whole being for the service of Krishn.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji simplified the procedure of sadhana (devotional) bhakti for the devotees and said that the remembrance of Krishn is easily and most effectively done through the chanting of His name and the leelas, and the desire of His meeting is quickly deepened when you develop the feeling of longing for Him in your heart. He says in the Shikchashtak:

It means that a devotee should be humble, forgiving, forbearing, respecting to the devotional feelings of others but not desiring for any personal compliments for himself. With such a humble heart, which is yearning for the love and the vision of his beloved Krishn, the devotee should sing and chant the leelas and the names of Krishn.

These are all the descriptions and the definitions of the devotional bhakti (sadhana bhakti) as to how it should be observed in the practical life.

The eternal significance of bhakti.

The religion which eternally exists in God, which is revealed by God, which describes the names, forms, virtues and the abodes of God, and which reveals the true path of God realization for all the souls is called Sanatan Dharm, the universal religion for the whole world.

The word dharm (धर्म:) is formed from the root word dhryan (धृञ् धारणे); it means such actions and such spiritual or religious practices that finally result in all-good for a soul. A general description of dharm is:   “यतोऽभ्युदयनि:श्रोयससिद्धि; स धर्म: ।” (वै.दर्शन १/१/२). It means that such actions, thoughts and practices that promote physical and mental happiness in the world (abhyudaya अभ्युदय) and ensure God realization (nishreyas नि:श्रोयस) in the end, are called dharm (धर्म:).

The discipline and rules of apar dharm vary according to the state of the spiritual consciousness of a person, and its rigidness also varies from age to age, that is, from satyug to kaliyug. In short you can understand that (for the existing age) all kinds of good deeds and philanthropic works that are beneficial to the society, and sincere observance of the religious discipline of the ‘order of life’ (religious student, family man, or a renounced person) you are following, come in this category, provided that they are done with sattvic motivation. Sattvic motivation means having faith in God and then doing all the good karmas only to please God and not for any kind of personal gain. Even if you think of receiving compliments for your good karmas or the religious practices which you observe, it will not be classified as sattvic, it will become rajas, because you desired for the compliments and you have received them. Thus you have already availed the outcome of your so-called good deeds. According to the Gita (न च तत्प्रोत्य नो इह ॥ 17/28), there is hardly any further good outcome of such good looking karmas in the next lifetime.

God is: “ धर्माधिष्ठान dharmadhishthan.” It means that the Sanatan (eternal) Dharm is established in God and resides in God as a Divine power. It is revealed by God through Brahma before the human civilization and is represented through the Upnishads and the Puranas.

God and His path of attainment are both eternal.

Material beings are eternally under the bondage of maya and are ignorant. So the Divine matters are beyond the reach of human mind. It is thus quite obvious that a material mind can never find a way to approach the Divine. It cannot even know the nature of the Divine power on its own. It is thus only God Who Himself reveals His knowledge to the human beings. It is seen in the world that nature produces milk in the bosom of a woman before the birth of a child as the child may need it immediately on birth. So, even before the birth of human beings on this earth planet, God produces the knowledge of His attainment through the Upnishads (धर्मो यस्यां मदात्मक: । भा. 11/14/13) and the Puranas.

These scriptures reveal the form of God, personality of God, nature of God, greatness of God, Graciousness of God, path to God and also the procedure of the path. This path is called bhakti or divine-love-consciousness. Everything that relates to God is eternal because God is eternal. Thus, all the knowledges of the Upnishads and the Puranas along with the path of bhakti are eternal. Bhakti and the Grace of God are very closely related to each other.

The definition of (the devotional) bhakti.

The Gita uses the terms surrender and single-mindedness (शरणागति, अनन्यता). “सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं ब्रज । अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो माम् ।” are the famous verses of the Gita that tell about surrendering all the social and religious (apar dharm) commitments at the lotus feet of Krishn and then wholeheartedly and single-mindedly worshipping Him with faith and confidence.

The Bhagwatam stresses on the selflessness (धर्म: प्रोज्झित कैतव:) of a devotee (bhakt) of Krishn and tells that the leela Bliss of Krishn is so deep, profound and limitlessly charming that even God Shiv’s heart was entangled in its fascination and He always wandered in Braj absorbed in the love of Krishn. So the Bhagwatam advises the souls (पिबत भागवतं रसम्Â) to drink the nectar of the leela Bliss of Krishn and selflessly desire for His vision and the Divine love.

The Ramayan emphasizes on the sincere humbleness of a devotee. Goswami Tulsidas says, “मो सम दीन न दीन हित तुम्ह समान रघुबीर । अस विचारि रघुवंशमणि हरहु विषम भवभीर ।  O my supreme beloved Bhagwan Ram, the crown jewel of the dynasty of King Raghu! I am the most fallen and humble soul of this world, and You are the most kind friend of all such souls. Your Graciousness has no compare. So, please lift me up from this unlimited cosmic ocean and make me Your own forever.” Selfless devotion to God with such feelings of devotional humbleness are constantly expressed in the Ramayan and also in the Vinay Patrika.

Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya introduced a method of devotional remembrance and meditation called ashtyam seva (अष्टयाम सेवा), which means that a selfless devotee should remember the leelas of Radha Krishn; whatever They normally do since the early morning when They get up from the bed and till the night when They go to sleep. In this way, meditating upon Their leelas, the devotee should feed and decorate Radha Krishn accordingly. (Ashtyam literally means the 24 hours.) This is just a procedure of meditation where a devotee develops his longing to see the Divine leelas of Radha Krishn and to be in Their Divine service forever in Vrindaban or Golok.

Jagadguru Ramanujacharya used a word prapatti (प्रपत्ति) to express the feelings of a devotee who very humbly surrenders his heart, mind and soul at the lotus feet of his loving God and earnestly desires for His Divine vision.

Vallabhacharya defined his path of devotion as the pushti marg (पुष्टि मार्ग). Pushti means the loving Graciousness of Krishn which fosters the devotional feelings of a selfless devotee, and marg means the path. So pushti marg means the path of devotion to Krishn where a devotee, depending upon the Graciousness of Krishn, humbly surrenders and dedicates his whole being for the service of Krishn.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji simplified the procedure of sadhana (devotional) bhakti for the devotees and said that the remembrance of Krishn is easily and most effectively done through the chanting of His name and the leelas, and the desire of His meeting is quickly deepened when you develop the feeling of longing for Him in your heart. He says in the Shikchashtak,

“तृणादपि सुनीचेन तरोरपि सहिष्णुना ।

अमानिना मानदेन कीर्तनीय: सदा हरि: ॥”

These are all the descriptions and the definitions of the devotional bhakti (साधना भक्ति) as to how it should be observed in the practical life.

The significance and the greatness of bhakti.

As mentioned above, bhakti is eternal. It means that it is the eternally existing path to attain God. God is one, so the path of His attainment is also one, and thus, the same path of bhakti ensures the attainment of any of the forms of God. The path of bhakti is prevalent in every brahmand of this entire universe and it is for all the souls of this universe. It remains the same in all the four yugas (satyug, treta, dwapar and kaliyug) and, as it is directly related to soul and God, it is above caste, creed, sect and nationality. It can be adopted by any person of any nation of this world, because it is gifted by the supreme God Himself for the benefit of the humankind; and again, there are no physical requirements in doing bhakti. There are no meditation postures to adopt, no concentration techniques to follow and no rituals to observe. So it can be done by anyone, young, old or sick, and at any time in twenty-four hours, because bhakti is the pure love of your heart that longs to meet the Divine beloved of your soul in this very lifetime. The philosophy of bhakti is also described in Narad Bhakti Sutra and Shandilya Bhakti Sutra.

The definition of Grace. Grace and God are one, just like the Divine Bliss and God are one. It means that God Himself is the form of Grace and God Himself is the form of the Bliss. Grace is such a power of God with which all of His absolute and unlimited virtues are revealed. It is the Grace of God that makes a Saint experience His absolute Bliss, beauty and love; and it is the same power of Grace through which a Saint imparts God realization to his disciple. God and Grace are one and the same. So wherever God is, Grace is there.

It is a common misunderstanding among the followers of the (nirakar brahm) impersonal form of God that they begin to believe that knowledge of the ‘self’ may produce liberation. First thing is: Knowledge of the true ‘self’ may only happen at the highest stage of the yogic practices which are done according to the Yog Darshan and only after fully perfecting the nirvikalp samadhi, not simply by the study of the Vedant. Yog Darshan itself describes that its final stage is, “स्वरूप प्र्तिष्ठा कैवल्यम् ॥ ú4/34” and the Bhagwatam says, “कैवल्यं सात्विकं ज्ञानम् ॥  11/25/24” It means that in the final stage of yog, the mind of the yogi is established in the extremely peaceful radiance of his own soul. This is called “swaroop pratishtha, the establishment of a yogi’s mind in his own self.” But the Bhagwatam says that this state is nothing more than a fully evolved sattvic stage. Thus, the limit of all kinds of religious and yogic practices is the sattvagun of maya, and not God.

Bhakti evokes the Grace of God and ensures God realization. Bhakti is humble, loving and wholehearted self-submission to a personal form of God. The follower of the path of nirakar brahm (gyan or yog) at the height of his practice develops a deep and intense desire to receive liberation. It is called mumukcha(मुमुक्षा). He then has to convert his mumukcha into a humble submission to a personal form of God, which is bhakti. Then, with the Grace of God, he may receive the Divine knowledge of brahm (ब्रह्म ज्ञान) and become a gyani Saint, but not before that. Krishn says in the Gita, “भक्त्या मामभिजानाति ।, Through bhakti one can know Me;” and further He says, “मामेव ये परपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन् े ॥ (7/14) Only those who surrender to Me are liberated from maya.” So only through bhakti one realizes God even if he is following the path of yog or gyan or austerity or anything else. Technically it so happens that bhakti unites a soul with the power of Grace and Grace reveals God. Thus, through bhakti the Grace of God is received, and through His Grace His Divine form is revealed.

God’s Grace is omnipresent and absolute. God is always Gracious and He is omnipresent. So His Grace is also omnipresent and is absolute. As an axiom, absolute relates to absolute and limited relates to limited. Thus a limited effort cannot reveal the absolute. Any kind or any amount of spiritual practice, no matter how great it is, it always remains limited. But the loving feeling of self-submission to God (which is bhakti) when it grows to 100%, it becomes absolute; because 100% love for your beloved God with 100% renunciation from the worldly attachments makes it 100% absorbment in the love of God which is the absolute perfection of bhakti that instantly unites the devotee with the Grace of God.

Sattvic good karmas on their own only purify the heart to some extent; but if the doer of good karmas starts doing bhakti, his actions are classified as karm yog, and then, on the perfection of bhakti, he receives God realization. Literally the word yog (योग) means ‘the unity.’ Thus, the (Divine) uniting factor, bhakti, when it is predominantly added to the sattvic good karmas, it is then called “karm yog.” Similarly, when bhakti is predominantly added to the practice of gyan (or yog), it is called gyan yog. So, now we know that all kinds of good karmas and all kinds of yog and gyan-related practices are only sattvic, but when they are predominated with bhakti, they become the means of God realization, because bhakti unfolds the field of God’s Grace.

The Grace of God reveals His knowledge, vision and love.

The Divine knowledge of God means to practically conceive in the absolutely pure sattvic mind (called the pure antahkaran with leshavidya in scriptural terms) the omnipresence of the Divinity of God in a subtle form. (Leshavidya is a very subtle layer of the sattvic aspect of maya that maintains the individuality of a gyani or yogi Saint up till the end of his destined life in the world. After his death the gyani or yogi Saint’s sattvic mind is terminated along with the leshavidya, and thus, his individuality is also terminated forever.) This is the state of a gyani or yogi Saint whose experience is mentioned in the Upnishads as “सर्व खल्विदं ब्रह्म ।” which means that the gyani (or yogi) Saint observes the presence of the formless aspect of God (nirakar brahm) in the whole world. It means that he practically understands the omnipresent absoluteness of the Divinity of God and his mind is drowned in the contentedness arising out of the experience of the limitless serenity of the formless Divine existence (which is called brahmanand), but he does not actually perceive the Divine beauty of God; and, after his death, his identity is terminated and he receives liberation called the kaivalya mokch which is a ‘no-experience’ Divine state, forever.

The Divine love of God is also the perception of the Divine beauty of the beloved God by a bhakt (rasik) Saint. But it is in such an intimately approachable manner that induces an affectionate thrill from both sides, bhakt and Bhagwan (God). This is something very, very special among all kinds of Divine experiences and it is so great that even Goddess Maha Lakchmi, the supreme sovereign of Vaikunth abode, desires to receive that; and this very example is enough to understand the unequalled supremacy of Divine love.

Now the question is, what is the criteria of receiving the Divine knowledge, or Divine vision, or the Divine love, and who receives what? You should know that all the three situations are absolute: (a) Absolutely non-experiential Divine state. (b) Absolute Bliss and vision, and (c) absolute Divine love; and all of them are revealed through bhakti. One more thing: God has no preference of any kind. He just gives whatever a devotee desires. Thus, it is only on the devotee’s part as to what he wants; whether he wants only liberation, or the Divine vision, or the Divine love. Yogis and gyanis generally desire for liberation, and some bhaktas desire for the vision of God and some for the Divine love of God. What makes them decide that, is just the personal preference and mainly the depth of their understanding of the Divine truth, whatever they have; otherwise, when the same Grace reveals all the three Divine states which are progressively more and more luscious than the previous one and in an absolute manner, why not then desire for the Divine love? (The progressive sweetness of the Bliss of the Divine abodes from Vaikunth to Divine Vrindaban, and the increasing charm of the various forms of relational feelings with Krishn (called dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya) are detailed in “The Divine Vision of Radha Krishn.”) Anyway, it’s all on the part of the devotee as to what his preference is. So, Krishn says in the Gita, “ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् । (4/11). Whatever concept of God a devotee holds in his mind, I Divinize the same (on the perfection of his bhakti) and reveal Myself to him in the same form.”

Forms of God and Their Divine abodes.

There are mainly six forms of the same one single God that reveal and represent: His knowledge, His vision and Bliss, and His Divine love. They are termed as: chit shakti (चित् शक्ति), the power of knowledge; sandhini shakti (सन्धिनी शक्ति), the power of almightiness which also has Blissfulness; and hladini shakti (ह्लादिनी शक्ति), the power of affection or the Bliss of Bliss whose efflorescence is called ‘Divine love.’ In general, all the forms of God are the form of Bliss with Their special characteristics.

All the six forms of God relate to these three powers and every form of God has His own Divine dimension or abode called lok (लोक). These forms and Their abode are: (1) Nirakar brahm (the formless aspect of God that represents only the knowledge aspect or the chit shakti of God). This Divine existence, where all the liberated souls of Gyanis and Yogis enter, is called brahm drav (ब्रह्मद्रव). It is also called avyakt shaktik brahm (अव्यक्तशक्तिक ब्रह्म), which means that it is such an aspect of God where all of His Divine attributes and virtues are in an absolutely dormant state; that’s why it remains formless (nirakar). (2) God Vishnu, (3) God Shiv, and (4) Goddess Durga. The abode of all the three forms of God is collectively called Vaikunth (or परम् व्योम param vyom) and it is the form of sandhini shakti. These are the almighty forms of God. (5) God Ram, His abode is called Saket, and (6) God Krishn, He has three abodes, Dwarika, Golok and Vrindaban. Bhagwan Ram and Krishn are the Divine love forms of God, whereas Bhagwan Ram reveals the modest form of Divine love mixed with almightiness, and Bhagwan Krishn reveals and represents the intimate, more intimate, and the most intimate forms of His Divine love in His three abodes (respectively). These four abodes are related to hladini shakti, the Divine love power.

These are thus the six forms of the same one single God. There are some more forms of God which are mentioned in the scriptures, like: Ganesh, Kartikeya, Gauri, Kali, Nav Durga, Saraswati etc. All of these forms are the affiliates of the almighty forms of God of Vaikunth abode, God Vishnu, God Shiv, or Goddess Durga.

This philosophy of the forms of God and His abodes has been extensively described in the scriptures in various ways and in thousands and thousands of verses. We have compiled, consolidated and reconciled the whole philosophy and kept it here in an easily understandable form.Sometimes some people leisurely ask that the other religions of the world have only one God, why then the Hindu religion have more than one form of God? First thing you should know is, that such questioners are just casual talkers. They are not interested in knowing God, because, if they really want to know, they could properly study our religion and find out the greatness of and the depth of the descriptions of God in our scriptures. However, the answer is that the other religions of the world either have ‘no true Divine God’ or have only adopted the ‘impersonal aspect of God.’

‘No true Divine God’ means that although some religions use the word God in the tenets of their religious books but the ‘concept of God,’ whatever they have, is only a vague mythology derived on the intellectual grounds of the first promoters of that religion. So the ‘word’ God is there in their religion, but it does not relate to the true Divine God; and some religions of the world mention God only in an impersonal (nirakar) form. But in Hindu religion, the Sanatan Dharm, there is a detailed and complete philosophy of God from nirakar brahm to the most loving form of God, Krishn.

So the one and the same Gracious God eternally appears in various forms of His Divine dignity and Divine lusciousness Who is approachable through bhakti, which evokes His Grace that reveals any of the forms of God, whatever a devotee desires.

Kinds of Divine liberation.

Liberation from the eternal bondage of maya is not the outcome of any amount of good karm or spiritual practice or devotion. Sincere, honest, humble, dedicated and correct practice of meditation or devotion or selfless good karm only evolves the sattva gun and purifies the heart of the doer. On the perfect purification of the heart, which happens with selfless bhakti, the gyani or bhakt devotee receives God realization and then he is liberated from the bondage of maya. The liberation is primarily of two kinds: (1) Gyani Saint’s liberation, and (2) Bhakt Saint’s liberation. Gyani Saint’s liberation is a non-experiential state called kaivalya mokch, but Bhakt Saint’s liberation is an absolute experience of the Divine Bliss of the Divine abode of the form of God he has worshipped. The Bhagwatam (3/29) details the states of a Bhakt Saint’s liberation.

The mind of a gyani or yogi Saint (after his death) is terminated and his soul joins the nirakar Divinity called brahm drav. His personal identity is permanently terminated and his soul enters an absolutely no-experience (kaivalya) state forever; whereas the mayic mind of a Bhakt Saint (upon God realization) is instantly replaced with the Divine mind and the Divine senses of that form of God which he has realized. Thus, his material identity is replaced with the Divine identity (body, mind and senses), and, with this Divine body (after his death) he enters the Divine abode of his beloved God (which is omnipresent) and perceives and enjoys the absolute Bliss of that abode forever. This is the liberation of a Bhakt Saint. Thus, a Vishnu Bhakt goes to Vishnu’s abode, Shiv Bhakt goes to Shiv’s abode and Durga Bhakt goes to Durga’s abode, and so on. All of these abodes of the almighty forms of God are collectively called the Vaikunth abode. A Ram Bhakt goes to Saket and a Krishn Bhakt goes to Krishn’s abode. If he has worshipped Dwarikadhish Krishn, he goes to Dwarika abode; if he has worshipped Krishn of Golok, he goes to Golok abode; and if he has worshipped Radha Krishn or Krishn of Vrindaban, he goes to Vrindaban abode.

Every Bhakt Saint enjoys the unlimited Bliss of the Divine abode he is in, in its absoluteness. However, the lusciousness and the enchanting fascination of the Divine Bliss progressively goes on increasing in an absolute fashion from Vaikunth to Vrindaban abode. Thus, one single Divine Bliss appears in a number of unimaginably amazing forms.

An artistic representation of all the six Divine dimensions.

   
(Part II, Part III)