Nanda’s Departure to Goloka

This account is from the last chapters of the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa. Sanatkumāra comes to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s assembly and asks who is truly blessed. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then tells Nanda the Māyā Stotra, which Bhagavān Śiva sang at the battle of Tripura. Nanda receives the vara (a boon) of living for ever in Goloka. Nanda, Yaśodā, Rādhā and all the gopikās of Vṛndāvana are taken to Goloka in divine chariots. As a last teaching, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa tells Nanda the dharma of the four yugas, and then blesses him and sends him back to Vraja.

Sanatkumāra’s visit and the talk on who is truly blessed

Sanatkumāra is one of the four eternal sons born from the mind of Brahmā, and one of the greatest siddha-yogīs. He came to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s great assembly. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa honoured him and the many ṛshis who were gathered there with full honours.

Sanatkumāra then asked the question that frames the whole chapter: “Which being, which person, which thing is truly dhanya (blessed, fortunate)?”

Sanatkumāra went through the question one step at a time. Is the most powerful being blessed? Is the most beautiful? Is the wisest? Is the longest-lived? Is the one with the most bhaktas (devotees)? In each case the answer pointed to something higher. He found that all excellence, all glory, all wisdom, all power and all beauty flow from Śrī Kṛshṇa and return to him. So Bhagavān Kṛshṇa alone is sarvadhanya, the one who is blessed in every way, completely and without equal. All other beings are blessed only as far as they show or carry his qualities.

The talk also touched on yajña dakshiṇās (the gifts given at fire rituals). It set out their place in the order of puṇya (merit) and thanks.

The Māyā Stotra

Nanda was overcome by the thought that Kṛshṇa would soon leave his earthly līlā (play). He fell unconscious with grief. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa woke him with ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self) and then told him the great Māyā Stotra. Bhagavān Śiva himself composed and sang this stotra at the time of the killing of the asura Tripura (Tripurāsura-vadha).

Before the battle of Tripura, Mahādeva wanted the grace and power of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s Māyā-śakti to destroy the three cities of the asuras. So he sang this stotra to Māyā-Durgā, the supreme feminine power who makes, keeps and dissolves all things. It is a Durgā stotra in the voice of Bhagavān Śiva. It carries the authority of Śiva’s tapas (austerity), of Kṛshṇa’s grace, and of the great event of the fall of Tripura.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa told this stotra to Nanda to lift him up. Through the grace of the stotra Nanda was given a great vision of Kṛshṇa’s cosmic form. He also received the vara of eternal Goloka-vāsa, a permanent home in Goloka beyond the cycle of birth and death.

The departure to Goloka

After Nanda had received the Goloka-vāsa vara, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa blessed him and sent him back toward Gokula. Then something wonderful happened. Nanda, Yaśodā, Rādhā and all the gopikās of Vṛndāvana were taken up to Goloka in divine chariots.

The Purāṇa makes a clear point about Rādhā. The Rādhā who lived in Vṛndāvana was Chāyā-Rādhā, a shadow-form of the real Rādhā. The real Rādhā lives for ever with Kṛshṇa in Goloka and never came down. The daughter of Vṛshabhānu was this Chāyā-Rādhā. The real Rādhā, Kṛshṇa’s eternal beloved, was always under his care in Goloka and never knew the partings of life on earth. So the Chāyā-Rādhā, who was born of Vṛshabhānu and felt the pain of parting (viraha), is one, and the true Rādhā, who never left Goloka, is another.

All who loved Kṛshṇa in Vṛndāvana, the gopas, the gopikās, Nanda and Yaśodā, went up in their divine forms, having finished their service on earth to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

The talk on the four yugas

As his last teaching, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answered Nanda’s question about the dharma of the four ages. He described how dharma stands in each yuga.

Kṛta (Satya) Yuga. Dharma stands on four legs: truth, purity, compassion and dāna (charity). It is the age of full virtue. There is no disease, no old age that brings suffering, no greed and no deceit. All beings are sattvic (pure). All worship through tapas and meditation. Life is very long. The land gives plenty without being ploughed.

Tretā Yuga. Dharma loses one leg, and the world is three-quarters virtuous. Yajñas (fire rituals) become the chief way of worship. Society is still mostly in order, and kings are devoted to dharma. Life is shorter but still long. The Rāma avatāra belongs to this age.

Dvāpara Yuga. Dharma loses two legs, and half the world is adharmic. The Purāṇas are composed in this age, because dharma needs to be kept in writing. Kṛshṇa’s own avatāra comes at the meeting of Dvāpara and Kali. Temple worship and pūjā of mūrtis become common.

Kali Yuga. Dharma stands on one leg only, and truth barely lives. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa described the long fall of Kali Yuga in detail. Society loses its footing. Brāhmaṇas leave their dharma and become greedy. Kings become oppressors. Merchants become cheats. Women become unfaithful. Children lose respect for their parents. Food is adulterated. The sacred rivers and tīrthas (places of pilgrimage) lose their holiness. Great āśramas (hermitages) are left empty. The Vedas are neglected. The world fills more and more with people of mixed and low character. The natural world shows the fall too: rains become uncertain, the earth loses its fertility, and the seasons come out of order.

Yet Kali Yuga has one matchless virtue. In Kali, simply hearing the name of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa or Bhagavān Rāma destroys the pāpa (sin) of crores of births. What takes ten thousand years of tapas in Kṛta Yuga can be gained in Kali by one sincere saying of the divine name. This is the great gift of Kali Yuga: the power of nāma-kīrtana (singing the divine name).

The hope of renewal. After Kali has run its full course, the Earth will recover. The land will be made new and dharma will be restored. The cycle of ages turns again.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa ended with these words: “Kāla (Time) is the true doer of all things. It is Kāla that makes, keeps and dissolves everything. What is there to wonder at in anything? Know this, go back to Vraja, and be at peace.”

Kṛshṇa’s last farewell to Nanda

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa blessed Nanda with love and sent him back to Vṛndāvana and Gokula. Nanda’s heart was full of both grief and jñāna. He grieved at the parting of the body, and jñāna dissolved the grief from within. He left with the memory of Vṛndāvana, Gokula and the banks of the Yamunā alive in every breath.

With this, the talk between Nārāyaṇa and Nārada at Badarikāśrama comes to its end, and the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa is complete.

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 87 (Sanatkumāra’s visit and the talk on who is blessed)
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 88 (the Māyā Stotra and the vara of Goloka)
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89 (the departure to Goloka)
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 90 (the four yugas and the farewell)