Kṛshṇa Goloka Ārohaṇa: Return to Goloka

This is the account of how Bhagavān Kṛshṇa left the earth. It is told in the closing chapters (128 and 129) of the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa. The word ārohaṇa means going up, and Goloka is the eternal world of Kṛshṇa.

Before he leaves, Kṛshṇa gathers the people of Gokula under the great banyan tree at Bhāṇḍīravana and tells them what the Kali Yuga will bring. Then the people of Gokula go up to Goloka. The aṃśas (portions) of the devas and devīs who came with him return to their sources. Dvārakā sinks into the ocean. Gaṅgā receives a teaching, Pārvatī speaks to Kṛshṇa, and Kṛshṇa rises to Goloka, where Rādhā is waiting.

The Kali Yuga teaching at Bhāṇḍīravana (Chapter 128)

Kṛshṇa called all the gopālas and gopikās of Gokula and gathered them at the foot of the great Bhāṇḍīra banyan tree. This is the ancient, eternal tree of Vṛndāvana, and it had seen countless divine events. With Rādhā on his left, he spoke to Nanda and all the people of Gokula. This was his last teaching, and it was about the Kali Yuga that was coming.

How dharma will decline in Kali

All the rules for men and women, for the varṇas and the āśramas, will dissolve.
Brāhmaṇas will give up the saṃdhyā-vandana (the prayers at dawn, noon and dusk). The sacred thread (yajñopavīta) will be their only mark.
Yajña, tapas and vrata will become less and less as the yuga goes on.
Women will move about freely. Lovers (jāra) will be preferred to husbands.
Sons will strike their fathers. Students will have no respect for their gurus.
Mlecchas (foreigners) will become kings, and the earth will be ruled without dharma.
Food, water, trees and rivers will grow poorer in quality and in amount.
There will be brāhmaṇas without the Vedas and kings without righteousness.

How long Kali lasts, and what stays

The Kali Yuga will last 10,000 years on earth.
For the first 5,000 years Gaṅgā will keep her power to purify. A person who bathes in her is still freed from pāpa (sin).
Tulasī will stay sacred through the whole yuga. The touch of the sacred basil plant removes pāpa.
Vaishṇavas will stay on the earth, and they are the true refuge. While they are present, the darkness of Kali cannot fully win.
After the Vaishṇavas leave, all differences of class will dissolve, and Kali will take hold of the earth completely.
When Kali ends, the cycle will begin again, and the Kṛtayuga will come once more.

The great gift of the Kali Yuga

Kṛshṇa said: “What takes thousands of years of tapas in the Kṛtayuga, which is moksha and union with me, can be won by nāma-saṅkīrtana (the singing of my names) in a single day of the Kali Yuga. This is the great gift of Kali. It is easy to reach me through my Name. This is my compassion for the beings of Kali.”

The people of Gokula go to Goloka (Chapter 128)

After the teaching, a divine chariot came down from Goloka. It blazed with light, it was decorated with every divine ornament, and it held the eyes of all who saw it. By the will and grace of Kṛshṇa, all the people of Gokula received sālokya (moksha in the world of Kṛshṇa) just by being with him at that moment. This included Nanda, Yaśodā, and every gopāla and gopikā.

The gopikās boarded the divine vimānas. Rādhā herself left Vṛndāvana with Kālāvatī and all the gopikās. Kṛshṇa had shown Nanda, Yaśodā and all of them who they truly were. They were divine beings who had taken earthly forms to take part in his earthly līlā (divine play). Their earthly roles were now complete, and they went back to their eternal home.

Rādhā went to Goloka and entered the eternal Vṛndāvana there. She came to the Akshaya Vaṭa, the undying banyan tree of Goloka. It is 300 yojanas tall and 100 yojanas wide, and it has 100 crore branches. Vṛndā (Tulasī Devī) was the keeper and guardian of this tree and its grove.

The forms return to their sources (Chapter 129)

At Bhāṇḍīravana, Kṛshṇa stood while the devas, the ṛshis, the Manus and all the beings of the cosmos gathered around him. Brahmā came down and said to him: “O Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, 2,500 years and more have passed. You have taken away the burden of the earth. Now it is time for you to return to your dhāma (your own abode).” Bhagavān Śiva praised him: “The earth itself is blessed by your footprints.” Ananta said: “Next to you I am like a mosquito on an elephant.” The devas who were there said: “Even the Vedas could not praise you fully.”

Then the aṃśas of the avatāras went back into their cosmic sources, one after another:

The teja (divine brilliance) of Balarāma merged into Śesha (Ananta).
The teja of Pradyumna merged into Kāma (Manmatha).
The teja of Aniruddha merged into Brahmā.
Rukmiṇī was the avatāra of Mahālakshmī. She was ayonisambhavā, which means she was not born from a womb but appeared directly. She went with her divine body to Vaikuṇṭha.
Satyabhāmā was Bhūmidevī herself, and she merged into the earth.
Jāmbavatī was an aṃśa of Pārvatī, and she merged into Pārvatī.
All the other queens and their children merged into their own divine sources.
The teja of Vasudeva merged into Kaśyapa, his source.
The teja of Devakī merged into Aditi.
All the devas who were there went back to their own lokas.

Dvārakā was the divine city for which the ocean had given up space. Now the ocean took it back. The fine buildings, the streets set with gems, the Sudharmā Sabhā and all the palaces were swallowed under the waves.

Gaṅgā’s teaching (Chapter 129)

Among the divine beings who were there, Gaṅgā wept because Kṛshṇa was about to leave. Kṛshṇa spoke to her with loving authority: “Do not grieve. You will stay on the earth for 5,000 years of the Kali Yuga. During this time three practices will be the highest means of moksha for human beings:

Nāma-saṅkīrtana: singing and chanting the divine names of Kṛshṇa.
Purāṇa-śravaṇa: hearing the sacred Purāṇas.
Vaishṇava-saṅga: keeping the company of Vaishṇavas, his devotees.

Through these three, the pāpa (sin) gathered over countless births is destroyed. This is enough for the age.”

Kṛshṇa’s two forms and his rise to Goloka (Chapter 129)

From the body of Kṛshṇa a four-armed Nārāyaṇa form came out. It shone with light and held the conch, the discus, the lotus and the mace. It went on a beautiful chariot to Kshīrasāgara (the Milk Ocean), the cosmic home of Vishṇu.

The two-armed Gopāla form stayed. It is described as always dark like a rain cloud, wearing the peacock feather, holding the flute (muraḷī), and shining with eternal youth. This was the form that rose to Goloka.

Then Pārvatī spoke: “O Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, Goloka is empty without you. I who am here as Pārvatī am your Rādhikā in Goloka. Go and make Goloka whole.”

Kṛshṇa rose toward Goloka in a shining ratna-vimāna (a vimāna made of jewels). In Goloka, Rādhā was waiting with all the sakhīs. She saw the vimāna coming down. She stepped down from her throne, walked forward to meet it, and bowed with all her sakhīs. The eternal rāsamaṇḍala (the circle of the rāsa dance) was lit again. The gopālas and gopikās filled Goloka with joy. The eternal Vṛndāvana of Goloka, which had been waiting since Rādhā went down to earth, was complete again.

Sources

Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128 (the Kali Yuga teaching and the going of Gokula to Goloka)
Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129 (the return of the aṃśas, Gaṅgā’s teaching, Kṛshṇa’s two forms and his rise to Goloka)