Śveta Dvīpa, the White Island, is the shining home of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. It lies in the northern cosmic ocean, far beyond the seven dvīpas of the world we know. Countless radiant beings live there, each marked with the śaṅkha (conch) and the cakra (discus) and shining with great tejas (radiance).

Śveta Dvīpa is the place where Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa gave Nārada the Pañcarātra, the path of worship for the Dvāpara and Kali yugas. The Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa also speaks of it as the place where a great devotee lives with Bhagavān Vishṇu between one birth and the next.

The island of radiant beings

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa says that Śveta Dvīpa stands in the northern cosmic ocean, luminous and white. The beings who live there have supreme tejas and carry the marks of the weapons of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa: the śaṅkha, the cakra and the padma (lotus). None of them speaks, and none can be pointed out as the Supreme.

When Nārada arrived, he was filled with wonder at the thousands of shining forms. He could not tell which of them was Vishṇu. He sat in one-pointed dhyāna (meditation) for a thousand divine years. At the end of this meditation Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa Himself appeared and showed him the Pañcarātra path.

The place of the Pañcarātra teaching

On Śveta Dvīpa, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa gave Nārada the whole Pañcarātra teaching. This is the path by which those who cannot follow the full Vedic ritual may still reach Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa through steady devotional worship. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa said:

“Those who worship Me through the Purusha-sūkta and who study the Veda-saṃhitās without interruption shall attain Me. And those for whom the Veda and its śāstras are inaccessible — they too shall attain Me through the path described in the Pañcarātra.”

The Pañcarātra was given for the Dvāpara and Kali yugas as the supreme means of worship. It is for all those whose karma has grown quiet and whose devotion is true. In this way Śveta Dvīpa is the place where the Vaishṇava āgama tradition began.

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 66) is the text for these two sections.

Śveta Dvīpa as a dwelling between births: the Kūrma Purāṇa

The opening narrative of the Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa (Pūrvārdha, Chapter 1) tells of the work Śveta Dvīpa does in the journey of a great soul. Bhagavān Vishṇu speaks in His Kūrma form (the form of the tortoise). He tells the history of the brāhmaṇa Indradyumna. In a former birth Indradyumna was a king. He saw the Kūrma form of Bhagavān Vishṇu with his own eyes and surrendered to Him.

Bhagavān Vishṇu says that after ruling his kingdom, that king left his body and came to Him at Śveta Dvīpa, where He dwells. The king lived with Bhagavān Vishṇu and enjoyed the joy of Vishṇu-loka (bhoga) that even yogis do not reach (yogulakū kūḍa pondarānivi). Then, by the will of Bhagavān Vishṇu, he was born again in a brāhmaṇa family. The steps are:

A devoted life on earth as a king.
Death, and arrival at Śveta Dvīpa.
Life with Bhagavān Vishṇu, enjoying the joy of Vishṇu-loka.
Rebirth, by the word of Bhagavān Vishṇu, in a brāhmaṇa family, with memory of past births.

So Śveta Dvīpa is not only the place of the revelation. It is also the home where great devotees (bhaktas) of Bhagavān Vishṇu live with Him, enjoy a joy that even siddha-yogis do not reach, and wait for His word about their next birth.

The Vāsudeva Māhātmya account

The Vāsudeva Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4) gives the fullest description of Śveta Dvīpa. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa told Nārada to go to Śveta Dvīpa and see His original form. He said:

“That form of mine is not possible to be seen by acts of charity, performance of sacrifices, Yoga, Veda study, or tapas. It can be seen only by complete, undivided devotion unto me, by excellent devotees exclusively attached to me. Your devotion unto me is undivided; your knowledge is strengthened with disinterestedness to worldly pleasures. That is your Dharma. Hence, you will have that vision which is very difficult to have even by the Devas.”

Nārada stood on a peak of Meru, looked to the northwest, and saw the island.

Where it lies and what it looks like

Place. It lies on the northern side of the Kshīrodadhi (the Milk Ocean). It always shines. A very bright white mass of light spreads over all of it.
Trees and gardens. It is covered with countless mango trees, terminalia, hog-plum, neem, kadamba, aśoka, bilva, divine trees, banyan, kiṃśuka, sandal trees, śāla trees, bread-fruit trees, tamāla, ketaka, campaka, kunda and jasmine. All of them are bent low with the weight of flowers and fruit. There are clusters of wish-yielding trees, golden plantain trees and betel-nut trees. The island is full of great parks and gardens, and of rivers and lakes with blooming lotuses and sweetly calling swans. All living beings there, those that move and those that do not, live a liberated life.

The Akshara Purushas

Śveta Dvīpa is the home of the Akshara Purushas, also called the Śveta-muktas (liberated souls). They are beyond the reach of the ordinary senses. They are:

Free from all pāpa (sin) and from all bodily discharges.
Sweet-smelling.
Two-handed or four-handed.
Some white in colour, others like new clouds.
Lotus-eyed, with even, beautiful, divine limbs.
With loose hair, always young, and marked with every auspicious sign.
Marked on palms and soles with the outline of a lotus.
Free from the six defects of life: hunger, thirst, decay, death, grief and illusion.
Brighter than the Sun.
Clothed in white, gentle and lost in meditation.
Feared at all times even by the deva of Death.

Skanda’s explanation

Sāvarṇi asked how beings on an island of the earth could be beyond the reach of the senses. Skanda answered that these Akshara persons reached the state of Brahman by worshipping Vāsudeva alone, with undivided devotion, in earlier kalpas. In this way they became ageless and immortal. They stay in Śveta Dvīpa to serve Vāsudeva, and the devas and ṛshis watch over them. When the time of world-destruction comes, they will stay as independent beings in the eternal domain (Akshara-dhāman), free from the fear of Kāla and Māyā.

Even those born of Māyā in this world can become like the Akshara Purushas. The ways are:

non-violence
tapas
keeping to one’s own duties
freedom from attachment to worldly things
knowing the glory of Vāsudeva
steadiness in devotion
the company of noble souls
hearing and speaking to one another about the birth and great deeds of Śrī Hari

A gateway

The Vāsudeva Māhātmya (Chapter 4) calls this dvīpa a gateway to Goloka and Vaikuṇṭha. The account of Uparicara Vasu (Chapter 7) says the same: after a soul has reached this home of the devotees of Hari by exclusive devotion to Bhagavān Hari, it serves as a gateway to Goloka, Brahma-pura and Vaikuṇṭha. From Śveta Dvīpa, released souls may go to whichever divine domain they love.

Śveta Dvīpa in the Nārāyaṇīya

The Nārāyaṇīya (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 334–351) gives a long account of Nārada’s journey to Śveta Dvīpa. It is one of the most detailed in any text. It adds these points:

Nārada’s approach is told in more detail of what he sensed. The light of the island blinded him for a time. He needed further purification before he could see it properly.
The bhaktas of Śveta Dvīpa are without ordinary senses. They know without the outer sense organs. They live on the sound of Nārāyaṇa’s name and on light alone.
The self-revelation of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa at Śveta Dvīpa is the heart of the whole Nārāyaṇīya. He shows Nārada the Catur-Vyūha teaching, His avatāras and the Sātvata dharma.
The Citraśikhaṇḍin ṛshis, who began the Pāñcarātra, also live on Śveta Dvīpa. So the island is both the home of the eternal bhaktas and the place where the Pāñcarātra began as a teaching.

Sources

Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 66
Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 1
Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapters 4, 7
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 334–351 (Nārāyaṇīya)