Shloka 14
“भगवन्! पितामह! गोलोक समस्त देवताओं और लोकपालोंके ऊपर क्यों है? मैं इसे जानना चाहता हूँ ।। कि तपो ब्रह्म॒चर्य वा गोभि: कृतमिहेश्वर | देवानामुपरिष्टाद् यद् वसन्त्यरजस: सुखम्,'प्रभो! गौओंने यहाँ किस तपस्याका अनुष्ठान अथवा ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन किया है, जिससे वे रजोगुणसे रहित होकर देवताओंसे भी ऊपर स्थानमें सुखपूर्वक निवास करती हैं?
bhagavan pitāmaha golokaḥ samasta-devatānāṁ loka-pālānāṁ copariṣṭāt kutaḥ? etad aham jñātum icchāmi. kiṁ tapo brahmacaryaṁ vā gobhiḥ kṛtam iha īśvara, yena devānām upariṣṭād arajasaḥ sukhaṁ vasanti?
Bhishma said: “O venerable one, O Grandsire! Why is Goloka situated above all the gods and the guardians of the worlds? I wish to understand this. O Lord, what austerity or vow of celibate discipline did the cows perform here, by which—free from the dust of passion—they dwell happily in a realm even higher than the gods?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames Goloka as a realm attained through extraordinary purity and merit: freedom from rajas (passionate agitation) and the power of tapas and disciplined conduct. It implies that spiritual status is determined by ethical-spiritual qualities and accumulated merit, not merely by rank among celestial beings.
Bhishma, in discourse, asks an elder authority to explain why Goloka is placed above even the gods and world-guardians, and what spiritual practices the cows performed to gain such a high, passionless, blissful abode.