Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvitiya Skandha, Shloka 10
Brahmā’s Tapasya, the Vision of Vaikuṇṭha, and the Lord’s Seed Instructions
Catuḥ-śloki
प्रवर्तते यत्र रजस्तमस्तयो: सत्त्वं च मिश्रं न च कालविक्रम: । न यत्र माया किमुतापरे हरे- रनुव्रता यत्र सुरासुरार्चिता: ॥ १० ॥
pravartate yatra rajas tamas tayoḥ sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla-vikramaḥ na yatra māyā kim utāpare harer anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāḥ
Dans cette demeure, les modes de passion et d’ignorance ne prévalent pas, et même la bonté y est pure, sans mélange. Là, le temps n’exerce aucune domination; que dire alors de māyā, l’énergie externe, qui ne peut y pénétrer? En ce lieu, devas et asuras, sans distinction, honorent les dévots fidèles de Hari.
The kingdom of God, or the atmosphere of the Vaikuṇṭha nature, which is called the tripād-vibhūti, is three times bigger than the material universes and is described here, as also in the Bhagavad-gītā, in a nutshell. This universe, containing billions of stars and planets, is one of the billions of such universes clustered together within the compass of the mahat-tattva. And all these millions and billions of universes combined together constitute only one fourth of the magnitude of the whole creation of the Lord. There is the spiritual sky also; beyond this sky are the spiritual planets under the names of Vaikuṇṭha, and all of them constitute three fourths of the entire creation of the Lord. God’s creations are always innumerable. Even the leaves of a tree cannot be counted by a man, nor can the hairs on his head. However, foolish men are puffed up with the idea of becoming God Himself, though unable to create a hair of their own bodies. Man may discover so many wonderful vehicles of journey, but even if he reaches the moon by his much-advertised spacecraft, he cannot remain there. The sane man, therefore, without being puffed up, as if he were the God of the universe, abides by the instructions of the Vedic literature, the easiest way to acquire knowledge in transcendence. So let us know through the authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of the nature and constitution of the transcendental world beyond the material sky. In that sky the material qualities, especially the modes of ignorance and passion, are completely absent. The mode of ignorance influences a living entity to the habit of lust and hankering, and this means that in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas the living entities are free from these two things. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the brahma-bhūta stage of life one becomes free from hankering and lamentation. Therefore the conclusion is that the inhabitants of the Vaikuṇṭha planets are all brahma-bhūta living entities, as distinguished from the mundane creatures who are all compact in hankering and lamentation. When one is not in the modes of ignorance and passion, one is supposed to be situated in the mode of goodness in the material world. Goodness in the material world also at times becomes contaminated by touches of the modes of passion and ignorance. In the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, it is unalloyed goodness only.
FAQs
This verse says that in the Lord’s realm, passion and ignorance do not operate, nor even mixed goodness; it is beyond material nature’s modes.
He is distinguishing the spiritual realm from the material world: in Vaikuṇṭha, time cannot cause decay, fear, or transformation, because everything is under Hari’s eternal shelter.
Cultivate steady devotion to Hari—hearing, chanting, and serving—so the pull of rajas and tamas weakens and one’s consciousness aligns with the Lord’s timeless, māyā-free reality.