Chapter 5
The Glories of Lord Nityananda Balarama
This chapter is chiefly devoted to describing the essential nature and glories of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Lord Sri Krsna is the absolute Personality of Godhead, and His first expansion in a form for pastimes is Sri Balarama. Beyond the limitation of this material world is the spiritual sky, paravyoma, which has many spiritual planets, the supreme of which is called Krsnaloka.
Krsnaloka, the abode of Krsna, has three divisions, which are known as Dvaraka, Mathura and Gokula. In that abode the Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four plenary portions--Krsna, Balarama, Pradyumna (the transcendental
Cupid) and Aniruddha. They are known as the original quadruple forms. In Krsnaloka is a transcendental place known as Svetadvipa or Vrndavana. Below Krsnaloka in the spiritual sky are the Vaikuntha planets. On each Vaikuntha planet a four-handed Narayana, expanded from the first quadruple
manifestation, is present. The Personality of Godhead known as Sri Balarama in Krsnaloka is the original Sankarsana (attracting Deity), and from this Sankarsana expands another Sankarsana, called Maha-sankarsana, who resides in one of the Vaikuntha planets. By His internal potency, Maha-sankarsana maintains
the transcendental existence of all the planets in the spiritual sky, where all the living beings are eternally liberated souls. The influence of the material energy is conspicuous there by its absence. On those planets the second quadruple manifestation is present.
Outside of the Vaikuntha planets is the impersonal manifestation of Sri Krsna, which is known as the Brahmaloka. On the other side of the Brahmaloka is the spiritual karana-samudra, or Causal Ocean. The material energy exists on the other side of the Causal Ocean, without touching it. In the Causal Ocean is Maha-Visnu, the original purusa expansion from Sankarsana. This Maha-Visnu
places His glance over the material energy, and by a reflection of His transcendental body He amalgamates Himself within the material elements. As the source of the material elements, the material energy is known as pradhana, and as the source of the manifestations of the material energy it is known as maya. But material nature is inert in that she has no independent power
to do anything. She is empowered to make the cosmic manifestation by the glance of Maha-Visnu. Therefore the material energy is not the original cause of the
material manifestation. Rather, the transcendental glance of Maha-Visnu over material nature produces that cosmic manifestation.
Maha-Visnu again enters every universe as the reservoir of all living entities, Garbhodakasayi Visnu. From Garbhodakasayi Visnu expands Ksirodakasayi Visnu, the Supersoul of every living entity. Garbhodakasayi Visnu also has His own Vaikuntha planet in every universe, where He lives as the Supersoul or supreme controller of the universe. Garbhodakasayi Visnu reclines in the midst of the watery portion of the universe and generates the first living creature of the universe, Brahma. The imaginary universal form is a partial manifestation of Garbhodakasayi Visnu.
In the Vaikuntha planet in every universe is an ocean of milk, and within that ocean is an island called Svetadvipa, where Lord Visnu lives. Therefore this chapter describes two Svetadvipas--one in the abode of Krsna and the other in the ocean of milk in every universe. The Svetadvipa in the abode of Krsna is
identical with Vrndavana-dhama, which is the place where Krsna appears Himself to display His loving pastimes. In the Svetadvipa within every universe is a Sesa form of Godhead who serves Visnu by assuming the form of His umbrella, slippers, couch, pillows, garments, residence, sacred thread, throne and so on.
Lord Baladeva in Krsnaloka is Nityananda Prabhu. Therefore Nityananda Prabhu is the original Sankarsana, and Maha-sankarsana and His expansions as the purusas in the universes are plenary expansions of Nityananda Prabhu. In this chapter the author has described the history of his leaving home for
a personal pilgrimage to Vrndavana and his achieving all success there. In this description it is revealed that the author's original paternal home and birthplace were in the district of Katwa, in the village of Jhamatapura, which is near Naihati. Krsnadasa Kaviraja's brother invited Sri Minaketana Ramadasa, a
great devotee of Lord Nityananda, to his home, but a priest named Gunarnava Misra did not receive him well, and Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami's brother, not recognizing the glories of Lord Nityananda, also took sides with the priest. Therefore Ramadasa became sorry, broke his flute and went away. This was a great
disaster for the brother of Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. But on that very night Lord Nityananda Prabhu Himself graced Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in a dream and
ordered him to leave on the next day for Vrndavana.
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