The 4 transcendental Oceans
Veerendra Ekbote
Just like we have on our earthly planet Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Arctic Ocean that separate continents, similarly in this entire cosmic manifestation of Supreme Lord Krishna that is primarily divided into ¾ Spiritual world known as Parajagat with its innumerable self-effulgent spiritual, eternal, transcendental Vaikuntha planets and 1/4 material world known as Aparajagat with its innumerable temporary material universes, the Supreme Lord has created transcendental oceans as boundaries that separates material and spiritual realms in the vast expanse of his creation that is inconceivable and unimaginable to the human mind. We find descriptions of these transcendental oceans in Vedic and Puranic literatures and therefore the existence of these oceans is authentic and real.
The 4 main transcendental oceans have a very important role in the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Lord and therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead Bhagvan Krishna for the proper functioning of his cosmic manifestation appoints four-handed Vishnu or Narayan form which are his Purusha or plenary expansion in charge of the 4 transcendental oceans. The Sanskrit meaning of the word Narayan is Nara means water and yan is one who rests upon it, Lord Narayan means one who rests upon the waters of transcendental ocean. Supreme Lord Vishnu is the other name for Lord Narayan and rests on each of the 4 transcendental Oceans on the serpentine bed of Sheshanaga. Lord Sheshanaga is serving Lord Vishnu in all the 4 transcendental oceans because Lord Vishnu is the plenary expansion of Lord Krishna and Lord Sheshanaga is an expansion of Lord Balram or Lord Shankarshan. Lord Balram or Lord Shankarshan is playfully serving his younger brother Lord Krishna in Golokadham in the spiritual world. Thus Bhagvan Krishna first expanded himself to Vasudev expansion and Lord Krishna’s immediate expansion Lord Balram expanded himself to Shankarshan expansion. They in turn expanded themselves to quadruple expansion of Pradyumna and Aniruddha respectively and these 4 expansions then united to form the quadruple or Chaturvyuh Lord Narayana or 4-handed Vishnu form who was assigned the task by Lord Krishna to create, manage and regulate all the universal activities in his cosmic manifestation. In Vaikuntha or spiritual world there are many 4-handed Vishnu planets but on Krishnaloka which is the topmost planet in spiritual world Lord Krishna resides with his intimate Nityamukta devotees in loving relationship in his two-handed form which is the source of all Vishnu incarnations and as the beautiful and pleasing Shyamsundar form he is playing the flute which attracts all his devotees to him.
Lord Vishnu’s 4 hands are holding the disc, conch, lotus flower and mace for the proper execution of cosmic activities. The disc or Sudarshan Chakra of the Supreme Lord Narayan or Vishnu represents time factor which is under the authority of the Supreme Lord, the disc also represents the Supreme Lord’s maintenance of law and order as the disc destroys demons and miscreants in the Supreme Lord’s creation, the Conch represents purity, piety and religiosity, the lotus flower represents wealth, prosperity and progress and the mace of the Supreme Lord represents the power, strength and valor which is given by the Supreme Lord to the Demigods, Sages and humans for protection against demons and irreligion and regulates the cosmic imbalance produce by miscreants. The four arms of Vishnu also represent the 4 stages of human development or Purusharthas of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha which means religiosity, economic development, fulfilling desires and striving for liberation.
The foremost amongst the 4 transcendental oceans is Kshirsagar or Milk Ocean on which lies Kshirdokshayi Vishnu. Kshirdokshayi Vishnu is depicted as standing with 4 hands carrying the disc, lotus, mace and conch. He is present as Parmatma or SuperSoul within every Jivatma or Spirit Soul and as Parmatma he acts as the representative of Lord Krishna within every living entity. He is also present everywhere as the SuperSoul and is responsible for various Vishnu incarnations in his creation to maintain religion. As per Bhagvat and other Puranas the boundary of Viraja separates Spiritual world from Material world i.e. ¾ Parajagat from ¼ Aparajagat. The boundary of Viraja is actually the ocean boundary of Kshirsagar where fallen conditioned Souls from all the material universes gather on the banks of Viraja which is a spiritual river before there deliverance once again into the spiritual world by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Bhagvat Purana gives a detailed description that when a Jivatma becomes eligible for liberation after many lifetimes and travel upwards transcending many material planets until the topmost Bramhaloka which is the highest in the material universe and after penetrating the final boundary or sheath of Mahatattva which is the last material covering of the material universe the Self realized Soul comes on the banks of Viraja river that eventually merges itself into Kshirsagar or Milk Ocean. The Self-realized Soul for his deliverance sits on the banks of Viraja and chant the holy names of the Supreme Lord Hari or Krishna and prays to Lord Mukunda or the one who bestows liberation for eternal blissful life in the spiritual world on the banks of Viraja river and requests the Supreme Lord for his deliverance from the repeated cycle of birth and death. The devotees of the Supreme Lord who worship Supreme God having a person form with faith and devotion are awarded liberation and eternal life into the Spiritual world while the impersonal worshippers of God are denied access beyond the banks of Viraja river into the Spiritual world. In the Bhagvat Purana it is stated that when a devotee finally attains the stage of liberation and sits on the banks of the Viraja he should only chant the holy names of the Supreme Lord and should not get attracted to the impersonal worshippers around him otherwise his deliverance into the spiritual world or Parajagat which is beyond KshirSagar or Milk Ocean which will bestow him eternal, blissful life will be hampered and then such a unsuccessful Bhaktiyogi having developed impersonal God consciousness having reached the banks of Viraja will either have to merge in ShivTattva i.e. impersonal Bramhan and return back to the material universes by getting embodied once again.
To prove the authenticity of the existence of Viraja and Kshirsagar, the history of the advent of Lord Krishna on the earthly planet in Bhagvat Purana, 10th Canto vividly describes the prayer by the Demigods such as Lord Bramha and Lord Shiva alongwith Bhumidevi in the form of Surabhi cow who offered Purushshukta prayers to Lord Krishna on the banks of Milk Ocean or Kshirsagar and waited for the Supreme Lord’s advise because even the Demigods cannot go beyond the reach of Kshirsagar or Milk Ocean as the ¾ Spiritual world lies beyond it. After the offering of prayers to the Supreme Lord the Demigods heard a voice resounding from the Milk Ocean that he will appear soon to relieve the burden of the earthly planet from the miscreant kings proves the authenticity of Milk Ocean and Viraja from the Vedic and Puranic literatures.
The next important transcendental ocean is KaranaSagar or Casual Ocean on which Lord MahaVishnu or Karnadokshayi Vishnu sleeps in Yognidra on the bed of serpents or Sheshanaga thinking of his innumerable created universes in his creative sleep. The Sanskrit name of the ocean is Karana which in English means Cause and is called as Casual Ocean in English. Lord Krishna is cause of all causes as described by Lord Bramha in Bramha Samhita, 1st verse and Lord Krishna is the grandfather of Lord Bramha. Our material universe was born by the exhalation of MahaVishnu in his Yognidra or creative sleep. The liberated Souls or Nityamukta Jivas who eternally reside in the Spiritual world belong to the internal potency of the Supreme Lord known as Yogmaya Shakti which is governed by Shrimati Radharani, the eternal consort of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Our material universe is one of the many Bramhandas or Universal material eggs born from the highly effulgent, transcendental bodily pours of MahaVishnu. MahaVishnu created innumerable material universes for the Nityabaddha Jivas who belong to the marginal potency and are parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. The Jivatmas who wanted to enjoy their minute independence or free will by remaining separate from Supreme Lord Krishna became fallen conditioned Souls. Lord Krishna as their eternal well-wisher and father transferred these fallen conditioned Souls into MahaVishnu’s creation of innumerable material eggs or Bramhandas that are situated in the ¼ Aparajagat material sky governed by the material energy or MahaMaya of the Supreme Lord Krishna’s which deludes the fallen conditioned Souls and makes them forgetful of their eternal relationship with Lord Krishna and subjects them to repeated birth and death in the material world until the fallen Jivatma surrenders to Lord Krishna in loving devotion and gets Self-realized about his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord and becomes eligible to have an eternal life in the spiritual world.
MahaVishnu as ParamPurush of all the Jivatmas glanced upon the sum total of all material energy known as Mahatattva which makes up the material sky and transferred the fallen conditioned Souls or Jivas by his creative impetus and subjected them to repeated birth and death in the material universes created by him based as per the Jivatmas desire to lord it over the material nature or Prakruti. The temporary material universes created by MahaVishnu are made up of the 8 elements of material energy which are earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and false ego. Every living entity’s material body in the material universes is made up of these 8 elements while the Spirit Soul along with the Super Soul is eternal to the material energy. Everything in the material universes of MahaVishnu is temporary and is subjected to constant change because everything is governed by the Supreme Lord’s time factor. Each of the material universes created by MahaVishnu has a fixed duration and manifests itself or is created by the breathing exhalation of MahaVishnu and is annihilated by MahaVishnu’s breathing inhalation in his creative sleep of Yognidra while resting on the KaranaSagar. Since MahaVishnu sleeps in Yognidra all the Bramhandas or material universes are covered in darkness and need artificial light for illumination, heat and warmth. Therefore each Bramhanda or material egg has within it millions of galaxies, stars, moons and planetary systems who get light from stars like the Sun for the sustenance of its living entities. MahaVishnu regulates and controls the creation and annihilation of all the material universes spread across the material sky or Aparatattva while sleeping in YogaNidra on the KaranaSagar. The innumerable material universes are scattered all over the material sky like sand granules, such is the vastness of KaranaSagar and the spread of material universes which are created from it. It is Lord MahaVishnu’s energy that creates the black holes in the universes that attract tremendous matter to it and the gravitational force existing in dark matter that separates stars, galaxies and cosmic bodies from each other is due to Lord MahaVishnu’s controlling energy of cosmic matter.
The next important ocean in the cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Lord is Garbhodak Sagar on which rests Garbhodakshayi Vishnu on his serpentine bed of Sheshnaga and from whose navel a lotus stem sprouts which gives birth to Lord Bramha – the material universe creator who is seated upon a lotus flower and who is instructed by Garbhodakshayi Vishnu to create and populate the various planetary system with living entities and spread Vedic literatures to his sons - the Sages for the betterment of mankind. Lord Bramha is assisted in administering the universal creation along with other Demigods such as Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya, Varun, Devi, Ganesh etc that manage the various universal affairs and are part and parcels of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Lord Bramha is assisted by Lord Rudra or Mahadev who is born from the anger of Lord Bramha and helps him in further creation and destroys the previous universal creation of Lord Bramha that occurs during Kalpa annihilation or end of Bramha’s day. Thus the 3 principal Gods i.e. Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva or Mahadev are assigned the 3 main duties of creation, sustenance and destruction in each of the material universes created by MahaVishnu. Garbhodakshayi Vishnu enters in each of the material egg created by MahaVishnu and gives birth from his navel the creator of that particular Bramhanda. 50% of our Bramhanda or Universal egg is occupied by the 14 planetary systems beginning from the topmost Satyaloka where Lord Bramha resides, below that is Mahaloka where Lord Mahadev resides, below Mahaloka is Tapaloka where the Sages reside, below Tapaloka is Janaloka where saintly kings and Manus reside, below Janaloka is Swargaloka where the Demigods reside, below Swargaloka is Bhurvaloka, below Bhurvaloka is Bhuloka or the earthly planet and below Bhuloka are 7 lower planetary systems where serpents and demons reside in the lokas of Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatal, Jalatala, Patala and the hellish planets. The remaining 50% space of our Bramhanda is occupied by the waters of Garbhodak Sagar. Lord Bramha in charge of creation of this universe is 4 headed and has a lifespan of 311 trillion 44 billion earthly years of which 155 trillion 33 billion earthly years have already passed. Lord Bramha as per earthly calculation is staying in his 51st year, 1st month, 2ndday known as Varaha Kalpa which began 1 billion 97 million earthly years ago. In each Kalpa or Bramha’s day 14 Manvantar or Manus appear. As per Bramha’s lifetime at present we are staying in 51st year of Bramha, 1st month, 2nd day in its 7th Vivasvan Manvantar’s 28th Mahayuga 5118 Kaliyuga year. During each Kalpa annihilation the waters of the Garbhodak Sagar rise which lasts for a night of Bramha that equals 4 billion 32 million earthly years and completely inundates or submerges the lower and middle planetary system such as the planetary system of Demons, humans and Demigods. Only the upper 4 planetary system of Satyaloka, Mahaloka, Janaloka and Tapaloka remain. Since the start of Bramha’s lifetime 18000 Kalpas have passed. When the new day or Kalpa of Bramha begins which lasts for 4 billion 32 million earthly years in which 14 Manu Epochs or Manvantar exist, the 14 planetary system are again restored by Garbhodakshayi Vishnu after the waters of Garbhodak Sagar subside to normalcy. At the end during Vikalpa annihilation the entire cosmic universal creation or Bramhanda of Lord Bramha is submerged in the devastating waters of Garbhodak Sagar and the Universal Globe made up of 8 layers of mahatattva is finally inhaled by MahaVishnu to meet its final end.
There are many material universe eggs in the material sky created from the exhalations of MahaVishnu and to authenticate this fact there is a wonderful Puranic story based on the revealed scripture of Bhagvat Purana which cannot be negated or falsified since its beyond human conception and imagination and is hence inconceivable to human perception and for that it has to be only accepted and believed as it is mentioned in the revealed scripture that was written by great Sage VedVyas. The story is that once when Lord Bramha came to meet Lord Krishna in Dwarka he became very egoistic of his position as the creator of this material universe. Lord Krishna in order to defeat the pride of 4 headed Lord Bramha who is our universal creator then summoned other Lord Bramha’s who were the chiefs of other material universes which were created by MahaVishnu and these various Lord Bramha or chiefs of other material universes exceeded in number of their heads as compared to our 4 headed Bramha and possessed 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 1000, 10000, 100000 heads while some had millions and trillions of heads. Lord Bramha – the universal creator was awestruck and soon became prideless and humble after seeing the greatness of the Supreme Lord and the vastness and variety of material universes created by MahaVishnu that existed throughout the material sky as compared to Lord’s Bramha’s material universe which is insignificant to other material universes in the cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Lord. This authentic account mentioned in the Puranic literature is both for the skeptics and for the faithful which proves the existence of MahaVishnu lying on KaranaSagar who is creating innumerable material universes and Garbhodakshayi Vishnu who gives birth to Lord Bramha of that particular universe. The story proves the existence of innumerable material universes across the material sky and that our universal creator namely 4-headed Lord Bramha was in the assembly of other great Lord Bramhas possessing many heads who were summoned from other Bramhandas or material universes by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna to make our Lord Bramha prideless and humble proving the existence of many material universes of which the scientific community is unknown and unaware of.
The last of the 4 transcendental oceans which is located at the bottom-most position as a support for the entire cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Lord is AnantaShesha Sagar on which Lord AnantSheshaShayi Vishnu rests with his innumerable serpentine heads and on the AnantShesha bed of serpents. The name Ananta means unlimited and Shesha refers to Serpent which means Supreme Lord AnantShesha is having unlimited Serpentine heads and is resting over the bottom of AnantSheshaSagar and is supporting, holding and carrying unlimited material universes on his unlimited serpent hoods. These unlimited material universes are spread across the material sky and are created by the breathing exhalation of MahaVishnu while in his creative sleep of Yognidra on the Karana Sagar. Garbhodakshayi Vishnu in turn enters into each of the material universes created by MahaVishnu and rest at the bottom of each material universe on the Garbhodak Sagar and gives birth to the universal creator – Lord Bramha of that particular material universe who is seated on a lotus flower which sprouts from the navel of Garbhodakshayi Vishnu. Lord Bramha as the secondary creator of the material universe manifestation creates various living entities as per their desire and populate the various planetary system and instructs Vedic and spiritual knowledge to his descendants in each material universe. AnantSheshaVishnu holds the unlimited material universes or Bramhandas which are spread across the material sky on his unlimited Serpentine heads till the end of Cosmic devastation. According to Bhagvat Purana at the time of Cosmic devastation when the whole material creation is going to be get annihilated by the will of the Supreme Lord Krishna which constitutes ¼ material sky or Aparajagat, the Supreme Lord’s immediate expansion of Balram as AnantaShesha Vishnu who is also the plenary expansion of Lord Shankarshan assists the Supreme Lord by maintaining the universal affairs of creation, sustenance and annihilation. Lord AnantShesha at the time of final cosmic devastation totally annihilates all the material universes that are spread across the material sky from the flames of fire emerging from his unlimited serpentine mouths by the will of the Supreme Lord Krishna. When the raging fire completely burns the material universes, the entire cosmic manifestation is inundated with cosmic waters of devastation and as per the description in the 12th Canto of Bhagvat Purana, the Supreme Lord revealed to Sage Markandeya the cosmic devastation which will be done by him at the end of Cosmic time and was further explained by Shiva and Parvati to Sage Markandeya. This account authenticates the fact about cosmic devastation which will be done by the Supreme Lord in which Sage Markandeya witnessed that the Supreme Lord Krishna will assume a form of a small baby having a size of a small finger and will rest upon a peepal leaf and will lick his own thumb of his lotus feet which is the destination of the pure devotees and while tasting thus the Supreme Lord will think that what is so special of his own lotus feet which is aspired by his pure devotees since time immemorial. The ¾ Parajagat will remain undisturbed, unchanged and indestructible since it is eternal and transcendental. While the 1/4 Aparajagat material sky having temporary material universes are subject to cosmic creation of the material universes, their sustenance and their annihilation and finally the cosmic devastation of the entire material sky by Lord AnantShesha is authentic and is mentioned in Bhagvat Purana and other Vedic and Puranic literatures.
The ¾ Parajagat spiritual world known as Vaikuntha with its many Vishnuloka planets and the topmost Krishnaloka planet is full of eternity, bliss and knowledge were there are no pangs of material miseries, were there is eternal life and deathlessness and were the pure devotees constantly serve the Supreme Lord with loving devotion as they have achieved Satchidanand transcendental bodies and are eternally associating and reciprocating with the Supreme Lord Krishna with their love and service as per their Bhava and Rasa loving relation they have attained in the spiritual world. The Jivas living eternally with the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world are Nityamukta Jivas and those Jivas since time immemorial who have been placed by the Supreme Lord under material energy into the ¼ material sky or Aparajagat are fallen conditioned Souls are Nityabaddha Jivas who after leaving the eternal Spiritual world got themselves entangled in the repeated cycle of birth and death in the material world.
The Jivatma as like the Supreme Lord is Satchidanand which means full of eternity, bliss and knowledge and is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord enjoying eternal life in the association of Supreme Lord in the Spiritual world however the minute independence which every Jivatma gets due to his free will makes him act independent to that of the Supreme Lord and not make him remain eternally surrendered to the will of the Supreme Lord Krishna in the spiritual world because everyone in the spiritual world is subordinate and serves the Supreme Lord in loving devotion in the spiritual world and those Jivatmas who rebel against the will of the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world become conditioned which causes their downfall from the eternal Spiritual world and the Supreme Lord banishes them to the temporary material world and places them under his material energy or Maya which makes the Jivatma forgetful of his eternal relationship with Lord Krishna in his many lifetimes in the material world by giving them the freedom for enjoying their free will and of using their minute independence and instructs his plenary expansion MahaVishnu to create material universes for the fallen conditioned Souls in the material sky which are governed by the Supreme Lord’s material energy Mayashakti. All these material universes created for the fallen conditioned Souls are temporary and governed by Supreme Lord’s time factor. The fallen conditioned Spirit Soul in the temporary material universes in order to enjoy independently of the Supreme Lord and lords himself over the material nature and gets embodied himself in various species as per his Karma and desires by gradually forgetting about the eternal existence of the Supreme Lord present within him as Parmatma and of his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord due to the effect of Supreme Lord’s material energy or Mayashakti. Maya deludes the Spirit Soul by making him misidentify with his temporary body which is created by the Jivatma’s own false ego and makes him forget the eternal Spirit Soul within him and stops his path of Self realization which will gradually give him liberation from material nature. Therefore the Jivatma under the 3 modes of material nature which is controlled by Maya performs various actions or Karma and is bound by its reaction and the Jivatma thus cannot escape the repeated cycle of birth and death until he achieves Self realization when he surrenders to the Supreme Lord by practicing devotion under the guidance of a Spiritual master wherein the Spirit Soul identifies himself as part and parcel of SuperSoul and surrenders to Bhagvan Krishna by performing Bhaktiyoga. The fallen conditioned Soul after achieving the rare human birth by providence or mercy of the Supreme Lord gets a chance to practice devotional service once again after many lifetimes due to his past Naishkarmya or Krishna conscious activities by associating with devotees progresses in Krishna consciousness and by the mercy of his spiritual master gradually elevates himself on the platform of PremBhakti or loving devotional service to the Supreme Lord. The devotee further advances by practicing nine types of devotional service or NavaVidha Bhakti which gradually frees him from the repeated cycle of birth and death and revives the devotee’s lost link with Lord Krishna which helps the devotee in establishing eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world. The main aim of human life is to practice Bhaktiyoga that helps in transcending the modes of material nature and attain the lotus feet of Lord Krishna in the spiritual world which relieves a fallen conditioned Soul from material miseries of repeated birth and death that exist in the material world and try to establish eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord by practicing Bhakti under the guidance of a bonafide Spiritual master in the association of devotees which will eventually free a conditioned Soul from the bondage and miseries of material life. Human life is meant to transform ones conditioned Soul consciousness which is acting under material energy or Maya since many lifetimes to Krishna consciousness which is the eternal and real consciousness of the Spirit Soul which helps the conditioned fallen Spirit Soul in reviving his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna and the Supreme Lord Krishna by bestowing his mercy on the devotee as per his Bhava and Rasa accepts his eternal devotional service and reciprocates with him eternally by awarding him transcendental life in the spiritual world.
This blog was written on 15 July, 2016 on the auspicious occasion of Ashadhi Devshayani or Vishnushayani Ekadashi when Lord Vishnu or Narayan sleeps for 4 months on the transcendental ocean which is also the beginning of 4 months of Chaturmasya, I am dedicating this blog of 4 transcendental oceans.
|| Jivera Swarupena Nitya Krishnadas Haya ||
The constitutional position of the Spirit Soul is to eternally serve Supreme Lord Krishna.
|| Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare |
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare ||
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