Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now here onwards Krishna will contrast between temporary material world and eternal spiritual world. The destination which one can get by worshiping Him and the destination one can get by not worshiping Him. That means this analysis is served as impetus for fixing mind on Krishna. So fix the mind on Krishna you will get wonderful result don’t fix the mind on Krishna then what happens we have to stay on miserable material world. The temporariness of the material world is talked on from next section onwards.

Krishna continues the theme here of eternality of the gain when we fix the mind on Him. 

Bg 8.16

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino ’rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

Word for word: 

ā–brahma–bhuvanāt — up to the Brahmaloka planet; lokāḥ — the planetary systems; punaḥ — again; āvartinaḥ — returning; arjuna — O Arjuna; mām — unto Me; upetya — arriving; tu — but; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; punaḥjanma — rebirth; na — never; vidyate — takes place.

Translation: 

From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ,  from topmost planetary system to lower most ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, so right upto the planet of Brahma ji one may go Brahma Loka what will happen punar āvartino ’rjuna, punar āvartino one will come back again, but mām upetya tu kaunteya, if one worships Krishna then what happens then punar janma na vidyate, so Krishna is giving two paths with two destinations, in material world the highest destination is Brahma Loka, if someone gets best result apart from Bhakti they can go to Brahma Loka but even that is temporary therefore that will not give us eternal result only worshiping Krishna will give us eternal result.

So now the question may come up that some people consider Brahma to be eternal so is it eternal, no it is not, it is actually temporary because the abode of Brahma is also within material world as life span of a universe is same as life span of Brahma Ji. So when Brahm Ji leave his body that time his abode also vanishes and the universe is also destroyed. So Srila Prabhupada writes in his Purport that by pañcāgni one can attain Brahma Loka but because Brahmaloka is temporary one cannot stay there for long time. So now Srila Prabhupada quotes interestingly Sridhar Swami from his commentary on Bhagavad Gita.

brahmaṇā saha te sarve
samprāpte pratisañcare
parasyānte kṛtātmānaḥ
praviśanti paraṁ padam

So brahmaṇā saha te sarve, Brahma Ji along with his associates sarve, samprāpte pratisañcare, those who are engaged, parasyānte kṛtātmānaḥ, those who are, parasyānte means absolute truth kṛtātmānaḥ means in service, praviśanti paraṁ padam, they attain the Supreme abode, the ultimate destination, so here is making the point that in some cases if Brahma Ji is a pure devotee and the associates of Brahma Ji becomes pure, pure enough to go back to spiritual world then at the time of the destruction of the universe then they need not have to come back, they can continue on whatever devotional service they are practicing in Brahma Loka. And at the destruction of universe they continue that by making transfer to the spiritual world, they continue practicing devotional service, this can happen but this doesn’t necessarily happen all the time the point here is even Brahma’s abode if one is practicing Krishna consciousness constantly then this will happen. Now doesn’t Brahma Ji and his associates practice Krishna Consciousness? Yes they do but Brahma Ji and heavenly planets are not primarily places of Bhakti. They are places of Punya, so Punya and Bhakti are not the same, those who do Punya attain Swarga, and there also Swargvasis do Yajna and they leave righteous lives, so by the righteous living they are in accord with whatever expected of the heavenly residence but that righteous living is not bhakti. Indra is watching apsaras dancing and he is enjoying that and that is not bhakti yoga, that is bhoga, but that bhoga is not considered sinful because he has done Punya and after doing Punya on earth he has attained those things in heaven. That is rightful enjoyment so actually what he is getting there is the result of his past punya, generally the residents of heaven don’t perform bhakti, exactly not unalloyed bhakti it is like too much of enjoyment available there to do unalloyed bhakti. Suppose we are doing Japa in the morning and magnificent fest is brought right in front of us pullav, pakoda, puris, parathas Paneer Sabji, big feast is there and we are told now chant your 16 rounds and one rule is there you can’t take your eyes off the plate, you have to keep looking at the plate and you have to chant attentively, so what will be our situation we will be attentive but not in chanting but on what is there in the prasadam and when we can take it therefore this will not help us actually too much so it is difficult when there is too much pleasure available to remember Krishna so in heavenly world they may not do papa but doing Suddha Bhakti will be difficult, but if they do Suddha Bhakti they will get elevated from there, so if one wanted to practice serious devotional service why not practice on earth and then go directly to the spiritual world. By getting things mixed up and go to Brahma Loka and there practice serious devotional service and then go to the spiritual world. Instead of that it is better to practice and directly go back from here itself.

That is the thrust of the message of BG.

End of transcription.