Sri Brihad Bhagavatamrita (3 vols.)

by Sanatana Goswami and Gopiparanadhana das (tr.)

Everyone in the spiritual world is a pure devotee of the Lord, yet there are degrees of love of God. Thus Uttara, who has been hearing of Narada's travels as related in Volume 1, suspects rightly that Krishna must have a place above Vaikuntha, where Krishna is worshiped in awe and reverence. In that higher place, devotees must be able to fully manifest the highest stages of more intimate love for Krishna. In confirmation, in this volume Parikshit begins relating Gopa Kumara's wondrous journey to Goloka, the highest place of all.

Gopa Kumar's journey is complex as he moves to higher levels of devotion and love for Krishna. As his consciousness is purified, he finds himself in different realms of reality, each successively more saturated with love of God. At every stop, one thinks Gopa Kumar will surely be satisfied with the intense pleasue of associating with Krishna in His various attractive forms. After all, Krishna gives him personal attention and shows Gopa Kumar all kinds of mercy. But Gopa Kumar remains unsatisfied at heart and is thus pushed from within further and further on his journey, never quite finding rest and full peace. 

But the journey itself is transforming Gopa Kujar and clarifying, sometimes unbeknown to him his destiny--the attainment of his unique relationship with Krishna. And so, on and on he goes, and closer and closer he gets.