Verse 2.4.145-146

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.4.145-146:

रसेन येन येनान्ते वेशाकारादिना तथा ।
सेवित्वा कृष्ण-पादाब्जे यो यो वैकुण्ठम् आगतः ॥ १४५ ॥
तस्य तस्याखिलं तत् तच् छ्रीमद्-भगवतः प्रियम् ।
तस्मै तस्मै प्ररोचेत तस्मात् तत्-तद्-रसादिकम् ॥ १४६ ॥

rasena yena yenānte veśākārādinā tathā |
sevitvā kṛṣṇa-pādābje yo yo vaikuṇṭham āgataḥ || 145 ||
tasya tasyākhilaṃ tat tac chrīmad-bhagavataḥ priyam |
tasmai tasmai praroceta tasmāt tat-tad-rasādikam || 146 ||

rasena–by the mood; yena yena–by which; ante–at the end of life; veśa–dress; ākāra–form; ādinā–and so forth; tathā–so; sevitvā–having rendered service; kṛṣṇa-pāda-abje–to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet; yaḥ yaḥ–whoever; vaikuṇṭham–to Vaikuṇṭha; āgataḥ–having come; tasya tasya–for him; akhilam–everything; tat tat–various; śrīmad-bhagavataḥ–of the Lord; priyam–dear; tasmai tasmai–in those; praroceta–he takes great pleasure; tasmāt–because of that; tat-tad-rasa–with their respective mellows; ādikam–and so on.

In his internal meditation, the sādhaka serves the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in a particular _rasa, with a form, dress, and so on that are suitable for his service. Achieving perfection at the end of his life, he enters Vaikuṇṭha. At that time, his heart is attracted to that previous rasa in which, while he was in the sādhaka stage, he worshiped the Lord, and he accepts an identical dress and form, knowing them to be dear to Śrī Bhagavān.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might question, “One sees that the eternal associates in Vaikuṇṭha possess human forms like Śrī Raghunātha, forms resembling sages such as Kapila, and other forms that are even more wonderful. At the same time, one sees that some have the forms of monkeys, demons, and other lower species that are quite different from the forms of Bhagavān’s incarnations. Why do they have those forms?”

In reply, Śrī Nārada speaks two verses, beginning here with rasena. He says, “We have mentioned that there are different rasas (individual moods, or tastes) in which the devotees serve Bhagavān. Difference in rasa is the only reason for the variety of the Vaikuṇṭha associates’ forms.

“At the end of a sādhaka’s (practitioner’s) material existence, at the time of his death, he may have been performing some aspect of bhakti. He may have been tasting the nectar of kīrtana, chanting the names of the Lord, in a particular mood, and he may have envisioned himself serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, having adorned himself mentally with a particular form, dress, and various characteristics. Having decorated himself in that way, if by serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, he arrives in Vaikuṇṭha, such a devotee would consider that this particular form–which is in line with his chosen rasa–is dear to Śrī Bhagavān. Therefore, he accepts this exact form in Vaikuṇṭha, since that form, being precious to Bhagavān, is capable of controlling the Lord.

“By dint of the devotee’s loving relationship with the Lord, or prema-bhakti, by which he has reached Śrī Vaikuṇṭha, his dress, ornaments, and all of his attributes are indeed supremely lovely. Since Bhagavān finds the devotee’s particular mood of relationship, or rasa, to be dear to Him, the devotee also finds that he is most attracted to that rasa. The devotee may have performed mānasika-sevā (service in contemplation) in his final birth as a sādhaka, having meditated on the body of an eternal associate of the Lord, including that associate’s dress, individual mood, etc. that are suitable for service. Upon the demise of that final body, he arrives here in Vaikuṇṭha and directly obtains that body upon which he had been meditating as a sādhaka.

“This is the reason it seems that sometimes, by the will of Bhagavān, eternal associates of the Lord who reside in Vaikuṇṭha perform activities like Indra, Candra, and other demigods of the mundane realm. After all, every single thing, along with its branches and sub-branches, that is found within and beyond the material world is present in its real and true form in Śrī Vaikuṇṭha.”