Chant and Be Embraced

Question to Radhanath Swami: I was wondering, what the scriptures say about what it feels like upon returning to the spiritual world.

Answer by Radhanath Swami: Sanatan Goswami, a seventeenth century saint, describes in his work, Brihat Bhagavatamrita, the reunion of a soul with the Supreme Lord Krishna in the spiritual world. He explains how one day Krishna with his cowherd boyfriends (gopas) and cows was returning from the forest of Vrindavana to his home. On the way a soul that has just attained the spiritual world appeared in the cowherd pasture as a beautiful little cowherd boy. When Krishna saw him, he ran to him and embraced him. And in the ecstasy of love, both Lord Krishna and the newly arrived cowherd boy fainted in ecstasy. All the gopas were very much astonished: who is this boy and why is Krishna laying in the ground in an unconscious state? So Balaram, Krishna’s brother, approached Krishna and brought him back to consciousness by singing sweet words and by fanning him.

Then Krishna told that new cowherd boy, “You left me long, long ago. You forgot me. But I never forgot you. Lifetime after lifetime you tried to enjoy the material world, but I was always in your heart waiting for you to turn to me. You suffered storms, diseases, and broken hearts. Sometimes you enjoyed wealth, prosperity, and high education, but eventually it was all taken away. Did you not feel separation from me as I felt separation from you at every minute? Then finally you turned to me and gave your life to me. I saw how difficult it was in that material world for you to turn to me and be faithful. You were ridiculed, prosecuted, criticized, and sometimes you had to beg, but I was always with you there to protect you. Now, finally you have returned home, I welcome you.”