Swarg (the heavenly realms) is only a sattvic (mode of purity) manifestation of maya (material illusion), so it’s not a Divine lok (realm). It’s not God’s Divine abode. In English we call it heaven or the celestial abodes. It’s a temporary place. It’s also destroyed when the universe is dissolved. And souls who go over there, they stay temporarily enjoying the outcome of all of their sattvic actions. But they come back into this middle abode (Earth).
You see, swarg is the outcome or the product of the sattva gun. This world has a predominance of rajo gun (mode of passion). And then narak, In English we call it hell, that is the product of tamo gun (mode of ignorance).
So one’s mind who is more established in the rajas quality, he’ll be reborn in this world. And the one who is established in tamo gun (ignorance), Krishna says,
“Adho gakchantapi,” he goes down.
So it means either into the lower species on this earth planet, where there’s more suffering, or into narak, which is also a temporary jail sentence, you can say, as a punishment for tamas actions.
So this is the outcome of developing these qualities in our mind. It not only affects us immediately, because it affects our mind and our thinking, but it has a karmic consequence in the future, because it determines how we’re going to be reborn, into what situation we’ll be reborn, in our next life.
After explaining all of this, Krishna says,
… गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ||
… guṇebhyaśh cha paraṁ vetti mad-bhāvaṁ so ’dhigachchhati.- Gita 14.19
“However,” He says, “there is something beyond these three gunas (material qualities), because the three gunas are binding.”
The soul is bound by these three gunas. Satva gun (mode of purity) sounds good, right? But still, it’s not enough to get free from maya. Even satva gun is a quality of maya.
So even if you’re established in satva gun, the best you can do is go to swarg and eventually you come back here. So whether you’re in satva gun, or rajo gun, or tamo gun, you’re still bound by maya.
But Krishna says He is beyond maya. So the one who reaches Him has to go beyond Maya.
…गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति…’
…guṇebhyaśh cha paraṁ vetti
“The one who knows that which is beyond the three gunas,
…मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ||
…mad-bhāvaṁ so’dhigachchhati.
he comes to Me and stays with Me.”
So Krishna is indicating that these three gunas where we exist now, there’s not perfect happiness within this field. We have to go beyond that field and reach Him.
He also says,
ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च |
शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ||Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣhṭhāham amṛitasyāvyayasya cha.
Shāśhvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya cha.- Gita 14.27
He’s talking about Himself, that nirakar brahm (formless Absolute reality) is actually established in Him. He is the pratishta (foundation) of formless God. It is His own emanation. It does not exist separately from Him.
As well, He says
शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य…
Shāśhvatasya cha dharmasya...
The ‘shashvat dharm’ (eternal duty), we normally use the word ‘sanatan dharm’ (eternal religion), is also established within Him.
Ved Vyas Ji writes in the Bhagwatam,
वासुदेवपरः धर्मो…
Vāsudev-par dharmah…
“Krishna is the source of dharm (righteous duty) and the ultimate goal of dharm.”
In Kathopanishad (an Upanishadic scripture) it is said,
सर्वे वेदा यत्पदमामनन्ति …
Sarve vedā yatpadamāmananti …
- Kathopanishad 1-2-15
“Every mantra of the Vedas is only taking you towards Krishna.”
That’s all, to take you to Krishna. So He is the root, the mool (source) of all dharm and He is the goal of all dharm. It means, He’s the source of all dharm and by following dharm what do you get? You’re supposed to reach Him.
So He says, “The dharm is also established in Me and ‘sukhasyaikāntikasya cha’, the Divine happiness is also a part of Him.”
