Sanatan Goswami wrote Brihad Bhagavatamritam in which he explains the philosophy of the Bhagwatam and he reveals through the story of Gopkumar the differences in these Divine blissful experiences. He says that Gopkumar once had a dream about meeting Shri Krishna. When he awoke from that dream, he had a deep desire to experience Shri Krishna's love. So he started by going to swarg. He went in search of this intimate Divine bliss of Shri Krishna's prem. So he started by going to swarg. When he got there in swarg, he saw,
“Oh yes, everybody here is enjoying great material enjoyments, but nobody seems to be really happy. People are jealous of their neighbors when they see they have something more than them just like we are here. People seem to have the same mental afflictions that they have on earth.”
So he went further ahead. He went all the way to the topmost abode of swarg, Brahmalok, Brahma's abode. There he met the Divine scriptures, Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, etc.in their personal Divine physical forms where they stay during the whole existence of our brahmand. He met them in person. He also met Bhakti Mahadevi there.
But he still felt, “No, I haven't found what I'm looking for. This is only the topmost abode of swarg. Let me go further ahead.”
He crossed over into the Divine realm and there he saw the beautiful Brahma jyoti, the Divine light which is the emanation from Shri Krishna's body, which you can understand is formless God. It didn't interest him. Although it was like the ocean of Divine peacefulness, he kept going.
He met God Shiv, who then escorted him to Vaikunth abode. And there he also met God Vishnu. And he saw that there in Vaikunth everything is the form of Divine bliss and you get to experience that Divine bliss with all five of your senses all the time. And he felt very blissful. But he also realized that there in this abode Vishnu is very formal with him. There's a Godly dignity and etiquette which restricts how close he can get to Him.
So he still wasn't fully satisfied. He went further ahead to Saket lok of Bhagwan Ram's abode. There he was very happy to meet Bhagwan Ram because he could talk to Him more closely like a friend. And he stayed there for some time, but after a while Ram Himself said to him,
“You're desiring something more.”
He had in his heart the desire to be able to be very close with Krishna. So he told him,
“Go farther ahead to Dwarika abode.”
So he went. There when he met Dwarkadhish Shri Krishna, he was so happy he fainted. Shri Krishna came and picked him up in His lap and he stayed there in Dwarika for a long time enjoying the close personal association of Shri Krishna. He also met Uddhav and Naradji there in the Dwarika abode of Shri Krishna. So in these talks with Uddhavji and Naradji, he realized they taught him that there's something more further ahead to Golok abode, which was represented on the earth as Braj. When Radha Krishna descended, They told him,
”There in Golok, this same Shri Krishna that you're enjoying being with here in Dwarika, you can be with Him with no formalities over there in Golok. You can love Him any way you want with no restrictions, just total intimacy with Him. So since Braj is the same as Golok, why don't you go back down to earth, go to Braj and your Guruji can grace you with the attainment of Shri Krishna's most intimate Divine love of Golok abode.”
So he did. He went back to Braj and his Guruji graced him with that Divine experience.
Of course, we know also even beyond that, we can get down to more specifics. Like even within Golok abode, the capital is Vrindavan and in Vrindavan you have kunjvale Shri Krishna and nikunjvale Shri Krishna and nibhrit nikunjvale Shri Krishna who with Radha reveals higher and higher states of the Divine bliss. So according to the status of your Guru… because the Saint has a particular status according to the Divine bliss they've attained, they represent God and that experience of the Divine bliss on the earth, and guide souls towards the attainment that they have. So the Saint that we accept as our Guru will guide us towards whatever they have attained.
