Even those who go to Kṣheer Sāgar (the Ocean of Milk) or Vaikunth (the Divine abode of Lord Narayan)., the next stage, the seventh stage, comes. The seventh stage is God-realization.
… सर्वात्मस्नपनं परं विजयते …
… sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate …- Siksastakam Verse 1
In this seventh stage, the effect of maya (material energy) is finished, and the devotee exceeds all types of Divine blissfulness. ‘Vijayate’ means ‘supersedes, exceeds, goes beyond’ - all other Divine abodes, exceeds all other types of Divine blissfulness. The devotee experiences the ultimate bliss of the Divine realm when, with Guru’s grace, the effect of maya is finished.
भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः ।
क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन्दृष्टे परावरे ॥
Bhidyate hṛidayagranthiśhchidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ |
Kṣhīyante chāsya karmāṇi tasmindṛiṣhṭe parāvare ||- Mundak Upanishad 2.2.8
With Guru’s grace, the bondage of maya is finished. The bondage of karma (fruitive actions) is finished. The bondage of ignorance is finished, and you get the Divine vision of God.
So in this case, we’re getting the Divine vision of Radha Krishna. The heart is completely suffused with swaroop shakti (God’s intrinsic Divine power) of Shree Krishna, which Divinizes it, and our senses also become Divine, and we see Radha Krishna before us. And then Guru gives us that prem-shakti (the Divine power of love), the ultimate Divine power. That ultimate Divine power, that prem-shakti, gives life to the entire Divine world. Even the bliss of Vaikunth abode is due to prem-shakti, even though it’s not being revealed there.
You can think of prem-shakti, this Divine love power, like the sun. And then, let’s say, you have a crystal globe. So that crystal globe receives the shine of the sun. Maybe the globe itself is red-colored, and so it’s got its own qualities.Now the shine from the sun is the one that’s illuminating this crystal globe. But once the light has been reflected by the globe, the original quality of the light, the sunlight, is not seen. It takes on a different character altogether.
Similarly, that light of prem-shakti, gives life to all the different experiences of blissfulness in all the other Divine abodes, even Vaikunth abode, where prem-shakti isn’t revealed at all. Only Almightiness is there. But it’s the light of that prem-shakti that’s enlivening the Almighty bliss of Vaikunth abode.
So imagine if one could actually experience that ultimate prem-shakti. Never mind the bliss of formless God. Even the bliss of the personal form of God of Vaikunth has been considered to be negligible in front of prem-shakti. Even Mahalakshmi (the Divine consort of Lord Narayan) desired it. Mahalakshmi is the very form of that Almighty blissfulness, that sandhini-shakti (the Divine existential potency) in Vaikunth abode. She desired for the experience of premānand (the bliss of Divine love).
…विहाय कामान् सुचिरं धृतव्रता ॥
…vihāya kāmān suchiraṁ dhṛitavratā.- Bhagwatam 10.16.36
“She went and did austerities, extreme austerities, for a long period of time, trying to earn the right to experience that premānand.”
So all of this happens by practicing sādhanā (spiritual practice).
If we practice sādhanā correctly, with the grace of a true Guru, then eventually we pass through these stages of bhāv-bhakti (the stage of devotional ecstasy), and eventually we will attain that Divine love power, that prem-bhakti (Divine love devotion).
