Esa Lila Vibhor Nitya Goloke

This pastime of the Almighty is eternal, occurring in the pure abode of Goloka, endowed with His own intrinsic nature, existing in a fully spiritual form.

That same pastime, in its relation to the conditioned soul, manifests according to considerations of place and time, and proceeds in two ways here, according to the gradation of different types of recipients.

One kind is called particular, the other universal in its scope; of these, the particular manifests specifically within the heart of an individual devotee.

That pastime which is universal in scope, being meant to increase the knowledge of society at large, was manifested within the hearts of Narada and Vyasa during the Dvapara age.

In Dvaraka, Hari is known as 'full'; in the middle, in Mathura, He is remembered as 'fuller still'; one should know that in Vraja, the Lord is 'fullest of all.'

This gradation of fullness is conceived in Krishna according to the degree of purity of sweetness; indeed, the display of pastimes in Vraja is the highest conception attainable for a living being.

Among these, His pastime as the beloved of the gopis is called the best; and among those, His pastime as the beloved of Sri Radha is held to be the topmost of all.

Those persons who are devoted to relishing this mellow, this spiritual sentiment belonging to the transcendental realm, are the ones eternally situated in their true constitutional nature.

But in the mere combination of ordinary words, where indeed is there room for the full expansion of these mellows? Therefore poets continue to expound the truth of Krishna's pastimes through poetry all the same.

The Lord, meditated upon by great knowers of Brahman and worshiped as the Lord of sacrifice, does not grant supreme bliss in the way that Krishna does when He is properly served in loving devotion.

Good Vaishnavas who study this teaching come to know Krishna in truth; they obtain the very same result that a person obtains from studying Srimad-Bhagavatam.