The astral realms of Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka
Beyond Svargaloka are the four higher planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Satyaloka, which survive the devastation at the end of the day of Brahmā. These are extremely subtle abodes.
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The astral realms of Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka
Beyond Svargaloka are the four higher planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Satyaloka, which survive the devastation at the end of the day of Brahmā. These extremely subtle and pious abodes will continue to exist until the final devastation at the end of the universe.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not give us many details about life there, but we can find a first-hand description in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, describing the experience of Gopa-kumāra in visiting these four abodes in his journey to Goloka Vṛndāvana.
In the second part of the book, Gopa-kumāra visits Svargaloka, where he has the opportunity of becoming Indra and worshiping the Lord in opulence, together with the different demigods. Coming from earth, he was at first not aware that there was something higher. One day, however, something unusual happened: a group of great sages arrived unexpectedly, headed by Bhṛgu. They were traveling from Maharloka to earth and stopped there on the way.
All the demigods and celestial sages, including Bṛhaspati himself, worshiped them. After they left, Gopa-kumāra inquired:
“The demigods are worshiped by men, but who were those persons worshiped even by the demigods? What makes them so great? Where do those effulgent persons live?” Jealous and proud, the demigods were embarrassed to tell me. But our guru then spoke.
Śrī Bṛhaspati said: Above this realm shines the world called Maharloka, attainable through the best of pious works. Even when the three worlds are annihilated, that world is not destroyed. As the happiness of Indra is considered millions of times greater than that of a ruler on earth, the happiness of a Prajāpati is millions of times greater than Indra’s.
Endowed with such happiness, the Prajāpatis live on Maharloka enjoying the greatest pleasures and directly worshiping in various places the Lord of sacrifice, who is there in person as their master.” (BB 2.2.40-44)
As he had done before, he chanted the Gopāla-mantra of ten syllables given by his spiritual master with this purpose, and was quickly elevated to Maharloka. The Gopāla-mantra he had received is unlimitedly powerful, but the peculiarity of his story is that his guru gave him the mantra and left him to find out himself the full extent of its potency. Normally, as a devotee advances in devotional service, he or she gains knowledge automatically, even without any particular effort, but in the case of Gopa-kumāra, the blessing of his guru was for him to remain naive during his entire journey, so he would have the opportunity of going through the different realms without knowing what was beyond each stage. Worshiping Kṛṣṇa at each stage, he increased his ecstatic love and his eagerness to associate with Him, up to the point of joining His pastimes in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
What about Maharloka?
“Such happiness, opulence, and worship of the Lord as found nowhere in the three worlds — it’s all there perfectly, indescribable in words.
While the great sages, endowed with pure devotion, offered thousands of grand sacrifices, I saw the Lord of sacrifice, the supreme controller, stand up brilliantly from amidst the fires of oblation and delight in His pastimes as the enjoyer of sacrificial offerings.
That Lord, sacrifice personified, radiant as millions of suns, His mighty form enchanting to the world, reached out His hands, accepted the caru offering, and granted the sacrificers pleasing benedictions. With words drenched in compassion, He gave me with His own hand the mahā-prasāda of His remnants. Awestruck by the sight of Him, out of sheer joy I felt compelled to bow down. By that Lord’s abundant mercy, I attained an exceptional bliss I had never known before, and all my desires were fulfilled.
I wandered here and there in the company of the great compassionate sages, and in every dwelling I saw the Lord of the universe present in the same way.
On Maharloka there were no faults, nor was there sorrow, nor apprehensiveness. There was nothing but festivals of sacrifice for the pleasure of the Lord of sacrifice.” (BB 2.2.47-52, 59)
Maharloka is an extremely subtle abode, almost completely free from the influence of the modes of passion and ignorance. This is the abode of the Prajāpatis, the great universal progenitors. These are great brāhmana sages, like Kaśyapa, Marīci, Atri, Aṅgirā, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrgu, Vasiṣṭha, and others, who peacefully live with their consorts, performing sacrifices for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣnu.
Different from Svargaloka, however, which is a place for sense gratification, Maharloka is a place for souls free of gross sensual desires and lower qualities, who are on the path of liberation. The family life of these great sages is centered around their duties, and they engage themselves in sexual life only to beget good progeny when it is necessary to populate the universe. As a result, there is no quarrel or material misery there; everyone simply worships the Lord without selfish motives. All material necessities are fulfilled automatically, and thus there is no need for any work separated from their devotional service.
Although the main practice in Maharloka is ritual sacrifices, these are not fruitive sacrifices. The inhabitants offer oblations to the fire with an attitude of devotional service and transcendental love, and the Lord appears personally to accept their offerings as Yajñeśvara, the Lord of sacrifice, and give them back the prasāda. The same Lord accepts the offerings of the sacrifices performed in the lower planetary systems, but there He is not directly seen. This is the special privilege of the inhabitants of Maharloka, who live in great bliss. Although they have no desire to go back to the sensual platform, they periodically visit other planetary systems, including earth, to transmit spiritual knowledge or perform austerities.
As we have studied, inhabitants of the other varṣas of Bhū-mandala live for 1,000 or 10,000 human years, while the inhabitants of Svargaloka live for 10,000 celestial years (3.6 million years). The principal demigods, however, live for 306.7 million years, a full manvantara.
What is the life expectancy of the great sages in Maharloka? Nominally, they live for up to 4.32 billion years, a full day of Brahmā, until the fire of devastation destroys the planetary systems below, and makes their abode too hot for comfort. In practice, however, they are deathless, because when the fire of devastation comes, they can move to Janaloka, the next planetary system. From there, they can continue progressing, up to Satyaloka, where they remain until the end of the life of Brahmā, and have the opportunity of attaining liberation together with him.
Gopa-kumāra remained in Maharloka in the company of the sages until the end of the day of Brahmā and moved to Janaloka together with them:
“At the end of one thousand cycles of ages — for that place, one day — the conflagration of the three worlds forced us to take refuge on Janaloka.
On Janaloka, as if it were nighttime, no sacrifices were being performed. And the pain of not seeing the Lord of sacrifice burned more greatly than the burning of the three worlds.” (BB 2.2.61-62)
On earth, the days and nights follow the daily movement of the Sun. In Svargaloka, they follow the annual movement, and thus one year for us is just a day for them. Maharloka, however, is composed of luminous planets, and therefore there are no nights there. The sages remain active during the whole day of Brahma, performing sacrifices without interruption until the fire of destruction comes.
In Janaloka there is also no night in the sense of darkness, but during the night of Brahmā, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu performs his pastime of sleeping. Since all activities there are performed for the satisfaction of the Lord, all activities and sacrifices stop when He goes to sleep. The sages thus have to wait during this long night to start their sacrificial performances again in Brahma’s next morning.
When Brahma awakens in his next day, he recreates the planetary systems that were destroyed, and prajāpatis return from Janaloka to Maharloka to repopulate the universe.
The Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta does not provide many details about Janaloka, but in his commentary, Sanātana Goswami mentions that since the residents of Maharloka frequently travel to Janaloka, the two planets are practically a single system. The sages in Janaloka are also householders and perform fire sacrifices. The main difference is that Janaloka is sufficiently far from the bottom of the universe to not be affected by the fire of annihilation.
At the end of each manvantara, when the demigods conclude their duties, they are generally elevated to Maharloka. Others, who are able to attain the necessary standard of piety and sense control, also gradually join the planetary system. At the end of the day of Brahmā, they move to Janaloka, escaping from the heat of the fire of devastation. Some return with the beginning of the next day of Brahmā to act as prajāpatis, but the majority remain there, gradually advancing to Satyaloka.
Once one reaches Janaloka, there is no more death. One can live until the end of the universe, serving the Lord and developing his devotional sentiments unimpeded.
What about Tapoloka?
Once, while Gopa-kumāra was in Janaloka, Sanat-kumāra visited, absorbed in meditation. Seeing him being worshiped by the great sages, Gopa-kumāra learned about the next planetary system, and developed a desire to go there. As before, he was able to ascend there by meditating on the Gopāla-mantra.
“The residents of Tapoloka, who appeared similar to the Kumāras, were honoring the four brothers. The Kumāras were enjoying among themselves a long discussion incomprehensible to persons like me.
Though they did not have the distinguishing attributes of God, from seeing those brothers on Tapoloka I felt an intense spontaneous joy.
When they went off to their respective places to absorb themselves in meditation, I started wandering, searching as always for the Lord of the universe. Not seeing Him anywhere, I tried to inquire of the great sages, but as I stood before them offering prayers and obeisances they did not even look at me. Virtually everyone there was fixed in samādhi. They were all self-satisfied lifelong celibates, full in the achievement of all desires and served by mystic perfections.” (BB 2.2.77-81)
Different from Maharloka and Janaloka, which are inhabited by householders who perform sacrifices, Tapoloka is the abode of great yogis, who remain most of the time in samādhi, emerging only rarely to hold philosophic discussions. There is no sexual life there. The qualification for entering Tapoloka is that one has to remain a lifelong celibate, fully controlling his senses while on earth. Souls who attain this planetary system also don’t take birth there by sexual union; they simply ascend there in their subtle bodies, and attain the forms of divine ascetics. That’s a very pure and subtle abode, almost free from the influence of the material modes, inhabited by great mystics, like Kavi, Havis, Antarikṣa, Prabuddha, and Pippalāyana, led by the four Kumāras.
As in the case of Maharloka and Janaloka, they also sometimes travel to other planetary systems to disseminate transcendental knowledge, as when they instructed King Pṛthu, as described in the Fourth Canto. However, this is rarer than the journeys of the prajāpatis from Maharloka.
In both Svargaloka and Maharloka/Janaloka, the Lord (as Upendra and Yajñeśvara) can be directly seen, but in Tapoloka, He is seen only inside the heart. Not seeing the Lord, Gopa-kumāra inquired from the sages, but since they were in samādhi, he was ignored. Only after a long time did Pippalāyana, one of the great mystics there, finally speak to him, explaining the process of seeing the Lord inside the heart practiced by them. Later, the four Kumāras themselves showed him the different forms of the Lord they could constantly contemplate inside the heart. By their blessing, Gopa-kumāra was also able to see the same forms of the Lord in meditation. Through his previous practice, he had already attained a very high level of concentration, and now, with this blessing from the Kumāras, he attained the same level of samādhi as the great sages in Tapoloka.
Once, Brahmā visited there on the way to Puṣkaradvīpa, the island of Bhū-mandala where he is worshiped on the great lotus with 100 million golden petals. The Kumāras worshiped him and received his blessings. Brahma treated them affectionately as his sons. Again, Gopa-kumāra did not know who he was.
“When I asked the Kumāras to explain who he was, they laughed and said, “Dear cowherd boy, even after reaching this planet you still don’t know who this person is? That was Brahmā, the lord of all lords of the living beings. He is our father, the creator of the universe. Self-born, he sits on the highest seat of authority. He maintains and guides the created world.
His planet, called Satyaloka, stands above all others. It is achieved by persons who have done their prescribed duties purely for one hundred lifetimes. Within Satyaloka is a Vaikuṇṭha planet where the thousand-headed divine Lord of the universe is always present as the Mahāpuruṣa.” (2.2.124-128)
Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu lives at the bottom of the universe, but at the same time He becomes present in Satyaloka, manifesting a visible Vaikuṇṭha planet where He lives with Lakṣmī devī and gives personal association to Brahmā and His other devotees there. This is the startling revelation of the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta: the way the Lord personally relates to His great devotees, even inside this material world. This, again, makes it clear the purpose of this knowledge. It is ultimately not just about accumulating knowledge of technical cosmic details, but understanding and reviving our relationship with the Lord.
As before, Gopa-kumāra desired to attain Satyaloka and see the Lord there as Mahāpuruṣa, and, just as before, he chanted the Gopāla mantra in full concentration. After just a moment, he saw himself there.
Satyaloka manifests all kinds of excellence to the greatest degree possible inside a material universe. It is an extremely subtle abode, where there is no material suffering, no sorrow, no old age, no death, no pain, and no anxiety. In fact, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes that the only suffering the inhabitants experience is compassion for the inhabitants of the other planetary systems, who live in difficult material conditions. To attain this planetary system, one has to practice his duties in the Varnāśrama system flawlessly for 100 lives.
Satyaloka, however, is not just a paradise where people spend their time uselessly. The planetary system is constantly in activity, with a constant stream of the longest and most elaborate Vedic sacrifices being performed, under the supervision of the personified Vedas. These are, however, not fruitive sacrifices as performed on earth or in Svargaloka, but sacrifices performed in the original meaning, as devotional offerings to the Lord.
Just as in Maharloka and Janaloka, the Lord appears personally from the sacrificial fire to accept their offerings, but there He manifests even more of His transcendental qualities. Because the Lord appears in so many forms, not only to accept the sacrificial offerings in Satyaloka, but all over the universe in different incarnations, it is said that He has thousands of hands and legs.
Just as in the previous planetary systems, Satyaloka is a luminous planetary system. There is thus no night in the ordinary sense, and no destruction at the end of the day of Brahmā. Even during Brahma’s night, when Lord Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu goes to sleep accompanied by Brahmā, the great sages who reside there come together with the inhabitants of Tapoloka and Janaloka to offer prayers to the Lord. Maharloka is not mentioned, because the planetary system remains vacant during this time, being repopulated at the start of the next day of Brahmā.
Inhabitants of Satyaloka live until the end of the life of Brahmā. There is a negative, however: they have to remain in this material world for a very long period. They thus glorify devotees from earth, who can attain love of godhead in just a short life.
Their liberation at the end of the life of Brahmā is also uncertain. Even though Brahmā is always a devotee, sometimes he thinks he is independent of the Lord, or that he is an incarnation of the Lord, equal with Him. In this case, Brahma does not go back to Godhead. He reaches Mahā-Viṣnu in the causal ocean at the end of his life, but has to come back for another cycle of creation. In this case, all the inhabitants of his planet also have to come back. Similarly, some of his followers may think that Brahmā is independent of the Lord, or that they themselves are one with the Lord. In this case, they also can’t attain liberation, even if Brahmā goes back to Godhead. As long as one has separate interests from the Lord, one can’t reach the spiritual planets. Even if he attains impersonal liberation in the Pradhāna or the impersonal Brahmajyoti, he has to eventually come back.
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