maitreya uvaca
stuvatisv amara-strisu
pati-lokam gata vadhuh
yam va atma-vidam dhuryo
vainyah prapacyutasrayah
SYNONYMS
maitreyah uvacathe great sage Maitreya continued to speak; stuvatisuwhile glorifying; amara-strisuby the wives of the denizens of heaven; pati-lokamthe planet where the husband had gone; gatareaching; vadhuhthe wife; yamwhere; vaor; atma-vidamof the self-realized souls; dhuryahthe topmost; vainyahthe son of King Vena (Prthu Maharaja); prapaobtained; acyuta-asrayahunder the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
The great sage Maitreya continued speaking: My dear Vidura, when the wives of the denizens of heaven were thus talking amongst themselves, Queen Arci reached the planet which her husband, Maharaja Prthu, the topmost self-realized soul, had attained.
PURPORT
According to Vedic scriptures, a woman who dies with her husband, or enters into the fire in which her husband is burning, also enters the same planet her husband attains. In this material world there is a planet known as Patiloka, just as there is a planet known as Pitrloka. But in this verse the word pati-loka does not refer to any planet within this material universe, for Prthu Maharaja, being topmost amongst self-realized souls, certainly returned home, back to Godhead, and attained one of the Vaikuntha planets. Queen Arci also entered Patiloka, but this planet is not in the material universe, for she actually entered the planet which her husband attained. In the material world also, when a woman dies with her husband, she again unites with him in the next birth. Similarly, Maharaja Prthu and Queen Arci united in the Vaikuntha planets. In the Vaikuntha planets there are husbands and wives, but there is no question of their giving birth to children or having sex life. In the Vaikuntha planets both husbands and wives are extraordinarily beautiful, and they are attracted to one another, but they do not enjoy sex life. Indeed, they consider sex not to be very relishable because both husband and wife are always absorbed in Krsna consciousness and in glorifying and chanting the glories of the Lord.
According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura also, a husband and wife can turn the home into a place as good as Vaikuntha, even while in this material world. Being absorbed in Krsna consciousness, even in this world husband and wife can live in Vaikuntha simply by installing the Deity of the Lord within the home and serving the Deity according to the directions of the sastras. In this way, they will never feel the sex urge. That is the test of advancement in devotional service. One who is advanced in devotional service is never attracted by sex life, and as soon as one becomes detached from sex life and proportionately attached to the service of the Lord, he actually experiences living in the Vaikuntha planets. In the ultimate issue, there is actually no material world, but when one forgets the service of the Lord and engages himself in the service of his senses, he is said to be living in the material world.
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