Srila Prabhupada: According to scripture, the original Vrindaban, Goloka Vrindaban, is shaped like the whorl of a lotus and is situated in Vaikuntha, the spiritual sky. In Vaikuntha, there’s no anxiety, no birth, old age, disease or death, and everything partakes of the nature of sat-chit-ananda-eternity, knowledge, and bliss.
I wonder: Are the lepers composed of sat-chit-ananda? Are they actually four-armed demigods in disguise? Do they simply assume their ghastly appearances just to frighten the worldly?
“Srila Prabhupada,” I venture, breaking the brief, thoughtful silence.
“Yes?”
“Now I’m confused.”
“How’s that? I have not explained clearly?”
“Yes, but I don’t understand how this Vrindaban is nondifferent from Goloka Vrindaban.”
“You do not know what ‘nondifferent’ means?” he asks, looking straight at me, his head held back, his posture very erect, like a hatha-yogi’s.
“It means ‘the same as,'” I answer.
“Yes.”
“So … I can’t quite accept that.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I’m confused because—”
“You must be confused,” he says. “You are not perfect.”
“Well—”
“Are you perfect?” His voice rises, and I sense that I’ve said something offensive.
“No,” I admit.
“Then you must be confused.”
“Well, I’m not the only one,” I say stupidly.
“If you’re not perfect, you must be confused. That’s the only answer.”
“There’s no other?”
“If you are not perfect, how can you get the right conclusion?”
“Most of what you say, I can understand, at least intellectually,” I say. “But this I don’t understand at all.”
“That means you are not completely perfect,” he says. “As far as you are perfect, you understand.”
“I‘m afraid I’m far from perfect, Srila Prabhupada.”
“Because your senses are imperfect, you understand in an imperfect way. This means that you must understand from the authorities. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that Vrindaban is as worshipable as Krishna.”
“That I can understand,” I say. “What I don’t understand is how this Vrindaban is nondifferent from Goloka Vrindaban. When coming here in the ricksha, I saw many old people, a dead man, and many diseased people, lepers. So, old age, disease, and death exist here.”
“Of course,” Prabhupada says. “Just listen. This is not Goloka Vrindaban. This Vrindaban is a replica, and therefore nondifferent, but because it’s manifest in the material universe, the laws of material nature are working here. When we worship Deities in the temple, everyone can see that They are made of stone, metal, or wood, but still the Deities are not different from Krishna. They are Krishna. We certainly are not worshiping stone and wood, though to the naked eye it may appear so. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Puri and saw Lord Jagannatha, He immediately fell down and said, ‘Here is Krishna.’ It’s a matter of vision. Now do you understand?”
“Yes,” I say. “My eyes deceive me.”
“Not just you,” Prabhupada laughs. “Everyone in a madhouse is more or less a lunatic, and everyone in this material universe is blind to Krishna. Otherwise, no one would be here.“
Reference: Vrindaban Days : Memories of an Indian Holy Town by Hayagriva Dasa
courtesy:- https://www.srilaprabhupadalila.org
