Mapping & navigating Vaikuṇṭha

वैकुण्ठ <Vaikuṇṭha> is by definition the abode (dwelling, residence or home 🏡) of विष्णु <Viṣṇu>, who’s both literally & esoterically the all-pervasive, all-inclusive & all-encompassing omnipresence, or in simpler terms that which is present everywhere simultaneously. 

But pause to think 🤔 & rejig 💭 the most uncommon of our senses, yes our common-sense: where can omnipresence <viṣṇu> really live? The obvious answer is ‘everywhere!’ Hence, vaikuṇṭha isn’t approachable using GPS, Google Maps, outdated atlases, AAA maps 🗺 & navigation systems, inertial or non-inertial! 

For how do we go/walk/drive/fly/traverse to a place that we’re already at/in. Yes, “you’ve arrived” as that sweet voice of AI in your smartphone navigator would say! Whether we realize that we’ve arrived or not is a different matter altogether, for we aren’t AI... just I & a big one at that!

In fact, there never was a moment or a lifetime that we hadn’t arrived. We have always been at our destination without even knowing about it. We didn’t have a choice but to be in our destination forever, but as far as knowledge of it is concerned, we surely are blessed with a choice. 

But then why’re we not making that choice? Are we scared, ignorant or both? Time to unravel & admit this vaikuṇṭha ekādaśi. The dummies’ how-to-unravel manual for this purpose also happens to be born this same day. Yes 👍, the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gitā is a much easier to appreciate simplified summary of the ultimate metaphysical truths deeply, subtly & causally experienced in & through the principal upaniśads or vedāntā. 

Yes, the gitā is vedāntā simplified over 5️⃣ millennia ago just for the highly qualified yet fearful 😧 &/or dormant  dummies amongst us, symbolised by Arjunā, albeit packed with an inheritance of divinity from Indrā & Ivy League knowledge & cutting-edge skillsets of a high-flying institution called Drone-āchāryā (sic)!

Prosperously massaged by लक्ष्मी <Lakṣmī>, literally the navigator or one who leads us to our destination, omnipresence <viṣṇu> is relaxing on the triple identity of 1️⃣:♾:0️⃣ <ādi ananta śeṣa>, floating on the very essence of all wisdom, artistically represented by the primeval ocean of milk <kṣīra sāgara>. 

Vaikuṇṭha is doubly 👮‍♂️ well-guarded 👮‍♂️ by the victory <jayā> over our mistaken identity with physicality & an even-more special victory <vi-jayā> over our subtle selves, symbolised by misconstrued identifications with our emotional mind & brilliant intellect, both of which are cutting-edge tools 🧰, if & only if we understood them well, took care of them properly & utilised them only when necessary, with an ability to drop them the rest of the time. 

However capable our mind & intellect may be with vivid memories of the past & fantastic imaginations of the future, the realisation needs to dawn at least at the dusk of our day & life that they’re but mere tools ⚒️ 🛠 & definitely not their wielder: I, the ātmā, identical with brahman, para-brahman, rather than mere Bond, James Bond!!! That’s ♾ rather than a finite 007!

Mankind’s original source of glorious knowledge ऋग्वेद <ṛgveda> first refers to vaikuṇṭha as the supreme path to omnipresence <viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ (1.22.20)>. While 2️⃣ prerequisites for the middle-Eastern & Western notions of ‘heaven’ are to die ☠️ & rest in peace ⚰️, no such qualifications are expected to access vaikuṇṭha. 

Even the devotionally-inclined purānā called Srimad Bhagavatam (XI.25.22) refers to vaikuṇṭha as the destination of those who’ve transcended the 3️⃣ qualities of lethargy, passion & purity too <tri-gunā-titā> even when alive, hinting thus to the discernment that vaikuṇṭha is actually a state of mind here & now, not necessarily distancing it to a faraway paradise at a future point in time, lest they get caught up for way too long in the literal meanings of the beautifully figurative & poetic lingo of duality, qualified or not, & by inference, plurality! 

Relegating every notion of illusory boundedness, created by non-existent artificial spatio-temporal boundaries of convenience, to mere figments of nonetheless wonderful imagination, the sole liberation of the soul is indeed even skyless <kaivalyā mokśā nir-vānā>! That’s as exhilarating as a jolly good topless dive into a bottomless pit, which wouldn’t ever hurt until one hits an imagined bottom. 😹 

Also known variously as the universal universe <viṣṇu-lōkā>, eternal elemental splendour <nitya-vi-bhūti>, sacred & supreme path to the  ultimate destination <tiru-parama-padham>, it all essentially boils down to vaikuṇṭha & its ekādaśi ‘here & now,’ the very theme & motto of katham.in as well. 

While vaikuṇṭha is everywhere (being the home of our own everythingness), kailāś is nowhere (being the home of our own nothingness), shrinking spacetime <kālā-mahākālā> to their non-existential artificiality of illusion <māyā>. The Himalayan paradise of Mt. kailāś is but a taste sample on Earth 🌏 of the real kailāś, just as Tirumala Tirupati is said to be bhu-vaikuṇṭha. 

Just as much as total destruction, impartial demolition & absolute dissolution are all the prerogatives of our own nothingness, with the ultimate power literally as its better half, it’s not mere serendipity that the significant tasks of preservation, sustenance & maintenance are associated with omnipresence or our own everythingness, supported by its own energy of prosperity. For the welfare of one is in the welfare of ALL: be it 🧫 microorganisms 🦠, 🪴 plant 🌱 , 🦔 animal 🦒 , 👨 human 👩 or the so-called ❄️ inanimate objects 🪨 of nature. 

So let’s all, whether we consider ourselves the daughters & sons of god or not, 🎉 celebrate 🎊 vaikuṇṭha ekādaśi in its true spirit, holy or not! The child 👶🏻 is indeed the father of man 👨! Heaven & hell are mere states of mind, albeit extremal.