Nature of Paramapada

Nature of Paramapada can be best understood by looking at its different interpretations offered in the different texts and scriptures. The term Paramapada bears three meanings. It refers to the very svarupa of Brahman or Lord Vishnu since that is the goal of life to be attained. The Vishnu Purana uses the word in this sense. It also refers to the very svarupa of jivatman, that is, jiva in the state of moksha when it is totally dissociated with the physical body. As the state of jiva-hood free from bondage is also a desirable thing to be attained for the enjoyment of the eternal bliss of Brahman, it is appropriate to call it paramapada. The most commonly used meaning of paramapada is the supreme abode of Vishnu. The hymn of the Rig Veda refers to such an eternal place of Vishnu. It is in this sense that most of the Vaishnava treatises generally use the word, because that is a place to be attained by all the aspirants seeking moksha.

It is not possible to experience the unsurpassable bliss of Brahman unless Vishnu conditions Himself with the physical and spatial limitation out of His free will for the sake of devotees. Such a place in which the Supreme Being manifests Himself with a divine body with all the splendour is called paramapada. In Vaishnava terminology, it is called Vaikuntha loka or Vishnu loka, the abode of Vishnu, It is also designated as parama vyoma, the highest heaven. It is the same as Brahma loka referred to in the Chandogya Upanishad.

It is not the Swar-Loka or heaven as popularly understood as the place of the celestial beings. Nor is it the satya loka of Chatur-mukha-Brahma or any other loka of other Vedic deities because all these places are not eternal. The phrases such as `kingdom of God`, `The Highlands of the blest`, do not convey the significance attached to paramapada or vaikuntha loka of Vishnu. As Vishnu Purana states, it is the Supreme abode, highest of all, which can only be attained by the Yogins who meditate on Brahman constantly with undivided devotion and which is always seen by the enlightened seers. As the Mahabharata describes, it is the spiritual realm which is ageless, immeasurable, incomprehensible, primordial and knowable through Scripture.