Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.20.35
Sthāna· The universe in orderThe Inhabited Land and Golden Land
“Beyond the ocean of sweet water is a tract of land as broad as the area between the middle of Mount Sumeru and the boundary of Mānasottara Mountain. In that tract of land there are many living beings. Beyond it, extending to Lokāloka Mountain, is another land, which is made of gold. Because of its golden surface, it reflects light like the surface of a mirror, and any physical article that falls on that land can never be perceived again. All living entities, therefore, have abandoned that golden land.”
What the purport teaches
- Beyond the sweet-water ocean is a land inhabited by many living beings. Its breadth equals the distance from the middle of Mount Sumeru to the boundary of Mānasottara Mountain.
- Beyond that inhabited tract is a golden land extending to Lokāloka Mountain. Its surface reflects light like a mirror.
- Any physical article falling on the golden land can never be perceived again. Therefore all living entities have abandoned it.
Try this today
Write down one feature of each of the two lands described here.
Ask yourself
Which details distinguish the inhabited tract from the golden land?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.