Q. 1. Is Lord Brahma guaranteed to return to Goloka Vrindavana at the end of his lifetime? I said that I believe it is not a guarantee but probably likely given that whichever jiva occupies the post of Lord Brahma will have 50/64 of the transcendental qualities.
Answer by Romapada Swami: It is not a guarantee that all Lord Brahmas will return to Goloka Vrindavana at the end of their lifetime. It depends on their spiritual attainment and what they think at the time of death (anata kale ca). Srila Prabhupada tells us that the current Brahma is a pure devotee and that he will return back to Godhead. Generally that is the case, as well. But that is not an “always” situation.
Q. 2. How many of the 64 transcendental qualities do the jivas who have returned to Goloka Vrindavana have?
Answer by Romapada Swami: 50 qualities or 78% of 64 qualities, and those qualities are not possessed in fullness. See the following quotes from scripture.
“Learned scholars in transcendental subjects have carefully analyzed the summum bonum Krsna to have sixty-four principal attributes. All the expansions or categories of the Lord possess only some percentages of these attributes. But Sri Krsna is the possessor of the attributes cent percent. And His personal expansions such as svayam-prakasa, tad-ekatma up to the categories of the avataras who are all visnu-tattva, possess up to ninety-three percent of these transcendental attributes. Lord Siva, who is neither avatara nor avesa nor in between them, possesses almost eighty-four percent of the attributes. But the jivas, or the individual living beings in different statuses of life, possess up to the limit of seventy-eight percent of the attributes. In the conditioned state of material existence, the living being possesses these attributes in very minute quantity, varying in terms of the pious life of the living being. The most perfect of living beings is Brahma, the supreme administrator of one universe. He possesses seventy-eight percent of the attributes in full. All other demigods have the same attributes in less quantity, whereas human beings possess the attributes in very minute quantity. The standard of perfection for a human being is to develop the attributes up to seventy-eight percent in full. The living being can never possess attributes like Siva, Visnu or Lord Krsna. A living being can become godly by developing the seventy-eight-percent transcendental attributes in fullness, but he can never become a God like Siva, Visnu or Krsna. He can become a Brahma in due course. The godly living beings who are all residents of the planets in the spiritual sky are eternal associates of God in different spiritual planets called Hari-dhama and Mahesa-dhama. The abode of Lord Krsna above all spiritual planets is called Krsnaloka or Goloka Vrndavana, and the perfected living being, by developing seventy-eight percent of the above attributes in fullness, can enter the planet of Krsnaloka after leaving the present material body.” (SB 1.3.29)
“All the expansions and incarnations of the Lord are partial. Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, His qualitative expansions, only partially display the nature of the Supreme Lord. Everything about the Supreme Lord Krsna is infinite, eternal, unlimited and absolutely spiritual. He alone has the full sixty-four qualities, whereas His expansions, starting from Lord Narayana to Lord Ramacandra, are ornamented with only the first sixty of His transcendental qualities. Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and the other demigods possess but the first fifty-five of these qualities, and these only to a partial degree. Ordinary jivas have just the first fifty, visible in mere fractional degrees, like small drops. Only Krsna, even amongst all His Visnu expansions, displays the preeminence of being the master of four exceptional spiritual qualities unique to Him alone.” – (Harinam Chintamani, Chapter 2)
