7 Instances of siddha deha in Śrīmad Bhāgavat

7 Instances of siddha deha in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 

On October 14, 2014, I published a blog which listed 4 instances in which a siddha deha, personal spiritual body, was described or mentioned in Śrīmad Bhāgavata, while the Bhāgavata mostly describes liberation as merging into Brahman or into Bhagavān. Since then I myself and several other devotees have found more verses on siddha deha in Śrīmad Bhāgavata, so I decided to delete the old blog and replace it with this updated one, adding 3 more instances to it. 

Nārada Muni in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 1.6.27-8-

evaṁ kṛṣṇa-mater brahman nāsaktasyāmalātmanaḥ

kālaḥ prādurabhūt kāle taḍit saudāmanī yathā

"O brāhmaṇa Vyāsa! Concentrating only on Kṛṣṇa, not attached to material enjoyment and pure in mind, the time of receiving my spiritual body occurred simultaneously with that of giving up my material body, like lightning flashing simultaneously with lightning."

prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum 

ārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo nyapatat pāñca-bhautikaḥ

"Having been awarded a transcendental body befitting an associate of the Lord, the body made of five material elements, with karmas relating to the present body, fell away."

Śrīdhar Swāmī ṭīkā - bhagavatā mayi prayujyamāne nīyamāne – the word prayujyamāne means ‘the siddha deha is brought by the Lord’. anena pārṣada-tanūnām akarmārabdhatvaṁ śuddhatvaṁ nityatvam ity ādi sūcitaṁ bhavati: the bodies of the associates of the Lord are pure, without prārabdha-karmas, and eternal.

Viśvanātha Cakravartī ṭīkā - "The Lord previously promised hitvāvadyam imaṁ lokaṁ gantā maj-janatām asi: giving up this low body you will become my associate. (SB 1.6.23)  At the time of being made to accept a body which was śuddha-sattva (śuddhām) because it was not a material body and because it belonged to the Lord (bhāgavatīṁ), my material body (pāñca-bhautikaḥ) fell away. Giving up my material body and attaining a spiritual body were simultaneous, like the expression “I am walking while the cows are being milked.” The Lord’s own words were hitvāvadyam imaṁ lokam. The use of the verb form hitvā (giving up the material body) in this case indicates simultaneously giving up the material body while receiving the spiritual body. It is said:    

kvacit tulya-kāle ’pi upaviśya bhuṅkte ṛṇat-kṛtya patati cakṣuḥ saṁmīlya hasati mukhaṁ vyādāya svapitīty ādikam upasaṅkhyeyam -

There are examples in which the participles indicate simultaneous actions as in sitting down and eating, assuming debts and falling from esteem, closing the eyes and laughing, lowering the head and falling asleep. (Bhāṣā-vṛtti)."

Śrīmad Bhāgavata 1.15.32 -

niśamya bhagavan-mārgaṁ saṁsthāṁ yadu-kulasya ca 

svaḥ-pathāya matiṁ cakre nibhṛtātmā yudhiṣṭhiraḥ 

“Hearing the arrangements of the Lord and the proper situation of the Yadu family, without others knowing, Yudhiṣṭhira fixed his mind on attaining Kṛṣṇa’s abode. “

Normally the word svaḥ refers to the material heavens but in this case it means Kṛṣṇa's abode because later on in Śrīmad Bhāgavata [1.19.20] it is said about the Pāṇḍavas' final attainment -

na vā idaṁ rājarṣi-varya citraṁ

bhavatsu kṛṣṇaṁ samanuvrateṣu

ye ’dhyāsanaṁ rāja-kirīṭa-juṣṭaṁ

sadyo jahur bhagavat-pārśva-kāmāḥ

"O best of kings! It is not surprising that those desiring to associate with the Lord, born in the Pāṇḍava family and devoted solely to Kṛṣṇa, immediately gave up the royal throne served by kings' crowns."

From the context of this verse it is clear that bhagavat-pārśva-kāmāḥ means wanting to attain the Lord's side in the spiritual world because the departure of Kṛṣṇa from the material world had already taken place in chapter 14 of the same Canto.

Śrīmad Bhāgavata 3.2.23 is the clearest case of a soul attaining a personal relationship with Kṛṣṇa in a spiritual body, and it is most astonishingly bestowed to someone who tried to kill Him -

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ

jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī

lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ

kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

"Oh! Evil Pūtanā, who offered her poisonous breast to Kṛṣṇa to drink with the intention of killing him, attained the position of a nurse in the spiritual world. Who else is so merciful? I surrender to him!"

Another very clear one - Śrīmad Bhāgavata 3.15.25:

yac ca vrajanty animiṣām ṛṣabhānuvṛttyā

dūre yamā hy upari naḥ spṛhaṇīya-śīlāḥ

bhartur mithaḥ suyaśasaḥ kathanānurāga-

vaiklavya-bāṣpa-kalayā pulakī-kṛtāṅgāḥ

"Those who are far above rules by following the Lord with dedication, who are superior to us, and whose qualities are desirable by us, and whose bodies develop goose bumps and uncontrolled tears through attraction to discussions of the Lord possessing most excellent qualities, enter Vaikuṇṭha."

Verses 13-24 were an elaborate description of Vaikuntha so the context of this verse is crystal clear.

Dhruva undergoing transfiguration, his human body turning into a spiritual body on the spot, in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 4.12.29 –

parītyābhyarcya dhiṣṇyāgryaṁ

pārṣadāv abhivandya ca

iyeṣa tad adhiṣṭhātuṁ

bibhrad rūpaṁ hiraṇmayam

"Circumambulating and worshipping the plane which brought him to Dhruvaloka, an outpost of Vaikuṇṭha, offering respects to the two associates of the Lord, assuming a golden form, Dhruva desired to board the plane."

Ajāmila in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 6.2.43 -

hitvā kalevaraṁ tīrthe

gaṅgāyāṁ darśanād anu

sadyaḥ svarūpaṁ jagṛhe

bhagavat-pārśva-vartinām

"After seeing those forms, Ajāmila gave up his body at this holy place on the Gaṅgā River and immediately attained a spiritual body as an associate of the Lord."

Śrīnātha Cakravartī, disciple of Advaita Prabhu, comments in his Caitanya Mata Mañjuṣā-ṭīkā – sadyo’vyavadhānenaiva – sadya means seamlessly, (this happens) without a break, immediately.

Gajendra says in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 8.3.19 –

yaṁ dharma-kāmārtha-vimukti-kāmā

bhajanta iṣṭāṁ gatim āpnuvanti

kiṁ cāśiṣo rāty api deham avyayaṁ

karotu me 'dabhra-dayo vimokṣaṇam

"Persons desiring dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa worship the Lord and attain the desired destination. What to speak of other benedictions, they also receive a spiritual body. May that Lord of unlimited mercy liberate me and bestow such a spiritual body."

To my knowledge there are no more references in Śrīmad Bhāgavata of the siddha deha.