Text 37
pañca-ṣaḍḍhāyanārbhābhāḥ
pūrveṣām api pūrvajāḥ
dig-vāsasaḥ śiśūn matvā
dvāḥ-sthau tān pratyaṣedhatām
pañca-ṣaṭ-dhā — five or six years; āyana — approaching; arbha-ābhāḥ — like boys; pūrveṣām — the ancients of the universe (Marīci and the rest); api — even though; pūrva-jāḥ — born before; dik-vāsasaḥ — being naked; śiśūn — children; matvā — thinking; dvāḥ-sthau — the two gate guards, Jaya and Vijaya; tān — them; pratyaṣedhatām — forbade.
Although these four great sages were older than Brahmā’s other sons like Marīci, they appeared like small naked children only five or six years old. When Jaya and Vijaya saw them trying to enter Vaikuṇṭhaloka, these two gatekeepers, thinking them ordinary children, forbade them to enter.
In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya says in his Tantra-sāra:
dvāḥ-sthāv ity anenādhikāra-sthatvam uktam
adhikāra-sthitāś caiva
vimuktāś ca dvidhā janāḥ
viṣṇu-loka-sthitās teṣāṁ
vara-śāpādi-yoginaḥ
adhikāra-sthitāṁ muktiṁ
niyataṁ prāpnuvanti ca
vimukty-anantaraṁ teṣāṁ
vara-śāpādayo nanu
dehendriyāsu-yuktaś ca
pūrvaṁ paścān na tair yutāḥ
apy abhimānibhis teṣāṁ
devaiḥ svātmottamair yutāḥ
The purport is that the personal associates of Lord Viṣṇu in Vaikuṇṭhaloka are always liberated souls. Even if sometimes cursed or blessed, they are always liberated and never contaminated by the material modes of nature. Before their liberation to Vaikuṇṭhaloka they possessed material bodies, but once they come to Vaikuṇṭha they no longer have them. Therefore even if the associates of Lord Viṣṇu sometimes descend as if cursed, they are always liberated.