Uttamasloka: Unbelievable how devotees misunderstand things so much. Shocking really. They are definitely not studying the books very deeply. That's the first problem.
Brihad-bhagavatamrita is not an explanation of how we return to Godhead. We are not going to go through all of the realms like Gopa Kumara. That story was instructive not literal. This swami made no mention of taking birth in bhauma-lila which is where we 'grow up' and get our full self-conception as one of the Vraja-vasis. THAT is how it works.
Now, we do meet Krsna and everyone before we take birth in bhauma-lila, ie: at the stage of bhava, and Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura describes that in Madhurya-kadambini. There is no mention of Krsna saying "Hey nice to see you return". It is described as a first meeting. And here is Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura's description of the necessity of taking birth in bhauma-lila, from Raga-vartma-candrika:
One may ask, “Why don’t you say that when the sādhaka attains the stage of prema and leaves his body, he will take a gopīka body in the spiritual world without taking birth from the womb of a gopīka, after which he manifests sneha and so on, there in that body through the association of the eternally perfect gopīs?”
The answer here is: “No, that will not happen, because then one cannot get a harmonious acquaintance according to the human-like pastimes there, like: ‘Whose daughter is this sakhī? Whose wife is she? Whose daughter-in-law is she?’
‘Alright then’ one may say, ‘Then what is the harm in taking birth in the aprakaṭa-līlā?’ Then the answer is no, that also cannot be. Sādhakas or materially conditioned souls cannot enter into the transcendental manifestation named Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma. Only perfected souls can enter it. Even through one’s own sādhana the moods of sneha and so on are not easily attained.
Therefore, those devotees for whom yoga māyā, for the sake of perfecting their moods like sneha and so on, arranges that prema is manifest in them after they take birth in Kṛṣṇa’s materially manifest pastimes in Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma, and before they attain Kṛṣṇa’s bodily association, they are taken to Kṛṣṇa’s materially manifest pastimes in Vṛndāvana.
Because practicing devotees, karmis, and perfected devotees can all be seen to enter into the materially manifest Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma, it is experienced as both sādhaka bhūmi and siddha bhūmi.
Then if you say, “Where will those most eager sādhakas stay after they attain prema and until they attain a gopīka body, after leaving their material bodies?”
Then I answer: “After the sādhaka body perishes, that loving devotee, who has eagerly desired direct devotional service for a long time, will at once, by the Lord’s grace, receive the gift of the desired service and the audience of the Lord and His eternal associates, just as He once bestowed direct audience to Nārada Muni.
He will give the sādhaka a transcendental gopīka body. Yogamāyā will make that body take birth from a gopīka mother in the manifest pastimes when Kṛṣṇa descends to earth with His eternal associates. There will not be a moment’s delay in that because the prakaṭa-līlā goes on without interruption. He will take birth in that material universe where Kṛṣṇa plays His manifest Vṛndāvana līlā at that time. Kṛṣṇa and His associates appear when the loving practicing devotee leaves his body.
Therefore, O greatly eager anurāgi devotees, don’t be afraid! Be at ease! All is auspicious for You!” RVC, 2.7
