NoD Preface

The Nectar of Devotion is a summary study of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, which was written in Sanskrit by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda. He was the chief of the six Gosvämés, who were the direct disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu. When he first met Lord Caitanya, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda was engaged as a minister in the Muhammadan government of Bengal. He and his brother Sanätana were then named Dabira Khäsa and Säkara Mallika respectively, and they held responsible posts as ministers of Nawab Hussain Shah. At that time, five hundred years ago, the Hindu society was very rigid, and if a member of the brähmaëa caste accepted the service of a Muhammadan ruler he was at once rejected from brähmaëa society. That was the position of the two brothers, Dabira Khäsa and Säkara Mallika. They belonged to the highly situated särasvata-brähmaëa community, but they were ostracized due to their acceptance of ministerial posts in the government of Hussain Shah. It is the grace of Lord Caitanya that He accepted these two exalted personalities as His disciples and raised them to the position of gosvämés, the highest position of brahminical culture. Similarly, Lord Caitanya accepted Haridäsa Öhäkura as His disciple, although Haridäsa happened to be born of a Muhammadan family, and Lord Caitanya later on made him the äcärya of the chanting of the holy name of the Lord: Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.

Lord Caitanya’s principle is universal. Anyone who knows the science of Kåñëa and is engaged in the service of the Lord is accepted as being in a higher position than a person born in the family of a brähmaëa. That is the original principle accepted by all Vedic literatures, especially by Bhagavad-gétä and Çrémad-Bhägavatam. The principle of Lord Caitanya’s movement in educating and elevating everyone to the exalted post of a gosvämé is taught in The Nectar of Devotion.

Lord Caitanya met the two brothers Dabira Khäsa and Säkara Mallika in a village known as Rämakeli in the district of Maldah, and after that meeting the brothers decided to retire from government service and join Lord Caitanya. Dabira Khäsa, who was later to become Rüpa Gosvämé, retired from his post and collected all the money he had accumulated during his service. It is described in the Caitanya-caritämåta that his accumulated savings in gold coins equaled millions of dollars and filled a large boat. He divided the money in a very exemplary manner, which should be followed by devotees in particular and by humanity in general. Fifty percent of his accumulated wealth was distributed to the Kåñëa conscious persons, namely the brähmaëas and the Vaiñëavas; twenty-five percent was distributed to relatives; and twenty-five percent was kept against emergency expenditures and personal difficulties. Later on, when Säkara Mallika also proposed to retire, the Nawab was very much agitated and put him into jail. But Säkara Mallika, who was later to become Çréla Sanätana Gosvämé, took advantage of his brother’s personal money, which had been deposited with a village banker, and escaped from the prison of Hussain Shah. In this way both brothers joined Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu.

Rüpa Gosvämé first met Lord Caitanya at Prayäga (Allahabad, India), and on the Daçäçvamedha bathing ghäöa of that holy city the Lord instructed him continually for ten days. The Lord particularly instructed Rüpa Gosvämé on the science of Kåñëa consciousness. These teachings of Lord Caitanya to Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda are narrated in our book Teachings of Lord Caitanya.

Later, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda elaborated the teachings of the Lord with profound knowledge of revealed scriptures and authoritative references from various Vedic literatures. Çréla Çréniväsa Äcärya describes in his prayers to the six Gosvämés that they were all highly learned scholars, not only in Sanskrit but also in foreign languages such as Persian and Arabic. They very scrutinizingly studied all the Vedic scriptures in order to establish the cult of Caitanya Mahäprabhu on the authorized principles of Vedic knowledge. The present Kåñëa consciousness movement is also based on the authority of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda. We are therefore generally known as rüpänugas, or followers in the footsteps of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda. It is only for our guidance that Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé prepared his book Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, which is now presented in the form of The Nectar of Devotion. Persons engaged in the Kåñëa consciousness movement may take advantage of this great literature and be very solidly situated in Kåñëa consciousness.

Bhakti means “devotional service.” Every service has some attractive feature which drives the servitor progressively on and on. Every one of us within this world is perpetually engaged in some sort of service, and the impetus for such service is the pleasure we derive from it. Driven by affection for his wife and children, a family man works day and night. A philanthropist works in the same way for love of the greater family, and a nationalist for the cause of his country and countrymen. That force which drives the philanthropist, the householder and the nationalist is called rasa, or a kind of mellow (relationship) whose taste is very sweet. Bhakti-rasa is a mellow different from the ordinary rasa enjoyed by mundane workers. Mundane workers labor very hard day and night in order to relish a certain kind of rasa which is understood as sense gratification. The relish or taste of the mundane rasa does not long endure, and therefore mundane workers are always apt to change their position of enjoyment. A businessman is not satisfied by working the whole week; therefore, wanting a change for the weekend, he goes to a place where he tries to forget his business activities. Then, after the weekend is spent in forgetfulness, he again changes his position and resumes his actual business activities. Material engagement means accepting a particular status for some time and then changing it. This position of changing back and forth is technically known as bhoga-tyäga, which means a position of alternating sense enjoyment and renunciation. A living entity cannot steadily remain either in sense enjoyment or in renunciation. Change is going on perpetually, and we cannot be happy in either state, because of our eternal constitutional position. Sense gratification does not endure for long, and it is therefore called capala-sukha, or flickering happiness. For example, an ordinary family man who works very hard day and night and is successful in giving comforts to the members of his family thereby relishes a kind of mellow, but his whole advancement of material happiness immediately terminates along with his body as soon as his life is over. Death is therefore taken as the representative of God for the atheistic class of men. The devotee realizes the presence of God by devotional service, whereas the atheist realizes the presence of God in the shape of death. At death everything is finished, and one has to begin a new chapter of life in a new situation, perhaps higher or lower than the last one. In any field of activity—political, social, national or international—the result of our actions will be finished with the end of life. That is sure.

Bhakti-rasa, however, the mellow relished in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, does not finish with the end of life. It continues perpetually and is therefore called amåta, that which does not die but exists eternally. This is confirmed in all Vedic literatures. Bhagavad-gétä says that a little advancement in bhakti-rasa can save the devotee from the greatest danger—that of missing the opportunity for human life. The rasas derived from our feelings in social life, in family life or in the greater family life of altruism, philanthropy, nationalism, socialism, communism, etc., do not guarantee that one’s next life will be as a human being. We prepare our next life by our actual activities in the present life. A living entity is offered a particular type of body as a result of his action in the present body. These activities are taken into account by a superior authority known as daiva, or the authority of God. This daiva is explained in Bhagavad-gétä as the prime cause of everything, and in Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is stated that a man takes his next body by daiva-netreëa, which means by the supervision of the authority of the Supreme. In an ordinary sense, daiva is explained as forms; the choice does not depend on our selection, but is awarded to us according to our destiny. If our body at present is engaged in the activities of Kåñëa consciousness, then it is guaranteed that we will have at least a human body in our next life. A human being engaged in Kåñëa consciousness, even if unable to complete the course of bhakti-yoga, takes birth in the higher divisions of human society so that he can automatically further his advancement in Kåñëa consciousness. Therefore, all bona fide activities in Kåñëa consciousness are amåta, or permanent. This is the subject matter of The Nectar of Devotion.

This eternal engagement in bhakti-rasa can be understood by a serious student upon studying The Nectar of Devotion. Adoption of bhakti-rasa, or Kåñëa consciousness, will immediately bring one to an auspicious life free from anxieties and will bless one with transcendental existence, thus minimizing the value of liberation. Bhakti-rasa itself is sufficient to produce a feeling of liberation, because it attracts the attention of the Supreme Lord, Kåñëa. Generally, neophyte devotees are anxious to see Kåñëa, or God, but God cannot be seen or known by our present materially blunt senses. The process of devotional service as it is recommended in The Nectar of Devotion will gradually elevate one from the material condition of life to the spiritual status, wherein the devotee becomes purified of all designations. The senses can then become uncontaminated, being constantly in touch with bhakti-rasa. When the purified senses are employed in the service of the Lord, one becomes situated in bhakti-rasa life, and any action performed for the satisfaction of Kåñëa in this transcendental bhakti-rasa stage of life can be relished perpetually. When one is thus engaged in devotional service, all varieties of rasas, or mellows, turn into eternity. In the beginning one is trained according to the principles of regulation under the guidance of the äcärya, or spiritual master, and gradually, when one is elevated, devotional service becomes automatic and spontaneous eagerness to serve Kåñëa. There are twelve kinds of rasas, as will be explained in this book, and by renovating our relationship with Kåñëa in five primary rasas we can live eternally in full knowledge and bliss.

The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being. Even an animal like a tiger has this loving propensity at least in a dormant stage, and it is certainly present in the human beings. The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can become happy. At the present moment the human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. That missing point is Kåñëa, and The Nectar of Devotion teaches us how to stimulate our original love for Kåñëa and how to be situated in that position where we can enjoy our blissful life.

In the primary stage a child loves his parents, then his brothers and sisters, and as he daily grows up he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, or even the whole human society. But the loving propensity is not satisfied even by loving all human society; that loving propensity remains imperfectly fulfilled until we know who is the supreme beloved. Our love can be fully satisfied only when it is reposed in Kåñëa. This theme is the sum and substance of The Nectar of Devotion, which teaches us how to love Kåñëa in five different transcendental mellows.

Our loving propensity expands just as a vibration of light or air expands, but we do not know where it ends. The Nectar of Devotion teaches us the science of loving every one of the living entities perfectly by the easy method of loving Kåñëa. We have failed to create peace and harmony in human society, even by such great attempts as the United Nations, because we do not know the right method. The method is very simple, but one has to understand it with a cool head. The Nectar of Devotion teaches all men how to perform the simple and natural method of loving Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we learn how to love Kåñëa, then it is very easy to immediately and simultaneously love every living being. It is like pouring water on the root of a tree or supplying food to one’s stomach. The method of pouring water on the root of a tree or supplying foodstuffs to the stomach is universally scientific and practical, as every one of us has experienced. Everyone knows well that when we eat something, or in other words, when we put foodstuffs in the stomach, the energy created by such action is immediately distributed throughout the whole body. Similarly, when we pour water on the root, the energy thus created is immediately distributed throughout the entirety of even the largest tree. It is not possible to water the tree part by part, nor is it possible to feed the different parts of the body separately. The Nectar of Devotion will teach us how to turn the one switch that will immediately brighten everything, everywhere. One who does not know this method is missing the point of life.

As far as material necessities are concerned, the human civilization at the present moment is very much advanced in living comfortably, but still we are not happy, because we are missing the point. The material comforts of life alone are not sufficient to make us happy. The vivid example is America: the richest nation of the world, having all facilities for material comfort, is producing a class of men completely confused and frustrated in life. I am appealing herewith to such confused men to learn the art of devotional service as directed in The Nectar of Devotion, and I am sure that the fire of material existence burning within their hearts will be immediately extinguished. The root cause of our dissatisfaction is that our dormant loving propensity has not been fulfilled despite our great advancement in the materialistic way of life. The Nectar of Devotion will give us practical hints how we can live in this material world perfectly engaged in devotional service and thus fulfill all our desires in this life and the next. The Nectar of Devotion is not presented to condemn any way of materialistic life, but the attempt is to give information to religionists, philosophers and people in general how to love Kåñëa. One may live without material discomfiture, but at the same time he should learn the art of loving Kåñëa. At the present moment we are inventing so many ways to utilize our propensity to love, but factually we are missing the real point: Kåñëa. We are watering all parts of the tree, but missing the tree’s root. We are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but we are neglecting to supply foodstuffs to the stomach. Missing Kåñëa means missing one’s self also. Real self-realization and realization of Kåñëa go together simultaneously. For example, seeing oneself in the morning means seeing the sunrise also; without seeing the sunshine no one can see himself. Similarly, unless one has realized Kåñëa there is no question of self-realization.

The Nectar of Devotion is specifically presented for persons who are now engaged in the Kåñëa consciousness movement. I beg to offer my sincere thanks to all my friends and disciples who are helping me to push forward the Kåñëa consciousness movement in the Western countries, and I beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the contribution made by my beloved disciple Çréman Jayänanda brahmacäré. My thanks are due as well to the directors of ISKCON Press, who have taken so much care in publishing this great literature. Hare Kåñëa.

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ISKCON Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

NoD Introduction

Invoking auspiciousness: Lord Çré Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the reservoir of all rasas, or relationships, which are called neutrality (passive adoration), servitorship, friendship, parenthood, conjugal love, comedy, compassion, fear, chivalry, ghastliness, wonder and devastation. He is the supreme attractive form, and by His universal and transcendental attractive features He has captivated all the gopés, headed by Tärakä, Pälikä, Çyämä, Lalitä, and ultimately Çrématé Rädhäräëé. Let His Lordship’s grace be on us so that there may not be any hindrance in the execution of this duty of writing The Nectar of Devotion, impelled by His Divine Grace Çré Çrémad Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Gosvämé Prabhupäda.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé Prabhupäda and of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Gosvämé Prabhupäda, by whose inspiration I have been engaged in the matter of compiling this summary study of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu. This is the sublime science of devotional service as propounded by Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, who appeared five hundred years ago in West Bengal, India, to propagate the movement of Kåñëa consciousness.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé begins his great book by offering his respectful obeisances unto Çré Sanätana Gosvämé, who is his elder brother and spiritual master, and he prays that Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu may be very pleasing to him. He further prays that by residing in that ocean of nectar, Çré Sanätana Gosvämé may always feel transcendental pleasure in the service of Rädhä and Kåñëa.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances to all the great devotees and äcäryas (holy teachers), who are compared to sharks in the great ocean of nectar and who do not care for the various rivers of liberation. Impersonalists are very fond of merging into the Supreme, like rivers that come down and merge into the ocean. The ocean can be compared to liberation, and the rivers to all the different paths of liberation. The impersonalists are dwelling in the river water, which eventually comes to mix with the ocean. They have no information, however, that within the ocean, as within the river, there are innumerable aquatic living entities. The sharks who dwell in the ocean do not care for the rivers which are gliding down into it. The devotees eternally live in the ocean of devotional service, and they do not care for the rivers. In other words, those who are pure devotees always remain in the ocean of transcendental loving service to the Lord and have no business with the other processes, which are compared to the rivers that only gradually come to the ocean.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé prays to his spiritual master, Çréla Sanätana Gosvämé, for the protection of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu—“The Ocean of the Pure Nectar of Devotional Service”—from the argumentative logicians who unnecessarily meddle in the science of service to the Lord. He compares their arguments and logic to volcanic eruptions in the midst of the ocean. In the midst of the ocean, volcanic eruptions can do very little harm, and similarly, those who are against devotional service to the Lord and who put forward many philosophical theses about the ultimate transcendental realization cannot disturb this great ocean of devotional service.

The author of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, very humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Kåñëa consciousness all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this work. That should be the attitude of all preachers of the Kåñëa consciousness movement, following in the footsteps of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé. We should never think of ourselves as great preachers, but should always consider that we are simply instrumental to the previous äcäryas, and simply by following in their footsteps we may be able to do something for the benefit of suffering humanity.

Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu is divided into four parts, just as the ocean is sometimes divided into four parts, and there are different sections within each of these four divisions. Originally, in Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, the ocean is divided like the watery ocean into east, south, west and north, while the subsections within these different divisions are called waves. As in the ocean there are always different waves, either on the eastern side, the southern side, the western side or the northern side, Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu similarly has different waves. In the first part there are four waves, the first being a general description of devotional service. The second concerns the regulative principles for executing devotional service, and the third wave, devotional service in ecstasy. In the fourth is the ultimate goal, love of God. These will be explicitly described along with their different symptoms.

The authorized descriptions of bhakti, or devotional service, following in the footsteps of previous äcäryas, can be summarized in the following statement by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé: “First-class devotional service is known by one’s tendency to be fully engaged in Kåñëa consciousness, serving the Lord favorably.” The purport is that one may also be in Kåñëa consciousness unfavorably, but that cannot be counted as pure devotional service. Pure devotional service should be free from the desire for any material benefit or for sense gratification, as these desires are cultivated through fruitive activities and philosophical speculation. Generally, people are engaged in different activities to get some material profit, while most philosophers are engaged in proposing transcendental realization through volumes of word jugglery and speculation. Pure devotional service must always be free from such fruitive activities and philosophical speculations. One has to learn Kåñëa consciousness, or pure devotional service, from the authorities by spontaneous loving service.

This devotional service is a sort of cultivation. It is not simply inaction for people who like to be inactive or devote their time to silent meditation. There are many different methods for people who want this, but cultivation of Kåñëa consciousness is different. The particular word used by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé in this connection is anuçélana, or cultivation by following the predecessor teachers (äcäryas). As soon as we say “cultivation,” we must refer to activity. Without activity, consciousness alone cannot help us. All activities may be divided into two classes: one class may be for achieving a certain goal, and the other may be for avoiding some unfavorable circumstance. In Sanskrit, these activities are called pravåtti and nivåtti—positive and negative action. There are many examples of negative action. For instance, a diseased person has to be cautious and take medicine in order to avoid some unfavorable illness.

Those who are cultivating spiritual life and executing devotional service are always engaged in activity. Such activity can be performed with the body or with the mind. Thinking, feeling and willing are all activities of the mind, and when we will to do something, the activity comes to be manifest by the gross bodily senses. Thus, in our mental activities we should always try to think of Kåñëa and try to plan how to please Him, following in the footsteps of the great äcäryas and the personal spiritual master. There are activities of the body, activities of the mind and activities of speech. A Kåñëa conscious person engages his words in preaching the glories of the Lord. This is called kértana. And by his mind a Kåñëa conscious person always thinks of the activities of the Lord—as He is speaking on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra or engaging in His various pastimes in Våndävana with His devotees. In this way one can always think of the activities and pastimes of the Lord. This is the mental culture of Kåñëa consciousness.

Similarly, we can offer many services with our bodily activities. But all such activities must be in relationship with Kåñëa. This relationship is established by connecting oneself with the bona fide spiritual master, who is the direct representative of Kåñëa in disciplic succession. Therefore, the execution of Kåñëa conscious activities with the body should be directed by the spiritual master and then performed with faith. The connection with the spiritual master is called initiation. From the date of initiation by the spiritual master, the connection between Kåñëa and a person cultivating Kåñëa consciousness is established. Without initiation by a bona fide spiritual master, the actual connection with Kåñëa consciousness is never performed.

This cultivation of Kåñëa consciousness is not material. The Lord has three general energies—namely the external energy, the internal energy and the marginal energy. The living entities are called marginal energy, and the material cosmic manifestation is the action of the external, or material, energy. Then there is the spiritual world, which is a manifestation of the internal energy. The living entities, who are called marginal energy, perform material activities when acting under the inferior, external energy. And when they engage in activities under the internal, spiritual energy, their activities are called Kåñëa conscious. This means that those who are great souls or great devotees do not act under the spell of material energy, but act instead under the protection of the spiritual energy. Any activities done in devotional service, or in Kåñëa consciousness, are directly under the control of spiritual energy. In other words, energy is a sort of strength, and this strength can be spiritualized by the mercy of both the bona fide spiritual master and Kåñëa.

In the Caitanya-caritämåta, by Kåñëadäsa Kaviräja Gosvämé, Lord Caitanya states that it is a fortunate person who comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kåñëa. One who is serious about spiritual life is given by Kåñëa the intelligence to come in contact with a bona fide spiritual master, and then by the grace of the spiritual master one becomes advanced in Kåñëa consciousness. In this way the whole jurisdiction of Kåñëa consciousness is directly under the spiritual energy—Kåñëa and the spiritual master. This has nothing to do with the material world. When we speak of “Kåñëa” we refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His many expansions. He is expanded by His plenary parts and parcels, His differentiated parts and parcels and His different energies. “Kåñëa,” in other words, means everything and includes everything. Generally, however, we should understand “Kåñëa” to mean Kåñëa and His personal expansions. Kåñëa expands Himself as Baladeva, Saìkarñaëa, Väsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Räma, Nåsiàha and Varäha, as well as many other incarnations and innumerable Viñëu expansions. These are described in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam to be as numerous as the uncountable waves. So Kåñëa includes all such expansions, as well as His pure devotees. In the Brahma-saàhitä it is stated that Kåñëa’s expansions are all complete in eternity, blissfulness and cognizance.

Devotional service means to prosecute Kåñëa conscious activities which are favorable to the transcendental pleasure of the Supreme Lord, Kåñëa, and any activities which are not favorable to the transcendental favor of the Lord cannot be accepted as devotional service. For example, great demons like Rävaëa, Kaàsa and Hiraëyakaçipu were always thinking of Kåñëa, but they were thinking of Him as their enemy. This sort of thinking cannot be accepted as bhakti, or Kåñëa consciousness.

The impersonalists sometimes misunderstand devotional service in such a way that they divide Kåñëa from His paraphernalia and pastimes. For example, the Bhagavad-gétä is spoken on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, and the impersonalists say that although Kåñëa is of interest, the Battlefield of Kurukñetra isn’t. The devotees, however, also know that the Battlefield of Kurukñetra by itself has nothing to do with their business, but in addition they know that “Kåñëa” does not mean just Kåñëa alone. He is always with His associates and paraphernalia. For instance, if someone says, “Give something to eat to the man with the weapons,” the eating process is done by the man and not by the weapons. Similarly, in Kåñëa consciousness, a devotee may be interested in the paraphernalia and locations—such as the Battlefield of Kurukñetra—which are associated with Kåñëa, but he is not concerned with simply any battlefield. He is concerned with Kåñëa—His speech, His instructions, etc. It is because Kåñëa is there that the battlefield is so important.

This is the summary understanding of what Kåñëa consciousness is. Without this understanding one is sure to misunderstand why the devotees are interested in the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. One who is interested in Kåñëa becomes interested in His different pastimes and activities.

The definition of a pure devotee, as given by Rüpa Gosvämé in Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, can be summarized thus: his service is favorable and is always in relation to Kåñëa. In order to keep the purity of such Kåñëa conscious activities, one must be freed from all material desires and philosophical speculation. Any desire except for the service of the Lord is called material desire. And “philosophical speculation” refers to the sort of speculation which ultimately arrives at a conclusion of voidism or impersonalism. This conclusion is useless for a Kåñëa conscious person. Only rarely by philosophical speculation can one reach the conclusion of worshiping Väsudeva, Kåñëa. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gétä itself. The ultimate end of philosophical speculation, then, must be Kåñëa, with the understanding that Kåñëa is everything, the cause of all causes, and that one should therefore surrender unto Him. If this ultimate goal is reached, then philosophical advancement is favorable, but if the conclusion of philosophical speculation is voidism or impersonalism, that is not bhakti.

Karma, or fruitive activities, are sometimes understood to be ritualistic activities. There are many persons who are very much attracted by the ritualistic activities described in the Vedas. But if one becomes attracted simply to ritualistic activities without understanding Kåñëa, his activities are unfavorable to Kåñëa consciousness. Actually, Kåñëa consciousness can be based simply on hearing, chanting, remembering, etc. Described in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam are nine different processes, besides which everything done is unfavorable to Kåñëa consciousness. Thus, one should always be guarding against falldowns.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has also mentioned in this definition of bhakti the word jïäna-karmädi. This karmädi (fruitive work) consists of activities which are unable to help one attain to pure devotional service. Many forms of so-called renunciation are also not favorable to Kåñëa conscious devotional service.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has also quoted a definition from the Närada-païcarätra, as follows: “One should be free from all material designations and, by Kåñëa consciousness, must be cleansed of all material contamination. He should be restored to his pure identity, in which he engages his senses in the service of the proprietor of the senses.” So when our senses are engaged for the actual proprietor of the senses, that is called devotional service. In our conditional state, our senses are engaged in serving these bodily demands. When the same senses are engaged in executing the order of Kåñëa, our activities are called bhakti.

As long as one identifies himself as belonging to a certain family, a certain society or a certain person, he is said to be covered with designations. When one is fully aware that he does not belong to any family, society or country, but is eternally related to Kåñëa, he then realizes that his energy should be employed not in the interests of so-called family, society or country, but in the interests of Kåñëa. This is purity of purpose and the platform of pure devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness.

NoD 1: Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Third Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verses 12 and 13, Çréla Kapiladeva, while instructing His mother, has given the following characteristics of pure devotional service: “My dear mother, those who are My pure devotees, and who have no desire for material benefit or philosophical speculation, have their minds so much engaged in My service that they are never interested in asking Me for anything—except to be engaged in that service. They do not even beg to live in My abode with Me.”

There are five kinds of liberation, namely to become one with the Lord, to live with the Supreme Lord on the same planet, to have the same features as the Lord, to enjoy the same opulences as the Lord and to live as a companion of the Lord. A devotee, what to speak of rejecting material sense gratification, does not even want any of the five kinds of liberation. He is satisfied simply by discharging loving service to the Lord. That is the characteristic of pure devotion.

In the above statement by Kapiladeva from Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the actual position of a pure devotee is described, and the primary characteristics of devotional service are also defined. Further characteristics of devotional service are described by Rüpa Gosvämé with evidences from different scriptures. He states that there are six characteristics of pure devotional service, which are as follows:

(1) Pure devotional service brings immediate relief from all kinds of material distress.

(2) Pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness.

(3) Pure devotional service automatically puts one in transcendental pleasure.

(4) Pure devotional service is rarely achieved.

(5) Those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of liberation.

(6) Pure devotional service is the only means to attract Kåñëa.

Kåñëa is all-attractive, but pure devotional service attracts even Him. This means that pure devotional service is even transcendentally stronger than Kåñëa Himself, because it is Kåñëa’s internal potency.

In Bhagavad-gétä, the Lord says that one should surrender unto Him, giving up all other engagements. The Lord also gives His word there that He will protect surrendered souls from the reactions of all sinful activities. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that the distresses from sinful activities are due both to the sins themselves and to sins committed in our past lives. Generally, one commits sinful activities due to ignorance. But ignorance is no excuse for evading the reaction—sinful activities. Sinful activities are of two kinds: those which are mature and those which are not mature. The sinful activities for which we are suffering at the present moment are called mature. The many sinful activities stored within us for which we have not yet suffered are considered immature. For example, a man may have committed criminal acts, but not yet been arrested for them. Now, as soon as he is detected, arrest is awaiting him. Similarly, for some of our sinful activities we are awaiting distresses in the future, and for others, which are mature, we are suffering at the present moment.

In this way there is a chain of sinful activities and their concomitant distresses, and the conditioned soul is suffering life after life due to these sins. He is suffering in the present life the results of sinful activities from his past life, and he is meanwhile creating further sufferings for his future life. Mature sinful activities are exhibited if one is suffering from some chronic disease, if one is suffering from some legal implication, if one is born in a low and degraded family or if one is uneducated or very ugly.

There are many results of past sinful activities for which we are suffering at the present moment, and we may be suffering in the future due to our present sinful activities. But all of these reactions to sinful deeds can immediately be stopped if we take to Kåñëa consciousness. As evidence for this, Rüpa Gosvämé quotes from Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 19. This verse is in connection with Lord Kåñëa’s instruction to Uddhava, where He says, “My dear Uddhava, devotional service unto Me is just like a blazing fire which can burn into ashes unlimited fuel supplied to it.” The purport is that as the blazing fire can burn any amount of fuel to ashes, so devotional service to the Lord in Kåñëa consciousness can burn up all the fuel of sinful activities. For example, in the Gétä Arjuna thought that fighting was a sinful activity, but Kåñëa engaged him on the battlefield under His order, and so the fighting became devotional service. Therefore, Arjuna was not subjected to any sinful reaction.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé quotes another verse from the Third Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Thirty-third Chapter, verse 6, in which Devahüti addresses her son, Kapiladeva, and says, “My dear Lord, there are nine different kinds of devotional service, beginning from hearing and chanting. Anyone who hears about Your pastimes, who chants about Your glories, who offers You obeisances, who thinks of You and, in this way, executes any of the nine kinds of devotional service—even if he is born in a family of dog-eaters [the lowest grade of mankind]—becomes immediately qualified to perform sacrifices.” As such, how is it possible that anyone actually engaged in devotional service in full Kåñëa consciousness has not become purified? It is not possible. One who is engaged in Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service has without doubt become freed from all contaminations of material sinful activities. Devotional service therefore has the power to actually nullify all kinds of reactions to sinful deeds. A devotee is nevertheless always alert not to commit any sinful activities; this is his specific qualification as a devotee. Thus Çrémad-Bhägavatam states that by performing devotional service a person who was born even in a family of dog-eaters may become eligible to take part in the performance of the ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the Vedas. It is implicit in this statement that a person born into a family of dog-eaters is generally not fit for performing yajïa, or sacrifice. The priestly caste in charge of performing these ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the Vedas is called the brähmaëa order. Unless one is a brähmaëa, he cannot perform these ceremonies.

A person is born in a brähmaëa family or in a family of dog-eaters due to his past activities. If a person is born in a family of dog-eaters it means that his past activities were all sinful. But if even such a person takes to the path of devotional service and begins to chant the holy names of the Lord—Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare—he is at once fit to perform the ritualistic ceremonies. This means that his sinful reactions have immediately become neutralized.

It is stated in the Padma Puräëa that there are four kinds of effects due to sinful activities, which are listed as follows: (1) the effect which is not yet fructified, (2) the effect which is lying as seed, (3) the effect which is already mature and (4) the effect which is almost mature. It is also stated that all these four effects become immediately vanquished for those who surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viñëu, and become engaged in His devotional service in full Kåñëa consciousness.

Those effects described as “almost mature” refer to the distress from which one is suffering at present, and the effects “lying as seed” are in the core of the heart, where there is a certain stock of sinful desires which are like seeds. The Sanskrit word küöam means that they are almost ready to produce the seed, or the effect of the seed. “An immature effect” refers to the case where the seedling has not begun. From this statement of Padma Puräëa it is understood that material contamination is very subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and results, and how one suffers such results in the form of distress, are part of a great chain. When one catches some disease, it is often very difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease, where it originated and how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease, however, does not appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And as in the medical field, for precaution’s sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to prevent the growing of contamination, the practical injection to stop all the fructifications of the seeds of our sinful activities is simply engagement in Kåñëa consciousness.

In this connection, Çukadeva Gosvämé speaks in the Sixth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Second Chapter, verse 17, about the story of Ajämila, who began life as a fine and dutiful brähmaëa, but in his young manhood became wholly corrupted by a prostitute. At the end of his wicked life, just by calling the name “Näräyaëa [Kåñëa],” he was saved despite so much sin. Çukadeva points out that austerity, charity and the performance of ritualistic ceremonies for counteracting sinful activities are recommended processes, but that by performing them one cannot remove the sinful desire-seed from the heart, as was the case with Ajämila in his youth. This sinful desire-seed can be removed only by achieving Kåñëa consciousness. And this can be accomplished very easily by chanting the mahä-mantra, or Hare Kåñëa mantra, as recommended by Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu. In other words, unless one adopts the path of devotional service, he cannot be one-hundred-percent clean from all the reactions of sinful activities.

By performing Vedic ritualistic activities, by giving money in charity and by undergoing austerity, one can temporarily become free from the reactions of sinful activities, but at the next moment he must again become engaged in sinful activities. For example, a person suffering from venereal disease on account of excessive indulgence in sex life has to undergo some severe pain in medical treatment, and he is then cured for the time being. But because he has not been able to remove the sex desire from his heart, he must again indulge in the same thing and become a victim of the same disease. So medical treatment may give temporary relief from the distress of such venereal disease, but unless one is trained to understand that sex life is abominable, it is impossible to be saved from such repeated distress. Similarly, the ritualistic performances, charity and austerity which are recommended in the Vedas may temporarily stop one from acting in sinful ways, but as long as the heart is not clear, one will have to repeat sinful activities again and again.

Another example given in Çrémad-Bhägavatam concerns the elephant who enters into a lake and takes a bath very seriously, cleansing his body thoroughly. Then as soon as he comes onto shore he again takes some dust from the earth and throws it over his body. Similarly, a person who is not trained in Kåñëa consciousness cannot become completely free from the desire for sinful activities. Neither the yoga process nor philosophical speculations nor fruitive activities can save one from the seeds of sinful desires. Only by being engaged in devotional service can this be done.

There is another evidence in the Fourth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twenty-second Chapter, verse 39, wherein Sanat-kumära says, “My dear King, the false ego of a human being is so strong that it keeps him in material existence as if tied up by a strong rope. Only the devotees can cut off the knot of this strong rope very easily, by engaging themselves in Kåñëa consciousness. Others, who are not in Kåñëa consciousness but are trying to become great mystics or great ritual performers, cannot advance like the devotees. Therefore, it is the duty of everyone to engage himself in the activities of Kåñëa consciousness in order to be freed from the tight knot of false ego and engagement in material activities.”

This tight knot of false ego is due to ignorance. As long as one is ignorant about his identity, he is sure to act wrongly and thereby become entangled in material contamination. This ignorance of factual knowledge can also be dissipated by Kåñëa consciousness, as is confirmed in the Padma Puräëa as follows: “Pure devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness is the highest enlightenment, and when such enlightenment is there, it is just like a blazing forest fire, killing all the inauspicious snakes of desire.” The example is being given in this connection that when there is a forest fire the extensive blazing automatically kills all the snakes in the forest. There are many, many snakes on the ground of the forest, and when a fire takes place, it burns the dried foliage, and the snakes are immediately attacked. Animals who have four legs can flee from the fire or can at least try to flee, but the snakes are immediately killed. Similarly, the blazing fire of Kåñëa consciousness is so strong that the snakes of ignorance are immediately killed.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has given a definition of auspiciousness. He says that actual auspiciousness means welfare activities for all the people of the world. At the present moment groups of people are engaged in welfare activities in terms of society, community or nation. There is even an attempt in the form of the United Nations for world-help activity. But due to the shortcomings of limited national activities, such a general mass welfare program for the whole world is not practically possible. The Kåñëa consciousness movement, however, is so nice that it can render the highest benefit to the entire human race. Everyone can be attracted by this movement, and everyone can feel the result. Therefore, Rüpa Gosvämé and other learned scholars agree that a broad propaganda program for the Kåñëa consciousness movement of devotional service all over the world is the highest humanitarian welfare activity.

How the Kåñëa consciousness movement can attract the attention of the whole world and how each and every man can feel pleasure in this Kåñëa consciousness is stated in the Padma Puräëa as follows: “A person who is engaged in devotional service in full Kåñëa consciousness is to be understood to be doing the best service to the whole world and to be pleasing everyone in the world. In addition to human society, he is pleasing even the trees and animals, because they also become attracted by such a movement.” A practical example of this was shown by Lord Caitanya when He was traveling through the forests of Jhärikhaëòa in central India for spreading His saìkértana movement. The tigers, the elephants, the deer and all the other wild animals joined Him and were participating, in their own ways, by dancing and chanting Hare Kåñëa.

Furthermore, a person engaged in Kåñëa consciousness, acting in devotional service, can develop all the good qualities that are generally found in the demigods. It is said by Çukadeva Gosvämé in the Fifth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eighteenth Chapter, verse 12, “My dear King, persons who have unflinching faith in Kåñëa and are without any duplicity can develop all the good qualities of the demigods. On account of a devotee’s high grade of Kåñëa consciousness, even the demigods like to live with him, and therefore it can be understood that the qualities of the demigods have developed within his body.”

On the other hand, a person who is not in Kåñëa consciousness has no good qualities. He may be highly educated from the academic point of view, but in the actual field of his activities he can be seen to be baser than the animals. Even though a person is highly educated academically, if he cannot go beyond the sphere of mental activities then he is sure to perform only material activities and thus remain impure. There are so many persons in the modern world who have been highly educated in the materialistic universities, but it is seen that they cannot take up the movement of Kåñëa consciousness and develop the high qualities of the demigods.

For example, a Kåñëa conscious boy, even if he is not very well educated by the university standard, can immediately give up all illicit sex life, gambling, meat-eating and intoxication, whereas those who are not in Kåñëa consciousness, although very highly educated, are often drunkards, meat-eaters, sexmongers and gamblers. These are practical proofs of how a Kåñëa conscious person becomes highly developed in good qualities, whereas a person who is not in Kåñëa consciousness cannot do so. We experience that even a young boy in Kåñëa consciousness is unattached to cinemas, nightclubs, naked dance shows, restaurants, liquor shops, etc. He becomes completely freed. He saves his valuable time from being extravagantly spent in the way of smoking, drinking, attending the theater and dancing.

One who is not in Kåñëa consciousness usually cannot sit silently even for half an hour. The yoga system teaches that if you become silent you will realize that you are God. This system may be all right for materialistic persons, but how long will they be able to keep themselves silent? Artificially, they may sit down for so-called meditation, but immediately after their yogic performance they will engage themselves again in such activities as illicit sex life, gambling, meat-eating and many other nonsensical things. But a Kåñëa conscious person gradually elevates himself without endeavoring for this so-called silent meditation. Simply because he is engaged in Kåñëa consciousness he automatically gives up all this nonsense and develops a high character. One develops the highest character by becoming a pure devotee of Kåñëa. The conclusion is that no one can truly have any good qualities if he is lacking Kåñëa consciousness.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has analyzed the different sources of happiness. He has divided happiness into three categories, which are (1) happiness derived from material enjoyment, (2) happiness derived by identifying oneself with the Supreme Brahman and (3) happiness derived from Kåñëa consciousness.

In the tantra-çästra Lord Çiva speaks to his wife, Saté, in this way: “My dear wife, a person who has surrendered himself at the lotus feet of Govinda and who has thus developed pure Kåñëa consciousness can be very easily awarded all the perfections desired by the impersonalists; and beyond this, he can enjoy the happiness achieved by the pure devotees.”

Happiness derived from pure devotional service is the highest, because it is eternal. The happiness derived from material perfection or understanding oneself to be Brahman is inferior because it is temporary. There is no preventing one’s falling down from material happiness, and there is even every chance of falling down from the spiritual happiness derived out of identifying oneself with the impersonal Brahman.

It has been seen that great Mäyävädé (impersonalist) sannyäsés—very highly educated and almost realized souls—may sometimes take to political activities or to social welfare activities. The reason is that they actually do not derive any ultimate transcendental happiness in the impersonal understanding and therefore must come down to the material platform and take to such mundane affairs. There are many instances, especially in India, where these Mäyävädé sannyäsés descend to the material platform again. But a person who is fully in Kåñëa consciousness will never return to any sort of material platform. However alluring and attracting they may be, he always knows that no material welfare activities can compare to the spiritual activity of Kåñëa consciousness.

The mystic perfections achieved by actually successful yogés are eight in number. Aëimä-siddhi refers to the power by which one can become so small that he can enter into a stone. Modern scientific improvements also enable us to enter into stone, because they provide for excavating so many subways, penetrating the hills, etc. So aëimä-siddhi, the mystic perfection of trying to enter into stone, has also been achieved by material science. Similarly, all of the yoga-siddhis, or perfections, are material arts. For example, in one yoga-siddhi there is development of the power to become so light that one can float in the air or on water. That is also being performed by modern scientists. They are flying in the air, they are floating on the surface of the water, and they are traveling under the water.

After comparing all these mystic yoga-siddhis to materialistic perfections, we find that the materialistic scientists try for the same perfections. So actually there is no difference between mystic perfection and materialistic perfection. A German scholar once said that the so-called yoga perfections had already been achieved by the modern scientists, and so he was not concerned with them. He intelligently went to India to learn how he could understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord by means of bhakti-yoga, devotional service.

Of course, in the categories of mystic perfection there are certain processes which the material scientists have not yet been able to develop. For instance, a mystic yogé can enter into the sun planet simply by using the rays of the sunshine. This perfection is called laghimä. Similarly, a yogé can touch the moon with his finger. Though the modern astronauts go to the moon with the help of spaceships, they undergo many difficulties, whereas a person with mystic perfection can extend his hand and touch the moon with his finger. This siddhi is called präpti, or acquisition. With this präpti-siddhi, not only can the perfect mystic yogé touch the moon planet, but he can extend his hand anywhere and take whatever he likes. He may be sitting thousands of miles away from a certain place, and if he likes he can take fruit from a garden there. This is präpti-siddhi.

The modern scientists have manufactured nuclear weapons with which they can destroy an insignificant part of this planet, but by the yoga-siddhi known as éçitä one can create and destroy an entire planet simply at will. Another perfection is called vaçitä, and by this perfection one can bring anyone under his control. This is a kind of hypnotism which is almost irresistible. Sometimes it is found that a yogé who may have attained a little perfection in this vaçitä mystic power comes out among the people and speaks all sorts of nonsense, controls their minds, exploits them, takes their money and then goes away.

There is another mystic perfection, which is known as präkämya (magic). By this präkämya power one can achieve anything he likes. For example, one can make water enter into his eye and then again come out from within the eye. Simply by his will he can perform such wonderful activities.

The highest perfection of mystic power is called kämävasäyitä. This is also magic, but whereas the präkämya power acts to create wonderful effects within the scope of nature, kämävasäyitä permits one to contradict nature—in other words, to do the impossible. Of course, one can derive great amounts of temporary happiness by achieving such yogic materialistic perfections.

Foolishly, people who are enamored of the glimmer of modern materialistic advancement are thinking that the Kåñëa consciousness movement is for less intelligent men. “I am better off being busy with my material comforts—maintaining a nice apartment, family and sex life.” These people do not know that at any moment they can be kicked out of their material situation. Due to ignorance, they do not know that real life is eternal. The temporary comforts of the body are not the goal of life, and it is due only to darkest ignorance that people become enamored of the glimmering advancement of material comforts. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has therefore said that the advancement of material knowledge renders a person more foolish, because it causes one to forget his real identity by its glimmer. This is doom for him, because this human form of life is meant for getting out of material contamination. By the advancement of material knowledge, people are becoming more and more entangled in material existence. They have no hope of being liberated from this catastrophe.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya it is stated that Prahläda Mahäräja, a great devotee of the Lord, prayed to Nåsiàhadeva (the half-lion, half-man incarnation) as follows: “My dear Lord, I repeatedly pray unto Your lotus feet that I may simply be stronger in devotional service. I simply pray that my Kåñëa consciousness may be more strong and steady, because happiness derived out of Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service is so powerful that with it one can have all the other perfections of religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and even the attainment of liberation from material existence.”

Actually, a pure devotee does not aspire after any of these perfections, because the happiness derived from devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness is so transcendental and so unlimited that no other happiness can compare to it. It is said that even one drop of happiness in Kåñëa consciousness stands beyond comparison with an ocean of happiness derived from any other activity. Thus, any person who has developed even a little quantity of pure devotional service can very easily kick out all the other kinds of happiness derived from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and liberation.

There was a great devotee of Lord Caitanya known as Kholävecä Çrédhara, who was a very poor man. He was doing a small business selling cups made from the leaves of plantain trees, and his income was almost nothing. Still, he was spending fifty percent of his small income on the worship of the Ganges, and with the other fifty percent he was somehow living. Lord Caitanya once revealed Himself to this confidential devotee, Kholävecä Çrédhara, and offered him any opulence he liked. But Çrédhara informed the Lord that he did not want any material opulence. He was quite happy in his present position and wanted only to gain unflinching faith and devotion unto the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. That is the position of pure devotees. If they can be engaged twenty-four hours each day in devotional service they do not want anything else, not even the happiness of liberation or of becoming one with the Supreme.

In the Närada-païcarätra it is also said that any person who has developed even a small amount of devotional service doesn’t care a fig for any kind of happiness derived from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification or the five kinds of liberation. Any kind of happiness derived from religiousness, economic development, liberation or sense gratification cannot even dare to enter into the heart of a pure devotee. It is stated that as the personal attendants and maidservants of a queen follow the queen with all respect and obeisances, similarly the joys of religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and liberation follow the devotional service of the Lord. In other words, a pure devotee does not lack any kind of happiness derived from any source. He does not want anything but service to Kåñëa, but even if he should have another desire, the Lord fulfills this without the devotee’s asking.

In the preliminary phase of spiritual life there are different kinds of austerities, penances and similar processes for attaining self-realization. However, even if an executor of these processes is without any material desire, he still cannot achieve devotional service. And aspiring by oneself alone to achieve devotional service is also not very hopeful, because Kåñëa does not agree to award devotional service to merely anyone. Kåñëa can easily offer a person material happiness or even liberation, but He does not agree very easily to award a person engagement in His devotional service. Devotional service can in fact be attained only through the mercy of a pure devotee. In the Caitanya-caritämåta (Madhya 19.151) it is said, “By the mercy of the spiritual master who is a pure devotee and by the mercy of Kåñëa one can achieve the platform of devotional service. There is no other way.”

The rarity of devotional service is also confirmed in the tantra-çästra, where Lord Çiva says to Saté, “My dear Saté, if one is a very fine philosopher, analyzing the different processes of knowledge, he can achieve liberation from the material entanglement. By performance of the ritualistic sacrifices recommended in the Vedas one can be elevated to the platform of pious activities and thereby enjoy the material comforts of life to the fullest extent. But all such endeavors can hardly offer anyone devotional service to the Lord, not even if one tries for it by such processes for many, many thousands of births.”

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is also confirmed by Prahläda Mahäräja that merely by personal efforts or by the instructions of higher authorities one cannot attain to the stage of devotional service. One must become blessed by the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee, who is completely freed from the contamination of material desires.

In the Fifth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixth Chapter, verse 18, Närada also says to Yudhiñöhira, “My dear King, it is Lord Kåñëa, known as Mukunda, who is the eternal protector of the Päëòavas and the Yadus. He is also your spiritual master and instructor in every respect. He is the only worshipable God for you. He is very dear and affectionate, and He is the director of all your activities, both individual and familial. And what’s more, He sometimes carries out your orders as if He were your messenger! My dear King, how very fortunate you are, because for others all these favors given to you by the Supreme Lord would not even be dreamt of.” The purport to this verse is that the Lord easily offers liberation, but He rarely agrees to offer a soul devotional service, because by devotional service the Lord Himself becomes purchased by the devotee.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that if brahmänanda, or the happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is multiplied by one trillionfold, it still cannot compare to an atomic fraction of the happiness derived from the ocean of devotional service.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya Prahläda Mahäräja, while satisfying Lord Nåsiàhadeva by his prayers, says, “My dear Lord of the universe, I am feeling transcendental pleasure in Your presence and have become merged in the ocean of happiness. I now consider the happiness of brahmänanda to be no more than the water in the impression left by a cow’s hoof in the earth, compared to this ocean of bliss.” Similarly, it is confirmed in the Bhävärtha-dépikä, Çrédhara Svämé’s commentary on the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, “My dear Lord, some of the fortunate persons who are swimming in the ocean of Your nectar of devotion, and who are relishing the nectar of the narration of Your pastimes, certainly know ecstasies which immediately minimize the value of the happiness derived from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. Such a transcendental devotee regards any kind of happiness other than devotional service as no better than straw in the street.”

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has stated that devotional service attracts even Kåñëa. Kåñëa attracts everyone, but devotional service attracts Kåñëa. The symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is Rädhäräëé. Kåñëa is called Madana-mohana, which means that He is so attractive that He can defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. But Rädhäräëé is still more attractive, for She can even attract Kåñëa. Therefore devotees call Her Madana-mohana-mohiné—the attractor of the attractor of Cupid.

To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Rädhäräëé, and devotees in Våndävana put themselves under the care of Rädhäräëé in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service. In other words, devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is directly under the control of Rädhäräëé. In Bhagavad-gétä it is confirmed that the mahätmäs, or great souls, are under the protection of daivé prakåti, the internal energy—Rädhäräëé. So, being directly under the control of the internal potency of Kåñëa, devotional service attracts even Kåñëa Himself.

This fact is corroborated by Kåñëa in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 20, where He says, “My dear Uddhava, you may know it from Me that the attraction I feel for devotional service rendered by My devotees is not to be attained even by the performance of mystic yoga, philosophical speculation, ritualistic sacrifices, the study of Vedänta, the practice of severe austerities or the giving of everything in charity. These are, of course, very nice activities, but they are not as attractive to Me as the transcendental loving service rendered by My devotees.”

How Kåñëa becomes attracted by the devotional service of His devotees is described by Närada in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventh Canto, Tenth Chapter, verses 48 and 49. There Närada addresses King Yudhiñöhira while the King is appreciating the glories of the character of Prahläda Mahäräja. A devotee always appreciates the activities of other devotees. Yudhiñöhira Mahäräja was appreciating the qualities of Prahläda, and that is one symptom of a pure devotee. A pure devotee never thinks himself great; he always thinks that other devotees are greater than himself. The King was thinking, “Prahläda Mahäräja is actually a devotee of the Lord, while I am nothing,” and while thinking this he was addressed by Närada as follows: “My dear King Yudhiñöhira, you [the Päëòava brothers] are the only fortunate people in this world. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has appeared on this planet and is presenting Himself to you as an ordinary human being. He is always with you in all circumstances. He is living with you and covering Himself from the eyes of others. Others cannot understand that He is the Supreme Lord, but He is still living with you as your cousin, as your friend and even as your messenger. Therefore you must know that nobody in this world is more fortunate than you.”

In Bhagavad-gétä when Kåñëa appeared in His universal form Arjuna prayed, “My dear Kåñëa, I thought of You as my cousin-brother, and so I have shown disrespect to You in so many ways, calling You ‘Kåñëa’ or ‘friend.’ But You are so great that I could not understand.” So that was the position of the Päëòavas; although Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest among all greats, He remained with those royal brothers, being attracted by their devotion, by their friendship and by their love. That is the proof of how great this process of devotional service is. It can attract even the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God is great, but devotional service is greater than God because it attracts Him. People who are not in devotional service can never understand what great value there is in rendering service to the Lord.

NoD 2: The First Stages of Devotion

The three categories of devotional service which Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé describes in Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu are listed as devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of Godhead. There are many subheadings in each of these categories. Generally it is understood that in the category of devotional service in practice there are two different qualities, devotional service in ecstasy has four qualities, and devotional service in pure love of Godhead has six qualities. These qualities will be explained by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé later on.

In this connection, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé suggests that the person eligible for Kåñëa consciousness, or devotional service, can be classified by his particular taste. He says that devotional service is a continual process from one’s previous life. No one can take to devotional service unless he has had some previous connection with it. For example, suppose in this life I practice devotional service to some extent. Even though it is not one-hundred-percent perfectly performed, whatever I have done will not be lost. In my next life, from the very point where I stop in this life, I shall begin again. In this way there is always a continuity. But even if there is no continuity, if only by chance a person takes interest in a pure devotee’s instruction, he can be accepted and can advance in devotional service. Anyway, for persons who have a natural taste for understanding books like Bhagavad-gétä and Çrémad-Bhägavatam, devotional service is easier than for those who are simply accustomed to mental speculation and argumentative processes.

To support this statement there are many authoritative assertions by the learned scholars of bygone ages. According to their general opinion, a person may become governed by certain convictions derived by his own arguments and decisions. Then another person, who may be a greater logician, will nullify these conclusions and establish another thesis. In this way the path of argument will never be safe or conclusive. Çrémad-Bhägavatam recommends, therefore, that one follow in the footsteps of the authorities.

Here is a general description of devotional service given by Çré Rüpa Gosvämé in his Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu. Previously, it has been stated that devotional service can be divided into three categories—namely devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of God. Now Çré Rüpa Gosvämé proposes to describe devotional service in practice.

Practice means employing our senses in some particular type of work. Therefore devotional service in practice means utilizing our different sensory organs in service to Kåñëa. Some of the senses are meant for acquiring knowledge, and some are meant for executing the conclusions of our thinking, feeling and willing. So practice means employing both the mind and the senses in practical devotional service. This practice is not for developing something artificial. For example, a child learns or practices to walk. This walking is not unnatural. The walking capacity is there originally in the child, and simply by a little practice he walks very nicely. Similarly, devotional service to the Supreme Lord is the natural instinct of every living entity. Even uncivilized men like the aborigines offer their respectful obeisances to something wonderful exhibited by nature’s law, and they appreciate that behind some wonderful exhibition or action there is something supreme. So this consciousness, though lying dormant in those who are materially contaminated, is found in every living entity. And, when purified, this is called Kåñëa consciousness.

There are certain prescribed methods for employing our senses and mind in such a way that our dormant consciousness for loving Kåñëa will be invoked, as much as the child, with a little practice, can begin to walk. One who has no basic walking capacity cannot walk by practice. Similarly, Kåñëa consciousness cannot be aroused simply by practice. Actually there is no such practice. When we wish to develop our innate capacity for devotional service, there are certain processes which, by our accepting and executing them, will cause that dormant capacity to be invoked. Such practice is called sädhana-bhakti.

Every living entity under the spell of material energy is held to be in an abnormal condition of madness. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is said, “Generally, the conditioned soul is mad, because he is always engaged in activities which are the causes of bondage and suffering.” Spirit soul in his original condition is joyful, blissful, eternal and full of knowledge. Only by his implication in material activities has he become miserable, temporary and full of ignorance. This is due to vikarma. Vikarma means “actions which should not be done.” Therefore, we must practice sädhana-bhakti—which means to offer maìgala-ärati (Deity worship) in the morning, to refrain from certain material activities, to offer obeisances to the spiritual master and to follow many other rules and regulations which will be discussed here one after another. These practices will help one become cured of madness. As a man’s mental disease is cured by the directions of a psychiatrist, so this sädhana-bhakti cures the conditioned soul of his madness under the spell of mäyä, material illusion.

Närada Muni mentions this sädhana-bhakti in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventh Canto, First Chapter, verse 32. He says there to King Yudhiñöhira, “My dear King, one has to fix his mind on Kåñëa by any means.” That is called Kåñëa consciousness. It is the duty of the äcärya, the spiritual master, to find the ways and means for his disciple to fix his mind on Kåñëa. That is the beginning of sädhana-bhakti.

Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu has given us an authorized program for this purpose, centered around the chanting of the Hare Kåñëa mantra. This chanting has so much power that it immediately attaches one to Kåñëa. That is the beginning of sädhana-bhakti. Somehow or other, one has to fix his mind on Kåñëa. The great saint Ambaréña Mahäräja, although a responsible king, fixed his mind on Kåñëa, and similarly anyone who tries to fix his mind in this way will very rapidly make progress in successfully reviving his original Kåñëa consciousness.

Now this sädhana-bhakti, or practice of devotional service, may also be divided into two parts. The first part is called service according to regulative principles: one has to follow these different regulative principles by the order of the spiritual master or on the strength of authoritative scriptures, and there can be no question of refusal. That is called vaidhi, or regulated. One has to do it without argument. Another part of sädhana-bhakti is called rägänugä. Rägänugä refers to the point at which, by following the regulative principles, one becomes a little more attached to Kåñëa and executes devotional service out of natural love. For example, a person engaged in devotional service may be ordered to rise early in the morning and offer ärati, which is a form of Deity worship. In the beginning, by the order of his spiritual master, one rises early in the morning and offers ärati, but then he develops real attachment. When he gets this attachment, he automatically tries to decorate the Deity and prepare different kinds of dresses and thinks of different plans to execute his devotional service nicely. Although it is within the category of practice, this offering of loving service is spontaneous. So the practice of devotional service, sädhana-bhakti, can be divided into two parts—namely, regulative and spontaneous.

Rüpa Gosvämé defines the first part of devotional practice, or vaidhi-bhakti, as follows: “When there is no attachment or no spontaneous loving service to the Lord, and one is engaged in the service of the Lord simply out of obedience to the order of the spiritual master or in pursuance of the scriptures, such obligatory service is called vaidhi-bhakti.”

These principles of vaidhi-bhakti are also described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 5, where Çukadeva Gosvämé instructs the dying Mahäräja Parékñit as to his course of action. Mahäräja Parékñit met Çukadeva Gosvämé just a week before his death, and the King was perplexed as to what should be done before he was to pass on. Many other sages also arrived there, but no one could give him the proper direction. Çukadeva Gosvämé, however, gave this direction to him as follows: “My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God.” If one can chant and hear Hare Kåñëa and always remember Lord Kåñëa, then he is sure to become fearless of death, which may come at any moment.

In the statements of Çukadeva Gosvämé it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kåñëa. Therefore Çukadeva recommends that one should always hear about Kåñëa. He does not recommend that one hear and chant about the demigods. The Mäyävädés (impersonalists) say that one may chant any name, either that of Kåñëa or those of the demigods, and the result will be the same. But actually this is not a fact. According to the authorized version of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, one has to hear and chant about Lord Viñëu (Kåñëa) only.

So Çukadeva Gosvämé has recommended to Parékñit Mahäräja that in order to be fearless of death, one has to hear and chant and remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, by all means. He also mentions that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sarvätmä. Sarvätmä means “the Supersoul of everyone.” Kåñëa is also mentioned as éçvara, the supreme controller who is situated in everyone’s heart. Therefore, if some way or other we become attached to Kåñëa, He will make us free from all danger. In Bhagavad-gétä it is said that anyone who becomes a devotee of the Lord is never vanquished. Others, however, are always vanquished. “Vanquished” means that after getting this human form of life, a person does not come out of the entanglement of birth and death and thus misses his golden opportunity. Such a person does not know where he is being thrown by the laws of nature.

Suppose one does not develop Kåñëa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death, involving 8,400,000 spieces of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant, or a beast, or a bird, or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rüpa Gosvämé for reviving our original Kåñëa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kåñëa very seriously and thus also become fearless of death. After death we do not know our destination, because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore, if we take shelter of Kåñëa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kåñëa, as affirmed in Bhagavad-gétä.

In the Padma Puräëa, also, the same process is advised. There it is said that one should always remember Lord Viñëu. This is called dhyäna, or meditation—always remembering Kåñëa. It is said that one has to meditate with his mind fixed upon Viñëu. Padma Puräëa recommends that one always fix his mind on the form of Viñëu by meditation and not forget Him at any moment. And this state of consciousness is called samädhi, or trance.

We should always try to mold the activities of our lives in such a way that we will constantly remember Viñëu, or Kåñëa. That is Kåñëa consciousness. Whether one concentrates his mind on the four-handed form of Viñëu or on the form of two-handed Kåñëa, it is the same. The Padma Puräëa recommends: somehow or other always think of Viñëu, without forgetting Him under any circumstances. Actually this is the most basic of all regulative principles. For, when there is an order from a superior about doing something, there is simultaneously a prohibition. When the order is that one should always remember Kåñëa, the prohibition is that one should never forget Him. Within this simple order and prohibition, all regulative principles are found complete.

This regulative principle is applicable to all varëas and äçramas, the castes and occupations of life. There are four varëas, namely the brähmaëas (priests and intellectuals), the kñatriyas (warriors and statesmen), the vaiçyas (businessmen and farmers) and the çüdras (laborers and servants). There are also four standard äçramas, namely brahmacarya (student life), gåhastha (householder), vänaprastha (retired) and sannyäsa (renounced). The regulative principles are not only for the brahmacärés (celibate students) to follow, but are applicable for all. It doesn’t matter whether one is a beginner—a brahmacäré—or is very advanced—a sannyäsé. The principle of remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly and not forgetting Him at any moment is meant to be followed by everyone without fail.

If this injunction is followed, then all other rules and regulations will automatically fall into line. All other rules and regulations should be treated as assistants or servants to this one basic principle. The injunctions of rules and regulations and the resultant reactions are mentioned in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fifth Chapter, verses 2 and 3. Camasa Muni, one of the nine sages who came to instruct King Nimi, addressed the King and said, “The four social orders, namely the brähmaëas, the kñatriyas, the vaiçyas and the çüdras, have come out of the different parts of the universal form of the Supreme Lord as follows: the brähmaëas have come out from the head, the kñatriyas have come out from the arms, the vaiçyas have come out from the waist, and the çüdras have come out from the legs. Similarly, the sannyäsés have come out from the head, the vänaprasthas from the arms, the gåhasthas from the waist and the brahmacärés from the legs.”

These different orders of society and grades of spiritual advancement are conceived in terms of qualification. It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä that the four social orders and the four spiritual orders are created by the Lord Himself, in terms of different individual qualities. As the different parts of the body have different types of activities, so the social orders and spiritual orders also have different types of activities in terms of qualification and position. The target of these activities, however, is always the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä, “He is the supreme enjoyer.” So, whether one is a brähmaëa or a çüdra, one has to satisfy the Supreme Lord by one’s activities. This is also confirmed in Çrémad-Bhägavatam by a verse which reads, “Everyone must be engaged in his particular duty, but the perfection of such work should be tested by how far the Lord is satisfied with such activities.” The injunction herein is that one has to act according to his position, and by such activities one must either satisfy the Supreme Personality or else fall down from one’s position.

For example a brähmaëa, who is born out of the head of the Lord, has as his business to preach the transcendental Vedic sounds, or çabda-brahma. Because the brähmaëa is the head, he has to preach the transcendental sound, and he also has to eat on behalf of the Supreme Lord. According to Vedic injunctions, when a brähmaëa eats it is to be understood that the Personality of Godhead is eating through him. It is not, however, that the brähmaëa should simply eat on behalf of the Lord and not preach the message of Bhagavad-gétä to the world. Actually, one who preaches the message of the Gétä is very dear to Kåñëa, as is confirmed in the Gétä itself. Such a preacher is factually a brähmaëa, and thus by feeding him one feeds the Supreme Lord directly.

Similarly, the kñatriya has to protect people from the onslaughts of mäyä. That is his duty. For example, as soon as Mahäräja Parékñit saw that a black man was attempting to kill a cow, he immediately took his sword, wanting to kill the black man, whose name was [i]Kali. That is a kñatriya’s duty. Violence is required in order to give protection. In Bhagavad-gétä Lord Kåñëa directly gave His order to Arjuna to commit violence on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, just to give protection to the people in general.

The vaiçyas are meant for producing agricultural products, trading them and distributing them. And the working class, or çüdras, are those who haven’t the intelligence of the brähmaëas or the kñatriyas or the vaiçyas, and therefore they are meant to help these higher classes by bodily labor. In this way, there is full cooperation and spiritual advancement among all the different orders of society. And when there is no such cooperation, the members of society will fall down. That is the present position in the Kali-yuga, this age of quarrel. Nobody is doing his duty, and everyone is simply puffed up by calling himself a brähmaëa (intellectual) or a kñatriya (soldier or statesman). But actually such people are without status. They are out of touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead because they are not Kåñëa conscious. Therefore, the Kåñëa consciousness movement is intended to set the whole of human society in proper condition, so that everyone will be happy and take profit from developing Kåñëa consciousness.

Lord Çré Kåñëa instructed Uddhava that by following the injunctions of the social and spiritual orders of human society, one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as a result of such satisfaction the whole society gets all the necessities of life amply and without difficulty. This is because, after all, the Supreme Personality of Godhead maintains all other living entities. If the whole society performs its respective duties and remains in Kåñëa consciousness, there is no doubt that all of its members will live very peacefully and happily. Without wanting the necessities of life, the whole world will be turned into Vaikuëöha, a spiritual abode. Even without being transferred to the kingdom of God, by following the injunctions of Çrémad-Bhägavatam and prosecuting the duties of Kåñëa consciousness all human society will be happy in all respects.

There is a similar statement by Çré Kåñëa Himself to Uddhava, in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twenty-seventh Chapter, verse 49. The Lord says there, “My dear Uddhava, all persons are engaged in activities, whether those indicated in the revealed scriptures or ordinary worldly activities. If by the result of either of such activities they worship Me in Kåñëa consciousness, then automatically they become very happy within this world, as well as in the next. Of this there is no doubt.” We can conclude from this statement by Kåñëa that activities in Kåñëa consciousness will give everyone all perfection in all desires.

Thus the Kåñëa consciousness movement is so nice that there is no need of even designating oneself brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra, brahmacäré, gåhastha, vänaprastha or sannyäsé. Let everyone be engaged in whatever occupation he now has. Simply let him worship Lord Kåñëa by the result of his activities in Kåñëa consciousness. That will adjust the whole situation, and everyone will be happy and peaceful within this world. In the Närada-païcarätra the regulative principles of devotional service are described as follows: “Any activities sanctioned in the revealed scriptures and aiming at the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are accepted by saintly teachers as the regulative principles of devotional service. If one regularly executes such service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, then gradually he rises to the platform of serving in pure love of God.”

NoD 3: Eligibility of the Candidate for Accepting Devotional Service

On account of his association with mahätmäs, or great souls one hundred-percent in the devotional service of the Lord, one may attain a little bit of attraction for Çré Kåñëa. But at the same time one may remain very much attached to fruitive activities and material sense enjoyment and not be prepared to undergo the different types of renunciation. Such a person, if he has unflinching attraction to Kåñëa, becomes an eligible candidate for discharging devotional service.

This attraction for Kåñëa consciousness in association with pure devotees is the sign of great fortune. It is confirmed by Lord Caitanya that only the fortunate persons, by the mercy of both a bona fide spiritual master and Kåñëa, will get the seed of devotional service. In this connection, Lord Kåñëa says in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 8, “My dear Uddhava, only by exceptional fortune does someone become attracted to Me. And even if one is not completely detached from fruitive activities, or is not completely attached to devotional service, such service is quickly effective.”

Devotees may be divided into three classes. The devotee in the first or uppermost class is described as follows. He is very expert in the study of relevant scriptures, and he is also expert in putting forward arguments in terms of those scriptures. He can very nicely present conclusions with perfect discretion and can consider the ways of devotional service in a decisive way. He understands perfectly that the ultimate goal of life is to attain to the transcendental loving service of Kåñëa, and he knows that Kåñëa is the only object of worship and love. This first-class devotee is one who has strictly followed the rules and regulations under the training of a bona fide spiritual master and has sincerely obeyed him in accord with revealed scriptures. Thus, being fully trained to preach and become a spiritual master himself, he is considered first class. The first-class devotee never deviates from the principles of higher authority, and he attains firm faith in the scriptures by understanding with all reason and arguments. When we speak of arguments and reason, it means arguments and reason on the basis of revealed scriptures. The first-class devotee is not interested in dry speculative methods meant for wasting time. In other words, one who has attained a mature determination in the matter of devotional service can be accepted as the first-class devotee.

The second-class devotee has been defined by the following symptoms: he is not very expert in arguing on the strength of revealed scripture, but he has firm faith in the objective. The purport of this description is that the second-class devotee has firm faith in the procedure of devotional service unto Kåñëa, but he may sometimes fail to offer arguments and decisions on the strength of revealed scripture to an opposing party. But at the same time he is still undaunted within himself as to his decision that Kåñëa is the supreme object of worship.

The neophyte or third-class devotee is one whose faith is not strong and who, at the same time, does not recognize the decision of the revealed scripture. The neophyte’s faith can be changed by someone else with strong arguments or by an opposite decision. Unlike the second-class devotee, who also cannot put forward arguments and evidences from the scripture, but who still has all faith in the objective, the neophyte has no firm faith in the objective. Thus he is called the neophyte devotee.

Further classification of the neophyte devotee is made in the Bhagavad-gétä. It is stated there that four classes of men—namely those who are distressed, those who are in need of money, those who are inquisitive and those who are wise—begin devotional service and come to the Lord for relief in the matter of their respective self-satisfaction. They go into some place of worship and pray to God for mitigation of material distress, or for some economic development, or to satisfy their inquisitiveness. And a wise man who simply realizes the greatness of God is also counted among the neophytes. Such beginners can be elevated to the second-class or first-class platform if they associate with pure devotees.

An example of the neophyte class is Mahäräja Dhruva. He was in need of his father’s kingdom and therefore engaged himself in devotional service to the Lord. Then in the end, when he was completely purified, he declined to accept any material benediction from the Lord. Similarly, Gajendra was distressed and prayed to Kåñëa for protection, after which he became a pure devotee. Similarly Sanaka, Sanätana, Sananda and Sanat-kumära were all in the category of wise, saintly persons, and they were also attracted by devotional service. A similar thing happened to the assemblage in the Naimiñäraëya Forest, headed by the sage Çaunaka. They were inquisitive and were always asking Süta Gosvämé about Kåñëa. Thus they achieved the association of a pure devotee and became pure devotees themselves. So that is the way of elevating oneself. In whatever condition one may be, if he is fortunate enough to associate with pure devotees, then very quickly he is elevated to the second-class or first-class platform.

These four types of devotees have been described in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gétä, and they have all been accepted as pious. Without becoming pious, no one can come to devotional service. It is explained in Bhagavad-gétä that only one who has continually executed pious activities and whose sinful reactions in life have completely stopped can take to Kåñëa consciousness. Others cannot. The neophyte devotees are classified into four groups—the distressed, those in need of money, the inquisitive and the wise—according to their gradations of pious activities. Without pious activities, if a man is in a distressed condition he becomes an agnostic, a communist or something like that. Because he does not firmly believe in God, he thinks that he can adjust his distressed condition by totally disbelieving in Him.

Lord Kåñëa, however, has explained in the Gétä that out of these four types of neophytes, the one who is wise is very dear to Him, because a wise man, if he is attached to Kåñëa, is not seeking an exchange of material benefits. A wise man who becomes attached to Kåñëa does not want any return from Him, either in the form of relieving distress or in gaining money. This means that from the very beginning his basic principle of attachment to Kåñëa is, more or less, love. Furthermore, due to his wisdom and study of çästras (scriptures), he can understand also that Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä that after many, many births, when one becomes actually wise, he surrenders unto Väsudeva, knowing perfectly well that Kåñëa (Väsudeva) is the origin and cause of all causes. Therefore, he sticks to the lotus feet of Kåñëa and gradually develops love for Him. Although such a wise man is very dear to Kåñëa, the others are also accepted as very magnanimous, because even though they are distressed or in need of money, they have come to Kåñëa for satisfaction. Thus they are accepted as liberal, broad-minded mahätmäs.

Without being elevated to the position of a jïäné, or wise man, one cannot stick to the principle of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The less intelligent or those whose intelligence has been taken away by the spell of mäyä are attached to different demigods on account of the influence of the modes of nature. The wise man is he who has thoroughly understood that he is spirit soul and not simply a body. Because he realizes that he is spirit and Kåñëa is the supreme spirit, he knows that his intimate relationship should be with Kåñëa, not with this body. The distressed and the man in want of money are in the material concept of life, because distress and need of money are both in relationship with this body. One who is inquisitive may be a little above the distressed and the man in need of money, but still he is on the material platform. But a wise man who seeks Kåñëa knows perfectly well that he is spirit soul, or Brahman, and that Kåñëa is the supreme spirit soul, or Parabrahman. He knows that the spirit soul, being subordinate and finite, should always dovetail himself with the infinite and supreme soul, Kåñëa. That is the relationship of the wise man with Kåñëa.

It can be concluded that a person who is freed from the bodily concept of life is an eligible candidate for pure devotional service. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gétä that after Brahman realization, when one is freed from material anxieties and can see every living entity on an equal level, he is eligible to enter into devotional service.

As stated before, there are three kinds of happiness—material, spiritual and devotional. Devotional service and the happiness due to its execution are not possible as long as one is materially affected. If someone has desire for material enjoyment or for becoming one with the Supreme, these are both considered material concepts. Because the impersonalists cannot appreciate the spiritual happiness of association and the exchange of loving affairs with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, their ultimate goal is to become one with the Lord. This concept is simply an extension of the material idea. In the material world, everyone is trying to be the topmost head man among all his fellow men or neighbors. Either communally, socially or nationally, everyone is competing to be greater than all others, in the material concept of life. This greatness can be extended to the unlimited, so that one actually wants to become one with the greatest of all, the Supreme Lord. This is also a material concept, although maybe a little more advanced.

However, the perfect spiritual concept of life is complete knowledge of one’s constitutional position, in which one knows enough to dovetail himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. One must know that he is finite and that the Lord is infinite. Thus it is not possible to actually become one with the Lord even if one aspires for this. It is simply not possible. Therefore, anyone who has any desire or aspiration for satisfying his senses by becoming more and more important, either in the material sense or in the spiritual sense, cannot actually relish the really sweet taste of devotional service. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has therefore compared possessing these bhukti (material) and mukti (liberation) desires with being influenced by the black art of a witch: in both cases one is in trouble. Bhukti means material enjoyment, and mukti means to become freed from material anxiety and to become one with the Lord. These desires are compared to being haunted by ghosts and witches, because while these aspirations for material enjoyment or spiritual oneness with the Supreme remain, no one can relish the actual transcendental taste of devotional service.

A pure devotee never cares for liberation. Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu prayed to Kåñëa, “My dear son of Nanda, I do not want any material happiness in the shape of many followers, nor immense opulence in wealth, nor any beautiful wife, nor do I want cessation from material existence. I may take birth many times, one after another, but what I pray from You is that my devotion unto You may always remain unflinching.”

The attention of a pure devotee is so much attracted to glorification of the Lord’s pastimes, name, qualities, forms, etc., that the devotee does not care for mukti. Çré Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura has said, “If I am engaged in devotional service unto You, my dear Lord, then very easily can I perceive Your presence everywhere. And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands, waiting to serve me.” To pure devotees, therefore, liberation and spiritual emancipation are not very important things.

In this connection, in the Third Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Chapter Twenty-five, verse 36, Kapiladeva has advised His mother, Devahüti, as follows: “My dear mother, My pure devotees are charmed by seeing My different forms, the beauty of My face, the structure of My body so enchanting. My laughing, My pastimes and My glance appear to them so beautiful that their minds are always absorbed in thoughts of Me and their lives are dedicated fully unto Me. Although such people do not desire any kind of liberation or any kind of material happiness, still I give them a place among My associates in the supreme abode.”

This evidence from Çrémad-Bhägavatam gives assurance to the pure devotee of being elevated to association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé remarks in this connection that one who is actually attracted by the beauty of the lotus feet of Çré Kåñëa or His service, and whose heart, by such attraction, is always full with transcendental bliss, will naturally never aspire after the liberation which is so valuable to the impersonalists.

A similar passage is also there in the Third Canto, Fourth Chapter, verse 15, of the same book, wherein Uddhava addresses Lord Kåñëa and says, “My dear Lord, for persons who are engaged in Your transcendental loving service there is nothing worth obtaining from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification or liberation—although happiness from these different sources can be very easily had by them. In spite of such facilities, my dear Lord, I do not aspire to achieve any such results. My only prayer is that I may have unflinching faith and devotion unto Your lotus feet.”

A similar passage appears in the Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 34, wherein Kapiladeva instructs His mother and says, “My dear mother, devotees whose hearts are always filled in the service of My lotus feet and who are prepared to do anything for My satisfaction, especially those fortunate devotees who assemble together to understand My qualities, pastimes and form and thus glorify Me congregationally and derive transcendental pleasure therefrom, never desire to become one with Me. And what to speak of becoming one with Me, if they are offered a post like Mine in My abode, or opulence like Mine, or even personal association with Me with similar bodily features, they refuse to accept, because they are satisfied simply by being engaged in My devotional service.”

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fourth Canto, Ninth Chapter, verse 10, King Dhruva says, “My dear Lord, the transcendental pleasure derived by meditation upon Your lotus feet, which is enjoyed by the pure devotees, cannot be approached by the transcendental pleasure derived by the impersonalists through self-realization. So how can the fruitive workers, who at most can aspire to promotion to the higher heavenly planets, understand You, and how can they be described as enjoying a happiness similar to the devotees’ happiness?”

NoD 4: Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation

How much a devotee is seriously attached to the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be understood from the statement of Mahäräja Påthu (Ädi-räja) which is described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fourth Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 24. He prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead thus: “My dear Lord, if after taking liberation I have no chance of hearing the glories of Your Lordship, glories chanted by pure devotees from the core of their hearts in praise of Your lotus feet, and if I have no chance for this honey of transcendental bliss, then I shall never ask for liberation or this so-called spiritual emancipation. I shall simply always pray unto Your Lordship that You may give me millions of tongues and millions of ears, so that I can constantly chant and hear of Your transcendental glories.”

The impersonalists desire to merge into the existence of the Supreme, but without keeping their individuality they have no chance of hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord. Because they have no idea of the transcendental form of the Supreme Lord, there is no chance of their chanting and hearing of His transcendental activities. In other words, unless one is already beyond liberation, one cannot relish the transcendental glories of the Lord, nor can one understand the transcendental form of the Lord.

A similar statement is found in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fifth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 44. Çukadeva Gosvämé addresses Parékñit Mahäräja there and says, “The great soul King Bharata was so much attached to the service of the lotus feet of Kåñëa that he very easily gave up his lordship over the earthly planet and his affection for his children, society, friends, royal opulence and beautiful wife. He was so very lucky that the goddess of fortune was pleased to offer him all kinds of material concessions, but he never accepted any of these material opulences.” Çukadeva Gosvämé praises this behavior of King Bharata very highly. He says, “Any person whose heart is attracted by the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Madhusüdana, does not care even for that liberation which is aspired to by many great sages, what to speak of material opulences.”

In the Bhägavatam, Sixth Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 25, there is a similar statement by Våträsura, who addresses the Lord as follows: “My dear Lord, by leaving Your transcendental service I may be promoted to the planet called Dhruvaloka [the polestar], or I may gain lordship over all the planetary systems of the universe. But I do not aspire to this. Nor do I wish the mystic perfections of yoga practice, nor do I aspire to spiritual emancipation. All I wish for, my Lord, is Your association and transcendental service eternally.”

This statement is confirmed by Lord Çiva in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixth Canto, Seventeenth Chapter, verse 28, wherein Lord Çiva addresses Saté thus: “My dear Saté, persons who are devoted to Näräyaëa [Kåñëa] are not afraid of anything. If they are elevated to the higher planetary systems, or if they get liberation from material contamination, or if they are pushed down to the hellish condition of life—or, in fact, in any situation whatever—they are not afraid of anything. Simply because they have taken shelter of the lotus feet of Näräyaëa, for them any position in the material world is as good as another.”

There is a similar statement by Indra, the King of heaven, in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixth Canto, Eighteenth Chapter, verse 74. There Indra addresses mother Diti in this manner: “My dear mother, persons who have given up all kinds of desire and are simply engaged in devotional service to the Lord know what is actually their self-interest. Such persons are actually serving their self-interests and are considered first-class experts in the matter of advancing to the perfectional stage of life.”

In the Seventh Canto of the Bhägavatam, Sixth Chapter, verse 25, Mahäräja Prahläda says, “My dear friends born into atheistic families, if you can please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, then there is nothing more rare in this world. In other words, if the Supreme Lord Kåñëa is pleased with you, then any desire you may have within the core of your heart can be fulfilled without any doubt. As such, what is the use of elevating yourself by the results of fruitive activities, which are automatically achieved in all events by the modes of material nature? And what is the use for you of spiritual emancipation or liberation from material bondage? If you are always engaged in chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord and always relishing the nectar of the lotus feet of the Lord, then there is no necessity for any of these.” By this statement of Prahläda Mahäräja it is clearly understood that one who takes pleasure in chanting and hearing the transcendental glories of the Lord has already surpassed all kinds of material benedictions, including the results of pious fruitive activities, sacrifices and even liberation from material bondage.

Similarly, in the same Seventh Canto, Eighth Chapter, verse 42, when the demigods are offering prayers to Lord Nåsiàha, Indra the King of heaven says, “O supreme one, these demons talk of our share of participation in the performances of ritualistic sacrifices, but simply by Your appearance as Lord Nåsiàhadeva You have saved us from terrible fears. Actually, our shares in the sacrificial performances are due to You only, because You are the supreme enjoyer of all sacrifices. You are the Supersoul of every living entity, and therefore You are the actual owner of everything. Long were our hearts always filled with fear of this demon, Hiraëyakaçipu. But You are so kind toward us that by killing him You have removed that fear from within our hearts and have given us the chance to place Your Lordship within our hearts again. For persons who are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Your Lordship, all the opulences which were taken away from us by the demons are counted as nothing. Devotees do not care even for liberation, what to speak of these material opulences. Actually, we are not enjoyers of the fruits of sacrifices. Our only duty is to always be engaged in Your service, for You are the enjoyer of everything.”

The purport of this statement by Indra is that beginning from Brahmä down to the insignificant ant, no living entities are meant for enjoying the material opulences. They are simply meant for offering everything to the supreme proprietor, the Personality of Godhead. By doing so, they automatically enjoy the benefit. The example can be cited again of the different parts of the body collecting foodstuffs and cooking them so that ultimately a meal may be offered to the stomach. After it has gone to the stomach, all the parts of the body equally enjoy the benefit of the meal. So, similarly, everyone’s duty is to satisfy the Supreme Lord, and then automatically everyone will become satisfied.

A similar verse is found in the Eighth Canto, Third Chapter, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, verse 20. Gajendra says there, “My dear Lord, I have no experience of the transcendental bliss derived from Your devotional service, so therefore I have asked from You some favor. But I know that persons who are pure devotees and have, by serving the lotus feet of great souls, become freed from all material desires, are always merged in the ocean of transcendental bliss and, as such, are always satisfied simply by glorifying Your auspicious characteristics. For them there is nothing else to aspire to or pray for.”

In the Ninth Canto of the Bhägavatam, Fourth Chapter, verse 67, the Lord of Vaikuëöha replies to Durväsä Muni thus: “My pure devotees are always satisfied being engaged in devotional service, and therefore they do not aspire even after the five liberated stages, which are (1) to be one with Me, (2) to achieve residence on My planet, (3) to have My opulences, (4) to possess bodily features similar to Mine and (5) to gain personal association with Me. So when they are not interested even in these liberated positions, you can know how little they care for material opulences or material liberation.”

There is a similar prayer by the näga-patnés (wives of the Käliya serpent), in the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixteenth Chapter, verse 37. The näga-patnés say there, “Dear Lord, the dust of Your lotus feet is very wonderful. Any person who is fortunate enough to achieve this dust does not care for heavenly planets, lordship over all the planetary systems, the mystic perfections of yoga, or even liberation from material existence. In other words, anyone who adores the dust of Your lotus feet does not care a fig for all other perfectional stages.”

There is a similar statement in the Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, verse 21, wherein the Çrutis, the Vedas personified, pray to the Lord as follows: “Dear Lord, it is very difficult to understand spiritual knowledge. Your appearance here, just as You are, is to explain to us this most difficult subject of knowledge of the spirit. As such, Your devotees who have left their domestic comforts to associate with the liberated äcäryas [teachers] are now fully merged in the devotional service of Your Lordship, and thus they do not care for any so-called liberation.”

In explaining this verse it should be noted that spiritual knowledge means understanding the self and the Supersoul, or Superself. The individual soul and the Supersoul are qualitatively one, and therefore both of them are known as Brahman, or spirit. But knowledge of Brahman is very difficult to understand. There are so many philosophers engaged in the matter of understanding the soul, but they are unable to make any tangible advancement. It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä that out of many millions of persons, only one may try to understand what is spiritual knowledge, and out of many such persons who are trying to understand, only one or a few may know what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this verse says that spiritual knowledge is very difficult to achieve, and so in order to make it more easily attainable, the Supreme Lord Himself comes in His original form as Çré Kåñëa and gives His instruction directly to an associate like Arjuna, just so that the people in general may take advantage of this spiritual knowledge. This verse also explains that liberation means having completely given up all the material comforts of life. Those who are impersonalists are satisfied by simply being liberated from the material circumstances, but those who are devotees can automatically give up material life and also enjoy the transcendental bliss of hearing and chanting the wonderful activities of Lord Kåñëa.

In the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twentieth Chapter, verse 34, Lord Kåñëa says to Uddhava, “My dear Uddhava, the devotees who have completely taken shelter of My service are so steadfast in devotional service that they have no other desire. Even if they are offered the four kinds of spiritual opulences,[ii]* they will refuse to accept them. So what to speak of their desiring anything within the material world!” Similarly, Lord Kåñëa says in another passage of the Bhägavatam, Eleventh Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 14, “My dear Uddhava, a person whose consciousness is completely absorbed in My thought and activities does not aspire even to occupy the post of Brahmä, or the post of Indra, or the post of lordship over the planets, or the eight kinds of mystic perfections, or even liberation itself.” In the Twelfth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Chapter, verse 6, Lord Çiva says to Devé, “My dear Devé, this great brähmaëa sage Märkaëòeya has attained unflinching faith and devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such he does not aspire after any benedictions, including liberation from the material world.”

Similarly, there is a statement in Padma Puräëa describing the ritualistic function during the month of Kärttika (October-November). During this month, in Våndävana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Kåñëa in His Dämodara form. The Dämodara form refers to Kåñëa in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yaçodä. Däma means “ropes,” and udara means “the abdomen.” So mother Yaçodä, being very disturbed by naughty Kåñëa, bound Him round the abdomen with a rope, and thus Kåñëa is named Dämodara. During the month of Kärttika, Dämodara is prayed to as follows: “My dear Lord, You are the Lord of all, the giver of all benedictions.” There are many demigods, like Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, who sometimes offer benedictions to their respective devotees. For example, Rävaëa was blessed with many benedictions by Lord Çiva, and Hiraëyakaçipu was blessed by Lord Brahmä. But even Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä depend upon the benedictions of Lord Kåñëa, and therefore Kåñëa is addressed as the Lord of all benefactors. As such, Lord Kåñëa can offer His devotees anything they want, but still, the devotee’s prayer continues, “I do not ask You for liberation or any material facility up to the point of liberation. What I want as Your favor is that I may always think of Your form in which I see You now, as Dämodara. You are so beautiful and attractive that my mind does not want anything besides this wonderful form.” In this same prayer, there is another passage, in which it is said, “My dear Lord Dämodara, once when You were playing as a naughty boy in the house of Nanda Mahäräja, You broke the box containing yogurt, and because of that, mother Yaçodä considered You an offender and tied You with rope to the household grinding mortar. At that time You delivered two sons of Kuvera, Nalaküvara and Maëigréva, who were staying there as two arjuna trees in the yard of Nanda Mahäräja. My only request is that by Your merciful pastimes You may similarly deliver me.”

The story behind this verse is that the two sons of Kuvera (the treasurer of the demigods) were puffed up on account of the opulence of their father, and so once on a heavenly planet they were enjoying themselves in a lake with some naked damsels of heaven. At that time the great saint Närada Muni was passing on the road and was sorry to see the behavior of the sons of Kuvera. Seeing Närada passing by, the damsels of heaven covered their bodies with cloth, but the two sons, being drunkards, did not have this decency. Närada became angry with their behavior and cursed them thus: “You have no sense, so it is better if you become trees instead of the sons of Kuvera.” Upon hearing this, the boys came to their senses and begged Närada to be pardoned for their offenses. Närada then said, “Yes, you shall become trees, arjuna trees, and you will stand in the courtyard of Nanda Mahäräja. But Kåñëa Himself will appear in time as the foster son of Nanda, and He will deliver you.” In other words, the curse of Närada was a benediction to the sons of Kuvera because indirectly it was foretold that they would be able to receive the favor of Lord Kåñëa. After that, Kuvera’s two sons stood as two big arjuna trees in the courtyard of Nanda Mahäräja until Lord Dämodara, in order to fulfill the desire of Närada, dragged the grinding mortar to which He was tied and struck the two trees, violently causing them to fall down. From out of these fallen trees came Nalaküvara and Maëigréva, who had by then become great devotees of the Lord.

There is a passage in the Hayaçérña-païcarätra which states, “My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I do not want any resultant benediction from my religious life, nor do I want any economic development, nor do I want to enjoy sense gratification, nor liberation. I simply pray to be an eternal servant at Your lotus feet. Kindly oblige me and give me this benediction.”

In the same Hayaçérña-païcarätra, after Nåsiàhadeva wanted to give benedictions to Prahläda Mahäräja, Prahläda did not accept any material benediction and simply asked the favor of the Lord to remain His eternal devotee. In this connection, Prahläda Mahäräja cited the example of Hanumän, the eternal servitor of Lord Rämacandra, who also set an example by never asking any material favor from the Lord. He always remained engaged in the Lord’s service. That is the ideal character of Hanumän, for which he is still worshiped by all devotees. Prahläda Mahäräja also offered his respectful obeisances unto Hanumän. There is a well-known verse spoken by Hanumän in which he says, “My dear Lord, if You like You can give me salvation from this material existence, or the privilege of merging into Your existence, but I do not wish any of these things. I do not want anything which diminishes my relationship with You as servant to master, even after liberation.”

In a similar passage in the Närada-païcarätra it is stated, “My dear Lord, I do not wish any perfectional stage by performing the ritualistic religious ceremonies or by economic development or by sense gratification or liberation. I simply pray that You grant me the favor of keeping me under Your lotus feet. I do not wish any kind of liberation such as sälokya (to reside on Your planet) or särüpya (to have the same bodily features as You). I simply pray for Your favor that I may be always engaged in Your loving service.”

Similarly, in the Sixth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 5, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Mahäräja Parékñit inquires from Çukadeva Gosvämé, “My dear brähmaëa, I understand that the demon Våträsura was a greatly sinful person and that his mentality was completely absorbed in the modes of passion and ignorance. How did he develop to such a perfectional stage of devotional service to Näräyaëa? I have heard that even great persons who have undergone severe austerities and who are liberated with full knowledge must strive to become devotees of the Lord. It is understood that such persons are very rare and almost never to be seen, so I am astonished that Våträsura became such a devotee!”

In the above verse, the most important thing to be noted is that there may be many liberated persons who have merged into the existence of the impersonal Brahman, but a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Näräyaëa, is very, very rare. Even out of millions of liberated persons, only one is fortunate enough to become a devotee.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto, Eighth Chapter, verse 20, Queen Kunté is praying to Lord Kåñëa at the time of His departure, “My dear Kåñëa, You are so great that You are inconceivable even to great stalwart scholars and paramahaàsas [fully liberated souls]. So if such great sages, who are transcendental to all the reactions of material existence, are unable to know You, then as far as we are concerned, belonging to the less intelligent woman class, how is it possible for us to know Your glories? How can we understand You?” In this verse, the particular thing to be noted is that the Personality of Godhead is not understood by great liberated persons, but only by devotees such as Queen Kunté in her humbleness. Although she was a woman and was considered less intelligent than a man, still she realized the glories of Kåñëa. That is the purport of this verse.

Another passage which is very important is in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 10, and is called “the ätmäräma verse.” In this ätmäräma verse it is stated that even those who are completely liberated from material contamination are attracted by the transcendental qualities of Lord Kåñëa.[iii]* The purport of this verse is that a liberated soul has absolutely no desire at all for material enjoyment; he is wholly freed from all kinds of material desires, yet still he is irresistibly attracted by the desire to hear and understand the pastimes of the Lord. We may therefore conclude that the glories and pastimes of the Lord are not material. Otherwise, how could the liberated persons known as ätmärämas be attracted by such pastimes? That is the important point in this verse.

From the above statement it is found that a devotee is not after any of the stages of liberation. There are five stages of liberation, already explained as being (1) to become one with the Lord, (2) to live on the same planet as the Lord, (3) to obtain the same bodily features as the Lord, (4) to have the same opulences as the Lord and (5) to have constant association with the Lord. Out of these five liberated stages, the one which is known as säyujya, or to merge into the existence of the Lord, is the last to be accepted by a devotee. The other four liberations, although not desired by devotees, still are not against the devotional ideals. Some of the liberated persons who have achieved these four stages of liberation may also develop affection for Kåñëa and be promoted to the Goloka Våndävana planet in the spiritual sky. In other words, those who are already promoted to the Vaikuëöha planets and who possess the four kinds of liberation may also sometimes develop affection for Kåñëa and become promoted to Kåñëaloka.

So those who are in the four liberated states may still be going through different stages of existence. In the beginning they may want the opulences of Kåñëa, but at the mature stage the dormant love for Kåñëa exhibited in Våndävana becomes prominent in their hearts. As such, the pure devotees never accept the liberation of säyujya, to become one with the Supreme, though sometimes they may accept as favorable the other four liberated states.

Out of many kinds of devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the one who is attracted to the original form of the Lord, Kåñëa in Våndävana, is considered to be the foremost, first-class devotee. Such a devotee is never attracted by the opulences of Vaikuëöha, or even of Dvärakä, the royal city where Kåñëa ruled. The conclusion of Çré Rüpa Gosvämé is that the devotees who are attracted by the pastimes of the Lord in Gokula, or [iv]Våndävana, are the topmost devotees.

A devotee who is attached to a particular form of the Lord does not wish to redirect his devotion to other forms. For example, Hanumän, the devotee of Lord Rämacandra, knew that there is no difference between Lord Rämacandra and Lord Näräyaëa, and yet he still wanted to render service only unto Lord Rämacandra. That is due to the specific attraction of a particular devotee. There are many, many forms of the Lord, but Kåñëa is still the original form. Though all of the devotees of the different forms of the Lord are in the same category, still it is said that those who are devotees of Lord Kåñëa are the topmost in the list of all devotees.

NoD 5: The Purity of Devotional Service

All of the previous instructions imparted by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé in his broad statements can be summarized thus: as long as one is materially inclined or desirous of merging into the spiritual effulgence, one cannot enter into the realm of pure devotional service. Next, Rüpa Gosvämé states that devotional service is transcendental to all material considerations and that it is not limited to any particular country, class, society or circumstance. As stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, devotional service is transcendental and has no cause. Devotional service is executed without any hope for gain, and it cannot be checked by any material circumstances. It is open for all, without any distinction, and it is the constitutional occupation of the living entities.

In the Middle Ages, after the disappearance of Lord Caitanya’s great associate Lord Nityänanda, a class of priestly persons claimed to be the descendants of Nityänanda, calling themselves the gosvämé caste. They further claimed that the practice and spreading of devotional service belonged only to their particular class, which was known as Nityänanda-vaàça. In this way, they exercised their artificial power for some time, until Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura, the powerful äcärya of the Gauòéya Vaiñëava sampradäya, completely smashed their idea. There was a great hard struggle for some time, but it has turned out successfully, and it is now correctly and practically established that devotional service is not restricted to a particular class of men. Besides that, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is already at the status of being a high-class brähmaëa. So Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura’s struggle for this movement has come out successful.

It is on the basis of his position that anyone can now become a Gauòéya Vaiñëava, from any part of the world or any part of the universe. Anyone who is a pure Vaiñëava is situated transcendentally, and therefore the highest qualification in the material world, namely to be in the mode of goodness, has already been achieved by such a person. Our Kåñëa consciousness movement in the Western world is based on the above-mentioned proposition of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Gosvämé Prabhupäda, our spiritual master. On his authority, we are claiming members from all sections of the Western countries. The so-called brähmaëas claim that one who is not born into a brähmaëa family cannot receive the sacred thread and cannot become a high-grade Vaiñëava. But we do not accept such a theory, because it is not supported by Rüpa Gosvämé nor by the strength of the various scriptures.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé specifically mentions herein that every man has the birthright to accept devotional service and to become Kåñëa conscious. He has given many evidences from many scriptures, and he has especially quoted one passage from Padma Puräëa, wherein the sage Vasiñöha tells King Dilépa, “My dear King, everyone has the right to execute devotional service, just as he has the right to take early bath in the month of Mägha [December-January].” There is more evidence in the Skanda Puräëa, in the Käçé-khaëòa portion, where it is said, “In the country known as Mayüradhvaja, the lower-caste people who are considered less than çüdras are also initiated in the Vaiñëava cult of devotional service. And when they are properly dressed, with tilaka on their bodies and beads in their hands and on their necks, they appear to be coming from Vaikuëöha. In fact, they look so very beautiful that immediately they surpass the ordinary brähmaëas.”

Thus a Vaiñëava automatically becomes a brähmaëa. This idea is also supported by Sanätana Gosvämé in his book Hari-bhakti-viläsa, which is the Vaiñëava guide. Therein he has clearly stated that any person who is properly initiated into the Vaiñëava cult certainly becomes a brähmaëa, as much as the metal known as kaàsa (bell metal) is turned into gold by the mixture of mercury. A bona fide spiritual master, under the guidance of authorities, can turn anyone to the Vaiñëava cult so that naturally he may come to the topmost position of a brähmaëa.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé warns, however, that if a person is properly initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, he should not think that simply by the acceptance of such initiation his business is then finished. One still has to follow the rules and regulations very carefully. If after accepting the spiritual master and being initiated one does not follow the rules and regulations of devotional service, then he is again fallen. One must be very vigilant to remember that he is the part and parcel of the transcendental body of Kåñëa, and that it is his duty as part and parcel to give service to the whole, or Kåñëa. If we do not render service to Kåñëa then again we fall down. In other words, simply becoming initiated does not elevate one to the position of a high-class brähmaëa. One also has to discharge the duties and follow the regulative principles very rigidly.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé also says that if one is regularly discharging devotional service, there will be no question of a falldown. But even if circumstantially there is some falldown, the Vaiñëava need have nothing to do with the präyaçcitta, the ritualistic ceremony for purification. If someone falls down from the principles of devotional service, he need not take to the präyaçcitta performances for reformation. He simply has to execute the rules and regulations for discharging devotional service, and this is sufficient for his reinstatement. This is the mystery of the Vaiñëava (devotional) cult.

Practically there are three processes for elevating one to the platform of spiritual consciousness. These processes are called karma, jïäna and bhakti. Ritualistic performances are in the field of karma. Speculative processes are in the field of jïäna. One who has taken to bhakti, the devotional service of the Lord, need have nothing to do with karma or jïäna. It has been already explained that pure devotional service is without any tinge of karma or jïäna. Bhakti should have no tinge of philosophical speculation or ritualistic performances.

In this connection Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé gives evidence from Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 2, in which Lord Kåñëa says to Uddhava, “The distinction between qualification and disqualification may be made in this way: persons who are already elevated in discharging devotional service will never again take shelter of the processes of fruitive activity or philosophical speculation. If one sticks to devotional service and is conducted by regulative principles given by the authorities and äcäryas, that is the best qualification.”

This statement is supported in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 17, wherein Çré Närada Muni advises Vyäsadeva thus: “Even if one does not execute his specific occupational duty, but immediately takes direct shelter of the lotus feet of Hari [Kåñëa], there will be no fault on his part, and in all circumstances his position is secure. Even if, by some bad association, he falls down while executing devotional service, or if he doesn’t finish the complete course of devotional service and dies untimely, still he is not at a loss. A person who is simply discharging his occupational duty in varëa and äçrama, however, with no Kåñëa consciousness, practically does not gain the true benefit of human life.” The purport is that all conditioned souls who are engaged very frantically in activities for sense gratification, without knowing that this process will never help them get out of material contamination, are awarded only with repeated births and deaths.

In the Fifth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is clearly stated by Åñabhadeva to His sons, “Persons engaged in fruitive activities are repeatedly accepting birth and death, and until they develop a loving feeling for Väsudeva, there will be no question of getting out from these stringent laws of material nature.” As such, any person who is very seriously engaged in his occupational duties in the varëas and äçramas, and who does not develop love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Väsudeva, should be understood to be simply spoiling his human form of life.

This is confirmed also in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Chapter, verse 32, in which. the Lord says to Uddhava, “My dear Uddhava, any person who takes shelter of Me in complete surrender and follows My instructions, giving up all occupational duties, is to be considered the first-class man.” In this statement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is understood that people who are generally attracted to philanthropic, ethical, moral, altruistic, political and social welfare activities may be considered nice men only in the calculation of the material world. From Çrémad-Bhägavatam and other authentic Vedic scriptures we learn further that if a person simply acts in Kåñëa consciousness and discharges devotional service, he is considered to be far, far better situated than all of those persons engaged in philanthropic, ethical, moral, altruistic and social welfare activities.

The same thing is still more emphatically confirmed in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 41, in which Karabhäjana Muni addresses Mahäräja Nimi as follows: “My dear King, if someone gives up his occupational duties as they are prescribed for the different varëas and äçramas, but takes complete shelter, surrendering himself unto the lotus feet of the Lord, such a person is no more a debtor, nor has he any obligation to perform the different kinds of activities we render to the great sages, ancestors, living entities and family and society members. Nor has he any need to bother executing the five kinds of yajïäs [sacrifices] for becoming free from sinful contamination. Simply by discharging devotional service, he is freed from all kinds of obligations.” The purport is that as soon as a man takes his birth, he is immediately indebted to so many sources. He is indebted to the great sages because he profits by reading their authoritative scriptures and books. For example, we take advantage of the books written by Vyäsadeva. Vyäsadeva has left for us all the Vedas. Before Vyäsadeva’s writing, the Vedic literature was simply heard, and the disciples would learn the mantras quickly by hearing and not by reading. Later on, Vyäsadeva thought it wise to write down the Vedas, because in this age people are short-memoried and unable to remember all the instructions given by the spiritual master. Therefore, he left all the Vedic knowledge in the form of books, such as the Puräëas, Vedänta, Mahäbhärata and Çrémad-Bhägavatam.

There are many other sages, like Çaìkaräcärya, Gautama Muni and Närada Muni, to whom we are indebted because we take advantage of their knowledge. Similarly, we are obliged to our forefathers, because we take our birth in a particular family, where we take all advantages and inherit property. Therefore, we are indebted to the forefathers and have to offer them piëòa (prasäda) after they are dead. Similarly, to the people in general we are also indebted, as well as to our relatives, friends and even animals such as cows and dogs who render us so much service.

In this way, we are indebted to the demigods, to the forefathers, to the sages, to the animals and to society in general. It is our duty to repay them all by proper discharge of service. But by the one stroke of devotional service, if someone gives up all obligations and simply surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is no longer a debtor, nor obliged to any other source of benefit.

In Bhagavad-gétä also, the Lord says, “Give up all your occupations and just become surrendered unto Me. I give you assurance that I shall give you protection from all sinful reactions.” One may think that because he is surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead he will not be able to perform all of his other obligations. But the Lord says repeatedly, “Don’t hesitate. Don’t consider that because you are giving up all other engagements there will be some flaw in your life. Don’t think like that. I will give you all protection.” That is the assurance of Lord Kåñëa in Bhagavad-gétä.

There is additional evidence in the Agastya-saàhitä: “As the regulative principles of scripture are not required by a liberated person, so the ritualistic principles indicated in the Vedic supplements are also not required for a person duly engaged in the service of Lord Rämacandra.” In other words, the devotees of Lord Rämacandra, or Kåñëa, are already liberated persons and are not required to follow all the regulative principles mentioned in the ritualistic portions of the Vedic literature.

Similarly, in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fifth Chapter, verse 42, Karabhäjana Muni addresses King Nimi and says, “My dear King, a person who has given up the worship of the demigods and has completely concentrated his energy in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has become very, very dear to the Lord. As such, if by chance or mistake he does something which is forbidden, there is no need for him to perform any purificatory ceremonies. Because the Lord is situated within his heart, He takes compassion for the devotee’s accidental mistake and corrects him from within.” It is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä in many places that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, takes a special interest in His devotees and declares emphatically that nothing can cause His devotees to fall down. He is always protecting them.

NoD 6: How to Discharge Devotional Service

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé states that his elder brother (Sanätana Gosvämé) has compiled Hari-bhakti-viläsa for the guidance of the Vaiñëavas and therein has mentioned many rules and regulations to be followed by the Vaiñëavas. Some of them are very important and prominent, and Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé will now mention these very important items for our benefit. The purport of this statement is that Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé proposes to mention only basic principles, not details. For example, a basic principle is that one has to accept a spiritual master. Exactly how one follows the instructions of his spiritual master is considered a detail. For example, if one is following the instruction of his spiritual master and that instruction is different from the instructions of another spiritual master, this is called detailed information. But the basic principle of acceptance of a spiritual master is good everywhere, although the details may be different. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not wish to enter into details here, but wants to place before us only the principles.

He mentions the basic principles as follows: (1) accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, (2) becoming initiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devotional service from him, (3) obeying the orders of the spiritual master with faith and devotion, (4) following in the footsteps of great äcäryas (teachers) under the direction of the spiritual master, (5) inquiring from the spiritual master how to advance in Kåñëa consciousness, (6) being prepared to give up anything material for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Çré Kåñëa (this means that when we are engaged in the devotional service of Kåñëa, we must be prepared to give up something which we may not like to give up, and also we have to accept something which we may not like to accept), (7) residing in a sacred place of pilgrimage like Dvärakä or Våndävana, (8) accepting only what is necessary, or dealing with the material world only as far as necessary, (9) observing the fasting day on Ekädaçé and (10) worshiping sacred trees like the banyan tree.

These ten items are preliminary necessities for beginning the discharge of devotional service in regulative principles. In the beginning, if a neophyte devotee observes the above-mentioned ten principles, surely he will quickly make good advancement in Kåñëa consciousness.

The next set of instructions is listed as follows: (1) One should rigidly give up the company of nondevotees. (2) One should not instruct a person who is not desirous of accepting devotional service. (3) One should not be very enthusiastic about constructing costly temples or monasteries. (4) One should not try to read too many books, nor should one develop the idea of earning his livelihood by lecturing on or professionally reciting Çrémad-Bhägavatam or Bhagavad-gétä. (5) One should not be neglectful in ordinary dealings. (6) One should not be under the spell of lamentation in loss or jubilation in gain. (7) One should not disrespect the demigods. (8) One should not give unnecessary trouble to any living entity. (9) One should carefully avoid the various offenses in chanting the holy name of the Lord or in worshiping the Deity in the temple. (10) One should be very intolerant toward the blasphemy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, or His devotees.

Without following the above-mentioned ten principles, one cannot properly elevate himself to the platform of sädhana-bhakti, or devotional service in practice. Altogether, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé mentions twenty items, and all of them are very important. Out of the twenty, the first three—namely accepting the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, taking initiation from him and serving him with respect and reverence—are the most important.

The next important items are as follows: (1) One should decorate the body with tilaka, which is the sign of the Vaiñëavas. (The idea is that as soon as a person sees these marks on the body of the Vaiñëava, he will immediately remember Kåñëa. Lord Caitanya said that a Vaiñëava is he who, when seen, reminds one of Kåñëa. Therefore, it is essential that a Vaiñëava mark his body with tilaka to remind others of Kåñëa.) (2) In marking such tilaka, sometimes one may write Hare Kåñëa on the body. (3) One should accept flowers and garlands that have been offered to the Deity and the spiritual master and put them on one’s body. (4) One should learn to dance before the Deity. (5) One should learn to bow down immediately upon seeing the Deity or the spiritual master. (6) As soon as one visits a temple of Lord Kåñëa, one must stand up. (7) When the Deity is being borne for a stroll in the street, a devotee should immediately follow the procession. (In this connection it may be noted that in India, especially in Viñëu temples, the system is that apart from the big Deity who is permanently situated in the main area of the temple, there is a set of smaller Deities which are taken in procession in the evening. In some temples it is the custom to hold a big procession in the evening with a band playing and a nice big umbrella over the Deities, who sit on decorated thrones on the cart or palanquin, which is carried by devotees. The Deities come out onto the street and travel in the neighborhood while the people of the neighborhood come out to offer prasäda. The residents of the neighborhood all follow the procession, so it is a very nice scene. When the Deity is coming out, the servitors in the temple put forward the daily accounts before Them: so much was the collection, so much was the expenditure. The whole idea is that the Deity is considered to be the proprietor of the whole establishment, and all the priests and other people taking care of the temple are considered to be the servants of the Deity. This system is very, very old and is still followed. So, therefore, it is mentioned here that when the Deity is on stroll the people should follow behind.) (8) A devotee must visit a Viñëu temple at least once or twice every day, morning and evening. (In Våndävana this system is followed very strictly. All the devotees in town go every morning and evening to visit different temples. Therefore during these times there are considerable crowds all over the city. There are about five thousand temples in Våndävana city. Of course it is not possible to visit all the temples, but there are at least one dozen very big and important temples which were started by the Gosvämés and which should be visited.) (9) One must circumambulate the temple building at least three times. (In every temple there is an arrangement to go around the temple at least three times. Some devotees go around more than three times—ten times, fifteen times—according to their vows. The Gosvämés used to circumambulate Govardhana Hill.) One should also circumambulate the whole Våndävana area. (10) One must worship the Deity in the temple according to the regulative principles. (Offering ärati and prasäda, decorating the Deity, etc.—these things must be observed regularly.) (11) One must render personal service to the Deities. (12) One must sing. (13) One must perform saìkértana. (14) One must chant. (15) One must offer prayers. (16) One must recite notable prayers. (17) One must taste mahä-prasäda (food from the very plate offered before the Deities). (18) One must drink caraëämåta (water from the bathing of the Deities, which is offered to guests). (19) One must smell the incense and flowers offered to the Deity. (20) One must touch the lotus feet of the Deity. (21) One must see the Deity with great devotion. (22) One must offer ärati (ärätrika) at different times. (23) One must hear about the Lord and His pastimes from Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Bhagavad-gétä and similar books. (24) One must pray to the Deity for His mercy. (25) One should remember the Deity. (26) One should meditate upon the Deity. (27) One should render some voluntary service. (28) One should think of the Lord as one’s friend. (29) One should offer everything to the Lord. (30) One should offer a favorite article (such as food or a garment). (31) One should take all kinds of risks and perform all endeavors for Kåñëa’s benefit. (32) In every condition, one should be a surrendered soul. (33) One should pour water on the tulasé tree. (34) One should regularly hear Çrémad-Bhägavatam and similar literature. (35) One should live in a sacred place like Mathurä, Våndävana or Dvärakä. (36) One should offer service to Vaiñëavas (devotees). (37) One should arrange one’s devotional service according to one’s means. (38) In the month of Kärttika (October and November), one should make arrangements for special services. (39) During Janmäñöamé (the time of Kåñëa’s appearance in this world) one should observe a special service. (40) One should do whatever is done with great care and devotion for the Deity. (41) One should relish the pleasure of Bhägavatam reading among devotees and not among outsiders. (42) One should associate with devotees who are considered more advanced. (43) One should chant the holy name of the Lord. (44) One should live in the jurisdiction of Mathurä.

Now, the total regulative principles come to an aggregate of sixty-four items. As we have mentioned, the first are the primary ten regulative principles. Then come the secondary ten regulative principles, and added to these are forty-four other activities. So all together there are sixty-four items for discharging the regulative practice of devotional service. Out of these sixty-four items, five items—namely worshiping the Deity, hearing Çrémad-Bhägavatam, associating among the devotees, saìkértana, and living in Mathurä—are very important.

The sixty-four items of devotional service should include all of our activities of body, mind and speech. As stated in the beginning, the regulative principle of devotional service enjoins that all of our senses must be employed in the service of the Lord. Exactly how they can be thus employed is described in the above sixty-four items. Now, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé will give evidence from different scriptures supporting the authenticity of many of these points.

NoD 7: Evidence Regarding Devotional Principles

In the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Third Chapter, verse 21, Prabuddha tells Mahäräja Nimi, “My dear King, please know for certain that in the material world there is no happiness. It is simply a mistake to think that there is happiness here, because this place is full of nothing but miserable conditions. Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters. Everyone should try to find such a bona fide spiritual master in order to fulfill his mission of life, which is to transfer himself to the plane of spiritual bliss.”

The purport is that one should not accept as a spiritual master someone who is fool number one, who has no direction according to the scriptural injunctions, whose character is doubtful, who does not follow the principles of devotional service, or who has not conquered the influence of the six sense-gratifying agents. The six agents of sense gratification are the tongue, the genitals, the belly, anger, the mind and words. Anyone who has practiced controlling these six is permitted to make disciples all over the world. To accept such a spiritual master is the crucial point for advancement in spiritual life. One who is fortunate enough to come under the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master is sure to traverse the path of spiritual salvation without any doubt.

Sage Prabuddha continued to speak to the King as follows: “My dear King, a disciple has to accept the spiritual master not only as spiritual master, but also as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul. In other words, the disciple should accept the spiritual master as God, because he is the external manifestation of Kåñëa. This is confirmed in every scripture, and a disciple should accept the spiritual master as such. One should learn Çrémad-Bhägavatam seriously and with all respect and veneration for the spiritual master. Hearing and speaking Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the religious process which elevates one to the platform of serving and loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

The attitude of the disciple should be to satisfy the bona fide spiritual master. Then it will be very easy for him to understand spiritual knowledge. This is confirmed in the Vedas, and Rüpa Gosvämé will further explain that for a person who has unflinching faith in God and the spiritual master, everything becomes revealed very easily.

Regarding accepting initiation from the spiritual master, in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventeenth Chapter, verse 27, it is stated by Lord Kåñëa, “My dear Uddhava, the spiritual master must be accepted not only as My representative, but as My very self. He must never be considered on the same level with an ordinary human being. One should never be envious of the spiritual master, as one may be envious of an ordinary man. The spiritual master should always be seen as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and by serving the spiritual master one is able to serve all the demigods.”

In the Skanda Puräëa it is advised that a devotee follow the past äcäryas and saintly persons, because by such following one can achieve the desired results, with no chance of lamenting or being baffled in his progress.

The scripture known as Brahma-yämala states as follows: “If someone wants to pose himself as a great devotee without following the authorities of the revealed scriptures, then his activities will never help him to make progress in devotional service. Instead, he will simply create disturbances for the sincere students of devotional service.” Those who do not strictly follow the principles of revealed scriptures are generally called sahajiyäs—those who have imagined everything to be cheap, who have their own concocted ideas, and who do not follow the scriptural injunctions. Such persons are simply creating disturbances in the discharge of devotional service.

In this connection, an objection may be raised by those who are not in devotional service and who do not care for the revealed scriptures. An example of this is seen in Buddhist philosophy. Lord Buddha appeared in the family of a high-grade kñatriya king, but his philosophy was not in accord with the Vedic conclusions and therefore was rejected. Under the patronage of a Hindu king, Mahäräja Açoka, the Buddhist religion was spread all over India and the adjoining countries. However, after the appearance of the great stalwart teacher Çaìkaräcärya, this Buddhism was driven out beyond the borders of India.

The Buddhists or other religionists who do not care for revealed scriptures sometimes say that there are many devotees of Lord Buddha who show devotional service to Lord Buddha, and who therefore should be considered devotees. In answer to this argument, Rüpa Gosvämé says that the followers of Buddha cannot be accepted as devotees. Although Lord Buddha is accepted as an incarnation of Kåñëa, the followers of such incarnations are not very advanced in their knowledge of the Vedas. To study the Vedas means to come to the conclusion of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore any religious principle which denies the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead is not accepted and is called atheism. Atheism means defying the authority of the Vedas and decrying the great äcäryas who teach Vedic scriptures for the benefit of the people in general.

Lord Buddha is accepted as an incarnation of Kåñëa in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, but in the same Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is stated that Lord Buddha appeared in order to bewilder the atheistic class of men. Therefore his philosophy is meant for bewildering the atheists and should not be accepted. If someone asks, “Why should Kåñëa propagate atheistic principles?” the answer is that it was the desire of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to end the violence which was then being committed in the name of the Vedas. The so-called religionists were falsely using the Vedas to justify such violent acts as meat-eating, and Lord Buddha came to lead the fallen people away from such a false interpretation of the Vedas. Also, for the atheists Lord Buddha preached atheism so that they would follow him and thus be tricked into devotional service to Lord Buddha, or Kåñëa.

In the Näradéya Puräëa it is said, “If one is actually very serious about devotional service, then all of his purposes will be served without any delay.”

In the Padma Puräëa it is stated, “For one who has given up his material sense enjoyment and has accepted the principles of devotional service, the opulence of Viñëuloka [the kingdom of God] is awaiting.”

In the Skanda Puräëa it is also said that for a person who has lived in Dvärakä for six months, for one month, or even for one fortnight, there is awaiting elevation to the Vaikuëöhalokas and all the profits of särüpya-mukti (the privilege of having the same four-handed bodily features as Näräyaëa).

In the Brahmä Puräëa it is said, “The transcendental significance of Puruñottama-kñetra, which is the eighty-square-mile field of Lord Jagannätha, cannot be properly described. Even the demigods from higher planetary systems see the inhabitants of this Jagannätha Puré as having exactly the same bodily features possessed by one in Vaikuëöha. That is, the demigods see the inhabitants of Jagannätha Puré as being four-handed.”

When there was a meeting of great sages at Naimiñäraëya, Süta Gosvämé was reciting Çrémad-Bhägavatam, and the importance of the Ganges was stated as follows: “The waters of the Ganges are always carrying the flavor of tulasé offered at the lotus feet of Çré Kåñëa, and as such the waters of the Ganges are ever flowing, spreading the glories of Lord Kåñëa. Wherever the waters of the Ganges are flowing, all will be sanctified, both externally and internally.”

In the Näradéya Puräëa it is directed, “One should not accept more than necessary if he is serious about discharging devotional service.” The purport is that one should not neglect following the principles of devotional service, nor should one accept the rulings of devotional service which are more than what he can easily perform. For example, it may be said that one should chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra at least one hundred thousand times daily on his beads. But if this is not possible, then one must minimize his chanting according to his own capacity. Generally, we recommend our disciples to chant at least sixteen rounds on their japa beads daily, and this should be completed. But if one is not even able to chant sixteen rounds, then he must make it up the next day. He must be sure to keep his vow. If he does not strictly follow this out, then he is sure to be negligent. That is offensive in the service of the Lord. If we encourage offenses, we shall not be able to make progress in devotional service. It is better if one fixes up a regulative principle according to his own ability and then follows that vow without fail. That will make him advanced in spiritual life.

In the Brahma-vaivarta Puräëa it is said that one who observes fasting on Ekädaçé day is freed from all kinds of reactions to sinful activities and advances in pious life. The basic principle is not just to fast, but to increase one’s faith and love for Govinda, or Kåñëa. The real reason for observing fasting on Ekädaçé is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in the service of the Lord by chanting or performing similar service. The best thing to do on fasting days is to remember the pastimes of Govinda and to hear His holy name constantly.

In the Skanda Puräëa it is directed that a devotee should offer water to the tulasé plant and ämalaka trees. He should offer respect to the cows and to the brähmaëas and should serve the Vaiñëavas by offering them respectful obeisances and meditating upon them. All of these processes will help the devotee to diminish the reactions to his past sinful activities.

Lord Caitanya was once asked by one of His householder devotees what the general behavior of a Vaiñëava should be. In this connection, Lord Caitanya replied that a Vaiñëava should always give up the company of nondevotees. Then He explained that there are two kinds of nondevotees: one class is against the supremacy of Kåñëa, and another class is too materialistic. In other words, those who are after material enjoyment and those who are against the supremacy of the Lord are called avaiñëava, and their company should be strictly avoided.

In the Kätyäyana-saàhitä it is stated that even if one is forced to live within a cage of iron or in the midst of a blazing fire, he should accept this position rather than live with nondevotees who are through and through against the supremacy of the Lord. Similarly, in the Viñëu-rahasya there is a statement to the effect that one should prefer to embrace a snake, a tiger or an alligator rather than associate with persons who are worshipers of various demigods and who are impelled by material desire.

In the scriptures it is instructed that one may worship a certain demigod if he is desirous of achieving some material gain. For example, one is advised to worship the sun-god if he is desirous of getting rid of a diseased condition. For a beautiful wife, one may worship Umä, the wife of Lord Çiva, and for advanced education one may worship Sarasvaté. Similarly, there is a list in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam for worshipers of all demigods, according to different material desires. But all of these worshipers, although they appear to be very good devotees of the demigods, are still considered to be nondevotees. They cannot be accepted as devotees.

The Mäyävädés (impersonalists) say that one may worship any form of the Lord and that it doesn’t matter, because one reaches the same destination anyway. But it is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gétä that those who are worshipers of the demigods will ultimately reach only the planets of those demigods, while those who are devotees of the Lord Himself will be promoted to the Lord’s abode, the kingdom of God. So actually these persons who are worshipers of demigods have been condemned in the Gétä. It is described that due to their lusty desires they have lost their intelligence and have therefore taken to worshiping the different demigods. So in the Viñëu-rahasya these demigod worshipers are forcefully condemned by the statement that it is better to live with the most dangerous animals than to associate with these persons.

Another stricture is that a person may have many disciples, but he should not act in such a way that he will be obliged to any of them for some particular action or some favor. And one should also not be very enthusiastic about constructing new temples, nor should one be enthusiastic about reading various types of books, save and except the ones which lead to the advancement of devotional service. Practically, if one very carefully reads Bhagavad-gétä, Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Teachings of Lord Caitanya and this Nectar of Devotion, that will give him sufficient knowledge to understand the science of Kåñëa consciousness. One need not take the trouble of reading other books.

In the Seventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 8, Närada Muni, while discussing with Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira the various functions of the different orders in society, especially mentions rules for the sannyäsés, those persons who have renounced this material world. One who has accepted the sannyäsa order of life is forbidden to accept as a disciple anyone who is not fit. A sannyäsé should first of all examine whether a prospective student is sincerely seeking Kåñëa consciousness. If he is not, he should not be accepted. However, Lord Caitanya’s causeless mercy is such that He advised all bona fide spiritual masters to speak about Kåñëa consciousness everywhere. Therefore, in the line of Lord Caitanya even the sannyäsés can speak about Kåñëa consciousness everywhere, and if someone is seriously inclined to become a disciple, the sannyäsé always accepts him.

The one point is that without increasing the number of disciples, there is no propagation of the cult of Kåñëa consciousness. Therefore, sometimes even at a risk, a sannyäsé in the line of Caitanya Mahäprabhu may accept even a person who is not thoroughly fit to become a disciple. Later on, by the mercy of such a bona fide spiritual master, the disciple is gradually elevated. However, if one increases the number of disciples simply for some prestige or false honor, he will surely fall down in the matter of executing Kåñëa consciousness.

Similarly, a bona fide spiritual master has no business reading many books simply to show his proficiency or to get popularity by lecturing in different places. One should avoid all these things. It is also stated that a sannyäsé should not be enthusiastic about constructing temples. We can see in the lives of various äcäryas in the line of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu that they are not very enthusiastic about constructing temples. However, if somebody comes forward to offer some service, the same reluctant äcäryas will encourage the building of costly temples by such servitors. For example, Rüpa Gosvämé was offered a favor by Mahäräja Mänsiìgh, the commander-in-chief of Emperor Akhbar, and Rüpa Gosvämé instructed him to construct a large temple for Govindajé, which cost vast amounts of money.

So a bona fide spiritual master should not personally take any responsibility for constructing temples, but if someone has money and wants to spend it in the service of Kåñëa, an äcärya like Rüpa Gosvämé may utilize the devotee’s money to construct a nice, costly temple for the service of the Lord. Unfortunately, it happens that someone who is not fit to become a spiritual master may approach wealthy persons to contribute for temple constructions. If such money is utilized by unqualified spiritual masters for living comfortably in costly temples without actually doing any preaching work, this is not acceptable. In other words, a spiritual master needn’t be very enthusiastic for constructing temple buildings simply in the name of so-called spiritual advancement. Rather, his first and foremost activity should be to preach. In this connection, Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Gosvämé Mahäräja recommended that a spiritual master print books. If one has money, instead of constructing costly temples, one should spend his money for the publication of authorized books in different languages for propagating the Kåñëa consciousness movement.

There is a statement in the Padma Puräëa: “Persons who are engaged in Kåñëa consciousness should never be disturbed by some material gain or loss. Even if there is some material loss, one should not be perturbed, but should always think of Kåñëa within himself.” The purport is that every conditioned soul is always absorbed in thinking of materialistic activities; he has to free himself from such thoughts and transfer himself completely to Kåñëa consciousness. As we have already explained, the basic principle of Kåñëa consciousness is to always think of Kåñëa. One should not be disturbed in material loss, but, rather, should concentrate his mind upon the lotus feet of the Lord.

A devotee should not be subjected to lamentation or illusion. There is the following statement in the Padma Puräëa: “Within the heart of a person who is overpowered by lamentation or anger, there is no possibility of Kåñëa’s being manifested.”

One should not neglect to offer due respect to the demigods. One may not be a devotee of demigods, but that does not mean that he should be disrespectful to them. For example, a Vaiñëava is not a devotee of Lord Çiva or Lord Brahmä, but he is duty-bound to offer all respects to such highly positioned demigods. According to Vaiñëava philosophy, one should offer respect even to an ant, so then what is there to speak of such exalted persons as Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä?

In the Padma Puräëa it is said, “Kåñëa, or Hari, is the master of all demigods, and therefore He is always worshipable. But this does not mean that one should not offer respect to the demigods.”

This is the statement of Mahäbhärata: “A person who does not disturb or cause painful action in the mind of any living entity, who treats everyone just like a loving father does his children, whose heart is so pure, certainly very soon becomes favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

In so-called civilized society there is sometimes agitation against cruelty to animals, but at the same time regular slaughterhouses are always maintained. A Vaiñëava is not like that. A Vaiñëava can never support animal slaughter or even give pain to any living entity.

NoD 8: Offenses to Be Avoided

In the supplementary Vedic literature, there is the following list of thirty-two offenses in the matter of serving the Lord: (1) One should not enter the temple of the Deity in a car or palanquin or with shoes on the feet. (2) One should not fail to observe the various festivals for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such as Janmäñöamé and Ratha-yäträ. (3) One should not avoid bowing down before the Deity. (4) One should not enter the temple to worship the Lord without having washed one’s hands and feet after eating. (5) One should not enter the temple in a contaminated state. (According to Vedic scripture, if someone dies in the family the whole family becomes contaminated for some time, according to its status. For example, if the family is brähmaëa their contamination period is twelve days, for the kñatriyas and vaiçyas it is fifteen days, and for çüdras thirty days.) (6) One should not bow down on one hand. (7) One should not circumambulate in front of Çré Kåñëa. (The process of circumambulating the temple is that one should begin circumambulating from the Deity’s right-hand side of the temple and come round. Such circumambulation should be performed outside the temple structure at least three times daily.) (8) One should not spread his legs before the Deity. (9) One should not sit before the Deity holding the ankles, elbows or knees with one’s hands. (10) One should not lie down before the Deity of Kåñëa. (11) One should not accept prasäda before the Deity. (12) One should never speak a lie before the Deity. (13) One should not talk very loudly before the Deity. (14) One should not talk with others before the Deity. (15) One should not cry or howl before the Deity. (16) One should not quarrel or fight before the Deity. (17) One should not chastise anyone before the Deity. (18) One should not be charitable to beggars before the Deity. (19) One should not speak very harshly to others before the Deity. (20) One should not wear a fur blanket before the Deity. (21) One should not eulogize or praise anyone else before the Deity. (22) One should not speak any ill names before the Deity. (23) One should not pass air before the Deity. (24) One should not fail to worship the Deity according to one’s means. (In Bhagavad-gétä it is stated that the Lord is satisfied if some devotee offers Him even a leaf or a little water. This formula prescribed by the Lord is universally applicable, even for the poorest man. But that does not mean that one who has sufficient means to worship the Lord very nicely should also adopt this method and try to satisfy the Lord simply by offering water and a leaf. If he has sufficient means, he should offer nice decorations, nice flowers and nice foodstuffs and observe all ceremonies. It is not that one should try to satisfy the Supreme Lord with a little water and a leaf, and for himself spend all his money in sense gratification.) (25) One should not eat anything which is not offered first to Kåñëa. (26) One should not fail to offer fresh fruit and grains to Kåñëa, according to the season. (27) After food has been cooked, no one should be offered any foodstuff unless it is first offered to the Deity. (28) One should not sit with his back toward the Deity. (29) One should not offer obeisances silently to the spiritual master, or in other words, one should recite aloud the prayers to the spiritual master while offering obeisances. (30) One should not fail to offer some praise in the presence of the spiritual master. (31) One should not praise himself before the spiritual master. (32) One should not deride the demigods before the Deity.

This is a list of thirty-two offenses. Besides these, there are a number of offenses which are mentioned in the Varäha Puräëa. They are as follows: (1) One should not touch the Deity in a dark room. (2) One should not fail to strictly follow the rules and regulations in worshiping the Deity. (3) One should not enter the temple of the Deity without first making some sound. (4) One should not offer any foodstuff to the Deity which has been seen by dogs or other lower animals. (5) One should not break silence while worshiping. (6) One should not pass urine or evacuate while engaged in worshiping. (7) One should not offer incense without offering some flower. (8) Useless flowers without any fragrance should not be offered. (9) One should not fail to wash his teeth very carefully every day. (10) One should not enter the temple directly after sexual intercourse. (11) One should not touch a woman during her menstrual period. (12) One should not enter the temple after touching a dead body. (13) One should not enter the temple wearing garments of red or blue color or garments which are unwashed. (14) One should not enter the temple after seeing a dead body. (15) One should not pass air within the temple. (16) One should not be angry within the temple. (17) One should not enter the temple after visiting a crematorium. (18) One should not belch before the Deity. So, until one has fully digested his food, he should not enter the temple. (19) One should not smoke marijuana, or gaïjä. (20) One should not take opium or similar intoxicants. (21) One should not enter the Deity room or touch the body of the Deity after having smeared oil over his body. (22) One should not show disrespect to a scripture teaching about the supremacy of the Lord. (23) One should not introduce any opposing scripture. (24) One should not chew betel before the Deity. (25) One should not offer a flower which was kept in an unclean pot. (26) One should not worship the Lord while sitting on the bare floor; one must have a sitting place or carpet. (27) One should not touch the Deity before one has completed taking bath. (28) One should not decorate his forehead with the three-lined tilaka. (29) One should not enter the temple without washing his hands and feet.

Other rules are that one should not offer foodstuff which is cooked by a non-Vaiñëava, one should not worship the Deity before a nondevotee, and one should not engage himself in the worship of the Lord while seeing a nondevotee. One should begin the worship of the demigod Gaëapati, who drives away all impediments in the execution of devotional service. In the Brahma-saàhitä it is stated that Gaëapati worships the lotus feet of Lord Nåsiàhadeva and in that way has become auspicious for the devotees in clearing out all impediments. Therefore, all devotees should worship Gaëapati. The Deities should not be bathed in water which has been touched by the nails or fingers. When a devotee is perspiring, he should not engage himself in worshiping the Deity. Similarly, there are many other prohibitions. For example, one should not cross or step over the flowers offered to the Deities, nor should one take a vow in the name of God. These are all different kinds of offenses in the matter of executing devotional service, and one should be careful to avoid them.

In the Padma Puräëa it is stated that even a person whose life is completely sinful will be completely protected by the Lord if he simply surrenders unto Him. So it is accepted that one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes free from all sinful reactions. And even when a person becomes an offender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he can still be delivered simply by taking shelter of the holy names of the Lord: Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. In other words, the chanting of Hare Kåñëa is beneficial for eradicating all sins, but if one becomes an offender to the holy names of the Lord, then he has no chance of being delivered.

The offenses against the chanting of the holy name are as follows: (1) To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord. (2) To consider the names of demigods like Lord Çiva or Lord Brahmä to be equal to, or independent of, the name of Lord Viñëu. (Sometimes the atheistic class of men take it that any demigod is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viñëu. But one who is a devotee knows that no demigod, however great he may be, is independently as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, if someone thinks that he can chant “Kälé, Kälé!” or “Durgä, Durgä!”and it is the same as Hare Kåñëa, that is the greatest offense.) (3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master. (4) To blaspheme the Vedic literature or literature in pursuance of the Vedic version. (5) To consider the glories of chanting Hare Kåñëa to be imagination. (6) To give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. (7) To commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name of the Lord. (It should not be taken that because by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can be freed from all kinds of sinful reaction, one may continue to act sinfully and after that chant Hare Kåñëa to neutralize his sins. Such a dangerous mentality is very offensive and should be avoided.) (8) To consider the chanting of Hare Kåñëa one of the auspicious ritualistic activities offered in the Vedas as fruitive activities (karma-käëòa). (9) To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name. (Anyone can take part in chanting the holy name of the Lord, but in the beginning one should not be instructed about the transcendental potency of the Lord. Those who are too sinful cannot appreciate the transcendental glories of the Lord, and therefore it is better not to instruct them in this matter.) (10) To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter.

Every devotee who claims to be a Vaiñëava must guard against these offenses in order to quickly achieve the desired success.

NoD 9: Further Considerations of Devotional Principles

One should not tolerate blasphemy of the Lord or His devotees. In this connection, in the Tenth Canto, Seventy-fourth Chapter, verse 40, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells Parékñit Mahäräja, “My dear King, if a person, after hearing blasphemous propaganda against the Lord and His devotees, does not go away from that place, he becomes bereft of the effect of all pious activities.”

In one of Lord Caitanya’s Çikñäñöaka verses it is stated, “The devotee should be more tolerant than the tree and more submissive than the grass. He should offer all honor to others, but may not accept any honor for himself.” In spite of Lord Caitanya’s being so humble and meek as a devotee, when He was informed about injuries inflicted on the body of Çré Nityänanda, He immediately ran to the spot and wanted to kill the offenders, Jagäi and Mädhäi. This behavior of Lord Caitanya’s is very significant. It shows that a Vaiñëava may be very tolerant and meek, foregoing everything for his personal honor, but when it is a question of the honor of Kåñëa or His devotee, he will not tolerate any insult.

There are three ways of dealing with such insults. If someone is heard blaspheming by words, one should be so expert that he can defeat the opposing party by argument. If he is unable to defeat the opposing party, then the next step is that he should not just stand there meekly, but should give up his life. The third process is followed if he is unable to execute the above-mentioned two processes, and this is that one must leave the place and go away. If a devotee does not follow any of the above-mentioned three processes, he falls down from his position of devotion.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement describing how a Vaiñëava should decorate his body with tilaka and beads: “Persons who put tulasé beads on the neck, who mark twelve places of their bodies as Viñëu temples with Viñëu’s symbolic representations [the four items held in the four hands of Lord Viñëu—conch, mace, disc and lotus], and who have viñëu-tilaka on their foreheads, are to be understood as the devotees of Lord Viñëu in this world. Their presence makes the world purified, and anywhere they remain, they make that place as good as Vaikuëöha.”

A similar statement is in the Skanda Puräëa, which says, “Persons who are decorated with tilaka or gopé-candana [a kind of clay resembling fuller’s earth which is produced in certain quarters of Våndävana], and who mark their bodies all over with the holy names of the Lord, and on whose necks and breasts there are tulasé beads, are never approached by the Yamadütas.” The Yamadütas are the constables of King Yama (the lord of death), who punishes all sinful men. Vaiñëavas are never called for by such constables of Yamaräja. In the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, in the narration of Ajämila’s deliverance, it is said that Yamaräja gave clear instructions to his assistants not to approach the Vaiñëavas. Vaiñëavas are beyond the jurisdiction of Yamaräja’s activities.

The Padma Puräëa also mentions, “A person whose body is decorated with the pulp of sandalwood, with paintings of the holy name of the Lord, is delivered from all sinful reactions, and after his death he goes directly to Kåñëaloka to live in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

The next instruction is that one should put on flower garlands which are offered to the Deity. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, verse 46, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Uddhava says to Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, I have taken things which You have used and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, saintly articles, garments and ornaments, and I eat only the remnants of Your foodstuff, because I am Your menial servant. So, therefore, I am sure that I shall not be attacked by the spell of material energy.” The purport of this verse is that for any person who simply follows these rules and regulations of decorating the body with the marks of tilaka of gopé-candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands which were offered to Kåñëa, there is no question of being conquered by the spell of material energy. At the time of death, there is no question of such a person’s being called by the constables of Yamaräja. Even if one does not accept all the Vaiñëava principles, but still takes the remnants of foodstuff offered to Kåñëa, or kåñëa-prasäda, he will gradually become qualified to rise to the platform of a Vaiñëava.

Similarly, in the Skanda Puräëa Lord Brahmä tells Närada, “My dear Närada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which was formerly used by Kåñëa becomes relieved from all disease and reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he is liberated from the contamination of matter.”

In the Dvärakä-mähätmya the importance of dancing before the Deity is stated by Lord Kåñëa as follows: “A person who is in a jubilant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing before Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up for many, many thousands of years.” In the same book there is a statement by Närada wherein he asserts, “From the body of any person who claps and dances before the Deity, showing manifestations of ecstasy, all the birds of sinful activities fly away upward.” Just as by clapping the hands one can cause many birds to fly away, similarly the birds of all sinful activities which are sitting on the body can be made to fly away simply by dancing and clapping before the Deity of Kåñëa.

In the Näradéya Puräëa there is a statement about bowing down and offering respect to the Deity. It is said there, “A person who has performed a great ritualistic sacrifice and a person who has simply offered his respectful obeisances by bowing down before the Lord cannot be held as equals.” The person who has executed many great sacrifices will attain the result of his pious activities, but when such results are finished, he has to take birth again on the earthly planet; however, the person who has once offered respects, bowing down before the Deity, will not come back to this world, because he will go directly to the abode of Kåñëa.

In the Brahmäëòa Puräëa it is said, “A person who sees the Lord’s Ratha-yäträ car festival and then stands up to receive the Lord can purge all kinds of sinful results from his body.”

A similar statement is there in the Bhaviñya Puräëa, in which it is said, “Even if born of a lowly family, a person who follows the Ratha-yäträ car when the Deities pass in front or from behind will surely be elevated to the position of achieving equal opulence with Viñëu.”

It is stated in the Puräëas, “Persons who attempt to visit the holy places of pilgrimage, like Våndävana, Mathurä or Dvärakä, are actually glorified. By such traveling activities, they can pass over the desert of material existence.”

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya there is a statement about the benefit of visiting the temples of Lord Kåñëa. As we have explained previously, in Våndävana, Mathurä and Dvärakä the system is that all the devotees take advantage of visiting various temples situated in those holy places. It is stated in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, “Persons who are impelled by pure devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness and who therefore go to see the Deities of Viñëu in the temple will surely get relief from entering again into the prison house of a mother’s womb.” The conditioned soul forgets the trouble of living within the mother’s womb during birth, but it is a very painful and terrible experience. In order to make an escape from this material condition, one is advised to visit a temple of Viñëu with devotional consciousness. Then one can very easily get out of the miserable condition of material birth.

It is said in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, “A person who is circumambulating the Deity of Viñëu can counteract the circumambulation of repeated birth and death in this material world.” The conditioned soul is circumambulating through repeated births and deaths on account of his material existence, and this can be counteracted simply by circumambulating the Deity in the temple.

The Cäturmäsya ceremony is observed during the four months of the rainy season in India (approximately July, August, September and October), beginning from Çrävaëa. During these four months, saintly persons who are accustomed to travel from one place to another to propagate Kåñëa consciousness remain at one place, usually a holy place of pilgrimage. During these times, there are certain special rules and regulations which are strictly followed. It is stated in the Skanda Puräëa that during this period, if someone circumambulates the temple of Viñëu at least four times, it is understood that he has traveled all over the universe. By such circumambulation, one is understood to have seen all the holy places where the Ganges water is flowing, and by following the regulative principles of Cäturmäsya one can very quickly be raised to the platform of devotional service.

Arcanä means worship of the Deity in the temple. By executing this process one confirms himself to be not the body but spirit soul. In the Tenth Canto, Eighty-first Chapter, verse 19, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, it is told how Sudämä, an intimate friend of Kåñëa’s, while going to the house of a brähmaëa, murmured to himself, “Simply by worshiping Kåñëa one can easily achieve all the results of heavenly opulence, liberation, supremacy over the planetary systems of the universe, all the opulences of this material world, and the mystic power of performing the yoga system.

The events leading to Sudämä’s murmuring this statement are as follows. Çré Kåñëa had ordered His friend Sudämä to go to a brähmaëa’s house and ask for some food. The brähmaëas were performing a great sacrifice, and Çré Kåñëa told Sudämä to plead with them that He and Balaräma were feeling hungry and needed some food. When Sudämä went there, the brähmaëas refused to offer anything, but the wives of the brähmaëas, upon hearing that Çré Kåñëa wanted some foodstuff, immediately took many palatable dishes and went to offer them to Çré Kåñëa. In the Viñëu-rahasya, also, it is stated, “Any person within this world who is engaged in the worship of Viñëu can very easily achieve the ever-blissful kingdom of God, known as Vaikuëöhaloka.”

It is stated in the Viñëu-rahasya, “Any person who can arrange for service to the Lord in the same way that a king is given service by his attendants is surely elevated to the abode of Kåñëa after death.” Actually, in India the temples are just like royal palaces. They are not ordinary buildings, because the worship of Kåñëa should be performed in just the way that a king is worshiped in his palace. So in Våndävana there are many hundreds of temples wherein the Deity is worshiped exactly like a king. In the Näradéya Puräëa it is stated, “H a person stays in the Lord’s temple even for a few moments, he can surely achieve the transcendental kingdom of God.”

The conclusion is that those who are rich men in society should construct beautiful temples and arrange for the worship of Viñëu, so that people may be attracted to visit such temples and thereby be offered the opportunity of dancing before the Lord or chanting the holy name of the Lord, or else of hearing the holy name of the Lord. In this way, everyone will be given the chance to elevate himself to the kingdom of God. In other words, even a common man, simply by visiting such a temple, will be able to attain the highest benedictions, not to mention the devotees who are constantly engaged in the service of the Lord in full Kåñëa consciousness.

In this connection, there is a statement in the Fourth Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 31, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, wherein King Påthu says to his subjects, “My dear citizens, please note that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is actually the deliverer of all fallen, conditioned souls. No demigod can perform this act of delivering the conditioned souls, because the demigods themselves are conditioned. A conditioned soul cannot deliver another conditioned soul. Only Kåñëa or His bona fide representative can deliver him. The Ganges water which is flowing down from the toe of Lord Viñëu falls upon the earthly planet and other planets and thereby delivers all the conditioned sinful living entities. So what need is there to speak of the deliverance of persons who are always engaged in the service of the Lord? There is no doubt about their liberation, even if they have stocks of sinful activities from many, many births.” In other words, a person who is engaged in the worship of the Deities can minimize his stock of sinful reactions coming from many, many previous births. This process of worshiping the Deity has already been described, and one should try to follow these rules and regulations seriously.

In the Liìga Puräëa there is a statement about glorifying and singing about the Lord. It is said there, “A brähmaëa who is constantly engaged in singing the glories of the Lord is surely elevated to the same planet as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kåñëa appreciates this singing even more than the prayers offered by Lord Çiva.”

When a person loudly chants the glories of the Lord’s activities, qualities, form, etc., his chanting is called saìkértana. Saìkértana also refers to the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

In the Viñëu-dharma there is a statement glorifying this process of congregational chanting: “My dear King, this word Kåñëa is so auspicious that anyone who chants this holy name immediately gets rid of the resultant actions of sinful activities from many, many births.” That is a fact. There is the following statement in Caitanya-caritämåta: “A person who chants the holy name of Kåñëa once can counteract the resultant actions of more sinful activities than he is able to perform.” A sinful man can perform many, many sinful activities, but he is unable to perform so many that they cannot be wiped out by one single uttering of Kåñëa.

In the Seventh Canto, Ninth Chapter, verse 18, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Mahäräja Prahläda offers the following prayers to the Lord: “My dear Lord Nåsiàha, if I can be elevated to the position of Your servant, then it will be possible for me to hear about Your activities. You are the supreme friend, the supreme worshipable Deity. Your pastimes are transcendental, and simply by hearing of them one can counteract all his sinful activities. Therefore, I shall not care for all those sinful activities, because simply by hearing about Your pastimes I shall get out of all the contamination of material attachment.”

There are many songs about the Lord’s activities. For example, there is the Brahma-saàhitä, sung by Lord Brahmä; Närada-païcarätra, sung by Närada Muni; and Çrémad-Bhägavatam, sung by Çukadeva Gosvämé. If these songs are heard by any person, he can easily get out of the clutches of material contamination. There should be no difficulty in hearing these songs of God. They are coming down from many, many millions of years ago, and people are still taking advantage of them. So why, at this time, should one not take full advantage and thus become liberated?

In the First Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 22, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Närada Muni tells his disciple Vyäsadeva, “My dear Vyäsa, you should know that persons who are engaged in executing austerities and penances, studying the Vedas, performing big sacrifices, chanting the hymns of the Vedas, speculating on transcendental knowledge and performing charitable functions have for all their auspicious activities simply to gain a place in the association of devotees and chant the glories of the Lord.” It is indicated here that chanting about and glorifying the Lord is the ultimate activity of the living entity.

Chanting a mantra or hymn softly and slowly is called japa, and chanting the same mantra loudly is called kértana. For example, uttering the mahä-mantra (Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare) very softly, only for one’s own hearing, is called japa. Chanting the same mantra loudly for being heard by all others is called kértana. The mahä-mantra can be used for japa and kértana also. When japa is practiced it is for the personal benefit of the chanter, but when kértana is performed it is for the benefit of all others who may hear.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement: “For any person who is chanting the holy name either softly or loudly, the paths to liberation and even heavenly happiness are at once open.”

In the Skanda Puräëa there is a statement about submission unto the lotus feet of the Lord. It is said there that those who are sober devotees can offer their submission to Kåñëa in the following three ways: (1) samprärthanätmikä, very feelingly offering prayers; (2) dainyavodhikä, humbly submitting oneself; (3) lälasämayé, desiring some perfectional stage. This desiring some perfectional stage in spiritual life is not sense gratification. When one realizes something of his constitutional relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he understands his original position and wants to be reinstated in this position, either as friend, servant, parent or conjugal lover of Kåñëa. That is called lälasämayé, or very eagerly desiring to go to one’s natural position. This lälasämayé stage of submission comes in the stage of perfect liberation, which is technically called svarüpa-siddhi, when the living entity understands, by perfect spiritual advancement and revelation, his original relationship with the Lord.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement of submission in feeling by devotees praying to the Lord: “My Lord, I know that young girls have natural affection for young boys, and that young boys have natural affection for young girls. I am praying at Your lotus feet that my mind may become attracted unto You in the same spontaneous way.” The example is very appropriate. When a young boy or girl sees a member of the opposite sex there is a natural attraction, without the need for any introduction. Without any training there is a natural attraction due to the sex impulse. This is a material example, but the devotee is praying that he may develop a similar spontaneous attachment for the Supreme Lord, free from any desire for profit and without any other cause. This natural attraction for the Lord is the perfectional stage of self-realization.

In the same Padma Puräëa there is a statement about submission in humbleness. It is stated there, “My dear Lord, there is no sinful living entity who is more of a sinner than myself. Nor is there a greater offender than myself. I am so greatly sinful and offensive that when I come to confess my sinful activities before You, I am ashamed.” This is a natural position for a devotee. As far as the conditioned soul is concerned, there is no wonder that he has some sinful activities in his past life, and this should be admitted and confessed before the Lord. As soon as this is done, the Lord excuses the sincere devotee. But that does not mean that one should take advantage of the Lord’s causeless mercy and expect to be excused over and over again, while he commits the same sinful activities. Such a mentality is only for shameless persons. Here it is clearly said, “When I come to confess my sinful activities I become ashamed.” So if a person is not ashamed of his sinful activities and continues to commit the same sinful activities with the knowledge that the Lord will excuse him, that is a most nonsensical proposition. Such an idea is not accepted in any part of the Vedic literature. It is a fact that by chanting the holy name of the Lord one becomes washed clean of all sinful activities from his past life. But that does not mean that after being washed off, one should again begin sinful activities and expect to be washed again. These are nonsensical propositions and are not admitted in devotional service. Someone may think, “For a whole week I may commit sinful activities, and for one day I will go to the temple or church and admit my sinful activities so that I can become washed off and again begin my sinning.” This is most nonsensical and offensive and is not acceptable to the author of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu.

In the Närada-païcarätra there is a statement of submission accompanied by the desire for perfection. The devotee says, “My dear Lord, when shall that day come when You will ask me to fan Your body, and according to Your pleasure, You will say, ‘You just fan Me in this way’?” The idea in this verse is that the devotee is desiring to personally fan the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That means that he is desiring to become the personal associate of the Supreme Lord. Of course, any devotee in any capacity, either as servant, friend or conjugal lover, always has direct association with the Lord. But according to his different individual taste, a person desires for just one of these relationships. Here the devotee is desiring to become a servant of the Lord and desires to fan the Lord, as does His internal energy, Lakñmé, the goddess of fortune. He also wishes that the Personality of Godhead will be pleased to give him directions as to how to fan. This submission with transcendental desire, or lälasämayé vijïapti, is the highest perfectional stage of spiritual realization.

In the same Närada-païcarätra, there is another expression of submission, wherein the devotee says, “My dear Lord, O lotus-eyed one, when will that day come when on the bank of the Yamunä I shall become just like a madman and continue to chant Your holy name while incessant tears flow from my eyes?” This is another perfectional stage. Lord Caitanya also desired that “a moment will appear unto me as twelve years of time, and the whole world will appear to me as vacant on account of not seeing You, my dear Lord.” One should feelingly pray and become eager to render his particular type of service to the Lord. This is the teaching of all great devotees, especially Lord Caitanya.

In other words, one should learn how to cry for the Lord. One should learn this small technique, and he should be very eager and actually cry to become engaged in some particular type of service. This is called laulyam, and such tears are the price for the highest perfection. If one develops this laulyam, or excessive eagerness for meeting and serving the Lord in a particular way, that is the price to enter into the kingdom of God. Otherwise, there is no material calculation for the value of the ticket by which one can enter the kingdom of God. The only price for such entrance is this laulyam lälasämayé, or desire and great eagerness.

According to great learned scholars, the whole Bhagavad-gétä contains many authorized prayers, especially in the Eleventh Chapter, where Arjuna prays to the universal form of the Lord. Similarly, in the Gautaméya-tantra all the verses are called prayers. Again, in Çrémad-Bhägavatam there are hundreds of prayers to the Lord. So a devotee should select some of these prayers for his recitation. In Skanda Puräëa the glories of these prayers are stated as follows: “Devotees whose tongues are decorated always with prayers to Lord Kåñëa are always given respect even by the great saintly persons and sages, and such devotees are actually worshipable by the demigods.”

Those who are less intelligent want to worship different demigods for some material gain rather than worship Kåñëa. But here it is stated that a devotee who is always engaged in offering prayers to the Lord is worshipable even by the demigods themselves. The pure devotees have nothing to ask from any demigod; rather, the demigods are anxious to offer prayers to the pure devotees.

In the Nåsiàha Puräëa it is stated, “Any person who comes before the Deity of Lord Kåñëa and begins to chant different prayers is immediately relieved from all the reactions of sinful activities and becomes eligible, without any doubt, to enter into the Vaikuëöhaloka.”

There is this specific statement in the Padma Puräëa: “A person who honors the prasäda and regularly eats it, not exactly in front of the Deity, along with caraëämåta [the water offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, which is mixed with seeds of the tulasé tree], immediately can achieve the results of pious activities which are obtained through ten thousand performances of sacrificial rites.”

Caraëämåta is obtained in the morning while the Lord is being washed before dressing. Scented with perfumes and flowers, the water comes gliding down through His lotus feet and is collected and mixed with yogurt. In this way this caraëämåta not only becomes very tastefully flavored, but also has tremendous spiritual value. As described in the Padma Puräëa, even a person who has never been able to give in charity, who has never been able to perform a great sacrifice, who has never been able to study the Vedas, who has never been able to worship the Lord—or, in other words, even one who has never done any pious activities—will become eligible to enter into the kingdom of God if he simply drinks the caraëämåta which is kept in the temple. In the temple it is the custom that the caraëämåta be kept in a big pot. The devotees who come to visit and offer respects to the Deity take three drops of caraëämåta very submissively and feel themselves happy in transcendental bliss.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya there is a statement about the incense which is offered in the temple: “When the devotees smell the good flavor of the incense which is offered to the Deity, they thus become cured of the poisonous effects of material contamination, as much as one becomes cured of a snakebite by smelling the prescribed medicinal herbs.” The explanation of this verse is that there is an herb found in the jungles which expert persons know how to use to revive the consciousness of one who is bitten by a snake. Simply by smelling that herb one becomes immediately relieved of the poisonous effects of the snakebite. The same example is applicable: when a person comes to visit the temple and smells the incense offered to the Deity, he is cured at that time from all his material contamination.

Any devotee coming into the temple should always offer something to the Deity—fruit, flowers, incense, etc. If one cannot offer anything in cash, something else must be offered. In India the system is that all the ladies and gentlemen who come in the morning to visit the temple bring so many things. Even one morsel of rice or one morsel of flour can be offered. It is a regulative principle that one should not go to see a saintly person or the Deity in the temple without any offering. The offering may be very humble, or it may be priceless. Even a flower, a little fruit, a little water—whatever is possible—must be offered. So when a devotee comes to offer something to the Deity in the morning, he is sure to smell the good flavor of the incense, and then at once he will become cleansed of the poisonous effect of material existence.

It is stated in the Tantra-çästra, “If the smell of the garland which was offered to the Deity in the temple enters into a person’s nostrils, immediately his bondage to sinful activities becomes cleared. And even if one has no sinful activities, still, by smelling such remnants of flowers, one can advance from Mäyävädé [impersonalist] to devotee.” There are several instances of this, a prime one being the advancement of the four Kumäras. They were impersonalist Mäyävädés, but after smelling the remnants of flowers and incense in the temple, they turned to become devotees. From the above verse it appears that the Mäyävädés, or impersonalists, are more or less contaminated. They are not pure.

It is confirmed in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, “One who has not washed off all reactions of sinful activities cannot be a pure devotee. A pure devotee has no more doubts about the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead, and thus he engages himself in Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service.” A similar statement is in the Agastya-saàhitä: just to purify the impurities of our nostrils, we should try to smell the remnants of flowers offered to Kåñëa in the temple.

In the Viñëu-dharmottara there is a statement about touching the lotus feet of the Lord. It is said, “Only a person who is initiated as a Vaiñëava and is executing devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness has the right to touch the body of the Deity.” In India there was agitation during Gandhi’s political movement because the lowborn classes of men like street-sweepers and caëòälas are prohibited, according to the Vedic system, from entering the temple. Due to their unclean habits they are prohibited, but at the same time they are given other facilities so they may be elevated to the highest grade of devotional service by association with pure devotees. A man born in any family is not barred, but he must be cleansed. That cleansing process must be adopted. Gandhi wanted to make them clean simply by stamping them with a fictitious name, harijana (“children of God”), and so there was a great tug-of-war between the temple owners and Gandhi’s followers.

But anyway, the present law is the law of all scripture—that if anyone is purified he can enter into the temple. Actually, that is the position. Only one who is properly initiated, who is properly following the rules and regulations, can enter, and touch the Deity—not all. And one who touches the body of the Deity, following such regulative principles, is immediately delivered from the contamination of material sins, and all of his desires become fulfilled without delay.

In the Varäha Puräëa there is a statement praising the seeing of the Deity of Çré Kåñëa in the temple. A devotee says there, “My dear Vasundharä, any person who goes to Våndävana and sees the Deity of Govindadeva is free from the courthouse of Yamaräja and is allowed to enter into the highest planetary system, in which reside the demigods.” This means that even an ordinary person who goes to Våndävana out of inquisitiveness and by chance sees the temple, especially that of Govindadeva, even if he is not elevated to the spiritual kingdom, is still assured promotion to the higher planetary systems. This means that simply by visiting the Deity of Govinda in Våndävana one becomes highly elevated in pious life.

In the Skanda Puräëa there is the following description of the result of seeing ärati (worship) of the Deity: “If someone sees the face of the Lord while ärati is going on, he can be relieved of all sinful reactions coming from many, many thousands and millions of years past. He is even excused from the killing of a brähmaëa or similar prohibited activities.

As we have already explained, there are different ceremonies to be observed, such as the birthday of Kåñëa, the birthday of Lord Rämacandra, the birthday of some prominent Vaiñëavas, the ceremony of Jhulana-yäträ with the Lord sitting on a swing, and Dola-yäträ (the Lord’s activities in the month of March). In all festivals the Lord is seated on a car, and the car moves through different streets of the city so that people may take advantage of visiting the Lord. In the Bhaviñya Puräëa it is said, “In such a ceremony, if even a caëòäla [dog-eater], simply out of curiosity, sees the Lord on the cart, he becomes counted as one of the associates of Viñëu.”

In the Agni Puräëa it is stated, “Any person who in gladness sees the worship of the Deity in the temple will obtain the results of kriyä-yoga which are described in the Païcarätra scripture.” Kriyä-yoga is a system of practice much like practical devotional service, but it is especially meant for the mystic yogés. In other words, by this gradual process the mystic yogés are eventually elevated to the devotional service of the Lord.

NoD 10: Techniques of Hearing and Remembering

The beginning of Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service is hearing, in Sanskrit called çravaëam. All people should be given the chance to come and join devotional parties so that they may hear. This hearing is very important for progressing in Kåñëa consciousness. When one links his ears to give aural reception to the transcendental vibrations, he can quickly become purified and cleansed in the heart. Lord Caitanya has affirmed that this hearing is very important. It cleanses the heart of the contaminated soul so that he becomes quickly qualified to enter into devotional service and understand Kåñëa consciousness.

In the Garuòa Puräëa the stress on hearing is expressed very nicely. It is said there, “The state of conditioned life in the material world is just like that of a man lying unconscious, having been bitten by a snake. This is because both such unconscious states can be ended by the sound of a mantra.” When a man is snake-bitten he does not die immediately, but first becomes unconscious and remains in a comatose condition. Anyone who is in the material world is also sleeping, as he is ignorant of his actual self or his actual duty and his relationship with God. So materialistic life means that one is bitten by the snake of mäyä, illusion, and thus, without any Kåñëa consciousness, is almost dead. Now, the so-called dead man bitten by a snake can be brought back to life by the chanting of some mantra. There are expert chanters of these mantras who can perform this feat. Similarly, one can be brought back into Kåñëa consciousness from the deadly unconscious state of material life by hearing of the mahä-mantra: Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.

In the Fourth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 40, the importance of hearing of the pastimes of the Lord is stated by Çukadeva Gosvämé to Mahäräja Parékñit: “My dear King, one should stay at a place where the great äcäryas [holy teachers] speak about the transcendental activities of the Lord, and one should give aural reception to the nectarean river flowing from the moonlike faces of such great personalities. If someone eagerly continues to hear such transcendental sounds, then certainly he will become freed from all material hunger, thirst, fear and lamentation, as well as all illusions of material existence.”

Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu also recommended this process of hearing as a means of self-realization in the present age of Kali. In this age it is very difficult to follow thoroughly the regulative principles and studies of the Vedas which were formerly recommended. However, if one gives aural reception to the sound vibrated by great devotees and äcäryas, that alone will give him relief from all material contamination. Therefore it is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahäprabhu that one should simply hear from authorities who are actually devotees of the Lord. Hearing from professional men will not help. If we hear from those who are actually self-realized, then the nectarean rivers, like those which are flowing on the moon planet, will flow into our ears. This is the metaphor used in the above verse.

As stated in Bhagavad-gétä, “A materialistic person can give up his material hankerings only by becoming situated in Kåñëa consciousness.” Unless one finds a superior engagement, he will not be able to give up his inferior engagement. In the material world everyone is engaged in the illusory activities of the inferior energy, but when one is given the opportunity to relish the activities of the superior energy performed by Kåñëa, then he forgets all his lesser pleasures. When Kåñëa speaks on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, to the materialistic person it appears that this is simply talk between two friends, but actually it is a river of nectar flowing down from the mouth of Çré Kåñëa. Arjuna gave aural reception to such vibrations, and thus he became freed from all the illusions of material problems.

In the Twelfth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Third Chapter, verse 15, it is stated, “A person who desires unalloyed devotional service to Lord Kåñëa, who is praised by transcendental sound vibrations, should always hear about His glorification and transcendental qualities. This will surely kill all kinds of inauspiciousness in the heart.”

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 8, it is said, “My dear Lord, any person who is constantly awaiting Your causeless mercy to be bestowed upon him, and who goes on suffering the resultant actions of his past misdeeds, offering You respectful obeisances from the core of his heart, is surely eligible to become liberated, for it has become his rightful claim.”

This statement of Çrémad-Bhägavatam should be the guide of all devotees. A devotee should not expect immediate relief from the reactions of his past misdeeds. No conditioned soul is free from such reactionary experiences, because material existence means continued suffering or enjoying of past activities. If one has finished his material activities then there is no more birth. This is possible only when one begins Kåñëa conscious activities, because such activities do not produce reaction. Therefore, as soon as one becomes perfect in Kåñëa conscious activities, he is not going to take birth again in this material world. A devotee who is not perfectly freed from the resultant actions should therefore continue to act in Kåñëa consciousness seriously, even though there may be so many impediments. When such impediments arise he should simply think of Kåñëa and expect His mercy. That is the only solace. If the devotee passes his days in that spirit, it is certain that he is going to be promoted to the abode of the Lord. By such activities, he earns his claim to enter into the kingdom of God. The exact word used in this verse is däya-bhäk. Däya-bhäk refers to a son’s becoming the lawful inheritor of the property of the father. In a similar way, a pure devotee who is prepared to undergo all kinds of tribulations in executing Kåñëa conscious duties becomes lawfully qualified to enter into the transcendental abode.

Some way or other, if someone establishes in his mind his continuous relationship with Kåñëa, this relationship is called remembrance. About this remembrance there is a nice statement in the Viñëu Puräëa, where it is said, “Simply by remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead all living entities become eligible for all kinds of auspiciousness. Therefore let me always remember the Lord, who is unborn and eternal.” In the Padma Puräëa the same remembrance is explained as follows: “Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Kåñëa, because if someone remembers Him, either at the time of death or during his span of life, he becomes freed from all sinful reactions.”

To meditate means to engage the mind in thinking of the form of the Lord, the qualities of the Lord, the activities of the Lord and the service of the Lord. Meditation does not mean anything impersonal or void. According to Vedic literature, meditation is always on the form of Viñëu.

In the Nåsiàha Puräëa there is a statement about meditation on the form of the Lord. It is said there, “Meditation focusing on the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been accepted as transcendental and beyond the experience of material pain and pleasure. By such meditation, even one who is grossly miscreant can be delivered from the sinful reactions of his life.”

In the Viñëu-dharma there is a statement about meditation on the transcendental qualities of the Lord. It is said, “Persons who are constantly engaged in Kåñëa consciousness, and who remember the transcendental qualities of the Lord, become free from all reactions to sinful activities, and after being so cleansed they become fit to enter into the kingdom of God.” In other words, no one can enter into the kingdom of God without being freed from all sinful reactions. One can avoid sinful reactions simply by remembering the Lord’s form, qualities, pastimes, etc.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement about remembering the activities of the Lord: “A person who is always engaged in meditation on the sweet pastimes and wonderful activities of the Lord surely becomes freed from all material contamination.”

In some of the Puräëas the evidence is given that if someone is simply meditating on devotional activities, he has achieved the desired result and has seen face to face the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this connection, there is a story in the Brahma-vaivarta Puräëa that in the city of Pratiñöhänapura in South India there was once a brähmaëa who was not very well-to-do, but who was nevertheless satisfied in himself, thinking that it was because of his past misdeeds and by the desire of Kåñëa that he did not get sufficient money and opulence. So he was not at all sorry for his poor material position, and he used to live very peacefully. He was very openhearted, and sometimes he went to hear some lectures delivered by great realized souls. At one such meeting, while he was very faithfully hearing about Vaiñëava activities, he was informed that these activities can be performed even by meditation. In other words, if a person is unable to actually perform Vaiñëava activities physically, he can meditate upon the Vaiñëava activities and thereby acquire all of the same results. Because the brähmaëa was not very well-to-do financially, he decided that he would simply meditate on grand, royal devotional activities, and he began this business thus:

Sometimes he would take his bath in the River Godävaré. After taking his bath he would sit in a secluded place on the bank of the river, and by practicing the yoga exercises of präëäyäma, the usual breathing exercises, he would concentrate his mind. These breathing exercises are meant to mechanically fix the mind upon a particular subject. That is the result of the breathing exercises and also of the different sitting postures of yoga. Formerly, even quite ordinary persons used to know how to fix the mind upon the remembrance of the Lord, and so the brähmaëa was doing this. When he had fixed the form of the Lord in his mind, he began to imagine in his meditations that he was dressing the Lord very nicely in costly clothing, with ornaments, helmets and other paraphernalia. Then he offered his respectful obeisances by bowing down before the Lord. After finishing the dressing, he began to imagine that he was cleaning the temple very nicely. After cleansing the temple, he imagined that he had many water jugs made of gold and silver, and he took all those jugs to the river and filled them with the holy water. Not only did he collect water from the Godävaré, but he collected from the Ganges, Yamunä, Narmadä and Käveré. Generally a Vaiñëava, while worshiping the Lord, collects water from all these rivers by mantra chanting. This brähmaëa, instead of chanting some mantra, imagined that he was physically securing water from all these rivers in golden and silver waterpots. Then he collected all kinds of paraphernalia for worship—flowers, fruits, incense and sandalwood pulp. He collected everything to place before the Deity. All these waters, flowers and scented articles were then very nicely offered to the Deities to Their satisfaction. Then he offered ärati, and with the regulative principles he finished all these activities in the correct worshiping method.

He would daily execute similar performances as his routine work, and he continued to do so for many, many years. Then one day the brähmaëa imagined in his meditations that he had prepared some sweet rice with milk and sugar and offered the preparation to the Deity. However, he was not very satisfied with the offering because the sweet rice had been prepared recently and it was still very hot. (This preparation, sweet rice, should not be taken hot. The cooler the sweet rice, the better its taste.) So because the sweet rice had been prepared by the brähmaëa very recently, he wanted to touch it so that he could know whether it was fit for eating by the Lord. As soon as he touched the sweet rice pot with his finger, he immediately was burnt by the heat of the pot. In this way, his meditation broke. Now, when he looked at his finger, he saw that it was burnt, and he was wondering in astonishment how this could have happened. Because he was simply meditating on touching the hot sweet rice, he never thought that his finger would actually become burnt.

While he was thinking like this, in Vaikuëöha Lord Näräyaëa, seated with the goddess of fortune, Lakñmé, began to smile humorously. On seeing this smiling of the Lord, all the goddesses of fortune attending the Lord became very curious and asked Lord Näräyaëa why He was smiling. The Lord, however, did not reply to their inquisitiveness, but instead immediately sent for the brähmaëa. An airplane sent from Vaikuëöha immediately brought the brähmaëa into Lord Näräyaëa’s presence. When the brähmaëa was thus present before the Lord and the goddesses of fortune, the Lord explained the whole story. The brähmaëa was then fortunate enough to get an eternal place in Vaikuëöha in the association of the Lord and His Lakñmés. This shows how the Lord is all-pervading, in spite of His being locally situated in His abode. Although the Lord was present in Vaikuëöha, He was present also in the heart of the brähmaëa when he was meditating on the worshiping process. Thus, we can understand that things offered by the devotees even in meditation are accepted by the Lord, and they help one achieve the desired result.

NoD 11: Aspects of Transcendental Service

In the opinion of the karmés (fruitive workers), offering the results of karma is called servitorship. But according to Vaiñëava äcäryas like Rüpa Gosvämé, servitorship means constant engagement in some kind of service to the Lord.

In the Skanda Puräëa it is said that those who are attached to ritualistic activities, the four orders of social life and the four orders of spiritual life, are considered devotees. But when devotees are actually engaged in offering service to the Lord directly, these must be bhägavatas, or pure devotees. Those who are engaged in fruitive activities, or prescribed duties according to the four orders of social and spiritual life, are not actually pure devotees. But still, because they are offering the result to the Lord, they are accepted as devotees. When one has no such desire, but acts spontaneously out of love of God, such a person must be accepted as a pure devotee. The conditioned souls who have come into contact with the material world are all more or less desirous of lording it over material nature. The system of varëäçrama and the prescribed duties under this system are so designed that the conditioned soul may enjoy in the material world according to his desire for sense gratification and at the same time gradually become elevated to spiritual understanding. Under these prescribed duties of varëa and äçrama there are many activities which belong to devotional service in Kåñëa consciousness. Those devotees who are householders accept Vedic ritualistic performances as well as the prescribed duties of devotional service, because both are meant for satisfying Kåñëa. When householder devotees perform some Vedic ritualistic duties, they do so to satisfy Kåñëa. As we have previously discussed, any activity aiming at satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead is considered devotional service.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé describes one who is fit for becoming engaged in devotional service. He says that persons who are neophytes and who have developed a little love of Godhead are not interested in the activities of sense gratification, in proportion to their devotion. But if there is still some attraction for sense gratifying activities, then the result of such activities should be offered to Kåñëa. This is also called engagement in the service of the Lord, with the Lord as the master and the worker as the servant.

In the Näradéya Puräëa there is a statement of how this servitorship is transcendental. It is said there that a person who is constantly engaged in devotional service by his body, mind and words, or even a person who is not practically engaged but is simply desiring to be so, is considered to be liberated.

Devotional service in friendship can be divided into two categories: the first is to act as the confidential servant of the Lord, and the other is to act as the well-wisher of the Lord. The devotee who has confidence in devotional service to the Lord systematically follows the rules and regulations, with the faith that lie will achieve the platform of transcendental life. The second type of devotional friendship is to become a well-wisher of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gétä it is said that the Lord accepts a preacher as the most dear servant. Anyone who is preaching the confidential message of the Gétä to the people in general is so dear to Kåñëa that no one can be equal to him in human society.

In the Mahäbhärata, Draupadé says, “My dear Govinda, Your promise is that Your devotee can never be vanquished. I believe in that statement, and therefore in all kinds of tribulations I simply remember Your promise, and thus I live.” The purport is that Draupadé and her five husbands, the Päëòavas, were put into severe tribulations by their cousin-brother Duryodhana, as well as by others. The tribulations were so severe that even Bhéñmadeva, who was both a lifelong brahmacäré and a great warrior, would sometimes shed tears thinking of them. He was always surprised that although the Päëòavas were so righteous and Draupadé was practically the goddess of fortune, and although Kåñëa was their friend, still they had to undergo such severe tribulations. Though their tribulations were not ordinary, Draupadé was not discouraged. She knew that because Kåñëa was their friend, ultimately they would be saved.

A similar statement is there in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Second Chapter, verse 53, where Havi, the son of King Åñabha, addresses Mahäräja Nimi: “My dear King, a person who never deviates even for a moment from engagement in service at the lotus feet of the Supreme Person (engagement which is sought even by great demigods like Indra), with firm conviction that there is nothing more worshipable or desirable than this, is called the first-class devotee.”

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé says that a neophyte devotee who has simply developed a slight love of Godhead is certainly a prospective candidate for devotional service. When he becomes firmly fixed in such devotional service, that assured status becomes a confidential part of his devotional service.

Sometimes it is found that a pure devotee lies down in the temple of the Lord in order to serve Him as a confidential friend. Such friendly behavior of a devotee may be accepted as rägänugä, or spontaneous. Although, according to regulative principles, no one can lie down in the temple of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this spontaneous love of Godhead may be grouped under devotional service in friendship.

Regarding complete self-surrender, there is a nice description in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 34, where the Lord says, “A person who has completely surrendered unto Me and has completely given up all other activities is protected by Me personally, both in this life and in the next. In other words, I wish to help him become more and more advanced in spiritual life. Such a person is to be understood as having already achieved särñöi [having equal opulences with the Supreme].” It is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä that as soon as a person surrenders unto the lotus feet of Kåñëa, Kåñëa takes charge of him and gives him a guarantee of protection from all sinful reactions. He also instructs from within, so that the devotee may very quickly make advancement toward spiritual perfection.

This self-surrender is called ätma-nivedana. According to different authorities, self is differently defined. Self is sometimes considered to refer to the spirit self, or soul, and self is sometimes considered to refer to the mind or to the body. Full self-surrender, therefore, means not only surrendering one’s self as spirit soul, but also surrendering one’s mind and body to the service of the Lord. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has sung a nice song in this connection. While offering himself as a fully surrendered soul, he said, “My mind, my household affairs, my body, whatever is in my possession, my dear Lord, I offer to You for Your service. Now You can do with them as You like. You are the supreme possessor of everything, so if You like You can kill me, or if You like You can give me protection. All authority belongs to You. I have nothing to claim as my own.”

Çré Yämunäcärya, in his prayers to the Lord, has expressed a similar idea in the following words: “My dear Lord, I may be living within some body as a human being or as a demigod, but whatever mode of life, I do not mind, because these bodies are simply by-products of the three modes of material nature, and I, who am in possession of these bodies, am surrendering myself unto You.”

In the Hari-bhakti-viveka, there is a statement regarding how one can offer his body in self-surrender. There the devotee says, “My dear Lord, as a sold animal has no need to think about his maintenance and sustenance, so, because I have given up my body and soul unto You, I am no longer concerned with my maintenance and sustenance.” In other words, one should not bother about his personal or family maintenance or sustenance. If one is actually surrendered in body and soul, he should always remember that his only concern is to be engaged in the service of the Lord.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that devotional service in friendship and devotional service in self-surrender are two difficult processes. Therefore such relationships with the Lord can very rarely be seen. Only for the advanced devotees are these two processes easily executed. The purport is that it is very rare to see surrender which is mixed with sincere ecstatic devotion. One must give himself completely to the will of the Lord.

In the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Chapter, verse 41, Lord Kåñëa tells Uddhava, “My dear friend, if someone offers Me the best thing in his possession, or anything which is very pleasing to him, he will be eternally benefited.”

In the Närada-païcarätra there is a statement of how one can act in all spheres of life for the satisfaction of the Lord. It is stated there that a person who is actually in devotional service must be engaged in all kinds of activities—those prescribed in the revealed scriptures and also those which are accepted for livelihood. In other words, not only should a devotee engage himself in the prescribed duties of devotional service which are mentioned in the revealed scriptures, but he should also perform the duties of his practical life in Kåñëa consciousness. For example, a devotee who has a great establishment or factory may offer the fruits of such a material possession for the service of the Lord.

In the Hari-bhakti-viläsa there is the following statement about self-surrender: “My dear Lord, a person who has surrendered himself unto You, who is in firm conviction that he is Yours, and who actually acts in that way by his body, mind and words, can actually relish transcendental bliss.”

In the Nåsiàha Puräëa, Lord Nåsiàhadeva says, “Anyone who prays unto Me and takes shelter from Me becomes My ward, and I protect him always from all sorts of calamities.”

In the Skanda Puräëa there is a statement praising the tulasé tree as follows: “Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the tulasé tree, which can immediately vanquish volumes of sinful activities. Simply by seeing or touching this tree one can become relieved from all distresses and diseases. Simply by offering obeisances to and pouring water on the tulasé tree, one can become freed from the fear of being sent to the court of Yamaräja [the King of death, who punishes the sinful]. If someone sows a tulasé tree somewhere, certainly he becomes devoted to Lord Kåñëa. And when the tulasé leaves are offered in devotion at the lotus feet of Kåñëa, there is the full development of love of Godhead.”

In India all Hindus, even those not belonging to the Vaiñëava group, take special care of the tulasé tree. Even in great cities where it is very difficult to keep a tulasé tree, people are to be found very carefully keeping this plant. They water it and offer obeisances to it, because worship of the tulasé tree is very important in devotional service.

In the Skanda Puräëa there is another statement about tulasé, as follows: “Tulasé is auspicious in all respects. Simply by seeing, simply by touching, simply by remembering, simply by praying to, simply by bowing before, simply by hearing about or simply by sowing this tree, there is always auspiciousness. Anyone who comes in touch with the tulasé tree in the above-mentioned ways lives eternally in the Vaikuëöha world.”

NoD 12: Further Aspects of Transcendental Service

According to Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, any book which gives enlightenment in the matter of advancing in devotional service is considered to be revealed scripture. Çréla Madhväcärya has also defined revealed scriptures as referring to books such as the Rämäyaëa, Mahäbhärata, Puräëas, Upaniñads, Vedänta—and any other literature written in pursuance of such revealed scriptures.

In the Skanda Puräëa there is this statement: “A person who is constantly engaged in reading literature enunciating the cultivation of Vaiñëava devotional service is always glorious in human society, and certainly Lord Kåñëa becomes pleased with him. A person who very carefully keeps such literature at home and offers respectful obeisances to it becomes freed from all sinful reactions and ultimately becomes worshipable by the demigods.”

It is also said to Närada Muni, “My dear Närada, a person who writes Vaiñëava literature and keeps such literature at home has Lord Näräyaëa always residing in his house.”

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twelfth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 15, it is stated, “Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the essence of all Vedänta philosophy. Any person who has become attached in some way or other to the reading of Çrémad-Bhägavatam cannot have any taste for reading any other literature. In other words, a person who has relished the transcendental bliss of Çrémad-Bhägavatam cannot be satisfied with mundane writings.”

In the Varäha Puräëa there is a statement praising the residential quarters of Mathurä. Lord Varäha tells the men of earth, “Any person who becomes attracted to places other than Mathurä will certainly be captivated by the illusory energy.” In the Brahmäëòa Puräëa it is said that all the results of traveling on all the pilgrimages within the three worlds can be achieved simply by touching the holy land of Mathurä. In many çästras (scriptures) it is said that simply by hearing, remembering, glorifying, desiring, seeing or touching the land of Mathurä, one can achieve all desires.

In the Padma Puräëa, there is a nice statement praising the service of the Vaiñëavas, or devotees. In that scripture Lord Çiva tells Pärvaté, “My dear Pärvaté, there are different methods of worship, and out of all such methods the worship of the Supreme Person is considered to be the highest. But even higher than the worship of the Lord is the worship of the Lord’s devotees.”

A similar statement is in the Third Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 19, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam: “Let me become a sincere servant of the devotees, because by serving them one can achieve unalloyed devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord. The service of devotees diminishes all miserable material conditions and develops within one a deep devotional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

In the Skanda Puräëa there is a similar statement: “Persons whose bodies are marked with tilaka, symbolizing the conchshell, wheel, club and lotus—and who keep the leaves of tulasé on their heads, and whose bodies are always decorated with gopé-candana—even seen once, can help the seer be relieved from all sinful activities.”

A similar statement is found in the First Canto, Nineteenth Chapter, verse 33, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam: “There is no doubt about one’s becoming freed from all reactions to sinful activities after visiting a devotee or touching his lotus feet or giving him a sitting place. Even by remembering the activities of such a Vaiñëava, one becomes purified, along with one’s whole family. And what, then, can be said of rendering direct service to him?”

In the Ädi Puräëa there is the following statement by Lord Kåñëa Himself, addressed to Arjuna: “My dear Pärtha, one who claims to be My devotee is not so. Only a person who claims to be the devotee of My devotee is actually My devotee.” No one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. One must approach Him through His pure devotees. Therefore, in the system of Vaiñëava activities, the first duty is to accept a devotee as spiritual master and then to render service unto him.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé affirms that all the quotations given in the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu from different scriptures are accepted by the great äcäryas and devotees of the Lord.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement that one should perform the ceremonies for the Lord according to one’s financial position. Everyone should observe the different ceremonies and celebrations of the Lord by all means.

One of the most important of these ceremonial functions is called Ürja-vrata. Ürja-vrata is observed in the month of Kärttika (October-November); especially in Våndävana, there is a specific program for temple worship of the Lord in His Dämodara form. “Dämodara” refers to Kåñëa’s being bound with rope by His mother, Yaçodä. It is said that just as Lord Dämodara is very dear to His devotees, so the month known as Dämodara or Kärttika is also very dear to them.

The execution of devotional service during Ürja-vrata in the month of Kärttika is especially recommended to be performed at Mathurä. This system is still followed by many devotees. They go to Mathurä or Våndävana and stay there during the month of Kärttika specifically to perform devotional services during this period.

In the Padma Puräëa it is said, “The Lord may offer liberation or material happiness to a devotee, but after some devotional service has been executed, particularly in Mathurä during the month of Kärttika, the devotees want only to attain pure devotional service unto the Lord.” The purport is that the Lord does not award devotional service to ordinary persons who are not serious about it. But even such unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Kärttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathurä in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service.

In the Bhaviñya Puräëa there is a statement about observing different ceremonies celebrating the Lord’s appearance (birthday) and other transcendental activities. It is said, “My Lord Janärdana [Kåñëa], please let us know the date when Your mother Devaké-devé gave birth to You. If You kindly inform us about this, then we shall observe a great celebration on this date. O killer of Keçé, we are souls one-hundred-percent surrendered unto Your lotus feet, and we wish only to please You with our ceremonies.”

This statement of the Bhaviñya Puräëa gives evidence that by observing different functions in relationship with the Lord one is sure to become pleasing to the Lord.

It is said in the Ädi Puräëa, “A person who is constantly engaged in chanting the holy name and who feels transcendental pleasure, being engaged in devotional service, is certainly awarded the facilities of devotional service and is never given just mukti [liberation].”

Mukti means liberation from material contamination; when liberated, one does not have to take birth again in the material world. The impersonalists desire to merge into the spiritual existence, to end their individual existence, but according to Çrémad-Bhägavatam, mukti is only the beginning of one’s becoming situated in his normal condition. The normal condition of every living entity is to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. From the statement of the Ädi Puräëa it appears that a devotee is satisfied simply with being engaged in devotional service. He does not aspire for any liberation from material, conditional life. In other words, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is not in the material condition of life, although he may appear so.

Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the desire tree of Vedic wisdom. Veda itself means “the aggregate of knowledge.” And whatever knowledge is required for human society is perfectly presented in Çrémad-Bhägavatam. There are different branches of knowledge in the Vedic writings, including sociology, politics, medicine and military art. All these and other branches of knowledge are perfectly described in the Vedas. So, as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned, that is also perfectly described there, and Çrémad-Bhägavatam is considered to be the ripened fruit of this desire-fulfilling tree of the Vedas. A tree is honored by the production of its fruit. For example, a mango tree is considered very valuable because it produces the king of all fruits, the mango. When the mango fruit becomes ripened it is the greatest gift of that tree, and Çrémad-Bhägavatam is similarly held to be the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree. And as ripened fruit becomes more relishable when first touched by the beak of a parrot, or çuka, Çrémad-Bhägavatam has become more relishable by being delivered through the transcendental mouth of Çukadeva Gosvämé.

Çrémad-Bhägavatam should be received in disciplic succession without any breakage. When a ripened fruit comes from the upper part of the tree onto the ground by the process of being handed down from a higher branch to a lower branch by persons in the tree, the fruit does not break. Çrémad-Bhägavatam, when received in the paramparä system, or disciplic succession, will likewise remain unbroken. It is stated in Bhagavad-gétä that the disciplic succession, or paramparä, is the way of receiving transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge must come down through the disciplic succession, through authorized persons who know the real purpose of the çästra.

Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu recommended that one learn Çrémad-Bhägavatam from the mouth of the self-realized person called bhägavatam. Bhägavata means “in relationship with the Personality of Godhead [Bhagavän].” So the devotee is sometimes called bhägavatam, and the book which is in relationship with devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also called Bhägavatam. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu recommended that, in order to relish the real taste of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, one should take instruction from the person bhägavatam. Çrémad-Bhägavatam is relishable even by a liberated person. Çukadeva Gosvämé admitted that although he was liberated from within the very womb of his mother, it was only after relishing Çrémad-Bhägavatam that he became a great devotee. Thus, one who is desirous of advancing in Kåñëa consciousness should relish the purport of Çrémad-Bhägavatam through the discussions of authorized devotees.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 9, Çukadeva Gosvämé admits that although he was very much attracted by the impersonal Brahman, when he heard the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the mouth of his father, Vyäsadeva, he became more attracted to Çrémad-Bhägavatam. The idea is that Vyäsadeva was also a self-realized soul, and his mature contribution of transcendental knowledge was delivered directly to Çukadeva Gosvämé in the manner indicated.

The importance of discussing Çrémad-Bhägavatam in the society of pure devotees was explained by Çaunaka Muni during the meeting at Naimiñäraëya, in the presence of Süta Gosvämé. Süta Gosvämé confirmed that if someone is fortunate enough to associate with a pure devotee of the Lord even for a moment, that particular moment is so valuable that even those pious activities which can promote one to the heavenly planets or give liberation from material miseries cannot compare to it. In other words, those who are attached to Çrémad-Bhägavatam do not care for any kind of benefit derived from elevation to the higher planetary kingdoms, or for the liberation which is conceived of by the impersonalists. As such, the association of pure devotees is so transcendentally valuable that no kind of material happiness can compare to it.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya there is a conversation between Prahläda Mahäräja and his father, Hiraëyakaçipu, in which Hiraëyakaçipu addresses Prahläda in this way: “My dear son, association is very important. It acts just like a crystal stone, which will reflect anything which is put before it.” Similarly, if we associate with the flowerlike devotees of the Lord, and if our hearts are crystal clear, then certainly the same action will be there. Another example given in this connection is that if a man is potent and if a woman is not diseased, then by their conjugation there will be conception. In the same way, if the recipient of spiritual knowledge and the deliverer of spiritual knowledge are sincere and bona fide, there will be good results.

The importance of chanting Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare is very strongly stressed in the Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 11, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam in the following way. Çukadeva Gosvämé tells Mahäräja Parékñit, “My dear King, if one is spontaneously attached to the chanting of the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra, it is to be understood that he has attained the highest perfectional stage.” It is specifically mentioned that the karmés who are aspiring after the fruitive results of their activities, the salvationists who are aspiring to become one with the Supreme Person, and the yogés who are aspiring after mystic perfections can achieve the results of all perfectional stages simply by chanting the mahä-mantra. Çukadeva uses the word nirëétam, which means “it has already been decided.” He was a liberated soul and therefore could not accept anything which was not conclusive. So Çukadeva Gosvämé especially stresses that it has already been concluded that one who has come to the stage of chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra with determination and steadiness must be considered to have already passed the trials of fruitive activities, mental speculation and mystic yoga.

The same thing is confirmed in the Ädi Puräëa by Kåñëa. While addressing Arjuna He says, “Anyone who is engaged in chanting My transcendental name must be considered to be always associating with Me. And I may tell you frankly that for such a devotee I become easily purchased.”

In the Padma Puräëa also it is stated, “The chanting of the Hare Kåñëa mantra is present only on the lips of a person who has for many births worshiped Väsudeva.” It is further said in the Padma Puräëa, “There is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself. As such, the holy name is as perfect as the Lord Himself in fullness, purity and eternity. The holy name is not a material sound vibration, nor has it any material contamination.” The holy name cannot, therefore, be chanted offenselessly by one who has failed to purify his senses. In other words, materialistic senses cannot properly chant the holy names of the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra. But by adopting this chanting process, one is given a chance to actually purify himself, so that he may very soon chant offenselessly.

Caitanya Mahäprabhu has recommended that everyone chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra just to cleanse the dust from the heart. If the dust of the heart is cleansed away, then one can actually understand the importance of the holy name. For persons who are not inclined to clean the dust from their hearts and who want to keep things as they are, it is not possible to derive the transcendental result of chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra. One should, therefore, be encouraged to develop his service attitude toward the Lord, because this will help him to chant without any offense. And so, under the guidance of a spiritual master, the disciple is trained to render service and at the same time chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra. As soon as one develops his spontaneous service attitude, he can immediately understand the transcendental nature of the holy names of the mahä-mantra.

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement about the importance of living at holy places like Mathurä or Dvärakä. It is stated there, “To travel to different places of pilgrimage means to attain emancipation from material bondage. This emancipation, however, is not the highest perfectional stage. After attaining this liberated stage, one has to become engaged in devotional service to the Lord. After attainment of the brahma-bhüta [liberation] stage, one can further advance to engagement in devotional service. So this attainment of transcendental loving devotional service to the Lord is the goal of life, and it can be achieved very easily for one who lives in Mathurä-maëòala even for a few seconds.”

It is further said, “Who is that person who will not agree to worship the land of Mathurä? Mathurä can deliver all the desires and ambitions of the fruitive workers and of the salvationists, who desire to become one with the Supreme Brahman. Certainly Mathurä will deliver the desires of the devotees, who simply aspire to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord.” In the Vedic literature it is also stated, “How wonderful it is that simply by residing in Mathurä even for one day, one can achieve a transcendental loving attitude toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead! This land of Mathurä must be more glorious than Vaikuëöha-dhäma, the kingdom of God!”

NoD 13: Five Potent Forms of Devotional Service

Rüpa Gosvämé has stated that five kinds of devotional activities—namely residing in Mathurä, worshiping the Deity of the Lord, reciting Çrémad-Bhägavatam, serving a devotee and chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra—are so potent that a small attachment for any one of these five items can arouse devotional ecstasy even in a neophyte.

Regarding worship of the form of the Lord, or Deity, Rüpa Gosvämé has written the following verse: “My dear friend, if you still have any desire to enjoy the company of your friends within this material world, then don’t look upon the form of Kåñëa, who is standing on the bank of Keçé-ghäöa [a bathing place in Våndävana]. He is known as Govinda, and His eyes are very enchanting. He is playing upon His flute, and on His head there is a peacock feather. And His whole body is illuminated by the moonlight in the sky.”

The purport of this verse is that if someone becomes attached to the çré-mürti, or Deity of Kåñëa, by worshiping at home, then he will forget his relationships of so-called friendship, love and society. Thus it is the duty of every householder to install Deities of the Lord at home and to begin the process of worshiping along with all of his family members. This will save everyone from such unwanted activities as going to clubs, cinemas and dancing parties, and smoking, drinking, etc. All such nonsense will be forgotten if one stresses the worship of the Deities at home.

Rüpa Gosvämé further writes, “My dear foolish friend, I think that you have already heard some of the auspicious Çrémad-Bhägavatam, which decries seeking the results of fruitive activities, economic development and liberation. I think that now it is certain that gradually the verses of the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, describing the pastimes of the Lord, will enter your ears and go into your heart.”

In the beginning of Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is said that unless one has the ability to throw out, just like garbage, the fruitive results of ritualistic ceremonies, economic development and becoming one with the Supreme (or salvation), one cannot understand Çrémad-Bhägavatam. The Bhägavatam deals exclusively with devotional service. Only one who studies Çrémad-Bhägavatam in the spirit of renunciation can understand the pastimes of the Lord which are described in the Tenth Canto. In other words, one should not try to understand the topics of the Tenth Canto, such as the räsa-lélä (love dance), unless he has spontaneous attraction for Çrémad-Bhägavatam. One must be situated in pure devotional service before he can relish Çrémad-Bhägavatam as it is.

In the above two verses of Rüpa Gosvämé there are some metaphorical analogies that indirectly condemn the association of materialistic society, friendship and love. People are generally attracted to society, friendship and love, and they make elaborate arrangements and strong endeavors to develop these material contaminations. But to see the çré-mürtis of Rädhä and Kåñëa is to forget such endeavors for material association. Rüpa Gosvämé composed his verse in such a way that he was seemingly praising the material association of friendship and love and was condemning the audience of çré-mürti or Govinda. This metaphorical analogy is constructed in such a way that things which seem to be praised are condemned, and things which are to be condemned are praised. The actual import of the verse is that one must see the form of Govinda if one at all wants to forget the nonsense of material friendship, love and society.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has similarly described the transcendental nature of relishing topics which concern Kåñëa. A devotee once said, “It is very astonishing that since I have seen this Personality of Godhead, who is washed by the tears of my eyes, there is shivering of my body, and He has made me a failure in executing my material duties. Since seeing Him, I cannot remain silently at home. I wish to go out to Him always.” The purport of this statement is that as soon as one is fortunate enough to contact a pure devotee, one must be anxious immediately to hear about Kåñëa, to learn about Kåñëa, or, in other words, to become fully Kåñëa conscious.

Similarly, there is a statement about hearing and chanting the mahä-mantra: “It is said that saints have been able to hear the vibrating strings of the véëä in the hands of Närada, who is always singing the glories of Lord Kåñëa. Now this same sound vibration has entered my ears, and I am always feeling the presence of the Supreme Personality. Gradually I am becoming bereft of all attachment for material enjoyment.”

Again, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has described Mathurä-maëòala: “I remember the Lord standing by the banks of the Yamunä River, so beautiful amid the kadamba trees, where many birds are chirping in the gardens. And these impressions are always giving me transcendental realization of beauty and bliss.” This feeling about Mathurä-maëòala and Våndävana described by Rüpa Gosvämé can actually be felt even by nondevotees. The places in the eighty-four-square-mile district of Mathurä are so beautifully situated on the banks of the River Yamunä that anyone who goes there will never want to return to this material world. These statements by Rüpa Gosvämé are factually realized descriptions of Mathurä and Våndävana. All these qualities prove that Mathurä and Våndävana are situated transcendentally. Otherwise, there would be no possibility of invoking our transcendental sentiments in these places. Such transcendental feelings are aroused immediately and without fail after one arrives in Mathurä or Våndävana.

In these statements about devotional service, sometimes it may appear that the results have been overestimated, but actually there is no overestimation. Some devotees, as revealed scriptures give evidence, have had immediate results by such association, although this is not possible for all. For example, the Kumäras immediately became devotees simply by smelling the incense in the temple. Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura simply heard about Kåñëa and then immediately gave up his beautiful girl friend and started out for Mathurä and Våndävana, where he became a perfect Vaiñëava. So these statements are not overestimations, nor are they stories. They are actual facts, but are true for certain devotees and do not necessarily apply to all. These descriptions, even if considered overestimations, must be taken as they are, in order to divert our attention from the fleeting material beauty to the eternal beauty of Kåñëa consciousness. And for a person who is already in contact with Kåñëa consciousness, the described results are not unusual.

Some scholars argue that simply by following the principles of varëa and äçrama one can gradually rise to the perfections reached by practicing devotional service, but this argument is not accepted by the great authorities. Lord Caitanya also condemned this idea while He was talking with Rämänanda Räya about the gradual development of devotional service. He rejected the idea of the importance of varëäçrama-dharma when it was put forward by Rämänanda Räya. He said that this advancement of varëa and äçrama is merely external. There is a higher principle. In Bhagavad-gétä also the Lord says that one has to give up all other principles of elevation and take simply to the method of Kåñëa consciousness. That will help one in achieving the highest perfection of life.

In the Eleventh Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 9, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the Lord Himself says, “One should execute the prescribed duties of varëa and äçrama as long as he has not developed spontaneous attachment for hearing about My pastimes and activities.” In other words, the prescribed forms of varëa and äçrama are ritualistic ceremonies of religion intended for economic development, sense gratification or salvation. All of these things are recommended for persons who have not developed Kåñëa consciousness; in fact, all such activities are recommended in the revealed scriptures only to bring one to the point of Kåñëa consciousness. But one who has already developed spontaneous attachment for Kåñëa does not require to execute the duties prescribed in the scriptures.

NoD 14: Devotional Qualifications

Some scholars recommend that knowledge and renunciation are important factors for elevating oneself to devotional service. But actually that is not a fact. Actually, the cultivation of knowledge or renunciation, which are favorable for achieving a footing in Kåñëa consciousness, may be accepted in the beginning, but ultimately they may also come to be rejected, for devotional service is dependent on nothing other than the sentiment or desire for such service. It requires nothing more than sincerity.

It is the opinion of expert devotees that mental speculation and the artificial austerities of yoga practice may be favorable for becoming liberated from material contamination, but they will also make one’s heart harder and harder. They will not help at all in the progress of devotional service. These processes are therefore not favorable for entering into the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Actually, Kåñëa consciousness—devotional service itself—is the only way of advancing in devotional life. Devotional service is absolute; it is both the cause and the effect. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause and effect of all that be, and to approach Him, the Absolute, the process of devotional service—which is also absolute—has to be adopted.

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä by the Lord Himself: “One can understand Me only through devotional service.” In beginning His teaching of the Gétä, the Lord said to Arjuna, “Because you are My devotee, I shall teach these secrets to you.” Vedic knowledge means ultimately to understand the Supreme Lord, and the process of entering into His kingdom is devotional service. That is accepted by all authentic scriptures. Mental speculators neglect the process of devotional service, and by simply trying to defeat others in philosophical research they fail to develop the ecstasy of devotion.

In the Eleventh Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 31, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Kåñëa says, “My dear Uddhava, for persons who are seriously engaged in My service, the cultivation of philosophical speculation and artificial renunciation are not very favorable. When a person becomes My devotee he automatically attains the fruits of the renunciation of material enjoyment, and he gets sufficient knowledge to understand the Absolute Truth.” That is the test of advancement in devotional service. A devotee cannot be in darkness, because the Lord shows him special favor and enlightens him from within.

In the Eleventh Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verses 32 and 33, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam the Lord further instructs Uddhava, “My dear friend, the profits derived from fruitive activities, austerities, the culture of philosophical knowledge, renunciation, the practice of mystic yoga, charity and all similar auspicious activities are automatically achieved by My devotees—those who are simply attached to Me by loving service. These devotees have everything at their disposal, but they desire nothing outside of My devotional service. If ever a devotee should desire some material profit, like promotion to the heavenly planets, or some spiritual profit—to go to the Vaikuëöhas—by My causeless mercy his desires are very easily fulfilled.”

Actually, a person who is developing Kåñëa consciousness and still has some attachment to material enjoyment will soon be freed from such a tendency by regularly discharging devotional service under the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, then, recommends that one should not be attached to material sense enjoyment, but should accept everything enjoyable which is in relationship to Kåñëa. For example, eating is necessary, and one wants some palatable dishes to satisfy his sense of taste. So in that case, for the satisfaction of Kåñëa rather than for the satisfaction of the tongue, some palatable dishes may be prepared and offered to Kåñëa. Then it is renunciation. Let the palatable dishes be prepared, but unless they are offered to Kåñëa one should not accept them for eating. This vow of rejecting anything which is not offered to Kåñëa is actually renunciation. And by such renunciation one is able to satisfy the demands of the senses.

The impersonalists, who try to avoid everything material, may undergo severe austerities, but they miss the opportunity of being engaged in the service of the Lord. Thus their renunciation is not sufficient for perfection. There are many instances where, following such artificial renunciation without any contact with devotional service, the impersonalist again fell down and became attracted to material contamination. There are many supposed renouncers even at the present moment who officially become sannyäsés, or renouncers, and outwardly claim that spiritual existence is truth and material existence untruth. In this way, artificially they make a show of renunciation of the material world. However, because they cannot reach the point of devotional service, they fail to achieve the goal, and they again come back to material activities, such as philanthropic work and political agitation. There are many examples of so-called sannyäsés who gave up the world as untruth but again came to the material world, because they were not seeking their real repose at the lotus feet of the Lord.

One should not give up anything which can be utilized in the service of the Lord. That is a secret of devotional service. Anything that can be utilized in advancing Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service should be accepted. For instance, we are using many machines for the advancement of our present Kåñëa consciousness movement, machines like typewriters, dictating machines, tape recorders, microphones and airplanes. Sometimes people ask us, “Why are you utilizing material products if you condemn the advancement of material civilization?” But actually we do not condemn. We simply ask people to do whatever they are doing in Kåñëa consciousness. This is the same principle on which, in Bhagavad-gétä, Kåñëa advised Arjuna to utilize his fighting abilities in devotional service. Similarly, we are utilizing these machines for Kåñëa’s service. With such sentiment for Kåñëa, or Kåñëa consciousness, we can accept everything. If the typewriter can be utilized for advancing our Kåñëa consciousness movement, we must accept it. Similarly, the dictating machine or any other machine must be used. Our vision is that Kåñëa is everything. Kåñëa is the cause and effect, and nothing belongs to us. Kåñëa’s things must be used in the service of Kåñëa. That is our vision.

This does not mean, however, that we should give up the principles of discharging devotional service or neglect abiding by the rules and regulations prescribed therein. In the neophyte stage of devotion one must follow all the principles, regulated by the authority of the spiritual master. The acceptance and rejection of things should always be in pursuance of the devotional principles; not that one can independently manufacture some idea of what should be accepted or rejected. The spiritual master as the visible manifestation of Kåñëa is necessary, therefore, to direct the devotee on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The spiritual master must never be carried away by an accumulation of wealth or a large number of followers. A bona fide spiritual master will never become like that. But sometimes, if a spiritual master is not properly authorized and only on his own initiative becomes a spiritual master, he may be carried away by an accumulation of wealth and large numbers of disciples. His is not a very high grade of devotional service. If a person is carried away by such achievements, then his devotional service becomes slackened. One should therefore strictly adhere to the principles of disciplic succession.

A Kåñëa conscious person, being naturally purified, has no need of developing any other purificatory process of thought or action. On account of his being highly elevated in Kåñëa consciousness, he has already acquired all the good qualities and is following the rules and regulations prescribed for the mystic yogic process. Such rules are automatically practiced by the devotees. A concrete example is the quality of nonviolence, which is considered a good qualification. A devotee is naturally nonviolent and therefore doesn’t have to practice nonviolence separately. Some people seek purification by joining a vegetarian movement, but a devotee is automatically a vegetarian. He doesn’t need to practice separately in this matter or to join any society for vegetarians. He is automatically a vegetarian.

There are many other instances showing that a devotee needn’t practice anything but Kåñëa consciousness; all the good qualities of the demigods automatically develop within him. Those who are intentionally practicing to be vegetarians or to become nonviolent may have good qualifications by a material estimation, but these qualifications are not sufficient to make them devotees. A vegetarian is not necessarily a devotee, nor is a nonviolent person. But a devotee is automatically both vegetarian and nonviolent. We must conclude, therefore, that vegetarianism or nonviolence is not the cause of devotion.

In this connection, there is a story in the Skanda Puräëa about a hunter who was converted into a great devotee under the instruction of Närada Muni. When the hunter became a perfect devotee, he was not prepared to kill even an ant. Parvata Muni, a friend of Närada’s, saw the wonderful transformation of the hunter by devotional service and remarked, “My dear hunter, your unwillingness to kill even an ant is not very astonishing. Any person who develops the devotional attitude has all the good qualities automatically manifested in his person. A devotee is never a cause of distress to anyone.”

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé affirms herein that purification of consciousness, purification of bodily activities, austerities, peace of mind, etc., all become automatically manifest in the person who is engaged in devotional service.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé affirms herein that there are nine different kinds of devotional service, which are listed as hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deity in the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Kåñëa as a friend and sacrificing everything for Him. Each and every one of these processes is so powerful that if anyone follows even one single one of them, he can achieve the desired perfection without fail. For example, if one is attached simply to hearing about the Lord and another is attached to chanting the glories of the name, both will achieve their desired goal in devotional service. In the Caitanya-caritämåta this has been explained. One may execute one, two, three or all the different processes of devotional service, and at the ultimate end he will achieve the desired goal of being established in devotional service.

There are concrete examples of how a devotee discharged one of these services and achieved perfection. King Parékñit achieved the desired goal of life simply by hearing Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Çukadeva Gosvämé achieved the desired goal of life simply by reciting Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Prahläda Mahäräja became successful in his devotional service by always remembering the Lord. Lakñmé, the goddess of fortune, was successful by engaging herself in massaging the lotus feet of the Lord. King Påthu became successful by worshiping in the temple. Akrüra became successful by offering prayers. Hanumän became successful by rendering personal service to Lord Rämacandra. Arjuna became successful by being a friend of Kåñëa. And Bali Mahäräja became successful simply by offering all of his possessions to Kåñëa.

There are also examples of devotees who discharged all the different items together. In the Ninth Canto, Fourth Chapter, verses 18, 19 and 20, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is a statement about Mahäräja Ambaréña, who followed every one of the devotional processes. In these verses, Çukadeva Gosvämé says, “King Ambaréña first of all concentrated his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kåñëa and then engaged his speech in describing the pastimes and activities of the Lord. He engaged his hands in washing the temple of the Lord. He engaged his ears in hearing of the transcendental glories of the Lord. He engaged his eyes in seeing the beautiful Deity in the temple. He engaged his body in associating with the pure devotees of the Lord. [When you associate with someone you have to sit down together, eat together, etc.—and in this way the touch of your body with his body is inevitable. Ambaréña Mahäräja made his association only with pure devotees and did not allow his body to be touched by anyone else.] He engaged his nostrils in smelling the flowers and tulasé offered to Kåñëa, and he engaged his tongue in tasting Kåñëa prasäda [food prepared specifically for offering to the Lord, the remnants of which are taken by the devotees]. Mahäräja Ambaréña was able to offer very nice prasäda to Kåñëa because he was a king and had no scarcity of finances. He used to offer Kåñëa the most royal dishes and would then taste the remnants as kåñëa-prasäda. There was no scarcity in his royal style, because he had a very beautiful temple wherein the Deity of the Lord was decorated with costly paraphernalia and offered high-grade food. So everything was available, and his engagement was always completely in Kåñëa consciousness.” The idea is that we should follow in the footsteps of great devotees. If we are unable to execute all the different items of devotional service, we must try to execute at least one of them, as exemplified by previous äcäryas. If we are engaged in the execution of all the items of devotional service, as was Mahäräja Ambaréña, then the perfection of devotional service is guaranteed from each one of these items. With the first complete engagement, one becomes automatically detached from material contamination, and liberation becomes the maidservant of the devotee. This idea is confirmed by Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura. If one develops unalloyed devotion to the Lord, liberation will follow the devotee as his maidservant.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that the regulative principles of devotional service are sometimes described by authorities as the path of serving the Lord in opulence.

NoD 15: Spontaneous Devotional Service

Examples of spontaneous devotional service can be easily seen in Kåñëa’s direct associates in Våndävana. The spontaneous dealings of the residents of Våndävana in relationship with Kåñëa are called rägänugä. These beings don’t have to learn anything about devotional service; they are already perfect in all regulative principles and have achieved the spontaneous loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For example, the cowherd boys who are playing with Kåñëa do not have to learn by austerities or penances or yogic practice how to play with Him. They have passed all tests of regulative principles in their previous lives, and as a result they are now elevated to the position of direct association with Kåñëa as His dear friends. Their spontaneous attitude is called rägänugä-bhakti.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé has defined rägänugä-bhakti as spontaneous attraction for something while completely absorbed in thoughts in it, with an intense desire of love. Devotional service executed with such feelings of spontaneous love is called rägänugä-bhakti. Devotional service under the heading of rägänugä can be further divided into two categories: one category is called “sensual attraction,” and the other is called “relationship.”

In this connection, there is a statement by Närada Muni to Yudhiñöhira in the Seventh Canto, First Chapter, verse 30, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. There Närada says, “My dear King, there are many devotees who first become attracted to the Personality of Godhead for purposes of sense gratification, from being envious of Him, out of fear of Him or from desiring to associate affectionately with Him. Ultimately these attractions become freed from all material contamination, and gradually the worshiper develops spiritual love and achieves that ultimate goal of life desired by the pure devotee.”

The gopés may be considered to be examples of spontaneous love in sensual attraction. The gopés are young girls, and Kåñëa is a young boy. Superficially it seems that the gopés are attracted to Kåñëa on grounds of sex. Similarly, King Kaàsa was attracted to Kåñëa because of fear. Kaàsa was always fearful of Kåñëa, because it had been foretold that his sister’s son, Kåñëa, would kill him. Çiçupäla was also always envious of Kåñëa. And the descendants of King Yadu, due to their family relationship with Kåñëa, were always thinking of Him as one of their members. All of these different kinds of devotees have a spontaneous attraction for Kåñëa, in different categories, and they achieve the same desired goal of life.

The attraction of the gopés for Kåñëa and the affection of the members of the Yadu dynasty are both accepted as spontaneous, or rägänugä. The attraction of Kaàsa to Kåñëa in fear and the attraction of Çiçupäla in envy are not accepted as devotional service, however, because their attitudes are not favorable. Devotional service should be executed only in a favorable frame of mind. Therefore, according to Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, such attractions are not considered to be in devotional service. Again, he analyzes the affection of the Yadus. If it is on the platform of friendship, then it is spontaneous love, but if it is on the platform of regulative principles, then it is not. And only when affection comes to the platform of spontaneous love is it counted in the category of pure devotional service.

There may be some difficulty in understanding that both the gopés and Kaàsa achieved the same goal, so this point should be clearly understood, because the attitudes of Kaàsa and Çiçupäla were different from that of the gopés. Although in all these cases the focus is on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all of the devotees are elevated to the spiritual world, there is still a distinction between these two classes of souls. In the First Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is said that the Absolute Truth is one and that He is manifested as impersonal Brahman, Paramätmä (Supersoul) and Bhagavän (the Supreme Personality of Godhead). Here is a spiritual distinction. Although Brahman, Paramätmä and Bhagavän are the same-and-one Absolute Truth, devotees like Kaàsa or Çiçupäla could attain only to the Brahman effulgence. They could not have realization of Paramätmä or Bhagavän. That is the distinction.

An analogy can be given with the sun globe and the sunshine: to remain in the sunshine does not mean one has gone to the sun globe. The temperature of the sun globe is different from the temperature of the sunshine. One who has gone through the sunshine in jet planes or in spaceships has not necessarily gone to the sun globe. Although the sunshine and the sun globe are actually one and the same, still there is a distinction, for one is the energy and one is the energetic source. The Absolute Truth and His bodily effulgence are in the same way simultaneously one and different. Kaàsa and Çiçupäla attained to the Absolute Truth, but they were not allowed to enter into the Goloka Våndävana abode. Impersonalists and the enemies of the Lord are, because of attraction to God, allowed to enter into His kingdom, but they are not allowed to enter into the Vaikuëöha planets or the Goloka Våndävana planet of the Supreme Lord. To enter the kingdom and to enter the king’s palace are not the same thing.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé is trying here to describe the different achievements of the impersonalists and the personalists. Generally, those who are impersonalists and are inimical to the Supreme Personality of Godhead get entrance only into the impersonal Brahman, when and if they reach spiritual perfection. The impersonalist philosophers are in one sense like the enemies of the Lord, because the out-and-out enemies of the Lord and the impersonalists are both allowed to enter only into the impersonal effulgence of the brahmajyoti. So it is to be understood that they are of similar classification. And actually the impersonalists are enemies of God, because they cannot tolerate the unparalleled opulence of the Lord. They try always to place themselves on the same level with the Lord. That is due to their envious attitude. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu has proclaimed the impersonalists to be offenders of the Lord. The Lord is so kind, however, that even though they are His enemies, they are still allowed to enter into the spiritual kingdom and remain in the impersonal brahmajyoti, the undifferentiated light of the Absolute.

Sometimes an impersonalist may gradually elevate himself to the personal conception of the Lord. Bhagavad-gétä confirms this: “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me.” By such surrender, an impersonalist can be elevated to the Vaikuëöhaloka (spiritual planet) where, as a surrendered soul, he attains bodily features like those of the Lord.

In the Brahmäëòa Puräëa it is stated, “Those who have achieved liberation from material contamination and those who are demons and are killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead become absorbed in the Brahman concept of life and reside in the spiritual sky of the brahmajyoti.” That spiritual sky is far beyond the material sky, and it is confirmed also in Bhagavad-gétä that beyond this material sky there is another, eternal sky. The enemies and the impersonalists may be allowed to enter into this Brahman effulgence, but the devotees of Kåñëa are promoted all the way to the spiritual planets. Because the pure devotees have developed their spontaneous love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are allowed to enter into the spiritual planets to enjoy spiritual bliss in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, verse 23, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the Vedas personified address the Lord in this way: “My dear Lord, yogés meditate upon Your localized feature, and thus they achieve the spiritual perfection of being merged in the impersonal brahmajyoti. Persons who treat You as an enemy achieve the same perfection without meditating. The gopés, who are embraced by Your serpentine hands and who have such lusty attitudes, also achieve the same perfection. And as far as we are concerned, being different demigods in charge of the different parts of Vedic knowledge, we are always following in the footsteps of the gopés. Thus we hope to attain the same perfection.” By “the same perfection” we must always remember the example of the sun and the sunshine. Those who are impersonalists can merge into the sunshinelike brahmajyoti, whereas those who are in love with the Supreme Person enter into the supreme abode of the Lord, Goloka Våndävana.

The “lusty attitude” of the gopés does not refer to any sort of sex indulgence. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé explains that this “lusty desire” refers to the devotee’s particular attitude of association with Kåñëa. Every devotee in his perfectional stage has a spontaneous attraction to the Lord. This attraction is sometimes called the “lusty desire” of the devotee. The lust is the devotee’s excessive desire to serve the Lord in a particular capacity. Such a desire may seem to be a desire for enjoying the Lord, but actually the endeavor is to serve the Lord in that capacity. For example, a devotee may be desiring to associate with the Personality of Godhead as His cowherd friend. He will want to serve the Lord by assisting Him in controlling the cows in the pasturing ground. This may appear to be a desire to enjoy the company of the Lord, but actually it is spontaneous love, serving Him by assisting in managing the transcendental cows.

This extreme desire to serve the Lord is manifest in the transcendental land of Vraja. And it is specifically manifested among the gopés. The gopés’ love for Kåñëa is so elevated that for our understanding it is sometimes explained as being “lusty desire.”

The author of Çré Caitanya-caritämåta, Kaviräja Kåñëadäsa, has explained the distinction between lusty desire and the service attitude in this statement: “ ‘Lusty desire’ refers to the desire to gratify one’s personal senses, and ‘transcendental desire’ refers to the desire for serving the senses of the Lord.” In the material world there is no such thing as a lover’s wanting to please the senses of his beloved. Actually, in the material world, everyone wants mainly to gratify his own personal senses. The gopés, however, wanted nothing at all but to gratify the senses of the Lord, and there is no instance of this in the material world. Therefore the gopés’ ecstatic love for Kåñëa is sometimes described by scholars as being like the “lusty desire” of the material world, but actually this should not be taken as a literal fact. It is simply a way of trying to understand the transcendental situation.

Great devotees up to the standard of Uddhava are very dear friends of the Lord, and they desire to follow in the footsteps of the gopés. So the gopés’ love for Kåñëa is certainly not material lusty desire. Otherwise, how could Uddhava aspire to follow in their footsteps? Another instance is Lord Caitanya Himself. After accepting the sannyäsa order of life, He was very, very strict about avoiding association with women, but still He taught that there is no better method of worshiping Kåñëa than that conceived by the gopés. Thus the gopés’ method of worshiping the Lord as if impelled by lusty desire was praised very highly even by Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu. This very fact means that although the attraction of the gopés for Kåñëa appears to be lusty, it is not in the least bit material. Unless one is fully situated in the transcendental position, the relationship of the gopés with Kåñëa is very difficult to understand. But because it appears to be just like ordinary dealings of young boys and girls, it is sometimes misinterpreted to be like the ordinary sex of this material world. Unfortunately, persons who cannot understand the transcendental nature of the love affairs of the gopés and Kåñëa take it for granted that Kåñëa’s love affairs with the gopés are mundane transactions, and therefore they sometimes indulge in painting licentious pictures in some modernistic style.

On the other hand, the lusty desire of Kubjä is described by learned scholars as being “almost lusty desire.” Kubjä was a hunchbacked woman who also wanted Kåñëa with a great ecstatic love. But her desire for Kåñëa was almost mundane, and so her love cannot be compared to the love of the gopés. Her loving affection for Kåñëa is called käma-präyä, or almost like the gopés’ love for Kåñëa.

NoD 16: Spontaneous Devotion Further Described

In the attitude of the denizens of Våndävana, such as Nanda Mahäräja and mother Yaçodä, is to be found the ideal transcendental concept of being the father and mother of Kåñëa, the original Personality of Godhead. Factually, no one can become the father or mother of Kåñëa, but a devotee’s possession of such transcendental feelings is called love of Kåñëa in a parental relationship. The Våñëis (Kåñëa’s relatives at Dvärakä) also felt like that. So spontaneous love of Kåñëa in the parental relationship is found both among those denizens of Dvärakä who belonged to the dynasty of Våñëi and among the inhabitants of Våndävana.

Spontaneous love of Kåñëa as exhibited by the Våñëis and the denizens of Våndävana is eternally existing in them. In the stage of devotional service where regulative principles are followed, there is no necessity of discussing this love, for it must develop of itself at a more advanced stage.

Persons desiring to follow in the footsteps of such eternal devotees of the Lord as the Våñëis and Våndävana denizens are called rägänugä devotees, which means that they are trying to attain to the perfection of those devotees. These rägänugä devotees do not follow the regulative principles of devotional service very strictly, but by spontaneous nature they become attracted to some of the eternal devotees such as Nanda or Yaçodä, and they try to follow in their footsteps spontaneously. There is a gradual development of the ambition to become like a particular devotee, and this activity is called rägänugä.

We must always remember, however, that such eagerness to follow in the footsteps of the denizens of Vraja (Våndävana) is not possible unless one is freed from material contamination. In following the regulative principles of devotional service, there is a stage called anartha-nivåtti, which means the disappearance of all material contamination. Sometimes someone is found imitating such devotional love, but factually he is not freed from anarthas, or unwanted habits. It has been seen that a so-called devotee proclaims himself a follower of Nanda, Yaçodä or the gopés, while at the same time his abominable attraction for mundane sex life is visible. Such a manifestation of divine love is mere imitation and has no value. When one is actually spontaneously attracted to the loving principles of the gopés, there will be found no trace of any mundane contamination in his character.

Therefore, in the beginning, everyone should strictly follow the regulative principles of devotional service, according to the injunctions of the scriptures and the spiritual master. Only after the stage of liberation from material contamination can one actually aspire to follow in the footsteps of the devotees in Våndävana.

It is said by Çré Rüpa Gosvämé, “When one is actually liberated from material contamination, he can always remember an eternal devotee in Våndävana in order to love Kåñëa in the same capacity. And developing such an aptitude, one will always live in Våndävana, even within his mind.” The purport is that if it is possible one should go and physically be present at Vrajabhümi, Våndävana, and be engaged always in the service of the Lord, following the devotees in Vraja-dhäma, the spiritual realm of Vraja. If it is not possible, however, to be physically present at Våndävana, one can meditate anywhere upon living in that situation. Wherever he may be, one must always think about life in Vraja-dhäma and about following in the footsteps of a particular devotee in the service of the Lord.

A devotee who is actually advanced in Kåñëa consciousness, who is constantly engaged in devotional service, should not manifest himself, even though he has attained perfection. The idea is that he should always continue to act as a neophyte devotee as long as his material body is there. Activities in devotional service under regulative principles must be followed even by the pure devotee. But when he realizes his actual position in relationship with the Lord, he can, along with the discharging of regulative service, think within himself of the Lord, under the guidance of a particular associate of the Lord, and develop his transcendental sentiments in following that associate.

In this connection, we should be careful about the so-called siddha-praëälé. The siddha-praëälé process is followed by a class of men who are not very authorized and who have manufactured their own way of devotional service. They imagine that they have become associates of the Lord simply by thinking of themselves like that. This external behavior is not at all according to the regulative principles. The so-called siddha-praëälé process is followed by the präkåta-sahajiyä, a pseudosect of so-called Vaiñëavas. In the opinion of Rüpa Gosvämé, such activities are simply disturbances to the standard way of devotional service.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé says that learned äcäryas recommend that we follow the regulative principles even after the development of spontaneous love for Kåñëa. According to the regulative principles, there are nine departmental activities, as described above, and one should specifically engage himself in the type of devotional service for which he has a natural aptitude. For example, one person may have a particular interest in hearing, another may have a particular interest in chanting, and another may have a particular interest in serving in the temple. So these, or any of the other six different types of devotional service (remembering, serving, praying, engaging in some particular service, being in a friendly relationship or offering everything in one’s possession), should be executed in full earnestness. In this way, everyone should act according to his particular taste.

Devotional service following in the footsteps of the gopés of Våndävana or the queens at Dvärakä is called devotional service in conjugal love. This devotional service in conjugal love can be divided into two categories. One is indirect conjugal love, the other direct. In both of these categories, one has to follow the particular gopé who is engaged in such service in Goloka Våndävana. To be directly attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in conjugal love is technically called keli. This keli performance means to directly join with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are other devotees who do not wish direct contact with the Supreme Person, but who relish the conjugal love affairs of the Lord with the gopés. Such devotees enjoy simply by hearing of the activities of the Lord with the gopés.

This development of conjugal love can be possible only with those who are already engaged in following the regulative principles of devotional service, specifically in the worship of Rädhä and Kåñëa in the temple. Such devotees gradually develop a spontaneous love for the Deity, and by hearing of the Lord’s exchange of loving affairs with the gopés, they gradually become attracted to these pastimes. After this spontaneous attraction becomes highly developed, the devotee is placed in either of the above-mentioned categories.

This development of conjugal love for Kåñëa is not manifested in women only. The material body has nothing to do with spiritual loving affairs. A woman may develop an attitude for becoming a friend of Kåñëa, and, similarly, a man may develop the feature of becoming a gopé in Våndävana. How a devotee in the form of a man can desire to become a gopé is stated in the Padma Puräëa as follows: In days gone by there were many sages in Daëòakäraëya. Daëòakäraëya is the name of the forest where Lord Rämacandra lived after being banished by His father for fourteen years. At that time there were many advanced sages who were captivated by the beauty of Lord Rämacandra and who desired to become women in order to embrace the Lord. Later on, these sages appeared in Goloka Våndävana when Kåñëa advented Himself there, and they were born as gopés, or girl friends of Kåñëa. In this way they attained the perfection of spiritual life.

The story of the sages of Daëòakäraëya can be explained as follows. When Lord Rämacandra was residing in Daëòakäraëya, the sages who were engaged in devotional service there became attracted by His beauty and immediately thought of the gopés at Våndävana, who enjoyed conjugal loving affection with Kåñëa. In this instance it is clear that the sages of Daëòakäraëya desired conjugal love in the manner of the gopés, although they were well aware of the Supreme Lord as both Kåñëa and Lord Rämacandra. They knew that although Rämacandra was an ideal king and could not accept more than one wife, Lord Kåñëa, being the full-fledged Personality of Godhead, could fulfill the desires of all of them in Våndävana. These sages also concluded that the form of Lord Kåñëa is more attractive than that of Lord Rämacandra, and so they prayed to become gopés in their future lives to be associated with Kåñëa.

Lord Rämacandra remained silent, and His silence shows that He accepted the prayers of the sages. Thus they were blessed by Lord Rämacandra to have association with Lord Kåñëa in their future lives. As a result of this benediction, they all took birth as women in the wombs of gopés at Gokula, and as they had desired in their previous lives, they enjoyed the company of Lord Kåñëa, who was present at that time in Gokula Våndävana. The perfection of their human form of life was thus achieved by their generating a transcendental sentiment to share conjugal love with Lord Kåñëa.

Conjugal love is divided into two classifications—namely, conjugal love as husband and wife and conjugal love as lover and beloved. One who develops conjugal love for Kåñëa as a wife is promoted to Dvärakä, where the devotee becomes the queen of the Lord. One who develops conjugal love for Kåñëa as a lover is promoted to Goloka Våndävana, to associate with the gopés and enjoy loving affairs with Kåñëa there. We should note carefully, however, that this conjugal love for Kåñëa, either as gopé or as queen, is not limited only to women. Even men can develop such sentiments, as was evidenced by the sages of Daëòakäraëya. If someone simply desires conjugal love, but does not follow in the footsteps of the gopés, he is promoted to association with the Lord at Dvärakä.

In the Mahä-kürma Puräëa it is stated, “Great sages who were the sons of fire-gods rigidly followed the regulative principles in their desire to have conjugal love for Kåñëa. As such, in their next lives they were able to associate with the Lord, the origin of all creation, who is known as Väsudeva, or Kåñëa, and all of them got Him as their husband.”

Devotees who are attracted to Kåñëa as parents or as friends should follow in the footsteps of Nanda Mahäräja or Subala, respectively. Nanda Mahäräja is the foster father of Kåñëa, and out of all of the friends of Kåñëa, Subala is the most intimate in Vrajabhümi.

In the development of becoming either the father or friend of the Lord, there are two varieties. One method is that one may try to become the father of the Lord directly, and the other is that one may follow Nanda Mahäräja and cherish the ideal of being Kåñëa’s father. Out of these two, the attempt to directly become the father of Kåñëa is not recommended. Such a development can become polluted with Mäyäväda (impersonal) philosophy. The Mäyävädés, or monists, think that they themselves are Kåñëa, and if one thinks that he himself has become Nanda Mahäräja, then his parental love will become contaminated with the Mäyäväda philosophy. The Mäyäväda philosophical way of thinking is offensive, and no offender can enter into the kingdom of God to associate with Kåñëa.

In the Skanda Puräëa there is a story of an old man residing in Hastinäpura, capital of the kingdom of the Päëòus, who desired Kåñëa as his beloved son. This old man was instructed by Närada to follow in the footsteps of Nanda Mahäräja, and thus he achieved success.

There is a statement in the Näräyaëa-vyüha-stava prayers that persons who are always engaged in thinking of the Lord as their husband, friend, father or well-wisher are always worshipable by everyone. This spontaneous love for Kåñëa can be developed only by the special mercy of Kåñëa or His pure devotee. This process of devotional service is sometimes called puñöi-märga. Puñöi means “nourishing,” and märga means “path.” Such development of sentiment nourishes devotional service to the highest standard. Thus it is called the path of nourishment, or puñöi-märga. The Vallabha-sampradäya, which belongs to the Viñëusvämé sect of Vaiñëava religion, worships Kåñëa in this puñöi-märga. Generally devotees in Gujarat worship Bäla Kåñëa, under this heading of puñöi-märga.

NoD 17: Ecstatic Love

By the process of executing regulated devotional service, one is actually elevated onto the transcendental stage, beyond the material modes of nature. At that time one’s heart becomes illuminated like the sun. The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud; similarly, when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his pure heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love which is more glorious than the sunshine. Only at that time is the attachment to Kåñëa perfect. Spontaneously, the devotee becomes eager to serve the Lord in his ecstatic love. At this stage the devotee is on the platform of uttama-adhikäré, perfect devotion. Such a devotee has no agitation from material affections and is interested only in the service of Rädhä and Kåñëa.

To clarify, in the previous chapters the symptoms of devotional service were explained along with instructions as to how we may execute devotional service with our present senses and gradually rise to the platform of ecstasy in spontaneous love. And the two kinds of devotional service—namely devotional service through regulative principles and through spontaneous love—were discussed. Within the stage of the regulative principles of devotional service there are two divisions—namely executive and effective. This effective portion of devotional service is called bhäva, or ecstasy. In this connection, there is a statement in the tantras that ecstasy is the first symptom of pure love for the Personality of Godhead, and in that stage one is sometimes found shedding tears or shivering. Not always are these symptoms manifest, but occasionally. When King Ambaréña was put into difficulty by Durväsä, he began to think of the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus there were some changes in his body, and tears were falling from his eyes. These symptoms are activities of ecstasy. They are visible in the shivering of the body and the shedding of tears. After the outward appearance of these ecstatic symptoms, they stay within the mind, and continuation of the ecstasy is called samädhi. This stage of appreciation becomes the cause of future exchanges of loving affairs with Kåñëa.

Elevation to this stage of ecstasy can be possible in two ways. One way is by constant association with pure devotees. The other way is by the special mercy of Kåñëa or by the mercy of a pure devotee of Kåñëa. Elevation to the ecstatic stage of life is generally attained through association with pure devotees, while elevation to that stage by the special mercy of Kåñëa or His devotee is very rare. The purport is that one should execute devotional service rigidly in the association of devotees so that there will be certainty in raising oneself to that ecstatic position. In special cases, of course, there is special favor from Kåñëa, and although we should always expect that, we should not sit idly and simply wait for Kåñëa’s special mercy; the regular duties must be performed. It is just as when, sometimes, it is found that a person who never attended school or college may be recognized as a great scholar, or an honorary degree from great universities may be offered to him. But this does not mean that one should avoid school and expect to automatically receive an honorary degree from some university. Similarly, one should devoutly execute the regulative principles of devotional service and at the same time hope for Kåñëa’s favor or for His devotee’s favor.

An example of rising to the stage of ecstatic love by executing the regulative principles of devotional service is given in the life story of Närada, which is described to Vyäsadeva in Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Närada tells there of his previous life and how he developed to the stage of ecstatic love. He was engaged in the service of great devotees and used to hear their talks and songs. Because he had the opportunity to hear these pastimes and songs of Kåñëa from the mouths of pure devotees, he became very attracted within his heart. Because he had become so eager to hear these topics, he gradually developed within himself an ecstatic love for Kåñëa. This ecstatic love is prior to the pure love of Kåñëa, because in the next verse Närada confirms that by the gradual process of hearing from the great sages he developed love of Godhead. In that connection, Närada continues to say in the First Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 28, of the Bhägavatam, “First I passed my days in the association of the great sages during the rainy autumn season. Every morning and evening I heard them while they were singing and chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra, and thus my heart gradually became purified. As soon as I heard them with great attention, the influence of the modes of material ignorance and passion disappeared, and I became firmly fixed in devotional service to the Lord.”

These are practical examples of how one can develop to the stage of ecstatic love simply by the association of pure devotees. It is essential, therefore, that one constantly associate with pure devotees who are engaged morning and evening in chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra. In this way one will get the chance to purify his heart and develop this ecstatic pure love for Kåñëa.

This statement is also confirmed in the Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 25, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, where Lord Kapila says, “My dear mother, when a person is actually in association with pure devotees, the sublime potency of My devotional service can be experienced.” In other words, when a pure devotee speaks, his words act upon the hearts of the audience. What is the secret of hearing and chanting? A professional speaker cannot impress transcendental ecstasy within the hearts of the listeners. However, when a realized soul who is engaged in the service of the Lord is speaking, he has the potency to inject spiritual life within the audience. One should, therefore, seek the association of such pure, unalloyed devotees, and by such association and service a neophyte devotee will certainly develop attachment, love and devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Padma Puräëa there is the story of a neophyte devotee who, in order to raise herself to the ecstatic platform, danced all night to invoke the Lord’s grace upon her.

Sometimes, however, it is found that without undergoing any devotional process, one all of a sudden develops devotion for Lord Kåñëa. This sudden development of the devotional attitude in a person must be understood as a special mercy of Kåñëa or of His devotee. This apparently accidental development of ecstatic feelings through the causeless mercy of Kåñëa can be divided into three groups: simply by speaking, simply by glancing and simply by good wishes.

In the Näradéya Puräëa there is a statement about development of ecstatic love simply by speaking. Lord Kåñëa said to Närada, “O best of the brähmaëas, I wish that you may develop unalloyed devotional service to Me, which is full of transcendental bliss and all auspiciousness.”

In the Skanda Puräëa there is a statement about developing ecstatic love toward Kåñëa simply by glancing. It is stated there, “When the inhabitants of Jäìgala Province saw the Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, they were so stricken with feeling that they could not withdraw their glance from Him.”

As far as heartfelt wishes are concerned, there is a statement in the Çuka-saàhitä where Närada tells Çréla Vyäsadeva, “You have a son who is the greatest devotee of the Personality of Godhead, and I can observe that without any following of the regulative principles of devotional service, he is already enriched with many of the symptoms achieved by the execution of devotional service after many, many births.”

As for ecstatic love of Kåñëa, there is a statement in the Seventh Canto, Fourth Chapter, verse 36, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, in which Närada addresses King Yudhiñöhira, “My dear King, it is very difficult to describe the character of Prahläda. He developed a natural attraction for Kåñëa, and whatever I can explain about his character will simply be an arrangement of words; his actual character is impossible to describe.” This means that Närada himself admitted that the natural development of Prahläda’s ecstatic love was by the grace of Lord Kåñëa.

This natural attraction for Kåñëa on the part of Prahläda was developed simply by the mercy of Närada. When Prahläda Mahäräja was within the womb of his mother, she was being sympathetically instructed by Närada about the science of devotional service, and at the same time Närada was wishing that the child within the womb could also take advantage of the instructions. Because Närada, an authorized devotee and great associate of the Personality of Godhead, was desiring auspiciousness for Prahläda Mahäräja, he developed all the characteristics of a high-grade devotee. This is called natural attraction. It is caused by the special grace of the Personality of Godhead or by the special grace of a great devotee like Närada.

There is a statement in the Skanda Puräëa wherein Parvata Muni tells Närada, “My dear Närada, of all saintly persons you are so great and glorious that simply by your good wishes a lowborn hunter also has become a great, elevated devotee of Lord Kåñëa.”

This ecstatic love for Kåñëa can be divided into five divisions, which will be described by Çré Rüpa Gosvämé later on.

NoD 18: Character of One in Ecstatic Love

Rüpa Gosvämé next describes the characteristics of a person who has actually developed his ecstatic love for Kåñëa. The characteristics are as follows:

(1) He is always anxious to utilize his time in the devotional service of the Lord. He does not like to be idle. He wants service always, twenty-four hours a day, without deviation.

(2) He is always reserved and perseverant.

(3) He is always detached from all material attraction.

(4) He does not long for any material respect in return for his activities.

(5) He is always certain that Kåñëa will bestow His mercy upon him.

(6) He is always very eager to serve the Lord faithfully.

(7) He is very much attached to the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

(8) He is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord.

(9) He is very pleased to live in a place where the Lord’s pastimes are performed, e.g., Mathurä, Våndävana or Dvärakä.

An unalloyed devotee who has developed ecstatic love for Kåñëa is always engaging his words in reciting prayers to the Lord. Within the mind he is always thinking of Kåñëa, and with his body he either offers obeisances by bowing down before the Deity or engages in some other service. During these ecstatic activities he sometimes sheds tears. In this way his whole life is engaged in the service of the Lord, with not a moment wasted on any other engagement.

When a person is undisturbed even in the presence of various causes of disturbance, he is called reserved and perseverant. An example of this perseverance and reservation is found in the behavior of King Parékñit, as described in the First Canto, Nineteenth Chapter, verse 15, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. The King says there to all the sages present before him at the time of his death, “My dear brähmaëas, you should always accept me as your surrendered servant. I have come to the bank of the Ganges just to devote my heart and soul unto the lotus feet of Lord Kåñëa. So please bless me, that mother Ganges may also be pleased with me. Let the curse of the brähmaëa’s son fall upon me—I do not mind. I only request that at the last moment of my life all of you will kindly chant the holy name of Viñëu, so that I may realize His transcendental qualities.”

This example of Mahäräja Parékñit’s behavior, his remaining patient even at the last point of his life, his undisturbed condition of mind, is an example of reservation. This is one of the characteristics of a devotee who has developed ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

The senses are always desiring sense enjoyment, but when a devotee develops transcendental love for Kåñëa his senses are no longer attracted by material desires. This state of mind is called detachment. There is a nice example of this detachment in connection with the character of King Bharata. In the Fifth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 43, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is stated, “Emperor Bharata was so attracted by the beauty of the lotus feet of Kåñëa that even in his youthful life he gave up all kinds of attachments to family, children, friends, kingdom, etc., as though they were untouchable stools.”

Emperor Bharata provides a typical example of detachment. He had everything enjoyable in the material world, but he left it. This means that detachment does not mean artificially keeping oneself aloof and apart from the allurements of attachment. Even in the presence of such allurements, if one can remain unattracted by material attachments, he is called detached. In the beginning, of course, a neophyte devotee must try to keep himself apart from all kinds of alluring attachments, but the real position of a mature devotee is that even in the presence of all allurements, he is not at all attracted. This is the actual criterion of detachment.

When a devotee, in spite of possessing all the qualities of pure realization, is not proud of his position, he is called prideless. In the Padma Puräëa it is stated that King Bhagératha was the emperor above all other kings, yet he developed such ecstatic love for Kåñëa that he became a mendicant and went out begging even to the homes of his political enemies and untouchables. He was so humble that he respectfully bowed down before them.

There are many similar instances in the history of India. Even very recently, about two hundred years ago or less, one big landlord known as Läl Bäbu, a Calcutta landholder, became a Vaiñëava and lived in Våndävana. He was also begging from door to door, even at the homes of his political enemies. Begging involves being ready to be insulted by persons to whose home one has come. That is natural. But one has to tolerate such insults for the sake of Kåñëa. The devotee of Kåñëa can accept any position in the service of Kåñëa.

The strong conviction that one will certainly receive the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called in Sanskrit äçä-bandha. Äçä-bandha means to continue to think, “Because I’m trying my best to follow the routine principles of devotional service, I am sure that I will go back to Godhead, back to home.”

In this connection, one prayer by Rüpa Gosvämé is sufficient to exemplify this hopefulness. He says, “I have no love for Kåñëa, nor for the causes of developing love of Kåñëa—namely, hearing and chanting. And the process of bhakti-yoga, by which one is always thinking of Kåñëa and fixing His lotus feet in the heart, is also lacking in me. As far as philosophical knowledge or pious works are concerned, I don’t see any opportunity for me to execute such activities. But above all, I am not even born of a nice family. Therefore I must simply pray to You, Gopéjana-vallabha [Kåñëa, maintainer and beloved of the gopés]. I simply wish and hope that some way or other I may be able to approach Your lotus feet, and this hope is giving me pain, because I think myself quite incompetent to approach that transcendental goal of life.” The purport is that under this heading of äçä-bandha, one should continue to hope against hope that some way or other he will be able to approach the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord.

When one is sufficiently eager to achieve success in devotional service, that eagerness is called samutkaëöhä. This means “complete eagerness.” Actually this eagerness is the price for achieving success in Kåñëa consciousness. Everything has some value, and one has to pay the value before obtaining or possessing it. It is stated in the Vedic literature that to purchase the most valuable thing, Kåñëa consciousness, one has to develop intense eagerness for achieving success. This intense eagerness is very nicely expressed by Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura in his book Kåñëa-karëämåta. He says, “I am eagerly waiting to see that boy of Våndävana whose bodily beauty is captivating the whole universe, whose eyes are always bounded by black eyebrows and expanded like lotus petals, and who is always eagerly glancing over His devotees and therefore moving slightly here and there. His eyes are always moist, His lips are colored like copper, and through those lips there comes a sound vibration which drives one madder than a mad elephant. I want so much to see Him at Våndävana!”

In the same Kåñëa-karëämåta there is another statement, about the chanting of Rädhäräëé. It is said by one of the associates of Rädhäräëé, “O Lord Govinda, the girl who is the daughter of King Våñabhänu is now shedding tears, and She is anxiously chanting Your holy name—‘Kåñëa! Kåñëa!’ ”

Attachment for chanting the glories of the Lord is also expressed in the Kåñëa-karëämåta as follows: “What shall I do for Kåñëa, who is pleasing beyond all pleasurable conceptions, and who is naughtier than all restless boys? The idea of Kåñëa’s beautiful activities is attracting my heart, and I do not know what I can do!”

In the book Padyävalé by Rüpa Gosvämé there is the following statement about Våndävana: “In this place the son of Mahäräja Nanda used to live with His father, who was king of all cowherd men. In this place Lord Kåñëa broke the cart in which the Çakaöäsura demon was concealed. At this place Dämodara, who can cut the knot of our material existence, was tied up by His mother, Yaçodä.”

A pure devotee of Lord Kåñëa resides in the district of Mathurä or Våndävana and visits all the places where Kåñëa’s pastimes were performed. At these sacred places Kåñëa displayed His childhood activities with the cowherd boys and mother Yaçodä. The system of circumambulating all these places is still current among devotees of Lord Kåñëa, and those coming to Mathurä and Våndävana always feel transcendental pleasure. Actually, if someone goes to Våndävana, he will immediately feel separation from Kåñëa, who performed such nice activities when He was present there.

Such attraction for remembering Kåñëa’s activities is known as attachment for Kåñëa. There are impersonalist philosophers and mystics, however, who by a show of devotional service want ultimately to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord. They sometimes try to imitate a pure devotee’s sentiment for visiting the holy places where Kåñëa had His pastimes, but they simply have a view for salvation, and so their activities cannot be considered attachment.

It is said by Rüpa Gosvämé that the attachment exhibited by pure devotees for Kåñëa cannot possibly be perfected in the hearts of fruitive workers (karmés) or mental speculators, because such attachment in pure Kåñëa consciousness is very rare and not possible to achieve even for many liberated persons. As stated in Bhagavad-gétä, liberation from material contamination is the stage at which devotional service can be achieved. For a person who simply wants to have liberation and to merge into the impersonal brahmajyoti, attachment to Kåñëa is not possible to acquire. This attachment is very confidentially kept by Kåñëa and is bestowed only upon pure devotees. Even ordinary devotees cannot have such pure attachment for Kåñëa. Therefore, how is it possible for success to be achieved by persons whose hearts are contaminated by the actions and reactions of fruitive activities and who are entangled by various types of mental speculation?

There are many so-called devotees who artificially think of Kåñëa’s pastimes known as añöa-käléya-lélä. Sometimes one may artificially imitate these, pretending that Kåñëa is talking with him in the form of a boy, or else one may pretend that Rädhäräëé and Kåñëa both have come to him and are talking with him. Such characteristics are sometimes exhibited by the impersonalist class of men, and they may captivate some innocent persons who have no knowledge in the science of devotional service. However, as soon as an experienced devotee sees all of these caricatures, he can immediately evaluate such rascaldom. If such a pretender is sometimes seen possessing imitative attachment to Kåñëa, that will not be accepted as real attachment. It may be said, however, that such attachment gives the pretender hope that he may eventually rise onto the actual platform of pure devotional service.

This imitative attachment can be divided into two headings—namely, shadow attachment and parä (transcendental) attachment. If someone, without undergoing the regulative principles of devotional service or without being guided by a bona fide spiritual master, shows such imitative attachment, this is called shadow attachment. Sometimes it is found that a person actually attached to material enjoyment or salvation has the good fortune to associate with pure devotees while they are engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord. By the good grace of the Lord one may also cooperate and join in the chanting. At that time, simply by the association of such pure devotees, the moonlike rays from their hearts reflect on him, and by the influence of the pure devotees he may show some likeness of attachment caused by inquisitiveness, but this is very flickering. And if by the manifestation of such shadow attachment one feels the disappearance of all material pangs, then it is called parä attachment.

Such shadow attachment or parä attachment can develop if one associates with a pure devotee or visits holy places like Våndävana or Mathurä, and if an ordinary man develops such attachment for Kåñëa and fortunately performs devotional activities in the association of pure devotees, he can also rise to the platform of pure devotional service. The conclusion is that transcendental attachment is so powerful that if such attachment is seen manifested even in some common man, by the association of a pure devotee it can bring one to the perfectional stage. But such attachment for Kåñëa cannot be invoked in a person without his being sufficiently blessed by the association of pure devotees.

As attachment can be invoked by the association of pure devotees, so attachment can also be extinguished by offenses committed at the lotus feet of pure devotees. To be more clear, by the association of pure devotees attachment for Kåñëa can be aroused, but if one commits offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee, one’s shadow attachment or parä attachment can be extinguished. This extinguishing is like the waning of the full moon, which gradually decreases and at last becomes dark. One should therefore be very careful while associating with pure devotees to guard against committing an offense at their lotus feet.

Transcendental attachment, either shadow or parä, can be nullified by different degrees of offenses at the lotus feet of pure devotees. If the offense is very serious, then one’s attachment becomes almost nil, and if the offense is not very serious, one’s attachment can become second class or third class.

If someone becomes attached to the principles of salvation or to merging into the existence of the brahmajyoti, his ecstasies gradually diminish into shadow and parä attachment or else transform into the principles of ahaìgrahopäsanä. This ahaìgrahopäsanä describes a living entity when he begins spiritual realization by identifying himself with the Supreme Lord. This state of self-realization is technically known as monism. The monist thinks himself one with the Supreme Lord. Thus, because he does not differentiate between himself and the Supreme Lord, it is his view that by worshiping himself he is worshiping the supreme whole.

Sometimes it is found that a neophyte is taking part in chanting and dancing very enthusiastically, but within himself he is under the impression that he has become one with the supreme whole. This conception of monism is completely different from pure, transcendental devotional service. If, however, it is seen that a person has developed a high standard of devotion without having undergone even the regulative principles, it is to be understood that his status of devotional service was achieved in a former life. For some reason or another it had been temporarily stopped, most probably by an offense committed at the lotus feet of a devotee. Now, with a good second chance, it has again begun to develop. The conclusion is that steady progress in devotional service can be attained only in the association of pure devotees.

If one can gradually advance his status in devotional service, this is understood to be due to the causeless mercy of Kåñëa Himself. If a person is completely detached from material enjoyment and has developed pure ecstatic devotion, even if he is sometimes accidentally found not living up to the standard of devotional service, one should not be envious of him. It is confirmed also in Bhagavad-gétä that a devotee who has unflinching faith in and devotion to the Lord, even if sometimes found to be accidentally deviated from pure devotional characteristics, should still be counted among the pure. Unflinching faith in devotional service, in Lord Kåñëa and in the spiritual master makes one highly elevated in the activities of devotional service.

In the Nåsiàha Puräëa it is stated, “If a person has completely engaged his mind, body and activities in the service of the Supreme Godhead, but externally he is found to be engaged in some abominable activities, these abominable activities will surely be very quickly vanquished by the influence of his staunch devotional force.” The example is given that on the full moon there are some spots which may appear to be pockmarks. Still, the illumination spread by the full moon cannot be checked. Similarly, a little fault in the midst of volumes of devotional service is not at all to be counted as a fault. Attachment for Kåñëa is transcendental bliss. Amid unlimited volumes of transcendental bliss, a spot of some material defect cannot act in any way.

NoD 19: Devotional Service in Pure Love of God

When one’s desire to love Kåñëa in one’s particular relationship becomes intensified, this is known as pure love of Godhead. In the beginning a devotee is engaged in the regulative principles of devotional service by the order of his spiritual master. When one thereby becomes completely purified of all material contamination, there develop an attachment and taste for devotional service. This taste and attachment, when gradually intensified in the course of time, become love. The word love can be actually applied only in relationship with the Personality of Godhead. In the material world, love is not applicable at all. What goes on under the name of love in the material world is nothing but lust. There is a gulf of difference between love and lust, like the difference between gold and iron. In the Närada-païcarätra it is clearly stated that when lust is completely transferred to the Supreme Godhead and the concept of kinship is completely reposed in Him, such is accepted as pure love of God by great authorities like Bhéñma, Prahläda, Uddhava and Närada.

Great authorities like Bhéñma have explained that love of Godhead means completely giving up all so-called love for any other person. According to Bhéñma, love means reposing one’s affection completely upon one person, withdrawing all affinities for any other person. This pure love can be transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead under two conditions—out of ecstasy and out of the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

Ecstatic love of Godhead can be potently invoked simply by following the rules and regulations of devotional service as they are prescribed in scriptures, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. In the Eleventh Canto, Second Chapter, verse 40, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, this ecstatic love, born of the execution of regulative devotional service, is explained: “A devotee, in the course of executing the regulative principles of devotional service, develops his natural Kåñëa consciousness, and being thus softened at heart he chants and dances like a madman. While performing chanting of the holy name of the Lord, he sometimes cries, sometimes talks wildly, sometimes sings and sometimes—without caring for any outsider—dances like a madman.”

In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement about ecstatic love born of spontaneous affection. Candrakänti, a celebrated fair-faced girl, rigidly observed celibacy in order to obtain Kåñëa as her husband. She always engaged herself in meditating on the transcendental form of the Lord and always chanted the glories of the Lord. She did not desire to accept anyone else as her husband. She had firmly decided that only Lord Kåñëa would be her husband.

When a devotee is found to be always associated with the Lord in ecstatic love, it is to be understood that such a position has been awarded by the Lord Himself out of His causeless extraordinary mercy. An example of such extraordinary mercy is given in the Eleventh Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 7, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, wherein Lord Kåñëa tells Uddhava, “The gopés in Våndävana did not study the Vedas to achieve Me. Nor had they ever been in holy places of pilgrimage. Nor did they devoutly execute any regulative principle. Nor did they undergo any kind of austerity. It is simply by My association that they have attained the highest perfection of devotional service.”

From the example of Candrakänti as found in the Padma Puräëa and from the example of the gopés as found in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, it appears that a devotee who always thinks of Kåñëa and who always chants His glories in ecstatic love, regardless of his condition, will attain the highest perfection of unalloyed devotional love due to Lord Kåñëa’s extraordinary mercy. This is confirmed in Çrémad-Bhägavatam: “If a person worships, adores and loves Hari, the Supreme Lord, he should be understood to have finished all kinds of austerities, penances and similar processes for self-realization. On the other hand, if after undergoing all types of austerities, penances and mystic yoga practices one does not develop such love for Hari, then all his performances are to be considered a useless waste of time. If someone always sees Kåñëa inside and out, then it is to be understood that he has surpassed all austerities and penances for self-realization. And if, after executing all kinds of penances and austerities, one cannot always see Kåñëa inside and out, then he has executed his performances uselessly.”

Spontaneous attraction to Kåñëa, which is said to be due to the extraordinary mercy of the Lord, can be placed under two headings: one is profound veneration for the greatness of the Lord, and the other is one’s being automatically attracted to Kåñëa without any extraneous consideration. In the Närada-païcarätra it is said that if on account of profound veneration for the greatness of the Supreme Lord one attains a great affection and steady love for Him, one is certainly assured of attaining the four kinds of Vaiñëava liberation—namely achieving the same bodily features as the Lord, achieving the same opulence as the Lord, dwelling on the planet where the Lord is residing, and attaining eternal association with the Lord. The Vaiñëava liberation is completely different from the Mäyäväda liberation, which is simply a matter of being merged into the effulgence of the Lord.

In the Närada-païcarätra pure, unalloyed devotional service is explained as being without any motive for personal benefit. If a devotee is continuously in love with Lord Kåñëa and his mind is always fixed upon Him, that devotional attitude will prove to be the only means of attracting the attention of the Lord. In other words, a Vaiñëava who is incessantly thinking of the form of Lord Kåñëa is to be known as a pure Vaiñëava.

Generally, a devotee who has achieved the causeless mercy of the Lord on account of following the strict rules and regulations of devotional service becomes attracted by the supreme greatness of the Lord, by the transcendental beauty of the Lord and by the spontaneous execution of devotional service. To be more clear, by executing the regulative principles of devotional service one can fully appreciate the transcendental beauty of the Lord. In any case, such exalted positions are possible only by the extraordinary mercy of the Lord upon the devotee.

Although many different processes for developing love of Godhead have been explained so far, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé now gives us a general description of how one can best achieve such a high position. The beginning of ecstatic love of Godhead is basically faith. There are many societies and associations of pure devotees, and if someone with just a little faith begins to associate with such societies, his advancement to pure devotional service is rapid. The influence of a pure devotee is such that if someone comes to associate with him with a little faith, one gets the chance of hearing about the Lord from authoritative scriptures like Bhagavad-gétä and Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Thus, by the mercy of the Lord, who is situated in everyone’s heart, one gradually develops his faith in the descriptions of such authoritative scriptures. This is the first stage of association with pure devotees. In the second stage, after one becomes a little advanced and mature, he automatically offers to follow the principles of devotional service under the guidance of the pure devotee and accepts him as the spiritual master. In the next stage, under the guidance of the spiritual master, the devotee executes regulative devotional service, and as a result of such activities, he becomes freed from all unwanted occupations. When he is freed from unwanted occupations, his faith becomes steadily fixed, and he develops a transcendental taste for devotional service, then attachment, then ecstasies, and in the last stage there is pure love of Godhead. These are the different stages of the development of pure love.

Only the most fortunate persons can achieve such success in life. Those who are simply academic students of the Vedic scriptures cannot appreciate how such a development takes place. In the Närada-païcarätra Lord Çiva therefore tells Pärvaté, “My dear supreme goddess, you may know from me that any person who has developed the ecstasy of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who is always merged in transcendental bliss on account of this love, cannot even perceive the material distress or happiness coming from the body or mind.”

The affection and the dealings of love that are different branches of the original tree of love precede many varieties of affectionate manifestations that will not be discussed here. These different manifestations have been described by Sanätana Gosvämé in his Bhägavatämåta. Although the subject of such affections and dealings of love is very confidential, Sanätana Gosvämé has described them very explicitly.

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé thus concludes the first division of the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, offering up his treatise for the transcendental pleasure of Sanätana Gosvämé, who has established the transcendental beauty, and of Gopäla Bhaööa Gosvämé, Çré Raghunätha Bhaööa Gosvämé and Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé. It appears from this statement that the great Çréla Jéva Gosvämé was not yet active when Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu was written.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta summary study of the first division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, up to the descriptions of ecstatic love of Godhead, which are to follow next.

NoD 20: Transcendental Mellow

In this second division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu the author offers his respectful obeisances unto “Sanätana.” This Sanätana can be interpreted as either Çré Kåñëa Himself or as Sanätana Gosvämé, the elder brother and spiritual master of Rüpa Gosvämé. In the case where “Sanätana” is accepted to mean Çré Kåñëa, the obeisances are offered to Kåñëa because He is naturally so beautiful and because He is the killer of the demon Agha. If it is interpreted to mean Sanätana Gosvämé, then it is because he is so greatly favored by Rüpa Gosvämé, being always served by him, and because he is the annihilator of all kinds of sinful activities. In this division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu the author wants to describe the general symptoms of the transcendental mellow (loving mood) of discharging devotional service.

In this division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu there are five general topics: (1) vibhäva—special symptoms or causes of ecstasy, (2) anubhäva—subsequent ecstasy, (3) sättvika-bhäva—constitutional or existential ecstasy, (4) vyabhicäré-bhäva—aggressive ecstasy and (5) sthäyi-bhäva—fervent or continuous ecstasy.

The word rasa, used in the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, is understood by different persons differently because the exact English equivalent is very difficult to find. But as we have seen our spiritual master translate this word rasa into “mellow,” we shall follow in his footsteps and also translate the word in that way.

The particular loving mood or attitude relished in the exchange of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called rasa, or mellow. The different types of rasa, when combined together, help one to taste the mellow of devotional service in the highest degree of transcendental ecstasy. Such a position, although entirely transcendental to our experience, will be explained in this section as far as possible, following in the footsteps of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé.

Without relishing some sort of mellow, or loving mood, in one’s activities, no one can continue to perform such activities. Similarly, in the transcendental life of Kåñëa consciousness and devotional service there must be some mellow, or specific taste, from the service. Generally this mellow is experienced by chanting, hearing, worshiping in the temple and being engaged in the service of the Lord. So when a person feels transcendental bliss; that is called “relishing the mellow.” To be more clear, we may understand that the various feelings of happiness derived from discharging devotional service may be termed the “mellows” of devotional service.

This relishing of transcendental mellow in discharging devotional service cannot be experienced by all classes of men, because this sweet loving mood is developed only from one’s previous life’s activities or by the association of unalloyed devotees. As explained above, association with pure devotees is the beginning of faith in devotional service. Only by developing such faith in the association of a pure devotee, or by having in one’s previous life executed devotional activities, can one actually relish the mellow of devotional service. In other words, this transcendental bliss is not to be enjoyed by any common man unless he is so extraordinarily fortunate as to be in association with devotees or to be continuing his previous birth’s devotional activities.

The gradual process of development to the stage of devotional service is explained in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto: “The beginning is to hear about Lord Kåñëa in the association of devotees who have themselves cleansed their hearts by association. Hearing about the transcendental activities of the Lord will result in one’s feeling transcendental bliss always.” It is also explained in Bhagavad-gétä that for one who has actually come to the spiritual platform, the first symptom visible will be that he is always joyful. This joyous life is attained by one’s reaction to reading Bhagavad-gétä or Çrémad-Bhägavatam, or else from associating with persons who are very interested in the spiritual life of Kåñëa consciousness—specifically those who have made the determination to achieve the favor of Govinda by being engaged in transcendental loving service at His lotus feet. Being encouraged by such a feeling, one who is constantly engaged in discharging the regulative principles of devotional service in such a way as to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead develops two principles of compelling force, which come under the heading of vibhäva. Thus one enjoys transcendental bliss.

There are several origins or causes for this compulsive love of Kåñëa, such as Kåñëa Himself, the devotees of Kåñëa, and Kåñëa’s playing on the flute. The effect is sometimes loving and sometimes stunted.

There are eight transcendental symptoms found in the body during ecstasy, and all of them are possible only by a mixture of the above-mentioned five ecstatic divisions. Without some mixture of these five ecstatic principles, one cannot relish transcendental bliss. The cause or basis for relishing transcendental mellow is exactly what we mean by vibhäva. This vibhäva is divided into two—namely, basic and impelling, or impetus-giving. In the Agni Puräëa the description of vibhäva is given as follows: “The basis from which ecstatic love is born is called vibhäva, which is divided into two—basic and impelling.” In other words, there are two kinds of ecstatic love. The object of basic ecstatic love is Kåñëa and His devotee. Lord Kåñëa is the object of basic ecstatic love, and His pure devotee, a reservoir of such love, is the object of impelling ecstatic love. Impelling ecstatic love, then, is that love which develops when one sees an object which reminds him of Kåñëa.

Lord Kåñëa, who is the possessor of inconceivable potencies and qualities of transcendental knowledge and bliss, is the basic cause of ecstatic love. Lord Kåñëa also becomes the reservoir (impetus) of ecstatic love by His different incarnations and expansions. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam there is a statement in connection with the brahma-vimohana-lélä which demonstrates something of this impelling or impetus-giving feature of ecstatic love. When Brahmä was deluded by Kåñëa, who expanded Himself into so many cowherd boys, calves and cows, Kåñëa’s elder brother, Çré Baladeva (a direct expansion of Kåñëa Himself), felt astonishment and said, “How wonderful it is that My ecstatic love for Kåñëa is again being attracted to so many cowherd boys, calves and cows!” He was struck with wonder by thinking in this way. This is one of the examples in which Kåñëa Himself becomes the object and reservoir of ecstatic love in the impelling aspect.

NoD 21: Qualities of Çré Kåñëa

Personal features can be divided into two: one feature is covered, and the other feature is manifested. When Kåñëa is covered by different kinds of dress, His personal feature is covered. There is an example of His covered personal feature in Çrémad-Bhägavatam in connection with His dvärakä-lélä (His residence in Dvärakä as its king). Sometimes Lord Kåñëa began to play by dressing Himself like a woman. Seeing this form, Uddhava said, “How wonderful it is that this woman is attracting my ecstatic love exactly as Lord Kåñëa does. I think she must be Kåñëa covered by the dress of a woman!”

One devotee praised the bodily features of Kåñëa when he saw the Lord in His manifested personal feature. He exclaimed, “How wonderful is the personal feature of Lord Kåñëa! How His neck is just like a conchshell! His eyes are so beautiful, as though they themselves were encountering the beauty of a lotus flower. His body is just like the tamäla tree, very blackish. His head is protected with a canopy of hair. There are the marks of Çrévatsa on His chest, and He is holding His conchshell. By such beautiful bodily features, the enemy of the demon Madhu has appeared so pleasing that He can bestow upon me transcendental bliss simply by my seeing His transcendental qualities.”

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body; (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pleasing; (4) effulgent; (5) strong; (6) ever youthful; (7) wonderful linguist; (8) truthful; (9) talks pleasingly; (10) fluent; (11) highly learned; (12) highly intelligent; (13) a genius; (14) artistic; (15) extremely clever; (16) expert; (17) grateful; (18) firmly determined; (19) an expert judge of time and circumstances; (20) sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures; (21) pure; (22) self-controlled; (23) steadfast; (24) forbearing; (25) forgiving; (26) grave; (27) self-satisfied; (28) possessing equilibrium; (29) magnanimous; (30) religious; (31) heroic; (32) compassionate; (33) respectful; (34) gentle; (35) liberal; (36) shy; (37) the protector of surrendered souls; (38) happy; (39) the well-wisher of devotees; (40) controlled by love; (41) all-auspicious; (42) most powerful; (43) all-famous; (44) popular; (45) partial to devotees; (46) very attractive to all women; (47) all-worshipable; (48) all-opulent; (49) all-honorable; (50) the supreme controller. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all these fifty transcendental qualities in fullness as deep as the ocean. In other words, the extent of His qualities is inconceivable.

As parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the individual living entities can also possess all of these qualities in minute quantities, provided they become pure devotees of the Lord. In other words, all of the above transcendental qualities can be present in the devotees in minute quantity, whereas the qualities in fullness are always present in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Besides these, there are other transcendental qualities which are described by Lord Çiva to Pärvaté in the Padma Puräëa, and in the First Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam in connection with a conversation between the deity of the earth and the King of religion, Yamaräja. It is said therein, “Persons Who who are desirous of becoming great personalities must be decorated with the following qualities: truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, perseverance, renunciation, peacefulness, simplicity, control of the senses, equilibrium of the mind, austerity, equality, forbearance, placidity, learning, knowledge, detachment, opulence, chivalry, influence, strength, memory, independence, tactfulness, luster, patience, kind-heartedness, ingenuity, gentility, mannerliness, determination, perfection in all knowledge, proper execution, possession of all objects of enjoyment, gravity, steadiness, faithfulness, fame, respectfulness and lack of false egotism.” Persons who are desiring to become great souls cannot be without any of the above qualities, so we can know for certain that these qualities are found in Lord Kåñëa, the supreme soul.

Besides all of the above-mentioned fifty qualities, Lord Kåñëa possesses five more, which are sometimes partially manifested in the persons of Lord Brahmä or Lord Çiva. These transcendental qualities are as follows: (51) changeless; (52) all-cognizant; (53) ever fresh; (54) sac-cid-änanda (possessing an eternal blissful body); (55) possessing all mystic perfections.

Kåñëa also possesses five other qualities, which are manifest in the body of Näräyaëa, and they are listed as follows. (56) He has inconceivable potency. (57) Uncountable universes generate from His body. (58) He is the original source of all incarnations. (59) He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills. (60) He is the attractor of liberated souls. All these transcendental qualities are manifest wonderfully in the personal feature of Lord Kåñëa.

Besides these sixty transcendental qualities, Kåñëa has four more, which are not manifest even in the Näräyaëa form of Godhead, what to speak of the demigods or living entities. They are as follows. (61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes). (62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead. (63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute. (64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation.

Adding to the list these four exceptional qualities of Kåñëa, it is to be understood that the aggregate number of qualities of Kåñëa is sixty-four. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has attempted to give evidences from various scriptures about all sixty-four qualities present in the person of the Supreme Lord.

Any comparison of the different parts of the Lord’s body to different material objects cannot factually be a complete comparison. Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison. It is said that Kåñëa’s face is as beautiful as the moon, His thighs are powerful just like the trunks of elephants, His arms are just like two pillars, His palms are expanded like lotus flowers, His chest is just like a doorway, His hips are dens, and the middle of His body is a terrace.

There are certain characteristics of different limbs which are considered to be very auspicious and are fully present in the body of the Lord. In this connection, one friend of Nanda Mahäräja, speaking about Lord Kåñëa’s auspicious bodily symptoms, said, “My dear King of the cowherds, I can find thirty-two auspicious symptoms on the body of your son! I am wondering how this boy could have taken His birth in a family of cowherd men.” Generally, when Lord Kåñëa appears He does so in a family of kñatriyas (kings), as did Lord Rämacandra, and sometimes in a family of brähmaëas. But Kåñëa accepted the role of son to Mahäräja Nanda, despite the fact that Nanda belonged to the vaiçya community. The business of the vaiçya community is trade, commerce and the protection of cows. Therefore his friend, who may have been born into a brähmaëa family, expressed his wonder at how such an exalted child could take birth in a family of vaiçyas. Anyway, he pointed out the auspicious signs on the body of Kåñëa to the boy’s foster father.

He continued, “This boy has a reddish luster in seven places—His eyes, the ends of His hands, the ends of His legs, His palate, His lips, His tongue and His nails. A reddish luster in these seven places is considered to be auspicious. Three parts of His body are very broad: His waist, forehead and chest. Three parts of His body are short: His neck, thighs and genitals. Three parts of His body are very deep: His voice, intelligence and navel. There is highness in five parts of His body: His nose, arms, ears, forehead and thighs. In five parts of His body there is fineness: His skin, the hairs on His head and on the other parts of His body, His teeth and His fingertips. The aggregate of all these bodily features is manifest only in the bodies of great personalities.”

The fate lines on the palm are also considered to be auspicious bodily symptoms. In this connection, one old gopé informed King Nanda, “Your son possesses various wonderful fate lines on His palms. There are the signs of lotus flowers and wheels on His palms, and on His soles there are the signs of a flag, a thunderbolt, a fish, a rod for controlling elephants, and a lotus flower. Please observe how auspicious these signs are!”

Beautiful bodily features which automatically attract the eyes are called rucira (pleasing). Kåñëa possesses this attractive feature of rucira in His personal features. In the Third Canto, Second Chapter, verse 13, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is a statement about this. “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His pleasing dress, appeared at the scene of the sacrificial arena when King Yudhiñöhira was performing the Räjasüya sacrifice. All important personalities from different parts of the universe had been invited to the sacrificial arena, and all of them, upon beholding Kåñëa there, considered that the Creator had ended all of His craftsmanship in the creation of this particular body of Kåñëa.”

It is said that the transcendental body of Kåñëa resembles the lotus flower in eight parts—namely His face, His two eyes, His two hands, His navel and His two feet. The gopés and inhabitants of Våndävana used to see the luster of lotus flowers everywhere, and they could hardly withdraw their eyes from such a vision.

The effulgence pervading the universe is considered to be the rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The supreme abode of Kåñëa is always throwing off the effulgence known as brahmajyoti, and that effulgence is emanating from His body.

The luster of the hosts of jewels fixed on the chest of the Lord can defeat even the luster of the sun, and still, when compared with the bodily luster of the Lord, that crest of jewels appears to be only as bright as one of the stars in the sky. Therefore the transcendental influence of Kåñëa is so great that it can defeat anyone. When Kåñëa was present in the sacrificial arena of His enemy King Kaàsa, the wrestlers present, although appreciating the softness of the body of Çré Kåñëa, were afraid and perturbed when they thought of engaging with Him in battle.

A person who has extraordinary bodily strength is called baléyän. When Kåñëa killed Ariñöäsura, some of the gopés said, “My dear friends, just see how Kåñëa has killed Ariñöäsura! Although be was stronger than a mountain, Kåñëa plucked him up just like a piece of cotton and threw him away without any difficulty!” There is another passage wherein it is said, “O my dear devotees of Lord Kåñëa, may the left hand of Lord Kåñëa, which has lifted Govardhana Hill like a ball, save you from all dangers.”

Kåñëa is beautiful at His different ages—namely His childhood, His boyhood and His youth. Out of these three, His youth is the reservoir of all pleasures and is the time when the highest varieties of devotional service are acceptable. At that age, Kåñëa is full with all transcendental qualities and is engaged in His transcendental pastimes. Therefore, devotees have accepted the beginning of His youth as the most attractive feature in ecstatic love.

At this age Kåñëa is described as follows: “The force of Kåñëa’s youth was combined with His beautiful smile, which defeated even the beauty of the full moon. He was always nicely dressed, in beauty surpassing even Cupid, and He was always attracting the minds of the gopés, who were thereby always feeling pleasure.”

Rüpa Gosvämé says that a person who knows the languages of different countries, especially the Sanskrit language, which is spoken in the cities of the demigods—as well as other worldly languages, including those of the animals—is called a wonderful linguist. It appears from this statement that Kåñëa can also speak and understand the languages of the animals. An old woman in Våndävana, present at the time of Kåñëa’s pastimes, once stated in surprise, “How wonderful it is that Kåñëa, who owns the hearts of all the young girls of Vrajabhümi, can nicely speak the language of Vrajabhümi with the gopés, while in Sanskrit He speaks with the demigods, and in the language of the animals He can even speak with the cows and buffalo! Similarly, in the language of the Kashmir Province, and with the parrots and other birds, as well as in most common languages, Kåñëa is so expressive!” She inquired from the gopés as to how Kåñëa had become so expert in speaking so many different types of languages.

A person whose word of honor is never broken is called truthful. Kåñëa once promised Kunté, the mother of the Päëòavas, that He would bring her five sons back from the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. After the battle was finished, when all the Päëòavas had come home, Kunté praised Kåñëa because His promise was so nicely fulfilled. She said, “Even the sunshine may one day become cool and the moonshine one day become hot, but still Your promise will not fail.” Similarly, when Kåñëa, along with Bhéma and Arjuna, went to challenge Jaräsandha, He plainly told Jaräsandha that He was the eternal Kåñëa, present along with two of the Päëòavas. The story is that both Kåñëa and the Päëòavas—in this case Bhéma and Arjuna—were kñatriyas (warrior-kings). Jaräsandha was also a kñatriya and was very charitable toward the brähmaëas. Thus Kåñëa, who had planned to fight with Jaräsandha, went to him with Bhéma and Arjuna in the dress of brähmaëas. Jaräsandha, being very charitable toward the brähmaëas, asked them what they wanted, and they expressed their desire to fight with him. Then Kåñëa, dressed as a brähmaëa, declared Himself to be the same Kåñëa who was the King’s eternal enemy.

A person who can speak sweetly even with his enemy just to pacify him is called a pleasing talker. Kåñëa was such a pleasing talker that after defeating His enemy Käliya in the water of the Yamunä, He said, “My dear King of the snakes, although I have given you so much pain, please do not be dissatisfied with Me. It is My duty to protect these cows, which are worshiped even by the demigods. Only in order to save them from the danger of your presence have I been obliged to banish you from this place.”

Käliya was residing within the water of the Yamunä, and as a result the back portion of that river had become poisoned. Thus so many cows who had drunk the water had died. Therefore Kåñëa, even though He was only four or five years old, dipped Himself into the water, punished Käliya very severely and then asked him to leave the place and go elsewhere.

Kåñëa said at that time that the cows are worshiped even by the demigods, and He practically demonstrated how to protect the cows. At least people who are in Kåñëa consciousness should follow in His footsteps and give all protection to the cows. Cows are worshiped not only by the demigods. Kåñëa Himself worshiped the cows on several occasions, especially on the days of Gopäñöamé and Govardhana-püjä.

A person who can speak meaningful words and with all politeness and good qualities is called vävadüka, or fluent. There is a nice statement in Çrémad-Bhägavatam regarding Kåñëa’s speaking politely. When Kåñëa politely bade His father, Nanda Mahäräja, to stop the ritualistic offering of sacrifice to the rain-god, Indra, a wife of one village cowherd man became captivated. She later thus described the speaking of Kåñëa to her friends: “Kåñëa was speaking to His father so politely and gently that it was as if He were pouring nectar into the ears of all present there. After hearing such sweet words from Kåñëa, who will not be attracted to Him?”

Kåñëa’s speech, which contains all good qualities in the universe, is described in the following statement by Uddhava: “The words of Kåñëa are so attractive that they can immediately change the heart of even His opponent. His words can immediately solve all of the questions and problems of the world. Although He does not speak very long, each and every word from His mouth contains volumes of meaning. These speeches of Kåñëa are very pleasing to my heart.”

When a person is highly educated and acts strictly on moral principles, he is called highly learned. A person conversant in different departments of knowledge is called educated, and because he acts on moral principles, he is called morally stout. Together, these two factors constitute learning.

Kåñëa’s receiving education from Sändépani Muni is described by Çré Närada Muni as follows: “In the beginning, Lord Brahmä and others are like clouds of evaporated water from the great ocean of Kåñëa. In other words, Brahmä first received the Vedic education from Kåñëa, as the clouds receive water from the ocean. That Vedic education or instruction which was spoken by Brahmä to the world was then reposed upon the mountain of Sändépani Muni. Sändépani Muni’s instructions to Kåñëa are like a reservoir of water on the mountain, which flows as a river and goes again to mix with the source, the ocean of Kåñëa.” To be more clear, the idea is that Kåñëa actually cannot be instructed by anyone, just as the ocean does not receive water from any source but itself. It only appears that the rivers are pouring water into the ocean. So it is clear that Brahmä received his education from Kåñëa, and from Brahmä, via the disciplic succession, this Vedic instruction was distributed. Sändépani Muni is likened to the river which is flowing down again to that same original ocean of Kåñëa.

The Siddhas, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka (where all are born with fully developed mystic powers), and the Cäraëas, the inhabitants of a similar planet, pray to Kåñëa as follows: “My Lord Govinda, the goddess of learning is decorated with fourteen kinds of educational ornaments, her intelligence is all-pervading within the four departments of the Vedas, her attention is always on the lawbooks given by great sages like Manu, and she is appareled in six kinds of expert knowledge—namely Vedic evidence, grammar, astrology, rhetoric, vocabulary and logic. Her constant friends are the supplements of the Vedas, the Puräëas, and she is decorated with the final conclusion of all education. And now she has acquired an opportunity to sit with You as a class friend in school, and she is now engaged in Your service.”

Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not require any education, but He gives a chance to the goddess of learning to serve Him. Being self-sufficient, Kåñëa does not require the service of any living entity, although He has many devotees. It is because Kåñëa is so kind and merciful that He gives everyone the opportunity to serve Him, as though He required the service of His devotees.

Regarding His moral principles, it is stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam that Kåñëa is ruling over Våndävana as death personified to the thieves, as pleasing bliss to the pious, as the most beautiful Cupid to the young girls and as the most munificent personality to the poor men. He is as refreshing as the full moon to His friends, and to His opponents He is the annihilating fire generated from Lord Çiva. Kåñëa is therefore the most perfect moralist in His reciprocal dealings with different kinds of persons. When He is death personified to the thieves, it is not that He is without moral principles or that He is cruel; He is still kind, because to punish thieves with death is to exhibit the highest quality of moral principles. In Bhagavad-gétä, also, Kåñëa says that He deals with different kinds of persons according to their dealings with Him. Kåñëa’s dealings with devotees and with nondevotees, although different, are equally good. Because Kåñëa is all-good, His dealings. with everyone are always good.

A man is called intelligent if he has a sharp memory and fine discretion. As far as Kåñëa’s memory is concerned, it is said that when He was studying in the school of Sändépani Muni in Avantépura, He showed such a sharp memory that by once taking instructions from the teacher He immediately became perfect in any subject. Actually, His going to the school of Sändépani Muni was to show the people of the world that however great or ingenious one may be, he must go to higher authorities for general education. However great one may be, he must accept a teacher or spiritual master.

Kåñëa’s fine discretion was exhibited when He was fighting with the untouchable king who attacked the city of Mathurä. According to Vedic rites, those who are untouchable are not to be touched by the kñatriya kings, not even for killing. Therefore, when the untouchable king seized the city of Mathurä, Kåñëa did not think it wise to kill him directly with His own hand. Still the king had to be killed, and therefore Kåñëa decided with fine discretion that He should flee from the battlefield so that the untouchable king would chase Him. He could then lead the king to the mountain where Mucukunda was lying asleep. Mucukunda had received a benediction from Kärttikeya to the effect that when he awoke from his sleep, whomever he might see would at once be burnt to ashes. Therefore Kåñëa thought it wise to lead the untouchable king to that cave, so that the king’s presence would awaken Mucukunda and he would at once be burnt to ashes.

A person is called a genius when he can refute any kind of opposing element with newer and newer arguments. In this connection there is a statement in Padyävalé which contains the following conversation between Kåñëa and Rädhä. One morning, when Kåñëa came to Rädhä, Rädhä asked Him, “My dear Keçava, where is Your väsa at present?” The Sanskrit word väsa has three meanings: one meaning is residence, one meaning is fragrance, and another meaning is dress.

Actually Rädhäräëé inquired from Kåñëa, “Where is Your dress?” But Kåñëa took the meaning as residence, and He replied to Rädhäräëé, “My dear captivated one, at the present moment My residence is in Your beautiful eyes.”

To this Rädhäräëé replied, “My dear cunning boy, I did not ask You about Your residence. I inquired about Your dress.”

Kåñëa then took the meaning of väsa as fragrance and said, “My dear fortunate one, I have just assumed this fragrance in order to be associated with Your body.”

Çrématé Rädhäräëé again inquired from Kåñëa, “Where did You pass Your night?” The exact Sanskrit word used in this connection was yäminyämuñitaù. Yäminyäm means “at night,” and uñitaù means “pass.” Kåñëa, however, divided the word yäminyämuñitaù into two separate words, namely yäminyä and muñitaù. By dividing this word into two, it came out to mean that He was kidnapped by Yäminé, or night. Kåñëa therefore replied to Rädhäräëé, “My dear Rädhäräëé, is it possible that night can kidnap Me?” In this way He was answering all of the questions of Rädhäräëé so cunningly that He gladdened this dearest of the gopés.

One who can talk and dress himself very artistically is called vidagdha. This exemplary characteristic was visible in the personality of Çré Kåñëa. It is spoken of by Rädhäräëé as follows: “My dear friend, just see how Kåñëa has nicely composed songs and how He dances and speaks funny words and plays on His flute, wearing such nice garlands. He has dressed Himself in such an enchanting way, as though He had defeated all kinds of players at the chessboard. He lives wonderfully at the topmost height of artistic craftsmanship.”

A person who can perform various types of work at once is called clever. In this connection one of the gopés said, “My dear friends, just see the clever activities of Çré Kåñëa! He has composed nice songs about the cowherd boys and is pleasing the cows. By the movement of His eyes He is pleasing the gopés, and at the same time, He is fighting with demons like Ariñöäsura. In this way, He is sitting with different living entities in different ways, and He is thoroughly enjoying the situation.”

Any person who can quickly execute a very difficult task is called expert. About the expertise of Kåñëa there is a statement in the Tenth Canto, Fifty-ninth Chapter, verse 17, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, wherein Çukadeva Gosvämé tells Mahäräja Parékñit, “O best of the Kurus, Çré Kåñëa cut to pieces all the different weapons used by different fighters.” Formerly, fighting was done by releasing different kinds of arrows. One party would release a certain arrow, and the other party had to defeat it by counteracting it with another arrow. For example, one party might release an arrow which would cause water to pour from the sky, and to counteract this the opposing party would have to release an arrow which could immediately turn the water into clouds. So from this statement it appears that Kåñëa was very expert in counteracting the enemy’s arrows. Similarly, at the räsa dance, each and every gopé requested that Kåñëa individually become her partner, and Kåñëa immediately expanded Himself into so many Kåñëas in order to be coupled with each and every gopé. The result was that each gopé found Kåñëa by her side.

Any person who is conscious of his friend’s beneficent activities and never forgets his service is called grateful. In the Mahäbhärata, Kåñëa says, “When I was away from Draupadé, she cried with the words, ‘He govinda!’ This call for Me has put Me in her debt, and that indebtedness is gradually increasing in My heart!” This statement by Kåñëa gives evidence of how one can please the Supreme Lord simply by addressing Him, “He kåñëa! He govinda!”

The mahä-mantra (Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare) is also simply an address to the Lord and His energy. So to anyone who is constantly engaged in addressing the Lord and His energy, we can imagine how much the Supreme Lord is obliged. It is impossible for the Lord to ever forget such a devotee. It is clearly stated in this verse that anyone who addresses the Lord immediately attracts the attention of the Lord, who always remains obliged to him.

Another instance of Kåñëa’s feeling of obligation is stated in connection with His dealings with Jämbavän. When the Lord was present as Lord Rämacandra, Jämbavän, the great king of the monkeys, rendered very faithful service to Him. When the Lord again appeared as Lord Kåñëa, He married Jämbavän’s daughter and paid him all the respect that is usually given to superiors. Any honest person is obliged to his friend if some service has been rendered unto Him. Since Kåñëa is the supreme honest personality, how can He forget an obligation to His servitor?

Any person who observes regulative principles and fulfills his promises by practical activity is called determined. As far as the Lord’s determination is concerned, there is an example in His dealings in the Hari-vaàça. This is in connection with Lord Kåñëa’s fighting the King of heaven, Indra, who was forcibly deprived of the pärijäta flower. Pärijäta is a kind of lotus flower grown on the heavenly planets. Once, Satyabhämä, one of Kåñëa’s queens, wanted that lotus flower, and Kåñëa promised to deliver it; but Indra refused to part with his pärijäta flower. Therefore there was a great fight, with Kåñëa and the Päëòavas on one side and all of the demigods on the other. Ultimately, Kåñëa defeated all of them and took the pärijäta flower, which He presented to His queen. So, in regard to that occurrence, Kåñëa told Närada Muni, “My dear great sage of the demigods, now you can declare to the devotees in general, and to the nondevotees in particular, that in this matter of taking the pärijäta flower, all the demigods—the Gandharvas, the Nägas, the demon Räkñasas, the Yakñas, the Pannagas—tried to defeat Me, but none could make Me break My promise to My queen.”

There is another promise by Kåñëa in Bhagavad-gétä to the effect that His devotee will never be vanquished. So a sincere devotee who is always engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord should know for certain that Kåñëa will never break His promise. He will always protect His devotees in every circumstance.

Kåñëa showed how He fulfills His promise by delivering the pärijäta flower to Satyabhämä, by saving Draupadé from being insulted and by freeing Arjuna from the attacks of all enemies.

The promise of Kåñëa that His devotees are never vanquished had also previously been admitted by Indra when he was defeated in the govardhana-lélä. When Kåñëa stopped the villagers of Vraja (Våndävana) from worshiping Indra, Indra became angry and therefore inundated Våndävana with continuous rain. Kåñëa, however, protected all of the citizens and animals of Våndävana by lifting Govardhana Hill, which served as an umbrella. After the incident was over, Indra surrendered to Kåñëa with many prayers, in which he admitted, “By Your lifting Govardhana Hill and protecting the citizens of Våndävana, You have kept Your promise that Your devotees are never to be vanquished.”

Kåñëa was very expert in dealing with people according to circumstances, country, time and paraphernalia. How He could take advantage of a particular time, circumstance and person is expressed by Him while talking to Uddhava about His räsa dance with the gopés. He says, “The most opportune time is the full-moon night in autumn, like tonight. The best place within the universe is Våndävana, and the most beautiful girls are the gopés. So, My dear friend Uddhava, I think I should now take advantage of all these circumstances and engage Myself in the räsa dance.”

A person who acts exactly according to the tenets of scripture is called çästra-cakñus. Çästra-cakñus means one who sees through the eyes of the authorized scriptures. Actually, any man of knowledge and experience should see everything through these books. For example, with our naked eye we perceive the sun globe simply as some glaring substance, but when we see through authorized books of science and other literature, we can understand how much greater the sun globe is than this earth and how powerful it is. So seeing things through the naked eye is not actually seeing. Seeing things through the authorized books or authorized teachers is the correct way to see. So, although Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and can see all that is past, present and future, to teach the people in general He used to always refer to the scriptures. For example, in Bhagavad-gétä, although Kåñëa was speaking as the supreme authority, He still mentioned and quoted Vedänta-sütra as authority. There is a statement in Çrémad-Bhägavatam wherein a person jokingly says that Kåñëa, the enemy of Kaàsa, is known as the seer through the çästras. In order to establish His authority, however, He is now engaged in seeing the gopés, whereby the gopés are becoming maddened.

There are two kinds of supreme purity. When one type is possessed, one is able to deliver a sinful person. When the other type is possessed, one does not do anything which is impure. A person who possesses either of these qualities is called supremely pure. Kåñëa is both; He can deliver all sinful conditioned souls, and at the same time, He never does anything by which He can be contaminated.

In this connection, Vidura, while trying to detach his elder brother, Dhåtaräñöra, from his familial attachments, said, “My dear brother, you just fix your mind on the lotus feet of Kåñëa, who is worshiped with beautiful, erudite verses by great sages and saintly persons. Kåñëa is the supreme deliverer among all deliverers. Undoubtedly there are great demigods like Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä, but their positions as deliverers depend always upon the mercy of Kåñëa.” Therefore Vidura advised his elder brother, Dhåtaräñöra, to concentrate his mind and worship only Kåñëa. If one simply chants the holy name of Kåñëa, this holy name will rise within one’s heart like the powerful sun and will immediately dissipate all the darkness of ignorance. Vidura advised Dhåtaräñöra to therefore think always of Kåñëa, so that the volumes of contaminations due to sinful activities would be washed off immediately. In Bhagavad-gétä also Kåñëa is addressed by Arjuna as paraà brahma paraà dhäma pavitram [Bg. 10.12]—the supreme pure. There are many other instances exhibiting Kåñëa’s supreme purity.

A person who can control his senses fully is called vaçé, or self-controlled. In this connection it is stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, “All the sixteen thousand wives of Kåñëa were so exquisitely beautiful that their smiling and shyness were able to captivate the minds of great demigods like Lord Çiva. But still they could not even agitate the mind of Kåñëa, in spite of their attractive feminine behavior.” Every one of the thousands of wives of Kåñëa was thinking that Kåñëa was captivated by her feminine beauty, but this was not the case. Kåñëa is therefore the supreme controller of the senses, and this is admitted in Bhagavad-gétä, where He is addressed as Håñékeça—the master of the senses.

A person who continues to work until his desired goal is achieved is called steadfast.

There was a fight between Kåñëa and King Jämbavän, and Kåñëa was to take the valuable Syamantaka jewel from the King. The King tried to hide himself in the forest, but Kåñëa would not become discouraged. Kåñëa finally got the jewel by seeking out the King with great steadfastness.

A person who tolerates all kinds of troubles, even though such troubles appear to be unbearable, is called forbearing.

When Kåñëa was residing at the place of His spiritual master, He did not mind taking all troubles in rendering service to His guru, although His body was very soft and delicate. It is the duty of the disciple to execute all services unto the spiritual master, despite all kinds of difficulties. The disciple living at the residence of the spiritual master has to go begging from door to door and bring everything back to the spiritual master. When prasäda is being served, the spiritual master is supposed to call each and every disciple to come eat. If by chance the spiritual master forgets to call a disciple to partake of the prasäda, it is enjoined in the scriptures that the student should fast on that day rather than accept food on his own initiative. There are many such strictures. Sometimes, also, Kåñëa went to the forest to collect dry wood for fuel.

A person who can tolerate all kinds of offenses from the opposite party is known to be forgiving.

Lord Kåñëa’s forgiving quality is described in the Çiçupäla-vadha in connection with His forbidding the killing of Çiçupäla. King Çiçupäla was the monarch of the Cedi kingdom, and although he happened to be a cousin of Kåñëa’s, he was always envious of Him. Whenever they would meet, Çiçupäla would try to insult Kåñëa and call Him ill names as much as possible. In the arena of the Räjasüya sacrifice of Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, when Çiçupäla began to call Lord Kåñëa ill names, Kåñëa did not care and remained silent. Some of the people at the arena were prepared to kill Çiçupäla, but Kåñëa restricted them. He was so forgiving. It is said that when there is a thundering sound in the clouds, the mighty lion immediately replies with his thundering roar. But the lion doesn’t care when all the foolish jackals begin to make their less important sounds.

Çré Yämunäcärya praises Kåñëa’s power of forgiveness with the following statement: “My dear Lord Rämacandra, You are so merciful to have excused the crow’s clawing on the nipples of Jänaké simply because of his bowing down before You.” Once Indra, the King of heaven, assumed the form of a crow and attacked Sétä (Jänaké), Lord Rämacandra’s wife, by striking her on the breast. This was certainly an insult to the universal mother, Sétä, and Lord Rämacandra was immediately prepared to kill the crow. But because later on the crow bowed down before the Lord, the Lord excused his offense. Çré Yämunäcärya further says in his prayer that the forgiving power of Lord Kåñëa is even greater than that of Lord Rämacandra, because Çiçupäla was always in the habit of insulting Kåñëa—not only in one lifetime, but continually throughout three lives. Still, Kåñëa was so kind that He gave Çiçupäla the salvation of merging into His existence. From this we can understand that the goal of the monist to merge into the effulgence of the Supreme is not a very difficult problem. Persons like Çiçupäla who are consistently inimical to Kåñëa can also get this liberation.

A person who does not express his mind to everyone, or whose mental activity and plan of action are very difficult to understand, is called grave. After Lord Çré Kåñëa had been offended by Brahmä, Brahmä prayed to Him to be excused. But in spite of his offering nice prayers to Kåñëa, Brahmä could not understand whether Kåñëa was satisfied or still dissatisfied. In other words, Kåñëa was so grave that He did not take the prayers of Brahmä very seriously. Another instance of Kåñëa’s gravity is found in connection with His love affairs with Rädhäräëé. Kåñëa was always very silent about His love affairs with Rädhäräëé, so much so that Baladeva, Kåñëa’s elder brother and constant companion, could not understand the transformations of Kåñëa on account of His gravity.

A person who is fully satisfied in himself, without any hankering, and who is not agitated even in the presence of serious cause for distress, is called self-satisfied.

An example of Kåñëa’s self-satisfaction was exhibited when He, Arjuna and Bhéma went to challenge Jaräsandha, the formidable king of Magadha, and Kåñëa gave all credit to Bhéma for the killing of Jaräsandha. From this we can understand that Kåñëa never cares at all for fame, although no one can be more famous.

An example of His not being disturbed was shown when Çiçupäla began to call Him ill names. All the kings and brähmaëas assembled at the sacrificial arena of Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira became perturbed and immediately wanted to satisfy Kåñëa by offering nice prayers. But all these kings and brähmaëas could not discover any disturbance in Kåñëa’s person.

A person who is unaffected by attachment and envy is said to possess equilibrium.

An example of Kåñëa’s equilibrium is given in the Tenth Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, verse 33, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam in connection with His chastising Käliya, the hundred-headed serpent. While Käliya was being severely punished, all of his wives appeared before the Lord and prayed as follows: “Dear Lord, You have descended to punish all kinds of demoniac living creatures. Our husband, this Käliya, is a greatly sinful creature, and so Your punishment for him is quite appropriate. We know that Your punishment for Your enemies and Your dealings with Your sons are both the same. We know that it is in thinking of the future welfare of this condemned creature that You have chastised him.”

In another prayer it is said, “My dear Lord Kåñëa, best of all the Kuru dynasty, You are so impartial that if even Your enemy is qualified, You will reward him; and if one of Your sons is a culprit, You will chastise him. This is Your business, because You are the supreme author of the universes. You have no partiality. If anyone finds any partiality in Your characteristics, he is surely mistaken.”

Any person who is very charitably disposed is called magnanimous.

When Kåñëa was reigning over Dvärakä, He was so magnanimous and charitably disposed that there was no limit to His charity. In fact, so great was His charity in Dvärakä that even the spiritual kingdom, with all of its opulence of cintämaëi (touchstone), desire trees and surabhi cows, was surpassed. In the spiritual kingdom of Lord Kåñëa, named Goloka Våndävana, there are surabhi cows which give unlimited quantities of milk. There are desire trees from which anyone can take all kinds of fruits, as much as he may desire. The land is made of touchstone, which when touched to iron will transform it into gold. In other words, although in the spiritual kingdom, the abode of Kåñëa, everything is wonderfully opulent, still when Kåñëa was in Dvärakä His charity exceeded the opulences of Goloka Våndävana. Wherever Kåñëa is present, the limitless opulence of Goloka Våndävana is automatically present.

It is also stated that while Lord Kåñëa was living in Dvärakä, He expanded Himself into 16,108 forms, and each and every expansion resided in a palace with a queen. Not only was Kåñëa happily living with His queens in those palaces, but He was giving in charity from each palace an aggregate number of 13,054 cows completely decorated with nice clothing and ornaments. From each of Kåñëa’s 16,108 palaces, these cows were being given in charity by Kåñëa every day. No one can estimate the value of such a large number of cows given in charity, but that was the system of Kåñëa’s daily affairs while He was reigning in Dvärakä.

A person who personally practices the tenets of religion as they are enjoined in the çästras and who also teaches others the same principles is called religious. Simply professing a kind of faith is not a sign of religiousness. One must act according to religious principles, and by his personal example he should teach others. Such a person is to be understood as religious.

When Kåñëa was present on this planet, there was no irreligion. In this connection, Närada Muni once addressed Kåñëa jokingly, “My dear Lord of the cowherd boys, Your bulls [bulls are the representation of religion], while eating grass from the pasturing ground and moving on their four legs, have certainly eaten up all the grass of irreligion!” In other words, by the grace of Kåñëa, religious principles were so well cared for that hardly any irreligious activities could be found.

It is said that because Kåñëa was constantly performing various types of sacrifices and was inviting the demigods from the higher planetary systems, the demigods were almost always absent from their consorts. Therefore the wives of the demigods, regretting the absence of their husbands, began to pray for the appearance of Lord Buddha, Kåñëa’s ninth incarnation, who appears in the age of Kali. In other words, instead of being pleased that Lord Kåñëa had come, they began to pray for Lord Buddha, who is the ninth incarnation, because Lord Buddha stopped the ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices recommended in the Vedas in order to discourage animal-killing. The demigods’ wives thought that if Lord Buddha appeared, all kinds of sacrifices would be stopped, and thus their husbands would not be invited to such ceremonies and would not be separated from them.

Sometimes it is inquired, “Why don’t the demigods from higher planetary systems come to this earth planet nowadays?” The plain answer is that since Lord Buddha appeared and began to deprecate the performance of sacrifice in order to stop animal-killing on this planet, the process of offering sacrifices has been stopped, and the demigods do not care to come here anymore.

NoD 22: Qualities of Kåñëa Further Explained

A person who is very enthusiastic in military activities and expert in releasing different kinds of weapons is called heroic.

Regarding Kåñëa’s heroism in fighting, there is the following statement: “My dear killer of the enemy, just as the elephant while taking bath in the lake destroys all the lotus stems within the water by swinging its trunk, so simply by moving Your arms, which are compared to the trunks of elephants, You have killed so many lotuslike enemies.”

Regarding Kåñëa’s expertise in releasing weapons, when Jaräsandha and thirteen divisions of soldiers attacked Kåñëa’s army, they were unable to hurt even one soldier on the side of Kåñëa. This was due to Kåñëa’s expert military training. This is unique in the history of military art.

A person who is unable to bear another’s distress is called compassionate.

Kåñëa’s compassion for distressed persons was exhibited when He released all of the kings imprisoned by Magadhendra. While dying, Grandfather Bhéñma prayed to Kåñëa and described Him as the sun which eradicated darkness. The kings imprisoned by Magadhendra were put into dark cells, and when Kåñëa appeared there, the darkness immediately disappeared, just as if the sun had risen. In other words, although Magadhendra was able to imprison so many kings, upon the appearance of Kåñëa they were all released. Kåñëa released the kings out of His sincere compassion for them.

Kåñëa’s compassion was also exhibited when Grandfather Bhéñma was lying on the bed of arrows which had been shot through his body. While lying in this position, Bhéñma was very anxious to see Kåñëa, and thus Kåñëa appeared there. Upon seeing the pitiable condition of Bhéñma, Kåñëa began speaking with tears in His eyes. Not only was He shedding tears, but He also forgot Himself in His compassion. Therefore, instead of offering obeisances to Kåñëa directly, devotees offer obeisances to His compassionate nature. Actually, because Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is very difficult to approach Him. But the devotees, taking advantage of His compassionate nature, which is represented by Rädhäräëé, always pray to Rädhäräëé for Kåñëa’s compassion.

A person who shows adequate respect to a spiritual master, a brähmaëa and an old person is to be understood as being respectful.

When superior persons assembled before Kåñëa, Kåñëa first of all offered respect to His spiritual master, then to His father, and then to His elder brother, Balaräma. In this way Lord Kåñëa, the lotus-eyed, was completely happy and pure at heart in all of His dealings.

Any person who neither becomes impudent nor exhibits a puffed-up nature is called gentle.

The example of Kåñëa’s gentle behavior was manifested when He was coming to the arena of the Räjasüya sacrifice arranged by Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, Kåñëa’s older cousin. Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira knew that Kåñëa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he was attempting to get down from his chariot to receive Kåñëa. But before Yudhiñöhira could get down, Lord Kåñëa got down from His own chariot and immediately fell at the feet of the King. Even though Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He never forgets to show social etiquette in His dealings.

Any person who is by his natural behavior very mild is called liberal.

A statement by Uddhava after the Syamantaka jewel plundering confirms that Kåñëa is so kind and favorable that if a servitor is accused even of great offenses, Kåñëa does not take this into consideration. He simply considers the service that is rendered by His devotee.

A person who sometimes exhibits humility and bashfulness is called shy.

As described in the Lalita-mädhava, Kåñëa’s shyness was manifested when He lifted Govardhana Hill by the little finger of His left hand. All of the gopés were observing Kåñëa’s wonderful achievement, and Kåñëa was also smiling at seeing the gopés. When Kåñëa’s glance went over the breasts of the gopés, His hand began to shake, and upon seeing His hand shake, all of the cowherd men underneath the hill became a little disturbed. Then there was a tumultuous roaring sound, and they all began to pray to Kåñëa for safety. At this time Lord Balaräma was smiling, thinking that these cowherd men had been frightened by the shaking of Govardhana Hill. But, seeing Balaräma smile, Kåñëa thought that Balaräma had understood His mind in observing the breasts of the gopés, and He immediately became bashful.

Kåñëa is the protector of all surrendered souls.

Some enemy of Kåñëa’s was enlivened with the thought that he needn’t fear Kåñëa, because if he simply surrendered unto Him, Kåñëa would give him all protection. Kåñëa is sometimes compared to the moon, which does not hesitate to distribute its soothing rays, even on the houses of the caëòälas and other untouchables.

Any person who is always joyful and untouched by any distress is called happy.

As far as Kåñëa’s enjoyment is concerned, it is stated that the ornaments which decorated the bodies of Kåñëa and His queens were beyond the dreams of Kuvera, the treasurer of the heavenly kingdom. The constant dancing before the doors of Kåñëa’s palaces was not to be imagined even by the demigods in the heavenly kingdom. In the heavenly kingdom, Indra always sees the dancing of the society girls. But even Indra could not imagine how beautiful were the dances being performed at the gates of Kåñëa’s palaces. Gauré means “white woman,” and Lord Çiva’s wife is called Gauré. The beautiful women residing within the palaces of Kåñëa were so much whiter than Gauré that they were compared to the moonshine, and they were constantly visible to Kåñëa. Therefore, no one can be enjoying more than Kåñëa. The conception of enjoyment is beautiful women, ornaments and riches. And all of these were fabulously present in the palaces of Kåñëa, defeating even the imagination of Kuvera, Lord Indra or Lord Çiva.

Not even a slight distress can touch Kåñëa. Once some of the gopés went to the place where the brähmaëas were performing sacrifices and said, “Dear wives of the brähmaëas, you must know that not even a slight smell of distress can touch Kåñëa. He knows no loss, He knows no defamation, He has no fear, He has no anxiety, and He does not know calamity. He is simply encircled by the dancers of Vraja and is enjoying their company in the räsa dance.”

It is said of Kåñëa’s devotees that if they offer even a little water or a tulasé leaf in devotion to Lord Viñëu, Lord Viñëu is so kind that He will sell Himself to them.

Kåñëa’s favoritism toward His devotees was exhibited in His fight with Bhéñma. When Grandfather Bhéñma was lying at the point of death on the bed of arrows, Kåñëa was present before him, and Bhéñma was remembering how Kåñëa had been kind to him on the battlefield. Kåñëa had promised that in the Battle of Kurukñetra He would not even touch a weapon to help either side; He would remain neutral. Although Kåñëa was Arjuna’s charioteer, He had promised that He would not help Arjuna by using any weapons. But one day Bhéñma, in order to nullify Kåñëa’s promise, exhibited his fighting spirit so magnificently against Arjuna that Kåñëa was obliged to get down from His chariot. Taking up a broken chariot wheel, He ran toward Grandfather Bhéñma as a lion runs toward an elephant to kill it. Grandfather Bhéñma remembered this scene, and He later praised Kåñëa for His glorious favoritism toward His devotee, Arjuna, even at the risk of breaking His own promise.

Kåñëa becomes obliged to the loving spirit of the devotee and not exactly to the service rendered. No one can serve Kåñëa completely. He is so complete and self-sufficient that He has no need of any service from the devotee. It is the devotee’s attitude of love and affection for Kåñëa that makes Him obliged. A very nice example of this obligatory behavior was manifested when Sudämä Vipra went to Kåñëa’s palace. Sudämä Vipra had been a class friend of Kåñëa’s, and due to his poverty he was induced by his wife to see Kåñëa to request some aid. When Sudämä Vipra reached Kåñëa’s palace, Kåñëa received him very well, and both He and His wife washed the feet of Sudämä Vipra, showing respect to the brähmaëa. Remembering His loving affairs with Sudämä in their childhood, Kåñëa began to shed tears while receiving him.

Another instance of Kåñëa’s obligation to His devotee is described in the Tenth Canto, Ninth Chapter, verse 18, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, where Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, when mother Yaçodä was perspiring, tired of trying to bind Kåñëa up with rope, Kåñëa agreed to allow her to bind Him.” Kåñëa, as a child, was disturbing His mother by His naughty activities, and she wanted to bind Him up. Mother Yaçodä brought some rope from the house and tried to tie up the child, but she could not tie a knot due to the shortness of the rope. She tied together many ropes, but when she finished still the rope was too short. After a while she felt very tired and began to perspire. At that time Kåñëa agreed to be bound up by His mother. In other words, no one can bind Kåñëa by any means other than love. He is bound only by obligation to His devotees, because of their ecstatic love for Him.

A person who is always engaged in auspicious welfare activities for everyone is known as all-auspicious.

After the disappearance of Lord Kåñëa from this planet, Uddhava began to remember the activities of the Lord and said, “Kåñëa satisfied all great sages by His wonderful pastimes. He demolished all of the demoniac activities of the cruel royal order, protected all pious men and killed all cruel fighters on the battlefield. Therefore He is all-auspicious for all men.”

A person who can always put his enemy into calamities is called powerful.

When Kåñëa was present on this planet, just as the powerful sun drives all darkness to take shelter in caves, He drove away all of His enemies, who fled like owls to take shelter beyond His sight.

A person who becomes well known due to his spotless character is called famous.

It is stated that the diffusion of Kåñëa’s fame is like the moonshine, which turns darkness into light. In other words, if Kåñëa consciousness is preached all over the world, the darkness of ignorance and the anxiety of material existence will turn into the whiteness of purity, peacefulness and prosperity.

When the great sage Närada was chanting the glories of the Lord, the bluish line on the neck of Lord Çiva disappeared. Upon seeing this, Gauré, the wife of Lord Çiva, suspected Lord Çiva of being someone else disguised as her husband, and out of fear she immediately left his company. Upon hearing the chanting of Kåñëa’s name, Lord Balaräma saw that His dress had become white, although He was generally accustomed to a bluish dress. And the cowherd girls saw all of the water of the Yamunä River turn into milk, so they began to churn it into butter. In other words, by the spreading of Kåñëa consciousness, or the glories of Kåñëa, everything became white and pure.

Any person who is very dear to people in general is called a popular man.

As for Kåñëa’s popularity, there is a statement in the First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 9, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, that deals with His returning home from the capital of Hastinäpura. While He had been absent from Dvärakä at the Battle of Kurukñetra, all the citizens of Dvärakä had become morose. Then, when He returned, the citizens joyfully received Him and said, “Dear Lord, while You were absent from the city, we passed our days in the darkness of night. As in the darkness of night every moment appears to be a long duration of time, so while You were gone every moment appeared to us like millions of years. Your separation is completely unbearable to us.” This statement shows how popular Kåñëa was all over the country.

A similar incident occurred when Kåñëa entered the arena of sacrifice arranged by King Kaàsa for His death. As soon as He entered the place, all the sages began to cry, “Jaya! Jaya! Jaya!” (which means “Victory!”). Kåñëa was a boy at that time, and all the sages offered their respectful blessings to Him. The demigods who were present also began to offer beautiful prayers to Kåñëa. And the ladies and girls present expressed their joy from all corners of the arena. In other words, there was no one in that particular place with whom Kåñëa was not very popular.

Although Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore not partial to anyone, it is stated in Bhagavad-gétä that He has special attraction for a devotee who worships His name in love and affection. When Kåñëa was on this planet, one devotee expressed his feeling in this way: “My dear Lord, if You had not appeared on this planet, then the asuras [demons] and atheists would have surely created havoc against the activities of the devotees. I cannot imagine the magnitude of such devastation prevented by Your presence.” From the very beginning of His appearance, Kåñëa was the greatest enemy of all demoniac persons, although Kåñëa’s enmity toward the demons is actually comparable to His friendship with the devotees. This is because any demon who is killed by Kåñëa receives immediate salvation.

Any person who has special qualifications becomes immediately very attractive to women.

A devotee made the following statement about the queens of Dvärakä: “How shall I describe the glories of the queens of Dvärakä, who were personally engaged in the service of the Lord? The Lord is so great that simply by chanting His name all the great sages like Närada can enjoy transcendental bliss. So what can be said about those queens, who were at every moment seeing the Lord and serving Him personally?” Kåñëa had 16,108 wives in Dvärakä, and each and every one of them was attracted to Kåñëa just as iron is attracted by a magnet. There is a statement by a devotee: “My dear Lord, You are just like a magnet, and all the damsels of Vraja are just like iron: in whichever direction You are moving they are following You, as iron is attracted by magnetic force.”

A person who is respected and worshiped by all kinds of human beings and demigods is called sarvärädhya, or all-worshipable.

Kåñëa is worshiped not only by all living entities, including the great demigods like Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä, but also by Viñëu expansions (forms of Godhead) such as Baladeva and Çeña. Baladeva is a direct expansion of Kåñëa, but He still accepts Kåñëa as worshipable. When Kåñëa appeared in the arena of the Räjasüya sacrifice organized by Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, to all present, including great sages and demigods, Kåñëa became the cynosure, the center of attraction, and everyone offered Him respects.

Kåñëa is full in all opulences—namely strength, wealth, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. When Kåñëa was present in Dvärakä, His family, which is known as the Yadu dynasty, consisted of 560 million members. And all of these family members were very obedient and faithful to Kåñëa. There were more than 900,000 big palatial buildings there to house all the people, and everyone in them respected Kåñëa as the most worshipable. Devotees were astonished to see the opulence of Kåñëa.

This was verified by Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura when in Kåñëa-karëämåta he addressed Kåñëa thus: “My dear Lord, what can I say about the opulence of Your Våndävana? Simply the ornaments on the legs of the damsels of Våndävana are more than cintämaëi, and their dresses are as good as the heavenly pärijäta flowers. And the cows exactly resemble the surabhi cows in the transcendental abode. Therefore Your opulence is just like an ocean that no one can measure.”

A person who is chief among all important persons is called all honorable.

When Kåñëa was living at Dvärakä, demigods like Lord Çiva, Lord Brahmä, Indra the King of heaven and many others used to come to visit Him. The doorkeeper, who had to manage the entrance of all these demigods, one very busy day said, “My dear Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, please sit down on this bench and wait. My dear Indra, please desist from reading your prayers. This is creating a disturbance. Please wait silently. My dear Varuëa, please go away. And my dear demigods, do not waste your time uselessly. Kåñëa is very busy; He cannot see you!”

There are two kinds of controllers, or lords: one who is independent is called controller, and one whose orders cannot be neglected by anyone is called controller.

Regarding Kåñëa’s complete independence and lordship, Çrémad-Bhägavatam says that although Käliya was a great offender, Kåñëa still favored him by marking his head with His lotus feet, whereas Lord Brahmä, although having prayed to Kåñëa with so many wonderful verses, still could not attract Him.

This contradictory treatment by Kåñëa is just befitting His position, because in all the Vedic literature He is described as the complete independent. In the beginning of Çrémad-Bhägavatam the Lord is described as svaräö, which means “completely independent.” That is the position of the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is not only sentient, but is also completely independent.

As for Kåñëa’s orders not being neglected by anyone, in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Third Canto, Second Chapter, verse 21, Uddhava tells Vidura, “Lord Kåñëa is the master of the three modes of material nature. He is the enjoyer of all opulences, and therefore there is no one equal to or greater than Him.” All the great kings and emperors used to come before Him, offer their gifts and pay obeisances with their helmets at the feet of the Lord. One devotee said, “My dear Kåñëa, when You order Brahmä, ‘Now you may create the universe,’ and when You order Lord Çiva, ‘Now you dissolve this material manifestation,’ You are in this way creating and dissolving the material creation Yourself. Simply by Your orders and by Your partial representation of Viñëu, You are maintaining the universes. In this way, O Kåñëa, O enemy of Kaàsa, there are so many Brahmäs and Çivas who are simply carrying out Your orders.”

Kåñëa does not change His constitutional position, not even when He appears in this material world. Ordinary living entities have their constitutional spiritual positions covered. They appear in different bodies, and under the different bodily concepts of life they act. But Kåñëa does not change His body. He appears in His own body and is therefore not affected by the modes of material nature. In the First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 38, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is stated that the special prerogative of the supreme controller is that He is not at all affected by the modes of nature. The practical example of this is that devotees who are under the protection of the Lord are also not affected by material nature. To overcome the influence of material nature is very difficult, but the devotees or the saintly persons who are under the protection of the Lord are not affected. So what need is there to speak of the Lord Himself? To be more clear, although the Lord sometimes appears in this material world, He has nothing to do with the modes of material nature, and He acts with full independence in His transcendental position. This is the special quality of the Lord.

Any person who can understand the feelings of all persons and incidents in all places at all times is called all-cognizant.

A nice example of the all-cognizant quality of the Lord is described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 11, in connection with Durväsä Muni’s visit to the house of the Päëòavas in the forest. Following a calculated plan, Duryodhana sent Durväsä Muni and his ten thousand disciples to be guests of the Päëòavas in the forest. Duryodhana arranged for Durväsä and his men to reach the place of the Päëòavas just when the Päëòavas’ lunchtime ended, so that the Päëòavas would be caught without sufficient means to feed such a large number of guests. Knowing Duryodhana’s plan, Kåñëa came to the Päëòavas and asked their wife, Draupadé, if there were any remnants of food which she could offer to Him. Draupadé offered Him a container in which there was only a little fragment of some vegetable preparation, and Kåñëa at once ate it. At that moment all of the sages accompanying Durväsä were taking bath in the river, and when Kåñëa felt satisfaction from eating Draupadé’s offering, they also felt satisfaction, and their hunger was gone. Because Durväsä and his men were unable to eat anything more, they went away without coming into the house of the Päëòavas. In this way the Päëòavas were saved from the wrath of Durväsä. Duryodhana had sent them because he knew that since the Päëòavas would not be able to receive such a large number, Durväsä would become angry, and the Päëòavas would be cursed. But Kåñëa saved them from this calamity by His trick and by His all-cognizant quality.

Kåñëa is always remembered, and His name is always chanted by millions of devotees, but the devotees never become saturated. Instead of becoming disinterested in thinking of Kåñëa and in chanting His holy name, the devotees get newer and newer impetus to continue the process. Therefore Kåñëa is ever fresh. Not only Kåñëa Himself, but also Kåñëa’s knowledge is ever fresh. Bhagavad-gétä, which was imparted five thousand years ago, is still being read repeatedly by many, many men, and still new light is always being found in it. Therefore, Kåñëa and His name, fame, qualities—and everything in relationship with Him—is ever fresh.

All the queens at Dvärakä were goddesses of fortune. It is said in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 33, that the goddesses of fortune are very fickle and restless, so no one can consistently captivate them. Thus one’s luck will always change sometime. Yet the goddesses of fortune could not leave Kåñëa for even a moment when they were residing with Him at Dvärakä. This means that Kåñëa’s attraction is ever fresh. Even the goddesses of fortune cannot leave His company.

Regarding Kåñëa’s attractive features being ever fresh, there is a statement by Rädhäräëé in the Lalita-mädhava in which Kåñëa is compared to the greatest sculptor, because He is expert in chiseling at the chastity of women. In other words, although chaste women may follow the rules and regulations of Vedic principles to become ever faithful to their husbands, Kåñëa is able to break their stonelike chastity with the chisel of His beauty. Most of the girl friends of Kåñëa were married, but because Kåñëa was their friend before their marriages, they could not forget His attractive features, which were always fascinating to them, even after their marriages.

Kåñëa’s transcendental body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Sat means ever-existing for all time and in all places; in other words, all-pervading in time and space. Cit means full of knowledge. Kåñëa has nothing to learn from anyone. He is independently full of all knowledge. Änanda means the reservoir of all pleasure. The impersonalists are seeking to merge into the Brahman effulgence of eternity and knowledge, but the major portion of the absolute pleasure which is in Kåñëa is avoided by them. One can enjoy the transcendental blissfulness of merging into the Brahman effulgence after being freed from the contamination of material illusion, false identification, attachment, detachment and material absorption. These are the preliminary qualifications of a person who can realize Brahman. It is stated in Bhagavad-gétä that one has to become full of joyfulness; this is not exactly joyfulness, but a sense of freedom from all anxieties. Freedom from all anxieties may be the first principle of joyfulness, but it is not actual joyfulness. Those who realize the self, or become brahma-bhüta, are only preparing themselves for the platform of joyfulness. That joyfulness can be actually achieved only when one comes into contact with Kåñëa. Kåñëa consciousness is so complete that it includes the transcendental pleasure derived from impersonal or Brahman realization. Even the impersonalist will become attracted to the personal form of Kåñëa, known as Çyämasundara.

It is confirmed by the statement of Brahma-saàhitä that the Brahman effulgence is the bodily ray of Kåñëa; the Brahman effulgence is simply an exhibition of the energy of Kåñëa. Kåñëa is the source of the Brahman effulgence, as He Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gétä. From this we can conclude that the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth is not the ultimate end; Kåñëa is the ultimate end of the Absolute Truth.

The members of the Vaiñëava schools therefore never try to merge into the Brahman effulgence in their pursuit of spiritual perfection. They accept Kåñëa as the ultimate goal of self-realization. Therefore Kåñëa is called Parambrahman (the Supreme Brahman) or Parameçvara (the supreme controller). Çré Yämunäcärya has prayed as follows: “My dear Lord, I know that the gigantic universe and gigantic space and time within the universe are covered by the ten layers of the material elements, each layer ten times larger than the previous one. The three material modes of nature, the Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, the Kñérodakaçäyé Viñëu, the Mahä-Viñëu, and beyond them the spiritual sky and its spiritual planets, known as Vaikuëöhas, and the Brahman effulgence in that spiritual sky—all of these taken together are nothing but a small exhibition of Your potency.”

There are many standards of perfection. The highest material perfections, obtained by perfect yogés, are listed as eight: to become the smallest of the small, to become the greatest of the great, etc. All of these material perfections, as well as all spiritual perfections, can be found fully in Kåñëa’s personality.

Kåñëa is present everywhere, not only within the universe, not only within the hearts of all living entities, but also within every atom. In the prayers of Queen Kunté we find mention of this inconceivable potency of Kåñëa. While Kåñëa was talking with Kunté, He simultaneously entered the womb of Uttarä, who was in danger due to the atomic weapon of Açvatthämä. Kåñëa can illusion even Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, and He can protect all surrendered devotees from the reactions of sinful activities. These are some of the examples of His inconceivable potencies.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé therefore offers his obeisances unto Kåñëa by saying, “Kåñëa, who is present as a human being, has as His mere shadow the whole material nature. He has expanded Himself into so many cows, calves and cowherd boys, and He has again manifested Himself in all of them as the four-handed Näräyaëa. He has taught millions of Brahmäs self-realization, and thus He is worshipable not only by the heads of all universes, but by everyone else also. Therefore let me always accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

When Indra was defeated by Kåñëa in the matter of taking the pärijäta plant from heaven, Närada met Indra and criticized him, “O Indra, great King of heaven, Kåñëa has already defeated Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva. So what can be said of an insignificant demigod like you?” Närada Muni, of course, was criticizing Indra jokingly, and Indra enjoyed it. In Närada’s statement it is confirmed that Kåñëa was able to illusion even Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, as well as Indra. So there is no question of Kåñëa’s power to do the same to lesser living entities.

A description of Kåñëa’s power in minimizing the sufferings of sinful reactions is given in Brahma-saàhitä as follows: “Beginning from the great King of heaven down to the ant, everyone is undergoing the reactions of past deeds. But a devotee of Kåñëa is relieved from such reactions by the grace of Kåñëa.” This was clearly proved when Kåñëa went to the place of Yamaräja, the Lord of death, to reclaim the dead son of His teacher. Kåñëa’s teacher had requested Kåñëa to bring back his dead son, and to do so Kåñëa went to the place of Yamaräja to claim that soul, who had been brought there by Yamaräja and was being kept under his control. Kåñëa immediately ordered Yamaräja, “Be benefited by My order and return that soul unto Me!” The purport of this incident is that even a person who is under the regulative principles of the laws of nature, and is therefore punishable by Yamaräja under these laws, can be granted complete immunity by the grace of Kåñëa.

Kåñëa’s inconceivable potencies have been described by Çukadeva Gosvämé as follows: “Kåñëa is bewildering my intelligence because, although He is unborn, He has appeared as the son of Nanda Mahäräja. He is all-pervading, but still He is held on the lap of Yaçodä. In spite of His being all-pervasive, He has become limited by the love of Yaçodä. Although He has innumerable forms, still He is moving as one Kåñëa before His father and mother, Nanda and Yaçodä.” In the Brahma-saàhitä also it is said that although Kåñëa is eternally living in Goloka Våndävana, His transcendental abode, He is still present everywhere, even within the atoms.

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 11, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Lord Brahmä says, “My dear Lord, false ego, intelligence, mind, sky, air, fire, water and earth are the material ingredients of this universe, which can be compared to a gigantic pot. In that gigantic pot my body is of insignificant measurement, and even though one of the many universes is created by me, innumerable universes are coming and going from the pores of Your body, just as atomic particles are seen flickering in the sunlight. I think I am very, very insignificant before You, and I am therefore begging Your pardon. Please be merciful toward me.”

If one takes account of only one universe, he will find so many combinations of wonderful things within, because there are innumerable planets, innumerable residences and places of demigods. The diameter of the universe is four billion miles, and it is infested with many unfathomable regions known as Pätälas, or lower planetary systems. Although Kåñëa is the origin of all this, He can always be seen in Våndävana, exhibiting His inconceivable potencies. So who can adequately worship such an all-powerful Lord, possessed of such inconceivable energy?

Jayadeva Gosvämé, in his Géta-govinda, has sung as follows: “The Lord has saved the Vedas in His form as a fish, and He has borne the whole universe on His back in the form of a tortoise. He has picked up this earthly planet from the water in the form of a boar. He has killed Hiraëyakaçipu in the form of Nåsiàha. He has cheated Mahäräja Bali in the form of Vämana. He has annihilated all the dynasties of the kñatriyas in the form of Paraçuräma. He has killed all the demons in the form of Lord Räma. He has accepted the great plow in the form of Balaräma. He has annihilated all the atheistic persons in the form of Kalki. And He has saved all the poor animals in the form of Lord Buddha.”[v]* These are some of the descriptions of the incarnations emanating from Kåñëa, and from Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is understood that innumerable incarnations are always coming out from the body of Kåñëa, just like waves in the ocean. No one can even count how many waves there are, and similarly no one can count how many incarnations are coming from the Lord’s body.

Another name for salvation is apavarga. Apavarga is the opposite of pavarga, or the various miserable conditions of material existence. The word pa-varga indicates the combination of five Sanskrit letters: pa, pha, ba, bha and ma. These letters are the first letters of the words for five different conditions as described below. The first letter, pa, comes from the word paräbhava, which means “defeat.” In this material struggle for existence, we are simply meeting defeat. Actually, we have to conquer birth, death, disease and old age, and because there is no possibility of overcoming all these miserable conditions, due to the illusion of mäyä we are simply meeting with paräbhava, or defeat. The next letter, pha, is taken from the word phena. Phena is the foam which is found on the mouth when one is very tired (as is commonly observed with horses). The letter ba comes from the word bandha, or bondage. Bha is taken from the word bhéti, or fearfulness. Ma is taken from the word måti, or death. So the word pavarga signifies our struggle for existence and our meeting with defeat, exhaustion, bondage, fearfulness and, at last, death. Apavarga means that which can nullify all of these material conditions. Kåñëa is said to be the giver of apavarga, the path of liberation.

For the impersonalists and the enemies of Kåñëa, liberation means merging into the Supreme. The demons and the impersonalists do not care for Kåñëa, but Kåñëa is so kind that He gives this liberation even to His enemies and to the impersonalists. There is the following statement in this connection: “O Muräri [Kåñëa]! How wonderful it is that although the demons, who were always envious of the demigods, have failed to penetrate Your military phalanx, they have penetrated the region of mitra, the sun globe.” The word mitra is used metaphorically. Mitra means “the sun globe,” and mitra also means “friend.” The demons who opposed Kåñëa as enemies wanted to penetrate His military phalanx, but instead of doing this, they died in battle, and the result was that they penetrated the planet of Mitra, or the sun planet. In other words, they entered into the Brahman effulgence. The example of the sun planet is given here because the sun is ever-illuminating, like the spiritual sky, where there are innumerable illuminating Vaikuëöha planets. The enemies of Kåñëa were killed, and instead of penetrating Kåñëa’s phalanx, they entered into the friendly atmosphere of the spiritual effulgence. That is the mercy of Kåñëa, and therefore He is known as the deliverer of His enemies also.

There are many examples of how Kåñëa attracted even great liberated souls like Çukadeva Gosvämé and the Kumäras. In this connection the following statement was given by the Kumäras: “How wonderful it is that although we are completely liberated, free from desire and situated at the stage of paramahaàsa, we are still aspiring to taste the pastimes of Rädhä and Kåñëa.”

In the Båhad-vämana Puräëa, the Lord says, “Although I have many fascinating pastimes, whenever I think of the räsa-lélä, which I perform with the gopés, I become eager to have it again.”

One devotee has said, “I know about Näräyaëa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and I also know about many other incarnations of the Lord. Certainly all the pastimes of such incarnations are exciting to my mind, but still the pastimes of the räsa-lélä performed by Lord Kåñëa Himself are wonderfully increasing my transcendental pleasure.”

When we speak of Kåñëa, Kåñëa is not alone. “Kåñëa” means His name, His qualities, His fame, His friends, His paraphernalia, His entourage—all of these are included. When we speak of a king, it is to be understood that he is surrounded by ministers, secretaries, military commanders and many other people. Similarly, Kåñëa is not impersonal. In His Våndävana lélä especially, He is surrounded by the gopés, the cowherd boys, His father, His mother and all the inhabitants of Våndävana.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-first Chapter, verse 15, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the gopés lament, “My dear Kåñëa, during the daytime when You go out into the forest of Våndävana with Your cows, we consider one moment to be twelve years, and it is very difficult for us to pass the time. And again when You come back at the end of the day, by seeing Your beautiful face we are so much attracted that we are unable to stop looking upon You constantly. At these times, when there is occasional blinking of our eyelids, we condemn the creator, Lord Brahmä, as a dunce, because he does not know how to make perfect eyes!” In other words, the gopés were disturbed by the blinking of their eyes, because for the moment that their eyes were closed they could not see Kåñëa. This means that the gopés’ love for Kåñëa was so great and ecstatic that they were disturbed by even His momentary absence. And when they saw Kåñëa, they were also disturbed. This is a paradox.

One gopé, expressing herself to Kåñëa, says, “When we meet You at night, we consider the duration of night to be very small. And why speak of only this night? Even if we had a [vi]night of Brahmä we would consider it a very short time!” We get an idea of Brahmä’s day from the following statement of Bhagavad-gétä (8.17): “By human calculation, a thousand yuga cycles taken together is Brahmä’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” The gopés said that even if they could have that duration of night, it would still not be sufficient for their meeting with Kåñëa.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-fifth Chapter, verse 15, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the gopés tell mother Yaçodä, “When your son plays on His flute, Lord Çiva, Lord Brahmä and Indra—although they are supposed to be the greatest learned scholars and personalities—all become bewildered. Although they are all very great personalities, by hearing the sound of Kåñëa’s flute they humbly bow down and become grave from studying the sound vibrated.”

In his book Vidagdha-mädhava, Çré Rüpa Gosvämé thus describes the vibration of Kåñëa’s flute: “The sound vibration created by the flute of Kåñëa wonderfully stopped Lord Çiva from playing his òiëòima drum, and the same flute has caused great sages like the four Kumäras to become disturbed in their meditation. It has caused Lord Brahmä, who was sitting on the lotus flower for the creative function, to become astonished. And Anantadeva, who was calmly holding all the planets on His hood, was moving in this way and that due to the transcendental vibration from Kåñëa’s flute, which penetrated through the covering of this universe and reached to the spiritual sky.”

In the Third Canto, Second Chapter, verse 12, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Uddhava tells Vidura, “My dear sir, Kåñëa’s form was most wonderful when He appeared on this planet and exhibited the potency of His internal energy. His wonderfully attractive form was present during His pastimes on this planet, and by His internal potency He exhibited His opulences, which are striking to everyone. His personal beauty was so great that there was no necessity for His wearing ornaments on His body. In fact, instead of the ornaments’ beautifying Kåñëa, Kåñëa’s beauty enhanced the ornaments.”

Regarding the attractiveness of Kåñëa’s bodily beauty and the sound vibration of His flute, in the Tenth Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 40, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the gopés address Kåñëa as follows: “Although our attitude toward You resembles loving affairs with a paramour, we cannot but wonder at how no woman can maintain her chastity upon hearing the vibration from Your flute. And not only women, but even stronghearted men are subject to falling down from their position at the sound of Your flute. In fact, we have seen that in Våndävana even the cows, the deer, the birds, the trees—everyone—has been enchanted by the sweet vibration of Your flute and the fascinating beauty of Your person.”

In Rüpa Gosvämé’s Lalita-mädhava, it is said, “One day Kåñëa happened to see the shadow of His beautiful form reflected on the jeweled foreground. Upon seeing this bodily reflection, He expressed His feelings: ‘How wonderful it is that I have never seen such a beautiful form! Although it is My own form, still, like Rädhäräëé, I am trying to embrace this form and enjoy celestial bliss.’” This statement shows how Kåñëa and His shadow reflection are one and the same. There is no difference between Kåñëa and His shadow reflection, nor between Kåñëa and His picture. That is the transcendental position of Kåñëa.

The above statements describe some of the wonderful reservoirs of pleasure within Kåñëa, as well as the transcendental qualities of His personality. The transcendental qualities of Kåñëa are compared to the ocean: no one can estimate the length and breadth of the ocean. But as one can understand the ocean’s contents simply by testing one drop of it, so these statements will give us some understanding of Kåñëa’s transcendental position and qualities.

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 7, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Lord Brahmä says, “My dear Lord, the inconceivable qualities, beauties and activities which You have revealed by Your presence on this planet cannot be calculated by any material measurement. If one even tries to imagine, ‘Kåñëa may be like this,’ that is also impossible. The day may come when the material scientist, after many, many births or after many, many years, will be able to estimate the atomic constitution of the whole world, or he may be able to count the atomic fragments that permeate the sky, or he may even give an estimate of all the atoms within the universe, but still he will never be able to count the transcendental qualities in Your reservoir of transcendental bliss.”

NoD 23: Kåñëa's Personality

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé states that although Lord Kåñëa is the reservoir of unlimited pleasure and the greatest leader of all, He is still dependent upon His devotees in three ways. According to the emotional status of the devotee, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appreciated in three ways: as the most perfect, as very perfect and as perfect. When He exhibits Himself in fullness, He is appreciated by great learned scholars as most perfect. When He exhibits Himself in lesser degrees, He is called very perfect. And when He exhibits still less, He is called perfect. This means that Kåñëa is appreciated for three degrees of perfection. These three degrees of perfection are especially exhibited as follows: when He is in Goloka Våndävana His transcendental qualities are exhibited as most perfect, when He is in Dvärakä He exhibits His qualities as very perfect, and when He is in Mathurä He exhibits His qualities as perfect.

Kåñëa’s personality is analyzed as dhérodätta, dhéra-lalita, dhéra-praçänta and dhéroddhata. If one asks how a personality can be beheld in four quite opposing ways, the answer is that the Lord is the reservoir of all transcendental qualities and activities. Therefore, His different aspects can be analyzed according to the exhibition of His limitless variety of pastimes, and as such there is no contradiction.

A dhérodätta is a person who is naturally very grave, gentle, forgiving, merciful, determined, humble, highly qualified, chivalrous and physically attractive.

In this connection, the following statement given by Indra, the King of heaven, is very significant: “My dear Lord, I admit that I have committed great offenses unto You, but I cannot express my feelings of regret, being bewildered at seeing Your extraordinary chivalrous spirit, Your endeavor to protect Your devotees, Your determination, Your steadiness in lifting the great hill of Govardhana, Your beautiful bodily features and Your astonishing characteristic of being pleased simply by accepting the prayers of Your devotees and offenders.”

The above statement by the King of heaven is an exact corroboration of Kåñëa’s being dhérodätta. Many learned scholars have agreed to also accept Lord Rämacandra as dhérodätta, but all of Lord Rämacandra’s qualities are also included in the character of Lord Kåñëa.

A person is called dhéra-lalita if he is naturally very funny, always in full youthfulness, expert in joking and free from all anxieties. Such a dhéra-lalita personality is generally found to be domesticated and very submissive to his lover. This dhéra-lalita trait in the personality of Kåñëa is described by Yajïa-patné, the wife of one of the brähmaëas who were performing sacrifices in Våndävana. She tells her friends, “One day Çrématé Rädhäräëé, accompanied by Her associates, was taking rest in Her garden, and at that time Lord Çré Kåñëa arrived in that assembly. After sitting down, He began to narrate very impudently about His previous night’s pastimes with Rädhäräëé. While He was speaking in that way, Rädhäräëé became very embarrassed. She was feeling ashamed and was absorbed in thought, and Kåñëa took the opportunity to mark Her breasts with different kinds of tilaka. Kåñëa proved Himself to be very expert in that art.” In this way Kåñëa, as dhéra-lalita, was enjoying His youthful proclivities in the company of the gopés.

Generally, those who are expert in writing drama choose to call Cupid the ideal dhéra-lalita, but we can more perfectly find in the personality of Kåñëa all the characteristics of dhéra-lalita.

A person who is very peaceful, forbearing, considerate and obliging is called dhéra-praçänta. This dhéra-praçänta trait of Kåñëa was exhibited in His dealings with the Päëòavas. On account of the Päëòavas’ faithful devotion to the Lord, He agreed to become their charioteer, their advisor, their friend, their messenger and sometimes their bodyguard. Such is an example of the result of devotional service toward Viñëu. When Kåñëa was speaking to Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira about religious principles, He demonstrated Himself to be a great learned scholar, but because He accepted the position of younger cousin to Yudhiñöhira, He was speaking in a very gentle tone which enhanced His beautiful bodily features. The movements of His eyes and the mode of His speech proved that He was very, very expert in giving moral instruction. Sometimes, Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira is also accepted by learned scholars as dhéra-praçänta.

A person who is very envious, proud, easily angered, restless and complacent is called dhéroddhata by learned scholars. Such qualities were visible in the character of Lord Kåñëa, because when He was writing a letter to Kälayavana, Kåñëa addressed him as a sinful frog. In His letter Kåñëa advised Kälayavana that he should immediately go and find some dark well for his residence, because there was a black snake named Kåñëa who was very eager to devour all such sinful frogs. Kåñëa reminded Kälayavana that He could turn all the universes to ashes simply by looking at them.

The above statement by Kåñëa seems apparently to be of an envious nature, but according to different pastimes, places and times this quality is accepted as a great characteristic. Kåñëa’s dhéroddhata qualities have been accepted as great because Kåñëa uses them only to protect His devotees. In other words, even undesirable traits may also be used in the exchange of devotional service.

Sometimes Bhéma, the second brother of the Päëòavas, is also described as dhéroddhata.

Once, while fighting with a demon who was appearing as a deer, Kåñëa challenged him in this way: “I have come before you as a great elephant named Kåñëa. You must leave the battlefield, accepting defeat, or else there is death awaiting you.” This challenging spirit of Kåñëa’s is not contradictory to His sublime character; because He is the Supreme Being, everything is possible in His character.

There is a nice statement in the Kürma Puräëa about these contradictory traits of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is stated there that the Supreme Person is neither very fat nor very thin; He is always transcendental to material qualities, and yet His bodily luster is blackish. His eyes are reddish, He is all-powerful, and He is equipped with all different kinds of opulences. Contradictory traits in Kåñëa’s person are not at all surprising; one should not consider the characteristics of Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to be actually contradictory. One should try to understand the traits of Kåñëa from authorities and try to understand how these characteristics are employed by the supreme will of the Lord.

In the Mahä-varäha Puräëa it is confirmed that the transcendental bodies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His expansions are all existing eternally. Such bodies are never material; they are completely spiritual and full of knowledge. They are reservoirs of all transcendental qualities. In the Viñëu-yämala-tantra there is a statement that because the Personality of Godhead and His expanded bodies are always full of knowledge, bliss and eternity, they are always free from the eighteen kinds of material contaminations—illusion, fatigue, errors, roughness, material lust, restlessness, pride, envy, violence, disgrace, exhaustion, untruth, anger, hankering, dependence, desire to lord over the universe, seeing duality and cheating.

Regarding all of the above-mentioned statements, it is understood that the Mahä-Viñëu is the source of all incarnations in the material world. But because of His greater, extraordinary opulence, we can understand that the son of Nanda Mahäräja is the source of the Mahä-Viñëu also. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saàhitä, wherein it is stated, “Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Govinda, whose partial representation is the Mahä-Viñëu.” The gigantic form of the Mahä-Viñëu is the source of generation for innumerable universes. Innumerable universes are coming out of His exhaling breath, and the same universes are going back in with His inhaling breath. This Mahä-Viñëu is also a plenary portion of a portion of Kåñëa.

NoD 24: Further Traits of Çré Kåñëa

After describing the different opulences of Kåñëa, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé tries to further describe the transcendental beauties and qualities of the Lord as decorated, enjoying, pleasing, dependable, steady and predominating. He is also described as a meticulous dresser and a magnanimous personality. These are generally considered to be the qualities of great personalities.

It is said that a person is great if he is decorated with the qualities of being very merciful toward the unfortunate, very powerful, superior, chivalrous, enthusiastic, expert and truthful. These decorations were manifested in the character of Kåñëa during His govardhana-lélä. At that time the whole tract of land in Våndävana was being disturbed by the rains sent by Indra, as described elsewhere. At first Kåñëa thought, “Let Me retaliate against this vengeance of Indra by destroying his heavenly kingdom,” but later on, when He thought of the insignificance of the King of heaven, Kåñëa changed His mind and felt merciful toward Indra. No one is able to tolerate the wrath of Kåñëa, so instead of retaliating against Indra, He simply showed His compassion for His friends in Våndävana by lifting the whole of Govardhana Hill to protect them.

When a person is seen to be always happy and is accustomed to speak smilingly, he is considered to be in the mode of enjoyment. This trait was found in Kåñëa when He appeared at the sacrificial arena of King Kaàsa. It is described that the lotus-eyed Kåñëa entered among the wrestlers without being impolite to them, glanced over them with determination and seemed to them just like an elephant attacking some plants. Even while speaking to them, Kåñëa was still smiling, and in this way He stood valiantly upon the wrestling dais.

When one’s characteristics are very sweet and desirable, his personality is called pleasing. An example of Kåñëa’s pleasing nature is thus described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam: “One day while Kåñëa was awaiting the arrival of Çrématé Rädhäräëé by the bank of the Yamunä, He began to make a garland of kadamba flowers. In the meantime, Çrématé Rädhäräëé appeared there, and at that time Muräri [Kåñëa], the enemy of Mura, glanced over Rädhäräëé very sweetly.”

Any person who is reliable in all circumstances is called dependable. In this connection Rüpa Gosvämé says that even the demons were relying upon the dependability of Kåñëa, because they were confident that Kåñëa would never attack them without due cause. Therefore, with faith and confidence, they used to live with their doors wide open. And the demigods, although afraid of the demons, were confident of the protection of Kåñëa. Therefore, even in the midst of danger they were engaged in sportive activities. Persons who had never undergone the reformatory ritualistic ceremonies of the Vedas were confident that Kåñëa would accept only faith and devotion, and so they were engaged in Kåñëa consciousness and were freed from all anxieties. In other words, all kinds of men, from the demigods down to the uncultured, can rely on the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord.

A person who is not disturbed even in a situation of reverses is called steady. This steadiness was observed in Kåñëa in connection with His chastising the demon known as Bäëa. The Bäëa demon had many hands, and Kåñëa was cutting off these hands one after another. This Bäëa was a great devotee of Lord Çiva and the goddess Durgä. Thus, when Bäëa was being chastised, Lord Çiva and Durgä became very furious at Kåñëa. But Kåñëa did not care for them.

A person who can affect the mind of everyone is called predominating. As far as Kåñëa’s predomination is concerned, in the Tenth Canto, Forty-third Chapter, verse 17, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Kåñëa is described thus by Çukadeva Gosvämé to King Parékñit: “My dear King, Kåñëa is a thunderbolt to the wrestlers; to the common man He is the most beautiful human being; to the young girls He is just like Cupid; to the cowherd men and women He is the most intimate relative; to the impious kings He is the supreme ruler; to His parents, Nanda and Yaçodä, He is just a baby; to Kaàsa, the King of Bhoja, He is death personified; to the dull and stupid He is just like a stone; to the yogés He is the Supreme Absolute Truth; and to the Våñëis He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In such a predominating position, Kåñëa appeared in that arena along with His older brother, Balaräma.” When Kåñëa, the reservoir of all mellows, was present in the arena of Kaàsa, He appeared differently to the different persons who were related to Him in different mellows. It is stated in Bhagavad-gétä that He appears to every person according to one’s relationship with Him.

Sometimes learned scholars describe “predominating” to mean a person intolerant of being neglected. This peculiarity in Kåñëa was visible when Kaàsa was insulting Mahäräja Nanda. Vasudeva was asking Kåñëa’s assistance in killing Kaàsa, and Kåñëa was glancing over Kaàsa with longing eyes, just like a prostitute, and was just preparing to jump at the King.

A person who is very fond of dressing himself is called lalita, or a meticulous dresser. This characteristic was found in Kåñëa in two ways: sometimes He used to decorate Çrématé Rädhäräëé with various marks, and sometimes, when He was preparing to kill demons like Ariñöäsura, He would take care to arrange His belt very nicely.

Persons who can give themselves to anyone are called magnanimous. No one could be more magnanimous than Kåñëa, because He is always prepared to give Himself completely to His devotee. Even to one who is not a devotee, Kåñëa in His form of Lord Caitanya is prepared to give Himself and to grant deliverance.

Although Kåñëa is independent of everyone, out of His causeless mercy He is dependent upon Garga Åñi for religious instruction; for learning the military art He is dependent upon Sätyaki; and for good counsel He is dependent upon His friend Uddhava.

NoD 25: Devotees of Kåñëa

A person who is always absorbed in Kåñëa consciousness is called a devotee of Kåñëa. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that all the transcendental qualities discussed previously are also found in the devotees of Kåñëa. The devotees of Kåñëa can be classified into two groups: those who are cultivating devotional service in order to enter into the transcendental kingdom and those who are already in the perfectional stage of devotional service.

A person who has attained the stage of attraction for Kåñëa and who is not freed from the material impasse, but who has qualified himself to enter into the kingdom of God, is called sädhaka. Sädhaka means one who is cultivating devotion in Kåñëa consciousness. The description of such a devotee is found in the Eleventh Canto, Second Chapter, verse 46, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. It is said there that a person who has unflinching faith in and love for the Personality of Godhead, who is in friendship with devotees of Kåñëa, and who is very merciful to the ignorant, raising them to the standard of devotional service, and who is uninterested in nondevotees, is considered to be situated in the position of cultivating devotional service.

When one is found shedding tears by hearing of the pastimes of the Lord, it is to be understood that the blazing fire of material existence will be extinguished by such watering. When there is shivering of the body and the hairs of the body stand up, it is to be understood that the devotee is nearing perfection. An example of a sädhaka cultivating devotional service is Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura.

When a devotee is never tired of executing devotional service and is always engaged in Kåñëa conscious activities, constantly relishing the transcendental mellows in relationship with Kåñëa, he is called perfect. This perfectional stage can be achieved in two ways: one may achieve this stage of perfection by gradual progress in devotional service, or one may become perfect by the causeless mercy of Kåñëa, even though he has not executed all the details of devotional service.

There is the following nice statement in the Third Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 25, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, describing a devotee who achieves perfection by regularly executing devotional service: A person who is freed from the false egotism of material existence, or an advanced mystic, is eligible to enter into the kingdom of God, known as Vaikuëöha. Such a mystic becomes so joyful by constant execution of the regulative principles of devotional service that he thereby achieves the special favor of the Supreme Lord. Yamaräja, the mighty superintendent of death, is afraid to go near such a devotee; so we can imagine the potency of advanced devotional service, especially when devotees sit together and engage in talking of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those devotees express their feelings in such a way that they automatically melt with ecstasy, and many transcendental symptoms become manifested in their bodies. Anyone desiring advancement in devotional service must follow in the footsteps of such devotees.

Prahläda Mahäräja said that no one can attain the perfectional stage of devotional service without bowing down before exalted devotees. Learned sages like Märkaëòeya Åñi attained perfection in devotional service simply by executing such regulative principles of service.

A person’s achieving perfection in devotional service simply by the causeless mercy of the Lord is explained in Çrémad-Bhägavatam in connection with the brähmaëas and their wives who were engaged in performing yajïa, or sacrifice. When the wives of the brähmaëas were favored by Lord Kåñëa and immediately attained the ecstasy of love of Godhead, their husbands said, “How wonderful it is that although these women have undertaken no reformatory performances such as accepting the sacred thread, have not resided in the monasteries of the spiritual master, have not observed the strict principles of celibacy, have not undergone any austerities and have not philosophized upon the observance of ritualistic ceremonies, they still have attained the favor of Kåñëa, which is aspired after even by great mystics! How wonderful it is that these women have attained such perfection, while we, although brähmaëas who have performed all the reformatory activities, cannot attain to this advanced stage!”

There is a similar statement by Närada, addressed to Çukadeva Gosvämé: “My dear Çukadeva Gosvämé, you never took the trouble to reside under the care of a spiritual master, and yet you have attained such a great status of transcendental knowledge. You never took the trouble to undergo severe austerities, and still, how wonderful it is that you have been situated in the most perfect stage of love of Godhead.”

Çukadeva Gosvämé and the wives of the brähmaëas performing yajïa are vivid examples of devotees who achieved the perfectional stage of devotional service by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Persons who have achieved eternal, blissful life exactly on the level of Çré Kåñëa, and who are able to attract Lord Kåñëa by their transcendental loving service, are called eternally perfect. The technical name is nitya-siddha. There are two classes of living entities—namely, nitya-siddha and nitya-baddha. The distinction is that the nitya-siddhas are eternally Kåñëa conscious without any forgetfulness, whereas the nitya-baddhas, or eternally conditioned souls, are forgetful of their relationship with Kåñëa.

The position of the nitya-siddhas is explained in the Padma Puräëa in connection with the narration of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Satyabhämä-devé. The Lord tells Satyabhämä, “My dear Satyabhämä-devé, I have descended to this earthly planet by the request of Lord Brahmä and other demigods. Those who are born into this family of Yadu are all My eternal associates. My dear wife, you should not consider that My associates are ever separated from Me; they are My personal expansions, and as such, you must know that they are almost as powerful as I am. Because of their transcendental qualities, they are very, very dear to Me, as I am very, very dear to them.” Anyone who becomes exhilarated by hearing of the pastimes of Lord Kåñëa when He was present on this earth with His associates is to be understood as nitya-siddha, eternally perfect.

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 32, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam there is this statement: “How wonderful are the fortunate residents of Våndävana, such as Nanda and the other cowherd men. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahman, has actually become their intimate friend!”

A similar statement is there in the Tenth Canto, Twenty-sixth Chapter, verse 10, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. When Lord Kåñëa lifted Govardhana Hill, the cowherd men, under the protection of Lord Kåñëa, became struck with wonder and went to Nanda Mahäräja and inquired from him, “My dear Nanda Mahäräja, how is it that we are so intensely attached to Kåñëa and that Kåñëa is also so affectionately attached to us? Does it mean that He is the Supersoul of everyone?”

All of the residents of Våndävana and Dvärakä—namely, the cowherd men and the members of the Yadu family—are eternally perfect devotees of the Lord. As the Lord descends by His causeless mercy upon this planet, so, in order to help in the pastimes of the Lord, these devotees also come here. They are not ordinary living entities or conditioned souls; they are ever-liberated persons, associates of the Personality of Godhead. And just as Lord Kåñëa behaves like an ordinary man when He descends to this planet, so the members of the Yadu dynasty and the residents of Våndävana execute activities just like ordinary men. But they are not ordinary men; they are as liberated as Lord Kåñëa Himself.

In the Padma Puräëa, Uttara-khaëòa section, it is stated, “Just as Lord Rämacandra descends along with Lakñmaëa (an expansion of Saìkarñaëa) and Bharata (an expansion of Pradyumna), so the members of the Yadu dynasty and the cowherd men of Våndävana also descend with Lord Kåñëa in order to join in the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. When the Supreme Lord returns to His eternal abode, His associates return with Him to their respective places. As such, these ever-liberated Vaiñëavas are not bound by the material laws of birth and death.”

As stated in Bhagavad-gétä by the Lord Himself, His birth, deeds and activities are all transcendental. Similarly, the birth, deeds and activities of the associates of the Lord are also transcendental. And as it is an offense to consider oneself to be Kåñëa, so it is offensive to consider oneself to be Yaçodä, Nanda or any other associate of the Lord. We should always remember that they are transcendental; they are never conditioned souls.

It is described that Kåñëa, the enemy of Kaàsa, has sixty-four transcendental qualities, and all of the ever-liberated souls who accompany the Lord have the first fifty-five of the qualities, without any doubt. Such devotees are related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in any of five transcendental mellows—namely neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parenthood and conjugal love. These relationships with the Lord are eternal, and therefore nitya-siddha devotees do not have to strive to attain the perfectional stage by executing regulative devotional principles. They are eternally qualified to serve Kåñëa.

NoD 26: Stimulation for Ecstatic Love

Some things which give impetus or stimulation to ecstatic love of Kåñëa are His transcendental qualities, His uncommon activities, His smiling features, His apparel and garlands, His flute, His buffalo horn, His leg bells, His conchshell, His footprints, His places of pastimes (such as Våndävana), His favorite plant (tulasé), His devotee and the periodical occasions for remembering Him. One such occasion for remembrance is Ekädaçé, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.

As far as Kåñëa’s transcendental qualities are concerned, they can be divided into three groups: qualities pertaining to His transcendental body, qualities pertaining to His transcendental speech and qualities pertaining to His transcendental mind.

Kåñëa’s age, His transcendental bodily features, His beauty and His mildness are qualities pertaining to His body. There is no difference between Kåñëa and His body, and therefore the transcendental features pertaining to His body are the same as Kåñëa Himself. But because these qualities stimulate the devotee’s ecstatic love, they have been analyzed as separate causes of that love. To be attracted by the qualities of Kåñëa means to be attracted by Kåñëa Himself, because there is no real distinction between Kåñëa and His qualities. Kåñëa’s name is also Kåñëa. Kåñëa’s fame is also Kåñëa. Kåñëa’s entourage is also Kåñëa. Kåñëa and everything related with Kåñëa which gives stimulation to love of Kåñëa are all Kåñëa, but for our understanding these items may be considered separately.

Kåñëa is the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure. Therefore, the impetuses to love of Kåñëa, although seemingly different, are not actually distinct from Kåñëa Himself. In the technical Sanskrit terms, such qualities as Kåñëa’s name and fame are accepted both as reservoirs of and as stimulation for love of Kåñëa.

Kåñëa’s age is considered in three periods: from His appearance day to the end of His fifth year is called kaumära, from the beginning of the sixth year up to the end of the tenth year is called paugaëòa, and from the eleventh to the end of the fifteenth year is called kaiçora. After the beginning of the sixteenth year, Kåñëa is called a yauvana, or a youth, and this continues with no change.

As far as Kåñëa’s transcendental pastimes are concerned, they are mostly executed during the kaumära, paugaëòa and kaiçora periods. His affectionate pastimes with His parents are executed during His kaumära age. His friendship with the cowherd boys is exhibited during the paugaëòa period. And His friendship with the gopés is exhibited during the age of kaiçora. Kåñëa’s pastimes at Våndävana are finished by the end of His fifteenth year, and then He is transferred to Mathurä and Dvärakä, where all other pastimes are performed.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé gives us a vivid description of Kåñëa as the reservoir of all pleasure in his Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu. Here are some parts of that description.

Kåñëa’s kaiçora age may be divided into three parts. In the beginning of His kaiçora age—that is, at the beginning of His eleventh year—the luster of His body becomes so bright that it becomes an impetus for ecstatic love. Similarly, there are reddish borders around His eyes, and a growth of soft hairs on His body. In describing this early stage of His kaiçora age, Kundalatä, one of the residents of Våndävana, said to her friend, “My dear friend, I have just seen an extraordinary beauty appearing in the person of Kåñëa. His blackish bodily hue appears just like the indranéla jewel. There are reddish signs on His eyes, and small soft hairs are coming out on His body. The appearance of these symptoms has made Him extraordinarily beautiful.”

In this connection, in the Tenth Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 5, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, I shall try to describe how the minds of the gopés became absorbed in thought of Kåñëa. The gopés would meditate on Kåñëa’s dressing Himself just like a dancing actor and entering the forest of Våndävana, marking the ground with His footprints. They meditated on Kåñëa’s having a helmet with a peacock feather and wearing earrings on His ears and yellow-gold colored garments covered with jewels and pearls. They also meditated on Kåñëa’s blowing His flute and on all the cowherd boys’ singing of the glories of the Lord.” That is the description of the meditation which the gopés used to perform.

Sometimes the gopés would think about His soft nails, His moving eyebrows and His teeth, which were catechu-colored from chewing pan. One description was given by a gopé to her friend: “My dear friend, just see how the enemy of Agha has assumed such wonderful features! His brows are just like the brows of Cupid, and they are moving just as though they were dancing. The tips of His nails are so soft—it is as if they were dried bamboo leaves. His teeth are reddish, and so it appears that He has assumed a feature of anger. Under the circumstances, where is the chance for a young girl not to be attracted by such beautiful features and not to be afraid of becoming a victim to such beauty?”

Kåñëa’s attractive features are also described by Våndä, the gopé after whom Våndävana was named. She told Kåñëa, “My dear Mädhava, Your newly invented smile has so captivated the hearts of the gopés that they are simply unable to express themselves! As such, they have become bewildered and will not talk with others. All of these gopés have become so affected that it is as if they had offered three sprinkles of water upon their lives. In other words, they have given up all hope for their living condition.” According to the Indian system, when a person is dead there is a sprinkling of water on the body. Thus, the statement of Våndä shows that the gopés were so enchanted by the beauty of Kåñëa that because they could not express their minds, they had decided to commit suicide.

When Kåñëa arrived at the age of thirteen to fourteen years, His two arms and chest assumed an unspeakable beauty, and His whole form became simply enchanting. When Kåñëa attained thirteen years of age, His two thighs were challenging the trunks of elephants, His rising chest was trying to come to peace talks with doors of jewels, and His two arms were minimizing the value of the bolts found on doors. Who can describe the wonderful beauty of these features of Kåñëa? The special beauty of Kåñëa’s body was His mild smiling, His restless eyes and His world enchanting songs. These are the special features of this age.

There is a statement in this connection that Kåñëa, on arriving at this age, manifested such beautiful bodily features that His restless eyes became the playthings of Cupid, and His mild smile resembled the newly grown lotus flower. The enchanting vibration of His songs became a great impediment to the young girls, who were supposed to remain chaste and faithful to their husbands.

At this age Kåñëa enjoyed the räsa-lélä, exhibiting His power of joking with the cowherd girls and enjoying their company in the bushes of the gardens by the bank of the Yamunä.

In this connection there is the following statement: “Throughout the whole tract of land known as Våndävana there were the footprints of Kåñëa and the gopés, and in some places peacock feathers were strewn about. In some places there were nice beddings in the bushes of the Våndävana gardens, and in some places there were piles of dust due to the group-dancing of Govinda and the gopés.” These are some of the features which are due to the different pastimes invented by Çré Kåñëa in the place known as Våndävana.

There is the following statement by one gopé, describing Kåñëa’s attractive feature during this age: “My dear friend, just see how all of a sudden in the sky of Kåñëa there is a powerful rising sun and how this rising sun is minimizing the rays of our chastity moon. Our attraction for Kåñëa is so intense that it is drying up the lotus flower of our discrimination, and we are losing our senses in deciding whether we shall continue as chaste women or be victimized by the beauty of Kåñëa. My dear friend, I think that we have lost all hope of life!”

In the kaiçora age, beginning from the eleventh year and continuing up to the end of the fifteenth year, Kåñëa’s arms, legs and thighs became marked with three divisional lines. At that time Kåñëa’s chest challenged a hill of marakata jewels, His arms challenged pillars of the indranéla jewel, the three lines of His waist challenged the waves of the River Yamunä, and His thighs challenged beautiful bananas. One gopé said, “With all these exquisite features of His body, Kåñëa is too extraordinarily beautiful, and therefore I am always thinking of Him to protect me, because He is the killer of all demons.”

The idea expressed in this statement is that the gopés were comparing their attraction for Kåñëa to an attack by demons; and to counteract their attraction for the beauty of Kåñëa, they were also turning to Kåñëa hopefully, because He is the killer of all kinds of demons. In other words, they were perplexed, because on one hand they were attracted by the beauty of Kåñëa, and on the other they needed Kåñëa to drive away the demon of such attraction.

This kaiçora age can be translated as adolescence. At the end of this period all the gopés said, “Kåñëa is the killer of the attraction of Cupid, and as such He disturbs the patience of all newly married girls. Kåñëa’s bodily features have become so exquisite—it is as if they were all manifesting an artistic sense of the highest sort. His dancing eyes have dimmed the brilliance of the most expert dancer, and so there is no longer any comparison to the beauty of Kåñëa.” Learned scholars therefore describe the features of His body at this time as nava-yauvana, newly invented youthfulness. At this stage of Kåñëa’s bodily features, the conjugal love affairs with the gopés and similar pastimes become very prominent.

There are six features of conjugal love affairs, called peacemaking, picking a quarrel, going to meet one’s lover, sitting together, separation and support. Lord Kåñëa expanded an empire of these six features, of which He was the ruling prince. Somewhere He was picking quarrels with the young girls, somewhere He was scratching them with the nails of parrots, somewhere He was busy going to visit the gopés, and somewhere He was negotiating through cowherd friends to take shelter of the gopés.

Some of the gopés addressed Him thus: “Dear Kåñëa, because of Your adolescent age, You have just become the spiritual master of these young girls, and You are teaching them to whisper among themselves. You are teaching them to offer solemn prayers, as well as training them to cheat their husbands and to join You in the gardens at night, without caring for the instructions of their superiors. You are enthusing them by the vibration of Your enchanting flute; and, as their teacher, You are teaching them all the intricacies of loving affairs.”

It is said that even when Kåñëa was a boy of five He manifested such youthful energies, but learned scholars do not explain them because of the absence of suitable age. Kåñëa was beautiful because every part of His body was perfectly arranged without any defect. Such perfect bodily features of Kåñëa are described as follows: “My dear enemy of Kaàsa, Your broad eyes, Your rising chest, Your two pillarlike arms and the thin middle portion of Your body are always enchanting to every lotus-eyed beautiful girl.” The ornaments on the body of Kåñëa were not actually enhancing His beauty, but just the reverse—the ornaments were beautified by Kåñëa.

A person is called mild when he cannot even bear the touch of the most soft thing. It is described that every part of Kåñëa’s body was so soft that even at the touch of newly grown leaves, the color of the touched part of His skin would change. At this kaiçora age, Kåñëa’s endeavors were always bent toward arranging the räsa dance, as well as toward killing the demons in the forest of Våndävana. While Kåñëa was engaged in enjoyment with the boys and girls within the forest of Våndävana, Kaàsa used to send his associates to kill Kåñëa, and Kåñëa would show His prowess by killing them.

Generally, there are four kinds of garments on the body of Kåñëa: His shirt, turban, belt and wearing garments. In Våndävana, He used to put on reddish garments, with a golden shirt on His body and an orange-colored turban on His head. The different kinds of belts, combined with His enchanting smile, used to always increase the transcendental bliss of His associates. This dress of Kåñëa is described as gorgeous. As a baby elephant is sometimes dressed in colorful clothing, so Kåñëa’s gorgeousness was manifested by decoration with such colorful clothing on the different parts of His body.

Äkalpa refers to the texture of Kåñëa’s hair, His nicely dressed body anointed with sandalwood pulp and decorated with flower garlands, His tilaka and His chewing pan. Kåñëa was decorated constantly in this äkalpa process. Kåñëa’s hair was some times decorated with flowers placed on the middle of His head, or else it was reaching down to His back. In this way Kåñëa dressed His hair differently at different times. As for the ointment on His body, the pulp of sandalwood generally appeared to be white, and when it was mixed with saffron dye it appeared to be yellow.

Kåñëa used to put a vaijayanté garland around His neck. This vaijayanté garland is made of flowers of at least five different colors. Such a garland was always long enough to touch Kåñëa’s knees or feet. Besides this garland of flowers, there were other kinds of flower garlands too—sometimes decorating His head, sometimes hanging around His neck and chest. Artistic paintings with sandalwood pulp and colored sandalwood were also to be found on the body of Kåñëa.

One gopé addressed her friend and began to praise the bodily features of Kåñëa. She praised His blackish complexion, the reddish color of chewing pan enhancing His beauty hundreds of times, the curling hair on His head, the [vii]kuàkum red spots on His body and the tilaka on His forehead.

His helmet, His earrings, His necklace, His four garments, the bangles on His head, the rings on His fingers, His ankle bells and His flute—these are the different features of Kåñëa’s ornaments. Kåñëa, the enemy of Agha, always looked beautiful with His incomparable helmet, His earrings made of diamonds, His necklace of pearls, His bangles, His embroidered garments and the beautiful rings on His fingers.

Kåñëa is sometimes called vana-mälé. Vana means “forest,” and mälé means “gardener,” so vana-mälé refers to one who extensively uses flowers and garlands on different parts of His body. Kåñëa was dressed like this not only in Våndävana but also on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. Seeing such colorful dress and the garlands of different flowers, some great sages prayed, “Lord Kåñëa was going to the Battlefield of Kurukñetra not to fight, but to grace all of the devotees with His presence.”

As far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Kåñëa was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.

There are three kinds of flutes used by Kåñëa. One is called veëu, one is called muralé, and the third is called vaàçé. Veëu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. Muralé is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute. This kind of flute produces a very enchanting sound. The vaàçé flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Kåñëa used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Kåñëa has a longer vaàçé, which is called mahänandä, or sammohiné. When it is still longer it is called äkarñiëé. When it is even longer it is called änandiné. The änandiné flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vaàçulé. These flutes were sometimes bedecked with jewels. Sometimes they were made of marble and sometimes of hollow bamboo. When the flute is made of jewels it is called sammohiné. When made of gold, it is called äkarñiëé.

Kåñëa used a buffalo horn as a bugling instrument. This instrument was always highly polished and circled with gold bands, and on the middle there was a hole. Regarding these instruments, there is a metaphorical statement about a gopé named Tärävalé. It is said that Tärävalé was bitten by the most venomous snake of Kåñëa’s flute. Then, in order to neutralize the poisonous effect, she drank the milk produced by the buffalo horn in the hand of Kåñëa. But instead of decreasing the poisonous effect, it increased it a thousand times. The gopé was thus put into the most miserable poisoned condition.

A certain gopé once stated to her friend, “My dear friend, when I heard the sound of the leg bells of Çré Kåñëa, I immediately started to go out of the house to see Him. But most regrettably, my superiors were present just before me at that time, and I could not go out.”

Kåñëa’s conchshell is known as Päïcajanya. This Päïcajanya conch is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gétä. Kåñëa sounded it before the Battle of Kurukñetra. It is said that when Lord Kåñëa blows on His transcendental conchshell, the wives of the demons become subject to abortions, and the wives of the demigods become blessed with all auspiciousness. In this way, the sound of Kåñëa’s conchshell used to vibrate and circulate all over the world.

It is stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam that when Akrüra, who drove Kåñëa from Våndävana to Mathurä, saw the footprints of Kåñëa on the land of Våndävana, his ecstatic love for Kåñëa increased so much that the hairs on his body stood up. His eyes became overflooded with tears, and in such ecstasy he jumped out of the chariot and fell down on the ground and began to chant, “How wonderful this is! How wonderful this is!”

Similar feelings were expressed by the gopés when they were going to the bank of the Yamunä and saw Kåñëa’s footprints in the dust. When Kåñëa walked on the ground of Våndävana, the marks of His sole (flag, thunderbolt, fish, a rod for controlling elephants, and a lotus flower) would be imprinted upon the dust of the land. The gopés became overwhelmed simply at seeing those marks on the ground.

One devotee has exclaimed, “Oh, I have not as yet visited the wonderful places where the pastimes of the Lord were performed. But simply by hearing the name of Mathurä I have become overwhelmed with joy!”

Lord Kåñëa is very fond of tulasé leaves and buds. Because tulasé buds are usually offered up to the lotus feet of Kåñëa, a devotee once prayed to the tulasé buds to give him some information about the lotus feet of the Lord. The devotee expected that the tulasé buds would know something about the glories of Lord Çré Kåñëa’s lotus feet.

One may sometimes become overwhelmed with joy by seeing a devotee of the Lord. When Dhruva Mahäräja saw two associates of Näräyaëa approaching him, he immediately stood up out of sincere respect and devotion and remained before them with folded hands; but because of his ecstatic love, he could hardly offer them a proper reception.

There is a statement by a gopé who addressed Subala, a friend of Kåñëa: “My dear Subala, I know that Kåñëa is your friend and that you always enjoy smiling and joking with Him. The other day I saw you both standing together. You were keeping your hand upon Kåñëa’s shoulder, and both of you were joyfully smiling. When I saw the two of you standing like that in the distance, my eyes at once became overflooded with tears.”

There are many statements about the festive days in connection with Kåñëa’s different activities. One of these festive days is Janmäñöamé, the day of Kåñëa’s birth. This Janmäñöamé day is the most opulent festival day for the devotees, and it is still observed with great pomp in every Hindu house in India. Sometimes even the devotees of other religious groups take advantage of this auspicious day and enjoy the performance of the ceremony of Janmäñöamé. Ecstatic love for Kåñëa is also aroused on the days of Ekädaçé, which are other festive days in connection with Kåñëa.

NoD 27: Symptoms of Ecstatic Love

The bodily symptoms manifested by a devotee in expressing ecstatic love for Kåñëa are called anubhäva. Practical examples of anubhäva are as follows: dancing, rolling on the ground, singing very loudly, stretching the body, crying loudly, yawning, breathing very heavily, neglecting the presence of others, drooling, laughing like a madman, wheeling the head and belching. When there is an extraordinary excess of ecstatic love, with all of these bodily symptoms manifested, one feels relieved transcendentally.

These symptoms are divided into two parts: one is called çéta, and the other is called kñepaëa. When there is yawning, the symptoms are called çéta, and when there is dancing they are called kñepaëa.

While watching the räsa dance performed by Lord Kåñëa and the gopés, Lord Çiva beheld the beautiful face of Kåñëa and immediately began to dance and beat upon his small diëòima drum. While Lord Çiva was dancing in ecstasy, his eldest son, Gaëeça, joined him.

In the Third Canto, First Chapter, verse 32, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Vidura inquires from Uddhava, “My dear friend, is Akrüra in an auspicious condition? Not only is he a learned scholar and sinless, but he is also a devotee of Lord Kåñëa. He has such ecstatic love for Kåñëa that I have seen him rolling upon Kåñëa’s footprints in the dust as if bereft of all sense.” Similarly, one gopé gave a message to Kåñëa that Rädhäräëé, because of Her separation from Him and because of Her enchantment with the aroma of His flower garlands, was rolling on the ground, thereby bruising Her soft body.

One gopé informed Kåñëa that when Çrématé Rädhäräëé was singing about His glories, She enchanted all of Her friends in such a way that they became stonelike and dull. At the same time, the nearby stones began to melt away in ecstatic love.

When Närada Muni was chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra, he chanted so loudly that it was apprehended that Lord Nåsiàha had appeared. Thus all the demons began to flee in different directions.

It is said that sometimes when Närada, the carrier of the véëä, remembers his Lord Kåñëa in great ecstasy, he begins to stretch his body so vigorously that his sacred thread gives way.

A gopé once said to Kåñëa, “My dear son of Nanda Mahäräja, by the sound of Your flute Çrématé Rädhäräëé has become full of lamentation and fear, and thus, with a faltering voice, She is crying like a kuraré bird.”

It is described that by hearing the vibration of Kåñëa’s flute, Lord Çiva becomes very puzzled and begins to cry so loudly into space that the demons become vanquished and the devotees become overwhelmed with joy.

It is said that when the full moon rises, the lotus petals become expanded. Similarly, when Kåñëa used to appear before Rädhäräëé, Her face, which is compared to the lotus flower, would expand by Her yawning.

As far as breathing heavily is concerned, it is state d, “Lalitä [one of the gopés] is just like a cätaké bird, which only takes water falling directly from the rain cloud and not from any other source.” In this statement Kåñëa is compared to the dark cloud, and Lalitä is compared to the cätaké bird seeking only Kåñëa’s company. The metaphor continues to say, “As a heavy wind sometimes disperses a mighty cloud, so the heavy breath from Lalitä’s nostrils caused her to miss Kåñëa, who had disappeared by the time she recovered herself.”

As far as neglecting the presence of others is concerned, the wives of the brähmaëas who were performing sacrifices at Våndävana left home as soon as they heard that Kåñëa was nearby. They left their homes without caring for their learned husbands. The husbands began to discuss this among themselves: “How wonderful is the attraction for Kåñëa that it has made these women leave us without any care!” This is the influence of Kåñëa. Anyone who becomes attracted to Kåñëa can be relieved from the bondage of birth and death, which can be compared to the locked-up homes that were neglected by the wives of the brähmaëas.

In the Padyävalé there is a statement by some devotees: “We shall not care for any outsiders. If they should deride us, we shall still not care for them. We shall simply enjoy the transcendental mellow of chanting Hare Kåñëa, and thus we shall roll on the ground and dance ecstatically. In this way we shall eternally enjoy transcendental bliss.”

As an example of the running down of saliva from the mouth, it is stated that sometimes when Närada Muni was chanting the Hare Kåñëa mantra, he remained stunned for a while, and saliva oozed from his mouth.

When a devotee laughs very loudly like a madman, it is done out of an extraordinary agitation of ecstatic love within the heart. Such mad laughing is an expression of the condition of the heart which is technically called aööa-häsa. When a devotee becomes affected with this mental condition, his love is expressed through the lips. The laughing sounds, coming one after another, are compared to flowers falling from the creeper of devotion which grows within the heart of the devotee. In the Caitanya-caritämåta devotional service to the Lord is also compared to a creeper which rises up to the lotus feet of Kåñëa in Goloka Våndävana.

One gopé told her friend, “It appears that Lord Kåñëa, the enemy of the demon Agha, has released from His mouth a whirlwind which is acting on your head and is gradually proceeding to do the same to the other lotus-eyed gopés.”

Sometimes belching also becomes a symptom of ecstatic love for Kåñëa. There is evidence of this in Paurëamäsé’s address to one crying associate of Rädhäräëé: “My dear daughter, don’t be worried because Çrématé Rädhäräëé is belching. I am about to offer a remedial measure for this symptom. Do not cry so loudly. This belching is not due to indigestion; it is a sign of ecstatic love for Kåñëa. I shall arrange to cure this belching symptom immediately. Don’t be worried.” This statement by Paurëamäsé is evidence that ecstatic love for Kåñëa is sometimes manifested through belching.

Sometimes trembling of the whole body and hemorrhaging from some part of the body are also manifested in response to ecstatic love for Kåñëa, but such symptoms are very rare, and therefore Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not discuss any further on this point.

NoD 28: Existential Ecstatic Love

When a devotee is always intensely affected by love for Kåñëa in a direct relationship with Him—or even a little apart from Him—his status is called existential ecstatic love. The symptoms originating from such existential ecstatic love are divided into three headings—namely moist, burnt and dried-up.

Moist existential ecstatic love aroused in connection with Kåñëa is divided into two: direct and indirect. Rädhäräëé was weaving a garland of kunda flowers, and upon hearing the vibration of Kåñëa’s flute, She immediately stopped Her work. This is an example of direct moistened existential ecstatic love. Indirect moistened existential ecstatic love is described in the following statement: Kåñëa, who is also called Puruñottama, is to the eyes of mother Yaçodä just like the cloud is to the eyes of the cätaké bird. When Kåñëa had been brought to Mathurä, mother Yaçodä, being very anxious and angry, began to rebuke the King of Mathurä.

Burnt existential ecstatic love is divided into three, and one example is as follows: One day, mother Yaçodä was dreaming that the gigantic demon Pütanä was lying on the courtyard of her house, and she immediately became anxious to seek out Kåñëa.

When there are manifestations of ecstatic symptoms in the body of a nondevotee, these are called dried-up symptoms of ecstatic love. The nondevotees are actually materialistic, but in contact with some pure devotee, they sometimes may manifest some symptoms of ecstasy. Devotional scholars call these dried-up symptoms.

There are eight symptoms of existential ecstatic love: becoming stunned, perspiring, standing of the hairs on the body, faltering of the voice, trembling of the body, changing of bodily colors, shedding of tears and devastation.

The scientific explanation of these eight symptoms is given by Rüpa Gosvämé as follows. When the vital force of life is in contact with the earth, one is stunned. When the same force comes into contact with water, there is the shedding of tears. When the same force comes into contact with fire, there is perspiration. When the force comes into contact with the sky, there is complete devastation. And when that force comes into contact with the air, there is trembling, failing of the voice and standing of the hairs on the body.

These symptoms are sometimes manifested internally and sometimes externally. The pure devotee always feels such symptomatic expressions within himself, but being afraid of outsiders he does not generally manifest them externally.

The symptom of being stunned is caused by ecstatic tribulation, fearfulness, astonishment, lamentation and anger. This symptom is exhibited by a stoppage of talking, a stoppage of movement, a feeling of voidness and an extreme feeling of separation.

When Uddhava was describing Kåñëa’s pastimes to Vidura, he said, “One day the gopés became stunned when Kåñëa, in the dress of a gardening maid, entered the greenhouse and enlivened them with joking and laughter. Then when Kåñëa left the greenhouse, the gopés were seeing Kåñëa so ecstatically that it was as though both their minds and eyes were following Him.” These symptoms signify that although the gopés’ business was not finished, they had become stunned with ecstatic love.

Another example of being stunned took place when Kåñëa was surrounded by various wrestlers in the sacrificial arena of Kaàsa. His mother, [viii]Devaké, then became stunned, and her eyes dried up when she saw Kåñëa among the wrestlers.

There is also an example of the astonishment of Lord Brahmä. It is explained in the Tenth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 56, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, that when Brahmä understood that this cowherd boy was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he became stunned. All of his sensory activities stopped when he saw all the cowherd boys again, along with Kåñëa. Lord Brahmä was so stunned that he appeared to be a golden statue with four heads. Also, when the residents of Vraja found that Kåñëa had lifted Govardhana Hill with His left hand, they became stunned.

Astonishment caused by lamentation was exemplified when Kåñëa was entering into the belly of the Bakäsura demon and all the demigods from higher planets became stunned with lamentation. A similar example of becoming stunned was visible in Arjuna when he saw that Açvatthämä was attempting to release his [ix]brahmästra at Kåñëa.

An example of perspiring because of jubilation is described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam. One gopé addressed Rädhäräëé thus: “My dear Rädhäräëé, You are rebuking the sunshine unnecessarily, but I can understand that You are perspiring only because of Your becoming too lusty at seeing Kåñëa.”

Perspiration caused by fearfulness was exhibited by Raktaka, one of the servants of Kåñëa. One day Kåñëa dressed Himself just like Abhimanyu, the husband of Rädhäräëé. Abhimanyu did not like Rädhäräëé’s association with Kåñëa, and therefore when Raktaka saw Kåñëa in the dress of Abhimanyu and thus mistook His identity, he began to strongly rebuke Him. As soon as Raktaka finally understood that it was Kåñëa in the dress of Abhimanyu, he began perspiring. This perspiration was caused by fearfulness.

Perspiration due to anger was exhibited by Garuòa, the eagle who is the carrier of Viñëu. Once the heavenly king, Indra, was sending torrents of rain over Våndävana. Garuòa was observing the incident from above the clouds, and because of his anger, he began perspiring.

The standing up of hair on the body was manifested when mother Yaçodä found within Kåñëa’s mouth all of the universal planetary systems. She had asked Kåñëa to open His mouth wide just to see whether He had eaten dirt. But when Kåñëa opened His mouth, she saw not only the entire earth, but also many other planets within His mouth. This caused a standing up of the hair on her body.

The standing up of hair on the body resulting from jubilation is described in the Tenth Canto, Thirtieth Chapter, verse 10, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, in connection with the gopés engaged in the räsa dance. During this räsa dance Kåñëa disappeared all of a sudden with Rädhäräëé, and the gopés began to search Him out. At that time they addressed the earth and said, “Dear earthly planet, how many austerities and penances you must have undergone to have the lotus feet of Kåñëa always touching your surface. I think that you must be very jubilant, because the trees and plants, which are just like hairs on your body, are standing up so gloriously. May we ask when you first got these symptoms? Have you been enjoying this jubilation since you were touched by the incarnation Vämana or since you were delivered by the incarnation Varäha?”

Kåñëa would sometimes perform mock fighting along with the cowherd boys. When Kåñëa blew His horn in this mock fighting, Çrédämä, who was on the opposing side, felt his bodily hairs stand up. Similarly, when Arjuna saw Kåñëa in His gigantic universal form, there was a standing of the hairs on his body.

When Kåñëa was going to Mathurä on the chariot driven by Akrüra, Yaçodä and all the gopés came to try to forbid Him to pass and to block His way. At that time Rädhäräëé was so perturbed that in a faltering voice She requested mother Yaçodä to please stop Akrüra.

Faltering of the voice resulting from wonder was exhibited by Brahmä. It is said in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 64, that after bowing down before Lord Kåñëa, when Brahmä began to rise he prayed to the Lord in a faltering voice.

In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 30, another example of faltering of the voice was exhibited by the gopés when they came to Kåñëa, desiring to dance with Him. Kåñëa asked them to go back to their husbands and homes. The gopés apparently became very angry and began to talk to Kåñëa with faltering voices.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-ninth Chapter, verses 56 and 57, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, a faltering voice due to jubilation was exhibited by Akrüra when he was shown all of the Vaikuëöha planets resting within the River Yamunä. When Akrüra understood that Kåñëa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he bowed his head to Kåñëa’s lotus feet and with folded hands began to pray in a faltering voice.

There are also examples of faltering of the voice caused by fearfulness. One of Kåñëa’s friends praised Him thus: “My dear friend, Your flute was given to Your servant Patré, and when I asked him to return it he began speaking in a faltering voice, and his complexion became yellow.”

When Kåñëa was trying to capture the demon Çaìkha, Rädhäräëé began trembling out of fearfulness. Similar trembling of the body was exhibited in Sahadeva, the younger brother of Nakula. When Çiçupäla was vehemently blaspheming the Lord, Sahadeva began to tremble out of anger.

Trembling of the body was also exhibited by Rädhäräëé out of tribulation. Rädhäräëé trembled as She told one of the gopés, “Don’t joke with this disappointing boy! Please ask Him not to approach Me, because He is always the cause of all grief for us.”

Sometimes, due to great aggrievement caused by the dealings of Kåñëa, the body changes color. The gopés therefore addressed the Lord thus: “Dear Kåñëa, due to separation from You, all of the denizens of Våndävana have changed their color. And because of this change of color even the great sage Närada was thinking of Våndävana as a white island in the ocean of milk.”

When Kåñëa and Balaräma were present in the arena of Kaàsa, Kaàsa’s body changed color. Similarly, Indra’s face changed color when he saw that Kåñëa was protecting all the denizens of Vraja by lifting Govardhana Hill. If the color change takes place due to excessive jubilation, the hue turns red. Because such a change of color is so rare, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not further discuss this point.

Out of jubilation, anger or separation there may be the pouring down of tears from the eyes. When such tears are very cold they are due to jubilation, and when they are due to anger the tears become hot. In all cases there is a severe movement of the eyes, and the eyes generally become reddish. There is also an itching sensation which causes the sufferer to rub his eyes.

When the lotus-eyed Rukmiëé, the first queen of Kåñëa in Dvärakä, was shedding tears out of ecstatic jubilation, she did not like the tears. There is a passage in the Hari-vaàça wherein Satyabhämä begins to shed tears because of her great affection for Kåñëa.

An example of shedding tears because of anger was exhibited by Bhéma when he saw that Çiçupäla was insulting Kåñëa in the Räjasüya arena of sacrifice. Bhéma wanted to kill Çiçupäla immediately, but because Kåñëa did not order him to do so, he became morose with anger. It is described that there were hot tears covering his eyes, as a thin cloud sometimes covers the evening moon. In the evening, when the moon is slightly covered by a thin cloud, it looks very nice, and when Bhéma was shedding tears on account of his anger, he also looked very nice.

In the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixtieth Chapter, verse 23, there is a nice example of Rukmiëé's shedding tears of lamentation. When Kåñëa and Rukmiëé were talking, Rukmiëé became frightened of separation from Kåñëa, and therefore she began scratching the earth with her red, lotuslike nails. Because she was shedding tears, the black ointment from her eyes was dripping, along with the tears, onto her breasts, which were covered with kuàkum powder. Rukmiëé was so aggrieved that her voice was choked up.

When a person is confused by simultaneous happiness and tribulation and does not know what to do, this state of confusion is called pralaya, or devastation. In this condition of pralaya one sometimes falls down on the ground, and all the symptoms of ecstatic love become manifest. When the gopés were searching after Kåñëa and all of a sudden He came out from the bushes and creepers, all of them became stunned and almost senseless. In this state the gopés appeared very beautiful. This is an example of pralaya, or devastation, in happiness.

There are also instances of pralaya in distress. One such example is described in the Tenth Canto, Thirty-ninth Chapter, verse 15, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, wherein Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, when the gopés were missing Kåñëa, they were so much absorbed in meditation upon Him that all of their senses stopped functioning, and they lost all bodily sense. It was as though they had become liberated from all material conditions.”

Out of the many ecstatic symptoms of the body, the symptom of being stunned is especially significant. According to the degree of being stunned, the vital force within the body becomes agitated, and due to such a state, the other ecstatic loving symptoms sometimes become altered. These transcendental ecstatic symptoms gradually develop, and in the course of such development they are sometimes called smoky, sometimes called blazing, and sometimes called shining. These three degrees are experienced for many, many years, and they extend to different parts of the body. Unlike the shedding of tears and faltering of the voice, the condition of being stunned is spread all over the body. The shedding of tears and faltering of the voice are simply localized symptoms.

The shedding of tears, however, sometimes makes the eyes become swollen and whitish, and sometimes the lenses of the eyes become differently focused. Faltering of the voice may sometimes cause choking in the throat and extreme anxiety. As the different symptoms of these ecstatic manifestations are localized, they are accompanied by different local reactions; e.g., when the throat is choked up because of a faltering voice, there may be a sound like “ghura.” Such sounds choke the voice, and with extreme mental anxiety they may be manifest in different ways. All these symptoms are listed under the dried-up existential condition known as smoky, and they are exhibited in different ways.

Sometimes, while participating in ceremonies celebrating Kåñëa’s pastimes, or in the society of devotees, there is dancing ecstasy. Such sentiments are called blazing.

None of the above symptoms can be manifested without the basic principle of strong attachment for Kåñëa. In the smoky condition of such ecstatic expressions, the symptoms could otherwise be hidden. This type of symptom was experienced by Priest Gargamuni, who was performing some ritualistic ceremony in the house of Nanda Mahäräja. When he heard about Kåñëa’s killing of the Aghäsura demon, there were some tears visible in his eyes, his throat was trembling, and perspiration covered his whole body. In this way Priest Gargamuni’s beautiful face assumed a nice condition.

When several such ecstatic symptoms are visible, the condition is called blazing. For example, one of Kåñëa’s friends told Him, “My dear friend, as soon as I heard the sound of Your flute from within the forest, my hands became almost motionless, and my eyes became full of tears—so much so, in fact, that I could not recognize Your peacock feather. My thighs became almost completely stunned so that I could not move even an inch. Therefore, my dear friend, I must acknowledge the wonderful vibration of Your transcendental flute.”

Similarly, one gopé said to another, “My dear friend, when I heard the sound of Kåñëa’s flute, I tried to hide myself from the reaction of the vibrations. But still I could not check the trembling of my body, and therefore all of my friends in the house could detect my attachment for Kåñëa without any doubt.”

When the ecstatic symptoms cannot be checked and they simultaneously appear in four or five different categories, this stage of ecstatic love is called shining. The example is cited, in this connection, that when the sage Närada saw Lord Kåñëa standing before him, his body became so stunned that he stopped playing on his véëä. Because of his faltering voice, he could not offer any prayers to Kåñëa, and his eyes filled with tears. Thus, Närada’s ability to see Kåñëa was also obstructed.

When similar symptoms were manifest in the body of Çrématé Rädhäräëé, some of Her friends criticized Her: “Dear friend, You are blaming the aroma of the flowers for the tears in Your eyes. You are rebuking the air for the standing of the hairs on Your body. And You are cursing Your walking in the forest for Your thighs’ being stunned. But Your faltering voice reveals the cause to be different: it is just Your attachment for Kåñëa!”

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé remarks that when various symptoms become manifest very prominently, the devotee’s condition may be called the brightest. For example, a friend of Kåñëa addressed Him as follows: “My dear Pétämbara, because of separation from You all the residents of Goloka Våndävana are perspiring. They are lamenting with different words, and their eyes have become moistened with tears. Actually, all of them are in great confusion.”

There is a supreme symptom of ecstatic love which is called mahäbhäva. This mahäbhäva expression was possible only in Rädhäräëé, but later on when Çré Kåñëa Caitanya appeared to feel the mode of love of Rädhäräëé, He also expressed all of the symptoms of mahäbhäva. Çré Rüpa Gosvämé says in this connection that when the symptoms of ecstatic love become the most bright, that stage is accepted as mahäbhäva.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé further analyzes the ecstatic loving expression into four divisions which are called sättvikäbhäsä.

Sometimes impersonalists, who are not actually in devotional service, may also exhibit such symptoms of ecstatic love, but this is not accepted as actual ecstasy. It is a reflection only. For example, sometimes in Väräëasé, a holy city for impersonalist scholars, there may be seen a sannyäsé crying from hearing the glories of the Lord. Impersonalists also sometimes chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra and dance, but their aim is not to serve the Lord. It is to become one with the Lord and merge into His existence. Rüpa Gosvämé therefore says that even if the reactions to chanting are manifested in the impersonalist’s body, they should not be considered to be symptoms of actual attachment, but reflections only, just like the sun reflected in a dark room through some polished glass. The chanting of Hare Kåñëa, however, is so nice and transcendental that it will eventually melt even the hearts of persons who are impersonalists. Rüpa Gosvämé says that the impersonalists’ symptoms are simply reflections of ecstatic love, not the real thing.

Sometimes it is found that when staunch logicians, without any trace of devotional service and without actually understanding the transcendental glories of the Lord, sit down to hear the glories of the Lord, they appear to be melting and shedding tears. In this connection there is a statement by a devotee who addresses the Lord thus: “My dear Mukunda, I cannot properly express the glories of Your pastimes. Even when the nondevotees hear of Your glorious pastimes they become affected and shed tears and start to tremble.” Such nondevotees are not actually melted; they are hardhearted. But the influence of the glories of the Lord is so great that even the nondevotees sometimes shed tears.

Sometimes it is found that a nondevotee who has practically no taste for Kåñëa and who follows no rules or regulations can, by practice, make a show of devotional symptoms, even crying in an assembly of devotees. This shedding of tears is not actually an ecstatic loving expression, however. It is done simply by practice. Although there is no need to describe these reflections of ecstatic love, Rüpa Gosvämé gives some instances where there is no actual devotional service and such expressions are manifested.

NoD 29: Expressions of Love for Kåñëa

There are some bodily symptoms which express overwhelming ecstatic love (vyabhicäri-bhäva). They are counted at thirty-three as follows: disappointment, lamentation, humility, guilt, fatigue, intoxication, pride, doubt, apprehension, intense emotion, madness, forgetfulness, disease, confusion, death, laziness, inertness, bashfulness, concealment, remembrance, argumentativeness, anxiety, thoughtfulness, endurance, happiness, eagerness, violence, haughtiness, envy, impudence, dizziness, sleepiness and alertness.

When one is forced to act in a way which is forbidden, or to refrain from acting in a way which is proper, he becomes regretful and thinks himself dishonored. At that time there is a sense of disappointment. In this kind of disappointment one becomes full of anxiety, sheds tears, changes bodily color, feels humility and breathes heavily.

When Kåñëa, in punishing the Käliya serpent, appeared to have drowned Himself in the poisonous water of the Yamunä, Nanda Mahäräja addressed Yaçodä-devé thus: “My dear wife, Kåñëa has gone deep into the water, and so there is no longer any need to maintain our bodies, which are so full of sinful activities! Let us also enter into the poisonous water of the Yamunä and compensate for the sinful activities of our lives!” This is an instance of severe shock, wherein the devotee becomes greatly disappointed.

When Kåñëa left Våndävana, Subala, His intimate friend, decided to leave also. While leaving, Subala was contemplating that without Kåñëa there was no longer any pleasure to be found in Våndävana. The analogy is given that as the bees go away from a flower that has no honey, Subala left Våndävana when he found that there was no longer any relishable transcendental pleasure there.

In Däna-keli-kaumudé Çrématé Rädhäräëé addresses one of Her friends in this manner: “My dear friend, if I cannot hear of the glorious activities of Kåñëa, it is better for Me to become deaf. And because I am now unable to see Him, it would be good for Me to be a blind woman.” This is another instance of disappointment due to separation from Kåñëa.

There is a statement in the Hari-vaàça wherein Satyabhämä, one of the queens of Kåñëa in Dvärakä, tells her husband, “My dear Kåñëa, since I heard Närada glorifying Rukmiëé before You, I can understand that there is no need of any talking about myself!” This is an instance of disappointment caused by envy. Rukmiëé and Satyabhämä were co-wives, and because Kåñëa was husband of both, there naturally was some feminine envy between them. So when Satyabhämä heard the glories of Rukmiëé, she was envious of her and thus became disappointed.

In the Tenth Canto, Fifty-first Chapter, verse 47, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is this statement: “My dear Kåñëa, I cannot say that it is only other people who are implicated in material existence, because I too am much entangled with the bodily concept of life. I am always too anxious about my family, home, wife, wealth, land and kingdom. And because I have been so maddened by this material atmosphere, I am thinking now that my life has been simply spoiled.” This statement is an instance of disappointment caused by lamentation.

According to Bharata Muni, this disappointment is inauspicious. But there are other learned scholars who have accepted such disappointment as being in the mood of neutrality and as being a preservative of ecstatic love.

When one is unsuccessful in achieving his desired goal of life, when one finds no fulfillment in his present occupation, when one finds himself in reversed conditions and when one feels guilt—at such a time one is said to be in a state of lamentation.

In this condition of lamentation one becomes questioning, thoughtful, tearful, regretful and heavy-breathed. His bodily color changes, and his mouth becomes dry.

One aged devotee of Kåñëa addressed Him in this way: “My dear Kåñëa, O killer of the demon Agha, my body is now invalid due to old age. I cannot speak very fluently, my voice is faltering, my mind is not strong, and I am often attacked by forgetfulness. But, my dear Lord, You are just like the moonlight, and my only real regret is that for want of any taste for Your pleasant shining I did not advance myself in Kåñëa consciousness.” This statement is an instance of lamentation due to one’s being unable to achieve his desired goal.

One devotee said, “This night I was dreaming of collecting various flowers from the garden, and I was thinking of making a garland to offer to Kåñëa. But I am so unfortunate that all of a sudden my dream was over, and I could not achieve my desired goal!” This statement is an instance of lamentation resulting from nonfulfillment of one’s duties.

When Nanda Mahäräja saw his foster son Kåñëa embarrassed in the sacrificial arena of Kaàsa, he said, “How unfortunate I am that I did not keep my son bolted within a room. Unfortunately, I have brought Him to Mathurä, and now I see that He’s embarrassed by this giant elephant named Kuvalaya. It is as though the moon of Kåñëa were eclipsed by the shadow of the earth.” This is an instance of lamentation caused by reversed conditions.

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 9, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam there is a statement by Brahmä: “My dear Lord, just see my impudence! You are the unlimited, the original Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul—and You rule over the most perfect illusory energies! And just see my impudence! I wanted to supersede You by my own personal power, and I was very puffed up with this tiny power of mine. Just as a simple spark from a fire cannot do any harm to the fire, so my bewildering potency was completely unsuccessful in thwarting Your superior illusory power. Therefore I find myself to be most insignificant and think of myself as a most useless person.” This statement by Brahmä is an instance of lamentation caused by committing an offense.

A sense of weakness caused by distress, fear or offensiveness is called humility. In such a humble condition one becomes talkative, small in heart, dirty in mind, full of anxiety and inactive.

In the Tenth Canto, Fifty-first Chapter, verse 57, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is the following statement by King Mucukunda: “My dear Lord, because of my bad deeds in the past I am everlastingly aggrieved. I am always suffering from my desires, but still my senses are never satisfied with material enjoyments. Somehow or other, by Your grace, I am now in a peaceful condition because I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet, which are always free from all lamentation, fear and death. O supreme protector, O supreme soul! O supreme controller! Kindly give me Your protection. I am so much embarrassed.” This statement by Mucukunda is an instance of humility resulting from a severely miserable condition of material existence.

When Uttarä was attacked by the brahmästra of Açvatthämä, she became afraid of losing her child, Mahäräja Parékñit, who was still within the womb. She immediately surrendered to Kåñëa and said, “My dear Lord, kindly save my child! I do not mind if I myself must be killed by the brahmästra of Açvatthämä.” This is an instance of humility caused by fear.

In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 10, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Lord Brahmä says, “O infallible one! I am born in the mode of passion, and therefore I have been falsely proud of being the creator of this material world. My false pride was just like dense darkness, and in this darkness I had become blind. In my blindness I was considering myself a competitor to You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But, my dear Lord, even though I am accepted as the creator of this universe, I am eternally Your servant. Therefore, kindly always be compassionate toward me and excuse me in that way.” This statement by Brahmä is another instance of humility resulting from committing an offense.

Sometimes there is humility due to shyness. For example, when Kåñëa stole all of the garments from the gopés while they were bathing in the river, all of them begged Kåñëa not to commit this injustice upon them. The gopés addressed Him thus: “Dear Kåñëa, we know that You are the son of Nanda Mahäräja and that You are the most beloved of all Våndävana. And You are very much loved by us also! But why are You giving us this trouble? Kindly return our garments. Just see how we are trembling from the severe cold!” This humility was due to their shyness from being naked before Kåñëa.

When a person blames himself for committing an inappropriate action, his feeling is called guilt.

One day Çrématé Rädhäräëé was churning yogurt for Kåñëa. At that time the jeweled bangles on Her hands were circling around, and She was also chanting the holy name of Kåñëa. All of a sudden She thought, “I am chanting the holy name of Kåñëa, and My superiors—My mother-in-law and My sister-in-law—may hear Me!” By this thought Rädhäräëé became overanxious. This is an instance of feeling guilty because of devotion to Kåñëa.

One day the beautiful-eyed Çrématé Rädhäräëé entered into the forest to collect some flowers to prepare a garland for Kåñëa. While collecting the flowers, She became afraid that someone might see Her, and She felt some fatigue and weakness. This is an instance of guilty feelings caused by labor for Kåñëa.

There is a statement in Rasa-sudhäkara that after passing the night with Kåñëa, Rädhäräëé became so weak that She was unable to get up from bed. When Kåñëa took Her hand to help Her, Rädhäräëé felt guilty about having passed the night with Him.

One feels fatigue after walking a long distance, after dancing and after sexual activity. In this kind of fatigue there is dizziness, perspiration, inactivity of the limbs, yawning and very heavy breathing.

One day Yaçodä was chasing Kåñëa in the yard after He had offended her. After a while, Yaçodä became very fatigued, and therefore she was perspiring, and her bunched hair became loosened. This is an instance of becoming fatigued because of working too much.

Sometimes all of the cowherd friends of Kåñëa, along with Balaräma, danced together in some ceremony. At these times the garlands on their necks would move, and the boys would begin to perspire. Their whole bodies became wet from their ecstatic dancing. This is an instance of fatigue caused by dancing.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, verse 20, it is said that after enjoying love affairs with Kåñëa by dancing, embracing and kissing, the gopés would sometimes become very tired, and Kåñëa, out of His causeless mercy and compassion, would smear their faces with His lotus hands. This is an example of fatigue caused by laboring in the räsa dance.

When one becomes arrogant with false prestige due to drinking intoxicants or being too lustful, the voice becomes faulty, the eyes become swollen, and there are symptoms of redness on the body. There is a statement in the Lalita-mädhava that Lord Baladeva, intoxicated from drinking excessive quantities of honey, once began to address the ants, “O you kings of the ants! Why are you hiding yourselves in these holes?” At the same time He also addressed the King of heaven, “O King Indra! You plaything of Çacé! Why are you laughing? I am now prepared to smash the whole universe, and I know that Kåñëa will not be angry with Me.”[x]* Then He addressed Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, tell Me immediately why the whole world is trembling and why the moon has become elongated! And O you members of the Yadu dynasty, why are you laughing at Me? Please give Me back My liquors made of honey from the kadamba flower!” Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé prays that Lord Balaräma will be pleased with all of us while He is thus talking just like an intoxicated person.

In this state of intoxication, Balaräma felt tired and lay down for rest. Generally, those who are exalted personalities lie down when they feel intoxicated, whereas those who are mediocre laugh and sing during intoxication, and those who are lowly use vulgar language and sometimes cry. Such intoxication is manifested according to different ages and mentalities. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not describe further in this direction because there is no necessity for such a discussion.

There is another description of the symptoms of intoxication in the person of Çré Rädhäräëé after She saw Kåñëa. Sometimes She was walking hither and thither, sometimes She was laughing, sometimes She was covering Her face, sometimes She was talking without any meaning, and sometimes She was praying to Her associate gopés. Seeing these symptoms in Rädhäräëé, the gopés began to talk among themselves: “Just see how Rädhäräëé has become intoxicated simply by seeing Kåñëa before Her!” This is an instance of ecstatic love in intoxication.

Expressions of ecstatic love in pride may be the result of excessive wealth, exquisite beauty, a first-class residence or the attainment of one’s ideal goal. One is also considered proud when he does not care about the neglect of others.

Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura said, “My dear Kåñëa, You are leaving me, forcibly getting out of my clutches. But I shall be impressed by Your strength only when You can go forcibly from the core of my heart.” This is an instance of feeling pride in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

Once during the räsa dance, when Rädhäräëé left the arena and Kåñëa went to seek Her out, one of the dear friends of Rädhäräëé addressed Kåñëa thus: “My dear Kåñëa, You have been very much obliging in serving the form of our Çré Rädhäräëé, and now You have left all the other gopés to search for Her. Please allow me to inquire how You want Her to treat You.” This is an instance of feeling pride on account of exquisite beauty.

Sometimes Rädhäräëé felt pride within Herself and said, “Although the cowherd boys prepare nice flower garlands for Kåñëa, when I present My garland to Him, He becomes struck with wonder and immediately accepts it and puts it on His heart.”

Similarly, in the Tenth Canto, Second Chapter, verse 33, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Lord Brahmä says, “My dear Madhusüdana, persons who are pure devotees of Your Lordship actually feel Your ecstatic friendship, and as such they are never vanquished by enemies. They know they are always protected by You, and so they can matter-of-factly pass over the heads of their enemies without any care.” In other words, one who has taken complete shelter under the lotus feet of the Lord is always proud of being able to conquer all enemies.

One weaver at Mathurä addressed Kåñëa in this way: “My dear King of Våndävana, I have become so proud of Your causeless mercy upon me that I do not even count upon the mercy of the Lord of Vaikuëöha, which is sought after by many great sages in deep meditation.” In other words, although the yogés and great sages sit in meditation upon Lord Viñëu, who is residing in Vaikuëöha, a devotee of Kåñëa is so proud that he does not consider such meditation to be very valuable. This feeling of pride is due to one’s having achieved the highest goal of life—Kåñëa.

After Lord Brahmä had stolen all of the calves, cows and cowherd boys from Kåñëa, he was trying to go away. But all of a sudden he became doubtful about his stealing affairs and began to watch on all sides with his eight eyes. Lord Brahmä has four heads, and therefore he has eight eyes. This is an instance of ecstatic love in doubt, caused by stealing.

Similarly, just to please Kåñëa, Akrüra stole the Syamantaka maëi, a stone which can produce unlimited quantities of gold, but later on he repented his stealing. This is another instance of ecstatic love for Kåñëa in doubt caused by stealing.

When the King of heaven, Indra, was causing torrents of rain to fall on the land of Vraja, he was advised to surrender himself at the lotus feet of Kåñëa. At that time Indra’s face became very dark because of doubt.

When a person becomes disturbed in his heart by seeing lightning in the sky, by seeing a ferocious animal or by hearing a tumultuous sound, his state of mind is called apprehensive. In such a state of apprehension, one tries to take shelter of something which provides safety. There may be standing of the hairs on the body, trembling of the body and sometimes the committing of mistakes. And sometimes the body may become stunned.

In the Padyävalé there is the following statement: “My dear friend, Kåñëa’s residence in the demoniac circle at Mathurä, under the supremacy of the king of demons, Kaàsa, is causing me much worry.” This is one instance of apprehending some danger to Kåñëa in ecstatic love for Him.

When Våñäsura appeared in Våndävana as a bull, all of the gopés became greatly affected with fear. Being perturbed in that way, they began to embrace the tamäla trees. This is an instance of fear caused by a ferocious animal and of the search for shelter while remembering Kåñëa in ecstatic love. Upon hearing the jackals crying in the forest of Våndävana, mother Yaçodä sometimes became very careful about keeping Kåñëa under her vigilance, fearing that Kåñëa might be attacked by them. This is an instance of ecstatic love for Kåñëa in fear caused by a tumultuous sound. This kind of fear is a little different from being actually afraid. When one is afraid of something, he can still think of past and future. But when there is this kind of ecstatic apprehension, there is no scope for such thinking.

Emotion is caused by something very dear, by something very detestable, by fire, by strong wind, by strong rainfall, by some natural disturbance, by the sight of a big elephant or by the sight of an enemy. When there is emotion caused by seeing something very dear, one can speak very swiftly and use kind words. When there is emotion caused by seeing something detestable, one cries very loudly. When there is emotion caused by seeing fire, one tries to flee. There may also be trembling of the body, closing of the eyes and tears in the eyes. When one becomes emotional on account of a strong wind, one tries to run very swiftly and rubs his eyes. When one is emotional because of rainfall, one takes an umbrella, and there is tension in his body. When there is emotion due to a sudden disturbance, one’s face becomes discolored, one becomes struck with wonder, and there is trembling of the body. If there is emotion from seeing an elephant, one may jump and show various signs of fear, and sometimes one may keep looking behind him. When there is emotion due to the presence of an enemy, one looks for a fatal weapon and tries to escape.

When Kåñëa returned from the forest of Våndävana, mother Yaçodä was so emotional from seeing her son that milk began to flow from her breasts. This is an instance of emotion caused by seeing a dear object.

In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-third Chapter, verse 18, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çukadeva Gosvämé informs King Parékñit, “My dear King, the wives of the brähmaëas were usually very much attached to the glorification of Kåñëa, and they were always anxious to get an opportunity to see Him. Because of this, when they heard that Kåñëa was nearby, they became very anxious to see Him and immediately left their homes.” This is an instance of emotional activity caused by the presence of someone very dear.

When Pütanä, the demoniac witch, was struck down and killed by Kåñëa, mother Yaçodä was struck with wonder and began to cry emotionally, “Oh, what is this? What is this?” When she saw that her dear baby Kåñëa was playing on the chest of the dead demoniac woman, mother Yaçodä, at a loss what to do, began to walk this way and that. This is an instance of being emotional on account of seeing something ghastly.

When Kåñëa uprooted the two arjuna trees and Yaçodä heard the sound of the trees crashing down, she became overcome with emotion and simply stared upward, being too bewildered to know what else to do. This is an instance of being emotional from hearing a tumultuous sound.

When there was a forest fire in Våndävana, all the cowherd men assembled together and desperately appealed to Kåñëa for protection. This is an instance of emotion caused by fire.

The whirlwind demon known as Tåëävarta once carried Kåñëa off from the ground and blew Him around, along with some very big trees. At that time, mother Yaçodä could not see her son, and she was so disturbed that she began to walk this way and that. This is an instance of emotion caused by severe wind.

In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 11, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is a description of Indra’s causing severe torrents of rain at Våndävana. All the cows and cowherd boys became so afflicted by the wind and cold that they all gathered together to take shelter under the lotus feet of Kåñëa. This is an instance of emotion caused by severe rainfall.

There were severe torrents of hail when Kåñëa was staying in the forest of Våndävana, and the elderly persons bade Him, “Kåñëa, don’t You move now! Even persons who are stronger and older than You cannot move, and You are just a little boy. So please stay still!” This is an instance of emotion caused by heavy hailing.

When Kåñëa was chastising Käliya in the poisonous water of the Yamunä, mother Yaçodä began to speak emotionally: “Oh, see how the earth appears to be trembling! There appears to be an earth tremor, and in the sky tears are flying here and there! My dear son has entered into the poisonous water of the Yamunä. What shall I do now?” This is an instance of emotion resulting from a natural disturbance.

In the arena of Kaàsa, when Kåñëa was attacked by big elephants, all of the ladies present began to address Him in this way: “My dear boy—please leave this place immediately! Please leave this place immediately! Don’t You see the big elephants coming to attack You? Your innocent gazing upon them is causing us too much perturbation!” Kåñëa then told mother Yaçodä, “My dear mother, don’t be perturbed by the appearance of the elephants and horses that are so forcibly coming and raising dust, causing blindness to these lotus-eyed women. Let even the Keçé demon come before Me; My arms will still be adequate for victory. So please don’t be perturbed.”

In the Lalita-mädhava, a friend tells mother Yaçodä, “How wonderful it is that when the Çaìkhacüòa demon—vast and strong as a great hill—attacked your Cupid-like beautiful son, there was no one present in Våndävana to help. And yet the demon was killed by your little son. It appears to be due to the result of severe penances and austerities in your past lives that your son was saved in this way.”

In the same Lalita-mädhava there is an account of Kåñëa’s kidnapping Rukmiëé at her royal marriage ceremony. At that time all of the princes present began to converse among themselves, saying, “We have our elephants, horses, chariots, bows, arrows and swords, so why should we be afraid of Kåñëa? Let us attack Him! He is nothing but a lusty cowherd boy! He cannot take away the princess in this way! Let us all attack Him!” This is an instance of emotion caused by the presence of enemies.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé is trying to prove by the above examples that in relationship with Kåñëa there is no question of impersonalism. All personal activities are there in relationship with Kåñëa.

Çréla Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura prays in his book as follows: “Let Çrématé Rädhäräëé purify the whole world, because She has surrendered Herself completely unto Kåñëa. Out of Her ecstatic love for Him, She sometimes acted just like an addled person and attempted to churn yogurt, although there was no yogurt in the pot. And seeing this, Kåñëa became so enchanted by Rädhäräëé that He began to milk a bull instead of a cow.” These are some of the instances of insanity or madness in connection with the love affairs of Rädhä and Kåñëa. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is said that when Kåñëa entered the poisonous waters of the Yamunä, Çrématé Yaçodä-devé went insane. Instead of searching for curative herbs, she began to speak to the trees as if they were snake chanters. With folded hands she began to bow down to the trees, asking them, “What is the medicinal herb which can check Kåñëa’s dying from this poisonous water?” This is an instance of insanity caused by some great danger.

How a devotee can be in a state of insanity because of ecstatic love is described in the Tenth Canto, Thirtieth Chapter, verse 4, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, wherein the gopés were searching for Kåñëa in the forests of Våndävana. The gopés were loudly singing the glories of Kåñëa and wandering from one forest to another in search of Him. They knew that Kåñëa is not localized, but all-pervading. He is in the sky, He is in the water, He is in the air, and He is the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. Thus the gopés began to inquire from all kinds of trees and plants about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is an instance of ecstatic madness on the part of devotees.

Similarly, there are symptoms of diseases caused by ecstatic love. This condition is credited by learned scholars as being mahäbhäva. This highly elevated condition is also called divyonmäda, or transcendental madness.

When Kåñëa was absent from Våndävana and was staying in Mathurä, Çrématé Rädhäräëé sent news to Him that His mother, the Queen of Vraja, was feeling such separation from Him that there was foam coming from her mouth, like the foam on the shore of the ocean. And sometimes she was raising her arms like the waves of the ocean, and because of her intense feelings of separation, she was rolling on the ground and creating a tumultuous roaring sound. And sometimes she was remaining completely silent, like a calm sea. These symptoms of separation from Kåñëa are called apasmära, or forgetfulness. One completely forgets his position when he manifests these symptoms in ecstatic love.

Another message was once sent to Kåñëa informing Him that after He had killed Kaàsa, one of Kaàsa’s demon friends had gone insane. This demon was foaming at the mouth, waving his arms and rolling on the ground. This demoniac demonstration is in relationship with Kåñëa in a ghastly humor. This mellow or flavor is one of the indirect relationships with Kåñëa. The first five kinds of relationships are called direct, and the other seven are called indirect. Some way or other, the demon must have had some relationship with Kåñëa, because these symptoms developed when he heard that Kåñëa had already killed Kaàsa. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé remarks that there is also transcendental excellence in this kind of symptom.

When Kåñëa was absent from Våndävana and was staying at Mathurä, some of His friends informed Him, “Dear Kåñëa, because of their separation from You, the inhabitants of Vraja are so afflicted that they appear to be diseased. Their bodies are feverish, and they cannot move properly. They are simply lying down on the ground and breathing heavily.”

In the Tenth Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 44, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Mahäräja Parékñit asked about Lord Ananta, and upon hearing this question, Çukadeva Gosvämé began to show symptoms of collapsing. Yet he checked himself and answered King Parékñit’s question in a mild voice. This collapsing condition is described as a feverish state resulting from ecstatic pleasure.

There is another statement in Çrémad-Bhägavatam telling of the damsels of Vraja meeting Kåñëa at the sacred place of Kurukñetra, many years after their childhood pastimes. When they met in that sacred place, all the gopés became stunned by the occurrence of a solar eclipse. Their breathing, blinking of the eyes and all similar activities stopped, and they stood before Kåñëa just like statues. This is another instance of a diseased condition resulting from exuberant transcendental pleasure.

NoD 30: Further Features of Ecstatic Love for Kåñëa

There is the following statement in the Haàsadüta: “One day when Çrématé Rädhäräëé was feeling much affliction because of Her separation from Kåñëa, She went to the bank of the Yamunä with some of Her friends. There Rädhäräëé saw a cottage wherein She and Kåñëa had experienced many loving pleasures, and by remembering those incidents She immediately became overcome with dizziness. This dizziness was very prominently visible.” This is an instance of confusion caused by separation.

Similarly, there is a statement describing confusion caused by fearfulness. These symptoms were exhibited by Arjuna when he saw Kåñëa’s universal form on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. His confusion was so strong that his bow and arrows fell from his hand and he could not perceive anything clearly.

Once the Bakäsura demon assumed the shape of a very big duck and opened his mouth in order to swallow Kåñëa and all the cowherd boys. When Kåñëa was entering into the demon’s mouth, Balaräma and the other cowherd boys almost fainted and appeared as though they had no life. Even if devotees are illusioned by some ghastly scene or by any accidental occurrence, they never forget Kåñëa. Even in the greatest danger they can remember Kåñëa. This is the benefit of Kåñëa consciousness: even at the time of death, when all the functions of the body become dislocated, the devotee can remember Kåñëa in his innermost consciousness, and this saves him from falling down into material existence. In this way Kåñëa consciousness immediately takes one from the material platform to the spiritual world.

In this connection there is a statement about persons who died at Mathurä: “These persons had a slight breathing exhilaration, their eyes were wide open, the colors of their bodies were changed, and they began to utter the holy name of Kåñëa. In this condition they gave up their material bodies.” These symptoms are prior manifestations of death.

When, because of self-satisfaction or dislike of excessive labor, a person does not perform his duty in spite of having the energy, he is called lazy. This laziness also is manifested in ecstatic love of Kåñëa. For example, when some brähmaëas were requested by Nanda Mahäräja to circumambulate Govardhana Hill, they told him that they were more interested in offering benedictions than in circumambulating Govardhana Hill. This is an instance of laziness caused by self-satisfaction.

Once when Kåñëa, along with His cowherd boyfriends, was having a mock battle, Subala showed the symptoms of fatigue. Kåñëa immediately told His other friends, “Subala is feeling too fatigued from mock-fighting with Me. So please do not disturb him any more by inviting him to fight.” This is an instance of laziness caused by dislike of excessive labor.

In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 13, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is an appreciation by the gopés of the inertia of the cows in Våndävana. The gopés saw that the cows were hearing the sweet songs vibrated by Kåñëa’s flute and were appearing to be drinking the nectar of these transcendental sounds. The calves were stunned, and they forgot to drink the milk from the milk bags. Their eyes seemed to be embracing Kåñëa, and there were tears in their eyes. This is an instance of inertia resulting from hearing the transcendental vibrations of Kåñëa’s flute.

When Lakñmaëä became disturbed upon hearing words against Kåñëa, she remained inert and did not move her eyelids. This is another example of inertia caused by hearing.

In the Tenth Canto, Seventy-first Chapter, verse 39, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is an account of King Yudhiñöhira’s bewilderment after his bringing Kåñëa into his home with the greatest respect. King Yudhiñöhira was very much bewildered because of his transcendental pleasure at having Kåñëa present in his house. In fact, while receiving Kåñëa, King Yudhiñöhira forgot himself. This is an instance of inertia resulting from the ecstasy of seeing Kåñëa.

There is another instance in the Tenth Canto, Thirty-ninth Chapter, verse 36, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. When Kåñëa was going to Mathurä, all of the gopés were standing behind Kåñëa, and upon seeing the chariot leaving, they stood there stunned and did not move. They remained like that until the flag of the chariot and the dust thrown up by its wheels became invisible.

Kåñëa was once addressed by His friend thus: “My dear Mukunda [Kåñëa], due to their being separated from You, the cowherd boys are standing just like neglected Deities in the house of a professional brähmaëa.” There is a class of professional brähmaëas who take to Deity worship as a means of earning their livelihood. Brähmaëas in this class are not very interested in the Deity; they are interested mainly in the money they can earn as holy men. So the Deities worshiped by such professional brähmaëas are not properly decorated, Their dress is not changed, and Their bodies are not cleaned. They look dirty and are not very attractive. Actually, Deity worship should be done very carefully: the dress should be changed daily, and as far as possible there should be ornaments. Everything should be so clean that the Deity is attractive to all visitors. Here the example is given of the Deities in the house of a professional brähmaëa because such Deities are not at all attractive. The friends of Kåñëa, in the absence of Kåñëa, were appearing like such neglected Deities.

When Rädhäräëé was first introduced to Kåñëa, She felt very bashful. One of Her friends addressed Her in this way: “My dear friend, You have already sold Yourself and all Your beauty to Govinda. Now You should not be bashful. Please look upon Him cheerfully. One who has sold an elephant to another person should not make a miserly quarrel about selling the trident which controls the elephant.” This kind of bashfulness is due to a new introduction in ecstatic love with Kåñëa.

The heavenly King, Indra, upon being defeated in his fight with Kåñëa for possession of the pärijäta flower, became very bashful because of his defeat. He was standing before Kåñëa, bowing down his head, when Kåñëa said, “All right, Indra, you can take this pärijäta flower. Otherwise, you will not be able to show your face before your wife, Çacédevé.” Indra’s bashfulness was due to defeat. In another instance, Kåñëa began to praise Uddhava for his various high qualifications. Upon being praised by Kåñëa, Uddhava also bowed down his head bashfully.

In the Hari-vaàça, Satyabhämä, feeling slighted by Rukmiëé’s high position, said, “My dear Kåñëa, the Raivataka Mountain is always full of spring flowers, but when I have become persona non grata to You, what is the use of my observing them?” This is an instance of bashfulness resulting from being defeated.

There is a symptom of ecstatic love known as concealment, or trying to hide one’s real mental condition by externally showing another attitude. In this state of mind one tries to hide his mind by looking away in different directions, by unnecessarily trying for something which is impossible, or by using words which cover one’s real thoughts. According to äcäryas expert in the study of psychological activities, these attempts at hiding one’s real affections are another part of ecstatic feeling for Kåñëa.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-second Chapter, verse 15, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çukadeva Gosvämé states, “My dear King, the gopés were always beautiful and decorated with confidential smiles and alluring garments. In their movements, intended to give impetus to lusty feelings, they would sometimes press Kåñëa’s hand on their laps, and sometimes they would keep His lotus feet on their breasts. After doing this, they would talk with Kåñëa as if they were very angry with Him.”

There is another instance of this concealment in ecstatic love. When Kåñëa, the supreme joker, planted the pärijäta tree in the courtyard of Satyabhämä, Rukmiëé, the daughter of King Vidarbha, became very angry, but due to her natural gentle behavior, she did not express anything. No one could understand Rukmiëé’s real mental condition. This is an instance of competitive concealment.

There is another instance in the First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 32, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. After entering Dvärakä, Kåñëa was received in different ways by different members of His family. Upon seeing their husband from a distance, the queens of Dvärakä immediately embraced Him within their minds and slowly glanced over Him. As Kåñëa came nearer, they pushed their sons forward to embrace Him. Others were trying, out of shyness, not to shed tears, but they still could not keep the tears from gliding down. This is an instance of concealment caused by shyness.

On another occasion, when Çrématé Rädhäräëé thought that Kåñëa was involved with another woman, She addressed Her friend in this manner: “My dear friend, as soon as I think of Kåñëa the cowherd boy attached to some other woman, I become stricken with fear, and the hairs on My body stand up. I must be very careful that Kåñëa not see Me at such times.” This is an instance of concealment caused by shyness and diplomatic behavior.

It has been stated, “Although Çrématé Rädhäräëé developed a deep loving affection for Kåñëa, She hid Her attitude in the core of Her heart so that others could not detect Her actual condition.” This is an instance of concealment caused by gentleness.

Once when Kåñëa and His cowherd friends were enjoying friendly conversation, Kåñëa began to address His associates in casual language. At that time Kåñëa’s servant Patré was also enjoying the conversation. But then, remembering his position of servitude, Patré bowed down before his master, and with great respect and control, he stifled his smiling. This subdued smiling is an instance of concealment caused by a respectful attitude.

There are many symptoms of ecstatic love caused by remembering Kåñëa. For example, one friend of Kåñëa informed Him, “My dear Mukunda, just after observing a bluish cloud in the sky, the lotus-eyed Rädhäräëé immediately began to remember You. And simply by observing this cloud She became lusty for Your association.” This is an instance of remembering Kåñëa in ecstatic love because of seeing something resembling Him. Kåñëa’s bodily complexion is very similar to the bluish hue of a cloud, so simply by observing a bluish cloud, Çrématé Rädhäräëé remembered Him.

One devotee said that even when he was not very attentive he would sometimes, seemingly out of madness, remember the lotus feet of Kåñëa within his heart. This is an instance of remembrance resulting from constant practice. In other words, devotees who are constantly thinking of the lotus feet of Kåñëa, even if they are momentarily inattentive, will see the figure of Lord Kåñëa appearing within their hearts.

Madhumaìgala was an intimate friend of Kåñëa coming from the brähmaëa community. Kåñëa’s friends were mostly cowherd boys belonging to the vaiçya community, but there were others who belonged to the brähmaëa community. Actually, in Våndävana the vaiçya community and the brähmaëa community are considered prominent. This Madhumaìgala one day addressed Kåñëa in this fashion: “My dear friend, I can see that You are not aware of the peacock feathers that are falling on the ground, and at the same time You are unmindful of the flower garlands which are offered to You. I think I can guess the reason for Your absentmindedness when I see Your two eyes flying over to the eyes of Çrématé Rädhäräëé, just like black drones flying to lotus flowers.” This is an instance of an argumentative suggestion in ecstatic love.

Once while Kåñëa was out walking, one of the associates of Rädhäräëé told Her, “My dear friend, do You think that this walking personality is a [xi]tamäla tree? If He is a tamäla tree, then how is it possible for Him to walk and be so beautiful? Then, this personality might be a cloud. But if He’s a cloud, then where is the beautiful moon within? Under the circumstances, I think it may be granted that this person is the same enchanting Personality of Godhead by whose flute vibration the three worlds are captivated. He must be the same Mukunda who is standing before Govardhana Hill.” This is another instance of an argumentative presentation of ecstatic love.

In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 29, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, when Kåñëa asked all the gopés to go back to their homes, they did not like it. Because of their grief at this, they were sighing heavily, and their beautiful faces appeared to be drying up. In this condition they remained, without making a sound. They began to draw lines on the ground with their toes, and with their tears they washed the black ointment from their eyes onto their breasts, which were covered with red kuàkum powder. This is an instance of anxiety in ecstatic love.

One of the friends of Kåñëa once informed Him, “My dear killer of the demon Mura, Your kind and gentle mother is very anxious because You have not returned home, and with great difficulty she has passed the evening constantly sitting on the balcony of Your home. It is certainly astonishing how You could forget Your mother while You are off somewhere engaged in Your playful activities!” This is another instance of deep anxiety in ecstatic love.

When mother Yaçodä was very anxiously waiting for Kåñëa to return from Mathurä, Mahäräja Nanda gave her this solace: “My dear Yaçodä, please don’t be worried. Please dry your beautiful lotuslike face. There is no need for you to breathe so hotly. I will go immediately with Akrüra to the palace of Kaàsa and get your son back for you.” Here is an instance of anxiety in ecstatic love caused by Kåñëa’s awkward position.

In the Vaiçäkha-mähätmya section of the Padma Puräëa a devotee states that though in some of the eighteen Puräëas the process of glorifying Lord Viñëu is not mentioned and the glorifying of some demigod is offered, such glorification must be continued for millions of years. For when one studies the Puräëas very scrutinizingly, he can see that ultimately Lord Viñëu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is an instance of ecstatic love developed out of thoughtfulness.

In the Tenth Canto, Sixtieth Chapter, verse 39, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is an account of Rukmiëédevé’s writing a letter to Kåñëa requesting Him to kidnap her before her marriage to another person. At that time the specific attachment of Rukmiëé for Kåñëa was expressed by Rukmiëé as follows: “My dear Lord Kåñëa, Your transcendental glories are chanted by great sages who are free from material contamination, and in exchange for such glorification You are so kind that You freely distribute Yourself to such devotees. As one can elevate oneself simply by Your grace, so also by Your direction alone one may be lost to all benedictions, under the influence of eternal time. Therefore I have selected Your Lordship as my husband, brushing aside personalities like Brahmä and Indra—not to mention others.” Rukmiëé enhanced her love for Kåñëa simply by thinking of Him. This is an instance of thoughtfulness in ecstatic love.

When a person is fully satisfied due to attaining knowledge, transcending all distress or achieving his desired goal of life in transcendental devotional service to God, his state of endurance or steady-mindedness is called dhåti. At this stage one is not perturbed by any amount of loss, nor does anything appear to be unachieved by him.

According to the opinion of Bhartåhari, a learned scholar, when a person is elevated to this state of endurance, he thinks as follows: “I do not wish to be a highly posted government servant. I shall prefer to remain naked, without proper garments. I shall prefer to lie down on the ground without any mattress. And despite all these disadvantages, I shall refuse to serve anyone, even the government.” In other words, when one is in ecstatic love with the Personality of Godhead, he can endure any kind of disadvantages calculated under the material concept of life.

Nanda Mahäräja, the father of Kåñëa, used to think, “In my pasturing ground the goddess of fortune is personally present, and I possess more than ten hundred thousand cows, which loiter here and there. And above all, I have a son like Kåñëa, who is such a powerful, wonderful worker. Therefore, even though I am a householder, I am feeling so satisfied!” This is an instance of mental endurance resulting from the absence of all distress.

In another instance a devotee says, “I am always swimming in the nectarean ocean of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, and as such I have no more attraction for religious rituals, economic development, sense gratification or even the ultimate salvation of merging into the existence of Brahman.” This is an instance of the mind’s endurance due to achieving the best thing in the world. The best thing in the world is absorption in Kåñëa consciousness.

It is described in the Viñëu Puräëa that when Akrüra came to take Kåñëa and Balaräma to Mathurä, just by seeing Their faces he became so cheerful that all over his body there were symptoms of ecstatic love. This state is called happiness.

It is stated in the Tenth Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, verse 11, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, “Upon seeing that Kåñëa’s arm was placed on her shoulder, one of the gopés engaged in the räsa dance became so ecstatically happy that she kissed Kåñëa on His cheek.” This is an instance of feeling happiness because of achieving a desired goal.

In the Tenth Canto, Seventy-first Chapter, verse 33, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, it is said, “When Kåñëa first came from His kingdom, Dvärakä, to [xii]Indraprastha, the young females of the city became so eager to see Him that even at night, when they were lying down with their husbands, they could not restrain their eagerness. Even though they were not properly dressed and although their hair was loose and there were many household duties to perform, they still gave up everything and immediately went into the street to see Kåñëa.” This is an instance of eagerness in ecstatic love.

In his book Stavävalé, Çré Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé has prayed for the mercy of Rädhäräëé, who was so captivated by the flute vibrations of Kåñëa that She immediately asked information of His whereabouts from residents in the Våndävana forest. Upon first seeing Kåñëa, She was filled with such ecstatic love and pleasure that She began to scratch Her ears. The damsels of Vraja and Rädhäräëé were very expert in talking cunningly, so as soon as they saw Kåñëa they began their talkings; and Kåñëa, pretending to go for some flowers for them, immediately left that place and entered into a mountain cave. This is another instance of eager loving exchanges on the parts of both the gopés and Kåñëa.

When Kåñëa was fighting with the Käliya snake by dancing on his heads, Käliya bit Kåñëa on the leg. At that time Garuòa became infuriated and began to murmur, “Kåñëa is so powerful that simply by His thundering voice the wives of Käliya have had miscarriages. Because my Lord has been insulted by this snake, I wish to devour him immediately, but I cannot do so in the presence of my Lord, because He may become angry with me.” This is an instance of eagerness to act in ecstatic love as a result of dishonor to Kåñëa.

When Çiçupäla objected to the worship of Kåñëa in the Räjasüya arena at a sacrifice organized by Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, Sahadeva, the younger brother of Arjuna, said, “A person who cannot tolerate the worship of Kåñëa is my enemy and is possessed of a demoniac nature. Therefore I wish to strike my left foot upon his broad head, just to punish him more strongly than the wand of Yamaräja!” Then Baladeva began to lament like this: “Oh, all auspiciousness to Lord Kåñëa! I am so surprised to see that the condemned descendants of the Kuru dynasty, who so unlawfully occupied the throne of the Kuru kingdom, are criticizing Kåñëa with diplomatic devices. Oh, this is intolerable!” This is another instance of eagerness caused by dishonor to Kåñëa.

In the Vidagdha-mädhava, Jaöilä, the mother-in-law of Rädhäräëé, began to criticize Kåñëa in this way: “Kåñëa, You are standing here, and Rädhäräëé, who has just been married to my son, is also standing here. Now I know both of You very well, so why should I not be very anxious to protect my daughter-in-law from Your dancing eyes?” This is an instance of dishonorable words used to indirectly criticize Kåñëa.

Similarly, some of the gopés once began to address Kåñëa with these dishonorable words: “My dear Kåñëa, You are a first-class thief. So please leave this place immediately. We know You love Candrävalé more than us, but there is no use in praising her in our presence! Kindly do not contaminate the name of Rädhäräëé in this place!” This is another instance of dishonorable words cast upon Kåñëa in ecstatic love.

There is another statement in the Tenth Canto, Thirty-first Chapter, verse 16, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. When all the gopés came out of their homes to meet Kåñëa in the Våndävana forest, Kåñëa refused to accept them and asked them to go home, giving them some moral instruction. At that time the gopés spoke as follows: “Dear Kåñëa, there is extreme distress in being out of Your presence, and there is extreme happiness simply in seeing You. Therefore we have all left our husbands, relatives, brothers and friends and have simply come to You, being captivated by the sound of Your transcendental flute. O infallible one, You had better know the reason for our coming here. In plain words, we are here simply because we have been captivated by the sweet sound of Your flute. We are all beautiful girls, and You are so foolish that You are rejecting our association. We do not know anyone, other than Yourself, who would miss this opportunity to associate with young girls in the dead of night!” This is another instance of indirect insults used against Kåñëa in ecstatic love.

In the Padyävalé, one of the friends of Rädhäräëé once addressed Her thus: “My dear friend, please do not be too puffed up because Kåñëa has decorated Your forehead with His own hand. It may be that Kåñëa is yet attracted by some other beautiful girl. I see that the decoration on Your forehead is very nicely made, and so it appears that Kåñëa was not too disturbed in painting it. Otherwise, He could not have painted such exact lines!” This is an instance of envy caused by Rädhä’s good fortune.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirtieth Chapter, verse 30, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is the following statement: “When the gopés were searching for Kåñëa and Rädhä after the räsa dance, they thus began to speak among themselves: ‘We have seen the footprints of Kåñëa and Rädhä on the ground of Våndävana, and they are giving us great pain, because although Kåñëa is everything to us, that girl is so cunning that She has taken Him away alone and is enjoying His kissing without sharing Him with us!’ ” This is another instance of envy of the good fortune of Çrématé Rädhäräëé.

Sometimes when the cowherd boys used to play in the forests of Våndävana, Kåñëa would play on one side, and Balaräma would play on another. There would be competition and mock fighting between the two parties, and when Kåñëa’s party was defeated by Balaräma, the boys would say, “If Balaräma’s party remains victorious, then who in the world can be weaker than ourselves?” This is another instance of envy in ecstatic love.

In the Tenth Canto, Fifty-second Chapter, verse 41, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Rukmiëé addresses a letter to Kåñëa as follows: “My dear unconquerable Kåñëa, my marriage day is fixed for tomorrow. I request that You come to the city of Vidarbha without advertising Yourself. Then have Your soldiers and commanders suddenly surround and defeat all the strength of the King of Magadha, and by thus adopting the methods of the demons, please kidnap and marry me.”

According to the Vedic system there are eight kinds of marriages, one of which is called räkñasa-viväha. Räkñasa-viväha refers to kidnapping a girl and marrying her by force. This is considered to be a demoniac method. When Rukmiëé was going to be married to Çiçupäla by the choice of her elder brother, she wrote the above letter to Kåñëa requesting Him to kidnap her. This is an instance of impudence in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

One of the gopés said, “May Kåñëa’s sweet flute be washed away by the waves of the Yamunä, and let it fall into the ocean! The sweet sound of that flute is so impudent that it makes us lose all composure before our superiors.”

Every evening at sunset Kåñëa used to return from the pasturing ground where He herded cows. Sometimes when mother Yaçodä could not hear the sweet vibration of His flute she would become very anxious, and because of this she would feel dizzy. Thus, dizziness caused by anxiety in ecstatic love for Kåñëa is also possible.

When Yaçodä had tied Kåñëa up one time, she began to think, “Kåñëa’s body is so soft and delicate. How could I have tied Him with rope?” Thinking this, her brain became puzzled, and she felt dizziness.

The gopés were advised by their superiors to bolt the doors at night, but they were so carefree that they did not carry out this order very rigidly. Sometimes, by thinking of Kåñëa, they became so confident of being out of all danger that they would lie down at night in the courtyards of their houses. This is an instance of dizziness in ecstatic love due to natural affection for Kåñëa.

It may be questioned why devotees of Kåñëa should be attacked by dizziness, which is usually considered a sign of the mode of ignorance. To answer this question, Çré Jéva Gosvämé has said that the devotees of Lord Kåñëa are always transcendental to all the modes of material nature; when they feel dizziness or go to sleep, they are not considered to be sleeping under the modes of nature, but are accepted as being in a trance of devotional service. There is an authoritative statement in the Garuòa Puräëa about mystic yogés who are under the direct shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “In all three stages of their consciousness—namely wakefulness, dreaming and deep sleep—the devotees are absorbed in thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, in their complete absorption in thought of Kåñëa, they do not sleep.”

Once Lord Baladeva began to talk in His sleep as follows:“O lotus-eyed Kåñëa, Your childhood adventures are manifest simply according to Your own will. Therefore, please immediately dispose of the stubborn pride of this Käliya serpent.” By saying this, Lord Baladeva astonished the assembly of the Yadus and made them laugh for some time. Then, yawning so hard as to make ripples on His abdomen, Lord Baladeva, the bearer of the plow, returned to His deep sleep. This is an instance of sleepiness in ecstatic love.

A devotee once stated, “I have already conquered the mode of ignorance, and I am now on the platform of transcendental knowledge. Therefore I shall be engaged only in searching after the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” This is an instance of alertness in ecstatic love. Transcendental alertness is possible when the illusory condition is completely overcome. At that stage, when in contact with any reaction of material elements, such as sound, smell, touch or taste, the devotee realizes the transcendental presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this condition the ecstatic symptoms (e.g., standing of the hair on the body, rolling of the eyeballs and getting up from sleep) are persistently visible.

When Çrématé Rädhäräëé first saw Kåñëa, She suddenly became conscious of all transcendental happiness, and the functions of Her different limbs were stunned. When Lalitä, Her constant companion, whispered into Her ear the holy name of Kåñëa, Rädhäräëé immediately opened Her eyes wide. This is an instance of alertness caused by hearing the sound of Kåñëa’s name.

One day, in a joking mood, Kåñëa informed Rädhäräëé, “My dear Rädhäräëé, I am going to give up Your company.” Upon saying this, He immediately disappeared, and because of this Rädhäräëé became so afflicted that the hue of Her body changed, and She immediately fell down upon the ground of Våndävana. She had practically stopped breathing, but when She smelled the flavor of the flowers on the ground, She awoke in ecstasy and got up. This is an instance of transcendental alertness caused by smelling.

When Kåñëa was touching the body of one gopé, the gopé addressed her companion thus: “My dear friend, whose hand is this touching my body? I had become very afraid after seeing the dark forest on the bank of the Yamunä, but suddenly the touch of this hand has saved me from hysterical fits.” This is an instance of alertness caused by touching.

One of the gopés informed Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, when You disappeared from the arena of the räsa dance, our most dear friend, Rädhäräëé, immediately fell on the ground and lost consciousness. But after this, when I offered Her some of Your chewed betel nut remnants, She immediately returned to consciousness with jubilant symptoms in Her body.” This is an instance of alertness caused by tasting.

One night Çrématé Rädhäräëé was talking in a dream. “My dear Kåñëa,” She said, “please do not play any more jokes on Me! Please stop! And please don’t touch My garments either. Otherwise I shall inform the elderly persons, and I shall disclose all of Your naughty behavior.” While She was talking like this in a dream, She suddenly awoke and saw some of Her superiors standing before Her. Thus Rädhäräëé became ashamed and bowed Her head. This is an instance of alertness after awakening from sleep.

There is another instance of this. A messenger from Kåñëa came to Çrématé Rädhäräëé while She was sleeping, and Rädhäräëé immediately awakened. Similarly, when Kåñëa began to blow on His flute in the night, all of the gopés, the beautiful daughters of the cowherd men, immediately got up from their sleep. There is a very beautiful comparison made in this connection: “The lotus flower is sometimes surrounded by white swans, and sometimes it is surrounded by black wasps who are collecting its honey. When there is a thundering in the sky, the swans go away, but the black wasps stay to enjoy the lotus flowers.” The gopés’ sleeping condition is compared to the white swans, and the sound of Kåñëa’s flute is compared to a black wasp. When Kåñëa’s flute sounded, the white swans, which represent the sleeping condition of the gopés, were immediately vanquished, and the black wasp sound of the flute began to enjoy the lotus flower of the gopés’ beauty.

NoD 31: Additional Symptoms

All the previously mentioned thirty-three symptoms of ecstatic love are called vyabhicäré, or disturbing. All these symptoms refer to apparently disturbed conditions, but even in such disturbed conditions there is acute ecstatic love for Kåñëa. These symptoms, however, can be divided into three groups: first class, second class and third. There are many disturbing symptoms in ecstatic love, such as envy, anxiety, pride, jealousy, conclusion, cowardliness, forgiveness, impatience, hankering, regret, doubtfulness and impudence. These are included in the thirty-three conditions of ecstatic love. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has very nicely analyzed the different kinds of disturbing symptoms, and although it is very difficult to find the exact English equivalents for many Sanskrit words used here, his analysis will now be presented.

When one becomes malicious upon seeing another’s advancement of life, his state of mind is generally called envy. When one becomes frightened at seeing a lightning bolt in the sky, that fearfulness brings on anxiety. Therefore, fearfulness and anxiety may be taken as one. One’s desire to hide his real mentality is called avahitthä, or concealment, and a desire to exhibit superiority is called pride. Both of these may be classified under pretension. In a pretentious attitude both avahitthä and pride are to be found. One’s inability to tolerate an offense committed by another is called amarña, and one’s inability to tolerate the opulence of another is called jealousy. Jealousy and amarña are both caused by intolerance. One’s ability to establish the correct import of a word may be called conclusiveness. And before such a conclusive determination of import, there must be thoughtful consideration. Therefore, the act of consideration is present during the establishment of a conclusion. When one presents himself as ignorant, his attitude is called humility, and when there is absence of enthusiasm it is called cowardice. Therefore, in humility, there is sometimes cowardice also. When the mind is steadfast it is called enduring, and one’s ability to tolerate others’ offenses is also called endurance. Therefore, forgiveness and endurance can be synonymous. Anxiousness for time to pass is called impatience, and when one sees something wonderful one is said to be struck with wonder. Impatience may be caused by being struck with wonder, and so impatience and being struck with wonder can be synonymous. When anxiety is in its dormant stage it is called hankering. Therefore, anxiety and hankering can also be synonymous. When one becomes regretful for some offense, his feeling is called bashfulness. In this way, bashfulness and regret can be synonymous. Doubtfulness is one of the aspects of argument. After exhibiting impudence one becomes restless. Therefore restlessness and impudence can be synonymous.

When all such symptoms are included in ecstatic love, they are called saïcäré, or continuously existing ecstatic symptoms. All of these symptoms are transcendental, and they are exhibited in different ways, acting and interacting under different conditions. They are like the reciprocation of love between the lover and beloved.

When a person is envious or defamed, there may be a change in the color of the body. This may be classified as vibhäva, or subecstasy. Sometimes illusion, collapse and strong anxiety are also considered to be vibhäva. When there are many such symptoms, they can simply be grouped together under ecstatic love.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that fright, sleep, fatigue, laziness and the madness of intoxication are sometimes grouped under continuous symptoms of ecstatic love, and they are due to a strong attraction.

False argument, determination, steadiness, remembrance, joyfulness, ignorance, humility and unconsciousness are also different symptoms of ecstatic love. Dependence is also grouped under ecstatic love, and this can be divided into superior dependence and inferior dependence. The direct differentiations between superior and inferior dependence are ascertained by Rüpa Gosvämé and will be presented in due course.

One devotee exclaimed, “Oh, I cannot see the district of Mathurä! Even though by simply hearing the name of Mathurä the hairs of my body are standing up, I cannot see the place. So of what use are my eyes?” This statement reveals a strong anxiety to see the district of Mathurä resulting from a strong attachment to Kåñëa. There is another instance of this strong attachment for Kåñëa expressed by Bhéma when he began to murmur, “My arms are just like thunderbolts, but despite these arms I could not smash Çiçupäla while he was blaspheming Kåñëa. Therefore, of what use are these strong arms?” In this instance Bhéma became angry, and being influenced by such anger, his hopelessness became a cause for strong attachment to Kåñëa. This instance can be described as strong attachment for Kåñëa in anger.

When Arjuna witnessed the universal form of Kåñëa, whose dazzling teeth were practically devouring the very existence of the universe, Arjuna’s mouth became dried up. At that time Arjuna forgot himself and could not understand that he was Arjuna, Kåñëa’s friend, although he was always dependent upon Kåñëa’s mercy. This incident is an example of inferior dependence.

Sometimes ghastly activities also support strong ecstatic love for Kåñëa. This state of mind is called ecstatic fearfulness under illusion. In the Tenth Canto, Twenty-third Chapter, verse 40, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is the following statement by the brähmaëas who were performing sacrifices: “We have all been born into three advantageous conditions: we are in high brähmaëa families, we have ceremoniously received the sacred thread, and we are also properly initiated by a spiritual master. But, alas, in spite of all these advantages, we are condemned. Even our observance of brahmacarya is condemned.” The brähmaëas thus began to condemn their own activities. They realized that in spite of being so elevated by birth, education and culture, they still were under the spell of the illusory energy. They also admitted that even great yogés who are not devotees of the Lord are covered by the influence of material energy. This kind of hopelessness felt by the brähmaëas who were performing ritualistic ceremonies shows practically no attachment for Kåñëa. There is another hopelessness, however, which shows attachment for Kåñëa. When the bull demon attacked the damsels of Vraja, they began to cry out, “Dear Kåñëa—please save us! We are now gone!” This is hopelessness with attachment for Kåñëa.

When the Keçé demon was assassinated by Kåñëa, Kaàsa became hopeless. He said, “Keçé-daitya was as dear to me as my own life, but he has been killed by some cowherd boy who is crude, uneducated and ignorant in fighting. Even though I have defeated the King of heaven without difficulty, still I do not know the value of life.” Because this hopelessness has a slight touch of attraction for Kåñëa, it is considered to be a reflection of ecstatic love in hopelessness.

Kaàsa once rebuked Akrüra by saying, “You are such a fool that you are accepting a cowherd boy to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply because He has defeated some harmless water snake! The boy may have lifted one pebble called Govardhana Hill, but what is more surprising than that is your statement that this boy is the Personality of Godhead!” This is an instance of a maliciously opposing element, caused by hopelessness in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

One devotee tried to console a kadamba tree when the tree was lamenting because Kåñëa had not touched even its shadow. The devotee said, “My dear kadamba tree, do not be worried. Just after defeating the Käliya snake in the Yamunä River, Kåñëa will come and satisfy your desire.” This is an instance of inappropriate hopelessness in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

Garuòa the eagle, the carrier of Viñëu, once said, “Who can be more pure than I? Where is there a second bird like me, so able and competent? Kåñëa may not like me, He may not wish to join my party, but still He has to take advantage of my wings!” This is an instance of hopelessness in the neutral mood of ecstatic love.

The symptoms of ecstatic love are sometimes grouped under four headings—namely generation, conjunction, aggregation and satisfaction.

Kåñëa once told Rädhäräëé, “My dear friend, when You tried to meet Me alone in the morning, Your friend Mekhalä remained hungry with envy. Just look at her!” When Kåñëa was joking with Rädhäräëé in this way, Rädhäräëé moved Her beautiful eyebrows crossly. Rüpa Gosvämé prays that everyone may become blessed by this movement of Çrématé Rädhäräëé’s eyebrows. This is an instance of the generation of malice in ecstatic love of Kåñëa.

One night, after the Pütanä demon had been killed, baby Kåñëa could be seen playing upon her breast. Upon seeing this, Yaçodä became stunned for some time. This is an example of a conjunction of various symptoms of ecstatic love. The conjunction can be auspicious or inauspicious. That the Pütanä demon had been killed was auspicious, but that Kåñëa was playing on her breast in the dead of night, with no one to help Him in case of trouble, was inauspicious. Yaçodä was caught between auspiciousness and inauspiciousness.

After Kåñëa had just learned to walk, He was going in and out of the house very frequently. Yaçodä became surprised and said, “This child is too restless and cannot be controlled! He is incessantly going about the neighborhood of Gokula [Våndävana], and then He is coming back inside the house. I see that the child is very fearless, but in spite of His fearlessness, I am becoming more and more afraid of His falling into some danger.” This again is an instance of the conjunction of two opposing elements: the child was very fearless, but at the same time Yaçodä was becoming fearful of some danger. Here danger is the cause, and Yaçodä’s feelings are in a conjunction of two opposing symptoms. In other words, Yaçodä was feeling both happiness and doubt, or growing fear.

When Devaké, the mother of Kåñëa, saw her son very jubilant in the presence of the wrestlers in Kaàsa’s arena, two kinds of tears were simultaneously gliding down her cheeks: sometimes her tears were warm, and sometimes they were cold. This is an instance of a conjunction of jubilation and lamentation due to different causes of ecstatic love.

Once when Çrématé Rädhäräëé was standing on the bank of the Yamunä River in the forest of Våndävana, She was attacked by Kåñëa, who was stronger than She. Although She externally expressed a disturbed mood from this incident, within Herself She was smiling and feeling great satisfaction. Externally She moved Her eyebrows and made a show of rejecting Kåñëa. In this mood Rädhäräëé looked very beautiful, and Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé glorifies Her beauty. This is an instance of exhibiting varying feelings in ecstatic love, although the cause is one only—Kåñëa.

Sometimes there were great festivals in the house of Nanda Mahäräja, and all of the inhabitants of Våndävana would assemble for these festivals. During one such festival, Çrématé Rädhäräëé was seen wearing a golden necklace given Her by Kåñëa. This was immediately detected by mother Yaçodä as well as by Rädhäräëé’s mother, because the necklace was too long for Rädhäräëé’s neck. At the same time Rädhäräëé could see Kåñëa nearby, as well as Her own husband, Abhimanyu. So all of these things combined to make Rädhäräëé feel very much ashamed, and with Her face shriveled She began to look very beautiful. In this case there was a combination of bashfulness, anger, jubilation and lamentation. This is an instance of an aggregate of symptoms of ecstatic love.

Kaàsa once said, “What harm can this boy do to me? He has no power.” The next moment Kaàsa was informed that all of his friends had been killed by the boy. Then Kaàsa began to think in perplexity, “Shall I go immediately and surrender unto Him? But how can a great warrior do this?” The next moment he thought, “Why should I be afraid of Him? There are still so many wrestlers standing to support me.” But the next moment he began to consider, “The boy is certainly not common, because He has lifted Govardhana Hill with His left hand. So what can I do in this connection? Let me go to Våndävana and inflict pains on all the residents there. But still I cannot even go out, because my heart is trembling from fear of this boy!” This condition of Kaàsa’s mind reveals an instance of pride, lamentation, humility, determination, remembrance, doubtfulness, anger and fear. Actually eight different symptoms comprised the mental condition of Kaàsa. This is another instance of an aggregate of symptoms in hopeless ecstatic love.

One householder devotee once said, “My Lord, I am so wretched that these two eyes are never desiring to see the glorious city of Mathurä. Therefore, my eyes are actually condemned. I am nicely educated, but my education has simply been used in government service. I have not considered formidable time, stronger than anything else, which creates and annihilates everything. To whom shall I leave all of my wealth and fortune? I am becoming older and older. What shall I do? Shall I execute devotional service from here at home? This I cannot do, because my mind is being attracted by the transcendental land of Våndävana.”

This is an instance of hopelessness, pride, doubt, patience, lamentation, determination and eagerness—an aggregation of seven different symptoms in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

There is a proverb in Sanskrit which says, “Disappointment gives rise to the greatest satisfaction.” In other words, when one’s sentiment or ambition becomes too great and is not fulfilled until after seemingly hopeless tribulation, that is taken as the greatest satisfaction. Once the cowherd boys in Våndävana were vainly searching after Kåñëa for a long time, and for that reason their faces became blackened, and their complexions appeared faded. Just then they could hear on the hill a faint vibration from Kåñëa’s flute. Immediately all of them became very much gladdened. This is an instance of satisfaction in the midst of disappointment.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that although he has no expert knowledge about the sounds and meanings and mellows of the symptoms of ecstatic love, he has tried to give some examples of different varieties of love of Kåñëa. He further states that the thirty-three disturbing symptoms of ecstatic love, plus eight other symptoms, all taken together equal forty-one primary symptoms of ecstatic love. These symptoms create transformations of bodily activities as well as movements of the senses. All of them can be accepted as different feelings of the heart. Sometimes some of the feelings are quite natural. Sometimes some of the feelings are just temporary appearances. Those symptoms which are very natural always remain, both within and without the devotee.

As one can detect the color of dye a cloth was soaked in by looking at the cloth, so, simply by understanding the different signs of these symptomatic features, one can understand the actual position. In other words, attachment for Kåñëa is one, but because there exist different kinds of devotees, such attachment is manifested in many varieties. As clothing tinged red appears red, so the temporary appearance of a certain type of feeling can be detected or observed by the specific ecstatic symptom. In fact, all the different humors and mellows of the devotees produce various specific feelings within the mind. And according to these differences, the symptoms of ecstatic love appear in different forms and degrees. If one’s heart is highly elevated, grave and magnanimous, or if one’s heart is rough and crude, different symptoms of ecstatic love will appear, influenced by the condition of the heart. Actually, people cannot generally understand such different qualities of mentality, but when one’s heart is very soft or gentle, these symptoms become very easily visible, and one can understand them very clearly. The heart of one who is highly elevated and grave is compared to gold. If one’s heart is very soft and gentle, his heart is compared to a cotton swab. When there is an ecstatic sensation within the mind, the golden heart or grave heart is not agitated, but the soft heart immediately becomes agitated.

To offer another example, a grave, magnanimous heart is compared to a great city, and a soft heart to an insignificant cottage. There may be many lights, or even great elephants in the big city, but no one will take particular notice of them. But when such lights or elephants are seen near a small cottage, everyone can distinctly point them out.

A hard heart is compared to a lightning bolt, to gold and to shellac. The lightning bolt is very strong and never becomes soft. Similarly, the hearts of those who are engaged in severe austerities and penances do not become very easily softened. The golden heart becomes melted at high temperature, as in ecstatic love. And the shellac heart is very easily melted in slight temperature.

A soft heart is compared to honey, to butter and to nectar. And the condition of the mind is compared to sunshine. As honey and butter become melted even in slight sunshine, softhearted persons become easily melted. Nectar, however, is by its nature always liquid. And the hearts of those who are in pure ecstatic love with Kåñëa are by nature always liquified, just like nectar.

A pure devotee of Kåñëa is always specifically qualified with nectarean qualifications and sometimes with the qualifications of butter and honey. On the whole, the heart in any of the different conditions mentioned above can be melted under certain circumstances, just as a hard diamond is sometimes melted by a combination of certain chemicals. In the Däna-keli-kaumudé it is stated, “When love develops in the heart of a devotee, he cannot check the transformation of his sentiments. His heart is just like the ocean at the rising of the moon, when the ebb tide cannot be checked: immediately there must be movement of high waves.” Although in its natural state the ocean is always grave and unfathomable, when the moon rises, nothing can check the ocean’s agitation. Similarly, those who are pure devotees cannot on any account check the movement of their feelings within.

NoD 32: Symptoms of Continuous Love

The continuous ecstasy of love can remain like a powerful king, subduing all temporary manifestations of love as well as any opposing elements of anger. It can be exhibited directly or indirectly, and thus ecstatic love can be described as direct or indirect. These symptoms of ecstatic love are possible only when one is fully situated in a transcendental position. Direct ecstatic love can be divided into two groups—namely, selfish and selfless.

When noncontradictory symptoms of ecstatic love are distinctly manifest, any contradictory symptoms create a sense of abomination. Contradictory ecstatic love is called selfish. That ecstatic love which can adjust all contradictory or noncontradictory symptoms is called direct selfless love. These selfless symptoms can again be divided into five groups: neutrality, servitude, fraternity, parenthood and conjugal love. Such ecstatic love assumes a particular mode in contact with different objects of love.

Neutrality can be further subdivided into general, transparent and peaceful. An attraction for Kåñëa by the people in general or by children cannot take any specific or satisfactory position. It can be manifest sometimes in trembling of the body and changing of the color of the eyes (to red, white, etc.), although there is no symptom of any particular affection.

One old man was told by a young man, “Just see how this child—only three years old—is so jubilant! Simply by seeing Kåñëa he is running so swiftly, making a tumultuous sound. Just see!” This is an instance of neutral ecstatic love in the heart of a child, without any specific subdivision.

Due to the different types of attraction for Kåñëa, there are different varieties of devotees. Their symptoms are manifested transparently, just like jewels. It is said that a great devotee brähmaëa would sometimes address the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master and sometimes joke with the Lord, using different kinds of familiar words. Sometimes he would protect the Lord with a filial affection, sometimes he would cry out to the Lord, addressing the Lord as his beloved, and sometimes he would meditate on the Lord as the Supersoul. This means that the brähmaëa expressed his ecstatic loving symptoms in different ways at different times. But in each instance, because of ecstatic love, the brähmaëa merged himself in the ocean of happiness and became situated in pure love. Thus he was a transparent medium, like a jewel that shows reality in varying colors according to its own nature.

When the great sage Närada was glorifying the pastimes of the Lord with his véëä, the four Kumäras, headed by Sanaka, although merged in the impersonal conception of Brahman, were trembling all over. Another devotee once exclaimed, “Although I can achieve liberation simply by serving the devotees, my mind is still very much anxious to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily complexion is just like a dark cloud.” When a devotee is so anxious to contact the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that can also be accepted as a symptom of neutral love.

Generally, a devotee of Lord Kåñëa may be placed into one of three groups. One group consists of those who are completely dependent on the merciful affection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, another group consists of devotees who are dealing with Kåñëa on friendly terms, and the third group consists of those who are dealing with Kåñëa as His superiors, with parental affection. These three classes of devotees gradually develop different relationships of transcendental mellow with the Personality of Godhead. When the attraction for Kåñëa is based on only one particular humor, that humor is called kevalä, or the pure state. One in this pure state of devotional service gradually develops the desire to follow in the footsteps of an eternal associate of Kåñëa, e.g., to follow in the footsteps of Rasäla, the personal attendant of Kåñëa in Goloka Våndävana, or to follow Kåñëa’s friends, like Çrédämä and Sudämä, or to follow Nanda and Yaçodä, devotees in parenthood. Ecstatic love for Kåñëa is never manifested directly with Kåñëa Himself. The devotee has to follow in the footsteps of the eternal associates of Kåñëa in Goloka Våndävana.

When transcendental humors in relationship with Kåñëa become mixed (e.g., when the relationships with Kåñëa in friendship, servitorship and parental love become mixed together), the result is called mixed humor or flavor. Such mixed transcendental flavors are manifested by such devotees as Uddhava, Bhéma and Mukharä, the personal attendant of mother Yaçodä. Although devotional humors are sometimes found in mixtures, a particular humor is always found to be a prominent and constant factor. That prominent humor is to be accepted as the devotee’s main relationship with Kåñëa. For example, Uddhava is in relationship with Kåñëa as a friend, but in Uddhava’s character a trace of servitude to Kåñëa is also visible. Such friendship is called friendship in reverence. The friendship typified by Çrédämä and Sudämä, however, is the standard of friendship without any tinge of reverence.

The devotees who always think of Kåñëa as a superior are in subordinate ecstatic love. To such a devotee the concept of inferiority to the Lord is very prominent, and he rarely takes interest in any other kind of transcendental loving humor with the Lord.

In the Mukunda-mälä-stotra, compiled by King Kulaçekhara, one of the prayers says, “My dear Lord, You are the deliverer of living entities from the hellish condition of materialistic life, but that does not matter to me. Whether I am elevated to the heavenly platform or remain on this earthly planet or am dispatched to some hellish planet, that does not matter at all to me. My only prayer is that at the time of my death I may simply remember Your two beautiful feet, which are just like lotus flowers fructifying during the autumn season.”

As far as friendship is concerned, those high-grade devotees who are almost like Kåñëa are considered to be great authorities in the modes of friendly relations with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On that friendly platform there are different kinds of laughing and joking conversations. An example of such a friendly relationship with Kåñëa is described in Çrémad-Bhägavatam when Kåñëa was once thinking, “Today, while I was engaged in tending the cows in the pasturing ground of Våndävana, I went to collect some flowers in a beautiful garden. At that time My friends, the cowherd boys, were unhappy even to tolerate a two-minute separation from Me. And when they found Me, there was competition between us as to who would touch the other first with the flowers we had in hand.”

One friend criticized Kåñëa thus: “My dear Dämodara, although You have been defeated by Çrédämä and have become sufficiently minimized in strength, by a false expression of strength You have somehow covered Your shameful condition of defeat.”

When mother Yaçodä heard that Kåñëa’s cows were being forcibly moved by the strong servants of Kaàsa and that the tender cowherd boys were trying to protect their cows, she began to think, “How can I protect these poor boys from the invasion of Kaàsa’s servants?” This is an instance of a superior attitude in a devotee.

As soon as mother Yaçodä found her son Kåñëa returning from the pasturing ground, she immediately began to pat Him, touching her fingers to the cheeks of the Lord.

Above even the humor of love between Kåñëa and His parents is the relationship of conjugal love. The Lord and the young gopés exhibit this in different ways—glancing, moving the eyebrows, speaking very sweet words and exchanging smiles.

There is a statement in Govinda-viläsa to this effect: “Çrématé Rädhäräëé was looking for Kåñëa very anxiously and almost disappointedly.” When there is such an indirect expression of conjugal love, there is smiling, astonishment, enthusiasm, lamentation, anger, dread and sometimes ghastliness. These seven exchanges of conjugal love form another state of ecstatic love.

In a direct relationship of conjugal love, there is laughter, astonishment, chivalry, lamentation, anger and dread, but there is no ghastliness. These expressions are considered to be great reservoirs of pleasure. When these seven kinds of ecstatic loving exchanges are manifested, they attain the status of steadiness by which the taste of conjugal love expands.

NoD 33: Indirect Expressions of Ecstatic Love

After He had stolen some yogurt from the pots of two gopés, Kåñëa told one of His gopé friends, “My dear beautiful friend, I can take oath that I have not stolen even a drop of yogurt from your pot! But still your friend Rädhäräëé is very shamelessly smelling the flavor of My mouth. Kindly forbid Her from this devious policy of putting Her face near Mine.” When Kåñëa was speaking like this, the friends of Rädhäräëé could not check their laughter. This is an instance of laughter in ecstatic love.

Once Brahmä was watching all the cows and the cowherd boys dressed in yellow garments and decorated with valuable jewels. The boys were expanding their four arms and were being worshiped by many hundreds of other Brahmäs. All the cowherd boys began to express their joyfulness for being with Kåñëa, the Supreme Brahman. At that time, Brahmä showed his astonishment by exclaiming, “What am I seeing here?” This is an instance of astonishment in ecstatic love.

On the bank of the Yamunä, once there was the crackling sound of dry leaves, giggling from the cowherd boys and thundering from the sky. Çrédämä was tightening his belt to fight with Kåñëa, the conqueror of the demon Agha. This is an instance of chivalry in ecstatic love.

In the Tenth Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 25, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is a description of Kåñëa’s being taken away by the whirlwind demon, Tåëävarta. As Kåñëa was being thus carried up into the sky, all the gopés began to cry aloud. They approached mother Yaçodä, stating that they could not find the son of Nanda. He had been taken away by a whirlwind. This is an instance of lamentation in ecstatic love.

When Kåñëa was fighting with Käliya, mother Yaçodä exclaimed, “Kåñëa is now entrapped within the hoods of the Käliya snake, and yet I am not tattered to pieces! So I must admit how wonderful is the preserving power of this material body!” This is another instance of lamentation in ecstatic love.

When Jaöilä, the mother of Abhimanyu, saw Kåñëa wearing a necklace, she could understand that the jeweled ornament had been given to Him by Rädhäräëé. She therefore became absorbed in anger and began to move her eyebrows, expressing her anger in ecstatic love.

There is a statement by Yämunäcärya to this effect: “Since I have begun to enjoy these transcendental exchanges of love, which are always newer and newer, whenever I remember the pleasure of past sex life, my lips curl and I wish to spit on the idea.” This is an instance of ecstatic love in ghastliness.

One old devotee said, “My dear Lord, when we are away from You we become so anxious to see You again, and there is great misery in our lives. But then when we do see You, there immediately comes the fear of separation. Under the circumstances, both when we see You and when we do not see You, we are subjected to different kinds of tribulation.” This is an instance of a contradictory mixture of ecstatic love for Kåñëa. Such ecstatic love is palatable, and expert critics have compared such ecstatic love to a mixture of curd, sugar candy and a little black pepper. The combined taste is very palatable.

NoD 34: The Nectar of Devotion

The particular type of ecstatic loving sentiment that develops within the heart of a particular devotee is considered to be vibhäva. And the resultant manifestations such as moving of the eyebrows, fear, astonishment and smiling, which have been explained hereinbefore, are called anubhäva. The different causes for developing anubhäva and vibhäva are called steady ecstasy, or saïcäri-bhäva.

Whenever there is a recitation of poetry or a dramatic play on the different pastimes of Kåñëa, the audience develops different kinds of transcendental loving service for the Lord. They enjoy different types of vibhäva, anubhäva and saïcäri-bhäva.

No one, while remaining on the material platform, should discuss these different descriptions of bhäva and anubhäva by quoting different statements of transcendental literatures. Such manifestations are displays of the transcendental pleasure potency of the Lord. One should simply try to understand that on the spiritual platform there are many varieties of reciprocal love. Such loving exchanges should never be considered to be material. In the Mahäbhärata, Udyama-parva, it is warned that things which are inconceivable should not be subjected to arguments. Actually, the transactions of the spiritual world are inconceivable to us in our present state of life. Great liberated souls like Rüpa Gosvämé and others have tried to give us some hints of transcendental activities in the spiritual world, but on the whole these transactions will remain inconceivable to us at the present moment. Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with Kåñëa is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord.

In this connection Çré Rüpa Gosvämé gives an example of the clouds in the sky. The clouds in the sky arise from the ocean, and when the clouds become water again and fall to the ground, they glide back to the ocean. Thus the pleasure potency of Kåñëa is compared to the ocean. The pure devotee is the pleasure-possessing cloud, and when he is filled with transcendental loving service, then he can bestow his mercy as a downpour of rain—and the pleasure potency returns to the ocean of Kåñëa.

Transcendental pleasure derived from devotional service can be divided into two groups: direct devotional service and indirect devotional service. Direct devotional service is divided into five transcendental humors or flavors, and indirect devotional service is divided into seven transcendental humors. Direct devotional services are as follows: neutrality, servitude, fraternity, paternity and conjugal love. Indirect devotional service is divided into laughter, compassion, anger, chivalry, dread, astonishment and ghastliness. Devotional service can therefore be divided into twelve types, each of which has a different color. The colors are white, multicolored, orange, red, light green, gray, yellow, off-whitish, smoky, pink, black and cloudy. The twelve different kinds of transcendental humors are controlled by different incarnations of God, such as Kapila, Mädhava, Upendra, Nåsiàha, Nanda-nandana, Balaräma, Kürma, Kalki, Räghava, Bhärgava, Varäha and Matsya.

Sustenance, manifestation, expansion, reflection and lamentation are the five visible symptoms in exchanges of ecstatic love. The test of devotional service can therefore be made in terms of these five symptoms. In the devotional service of neutrality there is sustenance, in chivalrous devotional service there is expansion, in compassionate devotional service there is reflection, in angry devotional service there is lamentation, and so on.

An apparently pitiable condition in devotional service may appear distressing to the inexperienced student, but the feelings of the devotee in this pitiable condition are considered to be ecstatic by expert devotees. For example, the subject matter of the Rämäyaëa is sometimes considered pitiable and distressing to the heart, but actually that is not the fact. The Rämäyaëa narrates how Lord Räma was sent to the forest by His father just when He was going to be enthroned. After Lord Räma’s departure, Mahäräja Daçaratha, His father, died. In the forest His wife, Sétädevé, was kidnapped by Rävaëa, and there was a great war. When Sétädevé was finally delivered from the clutches of Rävaëa, Rävaëa’s whole family and kingdom, and Rävaëa himself, were vanquished. When Sétädevé came home she was tried by fire, and after some days she was again banished to the forest. All of these subjects in the Rämäyaëa seem very pitiable, and they may appear very distressing to the reciter, but actually they are not. Otherwise, why would Hanumän, the great devotee of Lord Rämacandra, read daily about the activities of Lord Rämacandra, as described in the Rämäyaëa itself? The fact is that in any of the above-mentioned twelve transcendental humors of devotional service, everything is transcendentally pleasing.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé mourns in this connection for persons who are in the fire of false renunciation, the dry speculative habit, and who neglect devotional service. Persons who are attached to the ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the Vedas and to the impersonal Brahman cannot relish the transcendental pleasure of devotional service. Çré Rüpa Gosvämé advises, therefore, that devotees who have already tasted the nectar of devotion be very careful to protect devotional service from such dry speculators, formal ritualistic elevationists and impersonal salvationists. Devotees should protect their valuable jewel of spiritual love from the clutches of thieves and burglars. In other words, a pure devotee should not describe devotional service and its different analytical aspects to dry speculators and false renouncers.

Those who are not devotees can never achieve the benefits of devotional service. For them the subject of devotional service is always very difficult to understand. Only persons who have dedicated their lives unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can relish the real nectar of devotion.

When one transcends the status of ecstatic love and thus becomes situated on the highest platform of pure goodness, one is understood to have cleansed the heart of all material contamination. In that pure stage of life, one can taste this nectar, and this tasting capacity is technically called rasa, or transcendental mood.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta summary study of the second division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, in the matter of general devotional service.

NoD 35: Neutral Love of God

Personality of Godhead, who is always so beautiful and for whom the pure devotees are always engaged in loving transcendental service. This third division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu describes the five primary kinds of devotional service—namely neutrality, servitude, fraternity, parenthood and conjugal love. These five items will be very elaborately explained here, and thus they have been figuratively described as the five waves on the western side of this ocean of the nectar of devotion.

When one is actually able to maintain the transcendental position, his stage is called neutrality in devotional service. Some great sages have attained this neutral position by practicing austerity, penance and meditation to control the senses. Such sages are generally called mystic yogés, and in most cases they are inclined to appreciate the spiritual pleasure of the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. They are practically unaware of the transcendental pleasure derived from personal contact with the Supreme Godhead.

Actually the transcendental pleasure derived in association with the Supreme Person is far greater than the pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman realization, because of the direct meeting with the eternal form of the Lord. Impersonalists do not directly derive the transcendental pleasure of association with the Lord by hearing of His pastimes. As such, the impersonalists cannot derive any relishable transcendental pleasure from the topics of Bhagavad-gétä, in which the Lord is personally talking with Arjuna. The basic principle of their impersonal attitude does not allow them the transcendental pleasure which is relished by a devotee whose basic principle of understanding is the Supreme Person. The impersonalistic commentary on Bhagavad-gétä is therefore disastrous, because without understanding the transcendental pleasure of the Gétä, the impersonalist wants to interpret it in his own way. If an impersonalist can, however, come in contact with a pure devotee, his transcendental position can be changed for greater elevation. Great sages are therefore recommended to worship the form of the Lord in order to achieve that highest transcendental pleasure.

Without worshiping the arcä-vigraha, the form or Deity of the Lord, one cannot understand such literature as Bhagavad-gétä and Çrémad-Bhägavatam. For those great sages situated in the position of transcendental neutrality, the beginning should be to take shelter of Lord Viñëu, the four-handed eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The mystic yogés are therefore advised to meditate on the form of Lord Viñëu, as recommended by Kapila Muni in the säìkhya yoga system. Unfortunately, many mystic yogés try to meditate on something void, and as stated in the Gétä, the result is that they simply undergo trouble and do not achieve any tangible result.

When some great saintly persons who had undergone penances and austerities saw the four-handed transcendental form of Viñëu, they remarked, “This four-handed form of the Lord, manifested in a bluish color, is the reservoir of all pleasure and the center of our living force. Actually, when we see this eternal form of Viñëu, we, along with many other paramahaàsas, become immediately captivated by the beauty of the Lord.” This appreciation of Lord Viñëu by saintly persons is an instance of situation in çänta-rasa, or the neutral stage of devotional service. In the beginning, those who are aspiring for salvation try to get out of the material entanglement by performing painful austerities and penances, and ultimately they come to the impersonal status of spiritual realization. At this brahma-bhüta stage of liberation from material entanglement, the symptoms, as explained in Bhagavad-gétä, are that one becomes joyous beyond any hankering or lamentation and gains a universal vision. When the devotee is situated in the çänta-rasa, or neutral stage of devotional service, he appreciates the Viñëu form of the Lord.

Actually, all Vedic culture is aiming at understanding Lord Viñëu. In the Åg Veda one mantra says that any advanced saintly person is always aspiring to be fixed in meditation upon the lotus feet of Viñëu.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is said that the foolish do not know that Viñëu is the ultimate goal of life. According to the conclusion of all authoritative Vedic scriptures, when a person comes to the stage of appreciating Viñëu, he is at the beginning of devotional service. If one cultivates devotional service further and further, under proper guidance, other features of devotional service will gradually become manifest. At this stage of çänta-rasa, one can see Lord Viñëu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer of even the demons. The Lord is appreciated by such would-be devotees as the eternal transcendental form, the chief of all self-realized souls, the Supersoul and the Supreme Brahman. He is also appreciated as being completely peaceful, completely controlled and pure, merciful to the devotees and untouched by any material condition. This appreciation of Lord Viñëu in awe and veneration by the saintly is to be understood as the sign that they are situated in the çänta-rasa, or the neutral stage of devotional service.

This stage of çänta-rasa can be attained by the impersonalists only when they are in association with pure devotees. Otherwise it is not possible. After Brahman realization, when a liberated soul comes in contact with a pure devotee of Lord Kåñëa and submissively accepts the teachings of Lord Kåñëa without misinterpretation, he becomes situated in this neutral stage of devotional service. The best example of saintly persons situated in the çänta-rasa are Sanaka, Sanätana, Sananda and Sanat-kumära, the Kumära brothers. These four saintly persons (known as Catuù-sana) are sons of Lord Brahmä. After their birth, when they were ordered by their father to become householders and increase human society, they refused the order. They said that they had already decided not to become entangled with family life; they would rather live as saintly brahmacärés for their own perfection. So these great saints have been living for millions of years now, but still they appear to be just like boys of four or five years. Their complexions are very fair, there is an effulgence in their bodies, and they always travel naked. These four saintly persons almost always remain together.

In one of the prayers of the Kumära brothers, this declaration is made: “O Lord Mukunda [Kåñëa, the giver of liberation], only so long as one does not happen to see Your eternal form of bliss and knowledge, appearing just like a newly-grown tamäla tree, with a bluish hue—only for so long can the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, known as Brahman, be very pleasing to a saintly person.”

The qualifications of a saintly person are described in the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu as follows. A saintly person is one who understands fully that simply by discharging devotional service he can become confident of liberation. He is always situated in the regulative principles of devotional life and at the same time aspires to be liberated from material entanglement.

A saintly person thinks like this: “When shall I be able to live alone in the caves of the mountains? When shall I be dressed simply with undergarments? When shall I be satisfied by eating simply a little fruit and vegetables? When will it be possible for me to think always of the lotus feet of Mukunda, who is the source of the Brahman effulgence? When, in such a spiritual condition of life, shall I fully understand my days and nights to be insignificant moments in eternal time?”

The devotees and self-realized persons who are engaged in preaching the glories of the Lord always maintain an ecstatic love for the Lord within their hearts. Thus they are benefited by the rays of the ecstatic moon, and they are called saintly persons.

The impulse of a saintly person is to be engaged in the study of the Vedas, especially the Upaniñadic portions, to live always in a place where there is no disturbance from the common people, to think always of the eternal form of Kåñëa, to be ready to consider and understand the Absolute Truth, to be always prominent in exhibiting knowledge, to see the Supreme Lord in His universal form (viçva-rüpa), to associate always with learned devotees and to discuss the conclusion of the Vedas with similarly elevated persons. All of these qualifications of a saintly person serve to raise him to the status of çänta-rasa.

In the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu it is stated that all those who attended the pious meeting held by Lord Brahmä for the study of Vedic literature like the Upaniñads became overwhelmed with ecstatic love for Kåñëa, the chief of the Yadu dynasty. Actually, the result of studying the Upaniñads is to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Negation of material existence is only one of the subjects of the Upaniñads. The next subject concerns becoming situated in the impersonal realization. And then, after penetrating through the impersonal Brahman, when one comes to the platform of associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one reaches the ultimate goal in studying the Upaniñads.

Those who are situated on the platform of çänta-rasa get their impetus for advancement in devotional service by smelling the tulasé offered at the lotus feet of the Lord, by hearing the sound of His conchshell, by seeing a sanctified place in some mountain or hill, by observing a forest like the ones in Våndävana, by going to a place of pilgrimage, by visiting the course of the Ganges River, by being victorious over the dictations of bodily demands (i.e., eating, sleeping, mating and defending), by understanding the devastation of eternal time and by constantly associating with devotees engaged in Kåñëa consciousness. All these different items are favorable in elevating saintly persons situated in çänta-rasa to the advanced stage of devotional service.

In the Third Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 43, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, there is a statement by the four saintly persons known as Catuù-sana, headed by Sanaka-kumära. They went to visit the Lord of Vaikuëöhaloka in the spiritual sky, and when they bowed down before the Lord, the aroma of the tulasé, mixed with saffron, entered their nostrils and immediately attracted their minds. Although these four saintly persons were always absorbed in the thought of impersonal Brahman, from association with the Lord and from smelling the tulasé leaves the hairs on their bodies immediately stood up. This shows that even a person who is situated in Brahman realization, if he is put into association with devotees in pure devotional service, will immediately become attracted to the personal feature of the Lord.

There are certain symptoms of great sages who are situated in çänta-rasa devotional service, and these symptoms are exhibited as follows. They concentrate their eyesight on the tip of the nose, and they behave just like an avadhüta. Avadhüta means a highly elevated mystic who does not care for any social, religious or Vedic conventions. Another symptom is that such persons are very careful to step forward when giving speeches. When they speak, they join together the forefinger and thumb. (This is called the jïäna-mudrä position.) They are not against the atheists, nor are they particularly inclined to the devotees. Such persons give stress to liberation and detachment from the materialistic way of life. They are always neutral and have no affection for nor misidentification with anything material. They are always grave, but fully absorbed in thoughts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These uncommon features develop in devotees who are situated in çänta-rasa.

Regarding concentration of the eyesight on the tip of the nose, there is a statement in the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu by a devotee who observed this being performed by a yogé. He remarked, “This great sage is concentrating his eyesight on the tip of his nose, and from this it appears that he has already realized the eternal form of the Lord within himself.”

Sometimes a devotee in çänta-rasa yawns, stretches his limbs, instructs on devotional service, offers respectful obeisances unto the form of the Lord, offers nice prayers to the Lord and has a desire to give direct service with his body. These are some of the common symptoms of the devotee who is situated in neutrality. One devotee, after observing the yawning of another devotee, addressed him thus: “My dear mystic, I think that within your heart there is some ecstatic devotional love which is causing you to yawn.” It is sometimes found that a devotee in the çänta-rasa falls down on the ground, his hairs stand up on his body, and he trembles all over. In this way, different symptoms of ecstatic trance are exhibited automatically by such devotees.

In the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu it is said that when Lord Kåñëa was blowing His conchshell known as Päïcajanya, many great sages who were living in the caves of the mountains immediately reacted, being awakened from their trance of meditation. They immediately saw that the hairs of their bodies were standing. Sometimes devotees in çänta-rasa become stunned, peaceful, jubilant, deliberate, reflective, anxious, dexterous and argumentative. These symptoms indicate continuous ecstasy, or established emotion.

Once a great realized sage was lamenting that the Supreme Lord Kåñëa was living in Dvärakä but that he was unable to take advantage of seeing Him. After thinking this, the sage immediately became stunned. He was thinking that he was simply wasting his time. In other words, the sage lamented because the Supreme Personality of Godhead was personally present but he still could not take advantage of this because of his meditation.

When a mystic is transcendental to all kinds of mental concoctions and is situated in Brahman, his state is called trance, beyond the influence of the material conception of life. In that stage, when one hears about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, there may be shivering in the body.

When a Brahman-realized devotee who has come to the stage of steady trance comes into contact with the eternal form of Kåñëa, his transcendental pleasure increases millions of times. One great sage once inquired from another, “My dear friend, do you think that after I perfect the eightfold yoga performance I shall be able to see the eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?” This inquiry from the sage is an instance of inquisitiveness in a devotee situated in the neutral stage of devotional service.

When Lord Kåñëa, along with His elder brother Balaräma and sister Subhadrä, came to Kurukñetra in a chariot on the occasion of a solar eclipse, many mystic yogés also came. When these mystic yogés saw Lord Kåñëa and Balaräma, they exclaimed that now that they had seen the excellent bodily effulgence of the Lord, they had almost forgotten the pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman realization. In this connection one of the mystics approached Kåñëa and said, “My dear Lord, You are always full with transcendental bliss, excelling all other spiritual positions. And so, simply by seeing You from a distant place, I have come to the conclusion that there is no need of my being situated in the transcendental bliss of impersonal Brahman.”

When a great mystic was once awakened from his meditative trance by hearing the vibration of Kåñëa’s Päïcajanya conchshell, the mystic became overpowered—so much so, in fact, that he began to bash his head on the ground, and with eyes full of tears of ecstatic love, he violated all the rules and regulations of his yoga performances. Thus he at once neglected the process of Brahman realization.

Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura, in his book Kåñëa-karëämåta, says, “Let the impersonalists be engaged in the process of transcendental realization by worshiping the impersonal Brahman. Although I was also initiated into that path of Brahman realization, I have now become misled by a naughty boy—one who is very cunning, who is very much attached to the gopés and who has made me His maidservant. So I have now forgotten the process of Brahman realization.”

Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura was first spiritually initiated for impersonal realization of the Absolute Truth, but later on, by his association with Kåñëa in Våndävana, he became an experienced devotee. The same thing happened to Çukadeva Gosvämé, who also reformed himself by the grace of the Lord and took to the path of devotional service, giving up the way of impersonal realization.

Çukadeva Gosvämé and Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura, who gave up the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth to take to devotional service, are the best examples of devotees situated in the neutral state. According to some authorities, this condition cannot be accepted as one of the transcendental humors, or rasas, but Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says that even if one does not accept it as a transcendental humor, one must still accept it as the beginning position of devotional service. However, if one is not further raised to the platform of actual service to the Lord, he is not considered to be on the platform of transcendental mellow. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Lord Kåñëa personally instructs Uddhava like this: “The state of being established in My personal form is called çänta-rasa, and without being situated in this position, no one can advance to actual pure devotional service.” In other words, no one can be situated in the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without being situated at least in çänta-rasa.

NoD 36: Transcendental Affection (Servitude)

The transcendental mellow of affection has been accepted by authorities like Çrédhara Svämé as a perfectional stage of devotion. It is just above the humor of neutrality and is a requisite for the development of the serving humor. In literature such as Näma-kaumudé this state of existence is accepted as continuous affection for or attraction to Kåñëa. Authorities like Çukadeva consider this stage of affection to be in the neutral stage, but in any case this affection is relished by the devotees in different transcendental tastes, and therefore the general name for this state is affection, or pure affection for Kåñëa.

Devotees engaged in servitude are attached to Kåñëa in the affection of reverence. Some of the inhabitants of Gokula (Våndävana as exhibited on earth) are attached to Kåñëa on this platform of affection in reverence. The inhabitants of Våndävana used to say, “Kåñëa is always manifest before us with a complexion like a blackish cloud. He holds His wonderful flute in His lotus hands. He is dressed in yellow silks and bedecked with a peacock feather on His head. When Kåñëa walks near Govardhana Hill with these personal features, all the inhabitants of the heavenly planets, as well as the inhabitants of this earth, feel transcendental bliss and consider themselves the eternal servants of the Lord.” Sometimes the devotee becomes filled with the same awe and reverence by seeing a picture of Viñëu, who is dressed like Kåñëa and who has a similar complexion. The only difference is that Viñëu has four hands, in which He holds the conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower. Lord Viñëu is always decorated with many valuable jewels, such as the candrakänta stone and the süryakänta stone.

In the Lalita-mädhava by Rüpa Gosvämé there is the following statement by Däruka, one of the servants of Kåñëa: “Certainly Lord Viñëu is very beautiful with His necklace of kaustubha jewels, His four hands holding conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower, and His dazzlingly beautiful jewelry. He is also very beautiful in His eternal position, riding upon the shoulder of Garuòa. But now the same Lord Viñëu is present as the enemy of Kaàsa, and by His personal feature I am completely forgetting the opulence of Vaikuëöha.”

Another devotee once said, “This Supreme Personality of Godhead from whose bodily pores come millions of universes, permanently rising, who is the ocean of mercy, who is the owner of inconceivable energies, who is always equipped with all perfections, who is the origin of all incarnations, who is the attraction for all liberated persons—this very Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme controller and the supremely worshipable. He is all-cognizant, fully determined and fully opulent. He is the emblem of forgiveness and the protector of surrendered souls. He is munificent, true to His promise, expert, all-auspicious, powerful and religious. He is a strict follower of the scripture, He is the friend of the devotees, and He is magnanimous, influential, grateful, reputable, respectable, full of all strength, and submissive to pure love. Surely He is the only shelter of devotees who are attracted to Him by the affection of servitorship.”

The devotees of the Lord in servitude are divided into four classes: appointed servants (such as Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, who are appointed to control the material modes of passion and ignorance), devotees in servitude who are protected by the Lord, devotees who are always associates and devotees who are simply following in the footsteps of the Lord.

In a conversation between Jämbavaté, one of Kåñëa’s wives, and Kälindé, her friend, Jämbavaté inquired, “Who is this personality circumambulating our Kåñëa?”

Kälindé replied, “She is Ambikä, the superintendent of all universal affairs.”

Then Jämbavaté inquired, “Who is this personality who is trembling at the sight of Kåñëa?”

Kälindé replied, “He is Lord Çiva.”

Then Jämbavaté inquired, “Who is the person offering prayers?”

Kälindé replied, “He is Lord Brahmä.”

Jämbavaté then asked, “Who is that person who has fallen on the ground and is offering respect to Kåñëa?”

Kälindé replied, “He is Indra, the King of heaven.”

Jämbavaté next inquired, “Who is this person who has come with the demigods and is laughing with them?”

Kälindé replied, “He is my elder brother, Yamaräja, the superintendent of death.”

This conversation offers a description of all the demigods, including Yamaräja, who are engaged in services appointed by the Lord. They are called adhikåta-devatä, or demigods appointed to particular types of departmental service.

One resident of Våndävana once told Lord Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, O pleasure of Våndävana! Being afraid of this material existence, we have taken shelter of You, for You can completely protect us! We are well aware of Your greatness. As such, we have given up our desire for liberation and have taken complete shelter under Your lotus feet. Since we have heard about Your ever-increasing transcendental love, we have voluntarily engaged ourselves in Your transcendental service.” This statement is by a devotee who is under the protection and shelter of Lord Kåñëa.

Upon being chastised by Kåñëa’s constant kicking on his head, Käliya, the black snake of the Yamunä, came to his senses and admitted, “My dear Lord, I have been so offensive unto You, but still You are so kind that You have marked my head with the impression of Your lotus feet.” This is also an instance of one’s taking shelter under the lotus feet of Kåñëa.

In the Aparädha-bhaïjana a pure devotee expresses his feelings: “My dear Lord, I am ashamed to admit before You that I have carried out the orders of my masters named lust, anger, avarice, illusion and envy. Sometimes I have carried out their orders in a way most abominable. Yet in spite of my serving them so faithfully, they are not satisfied, nor are they kind enough to give me relief from their service. They are not even ashamed of taking service from me in that way. My dear Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, now I have come to my senses, and I am taking shelter of Your lotus feet. Please engage me in Your service.” This is another instance of surrendering and taking shelter of the lotus feet of Kåñëa.

There are many instances in the various Vedic writings of persons who were aspiring after liberation by speculative knowledge but gave up this process in order to take complete shelter under the lotus feet of Kåñëa. Examples of such persons are the brähmaëas headed by Çaunaka in the forest of [xiii]Naimiñäraëya. Learned scholars accept them as devotees having complete wisdom. There is a statement in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya in which these great brähmaëas and sages, headed by Çaunaka Åñi, told Süta Gosvämé, “My dear great soul, just see how wonderful it is! Although as human beings we are contaminated with so many taints of material existence, simply by our conversing with you about the Supreme Personality of Godhead we are now gradually decrying our desire for liberation.”

In Padyävalé a devotee says, “Persons who are attached to speculative knowledge for self-realization, who have decided that the supreme truth is beyond meditation and who have thus become situated in the mode of goodness—let them peacefully execute their engagement. As for us, we are simply attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is by nature so pleasing, who possesses a complexion like a blackish cloud, who is dressed in yellow garments and who has beautiful lotuslike eyes. We wish only to meditate upon Him.”

Those who are from the very beginning of their self-realization attached to devotional service are called sevä-niñöha. Sevä-niñöha means “simply attached to devotional service.” The best examples of such devotees are Lord Çiva, King Indra, King Bahuläçva, King Ikñväku, Çrutadeva and Puëòaréka. One devotee says, “My dear Lord, Your transcendental qualities attract even the liberated souls and carry them to the assembly of devotees where Your glories are constantly chanted. Even great sages who are accustomed to living in solitary places are also attracted by the songs of Your glory. And, observing all Your transcendental qualities, I have also become attracted and have decided to dedicate my life to Your loving service.”

In the city of Dvärakä the following devotees are known as Kåñëa’s close associates: Uddhava, Däruka, Sätyaki, Çrutadeva, Çatrujit, Nanda, Upananda and Bhadra. All of these personalities remain with the Lord as His secretaries, but still they are sometimes engaged in His personal service. Among the Kuru dynasty, Bhéñma, Mahäräja Parékñit and Vidura are also known as close associates of Lord Kåñëa. It is said, “All the associates of Lord Kåñëa have lustrous bodily features, and their eyes are just like lotus flowers. They have sufficient power to defeat the strength of the demigods, and the specific feature of their persons is that they are always decorated with valuable ornaments.”

When Kåñëa was in the capital Indraprastha, someone addressed Him thus: “My dear Lord, Your personal associates, headed by Uddhava, are always awaiting Your order by standing at the entrance gate of Dvärakä. They are mostly looking on with tears in their eyes, and in the enthusiasm of their service they are not afraid even of the devastating fire generated by Lord Çiva. They are souls simply surrendered unto Your lotus feet.”

Out of the many close associates of Lord Kåñëa, Uddhava is considered the best. The following is a description of him: “His body is blackish like the color of the Yamunä River, and it is similarly as cool. He is always decorated with flower garlands first used by Lord Kåñëa, and he is dressed with yellow silk clothing. His two arms are just like the bolts of a door, his eyes are just like lotus flowers, and he is the most important devotee among all the associates. Let us therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Uddhava’s lotus feet.”

Uddhava has described the transcendental qualities of Çré Kåñëa as follows: “Lord Çré Kåñëa, who is our master and worshipable Deity, the controller of Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä, and the controller of the whole universe as well, accepts the controlling orders of Ugrasena, His grandfather. He is the proprietor of millions of universes, but still He begged a little land from the ocean. And although He is just like an ocean of wisdom, He sometimes consults me. He is so great and magnanimous, yet He is engaged in His different activities just like an ordinary person.”

Those who are constantly engaged in the personal service of the Lord are called anugas, or followers. Examples of such followers are Sucandra, Maëòana, Stamba and Sutamba. They are all inhabitants of the city of Dvärakä, and they are dressed and ornamented like the other associates. The specific services entrusted to the anugas are varied. Maëòana always bears the umbrella over the head of Lord Kåñëa. Sucandra is engaged in fanning with the white cämara bunch of hair, and Sutamba is engaged in supplying betel nuts. All of them are great devotees, and they are always busy in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

As there are anugas in Dvärakä, so there are many anugas in Våndävana also. The names of the anugas in Våndävana are as follows: Raktaka, Patraka, Patré, Madhukaëöha, Madhuvrata, Rasäla, Suviläsa, Premakanda, Marandaka, Änanda, Candrahäsa, Payoda, Bakula, Rasada and Çärada.

Descriptions of the bodily features of the anugas in Våndävana are given in the following statement: “Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto the constant associates of the son of Mahäräja Nanda. They always stay in Våndävana, and their bodies are decorated with garlands of pearls and with bangles and bracelets of gold. Their colors are like black bees and the golden moon, and they are dressed just to suit their particular special bodily features. Their specific duties can be understood from a statement by mother Yaçodä, who said, ‘Bakula, please cleanse the yellowish dress of Kåñëa. Värika, you just flavor the bathing water with aguru scent. And Rasäla, you just prepare the betel nuts. You can all see that Kåñëa is approaching. There is dust overhead, and the cows can be seen very distinctly.’”

Among all the anugas, Raktaka is considered to be the chief. The description of his bodily features is as follows: “He wears yellow clothing, and his bodily color is just like newly grown grass. He is very expert in singing and is always engaged in the service of the son of Mahäräja Nanda. Let us all become the followers of Raktaka in offering transcendental loving service to Kåñëa!” An example of the attachment felt by Raktaka toward Lord Kåñëa can be understood from his statement to Rasada: “Just hear me! Please place me so that I may always be engaged in the service of Lord Kåñëa, who has now become famous as the lifter of the Govardhana Hill.”

The devotees of Kåñëa engaged in His personal service are always very cautious, because they know that becoming personal servitors of Lord Kåñëa is not an ordinary thing. A person who offers respect even to the ants engaged in the service of the Lord becomes eternally happy, so what is there to say of one who offers Kåñëa direct service? Raktaka once said within himself, “Not only is Kåñëa my worshipable and servable Lord, but also the girl friends of Kåñëa, the gopés, are equally worshipable and servable by me. And not only the gopés, but anyone who is engaged in the service of the Lord is also worshipable and servable by me. I know that I must be very careful not to become overly proud that I am one of the servitors and devotees of the Lord.” From this statement one can understand that the pure devotees, those who are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, are always very cautious and are never overly proud of their service.

This mentality of the direct servitor of Kåñëa is called dhürya. According to expert analytical studies of the direct associates of the Lord, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has divided these into three classes—namely dhürya, dhéra and véra. Raktaka is classified among the dhürya, or those who are always attached to serving the most beloved gopés.

One dhéra associate of Kåñëa is the son of Satyabhämä’s nurse. Satyabhämä is one of the queens of Lord Kåñëa in Dvärakä, and when she was married to Kåñëa, the son of her nurse was allowed to go with her because they had lived together from childhood as brother and sister. So this gentleman, the son of Satyabhämä’s nurse, used to live with Kåñëa as His brother-in-law, and sometimes as brother-in-law he used to play jokes with Kåñëa. He once addressed Kåñëa in this way: “My dear Kåñëa, I never tried to gain the favor of the goddess of fortune, who is married to You, but still I am so fortunate that I am considered one of the members of Your house, the brother of Satyabhämä.”

A véra associate once expressed his pride, declaring, “Lord Baladeva may be a great enemy of Pralambäsura, but I have nothing to worry about from Him. And as far as Pradyumna is concerned, I have nothing to take from him, because he is simply a boy. Therefore I do not expect anything from anyone else. I simply expect the favorable glance of Kåñëa upon me, and so I am not even afraid of Satyabhämä, who is so dear to Kåñëa.”

In the Fourth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Twentieth Chapter, verse 28, King Påthu addresses the Lord, saying, “My dear Lord, it may happen that the goddess of fortune becomes dissatisfied with my work, or I may even have some misunderstanding with her, but I will not mind this, because I have full confidence in You. You are always causelessly merciful to Your servants, and You consider even their menial service to be very much advanced. So I have confidence that You will accept my humble service, although it is not worthy of being recognized. My dear Lord, You are self-sufficient. You can do anything You like without the help of anyone else. So even if the goddess of fortune is not satisfied with me, I know that You will always accept my service anyway.”

Devotees attached to the transcendental loving service of the Lord may be described either as surrendered souls, as souls advanced in devotional knowledge, or as souls completely engaged in transcendental loving service. Such devotees are called (respectively) neophyte, perfect and eternally perfect.

NoD 37: Impetuses for Kåñëa's Service

The causeless mercy of Kåñëa, the dust of His lotus feet, His prasäda and association with His devotees are some impetuses toward a devotee’s engagement in transcendental loving service to the Lord.

Kåñëa exhibited His causeless mercy when He was present at the departure of Grandfather Bhéñma. During the Battle of Kurukñetra, Bhéñmadeva, the grandfather of Arjuna, was lying on a bed of arrows before departing from this mortal world. When Lord Kåñëa, Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira and the other Päëòavas approached Bhéñmadeva, he was very grateful to Lord Kåñëa, and he addressed the brähmaëa military commander Kåpäcärya thus: “My dear Kåpäcärya, just see the wonderful causeless mercy of Lord Kåñëa! I am most unfortunate. I have no qualification. I was opposing Kåñëa’s most intimate friend, Arjuna—I even tried to kill him! I have so many disqualifications, and yet the Lord is still so kind that He has come to see me at the last point of my life. He is worshipable by all great sages, but still He is so merciful that He has come to see an abominable person like me.”

Sometimes the vibration of Lord Kåñëa’s flute, His bugling, His smiling, His footmarks on the ground, the transcendental fragrance of His body and the appearance of a new cloud in the sky also become impetuses for ecstatic love of Him.

In the Vidagdha-mädhava there is the following statement: “When Kåñëa was playing on His flute, Baladeva very anxiously declared, ‘Just see how, after hearing the transcendental sound of Kåñëa’s flute, Indra, the King of heaven, is crying in his heavenly kingdom! And from his teardrops falling on the ground, Våndävana appears to have become a celestial residence for the demigods.’ ”

Ecstatic love for Kåñëa, which is known as anubhäva, is symptomized by the following signs: one becomes engaged exclusively in the service of the Lord, being attentive to carry out the orders of the Lord faithfully; one becomes undisturbed and nonenvious in full transcendental loving service to the Lord; and one makes friendship with the devotees of the Lord who are situated in faithful service to Him. All of these symptoms are called anubhäva, ecstatic love.

The first symptom of anubhäva, or engagement in a particular type of service, is exemplified by Däruka, a servant of Kåñëa who used to fan Kåñëa with a cämara, a bunch of hair. When he was engaged in such service, he was filled with ecstatic love, and the symptoms of ecstatic love became manifest in his body. But Däruka was so serious about his service that he checked all of these manifestations of ecstatic love and considered them hindrances to his engagement. He did not care very much for these manifestations, although they automatically developed.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighty-sixth Chapter, verse 38, there is a statement of how Çrutadeva, a brähmaëa from the country called Mithilä in northern India, became so overpowered with joy as soon as he saw Kåñëa that immediately after bowing to the Lord’s lotus feet he stood up and began to dance, raising his two arms above his head.

One of the devotees of Lord Kåñëa once addressed Him in this manner: “My dear Lord, although You are not a professional dancer, by Your dancing You have so astonished us that we can understand that You are personally the master of all dancing. Certainly You must have learned this dancing art directly from the goddess of love.” When a devotee dances in ecstatic love, there are manifestations of symptoms which are called sättvika. Sättvika means that they are from the transcendental platform. They are not symptoms of material emotion; they come from the soul proper.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighty-fifth Chapter, verse 38, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells Mahäräja Parékñit that after surrendering everything unto the lotus feet of Vämanadeva, Bali Mahäräja immediately caught hold of the lotus feet of the Lord and pressed them to his heart. Being overwhelmed with joy, he manifested all the symptoms of ecstatic love, with tears in his eyes and a faltering voice.

In such expressions of ecstatic love there are many other subsidiary symptoms, such as jubilation, withering, silence, disappointment, moroseness, reverence, thoughtfulness, remembrance, doubtfulness, confidence, eagerness, indifference, restlessness, impudence, shyness, inertness, illusion, madness, ghastliness, contemplation, dreaming, disease and signs of death. When a devotee meets Kåñëa, there are symptoms of jubilation, pride and perseverance, and when he is feeling great separation from Kåñëa, the symptoms of ghastliness, disease and signs of death become prominent.

It is stated in the First Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Chapter, verse 5, that when Lord Kåñëa returned from the Battlefield of Kurukñetra to His home at Dvärakä, all the residents of Dvärakä began to talk with Him, as a child talks lovingly to his father after the father’s return from foreign countries. This is an example of jubilation.

When Bahuläçva, the King of Mithilä, saw Kåñëa at his palace, he decided to offer his respects by bowing down before Him at least a hundred times, but he was so overcome by feelings of love that after bowing down only once, he forgot his position and could not rise again.

In the Skanda Puräëa a devotee tells Lord Kåñëa, “My dear Lord, as the sun evaporates all the water on the ground by its scorching heat, so my mental state has dried away the luster of my face and body, due to separation from You.” This is an example of withering in ecstatic love.

An expression of disappointment was made by Indra, the King of heaven. When he saw the sun-god, Indra told him, “My dear sun-god, your sunshine is very glorious because it reaches unto the lotus feet of Lord Kåñëa, the master of the Yadu dynasty. I have thousands of eyes, but they have proved to be useless because not even for a moment are they able to see the lotus feet of the Lord.”

Reverential devotion for the Lord gradually increases and transforms itself into ecstatic love, then affection and then attachment. In the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Thirty-eighth Chapter, verse 6, Akrüra says, “Because I am going to see Lord Kåñëa today, all symptoms of inauspiciousness have already been killed. My life is now successful, because I shall be able to offer my respects unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead!”

Another devotee in ecstatic reverential affection once said, “When will that glorious day in my life come when it will be possible for me to go to the bank of the Yamunä and see Lord Çré Kåñëa playing there as a cowherd boy?”

When there is no diminishing of this ecstatic love and when it is freed from all kinds of doubt, the devotee has reached the stage called steady love for Kåñëa. In this stage, all expressions of unhappiness by the devotee are called anubhäva, or ecstatic loving symptoms.

The symptom of ecstatic affection with reverence felt by Bali Mahäräja was expressed as follows: “My dear Lord, You have simultaneously punished me and showed me Your causeless mercy. My conclusion is that when I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet I shall never be disturbed in any condition of life. Whether You give me the opportunity to enjoy all the yogic perfections or You put me into the most abominable condition of hellish life, I shall never be disturbed.”

Kåñëa Himself, after seeing Bali Mahäräja, told Uddhava, “My dear friend, how can I express the glorious characteristics of Bali Mahäräja, the son of Virocana? Although the King of the suras [demigods] was cursed by this son of Virocana, and although I cheated him in My incarnation as Vämana, taking away his dominions throughout the universe, and although I still criticized him for not fulfilling his promise, I have just now seen him in his kingdom, and he feelingly expressed his love for Me.”[xiv]*

When such a feeling of love becomes intensified, it is called affection. In that affectional stage, one cannot bear separation from Kåñëa even for a moment.

One devotee told Däruka, the servant of Kåñëa, “My dear Däruka, when you become like wood because of your separation from Kåñëa, it is not so wonderful. Whenever any devotee sees Kåñëa, his eyes become filled with water, and in separation any devotee like you would become stunned, standing just like a wooden doll. That is not a very wonderful thing.”

There is a statement about Uddhava’s symptoms of love. When he saw Lord Kåñëa his eyes filled with tears and created a river which flowed down toward the sea of Kåñëa to offer tribute, as a wife offers tribute to her husband. When his body erupted with goose pimples, he appeared like the kadamba flower, and when he began to offer prayers, he appeared completely distinct from all other devotees.

When affection is symptomized by direct happiness and distress, it is called attraction. In such an attracted state of ecstatic love, one can face all kinds of disadvantages calmly. Even at the risk of death such a devotee is never bereft of the transcendental loving service of the Lord. A glorious example of this ecstatic love was exhibited by King Parékñit when he was at the point of death. Although he was bereft of his entire kingdom, which spread over all the world, and although he was accepting not even a drop of water in the seven days remaining to him, because he was engaged in hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord from Çukadeva Gosvämé he was not in the least distressed. On the contrary, he was feeling direct transcendental ecstatic joy in association with Çukadeva Gosvämé.

One devotee has confidently expressed this opinion: “If a drop of Lord Kåñëa’s mercy can be bestowed upon me, then I shall feel completely carefree, even in the midst of a fire or an ocean. But if I become bereft of His causeless mercy, then even if I became the King of Dvärakä, I would be simply an object for pinpricks.”

Devotees such as Mahäräja Parékñit and Uddhava are all situated in ecstatic attraction on the basis of affection, and in that state of affection a feeling of friendship becomes manifest. When Uddhava was freed from all material contamination, he saw the Lord, and his throat became choked up, and he could not speak. By the movements of his eyebrows alone he was embracing the Lord. Such ecstatic love has been divided by great scholars into two groups—addition and subtraction. If a devotee is not directly associated with the Lord, it is called subtraction. In this state of love, one is constantly fixed with his mind at the lotus feet of the Lord. A devotee in this state becomes very eager to learn of the transcendental qualities of the Lord. The most important business of such a devotee is attaining the association of the Lord.

In the Nåsiàha Puräëa there is a statement about King Ikñväku which illustrates this state of ecstatic love. Because of his great affection for Kåñëa, King Ikñväku became greatly attached to the black cloud, the black deer, the deer’s black eyes and the lotus flower, which is always compared to the eyes of the Lord. In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-eighth Chapter, verse 10, of the Bhägavatam, Akrüra thinks, “Since the Lord has now appeared to diminish the great burden of the world and is now visible to everyone’s eyes in His personal transcendental body, when we see Him before us, is that not the ultimate perfection of our eyes?” In other words, Akrüra realized that the perfection of the eyes is fulfilled when one is able to see Lord Kåñëa. Therefore, when Lord Kåñëa was visible on the earth by direct appearance, everyone who saw Him surely attained perfection of sight.

In the Kåñëa-karëämåta, written by Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura, there is this expression of eagerness in ecstatic love: “How miserable it is, my dear Kåñëa, O friend of the hopeless! O merciful Lord, how can I pass these thankless days without seeing You?” A similar sentiment was expressed by Uddhava when he wrote a letter to Kåñëa and said, “My dear Supreme King of Vraja, You are the vision of nectar for the eyes, and without seeing Your lotus feet and the effulgence of Your body, my mind is always morose. I cannot perceive any peace under any circumstance. Besides that, I am feeling every moment’s separation to be like the duration of many, many long years.”

In the Kåñëa-karëämåta it is also said, “My dear Lord, You are the ocean of mercy. With my arms placed upon my head, I am bowing down before You with all humility and sincerity. I am praying unto You, my Lord. Would You be pleased just to sprinkle a little of the water of Your glance upon me? That will be a great satisfaction.”

A devotee of Lord Kåñëa said, “When even Çaçiçekhara [Lord Çiva] is unable to see You, what chance is there for me, who am lower than an ordinary worm? I have only committed misdeeds. I know that I am not at all fit to offer my prayers to You, but because You are known as Dénabandhu, the friend of the fallen, I humbly pray that You will kindly purify me by the beams of Your transcendental glance. If I become thoroughly bathed by Your merciful glance, then I may be saved. Therefore, my Lord, I am requesting You to please bestow upon me Your merciful glance.”

NoD 38: Indifference and Separation

The great devotee Uddhava once wrote a letter to Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, I have just finished the study of ail kinds of philosophical books and Vedic verses about the goal of life, and so now I have a little reputation for my studies. But still, in spite of my reputation, my knowledge is condemned, because although enjoying the effulgence of Vedic knowledge, I could not appreciate the effulgence emanating from the nails of Your toes. Therefore, the sooner my pride and Vedic knowledge are finished, the better it will be!” This is an example of indifference.

Another devotee very anxiously expressed himself thus: “My mind is very flickering, so I cannot concentrate it upon Your lotus feet. And seeing this inefficiency in myself I become ashamed, and the whole night I am unable to sleep because I am exasperated by my great inability.”

In the Kåñëa-karëämåta Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura has explained his restlessness as follows: “My dear Lord, Your naughtiness in boyhood is the most wonderful thing in the three worlds. And You Yourself know what this naughtiness is. As such, You can very easily understand my flickering mind. This is known to You and me. Therefore, I am simply yearning to know how I can fix my mind on Your lotus feet.”

Another devotee expressed his impudence by saying, “My dear Lord, without considering my lowly position, I must confess to You that my eyes are just like black wasps, desiring to hover at Your lotus feet.”

In the Seventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fourth Chapter, verse 37, the great sage Närada informs Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira about Prahläda Mahäräja, who was a devotee from the very beginning of his life. The proof of Prahläda’s natural devotion is that even when he was a small child he did not play with his playmates, but was always eager to preach the glories of the Lord. Instead of joining in their sportive acrobatic feats, he remained an inactive child because he was always in trance, meditating on Kåñëa. As such, there was no possibility of his being touched by the external world.

The following statement is about a brähmaëa devotee: “This brähmaëa is very expert in all kinds of activities, but I do not know why he is looking up without moving his eyes. It appears that his body is fixed motionless just like a doll’s. I can guess that in this condition he has been captivated by the transcendental beauty of that expert flute-player, Çré Kåñëa, and being attached to Him, he is simply staring at the black cloud, remembering the bodily hue of Çré Kåñëa.” This is an example of how a devotee can become inert due to ecstatic love.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventh Canto, Fourth Chapter, verse 40, Prahläda Mahäräja says that even in his childhood, when he was loudly speaking the glories of the Lord, he used to dance just like a shameless madman. And sometimes, being fully absorbed in thought on the pastimes of the Lord, he used to imitate such pastimes. This is an instance of a devotee’s being almost like a madman. Similarly, it is said that the great sage Närada was so ecstatically in love with Kåñëa that he would sometimes dance naked, and sometimes his whole body would become stunned. Sometimes he would laugh very loudly, sometimes he would cry very loudly, sometimes he would remain silent, and sometimes he would appear to be suffering from some disease, although he had no disease. This is another instance of becoming like a madman in the ecstasy of devotion.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya it is stated that when Prahläda Mahäräja was thinking himself unfit to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he immersed himself in great distress, in an ocean of unhappiness. As such, he used to shed tears and lie down on the floor as though unconscious.

The students of a great devotee once talked among themselves in this way: “My dear Godbrothers, our spiritual master, after seeing the lotus feet of the Lord, has thrown himself into the fire of lamentation, and because of this fire the water of his life has almost dried away. Let us now pour the nectar of the holy name through his ears, and by our doing so the swan of his life may again show signs of life.”

When Lord Kåñëa went to the city of Çoëitapura to fight with Bali’s son Bäëa and to cut off all his hands, Uddhava, being separated from Kåñëa and thinking of His fight, was almost completely stunned into unconsciousness.

When a devotee is fully in love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there may be the following symptoms due to his feelings of separation from the Lord: a feverish condition of the body, withering of the body, lack of sleep, nonattachment, inertness, appearing diseased, madness, unconsciousness and sometimes death.

As far as the feverish condition of the body is concerned, Uddhava once told Närada, “My dear great sage, the lotus flower that is a friend of the sun may be a cause of distress for us, the fire in the ocean may cause us some burning sensation, and Indévara, the friend of a demon, may distress us in various ways—we do not mind. But the most regrettable factor is that all of them remind us of Kåñëa, and this is giving us too much distress!” This is an instance of the feverish condition which is due to being separated from Kåñëa.

Some of the devotees who went to see Kåñëa at Dvärakä and were detained at the door said, “My dear Kåñëa, O friend of the Päëòus, as the swan loves to dive into the water among the lily flowers and would die if taken from the water, so we wish only to be with You. Our limbs are shrinking and fading because You have been taken away from us.”

The King of Bahula, although very comfortably situated in his palace, began to think the nights very long and distressing because of his separation from Kåñëa.

King Yudhiñöhira once said, “Kåñëa, the chariot driver of Arjuna, is the only relative of mine within the three worlds. Therefore, my mind is becoming maddened day and night with separation from His lotus feet, and I do not know how to situate myself or where I shall go to attain any steadiness of mind.” This is another example of lack of sleep.

Some of the cowherd friends of Kåñëa said, “Dear Kåñëa, O enemy of the Mura demon, just think of Your personal servant Raktaka. Simply because he saw a peacock feather, he is now closing his eyes and is no longer attentive to pasturing the cows. Rather, he has left them in a faraway pasture and has not even bothered to use his stick to control them.” This is an instance of mental imbalance due to separation from Kåñëa.

When Lord Kåñëa went to the capital of King Yudhiñöhira, Uddhava was so afflicted by the fire of separation from Çré Kåñëa that the perspiration from his inflamed body and the tears from his eyes poured from him, and in this way he became completely stunned.

When Çré Kåñëa left the city of Dvärakä to seek out the Syamantaka jewel and He was late returning home, Uddhava became so afflicted that the symptoms of disease became manifest on his body. Actually, due to his excessive ecstatic love for Kåñëa, Uddhava became known in Dvärakä as crazy. To his great fortune, on that day Uddhava’s reputation as a crazy fellow was firmly established. Uddhava’s craziness was practically proved when he went to Raivataka Hill to minutely observe the congested black clouds. In his disturbed condition, he began to pray to these clouds, and he expressed his jubilation by bowing down before them.

Uddhava informed Kåñëa, “My dear leader of the Yadu dynasty, Your servants in Våndävana cannot sleep at night thinking of You, so now they are all lying down on the bank of the Yamunä almost paralyzed. And it appears that they are almost dead, because their breathing is very slow.” This is an instance of becoming unconscious due to separation from Kåñëa.

Kåñëa was once informed, “You are the life and soul of all the inhabitants of Våndävana. So because You have left Våndävana, all of the servitors of Your lotus feet there are suffering. It is as if the lakes filled with lotus flowers have dried up from the scorching heat of separation from You.” In the example given here, the inhabitants of Våndävana are compared to lakes filled with lotus flowers, and because of the scorching heat of separation from Kåñëa, the lakes—along with the lotus flowers of their lives—are being burned up. And the swans in the lakes, who are compared to the vitality of the inhabitants of Våndävana, are no longer desiring to live there. In other words, because of the scorching heat, the swans are leaving the lakes. This metaphor is used to describe the condition of the devotees separated from Kåñëa.

NoD 39: Ways of Meeting Kåñëa

When Kåñëa and His devotees meet, the meeting is technically called yoga, or linking up with the Lord. Such meetings between Kåñëa and His devotees can be divided into three classes—namely perfection, satisfaction and steadiness.

When the devotee meets with Kåñëa in great eagerness, that state of meeting is called perfection. In the Kåñëa-karëämåta, Bilvamaìgala Öhäkura describes how Kåñëa meets His devotee—with peacock feather on His head, with marakata jewels on His chest and with His ever enchanting smile, His restless eyes and His very delicate body.

In the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Thirty-eighth Chapter, verse 34, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, as soon as Akrüra the chariot driver saw Lord Kåñëa and His elder brother Balaräma in Våndävana, he immediately got down from the chariot and, being greatly afflicted by affection for the transcendental Lord, fell down upon His lotus feet to offer respectful obeisances.” These are some of the instances of perfectional meetings with Kåñëa.

When a devotee meets Kåñëa after long separation, the meeting is one of satisfaction. In the First Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Chapter, verse 10, it is stated that when Lord Kåñëa returned to His capital, Dvärakä, the inhabitants said, “Dear Lord, if You remain in foreign countries for so long, we shall certainly be bereft of seeing Your smiling face! Upon observing Your face, we, Your eternal servitors, become greatly satisfied. All the anxieties of our existence are immediately mitigated. If we cannot see You because You are long absent from Dvärakä, then it will be impossible for us to live anymore.” This is an instance of satisfaction in meeting Kåñëa after long separation.

Kåñëa’s personal servant, Däruka, seeing Kåñëa at the door of Dvärakä, forgot to offer Him respects with folded hands.

When a devotee is ultimately situated in association with Kåñëa, his position is called steadiness in devotional service. This steady position in devotional service is explained in the book known as Haàsadüta. It is described there how Akrüra, who was considered by the gopés to be terror personified, would talk with Kåñëa about the activities of the Kuru dynasty. A similar steady position was held by Uddhava, the disciple of Båhaspati. He would always massage the lotus feet of Kåñëa while kneeling down on the ground before Him.

When a devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord, he is said to have reached the attainment of yoga. The English equivalent of the word yoga is “linking up.” So actual linking up with Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, begins when the devotee renders service unto Him. Devotees situated in the transcendental rasa of servitorship render their particular service whenever there is an opportunity. Sometimes they sit down in front of Kåñëa to receive orders. Some persons are reluctant to accept this level of devotional service as actual bhakti-yoga, and in some of the Puräëas also this servitorship in devotional service to Kåñëa is not accepted as the actual bhakti-yoga system. But Çrémad-Bhägavatam has clearly indicated that the servitor relationship with Kåñëa is the actual beginning of yoga realization.

In the Eleventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Third Chapter, verse 32, it is stated that when devotees are engaged in the discharge of bhakti-yoga, sometimes they cry from thinking of Kåñëa, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they become jubilant, and sometimes they talk in very uncommon ways. Sometimes they dance, sometimes they sing, sometimes they are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, and sometimes they sit down silently as if absorbed in trance.

Similarly, in the Seventh Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Chapter Seven, verse 34, Prahläda Mahäräja says to his friends, “My dear friends, as soon as pure devotees of Lord Kåñëa hear of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, who is the eternal reservoir of pastimes, or hear about His transcendental qualities, they become overpowered with jubilation. Ecstatic symptoms are manifested in their bodies. They shed tears, talk falteringly, glorify the Lord in a loud voice and chant and dance in ecstasy. These ecstasies are always there, but sometimes they overcome all limits, and the symptoms become manifest to all.”

In the process of surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead there are six items: to accept everything favorable for devotional service, to reject everything unfavorable for devotional service, to believe that Kåñëa will always give protection, to identify oneself with Kåñëa’s devotees, always to feel inability without the help of Kåñëa and always to think oneself inferior to Kåñëa, even though one may have full capacity to perform something on his own. When one is substantially convinced that he is always protected by Kåñëa in all circumstances, that feeling is called reverential devotion. Reverential devotion is executed in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and with His other protected devotees.

When Kåñëa was residing in Dvärakä, some of the elderly members of the Yadu family would occasionally put some important matter before Him. At such a time, Kåñëa would carefully give attention to those matters. And if there were some humorous topics mentioned, Kåñëa would immediately respond with a smiling face. Sometimes when Kåñëa was executing His duties in the assembly known as Sudharmä, He would ask the elderly members for good advice. By such activities He is manifest as the supreme spiritual master, the supreme executive head, the superior intelligence and the supreme power, protector and maintainer.

NoD 40: Reverential Devotion of Sons and other Subordinates

True reverential devotion is exhibited by persons who think themselves subordinate to Kåñëa and by persons who think themselves sons of Kåñëa. The best examples of this subordination are Säraëa, Gada and Subhadrä. They were all members of the Yadu dynasty, and they always used to think themselves protected by Kåñëa. Similarly, Kåñëa’s sons, such as Pradyumna, Cärudeñëa and Sämba, felt the same way. Kåñëa had many sons in Dvärakä. He begot ten sons by each of His 16,108 queens, and all of these sons, headed by Pradyumna, Cärudeñëa and Sämba, used to think themselves always protected by Kåñëa. When Kåñëa’s sons dined with Him, they would sometimes open their mouths for Kåñëa to feed them. Sometimes when Kåñëa would pat one of His sons, the son would sit on Kåñëa’s lap, and while Kåñëa was blessing the son’s head by smelling it, the others would shed tears, thinking how many pious activities he must have performed in his previous life. Out of Kåñëa’s many sons, Pradyumna, a son of Kåñëa’s chief queen, Rukmiëé, is considered the leader. Pradyumna’s bodily features resemble Kåñëa’s exactly. Pure devotees of Kåñëa glorify Pradyumna because he is so fortunate: like father like son.

There is a description in the Hari-vaàça of Pradyumna’s activities when he kidnapped Prabhävaté. Pradyumna addressed Prabhävaté at that time and said, “My dear Prabhävaté, just look at the head of our family, Çré Kåñëa. He is Viñëu Himself, the supreme driver of Garuòa, and He is our supreme master. Because we have become so proud and confident of His protecting us, we sometimes do not even care about fighting with Tripuräri [Lord Çiva].”

There are two kinds of devotees engaged in devotional service with awe and veneration—the Lord’s subordinates and His sons. The servitors in the abode of Dvärakä always worship Kåñëa as the most respectable and revered Personality of Godhead. They are captivated by Kåñëa because of His superexcellent opulences. The members who always thought themselves protected by Kåñëa could readily convert their conviction into practical demonstration, because it was sometimes found that the sons of Kåñëa acted very unlawfully in various places but were nonetheless given full protection by Kåñëa and Balaräma.

Even Balaräma, the elder brother of Kåñëa, sometimes unknowingly offered respect to Him. Once when Kåñëa came before Lord Balaräma, Kåñëa was anxious to offer His respects to His elder brother, but at that time Balaräma’s club was lowered down upon Kåñëa’s lotus feet. In other words, the club in Balaräma’s hand offered its own respects to Kåñëa. These feelings of subordination, as explained above, are sometimes manifested as anubhäva.

When demigods from the heavenly planets came to Çré Kåñëa, all of Kåñëa’s sons followed them, and Lord Brahmä sprinkled water from his kamaëòalu upon them. When the demigods came before Kåñëa, the sons, instead of sitting on golden chairs, sat down on the floor, which was covered with deerskin.

Sometimes the behavior of Kåñëa’s sons appears similar to the behavior of His personal servants. For example, the sons used to offer their obeisances, they were silent, submissive and gentle, and they were always ready to carry out Kåñëa’s orders, even at the risk of life. When present before Kåñëa, they bowed down on the ground. They were very silent and steady, and they used to restrain coughing and laughing before the Lord. Also, they never discussed Kåñëa’s pastimes in conjugal love. In other words, devotees who are engaged in reverential devotional service should not discuss the conjugal love affairs of Kåñëa. No one should claim his eternal relationship with Kåñëa unless he is liberated. In the conditioned state of life, the devotees have to execute the prescribed duties as recommended in the codes of devotional service. When one is mature in devotional service and is a realized soul, he can know his own eternal relationship with Kåñëa. One should not artificially try to establish some relationship. In the premature stage it is sometimes found that a lusty, conditioned person will artificially try to establish some relationship with Kåñëa in conjugal love. The result of this is that one becomes präkåta-sahajiyä, or one who takes everything very cheaply. Although such persons may be very anxious to establish a relationship with Kåñëa in conjugal love, their conditioned life in the material world is still most abominable. A person who has actually established his relationship with Kåñëa can no longer act on the material plane, and his personal character cannot be criticized.

When Cupid came on one occasion to visit Lord Kåñëa, some devotee addressed him thus: “My dear Cupid, because you have been so fortunate as to have placed your eyesight on the lotus feet of Kåñëa, the drops of perspiration on your body have become frozen, and they resemble kaëöaké fruits [a kind of small fruit found in thorny bushes].” These are signs of ecstasy and veneration for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the princes of the Yadu dynasty heard the vibration of Kåñëa’s Päïcajanya conchshell, the hairs on their bodies immediately stood up in ecstatic jubilation. It seemed at that time that all the hairs on the bodies of the princes were dancing in ecstasy.

In addition to jubilation, there are sometimes symptoms of disappointment. Pradyumna once addressed Sämba with these words: “My dear Sämba, you are such a glorified personality! I have seen that once when you were playing on the ground, your body became covered with dust; yet our father, Lord Kåñëa, still took you up on His lap. But I am so unfortunate that I could never get such love from our father!” This statement is an example of disappointment in love.

To regard Kåñëa as one’s superior is called reverential feeling, and when, in addition to this, a devotee feels that Kåñëa is his protector, his transcendental love for Kåñëa is increased, and his combined feelings are called reverential devotion. When this steady reverential devotion increases further, it is called love of Godhead in reverential devotion. Attraction and affection are two prominent symptoms of this stage. In this reverential devotional attitude, Pradyumna never talked to his father in a loud voice. In fact, he never so much as unlocked the lips of his mouth, nor did he ever show his face filled with tears. He would always glance only at the lotus feet of his father.

There is another example of steady and fixed love for Kåñëa in the instance of Arjuna’s informing Him of the death of Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu, who was also the nephew of Kåñëa. Abhimanyu was the son of Subhadrä, Kåñëa’s younger sister. He was killed at the Battle of Kurukñetra by the combined efforts of all the commanders in King Duryodhana’s army—namely Karëa, Açvatthämä, Jayadratha, Bhéñma, Kåpäcärya and Droëäcärya. In order to assure Kåñëa that there was no change of love on Subhadrä’s part, Arjuna informed Him, “Although Abhimanyu was killed almost in Your presence, Subhadrä’s love for You is not agitated at all, nor has it even slightly changed its original color.”

The affection that Kåñëa has for His devotees was expressed by Him when He asked Pradyumna not to feel so bashful before Him. He addressed Pradyumna thus: “My dear boy, just give up your feeling of inferiority, and do not hang your neck. Just talk with Me in a clear voice, and do not shed tears. You may look straight at Me, and you may place your hands on My body without any hesitation. There is no need of exhibiting so much reverence before your father.”

Pradyumna’s attachment for Kåñëa was always exhibited by his action. Whenever he was ordered by his father to execute something, he would immediately execute the order, taking the task as nectarean even though it may have been poison. Similarly, whenever he would find something to be disapproved of by his father, he would immediately reject it as poison, even though it may have been nectarean.

Pradyumna’s attachment in anxiety for Kåñëa was expressed when he said to his wife Rati, “The enemy, Çambara, is already killed. Now I am very anxious to see my father, who is my spiritual master and who always carries the conchshell known as Päïcajanya.” Pradyumna felt great separation from Kåñëa when He was absent from Dvärakä at the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. He said, “Since my father has left Dvärakä, I do not take much pleasure in practicing fighting, nor am I interested in any kind of sporting pastimes. And what need is there to speak of these things? I do not even wish to stay at Dvärakä in the absence of my father.”

When Pradyumna came back home after killing Çambaräsura and saw his father, Kåñëa, before him, he at once became so overjoyed that he himself could not understand his joy on that occasion. This is an instance of success in separation. A similar satisfaction was observed when Kåñëa returned from the Battlefield of Kurukñetra to His home at Dvärakä. All of His sons were so overjoyed that out of ecstasy they repeatedly made many mistakes. These mistakes were a sign of complete satisfaction.

Every day Pradyumna looked over Kåñëa’s lotus feet with tears in his eyes. These signs of reverential devotion on the part of Pradyumna may be described in the same way they have been described in the cases of other devotees.

NoD 41: Fraternal Devotion

When a devotee is permanently situated in devotional service, and by different symptoms of ecstasy he has developed and matured a fraternal mellow or flavor in relationship with the Personality of Godhead, his feeling is called fraternal love of Godhead.

The impetus for such fraternal love of God is God Himself. When one is liberated and discovers his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, the Lord Himself becomes the impetus for increasing fraternal love. The eternal associates of the Lord in Våndävana have described this as follows: “The Lord, Hari, whose bodily hue is like the indranéla jewel, whose smiling is as beautiful as the kunda flower, whose silk dress is as yellow as golden autumn foliage, whose chest is beautified with garlands of flowers and who is always playing upon His flute—this enemy of the Agha demon is always attracting our hearts by wandering about Våndävana.”

There are similar statements of fraternal love expressed outside the jurisdiction of Våndävana. When the sons of Päëòu, headed by Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, saw Kåñëa in His four-handed form on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, holding His conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower, they completely forgot themselves and became merged in the ocean of nectarean happiness. This shows how the sons of Päëòu—King Yudhiñöhira, Bhéma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—were all caught up in fraternal love for Kåñëa.

Sometimes the different names, forms, paraphernalia and transcendental qualities provoke fraternal love. For instance, Kåñëa’s nice dress, His strongly built body, the all-auspicious symptoms on His body, His knowledge of different languages, His learned teachings in Bhagavad-gétä, His uncommon genius in all fields of endeavor, His exhibition of expert knowledge, His mercy, His chivalry, His behavior as a conjugal lover, His intelligence, His forgiveness, His attraction for all kinds of men, His opulence and His happiness—all provoke fraternal love.

The impetus to fraternal love upon seeing the associates of Kåñëa in Våndävana is also very natural, for their personal bodily features, their qualities and their dress are all equal to Kåñëa’s. These associates are always happy in their service to Kåñëa, and they are generally known as vayasyas, or friends of the same age. The vayasyas are fully confident of protection by Kåñëa. Devotees sometimes pray, “Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto the vayasyas of Kåñëa, who are firmly convinced of Kåñëa’s friendship and protection and whose devotion to Kåñëa is ever fixed. They are fearless, and on a level equal with Kåñëa they discharge their transcendental loving devotional service.” Such eternal vayasyas are also found beyond the jurisdiction of Våndävana, in places such as Dvärakä and Hastinäpura. Except for Våndävana, all the places of Kåñëa’s pastimes are called puras (towns). Mathurä and Hastinäpura, the capital of the Kurus, are both puras. Personalities like Arjuna, Bhéma, Draupadé and Çrédämä Brähmaëa are counted among Kåñëa’s fraternal devotees in the puras.

How the sons of Päëòu, the Päëòavas, enjoy Kåñëa’s association is described as follows: “When Çré Kåñëa arrived in Indraprastha, the capital of the Kurus, Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira immediately came out to smell the flavor of Kåñëa’s head.” It is the Vedic custom that a superior smells the heads of his subordinates when the subordinates offer respect to the superior by touching his feet. Similarly, Arjuna and Bhéma embraced Kåñëa with great jubilation, and the two younger brothers, namely Nakula and Sahadeva, touched the lotus feet of Kåñëa with tears in their eyes and offered their respects. In this way all the five Päëòava brothers enjoyed the fraternal friendship of Kåñëa in transcendental mellow. Of the five Päëòavas, Arjuna is the most intimately connected with Kåñëa. He has a nice bow called Gäëòéva in his hand. His thighs are compared to the trunks of elephants, and his eyes are always reddish. When Kåñëa and Arjuna are together on a chariot, they become celestial beauties, pleasing to the eyes of everyone. It is said that once Arjuna was lying on his bed with his head upon Kåñëa’s lap and was talking and joking with Kåñëa in great relaxation, enjoying Kåñëa’s company with smiling and great satisfaction.

As far as the vayasyas (friends) in Våndävana are concerned, they become greatly distressed when they cannot see Kåñëa even for a moment.

There is the following prayer by a devotee for the vayasyas in Våndävana: “All glories to Kåñëa’s vayasyas, who are just like Kåñëa in their age, qualities, pastimes, dress and beauty. They are accustomed to playing on their flutes made of palm leaves, and they all have buffalo-horn bugles ornamented like Kåñëa’s with jewels such as indranéla and with gold and coral. They are always jubilant like Kåñëa. May these glorious companions of Kåñëa always protect us!”

The vayasyas in Våndävana are in such intimate friendship with Kåñëa that sometimes they think themselves as good as Kåñëa. Here is an instance of such friendly feeling: When Kåñëa was holding up Govardhana Hill with His left hand, the vayasyas said, “Dear friend, You have been standing for the last seven days and nights without any rest. This is very troublesome for us, because we see that You have undertaken a severely laborious task. We think, therefore, that You need not continue to stand in that way holding the hill. You can just transfer it onto Sudämä’s hand. We are very much aggrieved to see You in this position. If you think that Sudämä is not able to support Govardhana Hill, then at least You should change hands. Instead of supporting it with Your left hand, please transfer it to Your right hand, so that we can give Your left hand a massage.” This is an instance of intimacy, showing how much the vayasyas considered themselves to be equal to Kåñëa.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 11, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the learned transcendentalist, He is the supreme happiness for the impersonalist, He is the supreme worshipable Deity for the devotee, and He is just like an ordinary boy to one who is under the spell of mäyä. And just imagine—these cowherd boys are now playing with the Supreme Person as though they were on an equal level! By this anyone can understand that these boys must have accumulated heaps of the results of pious activities to enable them to associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in such intimate friendship.”

There is a description of Kåñëa’s feeling for His vayasyas in Våndävana. He once said to Balaräma, “My dear brother, when My companions were being devoured by the Aghäsura, hot tears poured down from My eyes. And as they were washing My cheeks, My dear elder brother, for at least one moment I completely lost Myself.”

Within Gokula, Kåñëa’s vayasyas are generally divided into four groups: (1) well-wishers, (2) friends, (3) confidential friends and (4) intimate friends. Kåñëa’s well-wisher friends are a little bit older than Kåñëa, and they have some parental affection for Him. Because of their being older than Kåñëa, they always try to protect Him from any harm. As such, they sometimes bear weapons so that they can chastise any mischievous persons who want to do harm to Kåñëa. Counted among the well-wisher friends are [xv]Subhadra, Maëòalébhadra, Bhadravardhana, Gobhaöa, Yakña, Indrabhaöa, Bhadräìga, Vérabhadra, Mahäguëa, Vijaya and Balabhadra. They are older than Kåñëa and are always thinking of His welfare.

One of the elderly friends said, “My dear Maëòalébhadra, why are you wielding a shining sword as though you were running toward Ariñöäsura to kill him? My dear Baladeva, why are You unnecessarily bearing that heavy plow? My dear Vijaya, don’t be unnecessarily agitated. My dear Bhadravardhana, there is no need to make these threatening motions. If you will all look more closely you will see that it is only a thundercloud upon Govardhana Hill; it is not the Ariñöäsura in the shape of a bull, as you have imagined.” These older, well-wishing friends of Kåñëa had imagined a large cloud to be the Ariñöäsura, appearing in the shape of a huge bull. In the midst of their excitement one of them ascertained that it was actually only a cloud on Govardhana Hill. He therefore informed the others not to take the trouble of worrying about Kåñëa, because there was no present danger from Ariñöäsura.

Among the well-wisher friends, Maëòalébhadra and Balabhadra are the chiefs. Maëòalébhadra is described as follows. His complexion is yellowish, and his dress is very attractive. He always carries a stick of various colors. He wears a peacock feather on his head and always looks very beautiful. Maëòalébhadra’s attitude is revealed in this statement: “My dear friends, our beloved Kåñëa is now very tired from working with the cows in the pasturing grounds and from traveling all over the forests. I can see that He is very fatigued. Let me massage His head silently while He is taking rest in His house. And you, Subala—you just massage His thighs.”

One devotee described the personal beauty of Baladeva as follows “Let me take shelter of the lotus feet of Balaräma, whose beauty is enhanced by the earrings touching His cheeks. His face is decorated with tilaka made from kastüré [musk], and His broad chest is decorated with a garland of guïjä [small conchshells]. His complexion is as white as an autumn cloud, He wears garments of blue color, and His voice is very grave. His arms are very long, touching His thighs, and He has shown His great strength by killing the Pralamba demon. Let me take shelter of this chivalrous [xvi]Balaräma.”

Baladeva’s affection for Kåñëa is illustrated in this statement to Subala: “My dear friend, please inform Kåñëa not to go to Käliya’s lake today. Today is His birthday, and so I wish to go along with mother Yaçodä to bathe Him. Tell Him He should not leave the house today.” This shows how Balaräma, Kåñëa’s elder brother, took care of Kåñëa with parental love, within the scope of fraternal affection.

Friends who are younger than Kåñëa, who are always attached to Him and who give Him all kinds of service are called ordinary friends, or, simply, friends. Such ordinary friends are called sakhäs, and the names of some sakhäs are Viçäla, Våñabha, Ojasvé, Devaprastha, Varüthapa, Maranda, Kusumäpéòa, Maëibandha and Karandhama. All of these sakhä friends of Kåñëa seek only to serve Him. Sometimes some of them would rise early in the morning and immediately go to Kåñëa’s place and wait at the door to see Kåñëa and to accompany Him to the pasturing grounds. In the meantime, Kåñëa would be dressed by mother Yaçodä, and when she would see a boy standing at the door, she would call him, “Well, Viçäla, why are you standing there? Come here!” So with the permission of mother Yaçodä, he would immediately enter the house. And while mother Yaçodä was dressing Kåñëa, he would try to help put on Kåñëa’s ankle bells, and Kåñëa would jokingly strike him with His flute. Then mother Yaçodä would call, “Kåñëa, what is this? Why are You teasing Your friend?” And Kåñëa would laugh, and the friend would also laugh. These are some of the activities of Kåñëa’s sakhäs. Sometimes the sakhäs would take care of the cows who were going hither and thither. They would tell Kåñëa, “Your cows were going off here and there,” and Kåñëa would thank them.

Sometimes when Kåñëa and His sakhäs went to the pasturing ground, Kaàsa would send a demon to kill Kåñëa. Therefore, almost every day there was a fight with some different kind of demon. After fighting with a demon, Kåñëa would feel fatigued, the hairs on His head would be scattered, and the sakhäs would immediately come and try to relieve Him in different ways. Some friends would say, “My dear Viçäla, please take this fan of lotus leaves and fan Kåñëa so that He may feel some comfort. Varüthapa, you just brush the scattered hairs on Kåñëa’s head which have fallen upon His face. Våñabha, don’t talk unnecessarily! Immediately massage Kåñëa’s body. His arms have become tired from fighting and wrestling with that demon. Oh, just see how our friend Kåñëa has become tired!” These are some examples of the treatment given to Kåñëa by the sakhäs.

One of the sakhäs, known as Devaprastha, is described as follows. He is very strong, a ready scholar, and is very expert in playing ball. He wears a white dress, and he ties his hair into a bunch with a rope. Whenever there is a fight between Kåñëa and the demons, Devaprastha is the first to help, and he fights just like an elephant.

One of the gopés once said to her friend, “My dear beautiful friend, when Kåñëa, the son of Mahäräja Nanda, was taking rest within the cave of a hill, He was keeping His head on the arms of Çrédämä, and He was putting His left hand on Dämä’s chest. Taking this opportunity, Devaprastha, out of his strong affection for Kåñëa, immediately began to massage His legs.” Such are the activities of Kåñëa’s friends out on the pasturing grounds.

The more confidential friends are called priya-sakhäs and are almost Kåñëa’s age. Because of their very confidential friendship, their behavior is only on the basis of pure friendship. The behavior of other friends is on the ground of paternal love or servitude, but the basic principle of the confidential friends is simply friendship on an equal level. Some confidential friends are as follows: Çrédämä, Sudämä, Dämä, Vasudämä, Kiìkiëi, Stoka-kåñëa, Aàçu, Bhadrasena, Viläsé, Puëòaréka, Viöaìka and Kalaviìka. By their various activities in different pastimes, all of these friends used to give transcendental pleasure to Kåñëa.

The behavior of these confidential friends is described by a friend of Rädhäräëé who told Rädhäräëé, “My dear graceful Rädhäräëé, Your intimate friend Kåñëa is also served by His intimate boyfriends. Some of them cut jokes with Him in mild voices and please Him very much by this.” For example, Kåñëa had one brähmaëa friend whose name was Madhumaìgala. This boy would joke by playing the part of a greedy brähmaëa. Whenever the friends ate, he would eat more than all others, especially laòòus, of which he was very fond. Then after eating more laòòus than anyone else, Madhumaìgala would still not be satisfied, and he would say to Kåñëa, “If You give me one more laòòu, then I shall be pleased to give You my blessings so that Your friend Rädhäräëé will be very much pleased with You.” The brähmaëas are supposed to give blessings to the vaiçyas (farming and merchant caste), and Kåñëa presented Himself as the son of Mahäräja Nanda, a vaiçya; so the brähmaëa boy was right in giving blessings to Kåñëa. Thus Kåñëa was very pleased by His friend’s blessings, and He would supply him with more and more laòòus.

Sometimes a confidential friend would come before Kåñëa and embrace Him with great affection and love. Another friend would then come up from the rear and cover Kåñëa’s eyes with his hands. Kåñëa would always feel very happy by such dealings with His confidential friends.

Out of all these confidential friends, Çrédämä is considered to be the chief. Çrédämä used to put on a yellow-colored dress. He would carry a buffalo horn, and his turban was of reddish, copper color. His bodily complexion was blackish, and around his neck there was a nice garland. He would always challenge Kåñëa in joking friendship. Let us pray to Çrédämä to bestow his mercy upon us!

Sometimes Çrédämä used to address Kåñëa, “Oh, You are so cruel that You left us alone on the bank of the Yamunä, and we were all mad from not seeing You there! Now it is our great fortune that we are able to see You here. If You want to pacify us, You must embrace each one of us with Your arms. But believe me, my dear friend, a moment’s absence from You creates great havoc, not only for us but for the cows also. Everything becomes disarranged, and we become mad after You.”

There are other friends who are still more confidential. They are called priya-narmä, or intimate friends. Counted among the priya-narmä friends are Subala, Arjuna, Gandharva, Vasanta and Ujjvala. There was talk among the friends of Rädhäräëé, the gopés, about these most intimate friends. One gopé addressed Rädhäräëé thus: “My dear Kåçäìgé [delicate one], just see how Subala is whispering Your message into Kåñëa’s ear, how he is delivering the confidential letter of Çyämä-däsé silently into Kåñëa’s hand, how he is delivering the betel nuts prepared by Pälikä into Kåñëa’s mouth, and how he is decorating Kåñëa with the garland prepared by Tärakä. Did you know, my dear friend, that all these most intimate friends of Kåñëa are always engaged in His service in this way?” Out of the many intimate priya-narmäs, Subala and Ujjvala are considered to be the most prominent.

Subala’s body is described as follows. His complexion is just like molten gold. He is very, very dear to Kåñëa. He always has a garland around his neck, and he wears yellow clothing. His eyes are just like lotus flower petals, and he is so intelligent that by his talking and his moral instructions all the other friends take the highest pleasure. Let us all offer our respectful obeisances unto Kåñëa’s friend Subala!

The degree of intimacy shared by Kåñëa and Subala can be understood by the fact that the talks between them were so confidential that no one else could understand what they were saying.

The description of Ujjvala, another intimate friend, is given as follows. Ujjvala always wears some garment of orange color, and the movements of his eyes are always very restless. He likes to decorate himself with all kinds of flowers, his bodily hue is almost like Kåñëa’s, and on his neck there is always a necklace of pearls. He is always very dear to Kåñëa. Let us all worship Ujjvala, the most intimate friend of Kåñëa!

About the confidential service of Ujjvala, this statement is to be found, addressed by Rädhäräëé to one of Her friends: “My dear friend, it is impossible for Me to keep My prestige! I wanted to avoid talking to Kåñëa anymore—but just see! There again is His friend Ujjvala, coming to Me with his canvassing work. His entreaties are so powerful that it is very difficult for a gopé to resist her love for Kåñëa, even though she may be very bashful, devoted to her family duties and most faithful to her husband.”

The following is a statement by Ujjvala, showing his jubilant nature: “My dear Kåñëa, O killer of Aghäsura, You have extended Your loving affairs so much that You can be compared to the great ocean, which is without limitations. At the same time, the young girls of the world, who are all searching after the perfect lover, have become just like rivers running into this ocean. Under the circumstances, all these rivers of young girls may try to divert their courses to some other place, but at the end they must come unto You.”

Among the groups of different friends of Kåñëa, some are well known from various scriptures, and some are well known by popular tradition. There are three divisions among Kåñëa’s friends: some are eternally in friendship with Kåñëa, some are elevated demigods, and some are perfected devotees. In all of these groups there are some who by nature are fixed in Kåñëa’s service and are always engaged in giving counsel; some of them are very fond of joking and naturally cause Kåñëa to smile by their words; some of them are by nature very simple, and by their simplicity they please Lord Kåñëa; some of them create wonderful situations by their activities, apparently against Kåñëa; some of them are very talkative, always arguing with Kåñëa and creating a debating atmosphere; and some of them are very gentle and give pleasure to Kåñëa by their sweet words. All of these friends are very intimate with Kåñëa, and they show expertise in their different activities, their aim always being to please Kåñëa.

NoD 42: Fraternal Loving Affairs

Kåñëa’s age, His beauty, His bugle, His flute, His conchshell and His pleasing attitude all provoke love in friendship for Him. His exceptional joking abilities, exhibited sometimes by His pretending to be a royal prince, or even the Supreme Personality of Godhead, also give impetus to devotees developing love for Kåñëa in friendship.

Learned scholars have divided Kåñëa’s age into three periods: the age up through five years is called kaumära, the age from the sixth through the tenth year is called paugaëòa, and the age from the eleventh through fifteenth year is called kaiçora. While Kåñëa is spending His days as a cowherd boy, He is in the kaumära and paugaëòa ages. In the kaiçora age, when Kåñëa appeared in Gokula, He acted as a cowherd boy, and then, when He was sixteen, He went to Mathurä to kill Kaàsa.

The kaumära age is just suitable for reciprocating the love of a child with mother Yaçodä. In the Tenth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 11, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, although Lord Kåñëa is the supreme enjoyer and the beneficiary of all kinds of sacrificial ceremonies, He still used to eat with His cowherd boyfriends. This is because at that time He accepted the pastimes of an ordinary boy, keeping His flute under His arm and His bugle on the right side in His belt, along with His cane. In His left hand He would hold a lump of rice paste with yogurt, and in His fingers would be pélu, the king of fruits. When He would thus sit among His friends, it would appear that He was the whorl of a lotus flower and that the friends surrounding Him were petals. As they thus enjoyed joking among themselves, the denizens of heaven would become struck with wonder and would only stare at the scene.”

Kåñëa’s paugaëòa age can be further divided into three periods—namely the beginning, middle and end. In the beginning of the paugaëòa age there is a very nice reddish luster on His lips, His abdomen is very thin, and on His neck are circles like those on a conchshell. Sometimes, some outside visitors would return to Våndävana to see Kåñëa and, upon seeing Him again, would exclaim, “My dear Mukunda, Your beauty is gradually increasing, just like the leaf on a banyan tree! My dear lotus-eyed one, Your neck is gradually manifesting circles like those of the conchshell. And in the shining moonlight Your teeth and cheeks are competing with the padmaräga jewels in their beautiful arrangement. I am sure that Your beautiful bodily development is now giving much pleasure to Your friends.”

At this age Kåñëa was garlanded with various kinds of flowers. He used to put on a silk dress, colored with various kinds of dye. Such beautiful decorations are considered cosmetics for Kåñëa. Kåñëa would wear this dress when He used to go into the forest to tend the cows. Sometimes He would wrestle there with His different friends, and sometimes they would dance all together in the forest. These are some of the specific activities of the paugaëòa age.

The cowherd friends of Kåñëa were so happy in His company that they expressed their transcendental feelings within themselves thus: “Dear Kåñëa, You are always busy tending the cows which are scattered all over beautiful Våndävana. You have a beautiful garland, a small conchshell, a peacock feather on Your turban, yellow-colored silk cloth, decorations of karëikära flowers on Your ears and a mallikä flower garland on Your chest. Appearing so beautiful, when You pretend, just like an actor, to be fighting with us, You give us unlimited transcendental bliss.”

When Kåñëa is more grown up, in the middle age of paugaëòa, His nails become finely sharp, and His chubby cheeks become lustrous and round. On the two sides of His waist above His belt there are three distinct lines of folded skin, called trivalé.

The cowherd boyfriends of Kåñëa felt very proud of their association with Him. At that time the tip of His nose defeated the beauty of sesame flowers, the luster of His cheeks defeated the glow of pearls, and the two sides of His body were exquisitely beautiful. In this age Kåñëa wore a silk dress that glittered like lightning, His head was decorated with a silk turban covered with gold lace, and in His hand He carried a stick about fifty-six inches long.[xvii]* Seeing this exquisitely beautiful dress of Kåñëa, one devotee addressed his friend in this manner: “My dear friend, just look at Kåñëa! See how He is carrying in His hand a stick which is bound up and down with golden rings, how His turban with golden lace is showing such a beautiful luster, and how His dress is giving His friends the highest transcendental pleasure!”

At the end of Kåñëa’s paugaëòa age, Kåñëa’s hair sometimes hangs down to His hips, and sometimes it becomes scattered. In this age His two shoulders become higher and broader, and His face is always decorated with marks of tilaka. When His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders, it appears to be a goddess of fortune embracing Him, and this embracing is highly relished by His friends. Subala once addressed Him in this way: “My dear Keçava, Your round turban, the lotus flower in Your hand, the vertical marks of tilaka on Your forehead, Your kuàkum-flavored musk and all of Your beautiful bodily features are defeating me today, although I am usually stronger than You or any of our friends. Since this is so, I do not know how these features of Your body can fail to defeat the pride of all the young girls of Våndävana. When I am so defeated by this beauty, what chance is there for those who are naturally very simple and flexible?”

At this age Kåñëa took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopés, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Kåñëa thus: “My dear Kåñëa, You are very cunning. You can understand the thoughts of others; therefore I am whispering within Your ear that all of these five gopés, who are most beautiful, have been attracted by Your dress. And I believe that Cupid has entrusted them with the responsibility of conquering You.” In other words, the beauty of the gopés was capable of conquering Kåñëa, although Kåñëa is the conqueror of all universes.

The symptoms of the kaiçora age have already been described, and it is at this age that devotees generally most appreciate Kåñëa. Kåñëa with Rädhäräëé is worshiped as Kiçora-kiçoré. Kåñëa does not increase His age that although He is the oldest personality and has innumerable different forms, His original form is always youthful. In the pictures of Kåñëa on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra we can see that He is youthful, although at that time He was old enough to have sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. The cowherd boyfriends of Kåñëa once said, “Dear Kåñëa, You need not decorate Your body with so many ornaments. Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful that You do not require any ornamentation.” At this age, whenever Kåñëa begins to vibrate His flute early in the morning, all of His friends immediately get up from bed just to join Him in going to the pasturing grounds. One of the friends once said, “My dear cowherd friends, the sound of Kåñëa’s flute from above Govardhana Hill is telling us that we need not go to search Him out on the bank of the Yamunä.”

Pärvaté, the wife of Lord Çiva, told her husband, “My dear Païcamukha [five-faced], just look at the Päëòavas! After hearing the sound of Kåñëa’s conchshell, known as Päïcajanya, they have regained their strength and are just like lions.”

At this age, Kåñëa once dressed Himself up exactly like Rädhäräëé, just to create fun among His friends. He put on golden earrings, and because He was blackish, He smeared the pulp of kuàkum all over His body in order to become as fair as She. By seeing this dress, Kåñëa’s friend Subala became very astonished.

Kåñëa played with His intimate friends sometimes by fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball and sometimes by playing chess. Sometimes they carried one another on their shoulders, and sometimes they exhibited their expertness at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please Kåñëa by sitting together with Him on couches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by joking together and by swimming in the pool. All these activities are called anubhäva. Whenever all the friends would assemble in the company of Kåñëa, they would immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding their wrestling, one friend once asked Kåñëa, “My dear friend, O killer of the Agha demon, You are very proudly wandering among Your friends trying to exhibit Your arms as very strong. Is it that You are envious of me? I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me.”

All the friends were very daring and would risk any difficulty, because they were confident that Kåñëa would help them to be victorious in all adventures. They used to sit together and advise one another what to do, sometimes inducing one another to be engaged in welfare work. Sometimes they would offer betel nuts to one another, decorate one another’s faces with tilaka or smear pulp of candana on one another’s bodies. Sometimes, for the sake of amusement, they used to decorate their faces in strange ways. Another business of the friends was that each of them wanted to defeat Kåñëa. Sometimes they used to snatch His clothing or snatch away the flowers from His hands. Sometimes one would try to induce another to decorate his body for him, and failing this, they were always ready to fight, challenging one another to combat in wrestling. These were some of the general activities of Kåñëa and His friends.

Another important pastime of the friends of Kåñëa was that they served as messengers to and from the gopés; they introduced the gopés to Kåñëa and canvassed for Kåñëa. When the gopés were in disagreement with Kåñëa, these friends would support Kåñëa’s side in His presence—but when Kåñëa was not present, they would support the side of the gopés. In this way, sometimes supporting one side, sometimes the other, they would talk very privately, with much whispering in the ears, although none of the business was very serious.

The servants of Kåñëa were sometimes engaged in collecting flowers, decorating His body with valuable ornaments and trinkets, dancing before Him, singing, helping Him herd the cows, massaging His body, preparing flower garlands and sometimes fanning His body. These were some of the primary duties of the servants of Kåñëa. The friends and servants of Kåñëa were combined together in serving Him, and all of their activities are known as anubhäva.

When Kåñëa came out from the Yamunä after chastising the Käliya-näga, Çrédämä wanted to embrace Him first, but he could not raise his arms because of his great feeling of respect.

When Kåñëa used to play on His flute, the vibration appeared just like the roaring of clouds in the sky during the constellation of Sväté. According to Vedic astronomical calculation, if there is rain during the constellation of the Sväté star, any rain falling on the sea will produce pearls, and rain falling on a serpent will produce jewels. Similarly, when Kåñëa’s flute roared like a thundercloud under the Sväté constellation, the resulting perspiration on Çrédämä’s body appeared to be just like pearls.

When Kåñëa and Subala were embracing one another, Çrématé Rädhäräëé became a little envious, and hiding Her hot temperament She said, “My dear Subala, you are very fortunate because even in the presence of superiors you and Kåñëa have no hesitation in putting your arms on each other’s shoulders. I think it must be admitted that in your previous lives you have succeeded in many kinds of austerities.” The idea is that although Rädhäräëé was accustomed to putting Her arms on Kåñëa’s shoulders, it was not possible for Her to do such a thing in the presence of Her superiors, whereas Subala could do so freely. Rädhäräëé therefore praised his good fortune.

When Kåñëa entered the lake of Käliya, His intimate friends became so perturbed that their bodily colors faded, and they all produced horrible gurgling sounds. At that time all of them fell down on the ground as if unconscious. Similarly, when there was a forest fire, all of Kåñëa’s friends neglected their own protection and surrounded Kåñëa on all sides to protect Him from the flames. This behavior of the friends toward Kåñëa is described by thoughtful poets as vyabhicäré. In vyabhicäré ecstatic love for Kåñëa there is sometimes madness, dexterity, fear, laziness, jubilation, pride, dizziness, meditation, disease, forgetfulness and humbleness. These are some of the common symptoms in the stage of vyabhicäré ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

When there are dealings between Kåñëa and His friends which are completely devoid of any feelings of respect and they all treat one another on an equal level, such ecstatic love in friendship is called sthäyé. When one is situated in this confidential friendly relationship with Kåñëa, one shows symptoms of love such as attraction, affection, affinity and attachment. An example of sthäyé was exhibited when [xviii]Arjuna told Akrüra, “My dear son of Gändiné, please ask Kåñëa when I shall be able to embrace Him in my arms.”

When there is full knowledge of Kåñëa’s superiority and yet in dealings with Him on friendly terms respectfulness is completely absent, that stage is called affection. There is one brilliant example of this affection. When the demigods, headed by Lord Çiva, were offering respectful prayers to Kåñëa, describing the glorious opulences of the Lord, [xix]Arjuna stood before Him with his hand on His shoulders and brushed the dust from His peacock feather.

When the Päëòavas were banished by Duryodhana and forced to live incognito in the forest, no one could trace out where they were staying. At that time, the great sage Närada met Lord Kåñëa and said, “My dear Mukunda, although You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all-powerful person, by making friendship with You the Päëòavas have become bereft of their legitimate right to the kingdom of the world—and, moreover, they are now living in the forest incognito. Sometimes they must work as ordinary laborers in someone else’s house. These symptoms appear to be very inauspicious materially, but the beauty is that the Päëòavas have not lost their faith and love for You, in spite of all these tribulations. In fact, they are always thinking of You and chanting Your name in ecstatic friendship.”

Another example of acute affection for Kåñëa is given in the Tenth Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 18, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam. In the pasturing ground Kåñëa felt a little tired and wanted to take rest, so He lay down on the ground. At that time, many cowherd boys assembled there and with great affection began to sing suitable songs so that Kåñëa would rest very nicely.

There is a nice example of the friendship between Kåñëa and Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra. When the fighting was going on, Açvatthämä, the son of Droëäcärya, unceremoniously attacked Kåñëa, although according to the prevailing rules of chivalry one’s chariot driver should never be attacked by the enemy. Açvatthämä behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack Kåñëa’s body, although Kåñëa was acting only as charioteer for Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that Açvatthämä was releasing various kinds of arrows to hurt Kåñëa, he immediately stood in front of Kåñëa to intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being harmed by those arrows, he felt an ecstatic love for Kåñëa, and the arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers.

There is another instance of ecstatic love for Kåñëa in friendship. Once when a cowherd boy named Våñabha was collecting flowers from the forest to prepare a garland to be offered to Kåñëa, the sun reached its zenith, and although the sunshine was scorching hot, Våñabha felt it to be like the moonshine. That is the way of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord; when devotees are put into great difficulties—even like the Päëòavas, as described above—they feel all their miserable conditions to be great facilities for serving the Lord.

Another instance of Arjuna’s friendship with Kåñëa was described by Närada, who reminded Kåñëa, “When Arjuna was learning the art of shooting arrows, he could not see You for so many days. But when You arrived there, he stopped all His activities and immediately embraced You.” This means that even though Arjuna was engaged in learning about the military art, he had not forgotten Kåñëa for a moment, and as soon as there was an opportunity to see Kåñëa, Arjuna immediately embraced Him.

One servant of Kåñëa named Patré once addressed Him like this: “My dear Lord, You protected the cowherd boys from the hunger of the Aghäsura demon, and You protected them from the poisonous effects of the Käliya snake. And You also saved them from the fierce forest fire. But I am suffering from Your separation, which is more severe than the hunger of Aghäsura, the poison of Lake Käliya and the burning of the forest fire. So why should You not protect me from the pangs of separation?” Another friend once told Kåñëa, “My dear enemy of Kaàsa, since You have left us, the heat of separation has become extraordinary. And this heat is felt more severely when we understand that in Bhäëòéravana You are being refreshed by the waves of the cooling river known as Bhänu-tanayä [Rädhäräëé].” The purport is that when Kåñëa was engaged with Rädhäräëé, the cowherd boys headed by Subala were feeling great separation, and that was unbearable for them.

Another friend addressed Kåñëa thus: “My dear Kåñëa, O killer of Aghäsura, when You left Våndävana to kill King Kaàsa in Mathurä, all the cowherd boys became bereft of their four bhütas [the elements earth, water, fire and space]. And the fifth bhüta, the air, was flowing very rapidly within their nostrils.” When Kåñëa went to Mathurä to kill King Kaàsa, all the cowherd boys became so afflicted by the separation that they almost died. When a person is dead it is said that he has given up the five elements, known as bhütas, as the body again mixes with the five elements from which it was prepared. In this case, although the four elements earth, water, fire and ether were already gone, the remaining element, air, was still very prominent and was blowing through their nostrils furiously. In other words, after Kåñëa left Våndävana, the cowherd boys were always anxious about what would happen in His fight with King Kaàsa.

Another friend once informed Kåñëa, “When one of Your friends was feeling much separation from You, there were tears covering his lotus eyes, and so the black drones of sleep became discouraged from entering his eyes and left that place.” When there is a lotus flower, the black drones fly into it to collect honey. The eyes of Kåñëa’s friend are compared to the lotus flower, and because they were full of tears the black drones of sleep could not collect honey from his lotus eyes and therefore left the place. In other words, because he was too much afflicted, his eyes were full of tears, and he could not sleep. This is an example of staying up at night because of separation from Kåñëa.

An example of helplessness is described in the following statement: “Due to Kåñëa’s departure from Våndävana to Mathurä, Kåñëa’s dearest cowherd boys felt as mentally light as possible. They were like fragments of cotton, lighter than the air, and were all floating in the air without any shelter.” In other words, the minds of the cowherd boys became almost vacant on account of Kåñëa’s separation. An example of impatience was also shown by the cowherd boys when Kåñëa went to Mathurä. Out of the sorrow of separation, all these boys forgot to take care of their cowherding and tried to forget all the melodious songs they used to sing in the pasturing ground. At last they had no desire to live anymore, being separated from Kåñëa.

An example of stillness was described by a friend of Kåñëa’s who informed Him in Mathurä that all the cowherd boys had become just like leafless trees on the tops of hills. They appeared almost naked, being skinny and frail, and did not carry any fruits or flowers. He informed Kåñëa that all the cowherd boys residing in Våndävana were as still as the trees at the tops of hills. Sometimes they felt diseased from their separation from Kåñëa, and being so greatly disappointed, they were aimlessly wandering on the banks of the Yamunä.

There is also an example of madness caused by separation from Kåñëa. When Kåñëa was absent from Våndävana, all the cowherd boys became bewildered, and having given up all kinds of activities, they appeared to be mad and forgot all their regular business. They were sometimes lying down on the ground, sometimes rolling in the dust, sometimes laughing and sometimes running very swiftly. All of these symptoms gave them the appearance of madmen. One friend of Kåñëa’s criticized Him by saying, “My dear Lord, You have become the King of Mathurä after killing Kaàsa, and that is very good news for us. But at Våndävana all the residents have become blind from their continuous crying over Your absence. They are full only of anxieties and are not cheered at all by Your becoming the King of Mathurä.”

Sometimes there were also signs of death caused by separation from Kåñëa. Once Kåñëa was told, “My dear enemy of Kaàsa, because of their separation from You, the cowherd boys are suffering too much, and they are now lying down in the valleys, breathing only slightly. In order to sympathize with the boys’ regrettable condition, even the forest friends, the deer, are shedding tears.”

In the Mathurä-khaëòa chapter of the Skanda Puräëa, there is a description of Kåñëa and Balaräma, surrounded by all the cowherd boys, always engaged in taking care of the cows and calves. When Kåñëa was met by Arjuna at a potter’s shop in the city of Drupada-nagara, because of the similarity of their bodily features they made intimate friendship. This is an instance of friendship caused by the attraction of similar bodies.

In the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventy-first Chapter, verse 27, it is stated that when Kåñëa arrived in the city of Indraprastha, Bhéma was so overwhelmed with joy that with tears in his eyes and a smiling face he immediately embraced his maternal cousin. Following him were his young brothers Nakula and Sahadeva, along with Arjuna, and they all became so overwhelmed at seeing Kåñëa that with full satisfaction they embraced the Lord, who is known as Acyuta (the infallible). There is a similar statement about the cowherd boys of Våndävana. When Kåñëa was on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, all the cowherd boys came to see Him, wearing jeweled earrings in their ears. Becoming so greatly overjoyed, they extended their arms and embraced Kåñëa as their old friend. These are instances of full satisfaction in friendship with Kåñëa.

In the Tenth Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 12, of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, it is stated that even after undergoing severe penances and austerities and performing the yogic principles, the great mystic yogés can hardly become eligible to achieve the dust of the lotus feet of Kåñëa, but the same personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, is easily available to the vision of the residents of Våndävana. This means there is no comparison to the great fortune of these devotees. The friendly relationship of the cowherd boys with Kåñëa is a particular type of spiritual ecstasy almost similar to the ecstasy of conjugal love. This ecstasy of loving affairs between the cowherd boys and Kåñëa is very difficult to explain. Great expert devotees like Rüpa Gosvämé express their astonishment at the inconceivable feelings which are in Kåñëa and His cowherd boyfriends.

This particular type of ecstatic love shared between Kåñëa and His confidential friends further develops into parental love, and on from there it may develop into conjugal love, the most exalted humor, or mellow, of ecstatic love between Lord Kåñëa and His devotees.

NoD 43: Parenthood

When ecstatic love develops into the relationship of parenthood and becomes steadily established, the relationship is called vätsalya-rasa. The exhibition of this vätsalya-rasa standard of devotional service can be found in the dealings of Kåñëa with His devotees who represent themselves as superior personalities like father, mother and teacher.

Learned scholars have described the impetuses for parental love for Kåñëa, existing in the elderly personalities who are in relation with Him, as follows: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily complexion is just like a bluish, new-grown lotus flower, whose body is very delicate and whose lotus eyes are surrounded by scattered hair as black as bees, was walking on the streets of Våndävana when mother Yaçodä, the beloved wife of Nanda Mahäräja, saw Him. Immediately the milk began to flow from her breasts, soaking her body.” Some specific provocations for parental love of Kåñëa are listed as His blackish bodily hue, which is very attractive and pleasing to see, His all-auspicious bodily features, His mildness, His sweet words, His simplicity, His shyness, His humility, His constant readiness to offer respect to the elderly and His charity. All of these qualities are considered ecstatic provocations for parental love.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighth Chapter, verse 45, it is stated by Çukadeva Gosvämé that mother Yaçodä accepted Lord Kåñëa as her son, although He is accepted in the Vedas as the King of heaven, in the Upaniñads as the impersonal Brahman, in philosophy as the supreme male, by the yogés as the Supersoul and by the devotees as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Once mother Yaçodä addressed one of her friends in this way: “Nanda Mahäräja, the leader of the cowherd men, worshiped Lord Viñëu, along with me, and as a result of this worship, Kåñëa has been saved from the clutches of Pütanä and other demons. The twin arjuna trees were, of course, broken due to a strong wind, and although Kåñëa appeared to have lifted Govardhana Hill along with Balaräma, I think that Nanda Mahäräja actually held the mountain. Otherwise how could it have been possible for a little boy to lift such a great hill?” This is another example of ecstasy in parental love. This kind of parental love is generated in a devotee out of his conviction, in love, that he himself is superior to Kåñëa and that without being taken care of by such a devotee Kåñëa could not possibly live. One devotee therefore prayed to the parents of Lord Kåñëa as follows: “Let me take shelter of the elderly parental devotees of Lord Kåñëa. They are always anxious to serve Kåñëa and to maintain Him, and they are always so kind to Him. Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto them for being so kind to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the parent of the whole universe!”

There is a similar prayer by a brähmaëa who says, “Let others worship the Vedas and the Upaniñads, and let others worship the Mahäbhärata if they are afraid of material existence and want to become liberated from that condition. But as far as I am concerned, I wish only to worship Mahäräja Nanda, because the supreme absolute Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, is crawling in his courtyard as his own child.”

Following is a list of respectful personalities who enjoy parental affection toward Kåñëa: (1) mother Yaçodä, the Queen of Vraja, (2) Mahäräja Nanda, the King of Vraja, (3) mother Rohiëé, the mother of Balaräma, (4) all the elderly gopés whose sons were taken away by Lord Brahmä, (5) Devaké, the wife of Vasudeva, (6) the other fifteen wives of Vasudeva, (7) Kunté, the mother of Arjuna, (8) Vasudeva, the real father of Kåñëa and (9) Sändépani Muni, Kåñëa’s teacher. All these are considered respectable elderly personalities with parental love for Kåñëa. This list is in order of superior importance, and thus we can see that mother Yaçodä and Mahäräja Nanda are considered to be the supermost of all elderly personalities.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Ninth Chapter, verse 3, Çukadeva Gosvämé gives Mahäräja Parékñit a description of the form and beauty of mother Yaçodä. He says, “My dear King, the wide hips of mother Yaçodä were surrounded by silk and linen clothes, and her breasts were flowing with milk because of her affection. When she was churning butter and tightly holding the rope, the bangles on her hands and the earrings on her ears were moving, and from the nice decoration in her hair the flowers were slackening and falling down. Due to her excessive labor, there were drops of perspiration on her face.”

There is another description of mother Yaçodä in a devotee’s prayer: “Let me be given protection by mother Yaçodä, whose curly hairs are bound with thread, whose hair is very brightly beautified by the vermilion placed in the part and whose bodily frame derides all her ornaments. Her eyes are always engaged in seeing the face of Kåñëa, and thus they are always filled with tears. Her complexion, which resembles the bluish lotus flower, is enhanced in beauty by her dressing herself with many colorful garments. Let her merciful glance fall on all of us so that we may be protected from the clutches of mäyä and smoothly progress in our devotional service!”

There is the following description of mother Yaçodä’s affection for Kåñëa. After rising early in the morning, mother Yaçodä first of all offered her breast milk to Kåñëa, and then she began to chant various mantras for His protection. Then she would decorate His forehead very nicely and bind His arms with protective talismans. By all of these activities, it is definitely understood that she is the emblem of all maternal affection for Kåñëa.

The description of Nanda Mahäräja’s bodily features is as follows. The hairs on his head are generally black, but some of them are gray. His garments are of greenish color, like the new-grown leaves of a banyan tree. His belly is fatty, his complexion is exactly like the full moon, and he has a beautiful mustache. When Kåñëa was a baby, one day He was walking in the courtyard, capturing the finger of His father, and because He could not walk steadily He appeared to be almost falling down. While Nanda Mahäräja was giving protection to His transcendental son in this way, all of a sudden there were drops of tears in his eyes, and he became overwhelmed with joy. Let us all offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of King Nanda!

Childhood age, childish dress, movements by the child, sweet words spoken by the child, nice smiling and various forms of childish play are considered provocations for increasing parental love for Kåñëa. The childhood ages of Kåñëa are divided into three periods: the beginning of kaumära age, the middle of kaumära age and the end of kaumära age. During the beginning and middle of the kaumära age, Kåñëa’s thighs are fatty, and the inner part of His eyes are whitish. There are signs of teeth coming out, and He is very mild and gentle. He is described as follows: “When Kåñëa had only three or four teeth coming out of His gums, His thighs were fatty, His body was very, very short, and He began to enhance the parental love of Nanda Mahäräja and mother Yaçodä with the activities of His childish body. He was sometimes stepping with His legs again and again, sometimes crying, sometimes smiling, sometimes sucking His thumb and sometimes lying down flat. These are some of the different activities of the child Kåñëa. When Kåñëa was lying down flat, sometimes sucking the toes of His feet, sometimes throwing His legs upward, sometimes crying and sometimes smiling, mother Yaçodä, seeing her son in such pastimes, did not show any sign of restricting Him, but rather began to watch her child with eagerness, enjoying these childhood pastimes.” In the beginning of Kåñëa’s kaumära age, the nails of tigers were set in a golden necklace about His neck. There was protective tilaka on His forehead, black mascara around His eyes and silk thread around His waist. These are the descriptions of Kåñëa’s dress at the beginning of the kaumära age.

When Nanda Mahäräja saw the beauty of child Kåñëa, with tiger nails on His chest, a complexion like the new-grown tamäla tree, beautifully decorated tilaka made with cow’s urine, arm decorations of nice silk thread, and silk clothes tied around His waist—when Nanda Mahäräja saw his child like this, he never became satiated by the child’s beauty.

In the middle kaumära age, the upper portion of Kåñëa’s hair falls around His eyes. Sometimes He is covered with cloth around the lower part of His body, and sometimes He is completely naked. Sometimes He tries to walk, taking step by step, and sometimes He talks very sweetly, in broken language. These are some of the symptoms of His middle kaumära age. He is thus described when mother Yaçodä once saw Him in His middle kaumära age: His scattered hairs were touching His eyebrows, and His eyes were restless, but He could not express His feelings with proper words; still, when He was talking, His talk was so nice and sweet to hear. When mother Yaçodä looked at His little ears and saw Him naked, trying to run very quickly with His little legs, she was merged into the ocean of nectar. Kåñëa’s ornaments at this age are a pearl hanging from the septum of His nose, butter on His lotuslike palms, and some small bells hanging from His waist. It is stated that when mother Yaçodä saw that the child was moving, ringing the bells on His waist, smiling at her with a pearl between His nostrils and with butter on His hands, she became wonderfully pleased to see her little child in that fashion.

While Kåñëa was in the middle of His kaumära age, His waist became thinner, His chest became broader, and His head was decorated with His curly hairs, resembling the falling of the wings of a crow. These wonderful features of Kåñëa’s body never failed to astonish mother Yaçodä. At the end of His kaumära age, Kåñëa carried a small stick in His hand, His clothing was a little longer, and He had a knot around His waist, resembling the hood of a snake. In that dress He used to take care of the calves near the house, and sometimes He played with cowherd boys of about the same age. He had a slender flute and a buffalo-horn bugle, and sometimes He played on a flute made from the leaves of trees. These are some of the symptoms of the end of Kåñëa’s kaumära age.

When Kåñëa was a little grown up and was taking care of the small calves, He would often go near the forest. And when He was a little bit late returning home, Nanda Mahäräja would immediately get up on the candra-çälikä (a small shed built on the roof for getting a bird’s-eye view all around), and he would watch for Him. Worrying about the late arrival of his little son, Nanda Mahäräja would remain on the candra-çälikä until he could indicate to his wife that Kåñëa, surrounded by His little cowherd friends, was coming back with the calves. Nanda Mahäräja would point out the peacock feather on his child’s head and would inform his beloved wife how the child was pleasing his eyes.

Mother Yaçodä would then address Nanda Mahäräja, “See my dear son, whose eyes are white, who has a turban on His head, a wrapper on His body and leg bells which tinkle very sweetly on His feet. He is coming near, along with His surabhi calves, and just see how He is wandering upon the sacred land of Våndävana!”

Similarly, Mahäräja Nanda would address his wife, “My dear Yaçodä, just look at your offspring, Kåñëa! See His blackish bodily luster, His eyes tinged with red color, His broad chest and His nice golden neck lace! How wonderful He looks, and how He is increasing my transcendental bliss more and more!”

When Kåñëa, the beloved son of Nanda Mahäräja, steps into His kaiçora age, although He becomes more beautiful, His parents still consider Him to be in the paugaëòa age—even though He is between the ages of ten and fifteen. When Kåñëa is in His paugaëòa age, some of His servants also accept Him as being in the kaiçora age. When Kåñëa performs His childish pastimes, His general practice is to break the milk and yogurt pots, throw the yogurt in the courtyard and steal the cream from the milk. Sometimes He breaks the churning rod, and sometimes He throws butter on the fire. In this way, He increases the transcendental pleasure of His mother, Yaçodä.

In this connection mother Yaçodä once told Mukharä, her maidservant,”Just look at Kåñëa looking stealthily toward all sides and slowly stepping forward from the bushes. It appears that He is coming just to steal the butter. Don’t expose yourself or He may understand that we are looking toward Him. I want to enjoy the sight of His eyebrows moving in this cunning way, and I want to see His fearful eyes and beautiful face.”

In enjoying Kåñëa’s attitude of stealing butter very stealthily, mother Yaçodä experienced the ecstasy of maternal love by smelling His head, sometimes patting His body with her hand, sometimes offering blessings, sometimes ordering Him, sometimes gazing at Him, sometimes maintaining Him and sometimes giving Him good instructions not to become a thief. Such activities are in maternal ecstatic love. An important point to be observed in this connection is that the childish propensity of stealing is there even in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore this propensity is not artificial. However, in the spiritual relationship there is no inebriety to this stealing propensity, as there is in the material world.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 33, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “My dear King, as soon as the elderly gopés saw their sons coming, there was an inexpressible sign of parental love, and all of them became absorbed in affection. At first they were planning to chastise their sons for stealing butter, but as soon as the sons came before their eyes, they lost all of their angry attitudes and became overwhelmed with affection. They began to embrace their sons and smell their heads. While doing this, they became almost mad after their children.” In their childhood pastimes, all these cowherd boys joined with Kåñëa in stealing butter. But rather than become angry, mother Yaçodä became wet from the milk flowing out of her breasts. Out of her affection for Kåñëa, she began to smell His head repeatedly.

The general activities of all the mothers of the cowherd boys were to kiss them, to embrace them, to call them by their names and sometimes to chastise them mildly for their stealing habits. These manifestations of parental love are called sättvika ecstasy, wherein manifestations of eight kinds of ecstatic symptoms are visible in full. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter, verse 22, Çukadeva Gosvämé tells King Parékñit, “All the mothers of the cowherd boys were illusioned by the covering influence of the yogamäyä potency of the Personality of Godhead, and as soon as they heard the flute playing of their boys, they immediately stood up and mentally embraced their sons, who had been created by the direct internal potency of Kåñëa. Accepting them as their born sons, they lifted them into their arms and began to embrace them, resting the children’s bodies upon their own. The emotions created by this incident were sweeter than nectar turned into a palatable intoxicant, and the milk flowing out of their breasts was immediately drunk up by the children.”

In the Lalita-mädhava, compiled by Rüpa Gosvämé, Kåñëa is addressed as follows: “My dear Kåñëa, when You are engaged in herding the animals, the dust caused by the hooves of the calves and cows covers Your nice face and artistic tilaka, and You appear very dusty. But when You return home, the milk flowing out of the breasts of Your mother washes Your face of its dust covering, and You appear to be purified by this milk, just as when the Deity is washed during the performance of the abhiñeka ceremony.” It is the custom in the temples of Deities that if there have been some impure activities, the Deity has to be washed with milk. Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He was washed by the milk from the breast of mother Yaçodä, which purified Him from the dust covering.

Sometimes there are examples of mother Yaçodä’s becoming stunned in ecstasy. This was exhibited when she saw her son lifting Govardhana Hill. When Kåñëa was standing, raising the hill, mother Yaçodä hesitated to embrace Him and became stunned. The dangerous position that Kåñëa had accepted by lifting the hill brought tears to her eyes. With her eyes filled with tears she could not see Kåñëa anymore, and because her throat was choked up by anxiety she could not even instruct Kåñëa as to what He should do in that position. This is a symptom of becoming stunned in ecstatic love.

Mother Yaçodä sometimes enjoyed transcendental ecstasy in happiness when her child was saved from a dangerous situation, such as being attacked by Pütanä or some other demon. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Seventeenth Chapter, verse 19, Çukadeva Gosvämé says that mother Yaçodä felt very, very fortunate when she got back her lost child. She immediately placed Him on her lap and began to embrace Him again and again. While she was thus embracing her son repeatedly, torrents of tears fell from her eyes, and she was unable to express her transcendental joy. It is stated in the Vidagdha-mädhava of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, “My dear Kåñëa, the touch of Your mother is so pleasing and cooling that it surpasses the cooling capacity of the pulp of sandalwood and of bright moonshine mixed with the pulp of uçéra root.” (Uçéra is a kind of root which when soaked with water has a very, very cooling effect. It is especially used in the scorching heat of the sun.)

The parental love of mother Yaçodä for Kåñëa steadily increases, and her love and ecstasy are sometimes described as intense affection and sometimes as overwhelming attachment. An example of attachment for Kåñëa with overwhelming affection is given in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Sixth Chapter, verse 43, where Çukadeva Gosvämé addresses Mahäräja Parékñit in this way: “My dear King, when magnanimous Nanda Mahäräja returned from Mathurä, he began to smell the head of his son, and he was merged in the ecstasy of parental love.” A similar statement is there in connection with mother Yaçodä when she was too anxious to hear the sound of Kåñëa’s flute, expecting Him back from the pasturing ground. Because she thought that it was getting very late, her anxiety to hear the sound of Kåñëa’s flute became doubled, and milk began to flow from her breast. In that condition she was sometimes going within the house, sometimes coming out of the house. She was constantly looking to see if Govinda was coming back along the road. When many very great sages were offering prayers to Lord Kåñëa, glorifying His activities, the Queen of Gokula, mother Yaçodä, entered the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, wetting the lower part of her säré with the milk flowing from her breast. This entrance of mother Yaçodä at Kurukñetra was not during the Battle of Kurukñetra. At other times Kåñëa went to Kurukñetra from His paternal home (Dvärakä) during the solar eclipse, and at these times the residents of Våndävana also went to see Him there.

When Kåñëa arrived at Kurukñetra in pilgrimage, all the people assembled there began to say that Kåñëa, the son of Devaké, had arrived. At that time, Devaké, just like an affectionate mother, began to pat Kåñëa’s face. And again when people cried that Kåñëa, the son of Vasudeva, had come, both King Nanda and mother Yaçodä became overwhelmed with affection and expressed their great pleasure.

When mother Yaçodä, the Queen of Gokula, was going to see her son Kåñëa at Kurukñetra, one of her friends addressed her thus: “My dear Queen, the milk flowing out of your breast-mountain has already whitened the River Ganges, and the tears from your eyes, mixed with black mascara, have already blackened the color of the Yamunä. And as you are standing just between the two rivers, I think that there is no need for your anxiety to see your son’s face. Your parental affection has already been exhibited to Him by these two rivers!”

The same friend of mother Yaçodä addressed Kåñëa as follows: “My dear Mukunda, if mother Yaçodä, the Queen of Gokula, is forced to stand on fire but is allowed to see Your lotus face, then this fire will appear to her like the Himalaya Mountains: full of ice. In the same way, if she is allowed to stay in the ocean of nectar but is not allowed to see the lotus face of Your Grace, then even this ocean of nectar will appear to her like an ocean of arsenic poison.” Let the anxiety of mother Yaçodä of Vraja, always expecting to see the lotus face of Kåñëa, be glorified all over the universe!

A similar statement was given by Kuntédevé to Akrüra: “My dear brother Akrüra, my nephew Mukunda is long absent from us. Will you kindly tell Him that His Aunt Kunté is sitting among the enemy and would like to know when she will be able to see His lotus face again?”

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Forty-sixth Chapter, verse 28, there is this statement: “When Uddhava was present at Våndävana and was narrating the activities of Kåñëa in Dvärakä, mother Yaçodä, while hearing this narration, began to pour milk from her breasts and shed tears from her eyes.” Another incident demonstrating Yaçodä’s extreme love for Kåñëa occurred when Kåñëa went to Mathurä, the kingdom of Kaàsa. In separation from Kåñëa, mother Yaçodä was looking at Kåñëa’s makeup utensils, and she fell down on the ground almost unconscious, with a great sound. When she was rolling over on the ground, there were many scratches on her body, and in that piteous condition she began to cry, “O my dear son! My dear son!” And she slapped her breasts with her two hands. This activity of mother Yaçodä is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation. Sometimes there are many other symptoms, such as great anxiety, lamentation, frustration, being stunned, humility, restlessness, madness and illusion.

As far as mother Yaçodä’s anxieties are concerned, when Kåñëa was out of the house in the pasturing ground, a devotee once told her, “Yaçodä, I think your movements have been slackened, and I see that you are full of anxieties. Your two eyes appear to be without any movement, and I feel in your breathing a kind of warmth, which is bringing your breast milk to the boiling point. All these conditions prove that out of separation from your son you have a severe headache.” These are some of the symptoms of mother Yaçodä’s anxiety for Kåñëa.

When Akrüra was present in Våndävana and was narrating the activities of Kåñëa in Dvärakä, mother Yaçodä was informed that Kåñëa had married so many queens and was very busy there in His householder affairs. Hearing this, mother Yaçodä lamented how unfortunate she was that she could not get her son married just after He passed His kaiçora age and that she therefore could not receive both her son and daughter-in-law at her home. She exclaimed, “My dear Akrüra, you are simply throwing thunderbolts on my head!” These are signs of lamentation on the part of mother Yaçodä in separation from Kåñëa.

Similarly, mother Yaçodä felt frustration when she thought, “Although I have millions of cows, the milk of these cows could not satisfy Kåñëa. Therefore let a curse be on this milk! And I also am condemned, because although I am so opulent in material prosperity, I am now unable to smell the head of my child and feed Him with my breast milk as I used to do when He was here in Våndävana.” This is a sign of frustration on the part of mother Yaçodä in separation from Kåñëa.

One friend of Kåñëa’s addressed Him thus: “My dear lotus-eyed one, when You were living in Gokula You were always bearing a stick in Your hand. That stick is now lying idle in the house of mother Yaçodä, and whenever she sees it she becomes motionless just like the stick.” This is a sign of becoming stunned in separation from Kåñëa. In separation from Kåñëa, mother Yaçodä became so humble that she prayed to the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmä, with tears in her eyes, “My dear creator, won’t you kindly bring my dear son Kåñëa back to me so that I can see Him at least for a moment?” Sometimes, in restlessness like a madwoman, mother Yaçodä used to accuse Nanda Mahäräja, “What are you doing in the palace? You shameless man! Why do people call you the King of Vraja? It is very astonishing that while being separated from your dear son Kåñëa, you are still living within Våndävana as a hardhearted father!”

Someone informed Kåñëa about the madness of mother Yaçodä in the following words: “In madness mother Yaçodä has addressed the kadamba trees and inquired from them, ‘Where is my son?’ Similarly, she has addressed the birds and the drones and inquired from them whether Kåñëa has passed before them, and she has inquired if they can say anything about You. In this way, mother Yaçodä in illusion was asking everybody about You, and she has been wandering all over Våndävana.” This is madness in separation from Kåñëa.

When Nanda Mahäräja was accused by mother Yaçodä of being “hardhearted,” he replied, “My dear Yaçodä, why are you becoming so agitated? Kindly look more carefully. Just see, your son Kåñëa is standing before you! Don’t become a madwoman like this. Please keep my home peaceful.” And Kåñëa was informed by some friend that His father Nanda was also in illusion in this way, in separation from Him.

When all the wives of Vasudeva were present in the arena of Kaàsa, they saw the most pleasing bodily features of Kåñëa, and immediately, out of parental affection, milk began to flow from their breasts, and the lower parts of their särés became wet. This symptom of ecstatic love is an example of the result of fulfillment of desire.

In the First Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Eleventh Chapter, verse 29, it is stated, “When Kåñëa entered Dvärakä after finishing the Battle of Kurukñetra, He first of all saw His mother and all His different stepmothers and offered His respectful obeisances unto their feet. The mothers immediately took Kåñëa upon their laps, and because of their parental affection, there was milk flowing out of their breasts. So their breast milk, mixed with the water of tears, became the first offering to Kåñëa.” This is one of the examples of being satisfied after a great separation.

There is a similar statement in the Lalita-mädhava: “How wonderful it is that Yaçodä, the wife of King Nanda, out of her parental affection for Kåñëa, mixed her tears and the milk from her breasts and thus bathed her dear son Kåñëa.” In Vidagdha-mädhava, a devotee addresses Lord Kåñëa as follows: “My dear Mukunda, just after seeing Your face, which was full with the scent of the lotus flower, mother Yaçodä, being attracted by the moonlight of Your face, became so overjoyed in her affection that immediately from the nipples of her waterpotlike breasts, milk began to flow.” She was thus constantly engaged in supplying milk to Kåñëa after wetting the covering cloth over the jug.

These are some of the signs of parental love for Kåñëa by His mother, His father and elderly persons. Symptoms of ecstatic love in parental affection are expressed when Kåñëa is accepted as the son. These constant transcendental emotions for Kåñëa are called steady ecstasy in parental love.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé states herein that according to some learned scholars, the three kinds of transcendental mellow so far described—namely servitude, fraternity and parental affection—are sometimes mixed. For example, the fraternal feelings of Balaräma are mixed with servitude and parental affection. Similarly, King Yudhiñöhira’s attraction for Kåñëa is also mixed with parental affection and servitude. Similarly, the transcendental mellow of Ugrasena, Kåñëa’s grandfather, is mixed with servitude and parental affection. The affection of all the elderly gopés in Våndävana is a mixture of parental love, servitude and fraternity. The affection of the sons of Mädré—Nakula and Sahadeva—as well as the affection of the sage Närada, is a mixture of friendship and servitude. The affection of Lord Çiva, Garuòa and Uddhava is a mixture of servitude and fraternity.

NoD 44: Devotional Service in Conjugal Love

A pure devotee’s attraction to Kåñëa in conjugal love is called devotional service in conjugal love. Although such conjugal feelings are not at all material, there is some similarity between this spiritual love and material activities. Therefore, persons who are interested only in material activities are unable to understand this spiritual conjugal love, and these devotional reciprocations appear very mysterious to them. Rüpa Gosvämé therefore describes conjugal love very briefly.

The impetuses of conjugal love are Kåñëa and His very dear consorts, such as Rädhäräëé and Her immediate associates. Lord Kåñëa has no rival; no one is equal to Him, and no one is greater than Him. His beauty is also without any rival, and because He excels all others in the pastimes of conjugal love, He is the original object of all conjugal love.

In the Géta-govinda, by Jayadeva Gosvämé, one gopé tells her friend, “Kåñëa is the reservoir of all pleasure within this universe. His body is as soft as the lotus flower. And His free behavior with the gopés, which appears exactly like a young boy’s attraction to a young girl, is a subject matter of transcendental conjugal love.” A pure devotee follows in the footsteps of the gopés and worships the gopés as follows: “Let me offer my respectful obeisances to all the young cowherd girls, whose bodily features are so attractive. Simply by their beautiful attractive features they are worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa.” Out of all the young gopés, Çrématé Rädhäräëé is the most prominent.

The beauty of Çrématé Rädhäräëé is described as follows: “Her eyes defeat the attractive features of the eyes of the cakoré bird. When one sees the face of Rädhäräëé, he immediately hates the beauty of the moon. Her bodily complexion defeats the beauty of gold. Thus, let us all look upon the transcendental beauty of Çrématé Rädhäräëé.” Kåñëa’s attraction for Rädhäräëé is described by Kåñëa Himself thus: “When I create some joking phrases in order to enjoy the beauty of Rädhäräëé, Rädhäräëé hears these joking words with great attention; but by Her bodily features and counterwords She neglects Me. And I even possess unlimited pleasure by Her neglect of Me, for She becomes so beautiful that She increases My pleasure one hundred times.” A similar statement can be found in Géta-govinda, wherein it is said that when the enemy of Kaàsa, Çré Kåñëa, embraces Çrématé Rädhäräëé, He immediately becomes entangled in a loving condition and gives up the company of all other gopés.

In the Padyävalé of Rüpa Gosvämé it is stated that when the gopés hear the sound of Kåñëa’s flute, they immediately forget all rebukes offered by the elderly members of their families. They forget their defamation and the harsh behavior of their husbands. Their only thought is to go out in search of Kåñëa. When the gopés meet Kåñëa, the display of their exchanging glances as well as their joking and laughing behavior is called anubhäva, or subecstasy in conjugal love.

In the Lalita-mädhava, Rüpa Gosvämé explains that the movements of Kåñëa’s eyebrows are just like the Yamunä and that the smiling of Rädhäräëé is just like the moonshine. When the Yamunä and the moonshine come in contact on the bank of the river, the water tastes just like nectar, and drinking it gives great satisfaction. It is as cooling as piles of snow. Similarly, in the Padyävalé, one constant companion of Rädhäräëé says, “My dear moon-faced Rädhäräëé, Your whole body appears very content, yet there are signs of tears in Your eyes. Your speech is faltering, and Your chest is also heaving. By all these signs I can understand that You must have heard the blowing of Kåñëa’s flute, and as a result of this, Your heart is now melting.”

In the same Padyävalé there is the following description, which is taken as a sign of frustration in conjugal love. Çrématé Rädhäräëé said, “Dear Mr. Cupid, please do not excite Me by throwing your arrows at My body. Dear Mr. Air, please do not arouse Me with the fragrance of flowers. I am now bereft of Kåñëa’s loving attitude, and so, under the circumstances, what is the use of My sustaining this useless body? There is no need for such a body by any living entity.” This is a sign of frustration in ecstatic love for Kåñëa.

Similarly, in Däna-keli-kaumudé, Çrématé Rädhäräëé, pointing to Kåñëa, says, “This clever boy of the forest has the beauty of a bluish lotus flower, and He can attract all the young girls of the universe. Now, after giving Me a taste of His transcendental body, He has enthused Me, and it is more than I can tolerate. I am now feeling like a female elephant who has been enthused by a male elephant!” This is an instance of jubilation in ecstatic love with Kåñëa.

The steady ecstasy of conjugal love is the original cause of bodily enjoyment. In the Padyävalé this original cause of union is described when Rädhäräëé tells one of Her constant companions, “My dear friend, who is this boy whose eyelids, dancing constantly, have increased the beauty of His face and attracted My desire for conjugal love? His ears are decorated with buds of açoka flowers, and He has dressed Himself in yellow robes. By the sound of His flute, this boy has already made Me impatient.”

The conjugal love of Rädhä-Kåñëa is never disturbed by any personal consideration. The undisturbed nature of the conjugal love between Rädhä and Kåñëa is described thus: “Just a little distance away from Kåñëa was mother Yaçodä, and Kåñëa was surrounded by all of His friends. In front of His eyes was Candrävalé, and, at the same time, on a chunk of stone in front of the entrance to Vraja stood the demon known as Våñäsura. But even in such circumstances, when Kåñëa saw Rädhäräëé standing just behind a bush of many creepers, immediately His beautiful eyebrows moved just like lightning toward Her.”

Another instance is described as follows: “On one side of the courtyard the dead body of Çaìkhäsura was lying, surrounded by many jackals. On another side were many learned brähmaëas who were all self-controlled. They were offering nice prayers, which were as soothing as the cool breeze in summer. In front of Kåñëa, Lord Baladeva was standing, causing a cooling effect. But even amid all these different circumstances of soothing and disturbing effects, the lotus flower of ecstatic conjugal love that Kåñëa felt for Rädhäräëé could not wither.” This love of Kåñëa for Rädhäräëé is often compared to a blooming lotus; the only difference is that Kåñëa’s love remains ever-increasingly beautiful.

Conjugal love is divided into two portions: vipralambha, or conjugal love in separation, and sambhoga, or conjugal love in direct contact. Vipralambha, separation, has three subdivisions, known as (1) pürvaräga, or preliminary attraction, (2) mäna, or seeming anger, and (3) praväsa, or separation by distance.

When the lover and the beloved have a distinct feeling of not meeting each other, that stage is called pürva-räga, or preliminary attraction. In Padyävalé Rädhäräëé told Her companion, “My dear friend, I was just going to the bank of the Yamunä, and all of a sudden a very nice boy whose complexion is like a dark blue cloud became visible in front of My eyes. He glanced over Me in a way that I cannot describe. But since this has occurred, I am sorry that I can no longer engage My mind in the duties of My household affairs.” This is an instance of preliminary attraction for Kåñëa. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Fifty-third Chapter, verse 2, Kåñëa told the messenger brähmaëa who came from Rukmiëé, “My dear brähmaëa, just like Rukmiëé I cannot sleep at night, and My mind is always fixed on her. I know that her brother Rukmé is against Me and that due to his persuasion My marriage with her has been cancelled.” This is another instance of preliminary attraction.

As far as mäna, or anger, is concerned, there is the following incident described in Géta-govinda: “When Çrématé Rädhäräëé saw Kåñëa enjoying Himself in the company of several other gopés, She became a little jealous because Her special prestige was being dimmed. Therefore, She immediately left the scene and took shelter in a nice flower bush where the black drones were humming. Then, hiding Herself behind the creepers, She began to express Her sorrow to one of Her consorts.” This is an instance of a seeming disagreement.

An example of praväsa, or being out of contact because of living in a distant place, is given in the Padyävalé as follows: “Since the auspicious day when Kåñëa left for Mathurä, Çrématé Rädhäräëé has been pressing Her head on one of Her hands and constantly shedding tears. Her face is always wet now, and therefore there is no chance of Her sleeping even for a moment.” When the face becomes wet, the sleeping tendency is immediately removed. So when Rädhäräëé was always weeping for Kåñëa because of His separation, there was no chance of Her getting any sleep for Herself. In the prahläda-saàhitä Uddhava says, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, panic-stricken due to being pierced by the arrows of Cupid, is always thinking of you [the gopés], and He is not even accepting His regular lunch. Nor is He getting any proper rest.”

When the lover and beloved come together and enjoy one another by direct contact, this stage is called sambhoga. There is a statement in Padyävalé as follows: “Kåñëa embraced Çrématé Rädhäräëé in such an expert manner that He appeared to be celebrating the dancing ceremony of the peacocks.”

Çré Rüpa Gosvämé thus ends the fifth wave of his Ocean of the Nectar of Devotion. He offers his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appeared as Gopäla, the eternal form of the Lord.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta summary study of the third division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu in the matter of the five primary relationships with Kåñëa.

NoD 45: Laughing Ecstasy

In the fourth division of Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has described seven kinds of indirect ecstasies of devotional service, known as laughing, astonishment, chivalry, compassion, anger, dread and ghastliness. In this portion, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé further describes these ecstasies of devotional feelings, some being compatible and others incompatible with one another. When one kind of ecstatic devotional service overlaps with another in a conflicting way, this state of affairs is called rasäbhäsa, or a perverted presentation of mellows.

Expert learned scholars say that laughing is generally found among youngsters or in the combination of old persons and young children. This ecstatic loving laughing is sometimes also found in persons who are very grave by nature. Once an old mendicant approached the door of mother Yaçodä’s house, and Kåñëa told Yaçodä, “My dear mother, I don’t wish to go near this skinny villain. If I go there, he might put Me within his begging bag and take Me away from you!” In this way, the wonderful child, Kåñëa, began to look at His mother, while the mendicant, who was standing in the door, tried to hide his smiling face, although he could not do so. He immediately expressed his smiling. In this instance, Kåñëa Himself is the object of laughing affairs.

Once one of Kåñëa’s friends informed Him, “My dear Kåñëa, if You will open Your mouth, then I shall give You one nice sugar candy mixed with yogurt.” Kåñëa immediately opened His mouth, but instead of giving Him sugar candy with yogurt, the friend dropped a flower in His mouth. After tasting this flower, Kåñëa turned His mouth in a disfigured way, and upon seeing this all His friends standing there began to laugh very loudly.

Once a palmist came to the house of Nanda Mahäräja, and Nanda Mahäräja asked him, “My dear sage, will you kindly check the hand of my child, Kåñëa? Tell me how many years He will live and whether He will become the master of thousands of cows.” Upon hearing this, the palmist began to smile, and Nanda Mahäräja asked him, “My dear sir, why are you laughing, and why are you covering your face?”

In such a laughing ecstasy of love, Kåñëa or matters pertaining to Kåñëa are the cause of the laughter. In such laughing devotional service, there are symptoms of jubilation, laziness, concealed feelings and similar other seemingly disturbing elements.

According to Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé’s calculation, laughter in ecstatic love can be broken down into six divisions. These divisions, according to different degrees of smiling, are called in the Sanskrit language smita, hasita, vihasita, avahasita, apahasita and atihasita. These six classes of smiling can be classified as major and minor. The major division includes smita, hasita and vihasita smiling, and the minor division includes avahasita, apahasita and atihasita smiling.

When one is smiling but his teeth are not visible, one can distinctly mark a definite change in the eyes and in the cheeks. This is called smita smiling. Once when Kåñëa was stealing yogurt, Jaraté, the headmistress of the house, could detect His activities, and she was therefore coming very hurriedly to catch Him. At that time, Kåñëa became very much afraid of Jaraté and went to His elder brother, Baladeva. He said, “My dear brother, I have stolen yogurt! Just see—Jaraté is coming hurriedly to catch Me!” When Kåñëa was thus seeking the shelter of Baladeva because He was being chased by Jaraté, all the great sages in the heavenly planets began to smile. This smiling is called smita smiling.

Smiling in which the teeth are slightly visible is called hasita smiling. One day Abhimanyu, the so-called husband of Rädhäräëé, was returning home, and at that time he could not see that Kåñëa was there in his house. Kåñëa immediately changed His dress to look exactly like Abhimanyu and approached Abhimanyu’s mother, Jaöilä, addressing her thus: “My dear mother, I am your real son Abhimanyu, but just see—Kåñëa, dressed up like me, is coming before you!” Jaöilä, the mother of Abhimanyu, immediately believed that Kåñëa was her own son and thus became very angry at her real son who was coming home. She began to drive away her real son, who was crying, “Mother! Mother! What are you doing?” Seeing this incident, all the girl friends of Rädhäräëé, who were present there, began to smile, and a portion of their teeth was visible. This is an instance of hasita smiling.

When the teeth are distinctly visible in a smile, that is called vihasita. One day when Kåñëa was engaged in stealing butter and yogurt in the house of Jaöilä, He assured His friends, “My dear friends, I know that this old lady is now sleeping very profoundly, because she is breathing very deeply. Let us silently steal butter and yogurt without making any disturbance.” But the old lady, Jaöilä, was not sleeping; so she could not contain her smiling, and her teeth immediately became distinctly visible. This is an instance of vihasita smiling.

In a state of smiling when the nose becomes puffed and the eyes squint, the smiling is called avahasita. Once, early in the morning when Kåñëa returned home after performing His räsa dance, mother Yaçodä looked upon Kåñëa’s face and addressed Him thus: “My dear son, why do Your eyes look like they have been smeared with some oxides? Have You dressed Yourself with the blue garments of Baladeva?” When mother Yaçodä was addressing Kåñëa in that way, a girl friend who was nearby began to smile with a puffed nose and squinting eyes. This is an instance of avahasita smiling. The gopé knew that Kåñëa had been enjoying the räsa dance and that mother Yaçodä could not detect her son’s activities or understand how He had become covered with the gopés’ makeup. Her smiling was in the avahasita feature.

When tears from the eyes are added to the smiling and the shoulders are shaking, the smile is called apahasita. When child Kåñëa was dancing in response to the singing of the old maidservant Jaraté, Närada was astonished. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who controls all the movements of great demigods like Brahmä, was now dancing to the indications of an old maidservant. Seeing this fun, Närada also began to dance, and his shoulders trembled, and his eyes moved. Due to his smiling, his teeth also became visible, and on account of the glaring effulgence from his teeth, the clouds in the skies turned silver.

When a smiling person claps his hands and leaps in the air, the smiling expression changes into atihasita, or overwhelming laughter. An example of atihasita was manifested in the following incident. Kåñëa once addressed Jaraté thus: “My dear good woman, the skin of your face is now slackened, and so your face exactly resembles a monkey’s. As such, the King of the monkeys, Balémukha, has selected you as his worthy wife.” While Kåñëa was teasing Jaraté in this way, she replied that she was certainly aware of the fact that the King of the monkeys was trying to marry her, but she had already taken shelter of Kåñëa, the killer of many powerful demons, and therefore she had already decided to marry Kåñëa instead of the King of the monkeys. On hearing this sarcastic reply by the talkative Jaraté, all the cowherd girls present there began to laugh very loudly and clap their hands. This laughter, accompanied by the clapping of hands, is called atihasita.

Sometimes there are indirect sarcastic remarks which also create atihasita circumstances. An example of one such remark is a statement which was made by one of the cowherd girls to Kuöilä, the daughter of Jaöilä and sister of Abhimanyu, the so-called husband of Rädhäräëé. Indirectly Kuöilä was insulted by the following statement: “My dear Kuöilä, daughter of Jaöilä, your breasts are as long as string beans—simply dry and long. Your nose is so gorgeous that it defies the beauty of the noses of frogs. And your eyes are more beautiful than the eyes of dogs. Your lips defy the flaming cinders of fire, and your abdomen is as beautiful as a big drum. Therefore, my dear beautiful Kuöilä, you are the most beautiful of all the cowherd girls of Våndävana, and because of your extraordinary beauty, I think you must be beyond the attraction of the sweet blowing of Kåñëa’s flute!”

NoD 46: Astonishment and Chivalry

The ecstasy of astonishment in devotional service is perceived in two ways: directly, by the experience of one’s own eyes, and indirectly, by hearing from others.

When Närada came to see the activities of the Lord at Dvärakä and he saw that Kåñëa was present within every palace in the same body and was engaged in different activities, he was struck with wonder. This is one of the examples of astonishment in devotional service by direct perception. One of the friends of mother Yaçodä said, “Yaçodä, just see the fun! On the one hand, there is your child, who is always captivated by sucking the milk from your breast, and on the other hand there is the great Govardhana Hill, which can obstruct the passing of the clouds. But still, just see how wonderful it is that this great Govardhana Hill is resting on the finger of your child’s left hand, just as though it were a toy. Is this not very mysterious?” This statement is another example of astonishment in devotional service by direct perception.

An instance of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception occurred when Mahäräja Parékñit heard from Çukadeva Gosvämé about Kåñëa’s killing Narakäsura, who had been fighting Kåñëa with eleven akñauhiëé divisions of soldiers. Each division of akñauhiëé soldiers contained several thousand elephants, several thousand horses and chariots and several hundreds of thousands of infantry soldiers. Narakäsura possessed eleven such divisions, and all of them were throwing arrows toward Kåñëa, but Kåñëa killed them all, simply by throwing three arrows from His side. When Mahäräja Parékñit heard of this wonderful victory, he immediately rubbed the tears from his eyes and became overwhelmed with joy. This instance is an example of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception through aural reception.

There is another example of indirect astonishment. Trying to test Kåñëa to see if He were truly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Brahmä stole all the cowherd boys and cows from Him. But after a few seconds, he saw that Kåñëa was still present with all the cows, calves and cowherd boys, exactly in the same way as before. When Lord Brahmä described this incident to his associates on the Satyaloka planet, they all became astonished. Brahmä told them that after taking away all the boys, he saw Kåñëa again playing with the same boys in the same fashion. Their bodily complexion was blackish, almost like Kåñëa’s, and they all had four arms. The same calves and cows were still present there, in the same original fashion. Even while describing this incident, Brahmä became almost overwhelmed. “And the most astonishing thing,” he added, “was that many other Brahmäs from many different universes had also come there to worship Kåñëa and His associates.”

Similarly, when there was a forest fire in the Bhäëòéravana, Kåñëa instructed His friends to close their eyes tightly, and they all did this. Then when Kåñëa had extinguished the fire, the cowherd boys opened their eyes and saw that they had been relieved from the danger and that their cows and calves were all safe. They began to perceive the wonder of the situation simply by guessing how Kåñëa had saved them. This is another instance of indirect perception causing astonishment in devotional service.

The activities of a person, even if they are not very extraordinary, create an impression of wonder in the heart and mind of the person’s friends. But even very wonderful activities performed by a person who is not one’s friend will not create any impression. It is because of love that one’s wonderful activities create an impression in the mind.

When on account of love and devotional service for the Lord there is special valorous enthusiasm, the resultant activities are called chivalrous. These chivalrous activities can be manifested in the acts of mock-fighting, giving charity, showing mercy and executing religious principles. By performing chivalrous activities in fighting, one is called yuddha-véra. By charitable activities one is called däna-véra. By showing extraordinary mercy one is called dayä-véra. And when one is munificent in executing religious rites, he is called dharma-véra. In all such different chivalrous activities, Kåñëa is the object.

When a friend wants to satisfy Kåñëa by performing some chivalrous activities, the friend becomes the challenger, and Kåñëa Himself becomes the opponent; or else Kåñëa may give audience to the fighting, and by His desire another friend becomes the opponent. A friend once challenged Kåñëa thus: “My dear Mädhava, You are very restless because You think that no one can defeat You. But if You do not flee from here, then I shall show You how I can defeat You. And my friends will be very satisfied to see this!”

Kåñëa and Çrédämä were very intimate friends, yet Çrédämä, out of anger with Kåñëa, challenged Him. When both of them began to fight, all the friends on the bank of the Yamunä enjoyed the wonderful fighting of the two friends. They prepared some arrows for mock-fighting, and Kåñëa began to throw his arrows at Çrédämä. Çrédämä began to block these arrows by whirling his pole, and by Çrédämä’s chivalrous activities, Kåñëa became very satisfied. Such mock-fighting generally takes place among chivalrous persons and creates wonderful excitement for all viewers.

There is a statement in the Hari-vaàça that sometimes Arjuna and Kåñëa fought in the presence of Kunté, and Arjuna would be defeated by Kåñëa.

In such chivalrous fighting between friends, there is sometimes bragging, complacence, pride, power, taking to weapons, challenging and standing as an opponent. All of these symptoms become impetuses to chivalrous devotional service.

One friend challenged Kåñëa thus: “My dear friend Dämodara, You are an expert only in eating. You have defeated Subala only because he is weak and You adopted cheating means. Don’t advertise Yourself to be a great fighter by such action. You have advertised Yourself as a serpent, and I am the peacock who will now defeat You.” The peacock is the ablest enemy of the serpent.

In such fighting between friends, when the self-advertisement becomes personal, learned scholars say that it is subecstasy. When there is a roaring challenge, certain kinds of movement for fighting, enthusiasm, no weapons, and assurance given to frightened witnesses—all these chivalrous activities are called subecstasy.

One friend addressed Kåñëa in this manner: “My dear Madhusüdana, You know my strength, yet You are encouraging Bhadrasena, and not me, to challenge mighty Baladeva. By this action You are simply insulting me, because my arms are as strong as the bolts of the gate!”

A devotee once said, “My dear Lord Kåñëa, may Your challenger Çrédämä become glorious for his chivalrous activities, such as vibrating like a thundercloud and roaring like a lion. May all glories go to Çrédämä’s chivalrous activities!” Chivalrous activities in the matter of fighting, charity, mercy and execution of religious rituals are called constitutional, whereas expressions of pride, emotion, endurance, kindness, determination, jubilation, enthusiasm, jealousy and remembrance are called unconstitutional. When Stoka-kåñëa, one of the many friends of Kåñëa, was fighting with Him, his father chastised him for fighting with Kåñëa, who was the life and soul of all residents of Våndävana. Upon hearing these chastisements, Stoka-kåñëa stopped his fighting. But Kåñëa continued to challenge him, and thus, in order to meet the challenge, Stoka-kåñëa took his pole and began to display his dexterity by whirling it.

Once Çrédämä challenged Bhadrasena and said to him, “My dear friend, you needn’t be afraid of me yet. I shall first of all defeat our brother Balaräma, then I shall beat Kåñëa, and then I shall come to you.” Bhadrasena therefore left the party of Balaräma and joined Kåñëa, and he agitated his friends as much as the Mandara Hill had agitated the whole ocean. By his roaring sounds he deafened all his friends, and he inspired Kåñëa with his chivalrous activities.

Once Kåñëa challenged all His friends and said, “My dear friends, just see—I am jumping with great chivalrous prowess. Please do not flee away.” Upon hearing these challenging words, a friend named Varüthapa counterchallenged the Lord and struggled against Him.

One of the friends once remarked, “Sudämä is trying his best to see Dämodara defeated, and I think that if our powerful Subala joins him, they will be a very beautiful combination, like a valuable jewel bedecked with gold.”

In these chivalrous activities, only Kåñëa’s friends can be the opponents. Kåñëa’s enemies can never actually be His opponents. Therefore, this challenging by Kåñëa’s friends is called devotional service in chivalrous activities.

Däna-véra, or chivalry in giving charity, may be divided into two parts: munificence and renunciation. A person who can sacrifice everything for the satisfaction of Kåñëa is called munificent. When a person desires to make a sacrifice because of seeing Kåñëa, Kåñëa is called the impetus of the munificent activity. When Kåñëa appeared as the son of Nanda Mahäräja, in clear consciousness Nanda Mahäräja desired all auspiciousness for his son and thus began to give valuable cows in charity to all the brähmaëas. The brähmaëas were so satisfied by this charitable action that they were obliged to say that the charity of Nanda Mahäräja had excelled the charity of such past kings as Mahäräja Påthu and Någa.

When a person knows the glories of the Lord completely and is prepared to sacrifice everything for the Lord, he is called sampradänaka, or one who gives everything in charity for the sake of Kåñëa.

When Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira went with Kåñëa in the arena of the Räjasüya sacrifice, in his imagination he began to anoint the body of Kåñëa with pulp of sandalwood, he decorated Kåñëa with a garland hanging down to His knees, he gave Kåñëa garments all embroidered with gold, he gave Kåñëa ornaments all bedecked with valuable jewels, and he gave Kåñëa many fully decorated elephants, chariots and horses. He further wished to give Kåñëa in charity his kingdom, his family and his personal self also. After so desiring, when there was nothing actually to give in charity, Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira became very perturbed and anxious.

Similarly, Mahäräja Bali once told his priest, Çukräcärya, “My dear sage, you are fully expert in knowledge of the Vedas, and as such you worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viñëu, by Vedic rituals. As far as this brähmaëa dwarf [the incarnation Vämanadeva] is concerned, if He is Lord Viñëu, a simple brähmaëa or even my enemy, I have decided to give to Him in charity all the land He has asked for.” Mahäräja Bali was so fortunate that the Lord extended before him His hand, which was reddish from touching the breast of the goddess of fortune, who is always smeared with red kuàkum powder. In other words, although the Personality of Godhead is so great that the goddess of fortune is always under His command for enjoyment, He still extended His hands to take charity from Mahäräja Bali.

A person who wants to give everything in charity to Kåñëa but does not want anything in return is considered the real renouncer. Thus, a devotee will refuse to accept any kind of liberation, even if it is offered by the Lord. Real love of Kåñëa becomes manifested when Kåñëa becomes the recipient of charity and the devotee becomes the giver.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhadaya there is another example, forwarded by Mahäräja Dhruva. He says there, “My dear Lord, I have practiced austerities and penances because I was desiring to receive something from You, but in exchange You have allowed me to see You, who are never visible even to the great sages and saintly persons. I had been searching out some pieces of broken glass, but instead I have found the most valuable jewel. I am therefore fully satisfied, my Lord. I do not wish to ask anything more from Your Lordship.”

A similar statement is to be found in the Third Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 48. The four sages headed by Sanaka Muni addressed the Lord as follows: “Dear Supreme Personality of Godhead, Your reputation is very attractive and free from all material contamination. Therefore You are worthy of being glorified and are actually the reservoir of all places of pilgrimage. Auspicious persons who are fortunate enough to be engaged in glorifying Your attributes and who actually know what Your transcendental position is do not even care to accept liberation offered by You. Because they are so transcendentally enriched, they do not care to accept even the post of Indra, the heavenly King. They know that the post of the King of heaven is also fearful, whereas for those who are engaged in glorifying Your transcendental qualities there is only joyfulness and freedom from all danger. As such, why should persons with this knowledge be attracted by a post in the heavenly kingdom?”

One devotee has described his feelings about the charity exhibited by King Mayüradhvaja: “I am faltering even to speak about the activities of Mahäräja Mayüradhvaja, to whom I offer my respectful obeisances.” Mayüradhvaja was very intelligent, and he could understand why Kåñëa came to him once, in the garb of a brähmaëa. Kåñëa demanded from him half of his body, to be sawed off by his wife and son, and King Mayüradhvaja agreed to this proposal. On account of his intense feeling of devotional service, King Mayüradhvaja was always thinking of Kåñëa, and when he understood that Kåñëa had come in the garb of a brähmaëa, he did not hesitate to part with half of his body. This sacrifice of Mahäräja Mayüradhvaja for Kåñëa’s sake is unique in the world, and we should offer our all-respectful obeisances to him. He had full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the garb of a brähmaëa, and he is known as the perfect däna-véra, or renouncer.

Any person who is always ready to satisfy Kåñëa and who is always dexterous in executing devotional service is called dharma-véra, or chivalrous in executing religious rituals. Only advanced devotees performing religious ritualistic performances can come to this stage of dharma-véra. Dharma-véras are produced after going through the authoritative scriptures, following moral principles, being faithful and tolerant and controlling the senses. Persons who execute religious rituals for the satisfaction of Kåñëa are steady in devotional service, whereas persons who execute religious rituals without intending to please Kåñëa are only called pious.

The best example of a dharma-véra is Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira. A devotee once told Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, O killer of all demons, Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, the eldest son of Mahäräja Päëòu, has performed all kinds of sacrifices just to please You. He has always invited the heavenly King, Indra, to take part in the yajïas [sacrifices]. Because King Indra was thus absent so often from Çacédevé, she had to pass much of her time pining over Indra’s absence, with her cheeks upon her hands.”

The performance of different yajïas for the demigods is considered to be worship of the limbs of the Supreme Lord. The demigods are considered to be different parts of the universal body of the Lord, and therefore the ultimate purpose in worshiping them is to please the Lord by partially worshiping His different limbs. Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira had no such material desire; he executed all sacrifices under the direction of Kåñëa, and not to take any personal advantage from them. He desired only to please Kåñëa and was therefore called the best of the devotees. He was always merged in the ocean of loving service.

NoD 47: Compassion and Anger

When the ecstasy of devotional service produces some kind of lamentation in connection with Kåñëa, it is called devotional service in compassion. The impetuses for this devotional service are Kåñëa’s transcendental quality, form and activities. In this ecstasy of devotional service there are sometimes symptoms like regret, heavy breathing, crying, falling on the ground and beating upon one’s chest. Sometimes symptoms like laziness, frustration, defamation, humility, anxiety, moroseness, eagerness, restlessness, madness, death, forgetfulness, disease and illusion are also visible. When in the heart of a devotee there is expectation of some mishap to Kåñëa it is called devotional service in bereavement. Such bereavement is another symptom of this devotional service in compassion.

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Tenth Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, verse 10, there is the following description. When Kåñëa was chastising the Käliya-näga in the Yamunä, the big snake wrapped his coils all over Kåñëa’s body, and upon seeing Kåñëa in this situation, all His dear cowherd friends became greatly disturbed. Out of bereavement, distress and fear, they became bewildered and began to fall on the ground. Because the cowherd boys were under the illusion that Kåñëa could be in some mishap, their symptoms are not at all astonishing; they had dedicated their friendship, their possessions, their desires and their very selves to Kåñëa.

When Kåñëa entered the Yamunä River, which had become very poisonous from the presence of Käliya, mother Yaçodä feared all kinds of mishaps, and she was breathing hotly. Tears from her eyes were soaking her clothes, and she was almost collapsing.

Similarly, when the Çaìkhäsura demon was attacking Kåñëa’s queens one after another, Lord Baladeva became more and more bluish.

In the Haàsadüta, the following incident is described. The gopés requested Haàsadüta to search after the marks of Kåñëa’s lotus feet and to accept them as Lord Brahmä had accepted them on his helmet after he had stolen all Kåñëa’s cowherd boys. Regretting his challenge to Kåñëa, Lord Brahmä had bowed down before the Lord, and his helmet became marked with the footprints of Kåñëa. The gopés reminded Haàsadüta that sometimes even the great sage Närada becomes very ecstatic by seeing these footprints, and sometimes great liberated sages also aspire to see them. “You should therefore seek very enthusiastically to find the footprints of Kåñëa,” they urged. This is another instance of devotional service in compassion.

There is an instance when Sahadeva, the younger brother of Nakula, became greatly gladdened at seeing the effulgent glowing of Kåñëa’s footprints. He began to cry and call out, “Mother Mädré! Where are you now? Father Päëòu! Where are you now? I am very sorry that you are not here to see these footprints of Kåñëa!” This is another instance of devotional service in compassion.

In devotional service without strong attraction to the Lord, there may sometimes be smiling and other symptoms, but never the stress or lamentation that are symptoms of devotional service in compassion. The basic principle of this compassion is always ecstatic love. The apprehension of some mishap to Kåñëa or to His beloved queens, as exhibited by Baladeva and Yudhiñöhira, has been explained above. This apprehension is due not exactly to their ignorance of the inconceivable potencies of Kåñëa but to their intense love for Him. This kind of apprehension of some mishap to Kåñëa first of all becomes manifested as an object of lamentation, but gradually it develops into such compassionate loving ecstasy that it turns to another channel and gives transcendental pleasure.

In ecstatic loving service to Kåñëa in anger, Kåñëa is always the object. In Vidagdha-mädhava, Second Act, verse 37, Lalitä-gopé expressed her anger, which was caused by Kåñëa, when she addressed Çrématé Rädhäräëé thus: “My dear friend, my inner desires have been polluted. Therefore I shall go to the place of Yamaräja. But I am sorry to see that Kåñëa has still not given up His smiling over cheating You. I do not know how You could repose all Your loving propensities upon this lusty young boy from the neighborhood of the cowherds.”

After seeing Kåñëa, Jaraté sometimes said, “O You thief of young girls’ properties! I can distinctly see the covering garment of my daughter-in-law on Your person.” Then she cried very loudly, addressing all the residents of Våndävana to inform them that this son of King Nanda was setting fire to the household life of her daughter-in-law.

Similar ecstatic love for Kåñëa in anger was expressed by Rohiëé-devé when she heard the roaring sound of the two falling arjuna trees to which Kåñëa had been tied. The whole neighborhood proceeded immediately toward the place where the accident had taken place, and Rohiëé-devé took the opportunity to rebuke mother Yaçodä as follows: “You may be very expert in giving lessons to your son by binding Him with rope, but don’t you look to see if your son is in a dangerous spot? The trees are falling on the ground, and He is simply loitering there!” This expression of Rohiëé-devé’s anger toward Yaçodä is an example of ecstatic love in anger caused by Kåñëa.

Once, while Kåñëa was in the pasturing ground with His cowherd boys, His friends requested Him to go to the Tälavana forest, where Gardabhäsura, a disturbing demon in the shape of an ass, resided. The friends of Kåñëa wanted to eat the fruit from the forest trees, but they could not go because of fear of the demon. Thus they requested Kåñëa to go there and kill Gardabhäsura. After Kåñëa did this, they all returned home, and their report of the day’s activity perturbed mother Yaçodä because Kåñëa had been sent alone into such danger in the Tälavana forest. Thus she looked upon the boys with anger.

There is another instance of anger on the part of a friend of Rädhäräëé’s. When Rädhäräëé was dissatisfied with the behavior of Kåñëa and had stopped talking with Him, Kåñëa was very sorry for Rädhäräëé’s great dissatisfaction, and in order to beg forgiveness, He fell down at Her lotus feet. But even after this, Rädhäräëé was not satisfied, and She did not talk with Kåñëa. At that time, one of Her friends chastised Her in the following words: “My dear friend, You are allowing Yourself to be churned by the rod of dissatisfaction, so what can I say unto You? The only advice I can give You is that You had better leave this scene immediately, because Your misbehavior is giving me too much pain. I cannot bear to see Your behavior, because even though Kåñëa’s peacock feather has touched Your feet, You still appear to be red-faced.”

The above attitudes of dissatisfaction and anger in devotional service are called érñyu.

When Akrüra was leaving Våndävana, some of the elderly gopés rebuked him as follows: “O son of Gändiné, your cruelty is defaming the dynasty of King Yadu. You are taking Kåñëa away, keeping us in such a pitiable condition without Him. Now, even before you have left, the life air of all the gopés has practically disappeared.”

When Kåñëa was insulted by Çiçupäla in the assembly of the Räjasüya yajïa convened by Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, there was a great turmoil among the Päëòavas and Kurus, involving grandfather Bhéñma. At that time Nakula said with great anger, “Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the nails of His toes are beautified by the light emanating from the jeweled helmets of the authorities of the Vedas. If He is derided by anyone, I declare herewith as a Päëòava that I will kick his helmet with my left foot and I will strike him with my arrows, which are as good as yama-daëòa, the scepter of Yamaräja!” This is an instance of ecstatic love for Kåñëa in anger.

In such a transcendental angry mood sometimes sarcastic remarks, unfavorable glances and insulting words are exhibited. Sometimes there are other symptoms, like rubbing of the two hands, clacking of the teeth, clamping of the lips, moving of the eyebrows, scratching of the arms, lowering of the head, rapid breathing, uttering of strong words, nodding of the head, yellowishness at the corners of the eyes, and trembling lips. Sometimes the eyes turn red, and sometimes they fade. And there are sometimes chastisement and silence. All these symptoms of anger may be divided into two parts: constitutional and unconstitutional, or permanent and temporary symptoms. Sometimes great emotion, bewilderment, pride, frustration, illusion, impotence, jealousy, dexterity, negligence and signs of hard labor are also manifest as unconstitutional symptoms.

In all these humors of ecstatic love, the feeling of anger is accepted as the steady factor.

When Jaräsandha angrily attacked the city of Mathurä, he looked at Kåñëa with sarcastic glances. At that time Baladeva took up His plow weapon and gazed upon Jaräsandha with colored eyes.

There is a statement in the Vidagdha-mädhava wherein Çrématé Rädhäräëé, in an angry mood, addressed Her mother, Paurëamäsé, after she had accused Rädhäräëé of going to Kåñëa. “My dear mother,” Rädhä declared, “what can I say to you? Kåñëa is so cruel that He often attacks Me on the street, and if I want to cry out very loudly, this boy with a peacock feather on His head immediately covers My face so that I cannot cry. And if I want to go away from the scene because I am afraid of Him, He will immediately spread His arms to block My path. If I piteously fall down at His feet, then this enemy of the Madhu demon, in an angry mood, bites My face! Mother, just try to understand My situation, and don’t be unnecessarily angry with Me. Instead, please tell Me how I can save Myself from these terrible attacks of Kåñëa!”

Sometimes among contemporary personalities there are signs of ecstasy in anger because of love for Kåñëa. An example of such anger was exhibited in a quarrel between Jaöilä and Mukharä. Jaöilä was the mother-in-law of Rädhäräëé, and Mukharä was Her great-grandmother. Both of them were talking about Kåñëa’s unnecessary harassment of Rädhäräëé when She was walking on the street. Jaöilä said, “You cruel-faced Mukharä! By hearing your words my heart feels like it is burning in a fire!” And Mukharä replied, “You sinful Jaöilä, by hearing your words, there is aching in my head! You cannot give any evidence that Kåñëa has attacked Rädhäräëé, the daughter of my granddaughter Kértidä.”

Once, when Rädhäräëé was taking off the necklace given to Her by Kåñëa, Jaöilä, her mother-in-law, told a friend, “My dear friend, just see the beautiful necklace that Kåñëa has presented to Rädhäräëé. She is now holding it, but still She wants to tell us that She has no connection with Kåñëa. This girl’s activities have disgraced our whole family!”

Natural jealousy of Kåñëa by persons like Çiçupäla cannot be accepted as ecstatic love in anger with Kåñëa.

NoD 48: Dread and Ghastliness

In ecstatic love for Kåñëa in dread, there are two causes of fear: either Kåñëa Himself or some dreadful situation for Kåñëa. When a devotee feels himself to be an offender at Kåñëa’s lotus feet, Kåñëa Himself becomes the object of dreadful ecstatic love. And when, out of ecstatic love, friends and well-wishers of Kåñëa apprehend some danger for Him, that situation becomes the object of their dread.

When Åkñaräja was in front of Kåñëa fighting and suddenly realized that Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa addressed him thus: “My dear Åkñaräja, why is your face so dry? Please do not feel threatened by Me. There is no need for your heart to tremble like this. Please calm yourself down. I have no anger toward you. You may, however, become as angry as you like with Me—to expand your service in fighting with Me and to increase My sporting attitude.” In this dreadful situation in ecstatic love for Kåñëa, Kåñëa Himself is the object of dread.

There is another instance of a dreadful situation with Kåñëa as the object as follows. After being sufficiently chastised by child Kåñëa in the Yamunä River, the Käliya snake began to address the Lord, “O killer of the Mura demon, I have acquired many mystic powers by my austerity and penances, but before You I am nothing; I am most insignificant. Therefore, please be kind upon a poor soul like me, and don’t be angry with me. I did not know Your actual position, and out of ignorance I have committed such horrible offenses. Please save me. I am a most unfortunate, foolish creature. Please be merciful to me.” This is another instance of the ecstasy of dread in devotional service.

When the Keçé demon was causing disturbances in Våndävana by assuming a large horse’s body that was so big that he could jump over the trees, mother Yaçodä told her husband, Nanda Mahäräja, “Our child is very restless, so we had better keep Him locked up within the house. I have been very worried about the recent disturbances of the Keçé demon, who has been assuming the form of a giant horse.” When it was learned that the demon was entering Gokula in an angry mood, mother Yaçodä became so anxious to protect her child that her face dried up and there were tears in her eyes. These are some of the signs of the ecstasy of dread in devotional service, caused by seeing and hearing something that is dangerous to Kåñëa.

After the Pütanä witch had been killed, some friends of mother Yaçodä inquired from her about the incident. Mother Yaçodä at once requested her friends, “Please stop! Please stop! Don’t bring up the incident of Pütanä. I become distressed just by remembering this incident. The Pütanä witch came to devour my son, and she deceived me into letting her take the child on her lap. After that, she died and made a tumultuous sound with her gigantic body.”

In the ecstasy of devotional service in dread, the unconstitutional symptoms are drying up of the mouth, exuberance, glancing behind oneself, concealing oneself, bewilderment, searching after the endangered lovable object and crying very loudly. Some other unconstitutional symptoms are illusion, forgetfulness and expectation of danger. In all such circumstances the ecstatic dread is the steady or constant factor. Such dread is caused either by offenses committed or by dreadful circumstances. Offenses may be committed in varieties of ways, and the dread is felt by the person who has committed the offense. When dread is caused by a fearful object, this fearful object is generally a person who is fearsome in his features, nature and influence. An example of an object which caused ecstatic dread is the Pütanä witch. Dread may be caused by mischievous demoniac characters, such as King Kaàsa, and it may be caused by great powerful demigods, such as Indra or Çaìkara.

Demons like Kaàsa feared Kåñëa, but their feelings cannot be described as ecstatic dread in devotional service.

It is understood from authoritative sources that an attachment for Kåñëa because of feelings of disgust sometimes presents a ghastly ecstasy in devotional service. The person experiencing such ecstatic love for Kåñëa is almost always in the neutral stage of devotional service, or çänta-rasa. A description of ecstatic love caused by ghastliness is found in the following statement: “This person was formerly interested solely in the matter of lust and sense gratification, and he had perfected the greatest skill in exploiting women to fulfill his lusty desires. But now how wonderful it is that this same man is chanting the names of Kåñëa with tears in his eyes, and as soon as he sees the face of a woman, he immediately becomes disgusted. From the indication of his face, I would think that now he hates sex life.”

In this mellow of devotional service in ghastliness, the subecstatic symptoms are spitting upon the consideration of one’s past life, contorting the face, covering the nose and washing the hands. There is also trembling of the body, forcible twisting of the body, and perspiration. Other symptoms which may be present are shame, exhaustion, madness, illusion, frustration, humility, self-pity, restlessness, eagerness and stunning of the body.

When a devotee, lamenting for his past abominable activities, shows special symptoms on his body, his feeling is called ecstasy in devotional service in ghastliness. This is caused by the awakening of his Kåñëa consciousness.

In this connection there is the following statement: “How can a person take pleasure in the enjoyment of sex life in this body, which is a bag of skin and bones, filled with blood and covered by skin and flesh, and which produces mucus and evil smells?” This perception is possible only for one who is awakened to Kåñëa consciousness and who has become fully cognizant of the abominable nature of this material body.

A fortunate child in the womb of his mother prayed to Kåñëa as follows: “O enemy of Kaàsa, I am suffering so much because of this material body. Now I am trapped within a mess of blood, urine and liquid stool, within the womb of my mother. Because I am living in such a condition, I am suffering great pangs. Therefore, O divine ocean of mercy, please be kind to me. I have no ability to engage in Your loving devotional service, but please save me!” There is a similar statement by a person fallen in a hellish condition of life. He addressed the Supreme Lord thus: “My dear Lord, Yamaräja has placed me in a situation which is full of filthy and obnoxious smells. There are so many insects and worms, surrounded by the stools left by different kinds of diseased persons. And after seeing this horrible scene, my eyes have become sore, and I am becoming nearly blind. I therefore pray, O my Lord, O deliverer from the hellish conditions of life. I have fallen into this hell, but I shall try to remember Your holy name always, and in this way I shall try to keep my body and soul together.” This is another instance of ecstatic love for Kåñëa in an abominable situation.

It is to be understood that any person who is constantly engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord—Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare—has attained a transcendental affection for Kåñëa, and as such, in any condition of life, he remains satisfied simply by remembering the Lord’s name in full affection and ecstatic love.

In conclusion, it may be stated that ecstatic love for Kåñëa in ghastliness appears during the development of dormant neutrality into developed affection.

NoD 49: Mixing of Rasas

As already described, there are twelve different kinds of rasas, or ecstatic relationships which are shared with Kåñëa. Five of these rasas are direct, and they are listed as neutrality, servitude, fraternal love, parental love and conjugal love. Seven of the rasas are indirect, and they are listed as humor, astonishment, chivalry, compassion, anger, dread and ghastliness. The five direct rasas are eternally manifested in the Vaikuëöha world, the spiritual kingdom, whereas the seven indirect rasas are eternally manifesting and unmanifesting in Gokula Våndävana, where Kåñëa displays His transcendental pastimes in the material world.

Very often, in addition to one’s regular rasa, there is found the presence of some other rasa, and the mixture of these loving humors is sometimes compatible, or palatable, and sometimes incompatible, or unpalatable. The following is a scientific analysis of the compatibility and incompatibility of the mixtures of these various rasas, or loving moods.

When in the rasa of neutral love (çänta-rasa) there are found traces of ghastliness or astonishment, the result is compatible. When with this neutral love there are manifestations of conjugal love, chivalry, anger or dread, the result is incompatible.

When in the ecstasy of a serving humor there are manifestations of dread, neutral love or chivalry (such as dharma-véra and däna-véra), the result is compatible. The ecstasy of devotional service in chivalry (yuddha-véra) and anger are directly produced by Kåñëa Himself.

With the ecstasy of fraternal love a mixture of conjugal love, laughter or chivalry is highly compatible. With the same fraternal love, a mixture of dread or parental love is most incompatible.

Although there are gulfs of differences between them, with the ecstasy of parental affection a mixture of laughter, compassion or dread is compatible.

With the ecstasy of parental love a mixture of conjugal love, chivalry or anger is incompatible.

With the ecstasy of devotion in conjugal love a mixture of laughter or fraternity is compatible.

According to certain expert opinions, in the ecstasy of conjugal love the feelings of chivalry known as yuddha-véra and dharma-véra are the only compatible additions. According to this view, except for these two humors, all other manifestations are taken as incompatible with conjugal love.

With the ecstasy of devotional laughter a mixture of dread, conjugal love or parental love is compatible, whereas a mixture of compassion or ghastliness is incompatible.

With the ecstasy of devotion in astonishment a mixture of chivalry or neutral love is compatible, whereas a mixture of anger or dread is always incompatible.

With the ecstasy of devotional chivalry a mixture of astonishment, laughter or servitude is compatible, whereas a mixture of dread or conjugal love is incompatible. According to some expert opinions, the ecstasy of neutral love is always compatible with devotional service in chivalry.

With the ecstasy of compassion in devotional service a mixture of anger or parental love is compatible, whereas a mixture of laughter, conjugal love or astonishment is always incompatible.

With the ecstasy of anger in devotional service a mixture of compassion or chivalry is compatible, whereas a mixture of laughter, conjugal union or dread is completely incompatible.

With the ecstasy of dread in devotional service a mixture of ghastliness or compassion is compatible.

With the ecstasy of chivalry in devotional service a mixture of conjugal union, laughter or anger is always incompatible.

In the ecstasy of ghastliness in devotional service, feelings of neutral love, laughter or servitude are compatible, whereas feelings of conjugal union and fraternity are incompatible.

The above analysis is a sample of the study of rasäbhäsa, or incompatible mixing of rasas. This transcendental science of rasäbhäsa can thoroughly explain the humors in ecstatic love which are compatible and incompatible with one another. When Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu was residing in Jagannätha Puré, many poets and devotees used to come to Him and offer their different kinds of poetry, but the regulation was that Lord Caitanya’s secretary, Svarüpa Dämodara, first examined all of these writings scrutinizingly, and if he would find that there were no incompatibilities in the rasas, or transcendental mellows, he would then allow the poet to approach Lord Caitanya and recite his poetry.

The topic of incompatibility is a very important one, and those who are pure devotees always expect to find perfect compatibility in descriptions of the different relationships with the Personality of Godhead. The study of compatibility and incompatibility sometimes becomes very involved, and a hint of why this is so is given as follows. When a friend meets another friend, the mellow produced out of that meeting is generally taken as very palatable. But actually with such meetings between two friends, there are so many feelings involved that it is difficult to ascertain when these feelings are actually becoming compatible and when they are becoming incompatible.

Expert literary scholars have analyzed the rasas which are compatible with one another by contrasting the various rasas in a particular mixture under the names whole and part. According to this method, the prominent feeling is called the whole, and the subordinate feeling is called the part.

The following statement elucidates the subject of part and whole: “All living entities are just like sparks from the supreme fire, and as such, I do not know if I, a tiny spark, shall be able to engage myself in the transcendental loving service of this supreme fire, Lord Kåñëa.” In this statement, the feelings of neutral love are taken as the whole, whereas the desire to serve the Lord is taken as the part. Actually, in the Brahman effulgence there is no chance for reciprocation of loving ecstasy between the Lord and the devotee.

There is another quotation, from a devotee who laments as follows: “Alas, I am still trying to relish different pleasurable states from this body, which is simply some skin covering mucus, semen and blood. In this state of consciousness I am so condemned that I cannot relish the transcendental ecstasy of remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” In this statement there are two ecstatic loving humors, namely neutrality and ghastliness. Neutrality is taken here as the whole, whereas the ecstasy of ghastliness is the part.

There is a similar statement by a devotee as follows: “I shall now begin my service of fanning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Çré Kåñëa, who is seated on a golden throne. He is the supreme Parambrahma in His eternal transcendental form of a cloudy blackish complexion. Now I shall give up my affection for my material body, which is nothing but a bunch of flesh and blood.” Herein also there is a combination of servitude and ghastliness, where the ecstasy of servitude is taken as the whole and the ecstasy of ghastliness is taken as the part.

There is another statement as follows: “When shall I be freed from the mode of ignorance? And being thus purified, when shall I attain the stage of serving Kåñëa eternally? Only then shall I be able to worship Him, always observing His lotus eyes and beautiful face.” In this statement the whole is the ecstasy of neutrality, and the part is servitorship.

There is another statement as follows: “Please look at this devotee of the Lord who is dancing just from remembering the lotus feet of Kåñëa. Simply by observing his dance you will lose all interest in even the most beautiful women!” In this statement the whole is in neutrality, and the part is in ghastliness.

One devotee boldly said, “My dear Lord, now I am turning my face from any thought of association with young girls. As far as Brahman realization is concerned, I have lost all interest, because I am completely absorbed in thinking about You. And being absorbed so blissfully, I have lost all other desires, even the desire for mystic powers. Now my mind is attracted only to worshiping Your lotus feet.” In this statement, the whole is the ecstasy of neutrality, and the part is chivalry.

In another statement, Subala is addressed thus: “My dear Subala, the damsels of Våndävana who had the opportunity of enjoying Kåñëa’s kissing must be the foremost of all the fortunate women in the world.” In this example, the ecstasy of fraternal devotional service is the whole, and the ecstasy of conjugal love is the part.

The following statement was made by Kåñëa to the gopés: “My dear enchanted, don’t gaze at Me with longing eyes like this. Be satisfied and return to your homes in Våndävana. There is no necessity of your presence here.” While Kåñëa was joking in this way with the damsels of Vraja, who with great hope had come to enjoy the räsa dance with Him, Subala was also on the scene, and he began to look at Kåñëa with wide and laughing eyes. Subala’s feeling contained a mixture of fraternity and laughter in devotional service. Fraternity is considered here to be the whole, and the laughter is considered the part.

The following example contains a mixture of ecstatic fraternity and laughter, taken respectively as the whole and part. When Kåñëa saw that Subala, in the dress of Rädhäräëé, was silently hiding under the shade of a beautiful açoka tree on the bank of the Yamunä, He immediately arose from His seat in surprise. Upon seeing Kåñëa, Subala tried to hide his laughter by covering his cheeks.

There is also an example of a mixture of parental love and compassion in devotional service. When mother Yaçodä was thinking that her son was walking in the forest without any umbrella or shoes, she became greatly perturbed to think of how much difficulty Kåñëa must have been feeling. In this example the whole is the parental love, and the part is compassion.

There is the following example of a mixture of parental love and laughter. A friend of mother Yaçodä told her, “My dear Yaçodä, your son has very cunningly stolen a lump of butter from my home. And to make me blame my own son for His mischief, He has smeared some of the butter on my son’s face while he was sleeping!” Upon hearing this, mother Yaçodä shook her curved eyebrows. She could only look at her friend with a smiling face. May mother Yaçodä bless everyone with this smiling attitude. In this example the whole is the parental love, and the part is the laughter.

There is an example of a mixture of several humors with devotional service as follows. When Kåñëa was holding up Govardhana Hill with His left hand, His hair became scattered all over His shoulders, and He appeared to be perspiring. When mother Yaçodä saw this scene, she began to tremble. Then, as she stared at the scene with broadened eyes, she saw Kåñëa begin to exhibit varieties of facial caricatures. Mother Yaçodä then became very happy and began to smile. Then again, when she thought that Kåñëa was holding up the hill for such an extremely long time, her clothes became soaked with perspiration. May mother Yaçodä Vrajeçvaré protect the whole universe by her infinite mercy! In this example, the whole is parental love, and the parts are dread, wonder, laughter, compassion, etc.

There is an example of a mixture of conjugal love and fraternal affection when Çrématé Rädhäräëé said, “My dear friends, just see how Kåñëa is resting His hand on the shoulder of Subala, who is dressed up just like a young girl! I think He must be sending some message to Me through Subala.” The purport is that the superiors of Rädhäräëé do not like Kåñëa or His cowherd friends to associate with Her; therefore these friends sometimes clothe themselves in female dress so they can give Rädhäräëé a message from Kåñëa. In this example the whole is conjugal love, and the part is fraternity.

The following is an example of a mixture of conjugal love and laughter in devotional service. Kåñëa, in the dress of a young girl, told Rädhäräëé, “Oh, You hardhearted girl! Don’t You know that I am Your sister? Why are You unable to recognize Me? Be merciful upon Me and please capture My shoulders and embrace Me with love!” While Kåñëa was dressed up exactly like Rädhäräëé, He was speaking these nice words, and Çrématé Rädhäräëé could understand His purpose. But because She was in front of many of Her superiors, She simply smiled and did not say anything. In this instance, the ecstasy of conjugal love is taken as the whole, and the ecstasy of laughter is taken as the part.

The following illustrates a mixture of several feelings. When one of the consort friends of Candrävalé saw that Kåñëa was preparing to fight with the Våñäsura demon, she began to think, “How wonderful Kåñëa is! His mind is captivated by the eyebrows of Candrävalé in a smiling spirit, His snakelike arms are on the shoulder of His friend, and at the same time He is roaring like a lion to encourage Våñäsura to fight with Him!” This is an example of conjugal love, fraternity and chivalry. The conjugal love is taken here as the whole, and the fraternity and chivalry are taken as the parts.

When Kubjä caught hold of Kåñëa’s yellow garment because she was feeling almost lusty with sex urge, Kåñëa simply bowed down His head with His cheeks glowing in front of the many people who were standing there and laughing. This is an example of a mixture of ecstatic conjugal love and laughter. The laughter is taken as the whole, and the conjugal love is taken as the part.

Viçäla, a cowherd boy who was attempting to fight with Bhadrasena, was addressed by another cowherd boy as follows:“Why are you attempting to show your chivalrous spirit before me? Before this, you even attempted to fight with Çrédämä, but you must know that Çrédämä does not even care to fight with hundreds of Balarämas. So why are you acting so enthusiastically when you actually have no importance at all?” This is an example of a mixture of devotional fraternity and chivalry. The chivalry is taken as the whole, and the fraternity is taken as the part.

Çiçupäla was habituated to calling Kåñëa ill names, and by his insults he irritated the sons of Päëòu more than he irritated Kåñëa. The Päëòavas therefore equipped themselves with all kinds of weapons to kill Çiçupäla. Their feelings were a mixture of ecstatic anger and fraternity, the anger being taken as the whole and fraternity as the part.

Once Kåñëa was watching Çrédämä very expertly using his stick to fight with Balaräma, who was an expert club fighter and who had even killed the Pralambäsura demon with His club. When Kåñëa saw Balaräma finally defeated by Çrédämä, who was using only a small stick, Kåñëa became filled with pleasure and began to look upon Çrédämä with great wonder. In this instance there is a mixture of astonishment, fraternity and chivalry in devotional service. The fraternity and chivalry are considered the parts, and the astonishment is considered the whole.

Expert analysts of these various kinds of mellows instruct us that when different mellows overlap one another, the mellow which is the whole, or the prominent humor, is called the permanent ecstasy. It is confirmed in the Viñëu-dharmottara that when there are many mellows of devotional ecstasy mixed together, the prominent one, or the whole, is called the steady ecstasy of devotional service. Although the subordinate mellow may be manifested for a certain time, at length it will become merged into the prominent whole. Thus it is called an unconstitutional ecstasy of devotional service.

There is a good analogy in this connection, showing the relationship between the part and whole. Lord Vämanadeva is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He appeared to have been “born” as one of the brothers of Indra. Although Vämanadeva is sometimes taken as a less important demigod, He is actually the maintainer of Indra, the King of the demigods. Thus, although sometimes Vämanadeva is considered to be a subordinate demigod, His actual position is that of the supreme whole, the source of the entire demigod system. In the same way, a rasa which is actually prominent may sometimes appear to be manifested in a subordinate way, although its actual position is as the main or prominent loving feeling of a devotee.

When an unconstitutional ecstasy of devotional service is manifested prominently at a certain time, it is still accepted as the part. If it is not very prominently manifested, it appears only slightly and merges quickly back into the whole. At such times of slight appearance, no consideration is given to it; when one is eating some palatable dishes, if one also eats a small blade of grass he will not taste it, nor will he care to distinguish what its taste is like.

NoD 50: Further Analysis of Mixed Rasas

As already described, if certain kinds of mellows become mixed and there is a joining of opposite mellows, then the situation is called incompatible. When one is eating sweet rice and something salty or sour is mixed in, the mixture is not very tasteful, and it is called incompatible.

An exemplary instance of incompatibility is a statement by an impersonalist who was lamenting aloud, “I have been attached simply to the impersonal Brahman feature, and I have passed my days uselessly in practicing trance. I have not given any proper attention to Çré Kåñëa, who is the source of the impersonal Brahman and who is the reservoir of all transcendental pleasures.” In this statement there are traces of neutrality and conjugal love, and the resulting humor is incompatible.

Sometimes it is found in places like Våndävana that a person with a slight devotional attitude of neutral love for Kåñëa may immediately and artificially try to attain to the platform of conjugal love. But because of the incompatibility of neutrality and conjugal love, the person is found to fall from the standard of devotional service.

Incompatibility was expressed by a great devotee on the platform of neutrality when he sarcastically prayed, “I am very anxious to see Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is many millions of times more affectionate than the Pitäs [forefathers] in the Pitåloka and who is always worshiped by the great demigods and sages. I am a little surprised, however, that although Kåñëa is the husband of the goddess of fortune, His body is often marked with the nail pricks of ordinary society girls!” Here is an example of incompatibility due to a mixture of neutrality and high conjugal love.

There is the following statement by a gopé: “My dear Kåñëa, the first thing You should do is just embrace me with Your strong arms. Then, my dear friend, I shall first smell Your head, and then I shall enjoy with You.” This is an example of incompatibility in which conjugal love is the whole and servitorship is the part.

One devotee said, “My dear Kåñëa, how can I address You as my son when You are addressed by the great Vedäntists as the Absolute Truth and by the Vaiñëavas who follow the principles of Närada-païcarätra as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? You are the same Supreme Person, so how shall my tongue be so extraordinarily bold as to address You as an ordinary son?” In this statement there is a mixture of neutrality and parental love, and the result is incompatible.

Another devotee said, “My dear friend, my youthful beauty is as temporary as lightning in the sky, and therefore my possessing attractive bodily features is unimportant. I have never met Kåñëa, so I request you to please arrange for my meeting Him immediately.” In this statement there is the incompatibility of a neutral mellow mixed with conjugal love.

A lusty woman in Kailäsa once told Kåñëa, “My dear Kåñëa, may You have a long life!” Then, after saying this, she embraced Kåñëa. This is an example of incompatibility resulting from a mixture of parental love and conjugal love.

The purpose of the above analysis is to show that in the mixture of various mellows, or reciprocations of ecstatic love between Kåñëa and the devotees, if the result is not pure there will be incompatibility. According to the opinion of stalwart devotees like Rüpa Gosvämé, as soon as there are contradictory feelings, the result is incompatible.

Once an ordinary female devotee addressed Kåñëa, “My dear boy, I know that my body is just a composition of flesh and blood and can never be enjoyable to You. But still, I have been so attracted by Your beauty that I wish that You accept me as Your conjugal lover.” In this statement there is incompatibility caused by a mixture of ghastliness and conjugal love in devotional service.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé warns devotees to not commit such incompatibilities in their writings or in their dealings. The presence of such contradictory feelings is called rasäbhäsa. When there is rasäbhäsa in any book of Kåñëa consciousness, no learned scholar or devotee will accept it.

In the Vidagdha-mädhava, Second Act, verse 17, Paurëamäsé tells Nändémukhé, “Just see how wonderful it is! Great sages meditate upon Kåñëa after being relieved from all material transactions, and with great difficulty they try to situate Kåñëa in their hearts. And opposed to this, this young girl is trying to withdraw her mind from Kåñëa so that she can apply it in the material activities of sense gratification. What a regrettable thing it is that this girl is trying to drive away from her heart the same Kåñëa who is sought after by great sages through severe austerities and perseverance!” Although in this statement there are contradictory mellows of ecstatic devotion, the result is not incompatible, because the conjugal love is so elevated that it is defeating all other varieties of mellows. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé comments in this connection that such a loving state of mind is not possible for all. It is possible only in the case of the gopés of Våndävana.

There are many other instances of contradictory mellows where there is no perverted experience of rasäbhäsa. Once some minor demigod of the heavenly planets remarked, “Kåñëa, whose joking words were once the source of so much laughter for the residents of Vraja, has now been attacked by the serpent king, Käliya, and He has become the object of everyone’s overwhelming lamentation!” In this instance there is a mixture of laughter and compassion, but there is no incompatibility, because by both of these rasas the loving affection for Kåñëa is increased.

Çrématé Rädhäräëé was once told that although She had stopped all activities, She was still the supreme source of inspiration for all kinds of devotional service. The statement says, “My dear Rädhäräëé, in separation from Kåñëa You are now as still as the most beautiful tree, whose gracefulness is not blocked by any covering of leaves. Your tranquil mood makes You appear to be completely merged in Brahman realization!” In this example there is a mixture of conjugal love and neutral love, but the conjugal love has surpassed everything. Actually, Brahman realization is only a stunted existence. There is the following statement by Kåñëa Himself: “Çrématé Rädhäräëé has become peace personified for Me. Because of Her, I now go without sleep. I stare constantly without blinking My eyes, and I am always in a meditative mood. Because of Her I have even made My home in the cave of a mountain!” This is an example of conjugal love mixed with neutral love, but there is no incompatibility.

The following is a conversation consisting of questions put before Rambhä, a celebrated beautiful woman, and her corresponding answers. Rambhä was asked, “My dear Rambhä, who are you?” She answered, “I am peace personified.” Question: “Then why are you in the sky?” Answer: “I am in the sky to experience the Supreme Absolute Truth.” Question: “Then why are you staring?” Answer: “Just to look into the supreme beauty of the Absolute Truth.” Question: “Then why do you appear to be disturbed in mind?” Answer: “Because Cupid is acting.” In the above example also there is no perverted representation of mellows, because on the whole the ecstasy of conjugal love has exceeded the neutral position of devotional service.

In the Tenth Canto of Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Sixtieth Chapter, verse 45, Rukmiëé-devé said, “My dear husband, a woman who has no taste for the transcendental pleasure available from Your personal contact must be inclined to accept as her husband somebody who is externally a combination of mustache, beard, body hairs, fingernails and some head hair. And within him there are muscles, bones, blood, intestinal worms, stools, mucus, bile and similar things. Actually, such a husband is only a dead body, but due to not being attracted to Your transcendental form, a woman will have to accept this combination of stools and urine for her husband.” This statement, which lists the ingredients of a material body, is not a perverted mellow in transcendental realization, because it shows correct discrimination between matter and spirit.

In the Vidagdha-mädhava, Second Act, verse 31, Kåñëa tells His friend, “My dear friend, what a wonderful thing it is that since I have seen the beautiful lotus eyes of Çrématé Rädhäräëé, I have developed a tendency to spit on the moon and the lotus flower!” This is an example of conjugal love mixed with ghastliness, but there is no incompatibility.

The following is a statement which describes different mellows of devotional service: “Although Kåñëa was invincible to any enemy, the cowherd boys of Våndävana became almost blackish with astonishment upon seeing His wonderful royal garments and His fighting feats on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra.” In this statement, although there is a mixture of chivalrous activities and dread in devotional service, there is no perverted reflection of mellows.

One resident of Mathurä requested her father to bolt the doors and then go with her to the school of Sändépani Muni to find Kåñëa. She complained that Kåñëa had completely stolen her mind. In this incident there is a mixture of conjugal love and parental love, but there is no incompatibility.

A brahmänandé (impersonalist) expressed his desire as follows: “When shall I be able to see that supreme absolute Personality of Godhead who is eternal bliss and knowledge and whose chest has become smeared with red kuàkum powder by touching the breast of Rukmiëé?” Here there is a mixture of conjugal love and neutrality. Although this is a contradiction of mellows, there is no incompatibility, because even a brahmänandé will become attracted to Kåñëa.

Nanda Mahäräja told his wife, “My dear Yaçodä, although your son, Kåñëa, is as delicate and soft as the mallikä flower, He has gone to kill the Keçé demon, who is as strong as a mountain. Therefore I have become a little disturbed. But never mind, all auspiciousness to my son! I shall raise this hand, which is as strong as a pillar, and I shall kill the Keçé demon, just to give freedom from all anxieties to the inhabitants of Vraja-maëòala!” In this statement there are two kinds of mellows: chivalry and dread. Both of them, however, improve the position of parental love, and therefore there is no incompatibility.

In the Lalita-mädhava of Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé it is stated, “After Kåñëa’s arrival in Kaàsa’s arena, Kaàsa’s priest looked at Kåñëa with a detestful expression. The entire arena was filled with dread on the part of Kaàsa and his priest and restless expressions of pleasure on the cheeks of Kåñëa’s friends. Frustration was felt by His envious rivals. The great sages meditated. Hot tears were in the eyes of Devaké and other motherly ladies, and hairs stood on the bodies of the expert warriors. There was astonishment in the hearts of demigods such as Indra. The servants danced, and the restless eyes of all the young girls glanced about.” In this statement there is a description of a combination of different mellows, but there is no incompatibility.

A similar statement, which is free from incompatibility, is in the Lalita-mädhava, wherein the author blesses all the readers of the book in the following manner: “Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead is able to lift a mountain with a finger of His left hand, He is always humble and meek. He is always very kind to His loving devotees. He has frustrated Indra’s attempt at vengeance by refusing him the sacrifice of Indra-yajïa. He is the cause of all pleasure to all young girls. May He be ever compassionate upon you all!”

NoD 51: Perverted Expression of Mellows

Rasäbhäsa, or incompatible mixtures of mellows, may be classified as uparasa (false expression), anurasa (imitation) and aparasa (perverted or misrepresented mellows).

There is the following statement by an impersonalist who had just seen Kåñëa: “When a person has passed completely from all contamination of material existence, he relishes a transcendental bliss of being established in trance. But as soon as I saw You, the original Personality of Godhead, I experienced the same bliss.” This perverted reflection of mellows is called çänta-uparasa, or a perverted reflection of mixed impersonalism and personalism.

There is another statement as follows: “Wherever I am glancing I simply see Your personality. Therefore I know that You are the uncontaminated Brahman effulgence, the supreme cause of all causes. I think that there is nothing but You in this cosmic manifestation.” This is another example of uparasa, or a perverted reflection of impersonalism and personalism.

When Madhumaìgala, an intimate friend of Kåñëa, was dancing before Kåñëa in a joking manner, no one was paying attention to him, and he jokingly said, “My dear Lord, please be merciful upon me. I am praying for Your mercy.” This is an example of uparasa in fraternal affection and neutrality.

Kaàsa once addressed his sister Devaké as follows: “My dear sister, having seen your dear son Kåñëa, I think that He is so strong that He can kill even wrestlers as strong as the mountains. So I will have no more anxieties about Him, even if He is engaged in a terrible fight.” This is an instance of uparasa in a perverted reflection of parental love.

In the Lalita-mädhava, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé says, “The wives of the yäjïika brähmaëas were all young girls, and they were attracted to Kåñëa in the same way as the gopés of Våndävana. Out of their attraction, they distributed food to Kåñëa.” Here the two devotional mellows are conjugal love and parental love, and the result is called uparasa in conjugal love.

One of the friends of Çrématé Rädhäräëé told Her, “My dear friend Gändharvikä [Rädhäräëé], You were the most chaste girl in our village, but now You have divided Yourself and are partially chaste and partially unchaste. It is all due to Cupid’s influence upon You after You saw Kåñëa and heard the sound of His flute.” This is another example of uparasa caused by divided interests in conjugal love.

According to some expert learned scholars, the feelings between lover and beloved create perverted reflections of mellows in many ways.

“The gopés have become purified by Kåñëa’s glance, and as such, Cupid’s influence is distinctly visible on their bodies.” Although in the material sense the glancing of a boy at a girl is a kind of pollution, when Kåñëa threw His transcendental glance at the gopés, they became purified. In other words, because Kåñëa is the Absolute Truth, any action by Him is transcendentally pure.

After Kåñëa chastised the Käliya-näga in the Yamunä River by dancing on his heads, the Käliya-näga’s wives addressed Kåñëa, “Dear cowherd boy, we are all only young wives of the Käliya-näga, so why do You agitate our minds by sounding Your flute?” Käliya’s wives were flattering Kåñëa so that He would spare their husband. Therefore this is an example of uparasa, or false expression.

One devotee said, “My dear Govinda, here is a nice flowery bush in Kailäsa. I am a young girl, and You are a young poetic boy. After this, what more can I say? You just consider.” This is an example of uparasa, caused by impudence in conjugal love.

When Närada Muni was passing through Våndävana, he came to the Bhäëòéravana forest and saw in one of the trees the famous parrot couple that always accompanies Lord Kåñëa. The couple was imitating some discussion they had heard upon the Vedänta philosophy, and thus were seemingly arguing upon various philosophical points. Upon seeing this, Närada Muni was struck with wonder, and he began to stare without moving his eyelids. This is an example of anurasa, or imitation.

When Kåñëa was fleeing from the battlefield, from a distant place Jaräsandha was watching Him with restless eyes and was feeling very proud. Being thus puffed up with his conquest, he was repeatedly laughing. This is an example of aparasa.

Everything in connection with Kåñëa is called ecstatic devotional love, although it may be exhibited in different ways: sometimes in right order and sometimes as a perverted reflection. According to the opinion of all expert devotees, anything that will arouse ecstatic love for Kåñëa is to be taken as an impetus for transcendental mellow.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta summary study of Çré Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé.

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé concludes by saying that Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu is very difficult for ordinary men to understand, yet he hopes that Lord Kåñëa, the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, will be pleased with his presentation of this book.

By rough calculation it is estimated that Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé finished Çré Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu in Gokula Våndävana in the year 1552. While physically present, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé was living in different parts of Våndävana, and his headquarters were in the temple of Rädhä-Dämodara in the present city of Våndävana. The place of Rüpa Gosvämé’s bhajana, execution of devotional service, is commemorated still. There are two different tomblike structures in the Rädhä-Dämodara temple; one structure is called his place of bhajana, and in the other his body is entombed. Behind this very tomb I have my place of bhajana, but since 1965 I have been away. The place, however, is being taken care of by my disciples. By Kåñëa’s will, I am now residing at the Los Angeles temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. This purport is finished today, the 30th of June, 1969.

 

LON Introduction

Man prides himself on being a creature of reason, above the lowly beasts. Yet it seems that when he applies his reason to unlocking the secrets of nature for his benefit, he sinks deeper and deeper into a quagmire of intractable problems. The internal combustion engine gets us where we’re going faster, but also results in choking air pollution, the greenhouse effect, and a dangerous dependence on oil. Harnessing the atom gives us cheap energy, but also leads to weapons of mass destruction, Chernobyl, and a rising tide of dangerous radioactive waste. Modern agribusiness produces a dizzying variety and abundance of food at the supermarket, but also results in the death of the family farm, the pollution of ground water, the loss of precious topsoil, and many other problems.

It’s clear we’re missing something in our attempts to harness the laws of nature for our own purposes. What is that “something”? We find out in the very first mantra of the Éçopaniñad, the foremost of ancient India’s books of wisdom known as the Upaniñads: “Everything in this creation is owned and controlled by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.’’

In nature we see this principle at work. Nature’s arrangement, set up by the Lord, maintains the birds and beasts: the elephant eats his fifty kilos per day, the ant his few grains. If man doesn’t interfere, the natural balance sustains all creatures.

Any agriculturalist will tell you the earth can produce enough food to feed ten times the present human population. Yet political intrigues and wars, unfair distribution of land, the production of cash crops like tobacco, tea, and coffee instead of food, and erosion due to misuse ensure that millions go hungry, even in wealthy countries like the United States.

We must understand the laws of nature from the viewpoint of the Supreme Lord, who has created these laws. In His eyes all the earth’s inhabitants—whether creatures of the land, water, or air—are His sons and daughters. Yet we, the human inhabitants, the “most advanced’’ of His creatures, treat these sons and daughters with great cruelty, from the practice of animal slaughter to destruction of the rain forests. Is it any wonder that we suffer an unending series of natural disasters, wars, epidemics, famines, and the like?

The source of our problem is the desire for sense gratification beyond the consideration of anyone else’s rights. These rights are the rights of the child in relation to the father. Every child has the right to share the wealth of his father. So creating a brotherhood of all creatures on earth depends on understanding the universal fatherhood of God.

As we have seen, the Vedic literature declares that the Supreme Lord owns and controls the entire creation. Not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. He is the complete whole. Then what is our position? Just as a king is no king without subjects, God is no God without His servants. He is the supreme enjoyer, and we are meant to take part in His enjoyment through service to Him, not by trying to enjoy separately. He is omnipotent and thus completely independent. Our minute independence is a tiny reflection of His total independence. It is our misuse of that minute independence and our attempt to enjoy separate from Him that have resulted in our current predicament.

Why do we misuse our independence? Because we are ignorant of our real nature. The first lesson of the Vedic wisdom is that we are not bodies but rather spirit souls—minute particles of consciousness dwelling within the body and animating it. Just as a car is a machine that allows a driver to travel from point A to point B, the body is a machine that allows the spirit soul to act and to experience sensations and thoughts within the Lord’s material nature. When we understand our true identity as spiritual beings, part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit, God, we understand that we are meant to serve Him just as the hand or foot serves the whole body.

Our problem, however, is that we forget our identity separate from the body and instead misidentify ourselves with it. If a person happens to be born in America he considers himself an American, if he is born in France he considers himself a Frenchman, and so on. We also identify ourselves according to our sex, race, creed, social status, etc. But all these qualities apply only to the body, not the soul. Therefore embracing them as our true identity causes us to forget the Lord and our relationship with Him, and to see ourselves as independent enjoyers of His material nature.

The Vedic literature explains that human activity, when devoid of service to the Lord, is governed by a subtle law known as the law of karma. This is the familiar law of action and reaction as it pertains to what we do in this world and the enjoyment or suffering we experience as a result. If I cause pain to another living being, then as surely as the wheel of life turns, I will be forced to suffer similar pain. And if I bring happiness to another, a like pleasure awaits me. At every second, with every breath, our activities in this material world cause enjoyment and suffering. To facilitate these endless actions and reactions, there has to be more than just one life. There has to be reincarnation.

Until recently the idea of reincarnation, while universally accepted in India and other Eastern countries, had found few adherents in the West. The Church banned the philosophy of reincarnation centuries ago. This is a long story dating as far back as the history of the early Christian Church between 300 A.D. and 600 A.D. Recounting this controversy is not within the scope of this book, but the denial of this important concept has left a void in the world view of the Western peoples.

However, in the last decade or so many thinkers in the West have begun to take the idea of reincarnation seriously. For example, Dr. Michael Sabom of Emory University Medical School has written a book entitled Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation (1982), which details his studies confirming the out-of-body experiences reported by cardiac arrest patients. Sabom writes, “Could the mind which splits apart from the physical brain be, in essence, the soul, which continues to exist after the final bodily death, according to some religious doctrines?’’

And Dr. Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, in his book Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (1966), has documented and verified past-life memories in young children. Other studies using such methods as hypnotic regression indicate that the idea of reincarnation may soon gain acceptance among mainstream scientists in the West.

The Vedic literature makes reincarnation of the soul a central feature in its explanation of human destiny. And the logic is obvious when we consider a simple question like the following: Why is one child born to wealthy parents in the United States, while another is born to starving peasants in Ethiopia? Only the doctrine of karma and reincarnation—reward and punishment carried over many lifetimes—answers this question easily.

The Laws of Nature: An Infallible Justice has been compiled primarily from two sources. The first is a series of talks given on the Çré Éçopaniñad by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda (see “The Author,” p. 84). Delivered in Los Angeles in the spring of 1970, these talks provide an illuminating account of how the universe really operates. The second source is Çréla Prabhupäda’s commentated translation of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam. From the Third Canto of this monumental work we here reproduce Chapter Thirty, titled “Description by Lord Kapila of Adverse Fruitive Activities.” In this section we learn the fate of the sinful soul who transgresses the laws of God’s nature and incurs punishment according to the law of karma.

In one of his Éçopaniñad talks, Çréla Prabhupäda says, “If you do good work, you will have so-called enjoyment in your next life—but you will remain bound up in the cycle of birth and death. And if you do bad work, then you will have to suffer the sinful reactions and also remain bound up in birth and death. But if you work for Kåñëa, there are no such reactions, good or bad, and at the time of death you will return to Kåñëa. This is the only way to break the bonds of karma.”

And this is the only way for society as a whole to mitigate the sufferings mentioned earlier. While we are in this world there is no getting rid of suffering al-together, for, as the Vedic teachings recognize, this material world is by nature a place of suffering. Ultimately we are powerless in the midst of a vast array of natural forces. The hope, therefore, is to know and follow the will of the Supreme Lord, the master of nature. Only in this way can we transcend the laws of nature, end the cycle of reincarnation, and attain the perfection of life—love of God and a place in His kingdom.

LON 1: God and The Law of Karma

Among the vast ancient Sanskrit writings known as the Vedas, the 108 Upaniñads contain the philosophical essence. And among all the Upaniñads, the Éçopaniñad is considered the foremost. In the following essay, based on talks Çréla Prabhupäda gave on the Éçopaniñad in 1968, we learn the truth about the Supreme Lord, the laws governing His material and spiritual energies, and how to break free of the bondage of karma.

The Éçopaniñad states that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is “perfect and complete.” Part of the Lord’s complete arrangement for this material world is his process of creation, maintenance, and destruction. Every living being in this material world has a fixed schedule of six changes: birth, growth, maintenance, the production of by-products, diminution, and destruction. This is the law of material nature. A flower is born as a bud. It grows, remains fresh for two or three days, produces a seed, gradually withers, and then is finished. You cannot stop this by your so-called material science. To try to do so is avidyä, ignorance.

Sometimes people foolishly think that by scientific advancement man will become immortal. This is nonsense. You cannot stop the material laws. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gétä (7.14) Lord Kåñëa says that the material energy is duratyayä, impossible to overcome by material means.

Material nature consists of three modes, or guëas: sattva-guëa, rajo-guëa, and tamo-guëa, or the modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance. Another meaning of guëa is “rope.” Rope is made by twisting fiber in a threefold process. First the fiber is twisted in three small strands, then three of them are twisted together, then again three of those are twisted together. In this way the rope becomes very strong. Similarly, the three modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance—are mixed, after which they produce some by-product. Then they are mixed again, and then again. Thus they are “twisted together” innumerable times.

In this way the material energy binds you more and more. By your own efforts you cannot get out of this bondage, which is known as pavarga. Pa-varga is the fifth set of letters in the Sanskrit Devanägaré alphabet. It contains the letters pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma. Pa stands for pariçrama, “hard labor.” Every living entity in this world is struggling very hard to maintain himself and survive. This is called the hard struggle for existence. Pha stands for phena, “foam.” When a horse works very hard, foam comes out of its mouth. Similarly, when we are tired from working very hard, our tongue may become dry and some foam forms in our mouth. Everyone is working very hard for sense gratification—so much so that foam is coming from their mouth. Ba represents bandha, “bondage.” In spite of all our efforts, we remain bound up by the ropes of the material modes of nature. Bha stands for bhaya, “fear.” In material life, one is always in a blazing fire of fear, since no one knows what will happen next. And ma represents måtyu, “death.” All our hopes and plans for happiness and security in this world are ended by death.

So, Kåñëa consciousness nullifies this pavarga process. In other words, by taking to Kåñëa consciousness one attains apavarga, where there is no hard struggle for existence and no material bondage, fear, or death. Pavarga symptomizes this material world, but when you add the prefix “a” to pavarga, that means it is nullified. Our Kåñëa consciousness movement is the path of apavarga.

Unfortunately, people do not know of these things, and therefore they are wasting their lives. This modern civilization is a soul-killing civilization; people are killing themselves because they do not know what real life is. They are simply living like animals. The animal does not know what life is, so he simply works under the laws of nature, undergoing gradual evolution. But when you get this human form of life, you have a responsibility to live in a different way. Here is a chance for you to become Kåñëa conscious and solve all problems. But if you don’t—if you continue to act like animals—you will again have to enter the cycle of birth and death and transmigrate through 8,400,000 species of life. It will take many, many millions of years to come back to the human form of life. For example, the sunshine you are seeing now you will not see again until after twenty-four hours. Everything in nature moves in a cycle. So if you lose this opportunity of elevating yourself, then again you must enter the cycle of transmigration. Nature’s law is very strong. Therefore we are opening so many centers so that people may take advantage of this International Society for Krishna Consciousness and elevate themselves.

It is important to take to Kåñëa consciousness immediately, because we do not know how much time is left before death. When your time in this body expires, no one can stop your death. The arrangement of material nature is so strong. You cannot say, “Let me remain.” Actually, people sometimes request like that. When I was in Allahabad, an old friend who was very rich was dying. At that time he begged the doctor, “Can’t you give me at least four more years to live? I have some plans which I could not finish.” You see. This is foolishness. Everyone thinks, “Oh, I have to do this. I have to do that.” No. Neither the doctors nor the scientists can check death: “Oh, no, sir. Not four years, not even four minutes. You have to go immediately.” This is the law. So before that moment comes, one should be very careful to become realized in Kåñëa consciousness. You should realize Kåñëa consciousness very quickly. Before your next death comes, you must finish your business. That is intelligence. Otherwise you will suffer defeat.

The Éçopaniñad states that whatever emanates from the complete whole—the Supreme Lord—is also complete in itself. Therefore if you want to take advantage of your life and become Kåñëa conscious, there is complete facility. But you have to come to the point of taking up the practice. Kåñëa consciousness is not theoretical; it is practical. All experiments have already been performed. So, as indicated in the Éçopaniñad, there is a complete facility for the small complete units—ourselves—to realize the supreme complete, Kåñëa. We are complete units, but we are small. For example, in a big machine there is a small screw, and the perfection of that small screw is to be fitted in its proper place. Then it has value. But if it becomes unscrewed from the machine and falls down on the floor, it has no value. Similarly, we are perfect as long as we are attached to Kåñëa; otherwise we are useless.

To realize the complete means to realize what our relationship with the complete is. And all forms of incompleteness are experienced only on account of incomplete knowledge of the complete. We are thinking, “I am equal to God. I am God.” This is incomplete knowledge. But if you know, “I am part and parcel of God, and therefore I am equal to God in quality,” that is complete knowledge. The human form of life is a chance to revive the complete manifestation of the consciousness of the living being. You can revive this complete consciousness by the process of Kåñëa consciousness. But if you don’t take advantage of this complete facility, you are killing yourself, committing suicide. As it is said in the Éçopaniñad, “The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance. ” So don’t be the killer of your soul. Utilize the complete facility of your human life to become Kåñëa conscious. That is your only business.

In conditioned life we are committing sins at every step, even without knowing it. The reason we are sinning unknowingly is that we have been in ignorance from our very birth. This ignorance is prominent despite so many educational institutions. Why? Because despite so many big, big universities, none of them is teaching ätma-tattva, the science of the soul. Therefore people remain in ignorance, and they continue to sin and suffer the reactions. That is stated in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam (5.5.3): paräbhavas tävad abodha-jäto yävan na jijïäsata ätma-tattvam. This foolishness will continue until one comes to the platform of understanding self-realization. Otherwise, all these universities and institutions for imparting knowledge are a continuation of that same ignorance and foolishness. Unless one comes to the point of asking “What am I? What is God? What is this world? What is my relationship with God and this world?” and finds proper answers, one continues to be foolish like an animal and is subjected to transmigration from one body to another in different species of life. This is the result of ignorance.

So, the modern civilization is very risky. One may feel comfortable as a successful businessman or politician, or one may think oneself comfortable because of being born in a rich nation like America, but these statuses of life are temporary. They will have to change, and we do not know what kind of miseries we will have to suffer in our next life because of our sinful activities. So if one does not begin cultivating transcendental knowledge, then one’s life is very risky. Suppose a healthy man is living in a contaminated place. Is his life not at risk? He may become infected by disease at any moment. Therefore we should work to dissipate our ignorance through cultivation of transcendental knowledge.

A good example of how we commit sins unknowingly is cooking. In the Bhagavad-gétä (3.13) Kåñëa says that His devotees are freed from sin because they eat only the remnants of food that has been offered to Him. But, He says, those who cook for themselves eat only sin. The difference between cooking here in this temple and cooking in some ordinary house is that our cooking and eating are relieving us from sin, while the cooking and eating of a nondevotee are simply entangling him more and more in sin. The cooking appears to be the same, but this cooking and that cooking are different. Here there is no sin because the food is being cooked for Kåñëa.

Anything you do outside the field of Kåñëa conscious activities entangles you in the modes of nature. Generally, you are being implicated in sinful activities. Those who are a little more cautious avoid sinful activities and perform pious activities. But one who performs pious activities is also entangled. If a man is pious, he may take birth in a family that is very rich or aristocratic, or he may be very beautiful or get the opportunity to become very learned. These are the results of pious activities. But whether you are pious or impious, you have to enter into the womb of some mother. And that tribulation is very severe. That we have forgotten. Whether you take birth in a very rich and aristocratic family or from an animal womb, the pangs of birth, old age, disease, and death continue.

The Kåñëa consciousness movement is meant to give you an opportunity to solve these four problems—birth, old age, disease, and death. But if you continue to act sinfully and eat sinfully, then these miseries will continue. Otherwise, you can nullify your sinful reactions by surrendering to Kåñëa, as He states in the Bhagavad-gétä (18.66): “Just give up all your so-called religious practices and surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all your sinful reactions.” Part of surrendering to Kåñëa is being careful not to eat anything that has not been offered to Him. That should be our determination. Even if we have committed some sin, by eating prasädam, food offered to Kåñëa, we will counteract it. If we surrender to Kåñëa in this way, He will protect us from sinful reactions. That is His promise.

And where does a surrendered devotee go at the time of death? Is he finished, as the voidists say? No. Kåñëa says, mäm eti: “He comes to Me.” And what is the benefit of going there? Mäm upetya punar janma duùkhälayam açäçvatam näpnuvanti: [Bg. 8.15] “One who comes back to Me does not have to return to this miserable material world.” That is the highest perfection.

The Éçopaniñad states, “The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.” Kåñëa is a lion to the demons and a lamb to the devotees. The atheists say, “We have not seen Kåñëa.” Yes, you will see Kåñëa—you will see Him as the lion of death when He ultimately comes to capture you: “Ow!” The atheist sees Kåñëa as death. And the theist, or devotee, sees Kåñëa as his lover, as gentle as a lamb.

Actually, everyone is engaged in Kåñëa’s service, either out of love or by force. One who is entangled in material life is engaged in Kåñëa’s service because he is forced to serve Kåñëa’s external, material energy. It is just like what we see with the citizens of the state: whether one is a law-abiding citizen or a criminal, one is subservient to the state. The criminal may say he doesn’t care for the state, but then the police will force him to accept the authority of the state by putting him in prison.

Therefore, whether one accepts or rejects Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s philosophy that every living entity is eternally the servant of Kåñëa, one remains His servant. The only difference is that the atheist is being forced to accept Kåñëa as his master, and the devotee is voluntarily offering Him service. This Kåñëa consciousness movement is teaching people that they are eternal servants of God and should voluntarily offer Him service: “Don’t falsely claim that you are God. Oh, you don’t care for God? You have to care.” The great demon Hiraëya-kaçipu also didn’t care for God, and so God came and killed him. God is seen by the atheist as death, but by the theist as a lover. That is the difference.

If you are a devotee and understand this philosophy of spiritual life, you can live for a moment or you can live for a hundred years—it doesn’t matter. Otherwise, what is the use of living? Some trees live for five hundred or five thousand years, but what is the use of such a life, devoid of higher consciousness?

If you know that you are Kåñëa’s servant and that everything belongs to Kåñëa, you can live for hundreds of years doing your duties and there will be no karmic reaction. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gétä (3.9): yajïärthät karmaëo ’nyatra loko ’yaà karma-bandhanaù. “Except work for Kåñëa, any work, whether good or bad, will bind you to this material world.” If you do good work, you will have so-called enjoyment in your next life—but you will still remain bound up in the cycle of birth and death. And if you do bad work, then you will have to suffer the sinful reactions and also remain bound up in birth and death. But if you work for Kåñëa, there are no such reactions, good or bad, and at the time of death you will return to Kåñëa. This is the only way to break the bonds of karma.

In the Éçopaniñad, the word éça is used to describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Éça means “controller.” Do you think you are controlled or not? Is there any person anywhere within this universe who is not controlled? Can anyone say, “I am not controlled”? Nobody can say that. So if you are controlled, then why do you declare, “I am not controlled, I am independent, I am God”? Why this nonsense? Mäyävädé impersonalists claim, “I am God, you are God, everyone is God.” But if they are controlled, how can they be God? Does this make any sense? God is never controlled; He is the supreme controller. So if somebody is controlled, immediately we should know that he is not God.

Of course, some rascals claim that they are not controlled. I know one such rascal who has a society and is preaching, “I am God.” But one day I saw him with a toothache; he was moaning, “Ohhh!” So I asked him, “You claim that you are God, the supreme controller, but now you are under the control of a toothache. What kind of God are you?” So if you see someone who claims that he is God or that everyone is God, you should immediately know such a person is a number-one rascal.

Now, this is not to say that the living entities are not controllers to some extent. In the Bhagavad-gétä Lord Kåñëa says that the living entities are His superior energy. Why are the living entities superior energy? Because they are conscious, whereas the material energy is not. Therefore the living entities can control the material energy to some extent. For example, all the paraphernalia in this temple has been made from matter: earth, water, fire, and air. But it was a living entity who molded the material energy into this paraphernalia for the purpose of worshiping Kåñëa. Another example: before people came from Europe, this land of America was mostly vacant. The people who lived here before that did not fully exploit it. But the Europeans came and developed it into a country with great industries and roads.

So the superior energy, the living entities, can have some control over the material energy. That Kåñëa explains in the Bhagavad-gétä (7.5): yayedaà dhäryate jagat. The importance of this material world is due to the living entities. A big city like Los Angeles, New York, or London is valuable as long as the living entities are there. Similarly, the body is valuable as long as the living entity—the soul—is there. Therefore the soul is superior to matter. But that superiority is being misused to exploit matter for sense gratification. That is conditioned life. We have forgotten that, although we are superior to matter, we are still subordinate to God.

The people of the modern civilization do not care for God because they are intoxicated with their superiority over matter. They are simply trying to exploit matter in different ways. But they are forgetting that all people—American, Russian, Chinese, Indian—are subordinate to God. They have forgotten Kåñëa and want to enjoy this material world. That is their disease.

So, the duty of the devotee of the Lord is to invoke the people’s Kåñëa consciousness. The devotee explains to them: “You are superior to matter, but you are subordinate to Kåñëa. Therefore you should not try to enjoy matter but rather use it for His enjoyment.” For example, we have decorated this temple not for our sense gratification but for Kåñëa’s pleasure. What is the difference between us and ordinary people? They are decorating their apartment very nicely, and we are decorating our place very nicely—but the purpose is different. We are doing it for Kåñëa, and they are doing it for themselves. Whether you decorate your personal apartment or Kåñëa’s temple, your superiority over matter remains, since you are utilizing matter for your purposes. But when you apply your intelligence toward utilizing matter for Kåñëa’s pleasure, your life is successful, whereas when you apply the same intelligence for your sense gratification, you become entangled in material nature and feel anxiety. Then you have to change bodies, one after another.

Kåñëa is the supreme controller of both the inferior energy, matter, and the superior energy, the jévätmä—ourselves. We are Kåñëa’s superior energy because we can control the material world, but that control is also conditional. We have only limited control over this material world. But Kåñëa has control over us; therefore, whatever control we have, He has sanctioned. For example, a human being has manufactured this nice microphone using his intelligence. That means he has been able to control matter to a certain degree to fulfill his desires. But where has his intelligence come from? Kåñëa has given man his superior intelligence. In the Bhagavad-gétä (15.15) Kåñëa says, sarvasya cähaà hådi sanniviñöo mattaù småtir jïänam apohanaà ca: “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness.” Therefore the supreme controller is giving intelligence to the superior energy in the human form of body: “Do this. Now do that...” This direction is not whimsical. The person wanted to do something in his past life, but in his present life he forgets, and so Kåñëa reminds him: “You wanted to do this. Here is an opportunity.” So although you have superior intelligence, that is also controlled by Kåñëa. If Kåñëa gives you the intelligence, you can manufacture this nice microphone. Otherwise, you cannot. Therefore in every sphere of life we are controlled by Kåñëa.

We can also see Kåñëa’s control on the universal level. For example, there are so many huge planets; this earth planet is only a small one. Still, on this planet there are big oceans like the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as big mountains and skyscraper buildings. Yet despite all this load, the earth is floating in the air just like a swab of cotton. Who is floating it? Can you float even a grain of sand in the air? You may talk about the law of gravity and so many other things, but you cannot control it. Your airplane is flying in the air, but as soon as the petrol is finished, it will immediately fall. So if it takes so many scientists to build an airplane that can float only temporarily in the air, is it possible that this huge earth is floating of its own accord? No. Lord Kåñëa declares in the Bhagavad-gétä (15.13), “I enter into the material planets and keep them aloft.” Just as to keep an airplane aloft a pilot has to enter it, so to keep this earth aloft Kåñëa has entered it. This is the simple truth.

We have to take knowledge from Kåñëa. We shouldn’t accept any process of gaining knowledge except hearing from Kåñëa or His representative. Then we will have first-class knowledge. If you find an authority who is representing Kåñëa and who can speak on the subject matter, and if you accept the knowledge he gives, then your knowledge is perfect. Of all the processes for receiving knowledge, the least reliable is direct sense perception. Suppose someone asks, “Can you show me God?” That means he wants to experience everything directly. But this is a second-class process for gaining knowledge, because our senses are imperfect and we are prone to make mistakes. Suppose you need some gold but you don’t know where to purchase it. So you go to a proprietor of a hardware store and ask, “Do you have any gold in stock?” He will immediately understand that you are a first-class fool because you have come to purchase gold in a hardware store. Therefore he will try to cheat you. He will give you a piece of iron and say, “Here is gold.” Then what will you say? Will you accept that iron as gold? Because you do not know what gold is and have gone to a hardware store to purchase it, you will get a piece of iron and be cheated. Similarly, rascals who demand that they be shown God do not know what God is, and therefore they are being cheated by so many bogus spiritual leaders who claim that they are God. That is happening.

If you want to purchase gold, you must have at least some preliminary knowledge of what gold is. Similarly, if you want to see God, the first requirement is that you must know some of the basic characteristics of God. Otherwise, if you go to some rascal and he claims to be God and you accept him as God, you will be cheated.

Another question we should ask when someone says “I want to see God” is, “What qualification do you have to see God?” God is not so cheap that He can be seen by anybody and everybody. No, the Kåñëa consciousness movement does not present any nonsense or cheap thing. If you want to see God face to face, then you must follow the rules and regulations. You must chant Hare Kåñëa and purify yourself. Then gradually the time will come when you are purified and you will see God.

Still, even though in your present contaminated condition you are not qualified to see God, He is so kind that He allows you to see Him in His Deity form in the temple. In that form He agrees to be seen by everyone, whether or not one knows He is God. The Deity is not an idol; it is not imagination. The knowledge of how to construct the Deity and install Him on the altar is received from the scripture and the superior äcäryas, or spiritual masters. Therefore the authorized Deity in the temple is Kåñëa Himself and can fully reciprocate your love and service.

With your present blunt material senses, however, you cannot immediately perceive God’s spiritual form, name, qualities, pastimes, and paraphernalia. And because people in the present civilization have no power to understand God, nor are they guided by some person who can help them understand God, they have become godless. But if you read Vedic scriptures like the Éçopaniñad and Bhagavad-gétä under superior guidance and follow the rules and regulations, eventually God will be revealed to you. You cannot see God or understand God by your own endeavor. You have to surrender to the process by which God can be known. Then He will reveal Himself. He is the supreme controller; you are being controlled. So how can you control God? “O God, come here. I want to see You.” God is not so cheap that by your order He will come and be seen by you. No, that is not possible. You must always remember, “God is the supreme controller and I am controlled. So if I can please God by my service, then He will reveal Himself to me.” That is the process of knowing God.

Ultimately, this process leads to love of God. That is real religion. It doesn’t matter whether you follow the Hindu, Muslim, or Christian religion: if you are developing love of God, then you are perfect in your religion. And what kind of love should we develop for God? It must be without any selfish motivation—“O Lord, I love you because You supply me so many nice things. You are my order supplier.” No, we should not have this sort of love for God. It should not depend on any exchange.

Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu taught, “O Lord! Whether You trample me under Your feet or embrace me or leave me brokenhearted by not being present before me, that does not matter. You are completely free to do anything, for You are my worshipable Lord unconditionally.” That is love. We should think, “God may do whatever He likes, yet I will still love Him. I don’t want anything in exchange.” That is the sort of love Kåñëa wants. That is why He is so fond of the gopés. In the gopés’ love there is no question of business ex-changes—“Give me this, then I will love You.” Their love was pure, unalloyed, without any impediment. If you try to love God in this way, nothing in the whole world can check you. You only have to develop your eagerness—“Kåñëa! I want You.” That’s all. Then there is no question of being stopped. In any condition your love will increase. If you attain that state, you will feel fully satisfied. It is not that God wants you to love Him for His benefit. It is for your benefit. If you do otherwise, you will never be happy.

The Éçopaniñad explains that whatever we see, whether animate or inanimate, is controlled by the Supreme Lord. Lord Kåñëa says the same thing in the Bhagavad-gétä (9.10)—that His energies are managing everything. And the Viñëu Puräëa confirms, eka-deça-sthitasyägner jyotsnä vistäriné yathä: “As heat and light are distributed all around by a fire situated in one place, so the whole creation is a manifestation of energies expanded from the Supreme Lord.” For example, the sun is in one place, but it is distributing its heat and light all over the universe. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is distributing His material and spiritual energies all over the creation.

The spiritual energy is present in this temporary material world, but it is covered by the material energy. For example, the sun is always shining in the sky—no one can stop the sun from shining—but it is sometimes covered by a cloud. When this happens, the sunshine on the ground is dim. The more the sun is covered, the dimmer the sunlight. But this covering of the sun is partial. All the sunshine cannot be covered; that is not possible. An insignificant portion of the sunshine may be covered by a cloud. Similarly, this material world is an insignificant portion of the spiritual world that is covered by the material energy.

And what is the material energy? The material energy is just another form of the spiritual energy. It manifests when there is an absence of spiritual activity. Again the analogy of the sun and the cloud: What is a cloud? It is an effect of the sunshine. The sunshine evaporates water from the sea, and a cloud is formed. So the sun is the cause of the cloud. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the cause of this material energy, which covers our vision of Him.

In this way, two energies are working in this material world: the spiritual energy and the material energy. The material energy consists of eight material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego. These are arranged from the grosser to the finer. Water is finer than earth, fire is finer than water, etc.

So, the finer the element, the more powerful it is. For example, at the speed of the mind you can go many thousands of miles within a second. But even more powerful than the mind is the intelligence, and even more powerful than the intelligence is spiritual energy. What is spiritual energy? That is stated by Kåñëa in the Bhagavad-gétä (7.5): apareyam itas tv anyäà prakåtià viddhi me paräm jéva-bhütäm. “Beyond My inferior, material energy is another energy, which is spiritual. It comprises the living entities.”

We living entities are also energy, but superior energy. How are we superior? Because we can control the inferior energy, matter. Matter has no power to act on its own. The big airplane can fly so nicely in the sky, but unless the spiritual energy—the pilot—is there, it is useless. The jet plane will sit in the airport for thousands of years; it will not fly unless the small particle of spiritual energy, the pilot, comes and touches it. So what is the difficulty in understanding God? If there are so many huge machines that cannot move without the touch of the spiritual energy, a living being, then how can you argue that this whole material energy works automatically, without any control? Who would put forward such a foolish argument? Therefore, those who cannot understand how this material energy is being controlled by the Supreme Lord are less intelligent. The godless men who believe that this material energy is working automatically are fools.

The statement of the Éçopaniñad is that “Everything animate or inanimate is controlled and owned by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Because He is the supreme controller, He is also the supreme proprietor. In our practical experience we see that the man who controls a business establishment is the proprietor. Similarly, since God is the controller of this material world, He is also its proprietor. This means that as far as possible we should engage everything in the Lord’s service.

Then what about our own needs? That is explained in the Éçopaniñad: “One should accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.” Kåñëa consciousness means to understand things as they are. So if we simply understand these principles, we will be well situated in Kåñëa consciousness.

The Éçopaniñad states, “Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.” The Brahma-saàhitä says something similar: goloka eva nivasaty akhilätma-bhütaù [Bs. 5.37]. Although Kåñëa is always in Goloka Våndävana, He is simultaneously in the hearts of all living beings.

Kåñëa has no duties to perform in Goloka. He is simply enjoying in the company of His associates—the gopés, the cowherd boys, His mother and father, His cows and calves, etc. He is completely free. And His associates are even freer than He is, because when they seem to be in danger, Kåñëa feels some anxiety about how to save them. But His associates feel no anxiety. They simply think, “Oh, Kåñëa is here. He will protect us.” When Kåñëa enacted His pastimes five thousand years ago in Våndävana, India, He would go every day with His cowherd boyfriends and their calves and cows to play in the forest on the bank of the Yamunä River. And often Kaàsa would send some demon to try to kill Kåñëa and His friends. Yet the cowherd boys would continue enjoying their pastimes without anxiety because they were so confident of Kåñëa’s protection. That is spiritual life, which begins with surrendering to Kåñëa.

Surrendering to Kåñëa means having the strong faith that Kåñëa will save us in any dangerous condition. The first step in surrendering is that we should accept whatever is favorable for devotional service. Then we should reject anything that is unfavorable for devotional service. The next stage is the confidence that in any situation Kåñëa will protect us and maintain us. Actually, He is already giving protection and maintenance to everyone. That is a fact. But in mäyä (illusion) we think that we are protecting ourselves, or that we are feeding ourselves.

For the devotees, Kåñëa personally takes charge of their protection and maintenance. And for the ordinary living entities, Mäyä-devé—Kåñëa’s external energy—takes charge. Mäyä-devé is Kåñëa’s agent for punishing the conditioned souls. The situation is like what we see in the state: good citizens are taken care of by the government directly, while criminals are taken care of by the government through the prison department. In the prison house the government takes care that the prisoners get sufficient food, and that they get hospital treatment if they become diseased. The government cares for them—but under punishment.

Similarly, in this material world Kåñëa has certainly arranged for our care, but also for our punishment. If you commit this sin, then slap. If you commit that sin, then kick. This is going on under the heading of the threefold miseries—those caused by our own body and mind, those caused by other living entities, and those caused by natural calamities under the supervision of the demigods. Unfortunately, instead of understanding that we are being punished for sinful activities, under the spell of mäyä we are thinking that this kicking, slapping, and thrashing are accidental. This is illusion.

As soon as you take up Kåñëa consciousness, Kåñëa begins personally taking care of you. As He promises in the Bhagavad-gétä (18.66), “I will take care of you. I will save you from all sinful reactions. Do not worry.” Because we have had so many lives in this material world, we are suffering under heaps of sinful reactions. But as soon as you surrender to Kåñëa, He immediately takes care of you and nullifies all your sinful reactions. Kåñëa says, “Don’t hesitate.” Don’t think, “Oh, I have committed so many sins. How can Kåñëa save me?” No. Kåñëa is all-powerful. He can save you. Your duty is to surrender to Him and without any reservation dedicate your life to His service. Then Kåñëa will save you without a doubt.

The Éçopaniñad states, “The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.” How can Kåñëa walk and also not walk? As a crude example, consider how the sun at noontime shines on your head. Now, if you begin walking, you will see that the sun is accompanying you. About forty years ago, when I was a householder, I was once walking with my second son in the evening. He was four years old. All of a sudden he said, “O father, why is the moon following us?” You see? The moon and the sun are fixed in the sky, yet they seem to be moving with us. Similarly, if you are going on an airplane or a train, you will see that the moon or the sun is going with you. So if this is possible for the sun and the moon, why can’t Kåñëa also walk with you? “Although He is situated far away, He is very near as well.” In other words, although Kåñëa is in Goloka Våndävana enjoying pastimes with His associates, He is simultaneously everywhere in this material world. In this way the Supreme Lord “walks and does not walk.”

If Kåñëa were not present here as well as in Goloka, how could He accept the food the devotees offer Him? Don’t think that Kåñëa does not accept the devotees’ offerings. He can stretch His hand immediately if one offers Him something with devotion. In the Bhagavad-gétä (9.26) Kåñëa says, tad ahaà bhakty-upahåtam açnämi: “Whenever someone offers Me something with faith and love, I accept it.” People may ask, “Oh, Kåñëa is far away in Goloka Våndävana. How can He eat your offering?” Yes, He accepts it. Yes, He eats it—provided it is offered with love.

So, Kåñëa is present everywhere, and He can manifest Himself anywhere immediately, but you must have the qualification to call Him. If you are actually a devotee, Kåñëa will immediately come to protect you. The demon Hiraëyakaçipu challenged his son, the devotee Prahläda: “Where is your God? You say He is everywhere. Then is He in this column of my palace? You think your God is there? All right. Then I will kill Him.” Hiraëyakaçipu immediately broke the column. Then Kåñëa came out of the column in His form as Nåsiàhadeva—half man and half lion—and killed the demon. That is Kåñëa.

So Kåñëa can manifest Himself anywhere because He is present everywhere. That is explained in the Éçopaniñad: tad antarasya sarvasya tad u sarvasyäsya bähyataù. “The Supreme Lord is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything as well.” This Vedic mantra is proof that the Lord is everywhere. Whatever is said in the Vedas is a fact. Unless you accept the Vedas as axiomatic truth, you cannot make progress in Kåñëa consciousness. In mathematics there are also many axiomatic truths—a point has no length or breadth, things equal to the same thing are equal to one another, etc. These are axiomatic truths, and we have to accept them if we want to learn mathematics. Similarly, the Vedas contain axiomatic truths, and we have to accept the Vedas as axiomatic if we want to make spiritual progress.

Sometimes the Vedas seem to contradict themselves, but still we have to accept all the Vedic injunctions. For example, according to Vedic injunction, if you touch the bone of an animal you immediately become impure and must take a bath. Now, a conchshell is the bone of an animal, but the conchshell is used in the Deity room, where everything must be spotlessly pure. You cannot argue, “Oh, you said that a bone is impure, and that as soon as you touch it you become impure. Still you are putting a conchshell in the Deity room?” No. There is no room for such an argument. You have to accept that while bones are impure, the conchshell is so pure that it can be used in the Deity room.

Similarly, you have to accept the spiritual master’s order as axiomatic. There can be no argument. In this way you can make progress. You cannot argue about things that are inconceivable to you. You will only fail. You have to accept the Vedic injunctions and the orders of the spiritual master as axiomatic truth. This is not dogmatic, because our predecessor spiritual masters accepted this principle. If you argue with your spiritual master, you will never reach a conclusion. The argument will go on perpetually: you put some argument, I put some argument... That is not the process.

As the Mahäbhärata says, tarko ’pratiñöhaù çrutayo vibhinnä: Mere logic and argument can never come to a firm conclusion, and due to different countries and different circumstances, one scripture is different from another. Then näsäv åñir yasya mataà na bhinnam: As far as philosophical speculation is concerned, one philosopher puts forward some theory, then another philosopher puts forward another theory, and the theories always contradict each other. Unless you defeat another philosopher, you cannot be a famous philosopher. That is the way of philosophy. Then how can one learn the conclusive philosophical truth? That is stated: dharmasya tattvaà nihitaà guhäyäm. The secret of the religious process is lying within the hearts of the self-realized souls. Then how do you realize it? Mahäjano yena gataù sa panthäù: You have to follow in the footsteps of great spiritual personalities. Therefore we are trying to follow Lord Kåñëa and Lord Caitanya. That is perfection. You have to accept the injunctions of the Vedas, and you have to follow the instructions of the bona fide spiritual master. Then success is sure.

The Éçopaniñad states, “One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can cause him illusion or anxiety?” This realization is Kåñëa consciousness. There are different kinds of realization, but the devotee of Kåñëa realizes the truth—that we are qualitatively one with the Lord but quantitatively different from Him. The impersonalists think that we are a hundred percent one with the Lord, or the Supreme Absolute Truth. But that is not a fact. If we were a hundred percent one with the Supreme Lord, then how have we come under the control of mäyä (illusion)? The impersonalists cannot answer this question.

The real nature of our identity with the Supreme is described in the Vedic literature with the analogy of the sparks and the fire. The sparks of a fire have the same quality as the fire, yet they are different in quantity. But when the small spark leaves the fire and falls down in water, its fiery quality is lost. Similarly, when the infinitesimal soul leaves the association of the Lord and contacts the mode of ignorance, his spiritual quality becomes almost extinct. When a spark falls on the land instead of in the water, then the spark retains some heat. Similarly, when the living entity is in the quality of passion, there is some hope that he can revive his Kåñëa consciousness. And if the spark drops onto dry grass, it can ignite another fire and regain all its fiery qualities. Similarly, a person who is in the mode of goodness can take full advantage of spiritual association and easily revive his Kåñëa consciousness. Therefore one has to come to the platform of goodness in this material world.

Again, the analogy of the fire can help us understand the simultaneous oneness and difference of the Lord and His diverse energies. Fire has two main energies, heat and light. Wherever there is fire, there is heat and light. Now, the heat is not different from the fire, nor is the light—but still, heat and light are not fire. Similarly, the whole universe can be understood in this way. The universe is simply made up of Kåñëa’s energies, and therefore nothing is different from Kåñëa. But still, Kåñëa is separate from everything in the material universe.

So, whatever we see within the material or spiritual worlds is but an expansion of Kåñëa’s multifarious energies. This material world is an expansion of Kåñëa’s external energy (bahiraìgä çakti), the spiritual world is an expansion of His internal energy (antaraìgä çakti), and we living entities are an expansion of His marginal energy (taöasthä çakti). We are çakti, energy. We are not the energetic.

The Mäyävädé philosophers say that because the energies are not outside of Brahman, the energetic, they are all identical with Brahman. This is monism. Our Vaiñëava philosophy is that the energy is simultaneously one with and different from the energetic. Again the analogy of the heat and fire: When you perceive heat, you understand that there is fire nearby. But this does not mean that because you feel some heat, you are in the fire. So the heat and the fire, the energy and the energetic, are one yet different.

So the Mäyäväda philosophy of oneness and our Vaiñëava philosophy of oneness are different. The Mäyä-vädés say Brahman is real but that the energy emanating from Brahman is false. We say that because Brahman is real, His energy must also be real. That is the difference between Mäyäväda philosophy and Vaiñëava philosophy. One cannot claim that this material energy is false, although it is certainly temporary. Suppose we have some trouble. There are so many kinds of trouble pertaining to the body and mind and external affairs. That trouble comes and goes, but when we are undergoing it, it is certainly real. We feel the consequence. We cannot say it is false. The Mäyävädé philosophers say that it is false. But then why do they become so disturbed when they have some trouble? No, none of Kåñëa’s energies is false.

The Éçopaniñad uses the word vijänataù—“one who knows”—to describe a person who understands the oneness and difference of the Lord and His energies. If one is not vijänataù, one will remain in illusion and suffer. But for one who knows, there is no illusion, no lamentation. When you are perfectly convinced that there is nothing except Kåñëa and Kåñëa’s energies, then there is no illusion or lamentation for you. This is known as the brahma-bhüta stage, as explained in the Bhagavad-gétä (18.54): brahma-bhütaù prasannätmä na çocati na käìkñati. “One who is transcendentally situated in Brahman realization becomes fully joyful, and he never laments or desires to have anything.”

For our sense gratification we are very eager to get things we do not have. That is hankering. And when we lose something, we lament. But if we know that Kåñëa is the source and proprietor of the entire material energy, we understand that everything belongs to Him and that anything gained is given by Him for His service. Thus we do not hanker for the things of this world. Furthermore, if something is taken away by Kåñëa, then what is the need for lamentation? We should think, “Kåñëa wanted to take it away from me. Therefore, why should I lament? The Supreme Lord is the cause of all causes. He takes away, He also gives.” When one is thus in full knowledge, there is no more lamentation and no more hankering. That is the spiritual platform. Then you can see everyone as a spiritual spark, as part and parcel of Kåñëa, and as His eternal servant.

The Éçopaniñad states that the Lord is “the greatest of all, unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated.” No sin can pollute Kåñëa. Sometimes less intelligent persons criticize Kåñëa: “Why did Kåñëa engage in the räsa dance, enjoying with other men’s wives in the middle of the night?” Kåñëa is God. He can do whatever He likes. Your laws cannot restrict Kåñëa. For you there are so many restrictive laws, but for Kåñëa there is no restrictive law. He can surpass all regulations.

Parékñit Mahäräja asked this same question of Çukadeva Gosvämé: “Kåñëa came to establish the principles of morality and religion. Then why did He enjoy the company of so many young girls who were the wives of others? This seems to be very sinful.” Çukadeva Gosvämé answered that Kåñëa cannot be contaminated by sin; rather, whoever comes in contact with Kåñëa, even with a contaminated mind, becomes purified. The sun is a good analogy: the sun cannot be contaminated; rather, if something contaminated is placed in the sunshine, it becomes purified. Similarly, you may approach Kåñëa with any material desire and you will become purified. Of course, the gopés’ feelings toward Kåñëa are not at all material. Still, as young girls they were captivated by His beauty. They approached Kåñëa with the desire to have Him as their paramour. But actually, they became purified. Even demons can become purified by coming in contact with Kåñëa. The demon Kaàsa, for example, thought of Kåñëa as his enemy. But he was also Kåñëa conscious, always thinking, “Oh, how will I find Kåñëa? I will kill Him.” That was his demoniac mentality. But he also became purified. He got salvation.

The conclusion is that if we can somehow or other develop our Kåñëa consciousness, we will immediately become purified of all sinful desires. Kåñëa gives this chance to everyone.

When the Éçopaniñad describes the Supreme Lord as “He who is the greatest of all, who is unembodied and omniscient,” this shows the distinction between God and ourselves. We are embodied. Therefore my body is different from me. When I leave this body, it becomes dust. As the Bible says, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” But I am not dust; I am a spirit soul. Therefore thou means “the body.”

Kåñëa, however, is not embodied. This means there is no difference between His body and His soul. In other words, His body is pure spirit. Therefore He does not change His body. And because He does not change His body, He is omniscient—He remembers everything. Because we do change our material bodies, however, we forget what happened in our last birth. We have forgotten who we were, just as when we sleep we forget our body and our surroundings. The body becomes tired and rests; it becomes inactive. In contrast, in a dreamland I work, I go somewhere, I fly, I create another body, another environment. This we experience every night. It is not difficult to understand.

Similarly, in every life we create a different environment. In this life I may think I am an Indian. In my next life, however, I may not be an Indian—I may be an American. But even if I become an American, I may not be a man. I may be a cow or a bull. Then I would be sent to the slaughterhouse. Do you see the difficulty?

The problem is that we are always changing bodies, life after life. It is a serious problem. We have no fixed position; we do not know where we will be placed within the 8,400,000 species of life. But there is a solution: If somehow or other a person develops pure Kåñëa consciousness, he will go to Kåñëa at the time of death, and then he does not have to accept a material body again. He gets a spiritual body similar to Kåñëa’s, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss.

Therefore we should take up the practice of Kåñëa consciousness and execute it very seriously, without any deviation. We should not think that Kåñëa consciousness is some kind of fashion. No, it is the most important function of every human being. Human life is simply meant for developing Kåñëa consciousness. One has no other business.

Unfortunately, the people of the modern civilization have created so many other engagements that they are forgetting Kåñëa consciousness. This is called mäyä, or illusion. They are forgetting their real business. And the rascal, blind leaders are leading everyone to hell. They are simply misleaders. People do not like to accept any authority. Still, they have accepted these rascals as leaders and are being misled. In this way both the rascal leaders and their unfortunate followers remain bound up by the stringent laws of material nature.

So, if somehow or other one comes in contact with Kåñëa, one should seriously take up the process of Kåñëa consciousness and catch hold of His lotus feet very tightly. If you hold on to Kåñëa’s lotus feet very tightly, mäyä will not be able to harm you.

The Éçopaniñad states, “Those who are engaged in the culture of nescience shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. ” There are two kinds of education, material and spiritual. Material education is called jaòa-vidyä. Jaòa means “that which cannot move,” or matter. Spirit can move. Our body is a combination of spirit and matter. As long as the spirit is there, the body is moving. For example, a man’s coat and pants move as long as the man wears them. It appears that the coat and pants are moving on their own, but actually it is the body that is moving them. Similarly, this body is moving because the spirit soul is moving it. Another example is the motorcar. The motorcar is moving because the driver is moving it. Only a fool thinks the motorcar is moving on its own. In spite of a wonderful mechanical arrangement, the motorcar cannot move on its own.

Since they are given only jaòa-vidyä, a materialistic education, people think that this material nature is working, moving, and manifesting so many wonderful things automatically. When we are at the seaside, we see the waves moving. But the waves are not moving automatically. The air is moving them. And something else is moving the air. In this way, if you go all the way back to the ultimate cause, you will find Kåñëa, the cause of all causes. That is real education, to search out the ultimate cause.

So the Éçopaniñad says that those who are captivated by the external movements of the material energy are worshiping nescience. In the modern civilization there are big, big institutions for understanding technology, how a motorcar or an airplane moves. They are studying how to manufacture so much machinery. But there is no educational institution for investigating how the spirit soul is moving. The actual mover is not being studied. Instead they are studying the external movements of matter.

When I lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I asked the students, “Where is the technology to study the soul, the mover of the body?” They had no such technology. They could not answer satisfactorily because their education was simply jaòa-vidyä. The Éçopaniñad says that those who engage in the advancement of such materialistic education will go to the darkest region of existence. Therefore the present civilization is in a very dangerous position because there is no arrangement anywhere in the world for genuine spiritual education. In this way human society is being pushed to the darkest region of existence.

In a song, Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has declared that materialistic education is simply an expansion of mäyä. The more we advance in this materialistic education, the more our ability to understand God will be hampered. And at last we will declare, “God is dead.” This is all ignorance and darkness.

So, the materialists are certainly being pushed into darkness. But there is another class—the so-called philosophers, mental speculators, religionists, and yogés—who are going into still greater darkness because they are defying Kåñëa. They are pretending to cultivate spiritual knowledge, but because they have no information of Kåñëa, or God, their teachings are even more dangerous than those of the outright materialists. Why? Because they are misleading people into thinking they are giving real spiritual knowledge. The so-called yoga system they are teaching is misleading people: “Simply meditate, and you will understand that you are God.” Kåñëa never meditated to become God. He was God from His very birth. When He was a three-month-old baby, the Pütanä demon attacked Him—and Kåñëa sucked out her life air along with her breast milk. So Kåñëa was God from the very beginning. That is God.

The nonsense so-called yogés teach, “You become still and silent, and you will become God.” How can I become silent? Is there any possibility of becoming silent? No, there is no such possibility. “Become desireless and you will become God.” How can I become desireless? These are all bluffs. We cannot be desireless. We cannot be silent. But our desires and our activities can be purified. That is real knowledge. We should desire only to serve Kåñëa. That is purification of desire. Instead of trying to be still and silent, we should dovetail our activities in Kåñëa’s service. As living entities, we have activities, desires, and a loving propensity, but they are being misdirected. If we direct them into Kåñëa’s service, that is the perfection of education.

We don’t say that you should not become advanced in material education. You may, but at the same time you should become Kåñëa conscious. That is our message. We don’t say that you shouldn’t manufacture motorcars. No. We say, “All right, you have manufactured these motorcars. Now employ them in Kåñëa’s service.” That is our proposal.

So education is required, but if it is simply materialistic—if it is devoid of Kåñëa consciousness—it is very, very dangerous. That is the teaching of the Éçopaniñad.

The Éçopaniñad says, “The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.” As explained above, the real culture of knowledge is the advancement of spiritual knowledge. And advancement of knowledge in the matter of bodily comforts or to protect the body is the culture of nescience, because however you may try to protect this body, it will follow its natural course. What is that? Repeated birth and death, and while the body is manifested, disease and old age. People are very busy cultivating knowledge of this body, although they see that at every moment the body is decaying. The death of the body was fixed when it was born. That is a fact. So you cannot stop the natural course of this body—namely birth, old age, disease, and death.

The Çrémad-Bhägavatam (10.84.13) says that this body is nothing but a bag containing three primary elements—mucus, bile, and air—and that one who accepts this combination of mucus, bile, and air as himself is an ass. Even great philosophers and scientists take themselves to be this combination of mucus, bile, and air. This is their mistake. Actually, the philosophers and scientists are spirit souls, and according to their karma they are exhibiting their talent. They do not understand the law of karma.

Why do we find so many different personalities? If human beings are nothing but combinations of mucus, bile, and air, why are they not identical? One man is born a millionaire; another is unable to have two full meals a day, despite struggling very hard. Why this difference? Because of the law of karma, action and reaction. One who understands this mystery is in knowledge.

Human life is meant for understanding the mystery of life. And one who fails to utilize this human form for this purpose is a kåpaëa, a miser. This is stated in the Garga Upaniñad. If you get one million dollars and do not use it, thinking, “Oh, I will simply keep this bank balance of one million dollars,” you are a kåpaëa. You do not know how to use your money. On the other hand, one who uses his million dollars to make another million dollars is intelligent. Similarly, this human body is invaluable. One who uses it for cultivating spiritual knowledge is a brähmaëa, a wise man, and one who cultivates materialistic knowledge is a kåpaëa, a miser. That is the difference between brähmaëa and kåpaëa.

One who uses this body the way cats and dogs do—for sense gratification—is a miser. He does not know how to use his “million dollars.” Therefore it is the duty of the father, the mother, the state, and the teachers to provide spiritual education for their dependents from the very beginning of their lives. Indeed, the Çrémad-Bhägavatam says that one should not become a father, a mother, a teacher, or a governmental head unless one is able to elevate one’s dependents to the platform of spiritual knowledge, which can save them from repeated birth and death.

In the Vedic disciplic succession, the spiritual masters always base their statements on what they have heard from authoritative sources, never on personal experience. Trying to understand things by one’s own direct experience is the material process of gaining knowledge, technically called pratyakña. The Vedic method is different. It is called çruti, which means “to hear from authoritative sources.” That is the secret of Vedic understanding.

With your imperfect senses you should not try to understand things that are beyond your experimental powers. That is not possible. Suppose you want to know who your father is. Can you find out by experimenting? Is it possible? No. Then how can you know who your father is? By hearing from the proper authority, your mother. This is common sense. And if you cannot know your material father by the experimental process, how can you know the Supreme Father by the experimental process? Kåñëa is the original father. He is the father of the father of the father, all the way down to you. So if you cannot understand your immediate father, the previous generation, by the experimental process, how can you know God, or Kåñëa, in this way?

People search for God by the experimental process, but after much searching they fail. Then they say, “Oh, there is no God. I am God.” But the Éçopaniñad says that one should try to learn about God not by the experimental process but by hearing. From whom should one hear? From a shopkeeper? From fanatics? No. One should hear from those who are dhéra. Dhéra means “one whose senses are not agitated by material influence.”

There are different kinds of agitation—agitations of the mind, the power of speech, and anger, and agitations of the tongue, belly, and genitals. When we become angry, we forget everything and can do any nonsense and speak so much nonsense. For the agitation of the tongue there are so many advertisements: “Here is liquor, here is chicken, here is beef.” Will we die without liquor, chicken, or beef? No. For the human beings Kåñëa has given so many nice things to eat—grains, fruits, milk, and so on.

The cow produces milk abundantly, not for herself but for human beings. That is proper human food. God says, “Mrs. Cow, although you are producing milk, you cannot drink it. It is for the human beings, who are more advanced than animals.” Of course, in the infant stage animals live off their mother’s milk, so the calves drink some of the cow’s milk. But the cow gives excess milk, and that excess is specifically meant for us.

We should accept whatever God has ordained as our proper food. But no, because of the agitation of the tongue, we think, “Why should I be satisfied eating grains, milk products, vegetables, and fruits? Let me maintain a slaughterhouse and kill these cows. After drinking their milk, just as I drank my mother’s milk, let me kill them to satisfy my tongue.” You shouldn’t think such nonsense but should hear from the dhéras, or svämés, who have controlled their senses. A svämé, or gosvämé, is one who has control over the six agitations: the speech, the mind, anger, the tongue, the belly, and the genitals.

There is a nice poem by Kälidäsa called Kumära-sambhava describing how Lord Çiva is dhéra. When Lord Çiva’s wife, Saté, heard Çiva being blasphemed at a sacrifice performed by her father, she committed suicide. Upon hearing about his wife’s suicide, Lord Çiva became very angry and left this planet to meditate elsewhere. During that time there was a war between the demons and the demigods. The demigods needed a good general. They concluded that if Lord Çiva were to beget a son, the son would be able to lead them in the fight against the demons. Lord Çiva was completely naked while meditating. So Pärvaté, the reincarnation of Saté, was sent to agitate his genitals for sex. But he was not agitated. He remained silent. At this point Kälidäsa remarks, “Here is a dhéra. He is naked, and a young girl is touching his genitals, but still he is not agitated.”

Dhéra means that even if there is some cause for agitation, one will not be agitated. If there is some very nice food, my tongue should not be agitated to taste it. If there is a very nice girl or boy, still I should not be agitated sexually. In this way one who is dhéra is able to control the six agitating forces mentioned above. It is not that Lord Çiva was impotent: he was dhéra. Similarly, Kåñëa danced with so many girls, but there was no sex appetite.

So, you have to hear from a person who is dhéra. If you hear from the adhéra, from those who are not self-controlled, then whatever knowledge you learn will be useless. In the Éçopaniñad, a student has approached his spiritual master to inquire from him, and the spiritual master is saying, “This is what I have heard from authoritative sources.” The spiritual master is not inventing something from his own experience. He is presenting exactly what he has heard.

So we have nothing to research. Everything is there. We simply have to hear from a person who is dhéra, who is not agitated by the six urges. That is the Vedic process of gaining knowledge. And if we try to use some other process, we will remain covered by nescience.

The Éçopaniñad states, “Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.” People do not understand what immortality is. They think it is a mythological idea. They are proud of their advancement of knowledge, but there are many things they do not know, nor can they ever know them by their modern system of experimentation.

So if you want real knowledge, you should take knowledge from the literature known as the Vedas. (The word veda means “knowledge.”) Part of the Vedas are the 108 Upaniñads, out of which eleven are very important. Of those eleven, the Éçopaniñad stands first. In the word upaniñad, upa means “near.” So the knowledge in the Éçopaniñad will take you nearer to Kåñëa.

In learned society the Vedas are accepted as çruti, or primary evidence. The Vedas are not knowledge established by the research work of contaminated, conditioned souls. Such people have imperfect senses, and so they cannot see things as they are. They simply theorize, “It may be like this. It may be like that.” That is not knowledge. Knowledge is definite, without any doubt or mistake. Conditioned souls commit mistakes, become illusioned, and cheat. How do they cheat? When one who does not understand the Bhagavad-gétä writes a commentary on it, he is cheating the innocent public. Someone has a title as a scholar, so he takes advantage of the popularity of the Bhagavad-gétä and writes a commentary. Such so-called scholars claim that anyone can give his own opinion. But in the Bhagavad-gétä Kåñëa says that only His devotee can understand the Gétä. So these so-called scholars are cheating.

The conclusion is that if you want genuine spiritual knowledge you have to approach a bona fide spiritual master who has realized the Absolute Truth. Otherwise you will remain in darkness. You cannot think, “Oh, I may or may not accept a spiritual master. In any case, there are books that I can learn from.” No, the Vedic injunction is tad-vijïänärthaà sa gurum eväbhigacchet [MU [xx]1.2.12]. The word gacchet means “one must go,” not that one may or may not go. To understand transcendental knowledge, one must go to a spiritual master. That is the Vedic injunction.

You must know two things: what is mäyä (illusion) and what is Kåñëa. Then your knowledge is perfect. Of course, Kåñëa is so nice that if you somehow or other fully surrender to Him, all your searching for knowledge will be finished: not only will you know what Kåñëa is, but you will automatically learn what mäyä is. Kåñëa will give you intelligence from within.

So, by the mercy of both the spiritual master and Kåñëa, one takes up devotional service. How is that? Their mercy runs on parallel lines. If you have not yet found a spiritual master but are sincere, Kåñëa will direct you to a bona fide spiritual master. And if you get a bona fide spiritual master, he will take you to Kåñëa. Kåñëa is always sitting in your heart as the caitya-guru, the spiritual master within. It is that caitya-guru who manifests Himself externally as the spiritual master. Therefore the spiritual master is the direct representative of Kåñëa.

The Éçopaniñad says we should learn what vidyä and avidyä are. Avidyä is ignorance under the guise of materialistic knowledge. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura writes in one of his songs that “advancement of material knowledge is simply the advancement of mäyä’s jurisdiction.” The more you become implicated in material knowledge, the less you can understand Kåñëa consciousness. Those who are advanced in material knowledge think, “What use is this Kåñëa consciousness movement?” They have no attraction for spiritual knowledge; they are too absorbed in avidyä.

 Some Indian boys reject the spiritual culture of India and come to the West to learn technology. When they see that I have introduced in the West the things they rejected in India, they are surprised. One reason I came to the West is that modern India has rejected spiritual knowledge. Today Indians think that if they can imitate Western technology, they will be happy. This is mäyä. They do not see that those who are three hundred times more technologically advanced than the Indians are not happy. India will not be able to equal American or European technology for at least three hundred years because the Western countries have been developing technology for a very long time. But since the time of creation Indian culture has been a spiritual culture.

Vidyä, or genuine spiritual knowledge, does not depend on technology. Çréla Vyäsadeva is the original guru of Vedic knowledge. How was he living? In a cottage in Baòarikäçrama. But just see his knowledge! He wrote so many Puräëas, including the Çrémad-Bhägavatam. He also wrote the Vedänta-sütra and the Mahäbhärata. If you studied every single verse written by Vyäsadeva, it would take your whole life. The Çrémad-Bhägavatam alone has no less than eighteen thousand verses. And each verse is so full of meaning that it would take a whole lifetime to fully understand it. This is Vedic culture.

There is no knowledge comparable to that contained in the Vedic literature—not only spiritual knowledge, but material knowledge also. The Vedas discuss astronomy, mathematics, and many other subjects. It is not that in ancient times there were no airplanes. They are mentioned in the Puräëas. These airplanes were so strong and swift that they could easily reach other planets. It is not that there was no advancement of material knowledge in the Vedic age. It was there. But the people then did not consider it so important. They were interested in spiritual knowledge.

So, one should know what knowledge is, and what nescience is. If we advance in nescience, or material knowledge, we will have to undergo repeated birth and death. Moreover, there is no guarantee what your next birth will be. That is not in your hands. Now you are happy being an American, but after quitting this body you cannot dictate, “Please give me an American body again.” Yes, you may get an American body, but it may be an American cow’s body. Then you are destined for the slaughterhouse.

So, cultivating material knowledge—nationalism, socialism, this “ism,” that “ism”—is simply a dangerous waste of time. Better to cultivate real knowledge, Vedic knowledge, which leads one to surrender to Kåñëa. As Kåñëa says in the Bhagavad-gétä (7.19), bahünäà janmanäm ante jïänavän mäà prapadyate. After many, many births, one who is in genuine knowledge comes to Kåñëa and surrenders to Him, realizing, “O Kåñëa, You are everything.” This is the culmination of all cultivation of knowledge.

The Éçopaniñad states, “One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead and His transcendental name, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men, and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge. O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.”

Here the Éçopaniñad mentions the kingdom of God. Every planet, both spiritual and material, has a predominating deity. In the sun, for example, the predominating deity is Vivasvän. We get this information from the Bhagavad-gétä. So, there are millions and trillions of universes within the material sky, and within each universe are millions and trillions of planets, and in every planet there is a predominating deity.

Beyond the material sky is the brahmajyoti, or spiritual sky, where there are innumerable Vaikuëöha planets. Each Vaikuëöha planet is predominated by the Supreme Lord in His Näräyaëa form, and each Näräyaëa has a different name—Pradyumna, Ani-ruddha, Saìkarñaëa, etc. One cannot see these planets because they are covered by the spiritual brahmajyoti effulgence, just as one cannot see the sun globe on account of the dazzling sunshine. The effulgence in the spiritual sky is coming out of Kåñëa’s planet, Goloka Våndävana, which is above even Vaikuëöha and where Kåñëa alone is the predominator.

The planet of the Absolute Truth, Kåñëa, is covered by the Brahman effulgence. One has to penetrate that effulgence in order to see the Lord. Therefore in the Éçopaniñad the devotee prays, “Kindly remove Your effulgence so I can see You.” The Mäyävädé philosophers do not know that there is something beyond the brahmajyoti. But here in the Éçopaniñad is the Vedic evidence that the brahmajyoti is simply a golden effulgence covering the real face of the Supreme Lord.

The idea is that Kåñëa’s planet and the Vaikuëöha planets are beyond the Brahman effulgence and that only devotees can enter those spiritual planets. The jïänés, the mental speculators, practice severe austerities to enter the Brahman effulgence. But the demons who are killed by Kåñëa are immediately transferred to that Brahman effulgence. So just consider: Is the place that is given to the enemies of Kåñëa very covetable? If my enemy comes to my house, I may give him some place to stay, but if my intimate friend comes, I give him a much nicer place to stay. So this Brahman effulgence is not at all covetable.

Çréla Prabodhänanda Sarasvaté has composed a nice verse in which he says that for the devotee, for one who has attained the mercy of the Lord, the Brahman effulgence is just like hell. Then what about heaven? The karmés, or fruitive workers, are very eager to go to the heavenly planets, where the demigods reside. But for the devotees heaven is just a will-o’-the-wisp. They are not at all attracted to go there. And then there are the mystic yogés, who try very strenuously to control the senses in order to attain special powers. The senses are like venomous serpents because as soon as you indulge in sense gratification—as soon as the senses “bite” you—you become degraded. But the devotee says, “I do not fear the poisonous serpents of the senses.” Why? “Because I have extracted their fangs.” In other words, by engaging his senses in Kåñëa’s service, the devotee is no longer tempted to indulge in sense gratification, and thus his senses cannot drag him down to a hellish condition of life.

In this way, the devotees are above the karmés, jïänés, and yogés. The devotees’ place is the highest because only by devotion can one understand God. Kåñëa does not say you can understand Him by fruitive work. He does not say you can understand Him by speculation. He does not say you can understand Him by mystic yoga. He clearly says (Bg. 18.55), bhaktyä mäm abhi-jänäti yävän yaç cäsmi tattvataù: “Only by devotional service can one truly understand Me as I am.”

Except for devotional service, there is no possibility of understanding the Absolute Truth. Any other process is imperfect because it is based on speculation. For example, the scientists may speculate on what the sun planet is, but because they have no access there, they cannot actually know what the sun planet is. They can only speculate. That’s all. Once three blind men came upon an elephant. They began feeling the elephant and speculating on what it was. One felt its big legs and concluded, “Oh, the elephant is just like a pillar.” The second man felt the trunk and concluded, “Oh, this elephant is just like a snake.” And the third man felt the belly of the elephant and concluded, “This elephant is like a big boat.” But actually, the blind men did not know what the elephant really was.

If you have no ability to see something, you can only speculate about it. Therefore the Éçopaniñad says, “Please remove this brilliant effulgence covering Your face so I can see You.” That seeing power is bestowed upon the devotee by Kåñëa when He sees the devotee’s love for Him. As the Brahma-saàhitä says, premäïjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena: [Bs. 5.38] The devotees anoint their eyes with the salve of love of God, and therefore they can see the Lord’s beautiful form within their hearts. In India there is a special eye ointment. If you apply it you can immediately see clearly. Similarly, if you smear your eyes with the ointment of love of Godhead, you will see God always. This is the way of understanding God—by service and by enhancing your love for Him. This love can be developed only by devotional service; otherwise there is no possibility of achieving it. So the more you increase your spirit of service to God, the more you increase your dormant love for God. And as soon as you are in the perfectional stage of love of God, you will see God always, at every moment.

LON 2: Bad Karma

The Çrémad-Bhägavatam is an ancient Sanskrit scripture that contains the essence of all Vedic wisdom, recording the teachings of the Lord’s devotees, as well as those of the Lord in many of His incarnations. In this Thirtieth Chapter of the Third Canto, an incarnation of Kåñëa’s named Kapiladeva graphically describes the results of sin. Çréla Prabhupäda explains the texts in his purports.

TEXT 1: The Personality of Godhead said, “As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of the wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the time factor, by which he is being carried.”

PURPORT: The great politician-paëòita named Cäëakya said that even one moment of time cannot be returned, even if one is prepared to pay millions of dollars. One cannot calculate the amount of loss there is in wasting valuable time. Whether materially or spiritually, one should be very alert in utilizing the time which he has at his disposal. A conditioned soul lives in a particular body for a fixed measurement of time, and it is recommended in the scriptures that within that small measurement of time one has to finish Kåñëa consciousness and thus gain release from the influence of the time factor. But, unfortunately, those who are not in Kåñëa consciousness are carried away by the strong power of time without their knowledge, as clouds are carried by the wind.

TEXT 2: “Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.”

PURPORT: The main function of the time factor, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to destroy everything. The materialists, in material consciousness, are engaged in producing so many things in the name of economic development. They think that by advancing in satisfying the material needs of man they will be happy, but they forget that everything they have produced will be destroyed in due course of time. From history we can see that there were many powerful empires on the surface of the globe that were constructed with great pain and great perseverance, but in due course of time they have all been destroyed. Still the foolish materialists cannot understand that they are simply wasting time in producing so-called material necessities, which are destined to be vanquished in due course of time. This waste of energy is due to the ignorance of the mass of people, who do not know that they are eternal and that they have an eternal engagement also. They do not know that this span of life in a particular type of body is but a flash in the eternal journey. Not knowing this fact, they take the small flash of their present life to be everything, and they waste time in improving economic conditions.

TEXT 3: “The misguided materialist does not know that his very body is impermanent and that the attractions of home, land, and wealth, which are in relationship to that body, are also temporary. Out of ignorance only, he thinks that everything is permanent.”

PURPORT: The materialist thinks that persons engaged in Kåñëa consciousness are crazy fellows wasting time by chanting Hare Kåñëa, but actually he does not know that he himself is in the darkest region of craziness because of accepting his body as permanent. And in relation to his body he accepts his home, his country, his society, and all other paraphernalia as permanent. This materialistic acceptance of the permanence of home, land, etc. is called the illusion of mäyä. This is clearly mentioned here. Mohäd gåha-kñetra-vasüni: out of illusion only does the materialist accept his home, his land, and his money as permanent. Out of this illusion have grown family life, national life, and economic development, which are very important factors in modern civilization. A Kåñëa conscious person knows that this economic development of human society is but temporary illusion.

In another part of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, the acceptance of the body as oneself, the acceptance of others as kinsmen in relationship to one’s body, and the acceptance of the land of one’s birth as worshipable are declared to be the products of an animal civilization. When, however, one is enlightened in Kåñëa consciousness, one can use these for the service of the Lord. That is a very suitable proposition. Everything has a relationship with Kåñëa. When all economic development and material advancement are utilized to advance the cause of Kåñëa consciousness, a new phase of progressive life arises.

TEXT 4: “In whatever species of life the living entity appears, he finds a particular type of satisfaction in that species, and he is never averse to being situated in such a condition.”

PURPORT: The satisfaction of the living entity in a particular type of body, even if it is most abominable, is called illusion. A man in a higher position may feel dissatisfaction with the standard of life of a lower-grade man, but the lower-grade man is satisfied in that position because of the spell of mäyä, the external energy. Mäyä has two phases of activity. One is called prakñepätmikä, and the other is called ävaraëätmikä. Ävaraëätmikä means “covering,” and prakñepätmikä means “pulling down.” In any condition of life, the materialistic person or animal will be satisfied because his knowledge is covered by the influence of mäyä. In the lower grade or lower species of life, the development of consciousness is so poor that one cannot understand whether one is happy or distressed. This is called ävaraëätmikä. Even a hog, who lives by eating stool, thinks himself happy, although a person in a higher mode of life sees how abominable that life is.

TEXT 5: “While deluded by the covering influence of the illusory energy, the living entity feels little inclined to cast off his body, even when in hell, for he takes delight in hellish enjoyment.”

PURPORT: It is said that once Indra, the king of heaven, was cursed by his spiritual master, Båhaspati, on account of his misbehavior, and he became a hog on this planet. After many days, when Brahmä wanted to recall him to his heavenly kingdom, Indra, in the form of a hog, forgot everything of his royal position in the heavenly kingdom, and he refused to go back. This is the spell of mäyä. Even Indra forgets his heavenly standard of life and is satisfied with the standard of a hog’s life.

By the influence of mäyä the conditioned soul becomes so affectionate toward his particular type of body that even if someone says to him, “Give up this body, and immediately you will have a king’s body,” he will not agree. This attachment strongly affects all conditioned living entities. Lord Kåñëa personally

canvasses, “Give up everything in this material world. Come to Me, and I shall give you all protection,” but we are not agreeable. We think, “We are quite all right. Why should we surrender unto Kåñëa and go back to His kingdom?” This is called illusion, or mäyä. Everyone is satisfied with his standard of living, however abominable it may be.

TEXT 6: “Such satisfaction with one’s standard of living is due to deep-rooted attraction for body, wife, home, children, animals, wealth, and friends. In such association, the conditioned soul thinks himself quite perfect.”

PURPORT: This so-called perfection of human life is a concoction. Therefore it is said that however materially qualified a person may be, if he is not a devotee of the Lord he has no good qualities because he is hovering on the mental plane, which will drag him again to the material existence of temporary life. One who acts on the mental plane cannot get promotion to the spiritual plane. Such a person is always sure to glide down again to material life. Still, in the association of so-called society, friendship, and love, the conditioned soul feels completely satisfied.

TEXT 7: “Although he is always burning with anxiety, such a fool always performs all kinds of mischievous activities with the unfulfillable hope of maintaining his so-called family and society.”

PURPORT: It is said that it is easier to maintain a great empire than a small family, especially in these days, when the influence of Kali-yuga is so strong that everyone is harassed and full of anxieties because of accepting the false presentation of mäyä’s family. The family we maintain is created by mäyä; it is the perverted reflection of the family in Kåñëaloka. In Kåñëaloka there are also family, friends, society, father, and mother; everything is there, but they are eternal. Here, as we change bodies our family relationships also change. Sometimes we are in a family of human beings, sometimes in a family of demigods, sometimes a family of cats or dogs.

Family, society, and friendship are flickering, and so they are called asat. It is said that as long as we are attached to this asat—this temporary, nonexistent society and family—we are always full of anxieties. The materialists do not know that the family, society, and friendship here in this material world are only shadows, and thus they become attached. Naturally their hearts are always burning, but in spite of all inconvenience, they still work to maintain such false families because they have no information of the real family association with Kåñëa.

TEXT 8: “He gives heart and senses to a woman, who falsely charms him with mäyä. He enjoys solitary embraces and talking with her, and he is enchanted by the sweet words of the small children.”

PURPORT: Family life within the kingdom of the illusory energy, mäyä, is just like a prison for the eternal living entity. In prison a prisoner is shackled by iron chains and iron bars. Similarly, a conditioned soul is shackled by the charming beauty of a woman, by her solitary embraces and talks of so-called love, and by the sweet words of his small children. Thus he forgets his real identity.

In this verse the words stréëäm asaténäm indicate that womanly love exists just to agitate the mind of man. Actually, in the material world there is no love. Both the woman and the man are interested in their sense gratification. For sense gratification a woman creates an illusory love, and the man becomes enchanted by such false love and forgets his real duty. When there are children as the result of such a combination, the next attraction is to the sweet words of the children. The love of the woman at home and the talk of the children make one a secure prisoner, and thus he cannot leave his home. Such a person is termed, in Vedic language, a gåhamedhé, which means “one whose center of attraction is home.” The word gåhastha refers to one who lives with family, wife, and children but whose real purpose of living is to develop Kåñëa consciousness. One is therefore advised to become a gåhastha, not a gåhamedhé. The gåhastha’s concern is to get out of the family life created by illusion and enter into real family life with Kåñëa, whereas the gåhamedhé’s business is to repeatedly chain himself to so-called family life, in one life after another, and perpetually remain in the darkness of mäyä.

TEXT 9: “The attached householder remains in his family life, which is full of diplomacy and politics. Always spreading miseries and controlled by acts of sense gratification, he acts just to counteract the reactions of all his miseries, and if he can successfully counteract such miseries, he thinks he is happy.”

PURPORT: In the Bhagavad-gétä the Personality of Godhead Himself certifies the material world as an impermanent place that is full of miseries. There is no question of happiness in this material world, either individually or in terms of family, society, or country. If something is going on in the name of happiness, that is illusion. Here in this material world, happiness means successful counteraction of distress. The material world is so made that unless one becomes a clever diplomat, his life will be a failure. What to speak of human society, even in the society of lower animals, the birds and beasts cleverly manage their bodily demands of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Human society competes nationally or individually, and in the attempt to be successful the entire human society becomes full of diplomacy. We should always remember that in spite of all diplomacy and all intelligence in the struggle for existence, everything will end in a second by the supreme will. Therefore, all our attempts to become happy in this material world are simply a delusion offered by mäyä.

TEXT 10: “He secures money by committing violence here and there, and although he employs it in the service of his family, he himself eats only a little portion of the food thus purchased, and he goes to hell for those for whom he earned the money in such an irregular way.”

PURPORT: There is a Bengali proverb: “The person for whom I have stolen accuses me of being a thief.” The family members for whom an attached person acts in so many criminal ways are never satisfied. In illusion an attached person serves such family members, and by serving them he is destined to enter into a hellish condition of life. For example, a thief steals something to maintain his family, and he is caught and imprisoned. This is the sum and substance of material existence and attachment to material society, friendship, and love. Although an attached family man is always engaged in getting money by hook or by crook for the maintenance of his family, he cannot enjoy more than what he could consume even without such criminal activities. A man who eats eight ounces of food may have to maintain a big family and earn money by any means to support that family, but he himself is not offered more than what he can eat, and sometimes he eats the remnants that are left after his family members are fed. Even by earning money by unfair means, he cannot enjoy life for himself. That is called the covering illusion of mäyä.

The process of illusory service to society, country, and community is exactly the same everywhere; the same principle is applicable even to big national leaders. A national leader who is very great in serving his country is sometimes killed by his countrymen because of irregular service. In other words, one cannot satisfy his dependents by this illusory service, although one cannot get out of the service because being a servant is his constitutional position.

A living entity is constitutionally part and parcel of the Supreme Being, but he forgets that he has to render service to the Supreme Being and diverts his attention to serving others; this is called mäyä. By serving others he falsely thinks that he is master. The head of a family thinks of himself as the master of the family, or the leader of a nation thinks of himself as the master of the nation, whereas actually he is serving, and by serving mäyä he is gradually going to hell. Therefore a sane man should come to the point of Kåñëa consciousness and engage in the service of the Supreme Lord, applying his whole life, all of his wealth, his entire intelligence, and his full power of speaking.

TEXTS 11–13: “When he suffers reverses in his occupation, he tries again and again to improve himself, but when he is baffled in all attempts and is ruined, he accepts money from others because of excessive greed. Thus the unfortunate man, unsuccessful in maintaining his family members, is bereft of all beauty. He always thinks of his failure, grieving very deeply. Seeing him unable to support them, his wife and others do not treat him with the same respect as before, even as miserly farmers do not accord the same treatment to their old and worn-out oxen.”

PURPORT: Not only in the present age but from time immemorial no one has liked an old man who is unable to earn in the family. Even in the modern age, in some communities or states, the old men are given poison so that they will die as soon as possible. In some cannibalistic communities, the old grandfather is sportingly killed, and a feast is held in which his body is eaten. Here the example is given that a farmer does not like an old ox who has ceased to work. Similarly, when an attached person in family life becomes old and is unable to earn, he is no longer liked by his wife, sons, daughters, and other kinsmen, and he is consequently neglected, what to speak of not being given respect. It is judicious, therefore, to give up family attachment before one attains old age and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person should employ himself in the Lord’s service so that the Supreme Lord can take charge of him and he will not be neglected by his so-called kinsmen.

TEXT 14: “The foolish family man does not become averse to family life although he is maintained by those whom he once maintained. Deformed by the influence of old age, he prepares himself to meet ultimate death.”

PURPORT: Family attraction is so strong that even if a person is neglected by family members in his old age, he cannot give up family affection, and he remains at home just like a dog. In the Vedic way of life, it is advised that before getting too weak and being baffled in material activities, and before becoming diseased, one should give up family life and engage oneself completely in the service of the Lord for the remaining days of his life.

Therefore the Vedic scriptures enjoin that as soon as one passes fifty years of age, he must give up family life and live alone in the forest. After preparing himself fully, he should become a sannyäsé, travel widely, and distribute the knowledge of spiritual life to each and every home.

TEXT 15: “Thus he remains at home just like a pet dog and eats whatever is so negligently given to him. Afflicted with many illnesses, such as dyspepsia and loss of appetite, he eats only very small morsels of food, and he becomes an invalid, who cannot work any more.”

PURPORT: Before meeting death a man is sure to become a diseased invalid, and when he is neglected by his family members, his life becomes less than a dog’s because he is put into so many miserable conditions. Vedic literatures enjoin, therefore, that before the arrival of such miserable conditions, a man should leave home and die without the knowledge of his family members. If a man leaves home and dies without his family’s knowing, that is considered a glorious death. But an attached family man wants his family members to carry him in a great procession even after his death, and although he will not be able to see how the procession goes, he still desires that his body be taken gorgeously in procession. Thus he is happy without even knowing where he has to go when he leaves his body for the next life.

TEXTS 16–17: “In that diseased condition, a man’s eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and upon exhaling and inhaling he produces a sound like ghura-ghura, a rattling within the throat. In this way he comes under the clutches of death and lies down, surrounded by lamenting friends and relatives, and although he wants to speak with them, he no longer can because he is under the control of time.”

PURPORT: For formality’s sake, when a man is lying on his deathbed, his relatives come to him, and sometimes they cry very loudly, addressing the dying man: “O my father!” “O my friend!” or “O my husband!” In that pitiable condition the dying man wants to speak with them and instruct them of his desires, but because he is fully under the control of the time factor, death, he cannot express himself, and that causes him in-conceivable pain. He is already in a painful condition because of disease, and his glands and throat are choked up with mucus. He is already in a very difficult position, and when he is addressed by his relatives in that way, his grief increases.

TEXT 18: “Thus the man who engaged with uncontrolled senses in maintaining his family dies in great grief, seeing his relatives crying. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without consciousness.”

PURPORT: In the Bhagavad-gétä it is said that at the time of death one will be absorbed in the thoughts he cultivated during his lifetime. A person who had no idea other than to properly maintain his family members must have family affairs in his last thoughts. That is the natural sequence for a common man. The common man does not know the destiny of his life; he is simply busy in this present flash of life, maintaining his family. At the last stage, no one is satisfied with how he has improved the family economic condition; everyone thinks that he could not provide sufficiently. Because of his deep family affection, he forgets his main duty of controlling his senses and improving his spiritual consciousness. Sometimes a dying man entrusts the family affairs to either his son or some relative, saying, “I am going. Please look after the family.” He does not know where he is going, but even at the time of death he is anxious about how his family will be maintained. Sometimes it is seen that a dying man requests the physician to increase his life at least for a few years so that the family maintenance plan which he has begun can be completed. These are the material diseases of the conditioned soul. He completely forgets his real engagement—to become Kåñëa conscious—and is always serious about planning to maintain his family, although he changes families one after another.

TEXT 19: “At death, he sees the messengers of the lord of death come before him, their eyes full of wrath, and in great fear he passes stool and urine.”

PURPORT: There are two kinds of transmigration of a living entity after passing away from the present body. One kind of transmigration is to go to the controller of sinful activities, who is known as Yamaräja, and the other is to go to the higher planets, up to Vaikuëöha. Here Lord Kapila describes how persons engaged in activities of sense gratification to maintain a family are treated by the messengers of Yamaräja, called Yamadütas. At the time of death the Yamadütas become the custodians of those persons who have strongly gratified their senses. They take charge of the dying man and take him to the planet where Yamaräja resides. The conditions there are described in the following verses.

TEXT 20: “As a criminal is arrested for punishment by the constables of the state, a person engaged in criminal sense gratification is similarly arrested by the Yamadütas, who bind him by the neck with strong rope and cover his subtle body so that he may undergo severe punishment.”

PURPORT: Every living entity is covered by a subtle body and a gross body. The subtle body is the covering of mind, ego, intelligence, and consciousness. It is said in the scriptures that the constables of Yamaräja cover the subtle body of the culprit and take him to the abode of Yamaräja to be punished in a way that he is able to tolerate. He does not die from this punishment because if he died, then who would suffer the punishment? It is not the business of the constables of Yamaräja to put one to death. In fact, it is not possible to kill a living entity because factually he is eternal; he simply has to suffer the consequences of his activities of sense gratification.

The process of punishment is explained in the Caitanya-caritämåta. Formerly the king’s men would take a criminal in a boat in the middle of the river. They would dunk him by grasping a bunch of his hair and thrusting him completely under water, and when he was almost suffocated, the king’s constables would take him out of the water and allow him to breathe for some time, and then they would again dunk him in the water to suffocate. This sort of punishment is inflicted upon the forgotten soul by Yamaräja, as will be described in the following verses.

TEXT 21: “While carried by the constables of Yamaräja, he is overwhelmed and trembles in their hands. While passing on the road he is bitten by dogs, and he can remember the sinful activities of his life. He is thus terribly distressed.”

PURPORT: It appears from this verse that while passing from this planet to the planet of Yamaräja, the culprit arrested by Yamaräja’s constables meets many dogs, which bark and bite just to remind him of his criminal activities of sense gratification. It is said in the Bhagavad-gétä that one becomes almost blind and is bereft of all sense when he is infuriated by the desire for sense gratification. He forgets everything. A man is bereft of all intelligence when he is too attracted by sense gratification, and he forgets that he has to suffer the consequences also. Here the chance for recounting his activities of sense gratification is given by the dogs engaged by Yamaräja. While we live in the gross body, such activities of sense gratification are encouraged, even by modern governments. In many states all over the world, the government encourages such activities by pushing birth control. Women are supplied pills, and they are allowed to go to a clinical laboratory to get assistance for abortions. This is going on as a result of sense gratification. Actually sex is meant for begetting a good child, but because people have no control over the senses and there is no institution to train them to control the senses, the poor people fall victim to the criminal offenses of sense gratification, and they are punished after death as described in these passages of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam.

TEXTS 22–24: “Under the scorching sun, the criminal has to pass through roads of hot sand with forest fires on both sides. He is whipped on the back by the constables because of his inability to walk, and he is afflicted by hunger and thirst. But unfortunately there is no drinking water, no shelter, and no place for rest on the road. While passing on that road to the abode of Yamaräja, he falls down in fatigue, and sometimes he becomes unconscious, but he is forced to rise again.

“In this way he is very quickly brought to the presence of Yamaräja. Thus he has to pass ninety-nine thousand yojanas within two or three moments, and then he is at once engaged in the torturous punishment he is destined to suffer.”

PURPORT: One yojana is eight miles, and thus he has to pass along a road that is as much as 792,000 miles long. Such a long distance is passed over within a few moments only. The subtle body is covered by the constables so that the living entity can travel such a long distance quickly and at the same time tolerate the suffering. This covering, although material, is of such fine elements that material scientists cannot discover what the coverings are made of. To pass 792,000 miles within a few moments seems wonderful to the modern space travelers. They have so far traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour, but here we see that a criminal passes 792,000 miles within a few seconds only, although the process is not spiritual but material.

TEXT 25: “He is placed in the midst of burning pieces of wood, and his limbs are set on fire. In some cases he is made to eat his own flesh or have it eaten by others.”

PURPORT: This verse and the next three verses describe the sinful living entity’s punishment. The first description is that the criminal has to eat his own flesh, burning with fire, or allow others like himself who are present there to eat it. In the last great war, people in concentration camps sometimes ate their own stool, so there is no wonder that in Yamasädana, the abode of Yamaräja, a meat-eater who had a very enjoyable life eating others’ flesh has to eat his own flesh.

TEXTS 26–28: “His entrails are pulled out by the hounds and vultures of hell, even though he is still alive to see it, and he is subjected to torment by serpents, scorpions, gnats, and other creatures that bite him. Next his limbs are lopped off and torn asunder by elephants. He is hurled down from hilltops, and he is also held captive either in water or in a cave.

“Men and women whose lives were built upon indulgence in illicit sex are put into many kinds of miserable conditions in the hells known as Tämisra, Andha-tämisra, and Raurava.”

PURPORT: The lives of all materialistic people, who are undergoing severe tribulation in the struggle for existence, are based on sex. Therefore, in the Vedic civilization sex is allowed only in a restricted way; it is for the married couple, and only for begetting children. But when sex is indulged in for sense gratification illegally and illicitly, both the man and the woman await severe punishment in this world or after death. In this world they are punished by virulent diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea, and in the next life, as we see in this passage of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, they are put into various kinds of hellish conditions to suffer.

In the Bhagavad-gétä, First Chapter, illicit sex is also very much condemned, and it is said that one who produces children by illicit sex is sent to hell. It is confirmed here in the Bhägavatam that such offenders are put into hellish conditions of life in Tämisra, Andha-tämisra, and Raurava.

TEXT 29: Lord Kapila continued, “My dear mother, it is sometimes said that we experience hell or heaven on this planet, for hellish punishments are sometimes visible on this planet also.”

PURPORT: Sometimes unbelievers do not accept these statements of scripture regarding hell. Lord Kapila therefore confirms them by saying that these hellish conditions are also visible on this planet. It is not that they are only on the planet where Yamaräja lives. On the planet of Yamaräja, the sinful man is given the chance to practice living in the hellish conditions that he will have to endure in the next life, and then he is given a chance to take birth on another planet to continue his hellish life.

For example, if a man is to be punished to remain in hell and eat stool and urine, then first of all he practices such habits on the planet of Yamaräja, and then he is given a particular type of body, that of a hog, so that he can eat stool and think he is enjoying life. It is stated previously that in any hellish condition, the conditioned soul thinks he is happy. Otherwise, it would not be possible for him to suffer hellish life.

TEXT 30: “After leaving this body, the man who maintained himself and his family members by sinful activities suffers a hellish life, and his relatives suffer also.”

PURPORT: The mistake of modern civilization is that man does not believe in the next life. But whether he believes or not, the next life is there, and one has to suffer if one does not lead a responsible life in terms of the injunctions of authoritative scriptures like the Vedas and Puräëas. Species lower than human beings are not responsible for their actions because they are made to act in a certain way, but in the developed life of human consciousness, one who does not act responsibly is sure to get a hellish life, as described herein.

TEXT 31: “He goes alone to the darkest regions of hell after quitting the present body, and the money he acquired by envying other living entities is the passage money with which he leaves this world.”

PURPORT: When a man earns money by unfair means and maintains his family and himself with that money, the money is enjoyed by many members of the family, but he alone goes to hell and suffers the resultant sinful reactions accrued from such a violent and illicit life. For example, if a man secures some money by killing someone and with that money maintains his family, those who enjoy the black money earned by him are also partially responsible and are also sent to hell, but he who is the leader is especially punished. The money he earned is left in this world, and he takes only the sinful reaction.

In this world also, if a person acquires some money by murdering someone, the family is not hanged, although its members are sinfully contaminated. But the man who commits the murder and maintains his family is himself hanged as a murderer. The direct offender is more responsible for sinful activities than the indirect enjoyer. The great learned scholar Cäëakya Paëòita says, therefore, that whatever one has in his possession had better be spent for the cause of sat, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because one cannot take his possessions with him. They remain here, and they will be lost. Either we leave the money or the money leaves us, but we will be separated. The best use of money as long as it is within our possession is to spend it to acquire and propagate Kåñëa consciousness.

TEXT 32: “Thus, by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maintainer of kinsmen is put into a hellish condition to suffer for his sinful activities, like a man who has lost his wealth.”

PURPORT: The example set herein is that the sinful person suffers just like a man who has lost his wealth. The human form of body is achieved by the conditioned soul after many, many births and is a very valuable asset. Instead of utilizing this life to get liberation, if one uses it simply for the purpose of maintaining his so-called family and therefore performs foolish and unauthorized action, he is compared to a man who has lost his wealth and who, upon losing it, laments. When wealth is lost, there is no use lamenting, but as long as there is wealth, one has to utilize it properly and thereby gain eternal profit. It may be argued that when a man leaves his money earned by sinful activities, he also leaves his sinful activities here with his money. But it is especially mentioned herein that by superior arrangement, although the man leaves behind his sinfully earned money, he carries the effect of it.

When a man steals some money, if he is caught and agrees to return it, he is not freed from the criminal punishment. By the law of the state, even though he returns the money, he has to undergo the punishment. Similarly, the money earned by a criminal process may be left by the man when dying, but by superior arrangement he carries with him the effect, and therefore he has to suffer hellish life.

TEXT 33: “Therefore a person who is very eager to maintain his family and kinsmen simply by black methods certainly goes to the darkest region of hell, which is known as Andha-tämisra.”

PURPORT: Three words in this verse are very significant. Kevalena means “only by black methods,” adharmeëa means “unrighteous” or “irreligious,” and kuöumba-bharaëa means “family maintenance.” Maintaining one’s family is certainly the duty of a householder, but one should be eager to earn his livelihood by the prescribed method, as stated in the scriptures. In the Bhagavad-gétä it is described that the Lord has divided the social system into four classifications of castes, or varëas, according to quality and work. Apart from the Bhagavad-gétä, in every society a man is known according to his quality and work. For example, when a man earns his livelihood constructing wooden furniture, he is called a carpenter, and a man who works with an anvil and iron is called a blacksmith. Similarly, a man who is engaged in the medical or engineering fields has a particular duty and designation. All these human activities have been divided by the Supreme Lord into four varëas, namely the brähmaëas (intellectuals and priests), the kñatriyas (warriors and administrators), the vaiçyas (merchants and farmers), and çüdras (manual laborers). In the Bhagavad-gétä and other Vedic scriptures, the specific duties of the brähmaëas, kñatriyas, vaiçyas, and çüdras are mentioned.

One should work honestly according to his qualification. He should not earn his livelihood unfairly or in a way for which he is not qualified. If someone claims to be a brähmaëa and works as a priest, attracting people who expect to be enlightened about the spiritual way of life, but he is not qualified as a priest, then he is cheating the public. One should not earn one’s livelihood by such unfair means. The same is applicable to a kñatriya and a vaiçya. It is especially mentioned that the means of livelihood of those who are trying to advance in Kåñëa consciousness must be very fair and uncomplicated. Here it is mentioned that he who earns his livelihood by unfair means (kevalena) is sent to the darkest hellish region. Otherwise, if one maintains his family by prescribed methods and honest means, there is no objection to one’s being a family man.

TEXT 34: “Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of one’s sins, one is reborn again as a human being on this earth.”

PURPORT: Just as a prisoner who has undergone troublesome prison life is set free again, the person who has always engaged in impious and mischievous activities is put into hellish conditions, and when he has undergone different hellish lives, namely those of lower animals like cats, dogs, and hogs, by the gradual process of evolution he again comes back as a human being. In the Bhagavad-gétä it is stated that even though a person engaged in the practice of the yoga system may not finish perfectly and may fall down for some reason or other, his next life as a human being is guaranteed. It is stated that such a person, who has fallen from the path of yoga practice, is given a chance in his next life to take birth in a very rich family or in a very pious family. It is interpreted that “rich family” refers to a big mercantile family because generally people who engage in business are very rich. One who engaged in the process of self-realization, or connecting with the Supreme Absolute Truth, but fell short is allowed to take birth in such a rich family, or he is allowed to take birth in the family of pious brähmaëas; either way, he is guaranteed to appear in human society in his next life.

It can be concluded that if someone is not willing to enter into hellish life, as in Tämisra or Andha-tämisra, then he must take to the process of Kåñëa consciousness, which is the first-class yoga system, because even if one is unable to attain complete Kåñëa consciousness in this life, he is guaranteed at least to take his next birth in a human family. He cannot be sent into a hellish condition. Kåñëa consciousness is the purest life, and it protects all human beings from gliding down to hell to take birth in a family of dogs or hogs.

LON 3: The Peace Formula

The laws of nature work collectively, as well as individually. In the following brief but cogent statement, Çréla Prabhupäda explains that if we want to break out of the tangled web of collective karma that is wreaking havoc in present-day society—if we want peace both collectively and individually—we need to take to Kåñëa consciousness seriously.

The great mistake of modern civilization is to encroach upon others’ property as though it were one’s own and thereby create an unnecessary disturbance of the laws of nature. These laws are very strong. No living entity can violate them. Only one who is Kåñëa conscious can easily overcome the stringent laws of nature and thus become happy and peaceful in the world.

As a state is protected by the department of law and order, so the state of the universe, of which this earth is only an insignificant fragment, is protected by the laws of nature. This material nature is one of the different potencies of God, who is the ultimate proprietor of everything that be. This earth is, therefore, the property of God, but we, the living entities, especially the so-called civilized human beings, are claiming God’s property as our own under both an individual and collective false conception. If you want peace, you have to remove this false conception from your mind and from the world. This false claim of proprietorship by the human race on earth is partly or wholly the cause of all disturbances of peace on earth.

Foolish so-called civilized men are claiming proprietary rights on the property of God because they have now become godless. You cannot be happy and peaceful in a godless society. In the Bhagavad-gétä Lord Kåñëa says that He is the factual enjoyer of all activities of the living entities, that He is the Supreme Lord of all universes, and that He is the well-wishing friend of all beings. When the people of the world know this as the formula for peace, it is then and there that peace will prevail.

Therefore, if you want peace at all, you will have to change your consciousness into Kåñëa consciousness, both individually and collectively, by the simple process of chanting the holy name of God. This is the standard and recognized process for achieving peace in the world. We therefore recommend that everyone become Kåñëa conscious by chanting Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.

This is practical, simple, and sublime. Five hundred years ago this formula was introduced in India by Lord Çré Caitanya, and now it is available throughout the world. Take to this simple process of chanting as above mentioned, realize your factual position by reading the Bhagavad-gétä As It Is, and reestablish your lost relationship with Kåñëa, God. Peace and prosperity will be the immediate worldwide result.