NOD – VIHE Nectar of Devotion—Part 16

Giriraj Swami: So today we begin spontaneous devotional service, reading about spontaneous devotional service. By chance, I opened the page to one of the items in vaidhī-sādhana-bhakti and it reminded me of one incident with Srila Prabhupada. Here the verse is—we didn’t discuss it, but the verse is:

“It is better to accept the miseries of being encaged within bars and surrounded by burning flames than to associate with those bereft of Krishna consciousness. Such association is a very great hardship.” This comes in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.111, and it’s on page fifty-seven in the verse book. And the next verse from Caitanya-caritāmṛta says, “One should not even see those, who are bereft of devotional service and Krishna consciousness, and who are therefore devoid of pious activities.”

So, one-time Srila Prabhupada’s secretary, named Shyamsunder Prabhu, was reading Times magazine on the balcony of the Calcutta temple, and Srila Prabhupada came onto the balcony and saw him. And Srila Prabhupada commented that the people depicted in Times magazine are so sinful and so demonic that we should not even see their pictures. If we simply see their pictures, we will lose all pious credits.

So again, I thought Srila Prabhupada was using strong words, but then I found here in Caitanya-caritāmṛta the same statement, “One should not even see those who are bereft of devotional service.” Srila Prabhupada also quoted the other verse which appears in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

When we were in Madras, we met one man who was supposed to be very religious in Madras, and he volunteered to organize Srila Prabhupada’s program there. He was the leader of one organization called Ashtika Samaj, and he said [that] he would arrange the program in his own hall; he would arrange to invite the people; he would arrange to receive Srila Prabhupada at the airport and everything. But eventually, things did not work because the man was an impersonalist. And somehow, although he offered to do the service, he couldn’t really do the service. Then when Srila Prabhupada came thinking about how religious the man was supposed to be and how much he had offered to help, I thought of maybe meeting him, and Srila Prabhupada quoted some verses from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that, “It’s better to embrace an alligator or live in a cage of fire than to associate with non-devotees.” So he was very strict. He was not impressed by the fact that someone was known as religious, or someone presented himself as religious. Somehow, he understood that the person was an impersonalist, and therefore a person to be avoided.

So now we can turn to page. . . We can follow the order of the verses here—page ninety-five in the verse book. Yesterday, some common misconceptions about rāgānugā-bhakti were expressed. So maybe before we begin the discussion, we should clear some of the misconceptions. The basic misconception is that after the stage of vaidhī-bhakti, one comes to the stage of rāgānugā-bhakti, but actually, vaidhī-bhakti and rāgānugā-bhakti are two processes that can run parallel to each other. In other words, by vaidhī-bhakti one can achieve bhāva-bhakti, and by rāgānugā-bhakti one can attain bhāva-bhakti. It’s not that one has to go from vaidhī-bhakti to rāgānugā-bhakti. One process is based on faith in the injunctions of the scriptures, and the other process is based on spontaneous desire to serve Krishna in the mood of one of the residents of Vrindavan. So, one can continue in the mood of vaidhī-bhakti through bhāva and prema and go to Vaikuntha, or one can follow the process of rāgānugā-bhakti and attain bhāva and prema and go to Goloka.

So, there are two different processes that take one to two different destinations, and every individual has his own svarūpa or his own eternal form and eternal service. Some may have eternal service to Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, some may have eternal service to Lord Rama in Ayodhya, some may have eternal service to Lord Krishna in Dwarka, and some may have eternal service to Lord Krishna in Vrindavan. But if someone has eternal service, has the seed of eternal service to Krishna in Vrindavan in his heart, and if he hears about the pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan, and if he gets the mercy of some rāgānugā Vaishnava, then greed can awaken. And greed is actually what makes one eligible for rāgānugā-bhakti.

In vaidhī-bhakti, one is eligible by faith, and one serves the Lord in obedience to the injunctions of guru and sastra – without spontaneous desire. And in rāgānugā-bhakti, there is spontaneous desire which is not dependent on the rulings or the reasoning of scripture. It is quite independent of the rulings and reasoning of the scriptures.

Now first, we should know what is rāgā. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.272, the definition is given:

iṣṭe svārasaikī rāgaḥ paramāviṣṭatā

Iṣṭe means unto the desired object of life, Krishna. Svārasaikī means appropriate for one’s own original aptitude of love. Svārasaikī also means that when one thinks of one’s desired object of love, he becomes constantly absorbed in remembering the pastimes of Krishna, and one pastime follows another without any interruption. This is svārasaikī. Like flowers on a string in a garland—one follows the other continuously and there is no interruption. When one develops rāgā, one’s heart becomes colored with love for Krishna and even when Krishna is not present, the color remains, and the devotee sees Krishna everywhere and always remembers the pastimes of Krishna one after the other continuously. Like honey, if you pour honey from a bottle, there are so many drops of honey, but they become continuous, there is no separation or gap.

Iṣṭe svārasaikī rāgaḥ paramāviṣṭatā—completely absorbed and then devotional service which follows one’s attachment is called rāgātmikā. Just like I’m deeply absorbed in love for Krishna and in the mood of love for Krishna, I want to collect some flowers and string a garland to offer to Lord Krishna. So, the service of collecting flowers and stringing the garland follows my intense mood of service to Krishna. So that is rāgā and rāgātmikā. And on page ninety-six (BRS 1.2.270):
 

virājantīm abhivyaktāṁ
vraja-vāsi-janādiṣu
rāgātmikām anusṛtā
yā sā rāgānugocyate        

“Devotional service in spontaneous love is vividly expressed and manifested by the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. Devotional service that accords with their devotional service is called rāgānugā-bhakti, or devotional service following in the wake of spontaneous loving service.”

So the eternal associates of Krishna are rāgātmikā bhaktas, and devotees who want to enter the same mood as the residents of Vrindavan and serve Krishna in the same mood following them are called rāgānugā. Such rāgā is found in purity only in Vrindavan, but it exists to some extent in Dwarka also.

Now generally, we do speak about the development of love of Godhead up to the point of prema. Because generally, as long as we are in the material world or in the material body, we can only achieve bhāva-bhakti or at most prema-bhakti, but there are some stages of development after prema, and there are seven of them. After prema comes sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga, bhāva, and mahābhāva. So rāga is some development beyond simple prema with simple prema or sneha one can go to Vaikuntha, but in order to go to Goloka Vrindavan, one has to have at least aga. So prema sneha. Sneha means affection. Māna means you could say the anger of love. Now in Vaikuntha or in Ayodhya, there is no chance that the devotee can become angry with the Lord, there is no chance. If any devotee expressed anger to the Lord in Vaikunta or in Ayodhya, there would be immediate reaction, but in Vrindavan if Krishna breaks the pot of butter and starts to eat and distribute the contents to monkeys and other friends, then mother Yasoda becomes angry, and she takes up her whipping stick, but if Hanuman were to come to Vraja and see mother Yasoda lifting the stick to Krishna, he would immediately become angry that Krishna is my Lord, how dare she lift a stick to Him? Or if he saw some cowherd boyfriends wrestling with Krishna, getting on top of Krishna and hitting Him, Hanuman would immediately become angry that Krishna is my Lord, how can they fight with Him?

So, the love of the residents of Vrindavan is characterized by the fact that they see the Lord like a human being like them. Of course, they are also not human beings – they are expansions of the internal potency of Krishna, but the pastimes in Vrindavan are called nara-līlā, which means human-like pastimes. So by the influence of Yogamaya, the devotees in Vrindavan consider themselves to be ordinary people, and they consider Krishna also to be one of them. So, there is a feeling of equality and therefore the attachment is much stronger, rāga. Whereas in Vaikuntha, the attachment will be weaker because of the sense of the opulences of the Lord, the devotee will feel some distance between him and the Lord – some fear and respect.

And I think that I would like to assist Subal in taking care of the cows. If the cows are thirsty, I will lead them to the river and make them drink, and then bring them back to Subal. Then the other disciple said, “When I hear about the activities of the gopīs, I become attracted. So, I think I would like to assist Lalita devi in her service to Radha and Krishna.” Then the guru blessed them. He told the first one, “You become an assistant to Subal, and you carry on your practices accordingly,” and he blessed the second disciple also, “You become an assistant to Lalita, and you carry on your practices accordingly.” Then by the mercy of the guru, the first disciple began to see the guru as a manifestation of Subal, and the second disciple began to see the guru as a manifestation of Lalita. But if you read Jaiva-Dharma, you will see how many stages they passed through before they came to the stage of rāgānugā-bhakti.

Devotee: Depends on the intensity of the feelings, which can come only from the mercy of Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: He says, “It depends on the intensity of the feelings which can come only from the mercy of Krishna or Vaishnava.” What about Vaishnava?

Devotee: There have been cases with Vaishnava. Maybe he has sent his mercy through somebody.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, like Gopa kumara. He had the mercy of his guru.

Giriraj Swami: Then what is the meaning of direct if it’s through Narada?

Devotee: No, it was initiated by Narada. He appointed Narada to take this mercy from him.

Giriraj Swami: It’s true. By the mercy of Krishna, one gets guru, and by the mercy of guru, one gets Krishna.

All right there were some interesting questions about rāgānugā-bhakti, so I thought I would begin by addressing some of the issues that were discussed. Some devotees express some anxiety, and actually as long as we are serving guru and Gauranga, we really don’t need to be in anxiety.

For example, we have not in most cases, we have not made any effort to meet our spiritual master, but Krishna has arranged. And by His mercy or by their mercy, we have made some progress. At least we’ve been able to come to Vrindavan to Krishna-Balarama temple in Kartik, and now we are able to discuss Krishna-kathā. So if we surrender ourselves or dedicate ourselves fully to the service and the mission of guru and Gauranga, they will make all arrangements. I thought of one verse that confirms the same fact (ŚB 3.7.19):

TEXT 19

yat-sevayā bhagavataḥ
kūṭa-sthasya madhu-dviṣaḥ
rati-rāso bhavet tīvraḥ
pādayor vyasanārdanaḥ        

TRANSLATION

By serving the feet of the spiritual master, one is enabled to develop transcendental ecstasy in the service of the Personality of Godhead, who is the unchangeable enemy of the Madhu demon and whose service vanquishes one’s material distresses.

PURPORT

The association of a bona fide spiritual master can be of absolute help in achieving transcendental attachment for the direct service of the Lord. The word rati-rāsaḥ is significant in this verse. Service to the Lord is rendered in different transcendental mellows (relationships): neutral, active, friendly, parental, and nuptial. A living entity in the liberated position of transcendental service to the Lord becomes attracted to one of the above-mentioned mellows, and when one is engaged in transcendental loving service to the Lord, one’s service attachment in the material world is automatically vanquished.

COMMENT

So if we continue to serve the spiritual master and Krishna, they will arrange everything whatever we need to advance further in devotional service. So we don’t need to be anxious. Another anxiety that some devotees expressed was what if they don’t have the seed of vraja-bhakti for mādhurya-bhakti. Actually, I think that most devotees who are attracted to the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu have the seed of vraja-bhakti because the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu especially meant to give vraja-bhakti or cultivate it. So I think most devotees who come to the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu have the seed of vraja-bhakti or mādhurya-bhakti. But at the same time we should know that every soul is completely satisfied in his own relationship with Krishna, and he feels that his relationship or his mood of service is best. Every devotee is thrilled to have the service of the Lord in his own particular relationship, and he doesn’t feel any envy or any lack of satisfaction or happiness. In fact, he won’t want to change his service for any other service or his master for any other master.

There is one story that Garuda came to Hanuman and told Hanuman that your eternal master, Krishna is calling you to Dwarka. Hanuman replied, “I’m very old now, and I cannot go to Dwarka very easily, and I’m not feeling well also.”

Garuda said, “Never mind. I will carry you.” Then he tried to lift up Hanuman, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even lift his tail. Hanuman was so powerful. Then after some time Garuda came back and he said, “Your eternal master Rama is calling you.” Hanuman said, “Yes I’m going at once.” Then Garuda said, “If you want, I can carry you,” and Hanuman said, “No, I’m just taking my bath and going.” Then Garuda also began to fly to Lord Rama, and as he was flying on the way to Lord Rama, he saw Hanuman coming back. Hanuman had already gone to Rama and met Him, and he was already coming back. So, Hanuman’s eternal master is Lord Rama, and he is most enthusiastic to serve Him. So, the fact that he showed preference for Rama over Krishna is not wrong for him. Because each devotee has his own particular inclination to serve in a particular relationship to a particular form of Godhead, and he is fully satisfied in his relationship. He doesn’t want to change it for anything.

Now another question was raised about the relationship between the worship and the service of Lord Chaitanya and the worship in the service of Lord Krishna. So I brought, well anyway I always bring the song book but there is one song by Narottama dasa Thakura that Srila Prabhupada used to sing about the glories of Lord Chaitanya:

[Sāvaraṇa-śrī-gaura-mahimā from Prārthanā] So there are two lines here which are very relevant; gaurāṅga-guṇete jhure, nitya-līlā tāre sphure se jana bhakati-adhikārī.

Srila Prabhupada explains that if one appreciates the merciful pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and feels ecstasy and sometimes cries, this process will immediately help him to understand the pastimes of Radha-Krishna. If one really wants permanent love affairs, he must enter into the pastimes of Radha-Krishna. Simply by appreciating Lord Chaitanya’s movement, one can immediately enter into or understand Radha-Krishna’s eternal pastimes. One, who can understand the transcendental eternal pastimes of Radha and Krishna reaches the highest perfectional stage of devotional service.

And then he says, gaura-prema-rasārṇave, śe taraṅge jebā ḍube, se rādhā-mādhava-antaraṅga. Srila Prabhupada explains that Lord Chaitanya’s distribution of love of God is compared to an ocean. Rasa-ārṇava – ocean of rasa. One has to dive deep into that ocean. If one knows the secret and says, “Let me dive deep into the ocean of the transcendental loving movement introduced by Lord Chaitanya,” he immediately becomes one of the confidential devotees of Radha and Krishna.

In Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes, all devotees serve with dāsya-rasa. Everyone is aware of the supremacy of Lord Chaitanya, and everyone serves Lord Chaitanya with respect and veneration in dāsya-rasa. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “If one worships Lord Chaitanya in dāsya-rasa then the day will come when he becomes qualified. That Lord Chaitanya will manifest Himself to the devotee as Radha and Krishna, and he will be able to serve Radha and Krishna in mādhurya-rasa.”

At the end of the Madhya-līlā, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami has composed some very beautiful verses where he compares Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes to a lake, and the devotees of Lord Chaitanya to swans, and the pastimes of Krishna are compared to lotus flowers within the lake. So, the swans swimming in the lake of Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes, they eat the buds of the lotus flowers – which are Krishna’s pastimes. So Krishna’s pastimes are interspersed in Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes. And Kaviraja Gosvami says that Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes are like nectar, and Lord Krishna’s pastimes are like camphor, and when you mix the camphor with the nectar, the combination becomes exceedingly sweet and tasty. So he says that in Caitanya-caritāmṛta he has mixed the pastimes of Krishna with the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya. So by serving Lord Chaitanya, by serving the mission of Lord Chaitanya, one will approach the goal of service to Radha and Krishna.

Now, there are three important verses about rāgānugā-sadhana. Two of them are in the verse book, and we’ll discuss them in a few minutes, but I’ll discuss the third one now because again we should understand the relationship between the practices of vaidhī-bhakti and rāgānugā-bhakti.

The first point is, what makes one eligible for rāgānugā-bhakti? Can anyone say?

Greed. Yes, that’s the basic answer. The primary characteristic in eligibility is greed—lobha. Transcendental covetousness for the mood of service of one of the residents of Vrindavan, but there is also a secondary part of the definition.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: That’s true, but. . .

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: That’s also true. Everything that you have said so far is correct, but it’s not the other part of the definition of eligibility.

Devotee:. . . following in the footsteps of [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: That’s the definition of rāgānugā—following in the wake of rāgātmikā.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, independent of the reasonings and statements of the shastra. And greed is the thing that makes one eligible.

In other words, the eligibility for vaidhi-bhakti is what? Faith, sraddha, specifically in the scriptures one has faith in the injunctions of the scriptures, and because he has faith in the scriptures and in the process of devotional service as explained in the scriptures, so he follows the process. But lobha is greed for the mood of service of one of the associates of Krishna, and the greed is independent of the reasonings of the scriptures. In other words, it is spontaneous. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada has chosen the word spontaneous.

For example, suppose I see a nice rasagullā, and I want to have it. Spontaneously, I want to have it. Nobody has to tell me that I should have it. But what is greed?

Greed means that I see the rasagullā, and I decide that I must have it. Beg, borrow, or steal, but I must get it. That is greed. If I think, if I look in my pocket, and I see that I have no money, and then if I think, Well, I can’t afford it, so I can’t have it. That is not greed. Greed is that Maybe I don’t have any money, but still by hook or by crook I will get it—that is greed. So, greed, in other words, greed knows no stage. When one has greed, he doesn’t consider what stage he is in.

We may read in the book that one should have passed anartha-nivṛtti and be liberated from material contamination but if one has greed, he thinks, I may be wretched, I may be fallen, I may be sinful, but still, I will get it. If I think that, I’m so low and fallen and that thing is so high, how can I ever get it? It means I don’t have greed.

In other words, greed is such a thing that it makes one pursue the goal by any means and without any reservation. Now then, what is the relationship between rāgānugā-bhakti and the scriptures? Does it mean that the devotee is independent of the scriptures?

No, although the greed is spontaneous, but once the devotee has greed that I want to attain prema-bhakti or mādhurya-bhakti, then he will think, How to get it, how to get it, how to get it? And he will find out. Somehow or other, he will find out the ways and means to get it. He will find someone who has it and ask him how to get it. And here, the scriptures are important in two ways: first of all, he always wants to hear the pastimes of Krishna with the dear devotees whose mood of service he covets, and the pastimes will come in the scriptures in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in the books by the Gosvamis and so on. So, he’ll be eager to hear about the pastimes of Krishna, especially with the devotees whose mood of service he covets. And he will also want to know the process, “How can I get what I want?” And there also the scriptures will say what is the process by which one can get prema-bhakti. So, he will go to the scriptures, but he will not go to the scriptures because the scriptures say that you should do bhakti, but he will go to the scriptures to fulfill his ambition to serve Krishna in a particular way. So, the desire is spontaneous, and based on the spontaneous desire for service to Krishna, he will go to the scriptures to find out the way to achieve the goal. Just like if I want to taste very sweet milk, I will have to find out what is the process to get milk. I will look for someone who knows the process. Then he will tell me, “You have to get a cow with a calf, and then you will have to put some ghee on the nipples of the cow, then you’ll have to keep a bucket underneath, then you’ll have to pull out the milk, and then if there any pieces of straw, you’ll have to take them out, then take the milk to the fire, boil it on the fire, and then add sugar, cardamom, and anything, saffron to make it sweet.”

So, there is some process, and the process is told in the scriptures, explained in the scriptures. So he will go to the scriptures to find out about the pastimes of Krishna and the process by which to achieve service to Krishna which he wants. But so then, in one of the three important verses about rāgānugā-sadhana, Rupa Gosvami says that śravaṇam kīrtanam and other aṅgas in a vaidhi-bhakti may also be useful in rāgānugā-bhakti, but the mood will be changed. Say if we take śravaṇam, hearing. So, in the beginning we hear all of the parts of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we’ll hear Narada’s instructions to Vyasa, the history of Dhruva Maharaja, the history of Vṛtrāsura, the history of Prahlada Maharaja, and all of the discussions in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But when we have greed, we will want to hear specifically about the pastimes of Krishna, which are described in the Tenth Canto, and especially those pastimes about Krishna with those devotees whose mood of service we covet – either in sākhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, or mādhurya- rasa. And so śravaṇam will continue, kīrtanam will continue, chanting the holy names, but at the same time, remembering the pastimes of Krishna, or we will sing songs which are appropriate to the mood of service that we covet.

Actually, most of the songs that Srila Prabhupada has introduced are already in the mood of vraja-bhakti, and especially mādhurya-rasa like jaya rādhā-mādhava, vibhāvarī śeṣa, yaśomatī-nandana braja-baro-nāgara, these are all predominated by mādhurya-rasa. So kirtan will continue, but especially kirtans in the mood of the devotee. Then smaraṇam, same thing, remembering the pastimes of Krishna with the devotees whose mood we covet, or remembering the examples of rāgānugā-bhakti that we want to follow—Rupa Gosvami, Ragunath dasa Gosvami. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, vandanaṁ, prayers—the same thing, we will pray for the service that we want—either by our own prayers. . . Lālasā-mayī, praying for some perfectional stage, or by repeating the prayers or singing the songs of previous acharyas.

Arcanam, just like in the evening. During the day, Krishna goes with the cowherd boys and cows to the pasturing grounds and in the afternoon around the time of the sunset, He returns to the village of Vrindavan, and all of the residents of the village, who have been feeling so much separation during the day are so anxious to see Krishna as He returns from the pasturing grounds. So, they all go out to receive Him, and Mother Yasoda stands on the steps and offers ārati to Krishna. So, when we do the ārati, we can think of Mother Yasoda offering the ārati to Krishna when He comes home in the afternoon. Or of course, there is also another ārati that goes on at the same time, which is offered by the eyes of the gopīs. As all the gopīs come out, they may stand on the rooftops to see Krishna and they will offer ārati but not with the ghee lamp as we do in the temple, but there the deep [lamp] will be their hearts, and the ghee will be their prema, and the wick will be their bhāva or emotion, and the ārati will be expressed through their eyes, and when Krishna comes back in the afternoon, He is also looking for the eyes of the gopīs, and He maybe more interested in the ārati offered by the eyes of the gopīs than in the ārati offered by Mother Yasoda.

So everything is there, but the mood is different. Like Sanatana Gosvami, he was worshiping the deity of Madana-Gopal and just keeping the deity in a tree.