NOD – VIHE Nectar of Devotion—Part 21

Giriraj Swami: After one develops ecstatic love of Godhead, He manifests certain symptoms or characteristics that are explained in two verses in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.3.25–26) [and Cc Madhya 23.18–19] which are found on page 102 in the verse book:

kṣāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ
viraktir māna-śūnyatā
āśā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā
nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ

āsaktis tad-guṇākhyāne
prītis tad-vasati-sthale
ity-ādayo ‘nubhāvāḥ syur
jāta-bhāvāṅkure jane

COMMENT

Kṣāntir means forgiveness or perseverance. What is the example of kṣāntir quoted here?

Devotee: Maharaja Parīkṣit.

Giriraj Swami: Maharaja Parīkṣit, and how did he demonstrate it?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Maharaja Parīkṣit was very reserved and perseverant even after being cursed by the brahman boy to die. He went to the banks of the Ganges and submitted himself at the feet of the sages and asked them simply to pour the nectar of kṛṣṇa-kathā so that he could hear, drink the nectar. Then avyartha-kālatvaṁ means being free from wasting time.

One in ecstatic love for Krishna is so eager to render service that He does not want to waste any moment. And here the verse quoted is, “With their words they offer prayers to the Lord, with their minds they always remember the Lord, with their bodies they offer obeisances to the Lord. Despite all these activities, they are still not satisfied. This is the nature of pure devotees. Shedding tears from their eyes, they dedicate their whole lives to the Lord’s service.”

Then viraktir – detachment. What’s the example?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, King Bharat. What did he do?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, he had an opulent kingdom and beautiful wife, and he renounced them. Yes, it is the same King Bharata, who became attached to the deer. Just see, we have to be so careful.

Māna-śūnyatā – absence of false prestige. In spite of being qualified even spiritually, what to speak of materially, he is free from false pride. Like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—when He would shed tears in ecstasy or manifest other symptoms of ecstasy, people would approach Him and say you have so much love for Krishna. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would reply and say, “I have no love for Krishna. If I had love for Krishna, I could not live. The fact that I’m living proves that I have no love for Krishna.” And the devotees would say, “But, we see that You are shedding tears and manifesting symptoms of ecstasy.” And Lord Chaitanya replied, “I just do it to make a show so that people will think that I’m very advanced.”

āśā-bandhaḥ—what is āśā-bandhaḥ? Great hope. Here, there is a very nice verse given as an example by Rupa Gosvami himself.

Na premā śravaṇādi begins by na premā śravaṇādi. He says, “O my Lord, I do not have any love for You, na prema. Nor am I qualified for discharging devotional service by chanting and hearing. Nor do I possess the mystic power of a vaiṣṇava, knowledge, or pious activities. Nor do I belong to a very high-caste family. On the whole, I do not possess anything. Still, O beloved of the gopīs, because You bestow Your mercy on the most fallen, I have an unbreakable hope that is constantly in my heart. That hope is always giving me pain.” [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 23.29]

So, he feels that he has no qualification at all, but he has heard that Lord Krishna is very merciful to fallen souls. So, he has hope that Krishna will be merciful to him and fulfill his desire for service. So, every devotee will feel himself to be unqualified, but still he will have hope that because Krishna is so kind or especially Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is so kind that They will give mercy. And the devotee will not give up. He will not give up, but if he is fixed in his desire to serve Krishna in a particular way, he will not give up his desire and accept anything else because Krishna may test us and offer us something less.

For example, let us say Rupa Gosvami wanted to become a servant of Srimati Radharani or anyone. Now if he thinks that I’ve been trying for some time, I’ve not been successful, I’m not very qualified and the struggle is very hard. Maybe, I should accept something else. I can accept service in Vaikuntha, or I can accept service in Dvaraka even in Vrindavan in dāsya-rasa or sākhya-rasa or vātsalya-rasa. But if the devotee is fixed on his goal and is not prepared to accept anything else and consistently and persistently prays for the mercy of Krishna, for the mercy of guru and Gauranga, knowing that They are merciful, then he can have hope because otherwise what will Krishna do? Krishna is known to be merciful, so eventually the devotee thinks, Eventually, He will have to be merciful to me, and I won’t take anything else.

Like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, He was absolutely fixed in the mood of service to Srimati Radharani. He would not accept anything else, what to speak of dāsya, sākhya, or vātsalya. He wouldn’t even accept the position of Radharani’s friend like Lalita and Vishaka. He only wanted to be Radha’s maidservant. And he composed one verse,

sakhyaya te mama namo ‘stu namo ‘stu nityam

dasyaya te mama raso ‘stu raso ‘stu satyam

That “I offer my respectful obeisances to Your friendship. I offer all respects to Your friendship, but I don’t want it for myself. What I want for myself only is Your service.” Of course, every devotee will be satisfied in his mood of service—Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was in the mood that he only wanted to be Radharani’s maidservant, and He wouldn’t accept any other position. So, Rupa Gosvami is very merciful, so he is hopeful, and we should have such hope. We should have such hope. Not because we are qualified but because Krishna is merciful. Or as Rupa Gosvami says in Upadeśāmṛta that we should be confident of success because we are doing our best to serve guru and Krishna, so we can expect Their help to be successful.

Why does He say it’s giving him pain? Because he wants something which he is not getting. If he gave up hope, then there would be no pain. Even the prostitute Pingala has said, “Hopelessness gives rise to happiness.” If you hope for something, then you are hoping and expecting and praying and there is some pain because you are not getting it yet. But if you give up hope then you can be very satisfied. Otherwise, why were the Gosvamis hardly eating or sleeping? Not because they were artificially practicing austerities, but they were so much in the mood of separation, in the mood of longing and praying and hoping for service. They didn’t feel like eating or sleeping. They had no taste for such things.

Then samutkaṇṭhā—eagerness or intense longing. And here, there is a verse from Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta by Bilvamangala Thakura. He says, “O Krishna, O flute player, the sweetness of your early age is wonderful within these three worlds.” Everything about Krishna is sweet—His form is sweet. His voice is sweet. The sound of His flute is sweet. His words are sweet. Everything – His eyebrows, His eyes, His nose, His lips, everything about Krishna is sweet. So, Bilvamangala Thakura is appreciating the sweetness of Krishna, and he is remembering Krishna’s sweetness. He is becoming very eager, then he says, “You are very restless, unsteady or restless. Actually, Krishna is—He is always restless. He is never satisfied. He is always looking for Srimati Radharani, and He is never satisfied. Even when He is with Mother Yasoda, for example, in the morning Srimati Radharani comes to the house of Mother Yasoda to cook for Krishna, and Krishna is sitting with Nanda Maharaja and Balarama and many cowherd boyfriends, and They are taking prasāda and enjoying and joking and playing, but always Krishna is thinking of Srimati Radharani and just glancing to see where She is. Where She is peeping at Him from. And all the time during the day when Krishna goes out with the cowherd boys but still, He is thinking of Srimati Radharani how He can escape them and meet Her. He will say, “Oh I think some of the cows have wandered away. You all stay here, and I will go and fetch the cows and immediately, He runs away to Radha-kunda or some place to meet Srimati Radharani and the gopīs. 

So, Krishna is very restless and Bilvamangala says, “I’m also restless. Krishna is restless for the gopīs, and the gopīs are restless for Krishna.” And Bilvamangala Thakura is in the mood of the gopīs. So he says, “You know how restless I am, and I know how restless you are. So, we are meant for each other.” Then He says, “No one else knows about this. This is actually very secret.” Although internally Krishna is restless or the gopīs are restless, but Krishna doesn’t want anyone to know, and the gopīs also don’t want any other persons to know. So, he says, “No one else knows about this. I want to see Your beautiful attractive face somewhere in a solitary place, but how can this be accomplished?” So, this is the eagerness of Bilvamangala Thakura.

Then nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ great relish for the holy name and the example is given; “Oh Govinda, this youthful girl named Radhika is today constantly pouring forth tears like nectar, falling from flowers. She is also singing Your holy name in a sweet voice.” So, these are symptoms of ecstatic love or characteristics of one in ecstatic love. She is not chanting the holy name as sadhana, but She is chanting the holy name in ecstasy, naturally.

And you see, in the pastimes of Krishna before Srimati Radharani meets Krishna, and Krishna meets Srimati Radharani, there is some attraction which develops in them or in Srimati Radharani for Krishna before actually meeting. It’s mentioned in Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Vidagha-mādhava which is quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that Srimati Radharani heard the holy name of Krishna, She didn’t know who Krishna was. But She heard the holy name of Krishna, and She became very attracted that, Who has such a wonderful name? Then She heard the flute of Krishna, and She thought, Who plays such wonderful flute? And then someone showed Her a picture of Krishna, and She thought, Who has such a beautiful feature?

So, She simultaneously fell in love with someone by the name of Krishna, with someone who played the flute, and with someone whose picture She saw, but She didn’t know it was Krishna, and She didn’t want anyone to know that She was attracted. But She thought that She had fallen in love with three separate persons. So, She was in so much distress, so much distress that She was so unchaste that She had simultaneously fallen in love with three different persons.

So, we hear the holy name of Krishna, and we recite the holy name of Krishna, but not with the same quality. Just by hearing once the name of Krishna, Srimati Radharani fell in love with the person named Krishna. Now how can we become qualified to actually chant the holy name or hear the holy name?

Sankirtan dasa: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, well he says that by rigid performance of devotional service. Either in vaidhī-bhakti or rāgānugā-bhakti, we can obtain bhāva-bhakti. But we discussed earlier when Rupa Gosvami mentions the chanting of the holy name of the Lord that the holy name of the Lord is the Lord Himself, and therefore how can we conditioned souls with contaminated senses actually appreciate the holy name?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: By engaging in the service of the Lord, we will purify our senses. And when our senses are purified, we can chant the holy name without offense and then we can appreciate what the holy name of Krishna and Krishna are. So here, Srimati Radharani is chanting the holy name but not as a spiritual practice but as an ecstatic expression.

Then kṛṣṇa-guṇākhyāne haya sarvadā āsakti—attachment for describing the transcendental qualities of Krishna. So here another verse from Bilvamangala Thakura from Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta:

madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuram
madhu-gandhi mṛdu-smitam etad aho
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuram        [Cc Madhya 21.136]

“O my Lord, the transcendental body of Kṛṣṇa is very sweet, and His face is even sweeter than His body. The soft smile on His face, which is like the fragrance of honey, is sweeter still.”

One time after Krishna left Vrindavan for Mathura, the gopīs and all of the residents of Vrindavan were feeling acute separation from Krishna. Then Krishna sent Uddhava to Vrindavan to deliver one message, and when he came to find the gopīs, he saw that one bumblebee was hovering around one gopī, Srimati Radharani, and the gopī was having some conversation with the bumblebee. This is actually called divyam mada or transcendental bewilderment, which is part of mahā-bhāva. So Srimati Radharani took the bee as a messenger of Krishna, and She said to the bee that, “You are the unreliable servant of an unreliable master. Your master is dark, and you are also dark, and we have no faith in dark people.” So, there were many discussions between Radharani and the bee, and She took it that the bee was trying to make some reconciliation between Her and Krishna. So She told the bee that, “Don’t try to make any reconciliation between Me and Krishna because we know what Krishna is, not only in this life but in so many lives, how cruel and hard-hearted He is, and what a cheater He is.”

Then She said, “We have heard from Paurnamasi that in His past life, He also appeared as a dark person, named Ramachandra. And He was so attached to Sita, and we know how attached He can be. He was so attached to Sita that when Śūrpaṇakhā came to Him and proposed some relationship with Him, He should have accepted. As a kshatriya, He should have accepted, but He was so blinded by His attachment for Sita that He refused her, and not only did He refuse her but He disfigured her, cut off her nose and ears so that in her whole life she could not get any husband. So He is so cruel, He is so cruel.”

“Then we also heard how He killed Vali. Vali was the enemy of His friend. Actually, He had no enmity with Vali, only Vali was the enemy of His friend and He killed him, not like a kshatriya should have, met Him, and fought Him in challenge, but He hid behind a tree and killed him just like a hunter kills an animal. So, we know how cruel He is.”

“And even previously in His incarnation as Vamanadeva, He cheated. He came to Bali Maharaja in a very small form, as a dwarf brahman and begged for three steps of land, and Bali Maharaja agreed. Then He immediately expanded Himself into a gigantic form as big as the universe, His strides were as big as the universe. So, Bali Maharaja never agreed to give three steps according to that size. He only agreed to give three steps according to the small size, but He cheated him, and still even after Bali Maharaja surrendered everything, the whole universe, and his own body also, still Vamanadeva was so cruel, He arrested him and threw him down to hell.”

“So, He is very cruel. He is a cheater, and we don’t want to have any reconciliation with Him. And if He can live without us, then we can live without Him also.” So then the bee said or in the mind of Srimati Radharani, the bee said, “If Krishna is so bad, so hard-hearted, so cruel, cheater, and if He can live without You, You can live without Him, why do You always talk about Him? Why are You always talking about Him?”

Then Srimati Radharani very gravely looked at the bee and said, “That is the problem! That is the problem! We can’t stop talking about Him.” So that is described here. Attachment for descriptions of Krishna, talks about Krishna. We can live without Krishna, but we cannot live without talking about Krishna.

Then kṛṣṇa-līlā-sthāne kare sarvadā vasati, here it says, ‘to reside in a place where Krishna’s pastimes were performed,’ but in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, it specifically says, prītis tad-vasati-sthale—affection for the places of Krishna. In other words, that seeing the places where Krishna had His pastime, then the devotee will remember Krishna and remember Krishna’s pastimes and feel some ecstasy.

Just like Lord Chaitanya, not even seeing the Yamuna or not even seeing Govardhana actually but just thinking that He was seeing the Yamuna or Govardhana, He experienced so much ecstasy. Like once Lord Chaitanya was walking on the beach at Jagannatha Puri, and He saw one sand dune which reminded Him of Govardhana hill. So, when He saw the sand dune, He thought that I’ve come to Govardhana hill, and He started to run towards the hill, and suddenly He became stunned and stopped. Being stunned is a type of ecstasy where the body does not move externally, but internally there is so much activity, and He started to tremble. Tears started to pour out of His eyes, His hair stood on end, and He began to perspire, and so many things were happening. Then internally, He saw that Krishna has gone to go Govardhana hill, and He is playing on His flute. And hearing the song of Krishna’s flute, the gopīs are also coming, and Srimati Radharani is going into a cave with Krishna. And one of the gopīs asked Lord Chaitanya who is there in mañjarī form that, “You should pick some flowers.” And then the other devotees came, and they saw how extreme the bodily condition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was, and it looked very bad to them. They wanted to bring Him back to external consciousness. So they began to chant, “Haribol, Haribol, Hare Krishna!” Then He came back to partial external consciousness so He said, “I was there with Radha and Krishna at Govardhana hill, I was picking flowers for Them, and all of a sudden you all made a tumultuous sound, and you brought Me back here, and now I have lost the chance.” So, when devotees come to bhāva-bhakti or prema-bhakti, they can realize their own identity. Of course, here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. . . Actually Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came with many purposes and although His main purpose, internal purpose was to taste the mood of Srimati Radharani, but He also came to taste the mood of mañjarīs. Here He was tasting from the position of mañjarī. So, some realization of one’s eternal identity with Krishna and Krishna’s associates in Krishna’s pastimes, and then coming back to external consciousness and feeling that Oh, I have lost, then crying and feeling separation.

So here, this is one of the symptoms of ecstasy that seeing Govardhana hill, seeing the Yamuna, seeing Nandagram or any place of Krishna’s pastime, remembering Krishna and His pastimes and feeling ecstasy, feeling separation, so these are the symptoms of one in ecstatic love. All right, we stop here.