Category:God's Dancing
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category explores the Supreme Personality of Godhead's dynamic and blissful pastimes of dancing. Because God is completely self-satisfied, He has no mundane duties; His primary business is simply to enjoy spiritual pastimes, such as the sublime rāsa-līlā dance with the gopīs. The category strictly differentiates this transcendental dancing from mundane lust. The gopīs are direct expansions of the Lord's internal potency, and anyone who attempts to imitate Kṛṣṇa's dancing with worldly women commits a severe offense that leads to hell. To truly understand these pastimes, one must follow the authorized disciplic succession from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Furthermore, when the Lord appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to inaugurate the saṅkīrtana movement, He personally exhibited the highest ecstasies of love of Godhead, crashing to the ground like a golden mountain while dancing before the Ratha-yātrā car. Finally, the category emphasizes the submissive attitude required of a devotee. An authentic devotee never arrogantly commands God to appear and dance for them; rather, by rendering pure loving service, the devotee conquers the Lord's heart, causing Him to voluntarily and joyfully dance to their desires, just like a wooden doll in the hands of the pure devotees.
- The Master Dancer: The Supreme Lord is the ultimate center of enjoyment and the master dancer. Everyone else in the creation is His servant, and their actions are merely a reflection or imitation of His original dancing.
- The Transcendental Rāsa-līlā: The Lord's dancing with the gopīs is an exchange of pure, spiritual love, devoid of material inebriety. It is a fatal blunder for conditioned souls to interpret these pastimes materially or attempt to imitate them.
- The Ecstasy of Lord Caitanya: As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Lord descended to distribute love of Godhead through congregational chanting. He exhibited unparalleled symptoms of spiritual madness, dancing with such force that He appeared like a rolling golden mountain.
- The Devotee's Submission: God is the supreme controller and cannot be commanded by anyone. A true devotee never orders the Lord to come and dance before them.
- Conquered by Love: Although the Lord is completely independent, when He is satisfied by the unalloyed love of His pure devotees, He voluntarily subjects Himself to their desires, smiling and dancing at their bidding.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Dancing - The Ecstatic Pastimes of the Supreme Lord.
Subcategories
This category has the following 10 subcategories, out of 10 total.
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Pages in category "God's Dancing"
The following 35 pages are in this category, out of 35 total.
A
- Absorbed in watching Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu dance, Srivasa Thakura could not understand why he was being touched and pushed. After he was pushed again and again, he became angry
- According to the Bhagavata school, the Lord's rasa dancing is the smiling face of the Lord
- Although He (Krsna) was the supremely powerful Personality of Godhead, He would smile and dance according to their (the gopis') desire, as if He were a wooden doll in their hands. Sometimes He would sing very loudly, at their bidding - SB 10.11.7
- "As a result of this chanting," the Lord (Caitanya) said, "I sometimes become very impatient and cannot restrain Myself from dancing and laughing or crying and singing. Indeed, I become just like a madman
- As a spiritual person, such a devotee (who follows the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead) returns to the Personality of Godhead and plays and dances with Him. That is the ultimate goal of life
- As far as the rasa-lila pastimes of the Lord are concerned, it is futile for one who is within the material world to attempt to imitate the Lord’s dances. One has to attain a spiritual body like that of a gopi to enter into the pastimes of the rasa-lila
- As mentined above, it appears that Krsna enjoyed the rasa dance with the gopis when He was eight years old. At that time, many of the gopis were married, because in India, especially in those days, girls were married at a very early age
- As soon as it was evening, Advaita Acarya began the congregational chanting. He even began to dance Himself, and the Lord saw the performance
- As the gopis & Krsna danced together, a very blissful musical sound was produced from the tinkling of their bells, ornaments & bangles. It appeared that Krsna was a greenish sapphire locket in the midst of a golden necklace decorated with valuable stones
S
- Since it is recommended in this verse (2.2.13) that one should gradually progress from the lotus feet up to the smiling face, we shall not jump at once to understand the Lord's pastimes in the rasa dance
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's dancing before the Ratha-yatra car could be perceived only by pure devotees. Others could not understand. Descriptions of Lord Krsna's uncommon dancing can be found in the revealed scripture Srimad-Bhagavatam
T
- The devotee never commands, "My dear Lord, please come here so that I can see You." It is not the position of the devotee to command the Supreme Personality of Godhead to come before him or to dance before him
- The full-moon night of Asvina is called sarat-purnima. It appears from the statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam that Krsna had to wait another year for such a moon before enjoying the rasa dance with the gopis
- The gopis are predominated expansions of the internal potency, and therefore the Lord's participation in the rasa-lila dance is never to be considered like the mundane relationship of man and woman
- The real center of enjoyment is the Supreme Lord, who is the center of the sublime and spiritual rasa dance
- There are many so-called devotees who command the Lord to come before them dancing. The Lord, however, is not subject to anyone's command, but if He is satisfied by one's pure devotional activities, He reveals Himself
- They (the sruti-ganas) even took birth in Vrajabhumi just like the gopis and consequently became engrossed in the ecstasy of the gopis’ love. In this way they were allowed to enter into the rasa-lila dance of the Lord
- This is expressed by the author of the Caitanya-caritamrta, who says that the master dancer is Krsna and everyone else is His servant. Everyone is trying to imitate Krsna's dancing
- Try to understand the philosophy of Bhagavata. Then gradually, when you are accustomed to understand what is Krsna, then go to the Tenth Canto, wherein Krsna's rasa dance is described
W
- When Advaita Acarya danced in that way, Lord Caitanya felt ecstatic love for Krsna, and because of His separation, the waves and flames of love increased
- When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell down with a crash while dancing, He would roll on the ground. At such times it appeared that a golden mountain was rolling on the ground
- When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu regained His external consciousness, He saw that many Mayavadi sannyasis and other people were gathered there. He therefore suspended His dancing for the time being
- When the rice thrown by Nityananda Prabhu touched His body, Advaita Acarya thought Himself purified by the touch of remnants thrown by Paramahamsa Nityananda. Therefore He began dancing
- While the food was being offered, a large crowd of people gathered. At that time Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stopped His dancing and went to a nearby garden
- While there, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took His bath in the river Kaveri and visited the temple of Sri Ranga. Every day the Lord also danced in ecstasy
- Without having the Vedic knowledge one can hardly understand the transcendental nature of the Lord's rasa dance and music