Category:Mature Stage
Theme Analysis
The mature stage of devotional service represents the culmination of a systematic spiritual process. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that while the beginning stages of Kṛṣṇa consciousness involve regulative practice (arcana-mārga), the mature stage is defined by the natural awakening of dormant love for the Lord. This transition is compared to the growth of a child; just as certain physical and psychological traits manifest naturally as one reaches maturity, the devotee’s original spiritual identity (svarūpa-siddhi) and specific relationship with Kṛṣṇa become manifest only in the mature stage of development.
- Transition from Practice to Realization: In the neophyte stage, a practitioner may have only a small amount of faith (kaniṣṭhā-śraddhā) and their activities may still be touched by material contamination. However, through steady adherence to the regulative principles, this faith increases until it reaches a mature state. At this point, the devotee is no longer performing service out of duty alone but is situated in a state of pure, transcendental love.
- Stability and Determination: A hallmark of the mature stage is being fixed and determined. Unlike the neophyte who may be easily agitated by the modes of material nature, the mature devotee remains unaffected by unfavorable circumstances. He is fully convinced by the Absolute Truth and is determined to push on with his service, possessing an unshakable heart that is not swayed by external conditions.
- Awakening of Svarūpa-Siddhi: Maturity in Kṛṣṇa consciousness brings about the revelation of the living entity’s original constitution. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that the specific relationship with the Lord—whether in the mood of servitude, friendship, or conjugal love—is not something artificially imposed but is something that becomes manifest when the soul reaches its mature spiritual condition.
- Ecstatic Symptoms of Maturity: The advanced stage of love of Godhead is characterized by intense spiritual emotions. These include a profound hunger for hearing and chanting the holy name, as well as the experience of separation. Following the examples of the Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, the mature devotee relishes the highest perfection through searching for the Lord with deep transcendental feeling.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Defining the Mature Stage of Love of Godhead.
Pages in category "Mature Stage"
The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total.
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- If you once come to the stage of mature stage of love, then that perfectional stage continues eternally, and your life is successful
- In the beginning they may want the opulences of Krsna, but at the mature stage the dormant love for Krsna exhibited in Vrndavana becomes prominent in their hearts
- In the lower stage, little faith, "So here is something going on about Krsna, let us sit down and hear it," this is kanistha-sraddha. And this sraddha, faith, has to be increased. That ultimately, in the mature stage of sraddha, faith
- In the mature stage . . . just like Rupa Gosvami, he used to say that, What shall I chant with one tongue, and what shall I hear with two ears? If millions of ears I had, if millions of tongue I had, then I could chant and hear
- In the mature stage the developed transcendental feeling culminates in realization of the particular relationship with the Lord by which a living entity is originally constituted - up to the relationship of conjugal love with the Lord
- In the mature stage they (pure devotees) are actually situated in love of God. Once situated in that transcendental position, they can relish the highest perfection which is exhibited by the Lord in His abode. BG 1972 purports
- In the more mature stage of Krsna consciousness one is not affected by such conditions of material nature, being always fixed in his idea and determined to push on on Krsna's behalf despite all kinds of unfavorable circumstances
- In the preliminary stage of devotional service they (pure devotees) relish the transcendental pleasure from the service itself, and in the mature stage they are actually situated in love of God. BG 1972 purports
- In their mature stage of love of Godhead, when they were living in Vrndavana, the gosvamis would also cry - Radharani, where are You? Where are Your associates? Where are You, O son of Nanda? Where are you all. In this way they were searching after Krsna
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- The devotee constantly sees the Lord within his heart, and, in a more mature stage, one can see the same Lord directly, as we see everything else
- The Gosvamins are praying, in their mature stage, when they were living at Vrndavana, they were praying in this way: Where, Radharani, where You are? Where are Your associates? Where You are, Nanda-suno, the son of Nanda Maharaja, Krsna?
- The recommended means of attaining the mature stage of Love of God in the present age of 'Kali,' or quarrel, is to chant the Holy Name of the Lord. The easiest method for most people is to chant the Hare Krishna mantra