Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 28 - Existential Ecstatic Love
Pages in category "The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 28 - Existential Ecstatic Love"
The following 113 pages are in this category, out of 113 total.
A
- A similar example of becoming stunned was visible in Arjuna when he saw that Asvatthama was attempting to release his brahmastra at Krsna
- Abhimanyu did not like Radharani's association with Krsna, and therefore when Raktak saw Krsna in the dress of Abhimanyu and thus mistook His identity, he began to strongly rebuke Him
- 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
- All these symptoms are listed under the dried-up existential condition known as smoky, and they are exhibited in different ways
- Although there is no need to describe these reflections of ecstatic love, Rupa Gosvami gives some instances where there is no actual devotional service and such expressions are manifested
- An example of perspiring because of jubilation is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam. One gopi addressed Radharani thusly
- An example of shedding tears because of anger was exhibited by Bhima when he saw that Sisupala was insulting Krsna in the raja-suya arena of sacrifice
- Another example of being stunned took place when Krsna was surrounded by various wrestlers in the sacrificial arena of Kamsa. His mother, Devaki,* then became stunned, and her eyes dried up when she saw Krsna amongst the wrestlers
- As soon as Raktak finally understood that it was Krsna in the dress of Abhimanyu, he began perspiring. This perspiration was caused by fearfulness
- Astonishment caused by lamentation is exemplified when Krsna was entering into the belly of the Bakasura demon and all the demigods from higher planets became stunned with lamentation
- At sixteen years of age He returned to Mathura (where Devaki had given birth to Him) and vanquished Kamsa in the arena mentioned here
B
- Bhima wanted to kill Sisupala immediately (because Sisupala was insulting Krsna), but because Krsna did not order him to do so, he became morose with anger
- Burnt existential ecstatic love is divided into three
- Burnt existential ecstatic love is divided into three, and one example is as follows: One day, Mother Yasoda was dreaming that the gigantic demon, Putana, was lying on the courtyard of her house, and she immediately became anxious to seek out Krsna
F
- 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
- Faltering of the voice resulting from wonder was exhibited by Brahma. It is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto, 13th Chapter, 59th verse that, after bowing down before Lord Krsna, when Brahma began to rise he prayed to the Lord in a faltering voice
G
- Gopi addressed the earth "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 did you first get these symptoms?"
- Gopi addressed the earth, "Are you enjoying this jubilation since you were touched by the incarnation of Vamana or since you were delivered by the incarnation of Varaha?"
- Gopis addressed the earth and began to say, "My dear earthly planet, how many austerities and penances you must have undergone to have the lotus feet of Krsna always touching your surface"
- Gopis said, "My dear Krsna, due to separation from You, all of the denizens of Vrndavana have changed their color. And because of this change of color even the great sage Narada was thinking of Vrndavana as a white island in the ocean of milk
I
- If the color change takes place due to excessive jubilation, the hue turns red. Because such change of color is so rare, Srila Rupa Gosvami does not further discuss this point
- Impersonalists also sometimes chant the Hare Krsna 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
- 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
- In order to protect the divine baby from Devaki's brother, Kamsa, Vasudeva delivered Krsna to Nanda and mother Yasoda in Vrndavana, and it was there that He exhibited His childhood pastimes
- In the evening, when the moon is slightly covered by a thin cloud, it looks very nice, and when Bhima was shedding tears on account of his anger, he also looked very nice
- In the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Chapter 68, verse 23, there is a nice example of Rukmini shedding tears of lamentation
- In the Tenth Canto, 29th Chapter, 27th verse, another example of faltering of the voice was exhibited by the gopis when they came to Krsna, desiring to dance with Him
- In the Tenth Canto, 39th Chapter, 48th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam a faltering voice due to jubilation was exhibited by Akrura when he was shown all of the Vaikuntha planets resting within the River Yamuna
- In this condition of pralaya one sometimes falls down on the ground, and all the symptoms of ecstatic love become manifest
- Indirect moistened existential ecstatic love is described in the following statement: Krsna, who is also called Purusottama, is to the eyes of Mother Yasoda just like the cloud is to the eyes of the cataki bird
- It is described that there were hot tears covering his (Bhima's) eyes, as a thin cloud sometimes covers the evening moon
K
- Krsna asked them to go back to their husbands and homes. The gopis apparently became very angry and began to talk to Krsna with faltering voices
- Krsna would sometimes perform mock fighting along with the cowherd boys. When Krsna blew His horn in this mock fighting, Sridama, who was on the opposing side, felt his bodily hairs stand up
- Krsna'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"
- Krsna's friends told Him, "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"
M
- Moist existential ecstatic love aroused in connection with Krsna is divided into two: direct and indirect
- My dear King, when the gopis were missing Krsna, 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
- My dear Pitambara, because of separation from You (Krsna) all the residents of Goloka Vrndavana are perspiring. They are lamenting with different words, and their eyes have become moistened with tears. Actually, all of them are in great confusion
N
O
- One devotee said, "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"
- One gopi addressed Radharani thusly: "My dear Radharani, You are rebuking the sunshine unnecessarily, but I can understand that You are perspiring only because of Your becoming too lusty at seeing Krsna"
- One gopis said to another, "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 Krsna without any doubt"
- 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
- 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
P
- Perspiration caused by fearfulness was exhibited by Raktak, one of the servants of Krsna. One day Krsna dressed Himself just like Abhimanyu, the husband of Radharani
- Perspiration due to anger was exhibited by Garuda. Once the heavenly king, Indra, was sending torrents of rain over Vrndavana. Garuda was observing the incident from above the clouds, and because of his anger, he began perspiring
R
- Radharani trembled as She told one of the gopis, "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"
- Radharani was weaving a garland of kunda flowers, and upon hearing the vibration of Krsna's flute, She immediately stopped Her work. This is an example of direct moistened existential ecstatic love
- Rupa Gosvami 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
S
- 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
- Sometimes in Varanasi, a holy city for impersonalist scholars, there may be seen a sannyasi crying from hearing the glories of the Lord
- Sometimes it is found that a nondevotee who has practically no taste for Krsna and who follows no rules or regulations can, by practice, make a show of devotional symptoms, even crying in an assembly of devotees
- 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
- Sometimes, due to great aggrievement caused by the dealings of Krsna, the body changes color
- Sometimes, while participating in ceremonies celebrating Krsna's pastimes, or in the society of devotees, there is dancing ecstasy. Such sentiments are called blazing
- Sri Rupa Gosvami says in this connection that when the symptoms of ecstatic love become the most bright, that stage is accepted as mahabhava
- Srila Rupa Gosvami further analyzes the ecstatic loving expression into four divisions which are called sattvabhasa
- Srila Rupa Gosvami remarks that when various symptoms become manifest very prominently, the devotee's condition can be called the brightest. For example, a friend of Krsna addressed Him as follows
- Such nondevotees are not actually melted; they are hard-hearted. But the influence of the glories of the Lord is so great that even the nondevotees sometimes shed tears
T
- The brahmastra was a nuclear weapon controlled by mantra, or sound vibration
- The chanting of Hare Krsna, is so nice and transcendental that it will eventually melt even the hearts of persons who are impersonalists. Rupa Gosvami says that the impersonalists' symptoms are simply reflections of ecstatic love, not the real thing
- 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
- The shedding of tears, however, sometimes makes the eyes become swollen and whitish, and sometimes the lenses of the eyes become differently focused
- The standing up of hair on the body resulting from jubilation is described in the Tenth Canto, 30th Chapter, 9th verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam in connection with the gopis engaged in the rasa dance
- The standing up of hair on the body was manifested when Mother Yasoda found within Krsna's mouth all of the universal planetary systems
- The symptom of becoming 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
- The symptoms originating from such existential ecstatic love are divided into three headings - namely, moist, burnt and dried-up
- There are also instances of pralaya in distress. One such example is described in the Tenth Canto, 39th Chapter, 14th verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam, where Sukadeva Gosvami tells King Pariksit
- 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 bodily colors, shedding tears, and devastation
- There is a passage in the Hari-vamsa wherein Satyabhama begins to shed tears because of her great affection for Krsna
- There is a supreme symptom of ecstatic love which is called mahabhava
- 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
- These symptoms signify that although the gopis' business was not finished, they had become stunned with ecstatic love
- These three degrees (smoky, blazing and shining) are experienced for many, many years and extend to different parts of the body
- 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
- This mahabhava expression was possible only in Radharani, but later on when Sri Krsna Caitanya appeared to feel the mode of love of Radharani, He also expressed all of the symptoms of mahabhava
- This shedding of tears is not actually an ecstatic loving expression, however. It is done simply by practice
- This type of symptom (smoky condition) was experienced by Priest Gargamuni, who was performing some ritualistic ceremony in the house of Nanda Maharaj
- Trembling of the body was also exhibited by Radharani out of tribulation
- Trembling of the body was exhibited in Sahadeva, the younger brother of Nakula. When Sisupala was vehemently blaspheming the Lord, Sahadeva began to tremble out of anger
U
- Uddhava said, "When Krsna left the greenhouse, the gopis were seeing Krsna so ecstatically that it was as though both their minds and eyes were following Him"
- 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
W
- When a devotee is always intensely affected by love for Krsna in a direct relationship with Him - or even a little apart from Him - his status is called existential ecstatic love
- 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
- When Akrura understood that Krsna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he bowed his head to Krsna'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
- When Arjuna saw Krsna in His gigantic universal form, there was a standing of the hairs on his body
- When Brahma understood that this cowherd boy was the SPG, he became stunned. All of his sensual activities became stopped upon seeing all the cowherd boys again, along with Krsna. He was so stunned that he appeared to be a golden statue with four heads
- When he heard about Krsna's killing of the Aghasura 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 I heard the sound of Krsna's flute, I tried to hide myself from the reaction of the vibrations. But still I could not check the trembling of my body
- When Krsna and Balarama were present in the arena of Kamsa, Kamsa's body changed color. Similarly, Indra's face changed color when he saw that Krsna was protecting all the denizens of Braja by lifting Govardhan Hill
- When Krsna and Rukmini were talking, Rukmini became frightened of separation from Krsna, and therefore she began scratching the earth with her red, lotus-like nails
- When Krsna had been brought to Mathura, mother Yasoda, being very anxious and angry, began to rebuke the King of Mathura
- When Krsna left Vrndavana, Subala, His intimate friend, decided to leave also. While leaving, Subala was contemplating that without Krsna there was no longer any pleasure to be found in Vrndavana
- When Krsna was going to Mathura on the chariot driven by Akrura, Yasoda & all the gopis came to try to forbid Him to pass. At that time Radharani was so perturbed that in a faltering voice, She requested Mother Yasoda to please stop Akrura
- When Krsna was trying to capture the demon Sankha, Radharani began trembling out of fearfulness
- When several such ecstatic symptoms are visible, the condition is called blazing. For example, some of Krsna's friends told Him
- When she was shedding tears, the black ointment from her eyes was dripping, along with the tears, onto her breasts, which were covered with kunkum powder. Rukmini was so aggrieved that her voice was choked up
- When similar symptoms were manifest in the body of Srimati Radharani, some of Her friends criticized Her: "My dear friend, You are blaming the flavor of the flowers for the tears in Your eyes"
- 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
- When the gopis were searching after Krsna & all of a sudden He came out from the bushes & creepers, all of them became stunned & almost senseless. In this state the gopis appeared very beautiful. This is an example of pralaya, or devastation in happiness
- When the lotus-eyed Rukmini, the first queen of Krsna in Dvaraka, was shedding tears out of ecstatic jubilation, she did not like the tears
- When the residents of Braja found that Krsna had lifted Govardhan Hill with His left hand, they became stunned
- When the sage Narada saw Lord Krsna standing before him, his body became so stunned that he stopped playing on his vina. Because of his faltering voice he could not offer any prayers to Krsna, and his eyes became filled with tears
- When the same 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
- When the throat is choked up because of a faltering voice, there may be a sound like "ghra." Such sounds choke up the voice, and with extreme mental anxiety they may manifest in different ways
- 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 there are manifestations of ecstatic symptoms in the body of a nondevotee, these are called dried-up symptoms of ecstatic love
- When Uddhava was describing Krsna's pastimes to Vidura, he said, "One day the gopis became stunned when Krsna, in the dress of a gardening maid, entered the greenhouse and enlivened them with joking and laughter"
Y
- Yasoda had asked Krsna to open His mouth wide just to see whether He had eaten dirt. But when Krsna 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
- 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 Krsna