Permanent Ecstasy Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Mother Yasoda Binds Lord Krishna
the Most essentiaL activitY for Living entities
Circulaton 33,110
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Srila Sukadeva Goswami
Sri DamoDara LiLa
the Practice of Persons eager to reMain Krishna conscious His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the three fundaMentaL instructions froM Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura
Two Kinds Of Propensities
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
Çré Indirä Ekädaçé Issue no:194 21st September 2022
sari, with a belt tied about her full hips, mother Yasoda pulled on the churning rope, laboring considerably, her bangles and earrings moving and vibrating and her whole body shaking. Because of her intense love for her child, her breasts were wet with milk. Her face, with its very beautiful eye-brows, was wet with
perspiration, and mälaté flowers were falling from herWhilehair.mother
Sri Sukadeva Gosvami continued: One day when mother Yasoda saw that all the maid-ser vants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Krishna, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself about all thoseDressedactivities.inasaffron-yellow
Yasoda was churning butter, Lord Krishna, desiring to drink the milk of her breast, appeared before her, and in order to increase her transcendental pleasure, He caught hold of the churning rod and began to prevent her from churning. Mother Yasoda then embraced Krishna, allowed Him to sit down on her lap, and began to look upon the face of the Lord with great love and affection. Because of her intense affection, milk was flowing from her breast. But when she saw that the milk pan on the oven was boiling over, she immediately left her son to take care of the overflowing milk, although the child was not yet fully satisfied with drinking the milk of His mother’s breast. Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Krishna, with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt
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Mother Yasoda Binds Lord Krishna Srila Sukadeva Goswami
Neither Lord Brahma, nor Lord Siva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yasoda. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, the son of mother Yasoda, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but He is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-real
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-per
nityaà bhägavata-sevayä Issue no 194, Page—3 www.ibmedu.org Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya
with a piece of stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a solitaryMotherplace.Yasoda, after taking down the hot milk from the oven, returned to the churning spot, and when she saw that the container of yogurt was broken and that Krishna was not present, she concluded that the breaking of the pot was the work of Krishna. Krishna, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yasoda, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind. When Lord Sri Krishna saw His mother, stick in hand, He very quickly got down from the top of the mortar and began to flee as if very much afraid. Although yogés try to capture Him as Paramätmä by medi tation, desiring to enter into the effulgence of the Lord with great austerities and penances, they fail to reach Him. But mother Yasoda, thinking that same Personality of Godhead, Krishna, to be her son, began following Krishna to catch Him. While following Krishna, mother Yasoda, her thin waist over-burdened by her heavy breasts, naturally had to reduce her speed. Because of following Krishna very swiftly, her hair became loose, and the flowers in her hair were falling after her. Yet she did not fail to capture her son, Krishna. When caught by mother Yasoda, Krishna became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yasoda, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him.
Mother Yasoda was always overwhelmed by intense love for Krishna, not knowing who Krishna was or how powerful He was. Because of maternal affection for Krishna, she never even cared to know who He was. Therefore, when she saw that her son had become excessively afraid, she threw the stick away and desired to bind Him so that He would not commit any further naughty activities.
When mother Yasoda was trying to bind the offending child, she saw that the binding rope was short by a distance the width of two fingers. Thus she brought another rope to join to it.
vading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything. That unmanifested person, who is beyond the perception of the senses, had now appeared as a human child, and mother Yasoda, considering Him her own ordinary child, bound Him to the wooden mortar with a rope.
This new rope also was short by a measure ment of two fingers, and when another rope was joined to it, it was still two fingers too short. As many ropes as she joined, all of them failed; their shortness could not be overcome. Thus mother Yasoda joined whatever ropes were available in the household, but still she failed in her attempt to bind Krishna. Mother Yasoda’s friends, the elderly gopés in the neighborhood, were smiling and enjoying the fun. Similarly, mother Yasoda, although laboring in that way, was also smiling. All of them were struck with wonder. Because of mother Yasoda’s hard labor, her whole body be came covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Krishna saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound. O Maha raja Pariksit, this entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His devotees. This was now exhibited by Krishna in this pastime.
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the three fundaMentaL instructions froM Bhakti rasämåta sindhu Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura
The Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu gives three funda mental instructions: The first is that the devotee must immerse himself in remembering (smarana) and discussing Lord Krishna and those intimate associates of the Lord whom the devotee finds attractive and wishes to emulate. The devotee must also reside in Vrndavana dhama; if a devotee cannot be there in body, then he should be there inThespirit.second
churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remain Krishna conscious twenty-four hours a day. This incident shows how Krishna conscious mother Yasoda was. To stay in Krishna consciousness, we should follow such persons..
- Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter Nine » Verse; 2, Purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The third instruction explains that in vaidhi-bhak ti all directives for the different processes of de votion, beginning with hearing and chanting, are listed systematically according to different grades of spiritual development. The acaryas have applied in principle the same devotional procedures in raganuga-bhakti,
These three instructions analyze the different stages of raganuga bhakti in general, and now these stages will be explained in terms of kama
the Practice of Persons eager to reMain Krishna conscious His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
instruction states that a sadhaka devotee, one who has not yet attained siddhi (perfection on the path of raganuga-bhakti) must serve Lord Krishna, particularly in His Vraja pastimes. The sadhaka should do this in the circumstances he is in at the present. He must serve Krishna un der the guidance of a pure devotee who is steeped in the mood of those intimate associates of the Lord who complement the sadhaka's own spiritu al, feelings. The siddha-bhakta, a perfect devotee, serves Lord Krishna in Vraja, internally becoming absorbed in deep meditation by accepting his per fected spiritual form suitable to his type of service. Intensely yearning for the same devotional mood that Krishna's beloved associates possess, such a devotee always follows in their footsteps.
ization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self. While mother Yasoda was very busy with household affairs, the Supreme Lord, Krishna, observed twin trees known as yamala-arjuna, which in a former millennium had been the demigod sons of Kuvera. In their former birth, these two sons, known as Nalakuvara and Manigriva, were ex tremely opulent and fortunate. But because of pride and false prestige, they did not care about anyone, and thus Narada Muni cursed them to become trees.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, quoting from the Vaiñëava-toñaëé of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, says that the incident of Krishna’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dépävalé Day, or Dépa-mälikä. Even today in India, this festival is generally cel ebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kärtika by fireworks and lights, especially in Bombay. It is to be understood that among all the cows of Nanda Maharaja, several of mother Yasoda’s cows ate only grasses so flavorful that the grasses would automatically flavor the milk. Mother Yasoda wanted to collect the milk from these cows, make it into yogurt and churn it into butter personally, since she thought that this child Krishna was going to the houses of neighborhood gopas and gopés to steal butter because He did not like the milk and yogurt ordinarily prepared.
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- Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter Nine » Verses; 1-23, Translation by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktive danta Swami Prabhupada.
While churning the butter, mother Yasoda was singing about the childhood activities of Krish na. It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that mother Yasoda did not want to forget Krishna’s activities at any time. Therefore she poeticized all of Krishna’s childhood activities, such as the killing of Pütanä, Aghäsura, Çakaöäsura and Tåëävarta, and while
The next instruction '' to reside in Vrndavana" means that if it is physically impossible to do so, then the devotee must be present there in spirit. (The subject of residing in Vrndavana as a sadhaka will be automatically covered when we expand upon the second instruction.)
the quality of service, the term. vrajalokanusaratah aptly describes it as following in the footsteps of the residents of Vraja. A sadhaka devotee must serve the residents of Vraja such as Rupa Gosvami, following his devotional mood. A siddha devotee, in his siddha-deha, or eternal spiritual form, must serve the Vrajabasis like Sri Rupa Manjari, under the guidance of such Vaiñëavas as Rupa Gosvami. The Vrajabasis, whom the sadhaka devotee fol lows, have a permanent relationship with Lord Krishna in Vrndavana. Devotees such as Candrakanti and the sakhis (girlfriends), the munis of Dandakaranya mentioned in the Vamana Puräëa, and the personified Çrutis are in this category. They are good examples of Vrajabasis because of their devotional behaviour.
In the second instruction, the terms sadhaka devotee and siddha devotee, with their different devotional attitudes and statuses, are explained. The sadhaka serves according to his level of ad vancement, and the siddha serves in his revealed spiritual form according to his eternal spiritual re lationship with Krishna. Tad-bhava-lipsuna means to take shelter of dearmost Krishna, His associates and paraphernalia, and to foster the intense desire to emulate the deep devotional mood of Srimati Radhika and the other associates of the Lord. The devotee should serve the Lord using appropriate ingredients collected, either mentally for meditative service or physically for practical service. As for
The first two instructions dealt with smarana and Vrajabasa (residing in Vraja), and now the third instruction deals with hearing about the Lord and chanting the glories of the Lord, and the other devotional processes-sravanot-kirtandini. As the devotee sincerely performs sravanam and kirtanaà, he deeply laments his own inadequacy. By this humility, the devotee finds secure shelter in his guru and in the other devotional activities. Maëéñibhiù (or according to the authoritative preceptors) reiterates the point that without dili gently practising processes such as sravanam and kirtanam, one cannot obtain the protection and guidance of a Vrajabasi who is the key to a realm of new spiritual enlightenment. We can conclude that an intelligent sadhaka (madhyam adhikäré dev otee), with his personal realizations and purified consciousness assisting him, analyzes and assesses his spiritual inclinations. According to such a sad haka's conclusions, he then practises specific disciplines, carefully avoiding any activities contrary to his devotional predilection because they impede his advancement on the path of bhava-bhakti.
- Ragavartma-Candrika -Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura Translated by Sarvabhavana dasa
nuga-bhakti. Ragatmika-bhakti has two branches: sambandha-rüpa (relationship) and kama-rüpa (sensual attraction). Devotees such as Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda-mayi are in the category of sambandha-rupa, while the gopés of Vraja are in the kama-rüpa category.
Two Kinds Of Propensities
The first basic instruction that the Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu gives, “remembering Lord Krishna", advocates that in the raganuga-bhakti process the devotional aspect of remembering is of prime importance because raga is a state of mental dis cipline, or consciousness. In the Sanskrit for this instructicin, the word prestham (most beloved) refers to Lord Krishna, the Lord of Vrndavana, whose pastimes appropriately portray the devotee's own spiritual sentiments. The word janancasya de scribes the Lord's eternally, surrendered associates. In order to remove any doubt regarding who they are, the word nijasamihitam, much desired persons, has been used and this actually refers to devotees such as the Queen of Vrndavana, Srimati Radhika, Lalita-devi, Visakha-devi, and Sri Rupa Manjari. Al though Lord Krishna is the worshippable object for those pure devotees who experience the precious Jewel of bhava, it is the Lord's intimate associates, Srimati Radhika and the Vraja who possess bhava to the highest degree. Therefore, the pure devottees situated in bhava want to serve and worship such intimate associates of the Lord.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
“There are two kinds of propensities in the cultivation of devotional service: the propensity for worshiping, and the propensity for hearing, remembering etc. Even though both are reason
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able still the propensity for hearing, chanting and remembering is more prominent among the unalloyed devotees. Many great personalities perform up to some extent the act of remembrance in the course of chanting the holy names, and up to some extent the act of chanting the holy names loudly. The special benefit of loud kértana is that the pro cesses of hearing, chanting and remembering are simultaneously carried out.”
- Amåta Väëé: Nectar of Instructions of Immoratality His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada Com piled by Sripada Bhakti Mayukha Bhagavat Maharaja Adapted and Published by Isvara dasa Translated from Bengali by Bhumipati das Permanent Ecstasy Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The heart of one who is a vessel for rasa is just like a reservoir which is filled with this fluid mel low. The specific symptoms of such a rasa-laden heart are that it manifests ecstatic emotions which evolve gradually first from sraddha (faith), to nistha (steadiness), ruci (taste), asakti (attachment), then finally bhava (ecstatic emotion). This is the defini tion of what is known as rati, or affection within the realm of the transcendental loving mellow.
To develop a natural taste for the Lord is called total surrender.
When we realize the import of this verse, our lives will be successful. We associate with many sinful people every day, and this certainly increases our troubles. We must renounce bad association and thrive on good association.
(Harinäma Cintämani)
viruddhaviruddha bhava, sarvopari swa-prabhava, prakasiya loy nija-base sakaler adi-pati, haya sobha pay ati, sthayi bhava nama pay rase
We have rendered public service for many births. Animals also work hard for their fellow animals. As human beings, don’t we deserve a promotion? Everything in this world is temporary and perish able. Have we ever discussed eternal objects? The special characteristic of the human form of life is that we can discuss life after death and eternal life. Hearing and chanting hari-kathä is possible only in the human form of life, and such hearing and chanting is the only way to remember the Lord. We have no duty other than glorifying Hari. While we are alive and after death we must sing Hari’s glories. Intelligent persons chant kåñëa-kathä and fools engage in sense gratification, karma, or jïäna. The daughter of Vrsabhanu always chants Krishna’s name even though She is nondifferent from Krishna. The daughter of Vrsabhanu is the crest jewel among the intelligent. Similarly, Sri Gaurasundara is the original personality among intelligent persons.
- Bhaktivinoda Väné Vaibhäva Published by Isvara dasa
arädhanänäà sarveñäà viñëor ärädhanaà param tasmät parataraà devé tadéyänäà samarcanam
My dear Devé, although the Vedas recommend worship of demigods, the worship of Lord Visnu is topmost. However, above the worship of Lord Visnu is the rendering of service to Vaiñëavas, who are related to Lord Visnu. (Padma Puräëa)
the Most essentiaL activitY for Living entities Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
Engaging in public service by giving up Krishna’s service will only yield temporary results. Mundane welfare work does not award actual peace or even help the mind’s restlessness to subside. If the Lord favors us, then only will we receive the association of the most sanctified devotees. We are constantly attracted to sense objects based on form, taste,
raser adhara jini, tanra citta rasa khani, sei citter abastha bisese sraddha-nistha-rucyasakti, krame hoy bhava-byakti, rati name tanhar nirdese
smell, sound, and touch. We must learn how to remain in the Lord’s association.
Our most desirable object is remembrance of Hari. Our ability to remember Him will depend on our hearing and chanting. If we hear, we can chant. Remembrance will come automatically.
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“We are in trouble”: this mentality often produces taste for hearing hari-kathä. While hearing harikathä, chanting and remembering occur naturally. Whenever we glorify Hari, we remember Him.
- A Songbook of 80 Bengali Songs by Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura Translation by Dasaratha-suta dasa published by Nectar Books
The constantly flowing undercurrent of all mel lows is called sthayi bhava, or permanent ecstasy. It is the primary origin of all mellows, and it is eternally existing in great beauty and splendor. As the fountainhead of rasa, it unites all subordinate mellows and subjugates them under its own control. Thus, it exhibits the topmost manifestation of its own supreme power, which contains many inconceivably contradictory favorable and oppos ing ecstasies.
divisions: 1) five direct or primary mellows; 2) seven indirect or secondary mellows. The five direct mellows are called santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhura, or neutrality, servitude, friendship, parental affection and conjugal love, respectively.
hasyadbhuta, bira, ar, karuna o bhayanaka-bibhatsa-bibhederaudrakar, rati sapta gauni hoy, sab krsna-bhakti-moy, sobha pay raser prabhede
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mukhya-gauna-bhede tar, paricoy dvi-prakar, mukhya panca, gauna sapta-bidha santa, dasya, sakhya ar, batsalya madhura sar, ei panca rati mukhyabhida
The seven indirect mellows are known as: 1) hasya (devotional laughing attachment), 2) adbhu ta (devotional attachment fixed in wonder and as tonishment), 3) vira (chivalrous attachment with charitable and merciful tendencies), 4) karuna (attachment in compassion with lamentation), 5) raudra (devotion mixed with anger), 6) bhayanaka (devotion mixed with fear), and 7) bibhatsa (at tachment which expresses in an abominable way). All of these mellows are found in great profusion within the realm of devotional service to Krishna, and these different types of attachments exist eternally as beautiful decorations of the ever-present sthayi bhava
!! Sri Sri Nitai Gaurchandra Jayati !! BhägavataISKCONMahävidyalaya is a branch of International Society for Krishna Consciousness Founder-Acarya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Editor Brajsundar Das Copy Editor Isha Prakash Das Sanskrit Editor, Vrajsevika Devi Dasi Assistance Vamsidhari Gauri Devi Dasi Quotations from the books, letters, and lectures of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ©Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. ©All the paintings are copyrights of their respective artists.
In ascertaining the differences in the various ecstatic loving moods of this permanent ecstasy (sthayi bhava), we see that there are two principal
