Päpamocané Ekädaçé
Issue no:206
Swallowing The ForeST Fire
Swallowing The ForeST Fire
Srila Sukadeva Goswami FriendShip BeTween KriShna and Cowherd BoyS
His Divine Grace
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
18th Mar 2023
imporTanT inSTruCTionS oF
Srila rupa goSwami
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
no poSSiBiliTy oF aChieving pure devoTional ServiCe
Srila Vrindavan DasThakura
Swallowing The ForeST Fire
Srila Sukadeva Goswami
Sukadeva Goswami said: While the cowherd boys were completely absorbed in playing, their cows wandered far away. They hungered for more grass, and with no one to watch them they entered a dense forest. Passing from one part of the great forest to another, the goats, cows and buffalo eventually entered an area overgrown with sharp canes. The heat of a nearby forest fire made them thirsty, and they cried out in distress. Not seeing the cows before them, Krishna, Rama and Their cowherd friends suddenly felt repentant for having neglected them. The boys searched all around, but could not discover where they had gone. Then the boys began tracing out the cows’ path by noting their hoofprints and the blades of grass the cows had broken with their hooves and teeth. All the cowherd boys were in great anxiety because they had lost their source of livelihood. Within the Munjaforest the cowherd boys finally found their valuable cows, who had lost their way and were crying. Then the boys, thirsty and tired, herded the cows onto the path back home. The Supreme Personality of Godhead called out to the animals in a voice that resounded like a rumbling cloud. Hearing the sound of their own names, the cows were overjoyed and called out to the Lord in reply.
Suddenly a great forest fire appeared on all sides, threatening to destroy all the forest creatures. Like a chariot driver, the wind swept the fire onward, and terrible sparks shot in all directions. Indeed, the great fire extended its tongues of flame toward all moving and non-moving creatures. As the cows and cowherd boys stared at the forest fire attacking them on all sides, they became fearful. The boys then approached Krishna and Balarama for shelter, just as those who are disturbed by fear of death approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The boys addressed Them as follows. [The cowherd boys said:] O Krishna! Krishna! Most powerful one! O Rama! You whose prowess never fails! Please save Your devotees, who are about to be burned by this forest fire and have come to take shelter of You! Krishna! Certainly Your own friends shouldn’t be destroyed. O knower of the
nature of all things, we have accepted You as our Lord, and we are souls surrendered unto You!
Sukadeva Goswami said: Hearing these pitiful words from His friends, the Supreme Lord Krishna told them, “Just close your eyes and do not be afraid.” “All right,” the boys replied, and immediately closed their eyes. Then the Supreme Lord, the master of all mystic power, opened His mouth and swallowed the terrible fire, saving His friends from danger. The cowherd boys opened their eyes and were amazed to find not only that they and the cows had been saved from the terrible fire but that they had all been brought back to the Bhandira forest. When the cowherd boys saw that they had been saved from the forest fire by the Lord’s mystic power, which is manifested by His internal potency, they began to think that Krishna must be a demigod.
It was now late in the afternoon, and Lord Krishna, accompanied by Balarama, turned the cows back toward home. Playing His flute in a special way, Krishna returned to the cowherd village in the company of His cowherd friends, who chanted His glories. The young gopés took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda come home, since for them even a moment without His association seemed like a hundred ages.
- Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter Nineteen » Verses: 1-16 » Translations by Disciples of His Divine Grace
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
FriendShip BeTween KriShna and Cowherd BoyS
His Divine Grace
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The cowherd boys of Vrndavana simply loved Krishna as their only friend and exclusive object of devotion. To increase their ecstasy, Krishna displayed to them His mystic potency and saved them from a terrible forest fire.
The cowherd boys could never give up their ecstatic loving friendship with Krishna. Therefore, rather than considering Krishna to be God, after they saw His extraordinary power they thought that perhaps He was a demigod. But since Lord Krishna was their beloved friend, they were on the same level with Him, and thus they thought
that they too must be demigods. In this way Krishna's cowherd friends became overwhelmed with ecstasy.
- Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter Nineteen » Verse: 14 » Translations by Disciples of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
imporTanT inSTruCTionS oF
Srila rupa goSwami
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
The eighth instruction of Srila Rupa Prabhu is the essence of all instructions. It is as follows:
tan-näma-rüpa-caritädi-sukértanänusmåtyoù krameëa rasanä-manasé niyojya tiñöhan vraje tad-anurägi janänugämé kälaà nayed akhilam ity upadeça-säram
The essence of all advice is that one should utilize one’s full time twenty-four hours a day, in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord’s divine name, transcendental form, qualities, and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one’s tongue and mind. In this way, one should reside in Vraja [Goloka Vrndavana dhama] and serve Krishna under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service. We have to always remain subordinate to the Vrajaväsés. The banks of Yamuna, the playground for Krishna’s amorous pastimes, the waters of the Yamuna, the cows, sticks, horns, and flutes are all Vrajaväsés. They are Vrajaväsés on the platform of çänta-rasa. Raktaka, Citraka, Patraka, and others are Vrajaväsés on the platform of däsya-rasa. Externally making a show of residing in Vraja while thinking internally about material enjoyment unrelated to Krishna cannot be called vrajaväsa, living in Vraja. Vrajaväsés are those who cannot engage in anything other than Krishna’s service even in their dreams or while unconscious, and who have natural attachment for Krishna. If one is unable to physically live in Vraja, he should live there mentally. This means that he must always keep his mind absorbed in thoughts of Vraja. One has to give up both material enjoyment and dry renunciation. According to Çrémad-Bhägavatam, an attached householder and a staunch, dry renunciant cannot worship Hari.
We have to follow the gradual path. We must start with hearing the holy names and kåñëa-kathä. Krishna’s holy name reveals Himself as the Lord’s forms, qualities, pastimes, and associates. After hearing, we have to act accordingly. We have to constantly chant whatever we have heard. Then the state of remembrance will come. There are five kinds of remembrance. The final stage of remembrance is called samädhi, uninterrupted remembrance. After the stage of remembrance one attains the stage of self-realization, after which one attains the ultimate goal of life and goes back to Godhead.
One must properly glorify the Lord’s name, form, and characteristics. One will not yield any result if one simply makes a pretense of glorifying the Lord. Çrémad-Bhägavatam (2.8.4) states:
çåëvataùçraddhayä nityaà, gåëataç ca sva-ceñöitam kälena nätidérgheëa, bhagavän viçate hådi
Persons who hear Çrémad-Bhägavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Çré Krishna manifested in their hearts within a short time.
Trying to artificially remember the Lord by giving up one’s chanting is not real remembrance. The pretension of remembrance without chanting will leave one meditating on sense objects. The çästras have described two paths, the path of çreyas and the path of preyas. That which we like is the path of preyas, and that which we don’t like is the path of çreyas. When çreyas and preyas merge, our hearts will rush toward Sri Radha-Krishna’ service. In that stage çreyas appears as preyas and preyas as çreyas. This is how exalted devotees think.
The phrase tad anurägi in the original verse refers to the Vrajaväsés who are deeply attached to the Lord. The cows, sticks, horns, flute, kadamba trees, and the banks of the Yamuna are deeply attached Vrajaväsés in çänta-rasa. Raktaka, Citraka, and Patraka, who are Nanda’s house servants and who serve Krishna when He returns from the pasturing ground, are deeply attached Vrajaväsés in däsya-rasa. Friends like Sridama or Sudama are deeply attached Vrajaväsés of viçrambha-sakhya-rasa, friendship with love. Arjuna’s idea of the Lord is mixed with knowledge of His godhood and is therefore not pure friendship. There is a difference between
viçrambha-sakhya-rasa and gaurava-sakhya-rasa (friendship with awe and reverence). On the platform of viçrambha-sakhya-rasa, Krishna’s friends will climb on Krishna’s shoulders, feed Him contaminated tala fruits in the Talavana forest, fight with Him, and compel Him to carry them on His shoulders. But Arjuna is struck with wonder when he sees Krishna’s universal form. He says, “O Lord! You are so opulent and great. I have committed an offense by addressing You as friend. Please forgive me.” He spoke like this because he was overwhelmed by Krishna’s opulence.
Personalities like Nanda and Yasoda are deeply attached Vrajaväsés in vätsalya-rasa. Raghupati Upadhyaya, a disciple of Sri Madhavendra Puri said:
çrutim apare småtim itare bhäratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhétäù aham iha nandaà vande
yasyälinde paraà brahma
Those who are afraid of material existence worship the Vedic literature. Some worship småti, the corollaries to the Vedic literature, and others worship the Mahäbhärata. As far as I am concerned, I worship Krishna’s father, Maharaja Nanda, in whose courtyard the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is playing.
(Padyävali 126)
The Vrajagopés are deeply attached Vrajaväsés in the topmost mädhurya-rasa. When the gopés, who were afflicted by separation from Krishna met Him at Kurukñetra during the solar eclipse, they said:
ähuç ca te nalina-näbha padäravindaà yogeçvarair hådi vicintyam agädha-bodhaiù saàsära-küpa-patitottaraëävalambaà gehaà juñäm api manasy udiyät sadä naù
Dear Lord whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogés and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs. (Çrémad Bhagavatam 10.82.48)
Materialists are motivated by a desire to become liberated from material existence. Renunciant yogés practice meditation to realize the subtle object. Surpassing these considerations is the topmost platform of devotional service found in the gopés of Vraja. The gopés are not prepared to serve Krishna from a distance like the yogés who practice meditation. Their meditation is spontaneous and natural.
These above mentioned five kinds of rasas are found in Goloka and in the Vraja of this world. In Vaikuëöha there are two and half kinds of rasas, çänta, däsya, and gaurava-sakhya Viçrambha-sakhya does not exist there.
In Sri Rupa Prabhu’s ninth instruction, he determines the best place to perform bhajana as follows:
vaikuëöhäj janito varä madhu-puré
taträpi räsotsaväd
våndäraëyam udära-päëi-ramaëät taträpi govardhanaù
rädhä-kuëòam ihäpi gokula-pateù
premämåtäplävanät
kuryäd asya viräjato giri-taöe
seväà viveké na kaù
The holy place known as Maöhura is spiritually superior to Vaikuëöha, the transcendental world, because the Lord appeared there. Superior to Maöhurapuri is the transcendental forest of Vrndavana, because of Krishna’s räsa-lélä pastimes. And superior to the forest of Vrndavana is Govardhana Hill, for it was raised by the divine hand of Sri Krishna and was the site of His various loving pastimes. And, above all, the superexcellent Sri Radha-kunda stands supreme, for it is over-flooded with the ambrosial nectarean prema of the Lord of Gokula, Sri Krishna. Where, then, is that intelligent person who is unwilling to serve this divine Radha Kunda, which is situated at the foot of Govardhana Hill?
As the surrendered maidservants of Sri Radha, we have to constantly live on the banks of Radha Kunda. In the conception of Narayana there is no existence of father and mother. Narayana is unborn. But when that unborn Lord appears as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva in Mathura, He performs the pastime of taking birth. The Lord of
Vaikuntha is unborn. But since that unborn Lord, due to His inconceivable potency, manifested His pastime of taking birth, His position as the Supreme Lord becomes more glorious. Therefore Mathura is superior to Vaikuntha.
Lord Krishna appears in the pure mind of a practitioner. That pure mind is also Mathura. Many people consider Maöhura a mythical place, a place described in fairy tales. Doing so denies Krishna’s inconceivable potency. By His inconceivable potency Mathura appears along with Krishna in this material world.
Vrndavana, where Krishna enjoyed the räsa lélä, is superior to Mathura, where Krishna took birth. Caitanya-caritämåta (Ädi 1.17) states:
çrémän räsa-rasärambhé vaàçévaöa-taöa-sthitaù
karñan veëu-svanair gopér gopé-näthaùçriye ’stu naù
Sri Srila Gopinatha, who originated the transcendental mellow of the räsa dance, stands on the shore in Vamsivata and attracts the attention of the cowherd damsels with the sound of His celebrated flute. May They all confer upon us Their benedictions.
In Mathura Krishna enjoys His pastimes as an immature boy. In the räsa-lélä arena He is a mature boy. Krishna enjoyed the räsa lélä pastimes with His different types of gopé friends. When Sri Radha arrived and saw that the special characteristics of Her service could not be exhibited in a räsa-lélä that included so many types of gopés, She left the arena and went to Govardhana. Candravali also arrived. When Sri Radha saw Sri Krishna sitting inside a cave at Govardhana with Candravali, She became very upset. After tactfully deceiving Candravali’s messenger Saibya, Radha's gopé friends, Tulasi, Dhanistha, and others, sent Candravali to Sakhisthali. That is why Srila Dasa Gosvami Prabhupada, who was a staunch follower of Sri Rupa, offered his obeisances to Sakhisthali from a distance. After deceiving Candravali, Sri Radha's followers brought Syamasundara to Radha Kunda.
Sri Govardhana, where Sri Radha-Krishna’s most confidential amorous pastimes take place, is superior to Vrndavana. In his prayer to Sri Govardhana, Srila Raghunatha dasa
Gosvami wrote ( Stavävalé, Vol. 1, text 6):
yasyäm-mädhava-näviko
rasavatém ädhäya rädhäm-tarau
madhye caïcala-keli-päta-valanät träsaiù stuvatyäs tataù
sväbhiñöham-paëam ädadhe
vahati sä yasmin mano-jähnavé
kas tam-tan nava-dam-pati-pratibhuvam-govardhanam-näçrayet
Who will not take shelter of Govardhana Hill, where the divine couple enjoy Their rescue-fee pastimes, and where the Manasa-ganga flows? In the Manasa-ganga the pilot Madhava took sweetly beautiful Radha on His boat, and when She, frightened by a great storm, prayed that He calm it, He claimed from Her as a rescue-fee the fulfillment of His amorous desires.
Radha-kunda is superior to Govardhana because it is flooded fully with nectarean love of Sri Krishna. Sri Rupa-manjari, who understood Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s confidential intention, instructed that service to Radha-kunda, the highest object of Sri Gaurahari’s internal mood, is the ultimate goal of all service. Sri Radha-kunda is totally incomprehensible and unattainable by followers of the Nimbarka-sampradaya, by the followers of any sampradäya under Candravalis guidance, and by the so-called followers of mädhurya-rasa who are devoid of devotion to Gaura. Therefore Srila Dasa Gosvami wrote in his prayer to Sri Radha-kunda (Stavävalé text 2)
vraja-bhuvi mura-çatroù preyasénäà nikämair
asulabham api türëaà prema-kalpa-drumaà tam
janayati hådi bhümau
snätur uccair priyaà yat tad ati-surabhi rädhä-kuëòam eväçrayo me
May very dear and fragrant Radha Kunda, which, for one who bathes in it immediately creates in the land of the heart a desire tree of pure love rare even among the gopé beloveds of Lord Krishna in Vraja, be my shelter.
In his tenth instruction Sri Rupa Gosvami has ascertained who among the devotees is the best:
karmibhyaù parito hareù
priyatayä vyaktià yayur jïäninas
tebhyo jïäna-vimukta-bhakti-paramäù
premaika-niñöhäs tataù
tebhyas täù paçu-päla-paìkaja-dåças
täbhyo ’pi sä rädhikä
preñöhä tadvad iyaà tadéya-sarasé
täà näçrayet kaù kåté
In the çästra it is said that of all types of fruitive workers, he who is advanced in knowledge of the higher values of life is favored by the Supreme Lord Hari. Out of many such people who are advanced in knowledge [jïänés], one who is practically liberated by virtue of his knowledge may take to devotional service. He is superior to the others. However, one who has actually attained prema, pure love of Krishna, is superior to him. The gopés are exalted above all the advanced devotees because they are always totally dependent upon Sri Krishna, the transcendental cowherd boy. Among the gopés, Srimati Radharani is the most dear to Krishna. Her kunda [lake] is as profoundly dear to Lord Krishna as this most beloved of the gopés. Who, then, will not reside at Radha-kunda, and in a spiritual body surcharged with ecstatic devotional feelings [apräkåta-bhäva], render loving service to the divine couple Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, who perform Their añöa-käléya-lélä, Their eternal eightfold daily pastimes. Indeed, those who execute devotional service on the banks of Radha-kunda are the most fortunate people in the universe.
Only the most fortunate live in the most sanctified place, Sri Radha-kunda, with pure hearts, and worship Krishna twenty-four hours a day. Sri Radha-kunda is the topmost section of Goloka, the most confidential place in the spiritual sky, and the only shelter for devotees on the platform of mädhurya-rasa. Planets like Bhü, Bhüvaù, and Svaù are meant for ambitious householders. Above them are planets like Mahar, Jana, Tapa, and Satya, which are meant for the celibates. Upakurvaëa-brahmacärés live in Maharloka, naiñöhika-brahmacärés attain Janaloka, vänaprasthas attain Tapaloka, and sannyäsés enjoy in Satyaloka. Bhagavad-gétä (8.16) confirms:
ä-brahma-bhuvanäl lokäù punar ävartino ’rjuna mäm upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.
The ecstatic spiritual abode of Vaikuntha is rarely attained even by liberated souls. The Lord’s devotees who are free from material desire at once attain that abode after leaving their material bodies. Mathura is superior to Vaikuntha, Vrndavana, the abode of the räsa-lélä, is superior to Mathura, Govardhana is superior to Vrndavana, and Radha-kunda is the best of all.
Srila Sanatana Gosvami Prabhu’s explanation that the Lord’s abode is three-fourths of the creation is most scientific. The impersonal Brahman is situated beyond the Causal Ocean. Impersonalists think that ultimately there is nothing there. They think all the “imaginary” gods as well as the imaginary form of Brahman will be merged, having become one. The Hayaçérña Pancarätra states:
yä yäçrutir jalpati nirviçeñaà, sä säbhidhatte sa-viçeñam eva vicära-yoge sati hanta täsäà präyo baléyaù sa-viçeñam eva
Whatever Vedic mantras describe the Absolute Truth impersonally only prove in the end that the Absolute Truth is a person. The Supreme Lord is understood in two features, impersonal and personal. If one considers the Supreme Personality of Godhead in both features, he can actually understand the Absolute Truth. He knows that the personal understanding is stronger because he can see that everything is full of variety. No one can see anything that is not full of variety.
Sriman Mahaprabhu says:
nirviçeña’ täìre kahe yei çruti-gaëa präkåta’ niñedhi kare ’apräkåta’ sthäpana
Wherever there is an impersonal description in the Vedas, the Vedas mean to establish that everything belonging to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental and free of mundane
characteristics. (Caitanya-caritämåta Madhya 6.141)
Since they think they have defeated material variegatedness, spiritual variegatedness must similarly be rejected. Because they think spiritual variegatedness must be as illusory as material variegatedness, those who pursue this philosophy are called Mäyävädés. The abode of the impersonal Brahman lies on the other side of the Causal Ocean. The concept of the Brahman effulgence arises after washing off the three modes of material nature. But jyotir abhyantate rupaà atulaàçyämasundaraà: “Within that effulgence is the beautiful and unique form of Lord Syamasundara.”
Vaikuntha possesses spiritual variegatedness. There are two and half rasas found there. The Supreme Lord is omnipotent; both matter and spirit are under His control. This is the philosophy taught by Sri Ramanuja. The Lord is the proprietor of the material and spiritual energies.
no poSSiBiliTy oF aChieving pure devoTional ServiCe
Srila Vrindavan DasThakura
There is no possibility of achieving pure devotional service by either karma or jïäna. Considering the qualification of those who cannot or do not desire to surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord, the Lord has inaugurated the processes of karma and jïäna in this world. The conditioned souls wander throughout the universe while following karma and jïäna. It is generally found that such persons have no qualification for achieving devotional service to the Lord. But when the desires for material enjoyment or liberation of persons who are on the platform of devotional service mixed respectively with karma or jïäna are gradually uprooted, then by the influence of pure devotional service they can attain eternal supreme auspiciousness. Without surrender, neither the karmis nor the jïänés are qualified for the service of the Lord. The devotees of the Lord are constantly endeavoring to achieve the eternally relishable service of the Lord. They are never prepared to serve any temporary, mundane, enjoyable object that is not
related to the Lord. The Lord awards one the qualification to serve Him according to one’s service attitude. One should not misunderstand from this that the conditioned souls may treat the Supreme Lord as a servant or independently subjugate Him by considering Him a controlled instrument for fulfilling one’s illicit desires and expect that the Lord will serve such an atheist as a so-called servant. Rather, one must remember that in order to encourage the demoniac propensity of being completely controlled by the mundane fruitive activities of living entities averse to the Lord from time immemorial—in other words, in order to deceive and bewilder the godless living entities—the Lord has engaged His external energy, mäyä, on the pretext of facilitating such living entities. Due to illusion the conditioned soul accepts the illusory energy of the Lord as an object of enjoyment, as dear, as related to him, and as worshipable and thus embraces misconceptions about the Absolute Truth, and in this way, rather than worshiping the Lord, he becomes intoxicated with the desire to enjoy the fruits of his karma. If one engages in the uninterrupted and unmotivated devotional service of the Supreme Lord, who is eternally worshipable, the proprietor of mäyä, and beyond the reach of material perception, then such a fortunate living entity no longer maintains the propensity or desire for serving temporary, separated, material objects. Then, on the pretext of accepting service from His unalloyed devotee, the Lord also serves His own devotee. Lord Sri Gaurasundara enacted the pastime of drinking the water that had washed the feet of a brähmaëa in order to teach and glorify the propensity for serving the Lord of brähmaëas who have given up temporary, abominable material pride, who have become tåëäd api sunéca and taror api sahiñëunä, and who have accepted the transcendental water that has washed the lotus feet of the eternal Lord Sri Caitanyacandra as the only drinkable substance in the entire creation. Being bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord, the smärtas and präkåta-sahajiyäs, who are averse to the Lord and baffled by mäyä, consider that pure brähmaëas under the shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya and demoniac brähmaëas who are averse to Hari, Guru, and Vaiñëava and opposed to Sri Caitanya are equal; in other words, they consider that so-called brähmaëas who are actually kåpaëas, travelers on the path to hell,
absorbed in illusory activities not related to the Lord, and devoid of spiritual knowledge regarding the inexhaustible, infallible Lord and brähmaëas who are worshipers of the nondual Lord are of the same platform; but Sri Gaurasundara displays the proper conclusion of the verse: çva-päkam iva nekñeta loke vipram avaiñëavam—“If a person born in a brähmaëa family is an a vaiñëava, a nondevotee, one should not see his face, exactly as one should not look upon the face of a caëòäla, or dog-eater,” and as a bona fide spiritual master, He brings eternal auspiciousness to those präkåta-sahajiyäs and smärtas by opening their eyes, which are covered by the darkness of ignorance. While distorting the meaning of the Bhagavad-gétä (Bg 4.11) verse: ye yathä mäà prapadyante täàs tathaiva bhajämy aham, persons who do not follow Vedic principles, who commit mistakes, who are duplicitous, intoxicated, short-sighted, habituated to cheating others, and expert in material knowledge exhibit a type of foolishness that simply results in distortion and change of the actual meaning. They are indifferent to understanding the meaning of the word prapanna, or surrender, and consider proud non-Vaiñëava living entities who are devoid of surrender on the same platform as surrendered Vaiñëavas. They are fully engaged in activities that are detrimental to the neophytes of this world who are ignorant of scriptural conclusions, in other words, they ruin them. Only those devotees who are nonduplicitous, surrendered worshipers of the Lord are qualified to serve the Lord, and the Lord also reciprocates by awarding His own rare, loving devotional service to such liberated souls. The Lord never reciprocates with deceitful, nondevoted persons who desire liberation. In Çrémad Bhägavatam (5.6.18) it is stated:
astv evam aìga bhagavän bhajatäà mukundo muktià dadäti karhicit sma na bhakti-yogam
“Therefore, O King, those engaged in getting the Lord’s favor attain liberation from the Lord very easily, but He does not very easily give the opportunity to render direct service unto Him.” Mäyä, as the Lord’s maidservant, bewilders the averse living entities into accepting the Supreme Lord as a product of matter, while in fact she is further
increasing the averse living entities’ entanglement in the material modes of nature.
Five types of devotional rasas are exchanged between the devotees and the worshipable Lord, who is beyond the perception of material senses and the only viñaya, or object, of all rasas. The Lord, as the viñaya, can favorably accept any one of five types of rasas. In His form of Narayana, the Lord accepts two and half types of rasas çänta (neutrality), däsya (servitorship), and gaurava-sakhya (friendship in awe and veneration)—from His devotees on the path of regulative devotional service, and as Vrajendra-nandana Krishna He accepts the other two and half superior rasas viçrambha-sakhya (friendship in equality), vätsalya (parental), and madhura (conjugal)—from His devotees on the path of anuräga, or attachment. In this way He awards any one of the above-mentioned five rasas to His devotees on the path of attachment and thus exhibits His qualities of bhakta-vätsalya, affection for His devotees, and bhakta-premädhénatva, being controlled by the love of His devotees.
Bhägavata Mahävidyalaya is a branch of International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder-Acarya: His Divine Grace
A.C. BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada Editor
Brajsunder Das
Copy Editor
Isha Prakash Das
Quotations from the books, letters, and lectures of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada ©Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. ©All the paintings are copyrights of their respective artists.