The Epitome of Sweetness
It you want to experience the ultimate in sweetness, that which is the most relishable, beyond which there is nothing more relishable, you have come to the right place. This sweetest of all sweet things, the epitome of sweetness, is described very beautifully and poetically by Bilvamangala Thakur in text 92 of his Krishna-Karnamrita (as quoted in the Caitanya Caritamrita):
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuram
madhu-gandhi mṛdu-smitam etad aho
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuram
“The transcendental body of Krishna is very sweet, and His face is even sweeter than His body. But His soft smile, which has the fragrance of honey, is sweeter still."
Krishna's Smile is the Sweetest
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I read today morning the below paragraph from the Teachings of Lord Caitanya:
"Since all the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi, Vrịndavana, are very dear to Krishna, a devotee selects one of the inhabitants and follows in his footsteps in order to be successful in his own devotional service. A pure devotee who is attached to the Lord always follows in the footsteps of a personality of Vrajabhumi. It is advised in Bhakti-rasamrọta-sindhu (1.2.294) that a pure devotee attached to devotional service should always remember the activities of a particular inhabitant of Vraja, even though he is not able to live in Vrajabhumi or Vrindavana. In this way he can always think of Vrajabhumi and Vrindavana."
Please let me know if I should pick one of the Lord's eternal associates in Vrindavan for following in his footsteps. Many weeks back I had a intuition to follow Sudama and be his friend. (I was reading the Nectar Devotion then.) But you told me that it is only my mind saying things to me and my stage has not come yet.
When I was reading the above paragraph today early morning, it again touched something inside me. Please have mercy on me and let me know should I ignore these lines and continue reading or can I apply them in practice?
Please don't be misled with my flowery language as I am a very fallen soul and still get attracted to sense gratification now and then.
Your eternal servant,
(Name withheld for confidentiality.)
"Caitanya-Caritamrita advises those who are neophytes to give up all kinds of motivated desires and simply engage in the regulative devotional service of the Lord according to the directions of scripture. In this way a neophyte can gradually develop attachment for Krishna's name, fame, form, qualities and so forth. When one has developed such attachment, he can spontaneously serve the lotus feet of Krishna even without following the regulative principles. This stage is called raga-bhakti, or devotional service in spontaneous love. At that stage the devotee can follow in the footsteps of one of the eternal associates of Krishna in Vrindavan. This is called raganuga-bhakti."
(The above quote is found in Srila Prabhupada's purport to Nectar of Instruction text 8.)
The steps for reaching for reaching this stage of attachment are listed follows by Srila Rupa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.4.15-16 (as quoted in Caitanya-caritamrita Madhya 23.14-15):
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas
tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
"In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Krishna consciousness."
Srila Prabhupada elaborately describes these steps for reaching attachment (asakti) in detail in his purport to the Narada Bhakti Sutra:
"The first requirement is that one should have sufficient faith that the only process for attaining love of Godhead is bhakti, devotional service to the Lord. Throughout the Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna teaches that one should give up all other processes of self-realization and fully surrender unto Him. That is faith. One who has full faith in Krishna (sraddha) and surrenders unto Him is eligible for being raised to the level of prema, which Lord Caitanya taught as the highest perfectional stage of human life.
"Some persons are addicted to materially motivated religion, while others are addicted to economic development, sense gratification, or the idea of salvation from material existence. But prema, love of God, is above all these. This highest stage of love is above mundane religiosity, above economic development, above sense gratification, and above even liberation, or salvation. Thus love of God begins with the firm faith that one who engages in full devotional service has attained perfection in all these processes.
"The next stage in the process of elevation to love of God is sadhu-saṅga [Cc. Madhya 22.83], association with persons already in the highest stage of love of God. One who avoids such association and simply engages in mental speculation or so-called meditation cannot be raised to the perfectional platform. But one who associates with pure devotees or an elevated devotional society goes to the next stage—bhajana-kriya, or acceptance of the regulative principles of worshiping the Supreme Lord. One who associates with a pure devotee of the Lord naturally accepts that person as his spiritual master, and when the neophyte devotee accepts a pure devotee as his spiritual master, the duty of the spiritual master is to train the neophyte in the principles of regulated devotional service, or vaidhi-bhakti. At this stage the devotee's service is based on his capacity to serve the Lord. The expert spiritual master engages his followers in work that will gradually develop their consciousness of service to the Lord. Therefore the preliminary stage of understanding prema, love of God, is to approach a proper pure devotee, accept him as one's spiritual master, and execute regulated devotional service under his guidance.
"The next stage is called anartha-nivritti, in which all the misgivings of material life are vanquished. A person gradually reaches this stage by regularly performing the primary principles of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master. There are many bad habits we acquire in the association of material contamination, chief of which are illicit sexual relationships, eating animal food, indulging in intoxication, and gambling. The first thing the expert spiritual master does when he engages his disciple in regulated devotional service is to instruct him to abstain from these four principles of sinful life.
"Since God is supremely pure, one cannot rise to the highest perfectional stage of love of God without being purified. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.12), when Arjuna accepted Krishna as the Supreme Lord, he said, pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: 'You are the purest of the pure.' The Lord is the purest, and thus anyone who wants to serve the Supreme Lord must also be pure. Unless a person is pure, he can neither understand what the Personality of Godhead is nor engage in His service in love, for devotional service, as stated before, begins from the point of self-realization, when all misgivings of materialistic life are vanquished. After following the regulative principles and purifying the material senses, one attains the stage of nishta, firm faith in the Lord. When a person has attained this stage, no one can deviate him from the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one can persuade him that God is impersonal, without a form, or that any form created by imagination can be accepted as God. Those who espouse these more or less nonsensical conceptions of the Supreme Lord cannot dissuade him from firm faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.
"In the Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna stresses in many verses that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But despite Lord Krishna's stressing this point, many so-called scholars and commentators still deny the personal conception of the Lord. One famous scholar wrote in his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita that one does not have to surrender to Lord Krishna or even accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but that one should rather surrender to 'the Supreme within Krishna.' Such fools do not know what is within and what is without. They comment on the Bhagavad-Gita according to their own whims. Such persons cannot be elevated to the highest stage of love of Godhead. They may be scholarly, and they may be elevated in other departments of knowledge, but they are not even neophytes in the process of attaining the highest stage of perfection, love of Godhead. Nistha implies that one should accept the words of Bhagavad-Gita, the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as they are, without any deviation or nonsensical commentary.
"If a person is fortunate enough to vanquish all misgivings caused by material existence and rise up to the stage of nistha, he can then rise to the stages of ruci (taste) and asakti (attachment for the Lord). Asakti is the beginning of love of Godhead. By progressing, one then advances to the stage of relishing a reciprocal exchange with the Lord in ecstasy (bhava). Every living entity is eternally related to the Supreme Lord, and this relationship may be in any one of many transcendental humors. At the stage called asakti, attachment, a person can understand his relationship with the Supreme Lord. When he understands his position, he begins reciprocating with the Lord. By constant reciprocation with the Lord, the devotee is elevated to the highest stage of love of Godhead, prema."
We can clearly from the above quote that attachment or the asakti stage is the beginning of pure love of God. At this stage one's heart is 100% free from all material desires and his mind is constantly favorably absorbed in Krishna consciousness 24 hours daily without any interruption. This asakti stage comes four stages after initiation. So there is no question of an uninitiated devotee being qualified for picking one of the Lord's eternal associates for following in his footsteps. You should focus yourself now on becoming qualified for taking initiation from the bona fide spiritual master. This is the associate of the Lord in whose footsteps you should presently be aspiring to follow. By following the spiritual master faithfully without any deviation 24 hours daily you will gradually attain the stage in which your heart is completely free from the desire for sense gratification and you will realize your eternal rasa or relationship with Krishna and you can pick a particular Vrajavasi who is in the same rasa. But don't try to jump prematurely ahead this stage. Doing so will wreak havoc on your spiritual pathway something like trying to drive a car before you are properly trained and then having a fatal accident.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuram
madhu-gandhi mṛdu-smitam etad aho
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuram
“The transcendental body of Krishna is very sweet, and His face is even sweeter than His body. But His soft smile, which has the fragrance of honey, is sweeter still."
Krishna's Smile is the Sweetest
of All Sweet Things
Answers by Citing the Vedic Version
Question: Should I Follow a Particular Vrajavasi?
Dear Srila Gurudeva,Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I read today morning the below paragraph from the Teachings of Lord Caitanya:
"Since all the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi, Vrịndavana, are very dear to Krishna, a devotee selects one of the inhabitants and follows in his footsteps in order to be successful in his own devotional service. A pure devotee who is attached to the Lord always follows in the footsteps of a personality of Vrajabhumi. It is advised in Bhakti-rasamrọta-sindhu (1.2.294) that a pure devotee attached to devotional service should always remember the activities of a particular inhabitant of Vraja, even though he is not able to live in Vrajabhumi or Vrindavana. In this way he can always think of Vrajabhumi and Vrindavana."
Please let me know if I should pick one of the Lord's eternal associates in Vrindavan for following in his footsteps. Many weeks back I had a intuition to follow Sudama and be his friend. (I was reading the Nectar Devotion then.) But you told me that it is only my mind saying things to me and my stage has not come yet.
When I was reading the above paragraph today early morning, it again touched something inside me. Please have mercy on me and let me know should I ignore these lines and continue reading or can I apply them in practice?
Please don't be misled with my flowery language as I am a very fallen soul and still get attracted to sense gratification now and then.
Your eternal servant,
(Name withheld for confidentiality.)
Answer: Follow the Spiritual Master
e stage of picking one of Krishna's eternal associates for becoming his or her follower is a very advanced stage of devotional service, not to be artificially imitated by the neophyte devotee who still attracted to sense gratification. The qualification for coming to this stage is clearly described as follows by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati as follows:"Caitanya-Caritamrita advises those who are neophytes to give up all kinds of motivated desires and simply engage in the regulative devotional service of the Lord according to the directions of scripture. In this way a neophyte can gradually develop attachment for Krishna's name, fame, form, qualities and so forth. When one has developed such attachment, he can spontaneously serve the lotus feet of Krishna even without following the regulative principles. This stage is called raga-bhakti, or devotional service in spontaneous love. At that stage the devotee can follow in the footsteps of one of the eternal associates of Krishna in Vrindavan. This is called raganuga-bhakti."
(The above quote is found in Srila Prabhupada's purport to Nectar of Instruction text 8.)
The steps for reaching for reaching this stage of attachment are listed follows by Srila Rupa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.4.15-16 (as quoted in Caitanya-caritamrita Madhya 23.14-15):
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas
tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
"In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Krishna consciousness."
Srila Prabhupada elaborately describes these steps for reaching attachment (asakti) in detail in his purport to the Narada Bhakti Sutra:
"The first requirement is that one should have sufficient faith that the only process for attaining love of Godhead is bhakti, devotional service to the Lord. Throughout the Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna teaches that one should give up all other processes of self-realization and fully surrender unto Him. That is faith. One who has full faith in Krishna (sraddha) and surrenders unto Him is eligible for being raised to the level of prema, which Lord Caitanya taught as the highest perfectional stage of human life.
"Some persons are addicted to materially motivated religion, while others are addicted to economic development, sense gratification, or the idea of salvation from material existence. But prema, love of God, is above all these. This highest stage of love is above mundane religiosity, above economic development, above sense gratification, and above even liberation, or salvation. Thus love of God begins with the firm faith that one who engages in full devotional service has attained perfection in all these processes.
"The next stage in the process of elevation to love of God is sadhu-saṅga [Cc. Madhya 22.83], association with persons already in the highest stage of love of God. One who avoids such association and simply engages in mental speculation or so-called meditation cannot be raised to the perfectional platform. But one who associates with pure devotees or an elevated devotional society goes to the next stage—bhajana-kriya, or acceptance of the regulative principles of worshiping the Supreme Lord. One who associates with a pure devotee of the Lord naturally accepts that person as his spiritual master, and when the neophyte devotee accepts a pure devotee as his spiritual master, the duty of the spiritual master is to train the neophyte in the principles of regulated devotional service, or vaidhi-bhakti. At this stage the devotee's service is based on his capacity to serve the Lord. The expert spiritual master engages his followers in work that will gradually develop their consciousness of service to the Lord. Therefore the preliminary stage of understanding prema, love of God, is to approach a proper pure devotee, accept him as one's spiritual master, and execute regulated devotional service under his guidance.
"The next stage is called anartha-nivritti, in which all the misgivings of material life are vanquished. A person gradually reaches this stage by regularly performing the primary principles of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master. There are many bad habits we acquire in the association of material contamination, chief of which are illicit sexual relationships, eating animal food, indulging in intoxication, and gambling. The first thing the expert spiritual master does when he engages his disciple in regulated devotional service is to instruct him to abstain from these four principles of sinful life.
"Since God is supremely pure, one cannot rise to the highest perfectional stage of love of God without being purified. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.12), when Arjuna accepted Krishna as the Supreme Lord, he said, pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: 'You are the purest of the pure.' The Lord is the purest, and thus anyone who wants to serve the Supreme Lord must also be pure. Unless a person is pure, he can neither understand what the Personality of Godhead is nor engage in His service in love, for devotional service, as stated before, begins from the point of self-realization, when all misgivings of materialistic life are vanquished. After following the regulative principles and purifying the material senses, one attains the stage of nishta, firm faith in the Lord. When a person has attained this stage, no one can deviate him from the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one can persuade him that God is impersonal, without a form, or that any form created by imagination can be accepted as God. Those who espouse these more or less nonsensical conceptions of the Supreme Lord cannot dissuade him from firm faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.
"In the Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna stresses in many verses that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But despite Lord Krishna's stressing this point, many so-called scholars and commentators still deny the personal conception of the Lord. One famous scholar wrote in his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita that one does not have to surrender to Lord Krishna or even accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but that one should rather surrender to 'the Supreme within Krishna.' Such fools do not know what is within and what is without. They comment on the Bhagavad-Gita according to their own whims. Such persons cannot be elevated to the highest stage of love of Godhead. They may be scholarly, and they may be elevated in other departments of knowledge, but they are not even neophytes in the process of attaining the highest stage of perfection, love of Godhead. Nistha implies that one should accept the words of Bhagavad-Gita, the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as they are, without any deviation or nonsensical commentary.
"If a person is fortunate enough to vanquish all misgivings caused by material existence and rise up to the stage of nistha, he can then rise to the stages of ruci (taste) and asakti (attachment for the Lord). Asakti is the beginning of love of Godhead. By progressing, one then advances to the stage of relishing a reciprocal exchange with the Lord in ecstasy (bhava). Every living entity is eternally related to the Supreme Lord, and this relationship may be in any one of many transcendental humors. At the stage called asakti, attachment, a person can understand his relationship with the Supreme Lord. When he understands his position, he begins reciprocating with the Lord. By constant reciprocation with the Lord, the devotee is elevated to the highest stage of love of Godhead, prema."
We can clearly from the above quote that attachment or the asakti stage is the beginning of pure love of God. At this stage one's heart is 100% free from all material desires and his mind is constantly favorably absorbed in Krishna consciousness 24 hours daily without any interruption. This asakti stage comes four stages after initiation. So there is no question of an uninitiated devotee being qualified for picking one of the Lord's eternal associates for following in his footsteps. You should focus yourself now on becoming qualified for taking initiation from the bona fide spiritual master. This is the associate of the Lord in whose footsteps you should presently be aspiring to follow. By following the spiritual master faithfully without any deviation 24 hours daily you will gradually attain the stage in which your heart is completely free from the desire for sense gratification and you will realize your eternal rasa or relationship with Krishna and you can pick a particular Vrajavasi who is in the same rasa. But don't try to jump prematurely ahead this stage. Doing so will wreak havoc on your spiritual pathway something like trying to drive a car before you are properly trained and then having a fatal accident.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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