Mādhavendra Purī's Love: The Pinnacle of Devotion

Madhavendra Puri's Love:
The Pinnacle of Devotion
We can experience God in different ways. Some worshipers know Him as the formless, all-pervading spiritual effulgence. Others experience Him in their own hearts as the Supersoul (Paramatma)-the witness, guide, and well-wishing friend. But the most advanced worshipers, such as Madhavendra Puri, see God face to face in His original form as Krsna the cowherd boy, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To accept loving service from His pure devotee Madhavendra Puri, the Lord appeared personally before him, spoke to him, and gave him a pot of milk to drink.
In all religions there is some feeling of love of God, but such love varies in degrees of intensity. In his book The Nectar of Devotion, the great Krsna-conscious spiritual master Srila Rūpa Gosvami has analyzed the different kinds of love of God. First we may passively appreciate the sublime qualities of the Lord, as did the Kumaras, the four celibate sons of Lord Brahma. Progressing further, we come to the stage of desiring to serve the Lord as the supreme master. Hanuman, the monkey servant of Lord Ramacandra, exemplifies this kind of love. In time, when the relationship of servant and master becomes more intimate, we may advance to the stage of friendship with the Supreme Lord. Krsna's cowherd boyfriends are examples. Still more advanced is the worship of Krsna as our child. At this stage Krsna allows the worshiper to take the superior role of His mother (like Yasoda) or father (like Nanda). The highest form of love of God is that displayed between lover and beloved. The gopis (milkmaids) of Vrndavana love Krsna in this way. And of all the gopis, the Lord's eternal consort Srimati Radharani displays this conjugal love of God to the highest degree.
At his life's end Madhavendra Puri was deeply absorbed in conjugal love for Krsna. In great ecstasy he repeatedly uttered a famous verse beginning with the lines "O my Lord! O most merciful master! When shall I see You again?" It is said that this verse was originally spoken by Srimati Radharani Herself. Before the time of Madhavendra Puri, nearly all devotees worshiped Krsna alone-without His female counterpart-but after Madhavendra Puri introduced conjugal love of God into India's spiritual life, more and more devotees began worshiping Krsna together with His eternal consort Radha.
Before Madhavendra Puri appeared, the disciplic succession of Madhvacarya (see BTG 12/10) had been full of ritualistic ceremonies-with hardly any sign of love of Godhead. Madhavendra Puri was the first successor of Madhvacarya to exhibit the symptoms of love of Godhead. In fact, it is said that the tree of devotional service to Lord Krsna sprouted in him and later grew tall and broad in Lord Caitanya, the incarnation of Krsna for this age of quarrel. Himself a disciple of Madhavendra Puri's disciple Īsvara Puri, Lord Caitanya spread devotional service throughout India and ordered His own disciples to spread devotional service to every town and village in the world. Now, after years of careful cultivation by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the devotional tree that sprouted in Madhavendra Puri has produced a fast-growing branch called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
 

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/9dd/back-to-godhead-magazine-12-11-1977/great-spiritual-masters/madhavendra-puri-s