Divine Ecstasy

3. He is the ocean of "Rasa." Rasa has been defined to be that ecstatic principle which comprehends the various forms of love and affection which can be exhibited between the living being and the Lord. The process of exhibiting of Rasa relates to its exhibition in man while still enthralled in matter. But Rasa itself is an eternal principle identified with the Supreme Hari. Hari is the ocean of Rasa, and in the human soul only a drop of the ocean can be conceived.

Rasa naturally is spiritual, but in man, who is subject to Maya, the progenitor of matter, it has been identified in a perverted state with the sensual pleasure of man in his connection with material objects, the soul losing itself in mind and the mind acting through the senses, enjoying the perverted Rasa in the five different objects of the senses. This is the soul's going abroad with "Avidya," or ignorance of the spiritual self.

When the soul looks inward it obtains its spiritual Rasa, and the perverted Rasa wanes in proportion to the development of the spiritual Rasa. In spiritual Rasa the souls towards each other, and all towards the all-beautiful, have their unfettered action in Vrindaban, rising above material time and space. Hari, the Infinite Supreme Free Will, has eternal ecstasy in His spiritual power or "Chit-shakti."

The Hladini attribute or Chit-shakti (spiritual wisdom) produces all bhabs-relations and affections. The "Sandhini" attribute of Chit-shakti produces all existence (other than the free will), including the "Dhams" (abodes), individualities, and other substances in connection with the action of the spiritual Rasa. All these exhibitions are from Chit-shakti, the spiritual power.

The Mayik or material creation, including time, space and gross objects, has no place in Chit-jagat, the spiritual world which is all the same as Vrindaban. Maya-shakti [illusory energy] is a perverted reflection of the Chit-shakti. Hence the particularities in the mayik (material) world have semblance with the particularities in the Chit-jagat or spiritual universe, but are not substantially the same. The Chit-jagat is the model of the Mayik-jagat, but they are not identical.

We must guard ourselves against the idea that man has imagined Chit-jagat from an experience of the Mayik-jagat. This idea is pantheistic, and it may also be styled atheistic. Reason, not spiritualized, has a tendency to create such a doubt, but one who has a wish to enjoy spiritual love must give it up as misleading.

The eternal Rasa of Krishna exists spiritually in Chit-jagat, the spiritual world. To we who are in the netherworld there is a screen which intervenes between our eyes and the great spiritual scene of Krishna Lila. When by the grace of Krishna that screen is drawn up, we have the privilege to see it, and again when it pleases the Almighty to drop the screen, the great Vrindaban Lila disappears. Taste the subject and your conviction will be the same as mine. Brethren! Do not give up such an important subject without due and liberal examination.

4. The soul is His "Vibhinnangsha," or separated part. By soul are meant all sorts of souls, whether animal, human or celestial. It must be understood that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu believed in the very liberal theory of transmigration of the soul. Certain readers may reject this idea on the ground that certain forms of faith do not support that theory, and because it is therefore in antagonism with the dogmas of certain sectarian creeds. Indeed, it is a matter which reason cannot dare to meddle with.

Candidly examining, we do not see any strong reason to disbelieve the theory of transmigration. On the other hand, our unprejudiced mind is inclined to stand for it. The belief that the human soul has only one trial in life is evidently illiberal, unjust and contrary to the belief that God is all good. When our spiritual sentiment supports the theory and the Vedas, the receptacles of inspiration, have taught us the fact of the continual existence of the soul in different stages in creation, we cannot but give up the idea of disbelieving in the theory of transmigration of the soul. However educated and scientific a man maybe, he is always liable to a creeping error. That which holds good regarding a man holds good also regarding a nation or sect.

The soul, according to Chaitanya, is an atomic part of the Divine Soul. It is a sort of God's power to produce beings who are spiritual in essence but liable to be enthralled by Maya when they forget their position as eternal servants of the Deity. God here is compared with the Sun, and the souls are said to be the atomic portions of that Sun's ray, unable to stand freely unless they are protected by another competent attribute of God's power.

By the word "part" is not meant portions cut out of a piece of stone by an ax: part is meant to be understood as one lamp lighted from another, or gold produced from an alchemic stone, as was believed by the ancients. The souls are also compared with separate atomic emanations of the burning fire. Each soul has drawn from its Fountainhead a proportionate share of the Lord's attributes, and consequently a small proportion of free will.

These souls are naturally located between the Chit-jagat and Mayik-jagat. Those who chose to serve their God were protected from fall by the interference of the Hladini attribute of the Supreme Chit-shakti. They have been admitted as eternal servants of the Deity in various ways. They know not the troubles of Maya and the "karmachakra," the rotative principles of Mayik action and its result. Those who wanted to enjoy were grasped by Maya from the other side. They are in Maya's Karmachakra, which ends only when they again see their original position as servants of the Deity.

These souls, whether liberated from Maya or enthralled by her, are separate responsible beings dependent on the Deity. Hari is the Lord of Maya, who serves His pleasure. The soul or "Jiva" is so constructed as to be liable to enthrallment by Maya in consequence of want of power when unassisted by the Hladini-shakti of the Deity. Hence there is a natural and inherent distinction between God and Jiva, the individual soul, which no pantheistic maneuver can annihilate. Please avoid the misleading question, "When were these Jivas created and enthralled?" Mayik time has no existence in spiritual history because it has its commencement after the enthrallment of Jivas in matter, and you cannot, therefore, employ Mayik chronology in matters like these.

5. Certain souls are engrossed by "Prakriti," or His illusory energy. Prakriti, God's Maya, Pradhan, Prapancha and Avidya are different names for the same principle on account of its different phases and attributes. Maya is not an independent Shakti from the supreme Swarup Shakti [Free Will or Power]. She is simply a reflected and outward phase of the supreme power, and serves God in executing His penal order on those who become ungrateful to Him. In fact, Maya is in charge of God's house of correction. Those living beings who, in abusing their free will, forgot that they were eternal servants of the Deity and thought of enjoying for themselves, were grasped by Maya for their penal servitude and correction.