becoming devotees

When a mystic is transcendental to all kinds of mental concoctions and is situated in Brahman, his state is called trance beyond the influence of the material conception of life. In that stage, when one hears about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, there may be shivering in the body.    (More...)

When a Brahman-realized devotee who has come to the stage of steady trance comes into contact with the eternal form of Krsna, his transcendental pleasure increases millions of times. One great sage once inquired from another, "My dear friend, do you think that after I perfect the eightfold yoga performance I shall be able to see the eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?" This enquiry from the sage is an instance of inquisitiveness in a devotee situated in the neutral stage of devotional service.    (More...)

When Lord Krsna, along with His elder brother Balarama and sister Subhadra, came to Kuruksetra in a chariot on the occasion of a solar eclipse, many mystic yogis also came. When these mystic yogis saw Lord Krsna and Balarama, they exclaimed that now that they had seen the excellent bodily effulgence of the Lord, they had almost forgotten the pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman realization. In this connection one of the mystics approached Krsna and said, "My dear Lord, You are always full with transcendental bliss, excelling all other spiritual positions. And so, simply by seeing You from a distant place, I have come to the conclusion that there is no need of my being situated in the transcendental bliss of impersonal Brahman."    (More...)

When a great mystic was once awakened from his meditative trance by hearing the vibration of Krsna's Pancajanya conchshell, the mystic became overpowered. So much so, in fact, that he began to bash his head on the ground, and with eyes full of tears of ecstatic love, he violated all the rules and regulations of his yoga performances. Thus he at once neglected the process of Brahman realization.    (More...)

Bilvamahgala Thakur, in his book Krsna-karnamrta, says, "Let the impersonalists be engaged in the process of transcendental realization by worshiping the impersonal Brahman. Although I was also initiated into that path of Brahman realization, I have now become misled by a naughty boy-one who is very cunning, who is very much attached to the gopis and who has made me His maidservant. So I have now forgotten the process of Brahman realization."    (More...)

Bilvamahgala Thakur was first spiritually initiated for impersonal realization of the absolute truth, but later on, by his association with Krsna in Vrndavana, he became an experienced devotee. The same thing happened to Sukadeva Gosvami, who also reformed himself by the grace of the Lord and took to the path of devotional service, giving up the way of impersonal realization.    (More...)

Sukadeva Gosvami and Bilvamahgala Thakur's giving up of the impersonal conception of the absolute truth and taking to devotional service are the best examples of devotees being situated in the neutral state. According to some authorities, this condition cannot be accepted as one of the transcendental humors, or rasas, but Srila Rūpa Gosvami says that even if one does not accept it as a transcendental humor, one must still accept it as the beginning position of devotional service. However, if one is not further raised to the platform of actual service to the Lord, he is not considered to be on the platform of transcendental mellow. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lord Krsna personally instructs Uddhava like this: "The state of being established in My personal form is called santa-rasa, and without being situated in this position, no one can advance to actual pure devotional service." In other words, no one can be situated in the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without being situated at least in santa-rasa.    (More...)

This is a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.15.43). Vidura and Maitreya discussed the pregnancy of Diti. Diti's pregnancy caused the demigods to be very much afraid, and the demigods went to see Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma explained the original incident involving the cursing of Jaya and Vijaya by the Catuḥsana Kumaras. Sometimes the Catuḥsana Kumaras went to Vaikuntha to visit Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and once they were stopped from entering the palace at the seventh gate by two doorkeepers named Jaya and Vijaya. Due to their jealousy, Jaya and Vijaya would not allow the Kumaras entry, and consequently the Kumaras became angry and cursed Jaya and Vijaya, condemning them to take birth in a family of asuras in the material world. The omniscient Personality of Godhead could immediately understand the incident, and He came with His eternal consort the goddess of fortune. The Catuḥsana Kumaras immediately offered their obeisances unto the Lord. Simply by seeing the Lord and smelling the aroma of tulasi and saffron from His lotus feet, the Kumaras became devotees and abandoned their long-cherished impersonalism. Thus the four Kumaras were turned into Vaisnavas simply by smelling the aromatic tulasi mixed with saffron. Those who are actually on the platform of Brahman realization and who have not offended the lotus feet of Krsna can immediately become Vaisnavas simply by smelling the aroma of the Lord's lotus feet. However, those who are offenders or demons are never attracted to the Lord's personal feature, even though they may visit the Lord's temple many times. In Vrndavana we have seen many Mayavadi sannyasis who do not even come to the temple of Govindaji, Gopinatha or Madana-mohana because they think that such temples are maya. Therefore they are called Mayavadis. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore said that the Mayavadis are the greatest offenders.    (More...)

The Lord then explained the different meanings of itthambhutagunah. He also explained the word Guna in its different meanings. Ittham bhuta means full transcendental, before which even the transcendental pleasure known as Brahmananda becomes like straw. In the Hari Bhakti Sudhodaya [14.36] it is said by the devotee: "My Lord, O Supreme, simply by understanding You or seeing You, the pleasure which we derive is so great that the pleasure in Brahmananda becomes insignificant." In other words, the pleasure derived by understanding Krishna as He is, the All-attractive Reservoir of all pleasures, and. the Reservoir of all pleasure-giving tastes, with all transcendental qualifications, attracts one to become His devotee. By such attraction one can give up fruitive activities, endeavoring for liberation, or the intense desire to achieve success in Yoga mystic power. The attractive power of Krishna is so intense, that without any respect for any other means of self-realization, one surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead-simply by that attraction.    (More...)

This stage of santa-rasa can be attained by the impersonalists only when they are in association with pure devotees. Otherwise it is not possible. After Brahman realization, when a liberated soul comes in contact with a pure devotee of Lord Krsna and submissively accepts the teachings of Lord Krsna without misinterpretation, he becomes situated in this neutral stage of devotional service. The best example of saintly persons situated in the santa-rasa are Sanaka, Sanatana, Sananda, and Sanat-kumara, the Kumara brothers. These four saintly persons (known as Catuḥsana) were sons of Lord Brahma. After their birth, when they were ordered by their father to become householders and increase human society, they refused the order. They said that they had already decided not to become entangled with family life; they would rather live as saintly brahmacaris for their own perfection. So these great saints have been living for millions of years now, but still they appear to be just like boys of four or five years. Their complexions are very fair, there is an effulgence in their bodies, and they always travel naked. These four saintly persons almost always remain together.    (More...)