bhava / love of God
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Imported quote 15499 The Lord has spoken about the peculiarity of His birth: although He may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past "births," whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before. If someone is asked what he did exactly at the same time one day earlier, it would be very difficult for a common man to answer immediately. He would surely have to dredge his memory to recall what he was doing exactly at the same time one day before. And yet, men often dare claim to be God, or Krsna. One should not be misled by such meaningless claims. Then again, the Lord explains His prakrti or His form. Prakrti means nature as well as svarūpa, or one's own form. The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His body, as the common living entity changes from one body to another. The conditioned soul may have one kind of body in the present birth, but he has a different body in the next birth. In the material world, the living entity has no fixed body but transmigrates from one body to another. The Lord, however, does not do so. Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body, by His internal potency. In other words, Krsna appears in this material world in His original eternal form, with two hands, holding a flute. He appears exactly in His eternal body, uncontaminated by this material world. Although He appears in the same transcendental body and is Lord of the universe, it still appears that He takes His birth like an ordinary living entity. Despite the fact Lord Krsna grows from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth, astonishingly enough He never ages beyond youth. At the time of the Battle of Kuruksetra, He had many grandchildren at home; or, in other words, He had sufficiently aged by material calculations. Still He looked just like a young man twenty or twenty-five years old. We never see a picture of Krsna in old age because He never grows old like us, although He is the oldest person in the whole creation-past, present, and future. Neither His body nor His intelligence ever deteriorates or changes. Therefore, it is clear that in spite of His being in the material world, He is the same unborn, eternal form of bliss and knowledge, changeless in His transcendental body and intelligence. Factually, His appearance and disappearance are like the sun's rising, moving before us, and then disappearing from our eyesight. When the sun is out of sight, we think that the sun is set, and when the sun is before our eyes, we think that the sun is on the horizon. Actually, the sun is always in its fixed position, but owing to our defective, insufficient senses, we calculate the appearance and disappearance of the sun in the sky. And, because His appearance and disappearance are completely different from that of any ordinary, common living entity, it is evident that He is eternal, blissful knowledge by His internal potency-and He is never contaminated by material nature. The Vedas also confirm that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unborn, yet He still appears to take His birth in multi-manifestations. The Vedic supplementary literatures also confirm that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body. In the Bhagavatam, He appears before His mother as Narayana, with four hands and the decorations of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, according to the Visvakosa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all of His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another body. He is the Lord of all living entities because He performs wonderful and superhuman activities while He is on this earth. Therefore, the Lord is always the same Absolute Truth and is without differentiation between His form and self, or between His quality and body. A question may now be raised as to why the Lord appears and disappears in this world. This is explained in the next verse.
(More...) The following summary of this chapter is given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya. According to Sri Sanatana Gosvami's request, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained the well-known Srimad-Bhagavatam verse beginning atmaramas ca munayo. He explained this verse in sixty-one different ways. He analyzed all the words and described each word with its different connotations. Adding the words ca and api, He described all the different meanings of the verse. He then concluded that all classes of transcendentalists (jnanis, karmis, yogis) utilize this verse according to their own interpretation, but if they gave up this process and surrendered to Krsna, as indicated by the verse itself, they would be able to comprehend the real meaning of the verse. In this regard, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu narrated a story about how the great sage Narada converted a hunter into a great Vaisnava, and how this was appreciated by Narada's friend Parvata Muni. Sanatana Gosvami then offered a prayer to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained the glory of Srimad-Bhagavatam. After this, the Lord gave Sanatana Gosvami a synopsis of Hari-bhakti-vilasa, which Sanatana Gosvami later developed into the guiding principle of all Vaisnavas.
(More...) No one, while remaining on the material platform, should discuss these different descriptions of bhava and anubhava by quoting different statements of transcendental literatures. Such manifestations are displays of the transcendental pleasure potency of the Lord. One should simply try to understand that on the spiritual platform, there are many varieties of reciprocal love. Such loving exchanges should never be considered to be material. In the Mahabharata Udyama-parva it is warned that things which are inconceivable should not be subjected to arguments. Actually, the transactions of the spiritual world are inconceivable to us in our present state of life. Great liberated souls like Rūpa Gosvami and others have tried to give us some hints of transcendental activities in the spiritual world, but on the whole these transactions will remain inconceivable to us at the present moment. Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with Krsna is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord.
(More...) In this connection a nice verse by Bilvamongal appears in Krishna Karnamrita [32]: "O Player of the nice flute, Krishna, the beauty of Your boyhood activities is very wonderful in this world. You know the agitation of my mind, and I know what You are. Nobody knows how confidential our relationship is. Now my eyes are anxious to sec You and Your face, but I cannot see You. Please-let me know what I shall do." A similar passage appears in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu [1.3.38], by Rupa Goswami, which states: "O Govinda! this young girl with tears in her eyes is crying in a sweet voice, chanting Your Glories." Such pure devotees are always anxious to describe the Glories of Krishna, and to live in a place where Krishna exhibited His Pastimes.
(More...) A person engaged in devotional service becomes slackened in his heart when singing the glorification of the Supreme Lord. Because the Lord is very dear to him, in glorifying the Lord's Name, Fame, etc., he becomes almost like an insane man, and in such a condition of life sometimes he laughs, sometimes he cries, sometimes he dances-and without any consideration of the situation, he continues in such activities. And,, by gradual development of his love of Godhead he increases his affection, his emotion, his ecstasy. Such attachment, Mahabhava, is the highest stage of devotional love. It can be found like molasses or sugar, which are different stages of the same thing. But the highest stage is called sugar candy. In different stages of the same juice, sugar candy becomes more and more palatable. Similarly, in love of Godhead, by a gradual process of development, transcendental pleasure is increased to the highest stage for the real devotee.
(More...) He is surrounded by His associates. Just like we sing the song, Sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda. They are all His associates. These topics are described in the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. What color in which yuga, what kind of bodily features, these are all described. So about Kali-yuga it is said that His color is akrsna, yellow and He will be surrounded by His associates. krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sahgopahgastra-parsadam [SB 11.5.32] And this form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yajnaiḥ sahkirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ, this incarnation of the Supreme Lord will be served and worshiped by those who are intelligent, whose brain substance is plentiful through the performance of the congregational chanting of the holy name. By installing the Deity forms of Nitai and Gaura and performing kirtana which you just saw, the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is completed. It is so simple. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nitai-gaura, the Panca-tattva, keep Their pitctures and perform kirtana of Hare Krsna along with all of your family members. That is service to the Supreme Lord. Not very difficult. Not difficult at all. Very simple. Keep Nitai-Gaura's photo at home and there are family members. Sit down together and perform kirtana just like these boys did. You served the Supreme Lord. No need of complication. Whether you build a temple or not, you make your house a temple. Those who have wealth they should utilise it all in the service of the Supreme Lord. But those who have nothing, for them what is the difficulty? Keep a pitcture of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and all the family members together sit down and chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. What is the loss? And you attain the shelter of the Supreme Lord. Simply by this much action a person attains God. This is the advantage of Kali-yuga. Whether you can offer something to the Supreme Lord or not, He is neither a beggar nor is He poor, but out of love and devotion if someone offers Him something then the Lord eats.
(More...) Please accept my greetings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 19-12-74 and have noted the contents. Your life will become perfect if you can engage yourself fully in the devotional service of Sri Krsna. As stated in your letter now you are retired from your job and your daughters are getting married. This means that your grhastha life is almost finished. Therefore, according to Varnasrama Dharma you should spend the rest of your life simply engaged in there devotional service of the Lord. It has been the ancient custom that the man in the later years of his life, usually after the age of 50, prepares to leave home and takes the order of vanaprastha, taking pilgrimages to different holy lands. Then eventually he may take sannyasa, the renounced order of life, with no connection with family whatsoever. This is actually necessary as it is recommended by Sri Krsna Himself. So you have asked my advise and I think the best thing is for you to either go to our Vrndavana center or our Mayapur center or our Bombay center and live there for the rest of your life, chanting Hare Krsna, feeling the bliss of being fully engaged in the service of Sri Krsna. By association of devotees and eating Krsna prasadam, constantly engaged in the service of the Lord you will become purified from all unwanted things and it will be very easy for you to absorb yourself in thoughts of the Supreme Lord only. Then when it comes time to leave your body at the end of life you will go to Krsna. You will not have to take another birth in this material world. But you will go to the spiritual world, the Vaikuntha world. I was also grhastha but now I am sannyasi. As grhastha I was thinking it would be very difficult to leave my householder life and take up preaching full time. But actually it has become very easy by the grace of Sri Krsna. Now there are no difficulties. So I recommend that you also take up this life. Now that your household duties are more or less finished I think this is your best alternative. All great previous personalities such as Arjuna and the Pandava brothers, Maharaja Rsabhadeva, King Bharata, so many great kings and great saintly persons all finished the last part of their lives living as mendicants, sannyasis. Therefore following in the footsteps of the authorities we should understand the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna. If there are any difficulties concerning my request to you to leave your home then if you like you can write me for further advise and it will be my duty to serve you in this way. I hope this meets you in good health. When one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa becomes very deep, one attains the condition called love of Godhead. Such a state of existence is considered a permanent situation for a devotee. A person in the conditional stage of material existence is in an atmosphere of helplessness, but the conditioned soul, under the illusion of maya, or the external energy, thinks that he is completely protected by his country, society, friendship and love, not knowing that at the time of death none of these can save him. The laws of material nature are so strong that none of our material possessions can save us from the cruel hands of death. In Bhagavad-gita (13.9) it is stated, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duḥkha-dosanudarsanam: one who is actually advancing must always consider the four principles of miserable life, namely, birth, death, old age and disease. One cannot be saved from all these miseries unless he takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is therefore the only shelter for all conditioned souls. An intelligent person, therefore, does not put his faith in any material possessions, but completely takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Such a person is called akincana, or one who does not possess anything in this material world. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is also known as Akincana-gocara, for He can be achieved by a person who does not put his faith in material possessions. Therefore, for the fully surrendered soul who has no material possessions on which to depend, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the only shelter. Everyone depends upon dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), kama (sense gratification) and ultimately moksa (salvation), but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, due to His magnanimous character, can give more than salvation. Therefore in this verse the words hinarthadhika-sadhakam indicate that although by material estimation salvation is of a quality superior to the inferior interests of religiosity, economic development and sense gratification, above salvation there is the position of devotional service and transcendental love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the bestower of this great benediction. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, prema pumartho mahan: "Love of Godhead is the ultimate benediction for all human beings." Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, the author of Caitanya-caritamrta, therefore first offers his respectful obeisances unto Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu before describing His magnanimity in bestowing love of Godhead.
(More...) When one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa becomes very deep, one attains the condition called love of Godhead. Such a state of existence is considered a permanent situation for a devotee. According to Bhagavad-gita the characteristics of pure devotees are wonderful (Bg. 10.9). The complete functional activities of a pure devotee are always engaged in the service of the Lord, and thus they exchange feelings of ecstasy between themselves and relish transcendental bliss. This transcendental bliss is experienced even in the stage of devotional practice (sadhana-avastha), if properly undertaken under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. And in the mature stage the developed transcendental feeling culminates in realization of the particular relationship with the Lord by which a living entity is originally constituted (up to the relationship of conjugal love with the Lord, estimated as highest transcendental bliss). Thus bhakti-yoga, being the only means of God realization is called kaivalya. Srila Jiva Gosvami quotes the Vedic version (eko narayano devaḥ, paravaranam parama aste kaivalya-sangitaḥ) in this connection and establishes that Narayana, the Personality of Godhead, is known as kaivalya, and the means which enables one to approach the Lord is called the kaivalya-pantha, or the only means of attainment of Godhead. This kaivalya-pantha begins from sravana, or hearing those topics that relate to the Personality of Godhead, and the natural consequence of hearing such hari-katha is attainment of transcendental knowledge, which causes a detachment from all mundane topics, for which a devotee has no taste at all. For a devotee, all mundane activities, social and political, become unattractive, and in the mature state such a devotee becomes disinterested even in his own body, and what to speak of bodily relatives. In such a state of affairs one is not agitated by the waves of the material modes. There are different modes of material nature, and all mundane functions in which a common man is very much interested or takes part become unattractive for the devotee. This state of affairs is described herein as pratinivrtta-gunormi, and it is possible by atma-prasada, or complete self-satisfaction without any material connection. The first-class devotee of the Lord attains this stage by devotional service, but despite his loftiness, still, for the matter of the Lord's satisfaction, he may play the voluntary part of a preacher of the Lord's glory and dovetail all into devotional service, even mundane interest, just to give a chance to the neophytes to transform mundane interest into transcendental bliss. Srila Rūpa Gosvami has described this action of a pure devotee as "nirbandhaḥ krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate." Even mundane activities dovetailed with service of the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved kaivalya affairs.
(More...) In the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu [1.3.1] the state of being in love of Godhead is compared to the sunshine emanating from the Sun of love for Godhead; and this shining makes the devotee's heart more and more lovely. The heart of such a devotee is situated in a transcendental position, beyond the modes of goodness of material Nature. And the process of making the heart further and further sterilized by the sunshine of love is called Bhava. This description of Bhava is given by Rupa Goswami. Bhava is called the permanent characteristic; and the crucial point of progress for Bhava is called the marginal state of love of Godhead. When the Bhava state becomes deeper and deeper, the learned devotees call that state of being love of Godhead. In the Narada Pancharatra there is a verse in which it is stated: "When one is firmly convinced that Vishnu is the only Object of love and worship, and there is no one else and no demigod for his devotional service, it is accepted that he is feeling intimacy in love of Godhead, as is approved by such personalities as Bhisma, Prahlad, Uddhava and Narada."
(More...) If someone, on account of some righteous activities which provoke devotional service, is influenced by such an attitude of service, and takes shelter of the good association of the pure devotees, then he develops an attachment for chanting and hearing. In such a state of mind the development of chanting and hearing makes him advance further and further in the matter of regulative devotional service to the Supreme Lord. And, as he advances in the regulative service of the Supreme Lord, so, proportionately, his misgivings for the material world diminish. Beginning with faith, and advancing in the process of hearing and chanting, the devotee becomes more and more firmly fixed in that faith. That faith gradually develops into taste, and that taste gradually develops into attachment. When the attachment becomes purer, then it is exhibited in two characteristics, which are called Bhava and Rati. When this principle of Rati becomes deeper, it is called love of Godhead. Love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of human life.
(More...) This process is summarized in the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu [1.4.15-16] by Rupa Goswami: "The first thing required is faith, and from faith one associates with pure devotees, and, by such association, one develops devotional service. And when he develops devotional service, his misgivings are diminished. Then he is situated in firm conviction, and from that conviction he develops a taste and advances up to the attachment stage of life, known as the regulated principles of devotional service. And, after that stage, when he still further makes progress, it is called Bhava, or a permanent situation. Such love of God can go further and deeper and deeper, and then is called the highest stage of love of Godhead."
(More...) In Sanskrit, this highest stage is called Prema. The word Prema can be explained as love of God without any exchange or return. Actually, the words Prema and love are not synonymous, but still one can say that Prema is the highest stage of love. One who has attained this stage of Prema is the most perfect human being. Srimad Bhagwatam also confirms this statement in the Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter [25]: Only by the association of pure devotees can one develop a taste for Krishna Consciousness; and when he tries to apply such developed Krishna Consciousness in his life, one can achieve all other things up to the stages of Bhava and Prema.
(More...) So these are called unwanted things. Adau sraddha tataḥ sadhu-sahgo [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.4.15]. By faith we make association with the devotees, and by association with devotees we become inclined to be initiated. And after actual discharging the duties of initiation, one becomes freed from things which are not wanted. We don't say that it is bad, but it is not wanted. It is not that we are not eating meat, it is not that we are dying. So it is not wanted. If I can live by eating fruit and grains and milk and so many nice things, why shall I cause the killing of another animal? This is God consciousness; this is Krsna consciousness. Anartha-nivrttiḥ syat [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.4.15]. So in this way, when we are freed from the bad elements of life, then we become fixed up in our Krsna consciousness. Nistha. Then ruci-taste. Nistha, ruci, then asakti-attachment; then bhava-ecstasy. Then the next stage is love of Godhead.
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