lusty desire of
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Every devotee in his perfectional stage has a spontaneous attraction to the Lord. This attraction is sometimes called the "lusty desire" of the devotee. The lust is the devotee's excessive desire to serve the Lord in a particular capacity. On the mahamaya platform, dances take place on the basis of sense gratification. But when Krsna called the gopis by sounding His flute, the gopis very hurriedly rushed towards the spot of rasa dance with the transcendental desire of satisfying Krsna. The author of Caitanya-caritamrta , Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, has explained that lust means sense gratification, and love also means sense gratification-but for Krsna. In other words, when activities are enacted on the platform of personal sense gratification, they are called material activities, but when they are enacted for the satisfaction of Krsna, then they are spiritual activities. On any platform of activities, the principle of sense gratification is there. But on the spiritual platform, sense gratification is for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, whereas on the material platform it is for the performer. For example, on the material platform, when a servant serves a master, he is not trying to satisfy the senses of the master, but rather his own senses. The servant would not serve the master if the payment stopped. That means that the servant engages himself in the service of the master just to satisfy his senses. On the spiritual platform, the servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead serves Krsna without payment, and he continues his service in all conditions. That is the difference between Krsna consciousness and material consciousness.
(More...) The "lusty attitude" of the gopis does not refer to any sort of sex indulgence. Srila Rūpa Gosvami explains that this "lusty desire" refers to the devotee's particular attitude of association with Krsna. Every devotee in his perfectional stage has a spontaneous attraction to the Lord. This attraction is sometimes called the "lusty desire" of the devotee. The lust is the devotee's excessive desire to serve the Lord in a particular capacity. Such desire may seem to be a desire for enjoying the Lord, but actually the endeavor is to serve the Lord in that capacity. For example, a devotee may be desiring to associate with the Personality of Godhead as His cowherd friend. He will want to serve the Lord by assisting Him in controlling the cows in the pasturing ground. This may appear to be a desire to enjoy the company of the Lord, but actually it is spontaneous love, serving Him by assisting in managing the transcendental cows.
(More...) This extreme desire to serve the Lord is manifest in the transcendental land of Braja. And it is specifically manifested amongst the gopis. The gopis' love for Krsna is so elevated that for our understanding it is sometimes explained as being "lusty desire."
(More...) Great devotees up to the standard of Uddhava are very dear friends of the Lord, and they desire to follow in the footsteps of the gopis. So the gopis' love for Krsna is certainly not material lusty desire. Otherwise, how could Uddhava aspire to follow in their footsteps? Another instance is Lord Caitanya Himself. After accepting the sannyasa order of life, He was very, very strict about avoiding association with women, but still He taught that there is no better method of worshiping Krsna than that conceived by the gopis. Thus the gopis' method of worshiping the Lord, as if impelled by lusty desire, was praised very highly even by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This very fact means that although the attraction of the gopis for Krsna appears to be lusty, it is not in the least bit material. Unless one is fully situated in the transcendental position, it is very difficult to understand the relationship of the gopis with Krsna. But because it appears to be just like ordinary dealings of young boys and girls, it is sometimes misinterpreted to be like the ordinary sex of this material world. Unfortunately, persons who cannot understand the transcendental nature of the love affairs of the gopis and Krsna take it for granted that Krsna's love affairs with the gopis are mundane transactions, and therefore they sometimes indulge in painting licentious pictures in some modernistic style.
(More...) On the other hand, the lusty desire of Kubja is described by learned scholars as being "almost lusty desire." Kubja was a hunchback woman who also wanted Krsna with a great ecstatic love. But her desire for Krsna was almost mundane, and so her love cannot be compared with the love of the gopis. Her loving affection for Krsna is called kama-praya, or almost like the gopis' love for Krsna.
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