When Śukadeva Gosvāmī described the cowherd boys playing with Kṛṣṇa . . . so he is remarking that, "These boys who are playing with Kṛṣṇa . . . who is this Kṛṣṇa?" Itthaṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. Those, those who are impersonalists, those who are attached to the impersonal brahma-jyotir, for them, He is the target. He is the target. From Him, the brahma-jyotir comes. Itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. And dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena: "And those who are devotees, for them, here is the Supreme Lord." Dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena.
And māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa: "And those who are under the influence of māyā, for them, He's ordinary human child." The same person, different views. One is seeing that the ultimate target of brahma-jyotir, and somebody is seeing that He is the Supreme Lord, and somebody's seeing, "He's ordinary boy." So Kṛṣṇa is visioned under different position. Under different position. But He's the Supreme Lord.
So this yoga system, attachment for Kṛṣṇa, begins from the temple worship and ends into mahā-bhāgavata. Mahā-bhāgavata means who simply sees Kṛṣṇa, nothing . . . sarvatra sphūrati haya iṣṭa-deva. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti (CC Madhya 8.274). Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā also:
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
He does not see anything but Kṛṣṇa. A mahā-bhāgavata, when a tree . . . when he sees a tree, he does not see the form of the tree, but he sees Kṛṣṇa. That is mahā-bhāgavata. That we should not imitate. That is the highest stage, perfectional stage. But at least we come to the middle stage. What is that middle stage? To . . .
We must understand what is God, what is Kṛṣṇa. Perfect understanding. And tad-adhīna, and His devotees. Īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśa. Bāliśa means innocent person. They are un . . . I mean to . . . they do not know actually what is God. And dviṣat. Dviṣat means envious. The four classes of men: God, His devotee, innocent person and envious person, demons.
So the person who is promoted to the second stage, he'll deal with these four classes of division differently. Īśvara-prema. One should try to learn how to love Kṛṣṇa. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first class. And tad . . . īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca, prema, prema, love for Kṛṣṇa, and maitrī, and to make friendship with the devotees. Prema-maitrī. And kṛpā: those who are innocent, one should be merciful. The devotee should be merciful, just to awaken their Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
And dviṣatsu ca upekṣāḥ: and those who are envious, they should be rejected. These four classes . . . to try to love Kṛṣṇa, to make friendship with devotees, and to give some service to the innocent public who does not know what is God, and those who are envious, asuras, they should be rejected. The madhyama-adhikārī should not touch the demons, because maybe he may turn again, be demon. Therefore one should be very careful to associate with the demons.
But when one becomes uttama-adhikārī, mahā-bhāgavata, he does not see anyone as demon. He sees, "Everyone is worshiping Kṛṣṇa. I am not worshiping." This is mahā-bhāgavata. Just like Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī always feels that "I do not know how to love Kṛṣṇa. Oh, he . . . here is a gopī. How she loves Kṛṣṇa." That is Her . . . this is called mahā-bhāva.