Prabhupāda: Friendship means feeling friend's welfare always. Suhṛt. Friendship is not simply chatting. Friendship means thinking, "How my friend will be happy?" This is friendship. Then that friendship, when further developed, that is parenthood. Just like parents, they have no other consideration. They want to see, "How my child will be happy always?" And further development is conjugal love, just like man and woman, male and female, that love. That love includes everything—that appreciation of greatness, that servitude of service, the friendship, then maternal love, and further, offering everything for the lover. That is most perfectional stage of love. So in this way we have got five kinds of direct relationship, and there are seven kinds of indirect relationship.
Conjugal love (Conversations and Letters)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Rūpa Gosvāmī. He was finance minister in the government of Nawab Hussain Shah in Bengal. But when Lord Caitanya started His movement, he was captivated and he resigned his service, government service and joined Him. And he wrote immense literature, Gosvāmīs. And that Desai was talking that Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he says, rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhaba se yugala-pīriti: conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, one can understand when they go through the literatures presented by these Gosvāmīs. So his first book is Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Devotion of, Nectar of Devotion. That is very authorized book. Quotation from various Vedic literature about Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and the different stages of relationship with Kṛṣṇa, śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, admiration. God is Great. This is also one stage, appreciating the greatness of God. Then further development, dāsya-rasa, willing to serve. Oh! God is so great, and I must serve service because everyone of us are serving somebody. So why not serve the Supreme? Nobody is free from service because we are constitutionally the servant. Either we become the servant of the Great or māyā. Just like in any condition of our lives, we have to abide by the laws of the state. If he says that we don't abide then come to prisonhouse. You will be forced. Similarly, māyā and Kṛṣṇa. If we don't abide by Kṛṣṇa, then come to māyā. He cannot be free. That is not our position. Freedom is frustration.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Paśyanti, this word is there. Yoginaḥ paśyanti they see. Dhyānāvasthita, by meditation.
Revatīnandana: This is the Sixth Chapter Bhagavad-gītā? Is that what you're quoting?
Prabhupāda: No, this is in Bhāgavata.
Revatīnandana: I see. But that seeing...
Prabhupāda: That seeing is not ānanda. Seeing is ānanda, undoubtedly, but seeing and talking and becoming friend, that is higher. Friend or conjugal lover, father, mother. That kind of seeing is different.
Prabhupāda: Mad-yājino yānti mām. Kṛṣṇa devotees, they go directly, especially those who are worshiping Kṛṣṇa through Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They directly go to Kṛṣṇaloka.
Revatīnandana: What about like the case of Bhīṣmadeva where he knew about Kṛṣṇa in Goloka, and he went to Kṛṣṇa as Pārtha-sārathi.
Prabhupāda: No, Kṛṣṇa... He understood Kṛṣṇa as Nārāyaṇa. He will go to Vaikuṇṭha, Bhīṣmadeva.
Revatīnandana: But he had full knowledge of everything as a mahājana. He knew also...
Prabhupāda: But he loved Nārāyaṇa, Catur-bhuja.
Revatīnandana: Yes, that was his constitutional position. That's all right.
Prabhupāda: Just like sometimes mādhurya-rasa is the greatest humor...
Revatīnandana: Who?
Prabhupāda: Mādhurya-rasa, conjugal love. But still, there are devotees who prefer parental love, friendly love. That is liking. Everyone has got his own liking. But they are all the same, all the same. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa devotee and Nārāyaṇa devotee. They are all the... But it is their liking, varieties of liking.
Prabhupāda: It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He gave us mādhurya-rasa.
Ambassador: Mādhurya-rasa.
Prabhupāda: Therefore about Caitanya Mahāprabhu, it is said, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt. Anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ...
- anarpita-carīṁ cirāt
- karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau
- samarpayitum unnatojjvala-
- rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
- hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-
- kadamba-sandīpitaḥ
- sadā hṛdaya-kandare
- sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ
It is the gift of Śacīnandana, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that Kṛṣṇa can be served in mādhurya-rasa, in conjugal love. That is Śrī Caitanya. And amongst the gopīs, Rādhārāṇī was the best gopī, foremost. Anayārādhitaḥ. This, this is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Yaśodāmāyī is more powerful than Kṛṣṇa.
Indian Man (1): No, devotees are more powerful always.
Prabhupāda: (laughing) Just see. He liberated Nalakuvera, but He remained bound up by the rope of Yaśodāmāyī. (break) ...children. (break) ...some conjugal love.
Dr. Patel: Then he became eight years old. How could any gopī have conjugal love with a boy of seven or eight years?
Indian Man (1): Spiritual love.
Prabhupāda: That is not this love. That is a different love.
Prabhupāda: Govardhana-pādapa-tale. This is the... This is the bhajana of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava. He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ. Kutaḥ: "Where You are?" Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava will never say that "We have seen." Kutaḥ: "Where You are?"
- he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ
- śrī-govardhana-(kalpa-)pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥ
- Or
- govardhana-pādapa-tale.
- ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau
- vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau
ei chay gosāi jār, tār mui dās,
tān-sabāra pada-reṇu, mora pañca-grās
We have to follow the Gosvāmīs to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa tattva. Directly we cannot understand.
rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti,
kabe hāma bhujhabo, se jugala-pīriti
"The conjugal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, when I shall understand?" Rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti: "When I shall be very much eager to the favor of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha Gosvāmī, it may be possible I can understand what is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa." This is the process. So Rūpa Gosvāmī and other Gosvāmīs, they never said that "In Vṛndāvana we have seen Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa."
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Mostly. They have no knowledge. Material. Prākṛta-sahajiyā. Their real name is prākṛta. Their thoughts are on this material platform. Just as they are preferring this conjugal love because here the sex is prominent. They are thinking that is the highest stage. What is the lowest stage here, they're taking that as the highest stage. In the.... Of course, in the spiritual world there is such thing, but as Kṛṣṇa has many other līlās, why they are not attracted to other līlās?
Rāmeśvara: They don't want to be limited. They think that Kṛṣṇa is the kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So why...
Prabhupāda: That is good. That is always true, but Kṛṣṇa says,
- manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
- kaścid yatati siddhaye
- yatatām api siddhānāṁ
- kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
- (BG 7.3)
How you have understood Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa says, "Out of many millions of people, one becomes siddha, and out of many millions of siddhas, hardly one can understand Me." So how you have understood Kṛṣṇa so easily, within two years? What you have understood Kṛṣṇa, that is materially understood. You do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. That is prākṛta-sahajiyā.
Prabhupada: Other Vaiṣṇava philosophies they could not explain our relationship with God. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained the higher relationship with God. That is called vatsalya-rasa and madhurya-rasa. Especially madhurya-rasa. Anarpita carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatirṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojvala-rasāṁ sva bhakti śriyam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave information of the madhurya-rasa, that our relationship can be with Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love.
So unless one comes to the platform of devotional service, one cannot understand. But for general understanding this philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different.... That is explained in this verse. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). The living entities are part and parcel of God. So if God is gold, then living entities are also gold. This is equality in quality. But God is great, and we are always subordinate. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. We are protected, we are maintained, we are predominated. That is our position. We cannot attain the position of predominator. That is not possible.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Bhakta means he must be a servant, sakha or father or conjugal lover. They are bhaktas. There are five rasas. So a bhakta is situated in one of them: śānta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya... That is Vṛndāvana atmosphere. So bhakta means either of them. Arjuna sākhye. By friendship Arjuna became perfect, by making Kṛṣṇa as friend. Hanumān dāsye. Vajrāṅgajī, Hanumān, he, by serving Lord Rāmacandra, the order... He was not even human being, animal, (indistinct), not very intelligent, but by giving service constantly, he worshiped with love. So as soon as you become a bhakta, you must be related with Kṛṣṇa with some rasa, in some particular position. That is bhakta. So the point is that without becoming a bhakta, nobody can understand bhakta.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
The next development from santa-rasa is dasya-rasa, which means voluntary offering of some service. Next development is Sakhya rasa, or service in spirit of friendship and well-wisher. The next development is Vatsalya rasa, service as well wisher and affection. The next development is Madhura rasa, service, friendship, affection and conjugal love. So in the Madhura rasa, everything is complete; there is Santa rasa, Dasya rasa, Sakhya rasa, Vatsalya rasa, and Madhura rasa. But each and every one of the rasas is complete in itself. A person in Santa rasa or Sakhya rasa is as good as one in Madhura rasa because in the spiritual world everything is absolute. But from the platform of spiritual vision, where there is transcendental discrimination, one can appreciate Madhurya rasa as complete as anything.
Rupa Goswami's eternal rasa is conjugal love. He is one of the associates of Radharani, and he helps Radharani while engaged in the service of Krishna. He is known as Rupamanjari in the spiritual world.
Tattvam asi means you are that. You are that, means you are also Brahman. That means qualitatively you are one with the Supreme Absolute. The Mayavadi philosophers interpret this Tattvam asi that the living entity is the same Supreme Absolute Truth. They do not make any difference of quality and quantity, but Vaisnava philosophers are very accurate in their estimation of the Absolute Truth. Therefore, we interpret this Vedic verse as Tattvam asi means that the living entity is qualitatively one, as much as a particle of gold is also gold.
Your question, "what is the relationship of sweethearts in Vaikuntha to each other and to Lord Narayana? Is conjugal love, parental affection, and unalloyed friendship there in the Vaikunthas?" No. In Vaikuntha there are two kinds of transcendental mellows, dasya and the lower half of sakya rasa. The lower half of sakhya means friendship in adoration. And the higher half of sakhya rasa is friendship on equal level. So in Vrindaban the reciprocation of transcendental humor is higher than in Vaikuntha. It is there more free and spontaneous without any restriction arranged by yogamaya principle.
You know that Lord Buddha was Hindu, born in India, in a royal family, but because He advocated voidism, His philosophy was not accepted by the leaders of Vedic principles. For the time being, Lord Buddha's philosophy was accepted by emperor Asoka, and due to royal influence, it spread all over India. But later on, when Sankaracarya preached the Vedic principle, the voidism of Lord Buddha was driven out of India. Similarly, when Ramanujacarya found Sankaracarya a second edition of Buddhist philosophy, he also expunged Sankaracarya as compromising the Buddha, and he established Personal worship of Lord Visnu. Later on, other acaryas, including Sri Caitanya, developed the transcendental reciprocation of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Lord Caitanya preached that loving service in the highest conjugal love with Krishna is also possible. So we are preaching the highest principles of loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such, there is no scope for compromising with any of the kinds of philosophies of the impersonalist school.
1969 Correspondence
Your explanation of Annamoya is all right. Pranamoya means there are different types of airs, and the spirit soul is floating on the air, just like all the planets are floating in the air. This Pranamoya air is transferred by breathing exercises, but we have nothing to do with such exercises. Our prana, or life, is surrendered to Krishna. That is the first class yoga system approved by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. This Pranamoya, Annamoya, etc. are different stages for persons who are too much engrossed in the bodily concept of life. Our philosophy begins from the point where we immediately accept that I am not this body; I am pure spirit soul, servant of God, Krishna. Therefore, these studies are meant for neophyte transcendentalists. But this devotional service is far above such platform. Regarding your last question, generally those who are attracted very much to Lord Caitanya and Goswamis are understood to develop to the conjugal love stage with Lord Krishna.
1975 Correspondence
"When the mind is completely purified, being freed from material anxieties and desires, then I shall be able to understand Vrndavana and the conjugal love of Radha and Krsna, and then my spiritual life will be successful." One has to engage himself in devotional service, giving up the engagement of manufacturing pounds, shilling, pence. Sankirtana is very good, but grhasthas under condition can do other business, only if they give at least 50%, but sankirtana is the best business. Our Denver temple is situated in a very nice place. It is our own house, so it must be managed very nicely. Please encourage Kurusrestha in this regard. He is very good devotee, very sincere and intelligent.
| Page Title: | Conjugal love (Conversations and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, UmaI, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 14 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=10, Let=6 |
| No. of Quotes: | 16 |