Why did Kṛṣṇa assume the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? It is explained that Kṛṣṇa desired to know the glory of Rādhā's love. "Why is She so much in love with Me?" Kṛṣṇa asked. "What is My special qualification that attracts Her so? And what is the actual way in which She loves Me?" It seems strange that Kṛṣṇa, as the Supreme, should be attracted by anyone's love. We search after the love of a woman or a man because we are imperfect and lack something. The love of a woman, that potency and pleasure, is absent in man, and therefore a man wants a woman, but this is not the case with Kṛṣṇa, who is full in Himself. Thus Kṛṣṇa expressed surprise: "Why am I attracted by Rādhārāṇī? And when Rādhārāṇī feels My love, what is She actually feeling?" In order to taste the essence of that loving affair, Kṛṣṇa appeared just as the moon appears on the horizon of the sea. Just as the moon was produced by the churning of the sea, by the churning of spiritual love affairs the moon of Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared. Indeed, Caitanya's complexion was golden, just like the moon. Although this is figurative language, it conveys the meaning behind the appearance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The full significance of His appearance will be explained in later chapters.
Love affairs
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
Unscrupulous persons go immediately to the Tenth Canto and especially to the five chapters which describe the Lord's rāsa dance. This portion of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the most confidential part of this great literature. Unless one is thoroughly accomplished in the transcendental knowledge of the Lord, one is sure to misunderstand the Lord's worshipable transcendental pastimes called rāsa dance and His love affairs with the gopīs. This subject matter is highly spiritual, and only the liberated persons who have gradually attained to the stage of paramahaṁsa can transcendentally relish this rāsa dance. Śrīla Vyāsadeva therefore gives the reader the chance to gradually develop spiritual realization before actually relishing the essence of the pastimes of the Lord.
The sum total of all these rasas is called affection or love. Primarily, such signs of love are manifested in adoration, service, friendship, paternal affection, and conjugal love. And when these five are absent, love is present indirectly in anger, wonder, comedy, chivalry, fear, shock and so on. For example, when a man is in love with a woman, the rasa is called conjugal love. But when such love affairs are disturbed there may be wonder, anger, shock, or even horror. Sometimes love affairs between two persons culminate in ghastly murder scenes. Such rasas are displayed between man and man and between animal and animal. There is no possibility of an exchange or rasa between a man and an animal or between a man and any other species of living beings within the material world.
SB Canto 2
When Yaśodāmayī came to see the happenings, she thought that her child had been saved from the falling trees by the mercy of the Lord, without knowing that the Lord Himself, crawling in her yard, had wreaked the havoc. So that is the way of reciprocation of love affairs between the Lord and His devotees. Yaśodāmayī wanted to have the Lord as her child, and the Lord played exactly like a child in her lap, but at the same time played the part of the Almighty Lord whenever it was so required. The beauty of such pastimes was that the Lord fulfilled everyone's desire. In the case of felling the gigantic arjuna trees, the Lord's mission was to deliver the two sons of Kuvera, who were condemned to become trees by the curse of Nārada, as well as to play like a crawling child in the yard of Yaśodā, who took transcendental pleasure in seeing such activities of the Lord in the very yard of her home.
So at the age of only three months He killed the Śakaṭāsura, who had remained hidden behind a cart in the house of Yaśodāmayī. And when He was crawling and was disturbing His mother from doing household affairs, the mother tied Him with a grinding pestle, but the naughty child dragged the pestle up to a pair of very high arjuna trees in the yard of Yaśodāmayī, and when the pestle was stuck between the pair of trees, they fell down with a horrible sound. When Yaśodāmayī came to see the happenings, she thought that her child had been saved from the falling trees by the mercy of the Lord, without knowing that the Lord Himself, crawling in her yard, had wreaked the havoc. So that is the way of reciprocation of love affairs between the Lord and His devotees. Yaśodāmayī wanted to have the Lord as her child, and the Lord played exactly like a child in her lap, but at the same time played the part of the Almighty Lord whenever it was so required. The beauty of such pastimes was that the Lord fulfilled everyone's desire. In the case of felling the gigantic arjuna trees, the Lord's mission was to deliver the two sons of Kuvera, who were condemned to become trees by the curse of Nārada, as well as to play like a crawling child in the yard of Yaśodā, who took transcendental pleasure in seeing such activities of the Lord in the very yard of her home.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Materialistic conditioned souls do not understand the transcendental exchanges of love, but they like to indulge in sense gratification in the name of devotional service. The activities of the Supreme Lord can never be understood by irresponsible persons who think the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa to be ordinary affairs. The rāsa dance is arranged by Kṛṣṇa's internal potency yogamāyā, and it is beyond the grasp of the materially affected person. Trying to throw mud into transcendence with their perversity, the sahajiyās misinterpret the sayings tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170) and tat-paro bhavet. By misinterpreting tādṛśīḥ krīḍāḥ, they want to indulge in sex while pretending to imitate Lord Kṛṣṇa. But one must actually understand the imports of the words through the intelligence of the authorized gosvāmīs. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, in his prayers to the Gosvāmīs, has explained his inability to understand such spiritual affairs:
- rūpa-raghunātha-pade ha-ibe ākuti
- kabe hāma bujhaba se yugala-pīriti
"When I shall be eager to understand the literature given by the Gosvāmīs, then I shall be able to understand the transcendental love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa." In other words, unless one is trained under the disciplic succession of the Gosvāmīs, one cannot understand Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The conditioned souls are naturally averse to understanding the spiritual existence of the Lord, and if they try to know the transcendental nature of the Lord's pastimes while they remain absorbed in materialism, they are sure to blunder like the sahajiyās.
Here the use of the verb "bhavet," which is in the imperative mood, tells us that this certainly must be done. Noncompliance would be abandonment of duty.
This imperative is applicable to pure devotees. Neophytes will be able to understand these affairs only after being elevated by regulated devotional service under the expert guidance of the spiritual master. Then they too will be competent to hear of the love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
As long as one is in material, conditioned life, strict discipline is required in the matter of moral and immoral activities. The absolute world is transcendental and free from such distinctions because there inebriety is not possible. But in this material world a sexual appetite necessitates distinction between moral and immoral conduct. There are no sexual activities in the spiritual world. The transactions between lover and beloved in the spiritual world are pure transcendental love and unadulterated bliss.
The conjugal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, which is called yugala-pīriti, is not understandable by mundane scholars, artists or poets. It is simply to be understood by devotees who strictly follow in the footsteps of the six Gosvāmīs. Sometimes so-called artists and poets try to understand the love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and they publish cheap books of poetry and pictures on the subject. Unfortunately, however, they do not understand the transcendental affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa even to the smallest degree. They are simply meddling in a matter in which they are not fit even to enter.
CC Madhya-lila
When Caitanya Mahāprabhu fell behind the Ratha car, Jagannātha-deva, Kṛṣṇa Himself, understood the mind of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Therefore, Jagannātha sometimes fell behind the dancing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to indicate to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī that He had not forgotten. Thus Lord Jagannātha would stop the forward march of the ratha and wait at a standstill. In this way Lord Jagannātha agreed that without the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī He could not feel satisfied. While Jagannātha was thus waiting, Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, immediately came forward to Kṛṣṇa. At such times, Lord Jagannātha would proceed ahead very slowly. These competitive exchanges were all part of the love affair between Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. In that competition between Lord Caitanya's ecstasy for Jagannātha and Jagannātha's ecstasy for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu emerged successful.
“Our love affair is more powerful because of My good fortune in receiving Nārāyaṇa's grace. This allows Me to come there unseen by others. I hope that very soon I will be visible to everyone.
“(18) The devotee should not hear Lord Viṣṇu or His devotees blasphemed. (19) The devotee should avoid reading or hearing newspapers or mundane books that contain stories of love affairs between men and women or subjects palatable to the senses. (20) Neither by mind nor words should the devotee cause anxiety to any living entity, regardless how insignificant he may be.
An advanced devotee situated on the platform of spontaneity is already very expert in śāstric instruction, logic and argument. When he comes to the point of eternal love for Kṛṣṇa, no one can deviate him from that position, neither by argument nor by śāstric evidence. An advanced devotee has realized his eternal relationship with the Lord, and consequently he does not accept the logic and arguments of others. Such an advanced devotee has nothing to do with the sahajiyās, who manufacture their own way and commit sins by indulging in illicit sex, intoxication and gambling, if not meat-eating. Sometimes the sahajiyās imitate advanced devotees and live in their own whimsical way, avoiding the principles set down in the revealed scriptures. Unless one follows the six Gosvāmīs—Śrī Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, Śrī Jīva, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa and Raghunātha dāsa-one cannot be a bona fide spontaneous lover of Kṛṣṇa. In this connection, Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhaba se yugala pirīti. The sahajiyās' understanding of the love affairs between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is not bona fide because they do not follow the principles laid down by the six Gosvāmīs. Their illicit connection and their imitation of the dress of Rūpa Gosvāmī, as well as their avoidance of the prescribed methods of revealed scriptures, will lead them to the lowest regions of hell. These imitative sahajiyās are cheated and unfortunate. They are not equal to advanced devotees (paramahaṁsas). Debauchees and paramahaṁsas are not on the same level.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Unscrupulous people go at once to the Tenth Canto, especially to the five chapters which describe the Lord's rāsa dance. However, this portion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the most confidential part of that great literature. Unless one is thoroughly accomplished in the transcendental knowledge of the Lord, he is sure to misunderstand the Lord's worshipable transcendental pastimes in the rāsa dance and the Lord's love affairs with the gopīs. This subject matter is highly spiritual and technical, and only liberated personalities who have gradually attained the stage of paramahaṁsa can transcendentally relish the worshipable rāsa dance.
Rāmānanda Rāya thus continued his descriptions. During one performance of the rāsa dance, Rādhārāṇī suddenly left the area, as if She were angry that no special attention was being shown Her. Kṛṣṇa was desirous of seeing Rādhārāṇī in order to fulfill the purpose of the rāsa dance, but not seeing Rādhārāṇī there, He became very sorrowful and went to search Her out. In Gīta-govinda there is a verse which states that the enemy of Kaṁsa, Kṛṣṇa, also wanted to be entangled in love affairs with women and thus simply took Rādhārāṇī away and left the company of the other damsels of Vraja. Kṛṣṇa was very much afflicted by Rādhārāṇī's absence and, being thus mentally distressed, began to search Her out along the banks of the Yamunā. Failing to find Her, He entered the bushes of Vṛndāvana and began to lament. Rāmānanda Rāya pointed out that when one discusses the purport of these two special verses of Gīta-govinda (3.1-2), he can relish the highest nectar of Kṛṣṇa's and Rādhā's loving affairs. Although there were many gopīs to dance with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa especially wanted to dance with Rādhārāṇī. In the rāsa dance Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself and placed Himself between every two gopīs, but He was especially present with Rādhārāṇī. However, Rādhārāṇī was not pleased with Kṛṣṇa's behavior. As described in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: "The path of loving affairs is just like the movement of a snake. Amongst young lovers, there are two kinds of mentality—causeless and causal." Thus when Rādhārāṇī left the area of the rāsa dance out of anger at not receiving special treatment, Kṛṣṇa became very sorrowful to see Her absent. The perfection of the rāsa dance was considered to be complete due to Rādhārāṇī's presence, and in Her absence Kṛṣṇa considered the dance to be disrupted. Therefore He left the arena to search Her out. When He could not find Rādhārāṇī after wandering in several places, He became very distressed. Thus it is understood that Kṛṣṇa could not enjoy His pleasure potency even in the midst of all the gopīs. But in the presence of Rādhārāṇī He was satisfied.
After hearing Rāmānanda Rāya speak of the qualities of Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya desired to hear from him about the reciprocation of love between Them. Rāmānanda Rāya described Kṛṣṇa as dhīra-lalita, a word which describes a person who is very cunning and youthful, who is always expert in joking, who is without anxiety and who is always subservient to his girl friend. Kṛṣṇa is always engaged in love affairs with Rādhārāṇī, and He takes to the bushes of Vṛndāvana to enjoy His lusty activities with Her. Thus He successfully carries out His lusty instincts. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu it is stated:. "By His impudent and daring talks about sex indulgence, Kṛṣṇa obliged Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī to close Her eyes, and taking advantage of this, Kṛṣṇa painted many pictures on Her breasts. These pictures served as subject matter for Rādhārāṇī's friends to joke about. Thus Kṛṣṇa was always engaged in lusty activities, and thus He made His youthful life successful."
Nectar of Devotion
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 gopīs. So the gopīs' love for Kṛṣṇa 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 sannyāsa 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 Kṛṣṇa than that conceived by the gopīs. Thus the gopīs' method of worshiping the Lord as if impelled by lusty desire was praised very highly even by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This very fact means that although the attraction of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa appears to be lusty, it is not in the least bit material. Unless one is fully situated in the transcendental position, the relationship of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa is very difficult to understand. 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 gopīs and Kṛṣṇa take it for granted that Kṛṣṇa's love affairs with the gopīs are mundane transactions, and therefore they sometimes indulge in painting licentious pictures in some modernistic style.
On the other hand, the lusty desire of Kubjā is described by learned scholars as being "almost lusty desire." Kubjā was a hunchbacked woman who also wanted Kṛṣṇa with a great ecstatic love. But her desire for Kṛṣṇa was almost mundane, and so her love cannot be compared to the love of the gopīs. Her loving affection for Kṛṣṇa is called kāma-prāyā, or almost like the gopīs' love for Kṛṣṇa.
Devotional service following in the footsteps of the gopīs of Vṛndāvana or the queens at Dvārakā is called devotional service in conjugal love. This devotional service in conjugal love can be divided into two categories. One is indirect conjugal love, the other direct. In both of these categories, one has to follow the particular gopī who is engaged in such service in Goloka Vṛndāvana. To be directly attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in conjugal love is technically called keli. This keli performance means to directly join with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are other devotees who do not wish direct contact with the Supreme Person, but who relish the conjugal love affairs of the Lord with the gopīs. Such devotees enjoy simply by hearing of the activities of the Lord with the gopīs.
This development of conjugal love can be possible only with those who are already engaged in following the regulative principles of devotional service, specifically in the worship of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the temple. Such devotees gradually develop a spontaneous love for the Deity, and by hearing of the Lord's exchange of loving affairs with the gopīs, they gradually become attracted to these pastimes. After this spontaneous attraction becomes highly developed, the devotee is placed in either of the above-mentioned categories.
A person who does not express his mind to everyone, or whose mental activity and plan of action are very difficult to understand, is called grave. After Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa had been offended by Brahmā, Brahmā prayed to Him to be excused. But in spite of his offering nice prayers to Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā could not understand whether Kṛṣṇa was satisfied or still dissatisfied. In other words, Kṛṣṇa was so grave that He did not take the prayers of Brahmā very seriously. Another instance of Kṛṣṇa's gravity is found in connection with His love affairs with Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa was always very silent about His love affairs with Rādhārāṇī, so much so that Baladeva, Kṛṣṇa's elder brother and constant companion, could not understand the transformations of Kṛṣṇa on account of His gravity.
This kaiśora age can be translated as adolescence. At the end of this period all the gopīs said, "Kṛṣṇa is the killer of the attraction of Cupid, and as such He disturbs the patience of all newly married girls. Kṛṣṇa's bodily features have become so exquisite—it is as if they were all manifesting an artistic sense of the highest sort. His dancing eyes have dimmed the brilliance of the most expert dancer, and so there is no longer any comparison to the beauty of Kṛṣṇa." Learned scholars therefore describe the features of His body at this time as nava-yauvana, newly invented youthfulness. At this stage of Kṛṣṇa's bodily features, the conjugal love affairs with the gopīs and similar pastimes become very prominent.
There are six features of conjugal love affairs, called peacemaking, picking a quarrel, going to meet one's lover, sitting together, separation and support. Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded an empire of these six features, of which He was the ruling prince. Somewhere He was picking quarrels with the young girls, somewhere He was scratching them with the nails of parrots, somewhere He was busy going to visit the gopīs, and somewhere He was negotiating through cowherd friends to take shelter of the gopīs.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, verse 20, it is said that after enjoying love affairs with Kṛṣṇa by dancing, embracing and kissing, the gopīs would sometimes become very tired, and Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy and compassion, would smear their faces with His lotus hands. This is an example of fatigue caused by laboring in the rāsa dance.
Śrīla Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura prays in his book as follows: "Let Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī purify the whole world, because She has surrendered Herself completely unto Kṛṣṇa. Out of Her ecstatic love for Him, She sometimes acted just like an addled person and attempted to churn yogurt, although there was no yogurt in the pot. And seeing this, Kṛṣṇa became so enchanted by Rādhārāṇī that He began to milk a bull instead of a cow." These are some of the instances of insanity or madness in connection with the love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that when Kṛṣṇa entered the poisonous waters of the Yamunā, Śrīmatī Yaśodā-devī went insane. Instead of searching for curative herbs, she began to speak to the trees as if they were snake chanters. With folded hands she began to bow down to the trees, asking them, "What is the medicinal herb which can check Kṛṣṇa's dying from this poisonous water?" This is an instance of insanity caused by some great danger.
Sometimes the behavior of Kṛṣṇa's sons appears similar to the behavior of His personal servants. For example, the sons used to offer their obeisances, they were silent, submissive and gentle, and they were always ready to carry out Kṛṣṇa's orders, even at the risk of life. When present before Kṛṣṇa, they bowed down on the ground. They were very silent and steady, and they used to restrain coughing and laughing before the Lord. Also, they never discussed Kṛṣṇa's pastimes in conjugal love. In other words, devotees who are engaged in reverential devotional service should not discuss the conjugal love affairs of Kṛṣṇa. No one should claim his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa unless he is liberated. In the conditioned state of life, the devotees have to execute the prescribed duties as recommended in the codes of devotional service. When one is mature in devotional service and is a realized soul, he can know his own eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. One should not artificially try to establish some relationship. In the premature stage it is sometimes found that a lusty, conditioned person will artificially try to establish some relationship with Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love. The result of this is that one becomes prākṛta-sahajiyā, or one who takes everything very cheaply. Although such persons may be very anxious to establish a relationship with Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love, their conditioned life in the material world is still most abominable. A person who has actually established his relationship with Kṛṣṇa can no longer act on the material plane, and his personal character cannot be criticized.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Now, the reservoir of brahma-sukha, Kṛṣṇa, Parabrahman, when He enjoys, does it mean this is material thing? This is not material thing. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitā... There, that is the expansion of His spiritual bliss. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt. That is the existence of Kṛṣṇa's hlādinī-śakti. So first of all we have to understand Kṛṣṇa; then, in course of understanding Kṛṣṇa, we shall understand His samvit-śakti, hlādinī-śakti. So these things are not subject matter for studying in our conditioned life. It is for the liberated soul. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you'll find in the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He only once discussed about the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa with gopīs, or Rādhārāṇī, gopīs, with Rāmānanda Rāya. And never He discussed with anyone else. Because He was very elevated, Rāmānanda Rāya. And otherwise, He never discussed. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, you won't find Kṛṣṇa is teaching anything about His relationship with gopīs. Just like... Try to understand. This is not the subject matter for a person who is conditioned; neither it is a subject matter to be discussed and speculated by the conditioned soul. Try to understand this.
Real love is described by Lord Caitanya. His love of God is being expressed in one verse, that āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu māṁ marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanāt: (CC Antya 20.47) "My Lord Kṛṣṇa, You embrace Me or trample Me down at Your feet. Whatever You like, You can do. And You make me brokenhearted by not being present before Me." Because lover wants to see his lovable object. But if the lovable object does not come he becomes brokenhearted. So Lord Caitanya says, "I am trying to see You, but You do not come. That's all right. I am brokenhearted, but still, I shall continue to love You. I cannot detract Myself from this love." This is pure love. This is pure love. So Kṛṣṇa says, ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā. One who is, I mean to say, entrapped in such love affairs with God, don't think that God is forgotten. God is also thinking in that way. Although you do not see, but you see. Those who are advanced in spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they always see Kṛṣṇa, always see Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, as the devotee sees always Kṛṣṇa, similarly Kṛṣṇa also always sees that devotee. This is reciprocation. Although He is neutral... He says, "I am neutral, but still, I cannot deviate Myself from My devotee. Who is always thinking of Me." This is His admission.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Pradyumna: "Such rasas are of different varieties. In the revealed scriptures the following twelve varieties of rasas are enumerated: 1) raudra, anger; 2) adbhuta, wonder; 3) śṛṅgāra, conjugal love; 4) hāsya, comedy; 5) vīra, chivalry; 6) dayā, mercy; 7) dāsya, servitorship; 8) sakhya, fraternity; 9) bhayānaka, horror; 10) bībhatsa, shock; 11) śānta, neutrality; 12) vātsalya; parenthood. The sum total of all these rasas is called affection, or love. Primarily, such signs of love are manifested in adoration, service, friendship, paternal affection, and conjugal love. And when these five are absent, love is present indirectly in anger, wonder, comedy, chivalry, fear, shock and so on. For example, when a man is in love with a woman, the rasa is called conjugal love. But when such love affairs are disturbed, there may be wonder, anger, shock, or even horror. Sometimes love affairs between two persons culminate in ghastly murder scenes. Such rasas are displayed between man and man and between animal and animal. There is no possibility of an exchange or rasa between a man and an animal or between a man and any other species of living beings within the material world. The rasas are exchanged between members of the same species. But as far as the spirit souls are concerned,..."
Prabhupāda: You have seen sometimes the pigeons fighting. But a pigeon and crow does not fight. A pigeon and pigeon fights. So this is also another indirect way of love. You'll see the pigeons, they will fight and again sit down in the assembly of the pigeons, not that the pigeon is going to the assembly of crows.
So if we actually study Kṛṣṇa,... The Bhagavad-gītā is the Kṛṣṇa-science, and it is further explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So the Bhāga..., Bhāgava..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explaining in tattva, in fact, in truth, what is Kṛṣṇa. So if we learn Kṛṣṇa, if we understand Kṛṣṇa, then our life is fulfilled. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). This is our only business. Try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Bhagavān. Kasmin tu bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa through authorities, through Kṛṣṇa, through ācāryas, not mental concoction, manufacturing something... Kṛṣṇa should be understood through the authorities. Kṛṣṇa's love affair with Rādhārāṇī should be understood through the authorities. Not that because we see Kṛṣṇa is just like a young boy, Rādhārāṇī is young girl, if we see here, it is very nice... Of course, it is very nice, but if we do not try to understand Kṛṣṇa through the authorities, we shall be misled. Therefore in the beginning one should not try to understand the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs. Then... Because it appears like ordinary dealings. But if we do not go through the authorities, we shall take Kṛṣṇa as ordinary boy or man, as it is warned in the Bhagavad-gītā, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because He's acting just like a young boy, if we do not try to understand tattvataḥ, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11), in fact, in truth, through the authorities... Because here it is: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Tattva-vit. Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya (CC Madhya 8.128).
The six Gosvāmīs directly got the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore we have to understand this Vṛndāvana-dhāma through the Gosvāmīs. It is not that... Sometimes they say that we do not accept the Gosvām... (indistinct) We accept actually the Gosvāmīs. But following the footprints of Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, what kind of... Ei chay gosāi jāṅr mui tāṅr dās. One who is accepting the path of the six Gosvāmīs, we are servant of the servant of such persons (CC Madhya 13.80). Ei chay gosāi jāṅr mui tāṅr dās. Rūpa-raghunātha-pade hoibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhabo se jugala-pīriti. Jugala-pirīti, the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. This is not ordinary thing. It is completely spiritual. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau, caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam (CC Adi 1.5). Vande... That verse I am forgetting. This is the process. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtiḥ, it is not the affair of one young boy and young man. It is not that. It is the exhibition of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Hlādinī śaktir asmāt, so it is completely spiritual. Do not try to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa playing immediately. "Oh, because I have come to Vṛndāvana, let me understand immediately Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā." It is not so easy. You have to undergo severe penances. Not severe. It is very easy. But we do not like to take.
So Kṛṣṇa is Acyuta. He never falls. So this is a false theory that when God falls down He becomes a jīva, and when He is again revived in His original position, He becomes God. This is nonsense theory. It has no meaning. God never falls down. But rascals, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11), because they're rascals, they think Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's līlā in Vṛndāvana, so many rascals, they think that Kṛṣṇa's dealing with the gopīs is the same as one young man or young boy plays with other young girls. No. They are different. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). This dealing, in this material world, between young boys and girls, they're material. They're simply a reflection of the original dealings. The verse in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). From Brahman everything is emanating. Without being in Brahman, nothing can be manifest or existing within this world. So these love affairs between young girls and young boy, is there in Brahman. That is the dealing of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. So that dealing is pervertedly reflected within this material world. It is not the same thing. It is different. But those who are not in the knowledge, they take it that the dealings... Idam Viṣṇu and the vraja-vadhū... It is so nice that actually if one hears about the dealings of the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa, then he becomes so elevated in devotion that he forgets the lusty dealings between man and woman. That is the result. It is stated in the Bhāgavatam, apahinoti, bhaktiṁ pratilabhya apahinoti kāmam.. If one is eligible to hear the dealings of gopīs and Kṛṣṇa, the result will be he'll forget the lusty desires of this material world. Therefore it is not for all. These dealings of gopīs and Kṛṣṇa is meant for the liberated person. They can hear, not the ordinary persons. Therefore this kṛṣṇa-līlā is given in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So don't jump over.
Kṛṣṇa is exactly like us. Or we are imitation of Kṛṣṇa. The difference is Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, unlimited, and we are aṇu, we are limited. That is the difference. Otherwise, qualitatively, we are as good as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore whatever propensities Kṛṣṇa has, we have got all these propensities. Kṛṣṇa has the propensity to love the other sex. Therefore we have got this propensity, to love the other sex. The beginning of love is there in Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, eternal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So we are also seeking eternal love, but because we are conditioned by the material laws, it is interrupted. It is interrupted.
So if we be, come out of this interruption, then we get similar love affairs as Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. So our business should be how to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. Because going to Kṛṣṇa means, Kṛṣṇa is eternal, we get eternal body. Just like to become a secretary or even a servant of President Nixon, he's also big man. He's also big man. Because unless one has got some special quality, he cannot become personal servant of President Nixon or his secretary. It is not possible. Not ordinary man can become President Nixon's servant or secretary. Similarly to go back to home, back to Godhead means you get the same type of body, as Kṛṣṇa has got. You become aja. Ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam. This is a disease, that we are changing our body. So Kṛṣṇa is Aja.
Prabhupāda: Generally, as I have already explained, that a man works very hard to get some money, some good bank balance, so that in old age he can live very peacefully, without any disturbance. Of course, that is not possible because at that time he may have money, but he is full of anxieties. A family man, old man, is always cintā-magna, cintā-magna, as "This boy is not well-situated. That boy has not educated... His education is not yet finished. And that girl has lost his husband. Husbands are rejected." Where is the peace? There cannot be peace. Kliśyanti. Again he tries to adjust that boy, that girl, that grandchildren, that..., going on. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya, he has said, bālas tāvat kriyāsaktaḥ.(?) The children, they are very working hard for playing. They're also getting perspiration, but they are taking pleasure in jumping and this way and that way.
So bālas tāvat kriyāsaktaḥ. And yuva... What is another name of yuvaka?
Devotee: Youth.
Prabhupāda: Yes. What is the Sanskrit name? Yuvakas tāvad yuvatī-raktaḥ,(?) that "Young men, they are busy working very hard: 'Where is woman? Where is woman? Where is that girl? Where is that girl?' " He's also busy. The boy is busy, and the young man, he is also busy, love affairs, to find out a suitable mate. Similarly... Yuvakas tāvad yuvatī-raktaḥ. And after young life, when one becomes old, vṛddhas tāvad cintā-magnaḥ: "The old man is full of anxiety, absorbed in thought, 'How to do it, how to do that? It is not...' " In this way everyone is busy. Parame brahmaṇe ko 'pi na lagnaḥ: "Nobody's interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." This is the difficulty. That they do not know. They... That the... "This human life, we are working so hard..."
So generally prayers offered in every religious institution. But so far we are concerned, we not only offer prayers, but also hear about Him. And what we shall hear about Him unless He has got activities? Just like you hear in the newspaper the activities of the general people. Similarly, if we have to hear something, there must some activities. That activities we find in the Vedic literatures-immense, unlimited activities. There are eighteen Purāṇas, you'll find activities of the Lord. There is Mahābhārata, you'll find activities of the Lord. There is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have published. It will come very soon. Kṛṣṇa... The... Full of activities of the Lord, in two volumes of four hundred pages. So simply if you read and hear the activities, either read or hear, both of them are śravaṇam. Activities of the Lord, you get liberation, simply by reading. You have got a tendency for reading book or hearing about somebody, but, generally, for our sense gratification we hear some man and woman making love affairs, and that is the subject matter of a drama or a fiction or a story. The same tendency, if you transfer for hearing about Kṛṣṇa, you get liberation. It is so nice thing. And you'll find so attractive to read about the activities of the Lord that they will... Cannot leave the book. The Nectar of Devotion and Kṛṣṇa. It is practically. If you go on reading, you'll find at times some philosophical topics, but the story is so attractive. Because God, Kṛṣṇa is so attractive, His activities are also attractive.
If the anger quality is not there in God, how we get this quality? That is a fact. But His anger and your anger is different because you are materially contaminated. So qualities, as they are, they are not bad. But when they are saturated with the contamination of this material world, they appear to be bad. Just like a naughty child. A naughty child means that child is going to be very intelligent boy or girl in future. That is a fact. Naughtiness means that child is very intelligent. So in course of time that naughtiness will fructify into intelligence. So here all the godly qualities are misrepresented, perverted reflection. Just like love. Now our worshipable God is Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, conjugal love perfection. The same love is descended here also, love between boy and girl, but that is perverted. The love is there. The same love is there also. Otherwise wherefrom this girl? Why a girl is attracted by a boy? Why a boy is attracted by a girl? That is natural. That is coming from God, His pleasure potency. But because that love is being manifested with the contamination of this material world, that is perverted. So every quality... That is the, I mean to say, scientific way of studying God. Whatever qualities you have got, you can understand the same qualities is there in God, but your present condition being contaminated with material contact, it is being pervertedly represented. This has to be purified. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The same thing. The same love affair, the same anger or anything, that is to be purified. Then it is godly. That's all. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to purify.
A child cannot become a jñānī. A child cannot become a yogi. But a child can become a bhakta. Therefore this is the easiest process. Pleasing. Everyone is pleased to execute this process. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt (SB 10.1.4). Mano-'bhirāmāt. Even for ordinary men who wants to hear about conjugal love... They read therefore so many novels, fiction, dramas. What is that? The love affairs between one young man, one young girl. But that is also there, Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In that sense also, it is pleasing.
The love for Kṛṣṇa is so strong that whatever Kṛṣṇa does, that is beautiful. And the spiritual world, what is condemnable in this material world, that is very worshipable in the spiritual world. Spiritual world, the love is parakīya-rasa. Parakīya-rasa. Here in this material world, if you create some relationship with other's wife, that is very condemnable. But in the spiritual world the loving affairs between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa is the same, is like that. Kṛṣṇa is making loving affairs with other's wife. So therefore sometimes, without understanding Kṛṣṇa, if one tries to understand the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa with gopīs, they misunderstand. They think that "Kṛṣṇa is woman-hunter, and Kṛṣṇa is making love with other's wife and daughter." They do not know.
So we have to go through the Gosvāmīs and the paramparā system. Then we can understand. Rūpa-raghunātha pade, haibe ākuti, kabe hāma bujhabo, śrī yugala-pīriti. Generally some professional men, they chant Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir. That is not the way. You cannot understand the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa without understanding the path given by the Gosvāmīs. If you surpass in this way, avoid the way of approaching Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa by reading Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, The Nectar of Devotion, the Teachings of Lord Caitanya—all of a sudden if you become an upstart to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love—then you'll misunderstand. That is the way. And people, they try to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love affairs, jumping all of a sudden. This is not the way. One should be very much eager to understand. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir āhlādini śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau, śrī caitanya-prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ rādhā-kṛṣṇa-bhāva-dyuti. There is a... This is the verse by Jīva Gosvāmī that "Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is one. Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa." Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate sva-bhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Being. When He wants to enjoy pleasure, no material things can supply that. That is not possible. He expands His own energy, and by His own energy He gets the pleasure. So Rādhārāṇī is not ordinary, as the sahajiyās, those who take Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love affair very easily... No. Then you'll misunderstand. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir āhlādini śaktiḥ. It is the expansion of pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa.
Your tendency has come because the same tendency is there in the Supreme Lord. This is the explanation. Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jayante. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is the Vedic... Everything, whatever you see, that is there in the Supreme Being. Why we make love affairs with young girls or young boys? Because the same propensity is there. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). Kṛṣṇa is enjoying in Goloka Vṛndāvana with so many young girls. That tendency to enjoy the company of young girls or young boys is there. Otherwise wherefrom it has come? That is the explanation. Everything, whatever you see, everything—janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)—that is there.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Yugala-pīriti, the conjugal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, it is not be understood by a third-class man. It is not possible. If one thinks Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being, Rādhārāṇī as ordinary girl, then it is not possible. One has to understand Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī through the bhakti literature of these Gosvāmīs. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti. Eagerness. "When I shall try to understand yugala-pīriti, the conjugal love of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, through the literature of Rūpa-Raghunātha?" Rūpa-Raghunātha means... There are six Gosvāmīs. Begins from Rūpa Gosvāmī, ends with Raghunātha. Śrīla Rūpa, Sanātana, Bhaṭṭa Raghunātha, Śrī Jīva, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, dāsa Raghunātha. There are two Raghunāthas—one Bhaṭṭa Raghunātha, one dāsa Raghunātha. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, Rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhabo... To understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Their love affairs, one has to understand through the literature given by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Just like this Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Nectar of Devotion.
We have seen, practically. In Calcutta, Mr. C.R. Das. he was earning, say, about fifty years ago, fifty thousand, sixty thousand rupees per month. But on Congress resolution, he gave up his practice and practically he had no income. In one meeting, he was asked by somebody... Everyone thought that he's very big, rich man. Somebody asked him to give him, them some subscription. So C.R. Das admitted that "Now I have no income, by my party, Congress Party, they gave me five hundred rupees per month for my expenditures. So I give you everything." So... Because that was his habit. If anyone would approach him, ask him something, the day's income he'll give him, immediately. But he could not live more than one year. He could not tolerate so much renouncement. Because that was material. But these Gosvāmīs, they gave us their ministerial posts, opulent posts and became mendicants. How they lived? Go... That is stated. Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau-sada. They were merged in the ocean of the love affairs of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore this mendicantism, it was external. They were enjoying better things. So unless you enjoy better thing, you cannot give up inferior thing.
Rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti. Unless one becomes very, very much eager to follow the path of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he cannot understand what is the love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Without following the principles of Rūpa Gosvāmī, if we wants to understand what is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then we shall understand a boy, ordinary boys' and girls' affairs. That is not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in the śāstra it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Do not try to understand Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa with these blunt eyes and senses; try to understand through the instructions of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, such an exalted ācārya, he's teaching us, "Don't try to understand yugala-pīriti, the love affairs between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, concoctedly, by your own concoction." No. You should first of all try to serve the Six Gosvāmīs, rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti, how they are directing. Just like this Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is not teaching in the beginning the loving affairs of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. No. He's training, first of all, the reader, the devotee, how to become first of all pure devotee.
Prabhupāda: The Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The, everything is emanating from the Absolute. So there is love. Just like Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love, Kiśora-kiśorī, young Kṛṣṇa, young Rādhārāṇī. This love is pervertedly reflected in this material world which is in the name of love, but it is lust; therefore it is called perverted reflection. Lust because the, a young boy, a young girl mix together, they love together, but a slight disagreement, they separate. Why? Because that is not love. That is lust. The lust is going on in the name of love. But the reflection is from there. Therefore it is called māyā. The same love between father and mother, father and son, vātsalya-rasa, mādhurya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, friendship... Here, we have got friends, but a slight disagreement, we separate. Master and servant—dāsya-rasa. A servant is very faithful so long you pay. As soon as you stop payment, no more service. Finished.
Therefore it is to be understood that the love with Kṛṣṇa in the platform of mādhurya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, dāsya-rasa, śānta-rasa, that is the real platform, in the spiritual world. And because the love affairs are there in the Absolute, that is reflected in this relative world. And here is also the same love is there, but it is not very palatable. It is not without any fault. There are so many faults. Therefore real love can be reciprocated with Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, there cannot be any real love. Therefore the real love cannot be appreciated with our, this material senses. Whatever we appreciate or experience by the material senses, that is not love, that is lust. Motive. There is some motive. One is friend of another person, very intimate friends, both of them have got some motive. As soon as the motive is frustrated, they separate. These things, we find. Even husband and wife, as soon as the sense gratification is disturbed, immediately there is divorce between husband and wife. So... (aside, in response to background noise:) What is this outside?
Devotee: Outside... Next door...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. No. Doesn't matter.
Devotee: Shut these doors.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we have to invoke our love for Kṛṣṇa. Then our loving propensities will be actually satisfied. Otherwise we'll be frustrated. Otherwise, we'll be frustrate... That is going on. We may admit or not admit, but this frustration of love affair is going on.
Pradyumna: (reading) "In the primary stage, a child loves his parents, then his brothers and sisters, and as he daily grows up, he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, or even the whole human society. But the loving propensity is not satisfied, even by loving all human society. That loving propensity remains imperfectly fulfilled until we know who is the Supreme Beloved. Our love can be fully satisfied only when it is reposed in Kṛṣṇa. This..."
Prabhupāda: There is a nice example in this connection. In the pond, reservoir of water, if you drop one stone, it becomes a circle. The circle increases, increasing, increasing... Unless it comes to the shore, the circle increases. Similarly, our loving propensity increases. In the primary stage, a child whatever he gets, he puts into his mouth. Anna-brahman. Then gradually, as the child grows, sometimes he distributes to his other brother or parents, the love increases. In this way, self-centered, then family-centered, then community-centered, society-centered, nation-centered, international centered... So this increase of our loving propensity will not be satisfied unless it reaches the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We love. The loving propensity is there. Even we have no family... Sometimes we keep pets, cats and dogs, to love. So we are, by nature we used to love somebody else. So that somebody else is Kṛṣṇa. Actually, we want to love Kṛṣṇa, but without information of Kṛṣṇa, without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, our loving propensity is limited. Within certain circle. Therefore we are not satisfied. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. That love affair, loving propensity, is eternally existing, to love Kṛṣṇa. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja, when he met the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he became fully satisfied. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42).
So try to follow this book. Rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing,
- rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti
- kabe hāma bujhaba śrī yugala-pīriti
The sahajiyās, they immediately try to understand the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. That is sahajiyism. Here we have to take instruction from Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. First of all we have to take the mercy of Rūpa-Raghunātha, Gosvāmīs. Then if there is, our luck is good, then we can understand what is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa prema. You, it is not a thing to be understood by the common man in the bazaar, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, in spite of hearing Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā for many, many years, they remain in the same position, not a single step forward, what to..., to understand Kṛṣṇa? Because they do not try to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa through the channel chalked out by Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Gosvāmīs. We must know. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is not ordinary. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śakti. This is the manifestation of the ahlādinī śakti of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not enjoy any material thing. The gopīs and Rādhārāṇī, they are not these ordinary girls. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37).
I have several times explained that the love affairs between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, that is fact. There is no end. Eternally They are enjoying. Rādhārāṇī is enjoying the company of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is enjoying. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya vikṛtir ahlādinī śakti. That is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. As Kṛṣṇa is eternal, Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency is also eternal. So real love, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs, or Kṛṣṇa and the cowherd boys, Kṛṣṇa and Yaśodā Ma, Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's servants, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's trees, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's water, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's flower, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's cows, everything eternal. That is eternal.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So the love affairs between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā... That we have already understood, that Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined together is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam. Tad-dvayam. Dvayam means two, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. They are one. There is no difference, energy and the energetic. So Rādhārāṇī is the energy, pleasure energy, of Kṛṣṇa. So when Kṛṣṇa... We have explained this. When Kṛṣṇa wants pleasure, He cannot derive it from anything material. We should not misunderstand that Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being and He is enjoying like us. Completely different. Rādhārāṇī is the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).
Who does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa? You'll say that "There are so many big, big persons, and they do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So they are all mūḍhas?" Yes, they are all mūḍhas. That is the verdict of the śāstra. We cannot make any compromise. That is not possible, against the principle of the śāstra. If we keep one competitor of Kṛṣṇa, then we are mūḍha. Here it is said, advitīya. Not that there is another Kṛṣṇa, dini-Kṛṣṇa, no. There is no... There cannot be any competitor of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more anyone, bigger authority than Me." And here is also, Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaja, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, says, advitīya: no competitor, sir. Here we are all gods, the rascaldom, that "Everyone is God." But there is competition of Gods. But in case of Kṛṣṇa there is no such possibility, no competition. Nobody can compete with Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was present He showed it by practical example. Nobody could compete Him in either knowledge, either strength or love affairs or any field of activities. There was no competition.
Bhāgye sei premā tomāya karila udaya: "So I am very glad, Caitanya, that You have developed that symptoms by chanting. So it is very good, and it is very nice. You are very fortunate." Premāra sva-bhāve kare citta-tanu kṣobha: "When one becomes..." Just like a man in love in this material world, also, he sometimes becomes just like madman, so similarly... Material manifestation is simply perverted reflection of the real love. Here there is no love. It is simply a reflection. Because the spirit soul is originally in love with the Supreme, so he is trying to express his loving sentiments or life's symptoms, but because it is not on the platform of the Supreme, therefore materially they are manifested sometimes, but it breaks. It breaks. It does not exist. So similarly, as in the ordinary love affairs there are so many emotions, similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says this is the nature of love, nature of love. Premāra sva-bhāve kare citta-tanu kṣobha. Kṣobha means there is some agitation, within the mind, of the body. There are so many symptoms. Kṛṣṇera caraṇa-prāptye upajāya lobha: "And the more you increase the symptoms and this emotion, the more you will be anxious to be a sincere lover of God, or Kṛṣṇa." Premāra sva-bhāve bhakta hāse, kānde, gāya: 'This is the nature of loving emotion of a devotee, that he sometimes laughs, sometimes dances, sometimes cries." Unmatta ha-iyā nāce, iti-uti dhāya: "And sometimes he dances like a madman and goes this side and that side. So these symptoms are good symptoms."
So those who are eternally liberated, they love Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are perfect in the spiritual world. 'Nitya-mukta'-nitya kṛṣṇa-caraṇe unmukha, 'kṛṣṇa-pāriṣada' nāma. They are all associates. The Supreme Lord is person, and His innumerable lovers, living entities, they are also individual persons. Love means there is person, individual. Without individual person, there is no question of love. When I, when the word "love" is used, there must be two lovers. Then the word is applicable, love. If there is no person, love is not with the air. There must be person. So the Supreme Lord is person, and the lovers, the living entities, they are also persons. They forget who is God, who is not God, but the central focus is in Kṛṣṇa. Everyone loves Kṛṣṇa. Without seeing Kṛṣṇa they are mad. This is the position in the spiritual world. Simply love Kṛṣṇa, that's all. Bhuñje sevā-sukha. And by loving, as we have got a little perverted experience of love affairs, so just imagine when that love is pure and true, how much pleasure there is. So that thing is there in the spiritual world, pure love. And object is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are so much in bliss... That is bliss. That is bliss, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), eternal love with knowledge that "Here is Kṛṣṇa," and ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). That is perfect stage, lovable object eternal, lover eternal, with knowledge, with eternal life. That is there. In the spiritual world this is going on. They're all in bliss.
Festival Lectures
So that sentiment was expressed by Lord Caitanya, because Lord Caitanya's worship was in the mood of Rādhārāṇī. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api pura deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau (CC Adi 1.5). Try to understand Kṛṣṇa philosophy. It is the sublime philosophy and, I mean to say, culture. If you are fort... Those who are fortunate, they have come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Their life is successful. No doubt about it. So this philosophy, that Kṛṣṇa... Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir. The love affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, what is this? Is this a play like the young girl and young boy? Of course. It is just like that. It appears, and actually it is so. But it is not this play of this material world of a young boy and a young girl. No. It is the pastime of the Supreme Lord with His āhlādinī potency. Āhlādinī. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir āhlādinī-śaktir. Just like in this material world there are three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Similarly, in the spiritual world there are three, I mean to say, potencies. These qualities are also potencies. Samvit, sandinī, and what is the other? Samvit, sandini...ahlādinī. Samvit, sandinī, āhlādinī. So the āhlādinī potency is Kṛṣṇa. This has been very much scholarly discussed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Jīva Gosvāmī presents these love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā very philosophically. His first question is that Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman. Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman. That is accepted by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma, paraṁ brahma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Paraṁ Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. Now, in this material world there are different features of sense gratification. Sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa, whether they are a loving affairs or pastimes of this world? That is his question. Just like here young boys and young girls meet together, they try to enjoy life. Whether Kṛṣṇa's līlā, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with the gopīs, is the same thing? No. That is the philosophical presentation. He gives the reason that Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, but here in this material world we see that parama-brahma, to become attached to Paraṁ Brahman or to realize Paraṁ Brahman, a person, an intelligent person, gives up everything within this world. That is the philosophy of Lord, I mean to...Śaṅkarācārya. He says that this world is false. Paraṁ Brahman is... Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. So cultivate yourself to realize Paraṁ Brahman. And his process is sannyāsa. Give up, renounce this world.
Initiation Lectures
We have to create our eyes or purify our eyes to see God. And that purification is possible when you apply the ointment of love of God, daily. How to love Kṛṣṇa? Take it as ointment. As we apply some ointment to increase the sight of our eyes... Doctor gives some prescription. We use it also. So similarly, how to see God. You will see God with these eyes when it is clarified. Premāñjana-cchurita, by the ointment of love of Godhead. So these are the function, how to love. One has to rise early in the morning. He doesn't like, but, "No. I will have to satisfy Kṛṣṇa." This is the beginning. "Oh, I have to chant sixteen rounds." He is lazy. He doesn't want to do it. But if he loves Kṛṣṇa, he must do it. He must do it. So in the beginning we have to learn how to love, but when you come to the state, oh, there is no question of... You may follow the regulative principle or not, because love is there. But don't imitate. Just like in our ordinary love affairs, if I want to love some girl, I bring some flower, I bring some presentation. In this way she thinks, "Oh, it is very nice boy. He has brought me this, that." In this way there are six principles of love. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. You have to give and you have to take. I love somebody. I give him something: "My dear, you take this." And when he offers also, if he also loves you, he also return you. Not exactly for returning. It is love to give and take. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca. Opening mind. "My dear lover, I like this." And the other party also opens his mind. Guhyam ākhyāti... Guhyam means very confidential things. Ākhyāti, disclosed, exchanged. Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca. And bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva. And giving the lover to eat something and accept from him some eatable. These are the six ways of increasing love. If you act in that way with Kṛṣṇa...
General Lectures
Kṛṣṇa was a cowherd's boy, and with His friends, other cowherd's boy, He used to go with His cows in the pasturing ground the whole day. That was the system. Because people at that time were satisfied with land and cows, that's all. That is the means of solution of all economic problems. They were not industrial, they were not servant of anyone. Simply get production from the land and take milk from the cows, the whole food problem solved. So Kṛṣṇa used to go to the pasturing ground, and the gopīs at home... They were girls or women. They... Women or girls were not allowed to work. That is the Vedic system. They should keep at home, and they should be given protection by the father, by the husband, or elderly sons. They were not meant for going out. So they kept themselves at home. But Kṛṣṇa was, say, miles away in the pasturing ground, and the gopīs at home thinking, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa's feet is so soft. Now He's walking on the rough grounds. The particles of stones are pricking His sole. So He must be feeling some pain." In this way thinking, they used to cry. Just see. Kṛṣṇa is miles away, and what Kṛṣṇa is feeling, they are simply thinking of that feeling: "Kṛṣṇa may be feeling like that." This is love. This is love. They are not asking Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, what You have brought from Your pasturing ground? How is Your pocket? Let me see." No. Simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied. They used to dress themselves because..., and go before Kṛṣṇa with nice dress, "Oh, He'll be happy to see." Generally, a boy or a man becomes happy to see his lover or wife nicely dressed. That is... Therefore it is the nature of the woman to dress nice. And according to Vedic system, a woman should dress very nicely just to satisfy her husband. That is the Vedic system. If her husband is not at home, then she should not dress nicely. There are injunctions. Proṣita bhartṛkā. There are different dresses of woman. By seeing the dress one will understand what she is. One can understand by seeing the dress that she is unmarried girl. One can see simply by the dress that she is married wife. One can see by the dress that she is widow. One can see by the dress that she is prostitute. So dress is so important. So proṣita bhartṛkā. So we are not going to discuss about the social. We are discussing about love affairs of Kṛṣṇa. So gopīs... Kṛṣṇa and gopīs, the relationship was so intimate and so unalloyed that Kṛṣṇa Himself admitted, "My dear gopīs, it is not in My power to repay you about your loving affairs." Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He became bankrupt, that "My dear gopīs, it is not possible for Me to repay your debts which you have created by loving Me." So that is the highest perfection of love. Ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū.
Prabhupāda: Why one with Kṛṣṇa? More than Kṛṣṇa. And actually He accepts. He makes His devotee more than Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa took the part of a driver, and he was the hero of the fight. Actually, Kṛṣṇa was the hero, but He gave position to His devotee: "You become the hero, I shall become your charioteer." That's all. Don't you see how Arjuna has become more than Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa says, "Arjuna, you are hesitating to fight, but you know that all these person who have assembled in this battlefield, they are not going back. They are already killed. That is My plan. You simply take the credit that you have killed them. That's all." (laughter) That He wants. Just like a father wants a son to see him more than himself. If a father is an M.A., he wants to see his son M.A., Ph.D., or something more. He's satisfied. He'll not tolerate anybody to become more than him, but he'll tolerate if his son becomes more than him. I'm giving you a crude example. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, or the Lord, wants to see His devotee more than Himself. That is His pleasure. He takes pleasure in that. So to become a devotee is not ordinary thing. You see. He has got the chance to become more than God. Why equal with God, one with God? No. More than God. Yes. That is our philosophy. Yes.
Jaya-gopāla: What is the relationship of the surabhī cow with Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: They are also... These cows are also devotees, and Kṛṣṇa is fond of keeping cows, taking care of them. The same love affairs, exchange of love. That's all.
So this is the true picture of God: Jaya rādhā-mādhava. Jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī. He is simply enjoying, Rādhā-Mādhava. You have seen the picture, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. So eternally engaged in enjoyment, in the association of the gopīs. Gopī-jana-vallabha. And His only business is how to please the gopīs. Just like here, in this material world, the young boy who loves a young girl, he tries to please the girl always. This is natural. Because originally, the same thing is there in God. It is a pleasure. It is a pleasure for the male to please the female counterpart. That is originally created. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahlādinī-śaktiḥ. These Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love affairs is the originally there. Rādhārāṇī, the female counterpart, is the manifestation of ahlādinī-śakti, pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So in every center they must rise early in the morning. They must follow the regulative principles. They must attend class. Otherwise let them go out. We don't want. And if anyone wants to marry, first of all he must show that he has some earning capacity. Not that "Because there are so many girls, and I marry one to satisfy my senses..." I thought that boy was nice, and I heard all these stories. That is also another defect, that we have got young boys and young girls open for lovemaking. And brahmacārī means strictly prohibited to see the face of woman. But we cannot stop it. That is also another defect. Fire is good and butter is good, but when they come together everything become bad. Is it not? Fire is good, just like heat. And butter is good, healthy. But when they come together the butter melts and the fire extinguished. This is māyā's arrangement. Puṁsa striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam. This whole world is going on by the sex attraction, and when they come together both of them become spoiled. Therefore it has to be dealt with very, very carefully, so many rules, regulation.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Let them say all nonsense. They are disqualified. Sahajiyā bābājīs, that's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's about forty of them in this temple. Fifty. There's fifty of them in this temple, Prabhupāda.
Rāmeśvara: Oh, really?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.
Hari-śauri: A women's group and a men's group.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's a women's group with about twenty-five or thirty.
Hari-śauri: The thing is that they're going around and they're soliciting for people to come and join their group, and then immediately they come, they immediately take them into all the details of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Then let them.... Unless they follow the regulative principles, there is no place for that in the temple. Let them go out.
Rāmeśvara: They are following.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is their fault. They want to utilize the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and gopīs for their debauchery. That is a support for their debauchery. That is sahajiyā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the meaning of sahajiyā.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So that's on their minds.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're frustrated.
Prabhupāda: We are restricting, "No illicit sex." They will put that "Here is illicit sex between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa."
Dr. Sukla: Have the writings of Vidyāpati come to attention, and if they have...
Prabhupāda: That is very higher, not for ordinary persons. Vidyāpati's writing is meant for realized souls, not ordinary. Ordinary, they will take as love affairs between girls and boys. Therefore it is not for them. Those who are already advanced, liberated, then these love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, they will be discussed.
Dr. Sukla: Is there any plan of bringing those things out, publishing them, his poems and translations?
Prabhupāda: It is not for ordinary. Cāṇḍīdāsa, Vidyāpati. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to discuss Jayadeva's books, Vidyāpati's books, very confidentially amongst a few devotees. Not publicly.
Dr. Sukla: So you think they might be misused.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they are being misused. They take Kṛṣṇa as debauch. They do not understand. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs, they are described in the Tenth Canto. That is also middle of Tenth Canto, and nine cantos required to understand Kṛṣṇa, beginning with janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
Regarding love affairs in the material world: they are only shadows or reflections of the real love with Krishna. If you love Krishna in any capacity, you shall never be frustrated because everything in Krishna is perfect, eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. So continue your present activities and chant your beads; whenever there is some difficulty consult Brahmananda or write to me; and Krishna will help you more and more on the path of perfection.
| Page Title: | Love affairs |
| Compiler: | Siddha Rupa, Matea, Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 18 of Jan, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=7, OB=12, Lec=31, Con=3, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 58 |