However, Lord Caitanya's greatest gift was His teaching that Kṛṣṇa can be treated as one's lover. In this relationship the Lord becomes so much attached to His devotee that He expresses His inability to reciprocate. Kṛṣṇa was so obliged to the gopīs, the cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana, that He felt unable to return their love. "I cannot repay your love," He told them. "I have no more assets to give." Devotional service on this highest, most excellent platform of lover and beloved, which had never been given by any previous incarnation or ācārya, was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, quoting Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, writes in the fourth verse of his book, "Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa in a yellow complexion, and He is Śacīnandana, the son of mother Śacī. He is the most charitable personality because He came to deliver kṛṣṇa-prema, unalloyed love for Kṛṣṇa, to everyone. May you always keep Him in your hearts. It will be easy to understand Kṛṣṇa through Him."
Lover and the beloved
Expressions researched:
"exactly like a lover who is dejected in separation from the beloved"
|"lover and beloved"
|"lover and the beloved"
|"lover sees everything beautiful in the face of the beloved"
|"lover, and the beloved"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
By the grace of the Lord, Arjuna was fortunate enough to have the fraternal service of the Lord as chariot driver, but the Lord did not award Arjuna with equal strength. The gopīs, however, practically became one with the Lord by attainment of equal footing with the Lord. Bhīṣma's aspiration to remember the gopīs is a prayer to have their mercy also at the last stage of his life. The Lord is satisfied more when His pure devotees are glorified, and therefore Bhīṣmadeva has not only glorified the acts of Arjuna, his immediate object of attraction, but has also remembered the gopīs, who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities by rendering loving service to the Lord. The gopīs' equality with the Lord should never be misunderstood to be like the sāyujya liberation of the impersonalist. The equality is one of perfect ecstasy where the differential conception is completely eradicated, for the interests of the lover and the beloved become identical.
SB Canto 3
This verse is also applicable to the jñānī school. The enlightened jñānī, when free from all material contaminations, namely the gross and subtle bodies together with the senses of the material modes of nature, is placed in the Supreme and is thus liberated from material bondage. The jñānīs and the devotees are actually in agreement up to the point of liberation from material contamination. But whereas the jñānīs remain pacified on the platform of simple understanding, the devotees develop further spiritual advancement in loving service. The devotees develop a spiritual individuality in their spontaneous service attitude, which is enhanced on and on, up to the point of mādhurya-rasa, or transcendental loving service reciprocated between the lover and the beloved.
SB Canto 4
Such a speech is typical of a living entity attracted by the opposite sex. This is called bewilderment occasioned by becoming conditioned by material nature. When thus attracted by the beauty of the material energy, one becomes very eager to enjoy. This is elaborately described in this instance of Purañjana's becoming attracted by the beautiful woman. In conditional life the living entity is attracted by a face, eyebrows or eyes, a voice or anything. In short, everything becomes attractive. When a man or a woman is attracted by the opposite sex, it does not matter whether the opposite sex is beautiful or not. The lover sees everything beautiful in the face of the beloved and thus becomes attracted. This attraction causes the living entity to fall down in this material world.
SB Canto 5
A Vaiṣṇava is always firmly situated in transcendental bliss because of engagement in devotional service. Although he may appear to suffer material pains, his position is called transcendental bliss in separation (viraha). The emotions a lover and beloved feel when separated from one another are actually very blissful, although apparently painful. Therefore the separation of Lord Rāmacandra from Sītādevī, as well as the consequent tribulation they suffered, is but another display of transcendental bliss. That is the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
CC Adi-lila
The descent of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is very purposeful. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that one who knows the truth about Śrī Kṛṣṇa's descent and His various activities is at once liberated and does not have to fall again to this existence of birth and death after he leaves his present material body. In other words, one who factually understands Kṛṣṇa makes his life perfect. Imperfect life is realized in material existence, in five different relationships we share with everyone within the material world: neutrality, servitorship, friendship, filial love and amorous love between husband and wife or lover and beloved. These five enjoyable relationships within the material world are perverted reflections of relationships with the Absolute Personality of Godhead in the transcendental nature. That Absolute Personality, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, descends to revive the five eternally existing relationships. Thus He manifests His transcendental pastimes in Vraja so that people may be attracted into that sphere of activities and leave aside their imitation relationships with the mundane. Then, after fully exhibiting all such activities, the Lord disappears.
The informal language used between lover and beloved is indicative of pure affection. When devotees worship their beloved as the most venerable object, spontaneous loving sentiments are observed to be lacking. A neophyte devotee who follows the Vedic instructions that regulate those who lack pure love of Godhead may superficially seem more exalted than a devotee in spontaneous love of Godhead. But in fact such spontaneous pure love is far superior to regulated devotional service. Such pure love of Godhead is always glorious in all respects, more so than reverential devotional service rendered by a less affectionate devotee.
The spontaneous attraction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa for His dearest parts and parcels generates an enthusiasm that obliges Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs to meet together. To celebrate this transcendental enthusiasm, there is need of a sentiment of separation between the lover and beloved. In the condition of material tribulation, no one wants the pangs of separation. But in the transcendental form, the very same separation, being absolute in its nature, strengthens the ties of love and enhances the desire of the lover and beloved to meet. The period of separation, evaluated transcendentally, is more relishable than the actual meeting, which lacks the feelings of increasing anticipation because the lover and beloved are both present.
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 sage Bharata has said that the mellows of lover and beloved are equal. But he does not know the mellows of My Vṛndāvana."
CC Madhya-lila
There is also a description of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and other female lovers, as well as various group leaders. Messengers and the constant associates, as well as others who are very dear to Kṛṣṇa, are all described. The book also relates how love of Kṛṣṇa is awakened and describes the ecstatic situation, the devotional situation, permanent ecstasy, disturbed ecstasy, steady ecstasy, different positions of different dresses, feelings of separation, prior attraction, anger in attraction, varieties of loving affairs, separation from the beloved, meeting with the beloved, and both direct and indirect enjoyment between the lover and the beloved. All this has been very elaborately described.
In this Second Chapter, the activities of Lord Caitanya that took place after the Lord accepted sannyāsa are generally described. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is specifically mentioned here as being gaura, or of fair complexion. Kṛṣṇa is generally known to be blackish, but when He is absorbed in the thought of the gopīs, who are all of fair complexion, Kṛṣṇa Himself also becomes fair. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in particular felt separation from Kṛṣṇa very deeply, exactly like a lover who is dejected in separation from the beloved. Such feelings, which were expressed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for nearly twelve years at the end of His pastimes, are described in brief in this Second Chapter of Madhya-līlā.
"When the lover and the beloved meet, they are called yukta (connected). Previous to their meeting, they are called ayukta (not connected). Whether connected or not connected, the ecstatic emotion arising due to not being able to embrace and kiss each other as desired is called vipralambha. This vipralambha helps nourish emotions at the time of meeting." Similarly, sambhoga is described in the following verse quoted from the Vedic literature by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in his Anubhāṣya:
- darśanāliṅganādīnām ānukūlyān niṣevayā
- yūnor ullāsam ārohan bhāvaḥ sambhoga īryate
"Meeting each other and embracing each other are aimed at bringing about the happiness of the lover and the beloved. When this stage becomes increasingly jubilant, the resultant ecstatic emotion is called sambhoga."
"When attachment produced in the lover and beloved before their meeting by seeing, hearing and so on becomes very palatable by the mixture of four ingredients, such as vibhāva and anubhāva, this is called pūrva-rāga."
The word māna is also described in the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (Vipralambha-prakaraṇa 68):
- dam-patyor bhāva ekatra sator apy anuraktayoḥ
- svābhīṣṭāśleṣa-vīkṣādi-nirodhī māna ucyate
"Māna is a word used to indicate the mood of the lover and the beloved experienced whether they are in one place or in different places. This mood obstructs their looking at each other and embracing each other, despite the fact that they are attached to each other."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Kṛṣṇa was so obliged to the gopīs, the cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana, that He felt unable to return their love. "I cannot repay your love," He told them. "I have no more assets to return." Thus devotional service is performed on this excellent platform, and knowledge of the devotee's relationship to Kṛṣṇa as lover and beloved was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It was never given by any previous incarnation or ācārya. Thus Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote of Caitanya: "Devotional service itself is the highest platform, the glorious platform which You have contributed. You are Kṛṣṇa in a yellow complexion, and You are Śacīnandana, the son of mother Śacī. Those who hear Caitanya-caritāmṛta will keep You in their hearts. It will be easy to understand Kṛṣṇa through You." Thus Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to deliver Kṛṣṇa. His method of deliverance was not meditation, fruitive activities or scriptural study, but love.
When one actually becomes situated on the transcendental platform, he becomes steady. Unless one is so situated, his position may not be steady and he may fall down. When one is actually situated transcendentally, there is no fear of falling down. This stage of understanding is technically called sthāyi-bhāva. There are even stages beyond this position, and they are known as vibhāva, anubhava, sāttvika and vyabhicārī. After one attains these, there is actually an exchange of rasa, or transcendental activity with the Supreme Lord. This exchange in loving reciprocation between the lover and the beloved is generally called kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa. It should be noted that the transcendental loving exchanges stand on the steadfast position of sthāyi-bhāva, as explained before. The basic principle of vibhāva is sthāyi-bhāva, and all other activities are auxiliary for the development of transcendental love.
In the fourth stage, called vātsalya-rati, the fraternal affection evinced in the preceding stage develops into paternal affection. At this time the living entity tries to be the parent of God. Instead of worshiping the Lord, the living entity, as a parent of the Supreme, becomes an object of worship for the Supreme Person. At this stage the Lord depends on the mercy of His pure devotee and puts Himself under the control of the devotee to be raised. The devotee in this stage attains the position wherein he can embrace the Supreme Lord and even kiss His head. In the fifth stage, called madhura-rati, there is an actual transcendental exchange of conjugal love between the lover and the beloved. It is at this stage that Kṛṣṇa and the damsels of Vraja glanced at one another, for on this platform there is an exchange of loving glances, motions of the eyes, pleasant words, attractive smiles, etc.
There are two kinds of dresses worn in that relationship of conjugal love, and they are called sambhoga and vipralambha. On the sambhoga platform, the dresses are unlimited, and on the vipralambha they are four in number. The ecstasy exhibited before the lover and beloved meet, the ecstasy experienced between them after meeting, the state of mind experienced by not meeting, and the state of mind experienced after meeting fearing separation are called vipralambha. That vipralambha serves as a nourishing element for future meetings. When the lover and beloved meet all of a sudden and embrace one another, they feel an ecstasy of happiness, and the state of mind they experience in that ecstasy is called sambhoga.
The mental state experienced before meeting is called pūrvarāga. The obstacles which sometimes impede the meeting between lover and beloved are called māna, or anger. When the lover and beloved are separated, the mental state experienced is called pravāsa. Feelings of separation which are present under certain conditions even when the lovers meet are called love anxieties (prema-vaicittya). Such love anxieties are exhibited in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.90.15) by the princesses who kept awake nights and watched Kṛṣṇa sleep. They were afraid of being separated from Kṛṣṇa, and they always talked amongst themselves about how they had been affected by Kṛṣṇa's beautiful eyes and His smile.
The tilaka of fortune is on the forehead of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and She also has a locket of prema-vaicittya. Prema-vaicittya is manifest when a lover and beloved meet and fear separation.
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is fifteen days younger than Kṛṣṇa. She always keeps Her hand on the shoulders of Her friends, and She always talks and thinks of pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. She always offers Kṛṣṇa a kind of intoxication by Her sweet talks, and She is always prepared to fulfill His desires. In other words, She supplies all the demands of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and She possesses unique and uncommon qualities for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction.
In prema-vilāsa there are two kinds of emotional activities—separation and meeting. That transcendental separation is so acute that it is actually more ecstatic than meeting. Rāmānanda Rāya was expert in understanding these highly elevated dealings between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and he composed a nice song which he narrated to the Lord. The purport of the song is that the lover and the beloved, before meeting, generate a kind of emotion by the exchange of their transcendental activities. That emotion is called rāga, or attraction. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī expressed Her willingness that "this attraction and affection between Us rise to the highest extent," but the cause of this attraction is Rādhārāṇī Herself. "Whatever the cause may be," Rādhārāṇī said, "that affection between You and Me has mixed Us in oneness. Now that it is the time of separation, I cannot see the history of the evolution of this love. There was no cause or mediator in Our love save Our meeting itself and the visionary exchange of feelings."
Nectar of Devotion
Conjugal love is divided into two classifications—namely, conjugal love as husband and wife and conjugal love as lover and beloved. One who develops conjugal love for Kṛṣṇa as a wife is promoted to Dvārakā, where the devotee becomes the queen of the Lord. One who develops conjugal love for Kṛṣṇa as a lover is promoted to Goloka Vṛndāvana, to associate with the gopīs and enjoy loving affairs with Kṛṣṇa there. We should note carefully, however, that this conjugal love for Kṛṣṇa, either as gopī or as queen, is not limited only to women. Even men can develop such sentiments, as was evidenced by the sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya. If someone simply desires conjugal love, but does not follow in the footsteps of the gopīs, he is promoted to association with the Lord at Dvārakā.
When all such symptoms are included in ecstatic love, they are called sañcārī, or continuously existing ecstatic symptoms. All of these symptoms are transcendental, and they are exhibited in different ways, acting and interacting under different conditions. They are like the reciprocation of love between the lover and beloved.
When a person is envious or defamed, there may be a change in the color of the body. This may be classified as vibhāva, or subecstasy. Sometimes illusion, collapse and strong anxiety are also considered to be vibhāva. When there are many such symptoms, they can simply be grouped together under ecstatic love.
When the lover and the beloved have a distinct feeling of not meeting each other, that stage is called pūrva-rāga, or preliminary attraction. In Padyāvalī Rādhārāṇī told Her companion, "My dear friend, I was just going to the bank of the Yamunā, and all of a sudden a very nice boy whose complexion is like a dark blue cloud became visible in front of My eyes. He glanced over Me in a way that I cannot describe. But since this has occurred, I am sorry that I can no longer engage My mind in the duties of My household affairs." This is an instance of preliminary attraction for Kṛṣṇa. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Fifty-third Chapter, verse 2, Kṛṣṇa told the messenger brāhmaṇa who came from Rukmiṇī, "My dear brāhmaṇa, just like Rukmiṇī I cannot sleep at night, and My mind is always fixed on her. I know that her brother Rukmī is against Me and that due to his persuasion My marriage with her has been cancelled." This is another instance of preliminary attraction.
When the lover and beloved come together and enjoy one another by direct contact, this stage is called sambhoga. There is a statement in Padyāvalī as follows: "Kṛṣṇa embraced Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in such an expert manner that He appeared to be celebrating the dancing ceremony of the peacocks."
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī thus ends the fifth wave of his Ocean of the Nectar of Devotion. He offers his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appeared as Gopāla, the eternal form of the Lord.
According to some expert learned scholars, the feelings between lover and beloved create perverted reflections of mellows in many ways.
"The gopīs have become purified by Kṛṣṇa's glance, and as such, Cupid's influence is distinctly visible on their bodies." Although in the material sense the glancing of a boy at a girl is a kind of pollution, when Kṛṣṇa threw His transcendental glance at the gopīs, they became purified. In other words, because Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth, any action by Him is transcendentally pure.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Actually, Kṛṣṇa is the husband of everyone because He is the supreme enjoyer. The gopīs wanted Kṛṣṇa to be their husband, but factually there was no possibility of His marrying all the gopīs. But because they had that natural tendency to accept Kṛṣṇa as their supreme husband, the relationship between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa is called parakīya-rasa. This parakīya-rasa is ever-existent in Goloka Vṛndāvana, in the spiritual sky, where there is no possibility of the inebriety which characterizes parakīya-rasa in the material world. In the material world, parakīya-rasa is abominable, whereas in the spiritual world it is present in the superexcellent relationship of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. There are many relationships with Kṛṣṇa—master and servant, friend and friend, parent and son, and lover and beloved. Out of all these rasas, the parakīya-rasa is considered to be the topmost.
Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)
It is said that when conjugal affection between a lover and beloved comes to the point of being destroyed and yet is not destroyed, such a relationship is pure love, or prema. In the material world it is not possible to find this kind of love, for it exists only between Kṛṣṇa and His intimate devotees, such as the gopīs. The sentiment between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa was so strong that it could not be destroyed under any circumstances.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the first-class, topmost religious system. Why? It is educating people to think of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, always. Loving. Not only thinking. We cannot think of anyone unless we love him. If you love somebody, then you can think of him always. Just like both lover and beloved. Say one boy, another girl. So they are in love. So both of them think of both of them always. "When we shall meet again, when we shall meet again?" So similarly, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. You can become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, you can think of Kṛṣṇa always, provided you have developed love for Kṛṣṇa. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). By bhakti, you can develop your love for Kṛṣṇa. That is required.
The mother loves this child. Similarly, you can love the Supreme Lord in many ways. You can love the Supreme Lord as master, you can love the Supreme Lord as friend, you can love the Supreme Lord as child, you can love the Supreme Lord as your husband. Any way. There are five different rasas or humors, in which we are eternally related with the Supreme Lord. And when we are actually in the liberated stage of all knowledge, we can understand that "Our relationship with the Lord is in this way." That is called svarūpa-siddhi. That is real self-realization. That is real self-realization. Everyone has an eternal relationship with the Lord, either in the conception of master and servant, or in the conception of friend and friend, or in the conception of parents and the child, or in the conception of husband and wife, or in the conception of paramour and lover, and the beloved. So these relationships are there eternally.
So no relationship here in this material world is actual. Always remember that all relationship in this material world is perverted reflection of that relationship which we have got eternally with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is simply reflected. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is reflected in the glass, and that reflection comes to your, in my apartment. At six o'clock the sunshine comes from the western side... eastern side. So in the evening the sunshine cannot come from the eastern side. The sunshine comes from the western side, but it is coming because it is reflected through a glass in the opposite house. This is the idea of reflected. That reflection of the sunshine is not real, but it appears just like sunshine. Similarly, all our relationship here, either as master and servant or as friend and friend or as parents and child or as husband and wife or as lover and the beloved, any relationship, whatever we see here, that is the perverted reflection of our eternal relationship with God.
F you neutrally examine that the position of the lover is better than the position of a person who is in relationship with Kṛṣṇa as master and servant. But that is studying the relationship or the mellows from neutral point of view. But anyone, either who is..., anyone, either he is in relationship as master and servant or relationship as father and child or lover and lover, from his position, He is supreme. But from neutral position the lover and the beloved, this kind of relationship with Kṛṣṇa is the best, is the supreme. Therefore the worship of the gopīs to Kṛṣṇa... Lord Caitanya also displayed. His propaganda or His understanding of Kṛṣṇa was just like the lover and the beloved. Kṛṣṇa as Lord Caitanya was playing the part of Rādhārāṇī. He wanted to understand. Kṛṣṇa wanted to understand what is there in Rādhārāṇī. So that understanding, that feature of Kṛṣṇa is Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya is not different from Kṛṣṇa, but the feature in which Kṛṣṇa is trying to understand Rādhārāṇī, that is Lord Caitanya. So Rādhārāṇī's position is greater than Kṛṣṇa's. These are very confidential talks, but the relationship of love and the beloved, as it was between Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, that is the highest type of relationship.
So far our Vedic culture is concerned, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here it is also said, śrī bhagavān uvāca. So He is teaching how to become first-class yogi in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is His teaching. He is saying, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Mayi, "unto Me," āsakta, "attachment." The Kṛṣṇa consciousness yoga means to increase the attachment for Kṛṣṇa. That's all. We have got attachment for something, every one of us. So everyone has got attachment, either for His family, either for some friend or for some house or some hobby or for some cats, some dogs. There is attachment. That is not to be learned. We cannot... There is no need of explaining what is attachment. Attachment is there, existing in everyone's heart. He wants to be attached to somebody else or he... Everyone wants to love somebody else. Love does not mean oneness. Love must be two, the lover and the beloved. So attachment is there. That is natural. Everyone knows. Now, this yoga system, Kṛṣṇa consciousness yoga system, means to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Just like if you have lost anything beloved, you don't see anything; you see everything is gone. So śūnyāyitaṁ ja... How? Why? Govinda-viraheṇa me. Viraha means separation. "On account of separation." So this should be the only cause, that you cannot tolerate the separation of Govinda. That is love.
He explains many other verses also. The last verse He says that āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā (CC Antya 20.47). Now lover and beloved, one is anxious to see the other. If the lover sees the beloved, he becomes happy. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "If You make Me unhappy for many thousands of years by Your disappearance, but by not being present before Me, I don't mind." Just see. "I don't mind." Āśliṣya: "You either embrace Me, or You trample Me down with Your feet, You are at liberty, whatever You like." Lampaṭa. Lampaṭa, just like a debauched husband sometimes entreats the good wife and the good wife tolerates.
Impersonalists, they do not know what is love. Because he's one. Their philosophy is oneness. So how there can be love, one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience? Love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. So lover... Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He's so lover of you that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant..." Any way, as we are related, He's after us.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Romantic. King of lovers.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa means the supreme lover and beloved. He attracts everyone. There is one Greek word, krista. The meaning is the same, "love." And from this krista the word Christ has come. So this word Christ also has connection with Kṛṣṇa.
Acyutānanda: How to see Lord Kṛṣṇa? Can anybody see Him by chanting the holy name Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? Is it possible for a human being in his short period of life?
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So there are twelve kinds of rasas. Five kinds of rasa, we generally experience. The dealings between servants and master, dealings between friend and friend, dealings between mother and the child, dealings between lover and the beloved, dealings between the enemy and enemies. So many ways, there are, on the whole, twelve kinds of rasa. And the, all the rasas are there in Kṛṣṇa. Akhila-rasāmṛta. Akhila-rasa. He's the reservoir of all pleasure. Even in ghastly behavior, a man is killing another man, there is some enjoyment by killing. Just like Bhīma. When he killed Duryodhana, he immediately sucked the blood of Duryodhana's heart. So there was some pleasure. Because Duryodhana insulted them so many ways. And they were, especially Bhīma was finding out the opportunity when he'll, he would enjoy the rasa by killing Duryodhana. So all, in all our dealings, directly or indirectly, there is some rasa.
Just like my students, my disciples, they want to serve me, and I want to take service from them. This is also an exchange of rasa, a taste. Śānta, dāsya. Similarly, next advanced stage is sakhya-rasa. Sakhya means friendship. Just like one is serving somebody, but if that service is very intimate, then there is the rasa of friendship, dāsa, sakhya-rasa. And when that is advanced... (feedback) (aside:) What is this sound? When that is advanced, it becomes vātsalya-rasa. Vātsalya-rasa means the taste of relationship between parents and the children. These are advanced. Śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, and then vātsalya-rasa, parenthood, filial love. And above this, there is mādhurya-rasa. Mādhurya-rasa means the taste between husband and wife, lover and the beloved. That is called mādhurya-rasa. Similarly... These are the primary rasas.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
In the bhakti platform there are different stages. Spiritually, there is no difference. One in dāsya-rasa and one in mādhurya-rasa, there is no difference. But a devotee likes to serve the Supreme Lord according to his inclination. Some wants to love Him in śānta-rasa, some wants to love Him in dāsya-rasa, someone in friendly, then paternal love, then conjugal love. So there is no difference between these different phases of loving affair, but great devotees and learned scholars, they have given their decision that the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa in the conjugal platform between husband and wife, or above that, between lover and beloved... That is very much prominent in the Western countries, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend. In the spiritual world that platform of remaining as friend without marriage, that is considered as the highest. And whatever we see here—a perverted reflection of that loving affairs. Just like perverted reflection... It is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, ūrdhva-mūlam adho-śākha aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam.
There are different types of pleasure. Just like pleasure like master and the servant. The master is also pleased by the service of the servant, and the servant is pleased by rendering service to the master. This is taste. Husband and wife: Husband is pleased having a wife, wife is pleased having... These are the different tastes: between master and servant, between friend and friend, between father and son, mother and son, between the lover and the beloved. These are different tastes. So this taste is required, transcendental mellow. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand this taste. They think everything is one. And in the material world also, we accept, "Variety is the mother of enjoyment." Without varieties, although everything is spiritual... In Vṛndāvana everything is spiritual. Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi. Just like this place, Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's place of pastimes, and the Vṛndāvana-dhāma, the place of pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, they are one and the same. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi, tā 'ra haya vraja-bhūmi vāsa. These are the theses given by great ācāryas.
Simply I love you and you love me, formality, but there is no service, that is not real love. Real love begins as it is stated in the śāstra, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti: to give something to the lover, to the beloved, and to take something. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate: to accept some eatables from your beloved, and offer him something for eating. Bhuṅkte bhojayate. Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. And you disclose your mind; there is no secrecy between the lover and the beloved. And the other party also discloses. In this way, love becomes manifest. And our business in this human life, as recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, premā pumartho mahān. The highest achievement of life is to be situated on the loving platform with God. That is the highest perfection.
As I, yesterday I cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi. For his country's love, he did so much. He wanted Hindu-Muslim unity, and he wanted nonviolence. In this way he was organizing. But the world is so ungrateful that instead of unity of Hindu-Muslim, in India we experienced complete partition, Hindustan and Pakistan. So he was baffled. And so far nonviolence was concerned, he was killed by violence. So he died very disappointed. So everyone... This is giving the best example, typical example. Everyone. We are attached to the love of this material world, but we are all disappointed. From everyone's experience, you'll find. Everyone is disappointed. Both sides, the lover and the beloved, both sides. You have got very good experience in this country. They marry, again they are divorced, because disappointed. So this is going on. Therefore our love has to be reposed to Kṛṣṇa. That is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, premā pumartho mahān. Pumartho, we want some achievement in this life. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Achieve love of Godhead. That is the best." Premā pumartho mahān. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for that purpose, how we can develop our love for Kṛṣṇa.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: ...already explained. We have got five relationships. To realize the creation of God with awe and veneration, appreciation, that is one relationship. This is called śānta rasa. Then further progress is that to offer himself to serve God. That is called dāsya rasa. And further advancement, to treat God as friend, that is sākhya rasa. Then accept God as son, that is vātsalya rasa. And accept God as the most beloved, that is mādhurya rasa. So in this mādhurya rasa, to accept God as the most beloved includes other relationships; therefore here is the highest perfection of relationship. Although all other relationships they are as good, but it depends on the devotee's choice whichever relationship we like. The result is the same, but by comparative study it has been decided by the saintly persons that our relationship with God as the lover and beloved, that is the highest position.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Love means that I want to eat something, and if I love somebody, then I will see that my beloved also eats. If you take something from your beloved, naturally the lovers present things. Just a boy loves a girl. He presents something to the girl. So, if you accept presentation by others, we should give him also something. And, if I have got some confidential thing, I must disclose it to the lover, and the lover is also expected, he should not keep anything confidential. He should disclose it. These are the six reciprocal exchanges between the lover and the beloved. If I love you, because you are beautiful, for my sense gratification, but I keep everything secret, that is not love. That is sense gratification. Lust.
Carol: Do you think a man who says he loves God should withdraw from the world, say into a community or something like that?
Prabhupāda: First of all between two. Then you can expand it. First the love between-love means there are two, the lover and the beloved. So, the transaction begins between the two, then it expands.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary book to understand God and surrender. And from the surrendering point, further progress, that is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And when the love is intense, to make it more intensified, that is Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, mad after God. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. "I find everything vacant without Kṛṣṇa." That is the supreme ecstasy. So these things cannot happen (chuckles) without love. If you love somebody, then if he's not there you find everything vacant. Otherwise why? There are so many things. "How," people will say, "you are seeing vacant? Everything is filled up." That is another stage, transcendental platform. Lover and beloved, they can understand. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. That is the supreme stage of love. Is that clear or not?
Correspondence
1970 Correspondence
I have already written a letter to George and it is sent through you. In that letter I have suggested the importance of Krsna Consciousness movement, so if George elaborates this idea in his foreword that will be very nice. The suggestions I may repeat again, that every living entity has a dormant propensity of love for somebody else. That is exhibited not only in human society, but also in the animal society. That love is exhibited primarily in five kinds of relationship—especially as master and servant, as friend and friend, as parents and children, and as lover and beloved. This stock of love in every living entity is dormant eternal love for Krsna, but because the living entity has forgotten Krsna since a very, very long time, even before this creation was manifested, therefore all of us are misplacing that dormant love in a perverted way. Therefore there is always frustration. Even so-called "sincere" love between lover and the beloved or husband and wife or even parents and children are so many instances of frustration. Therefore the only remedy for this repeated frustration of our life after life is revival of original Krsna Consciousness.
At the present moment, the human society has been educated to love his country or family or one's personal self, but they have no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. Because the basic principle of love is that both the lover and the beloved or object of love and the lover must be happy by loving activities of the living being. In the primary stage a child loves his parents, then his brothers and sisters, and thus, as he grows up daily, he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, or up to the point of loving the whole human society. But the loving propensity is so expansive that even by loving the whole human society the loving propensity is not fulfilled on account of its imperfectness. This loving propensity can be fully satisfied when it is reposed in Krishna, and that is the sum and substance of this Krishna Consciousness movement.
| Page Title: | Lover and the beloved |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 16 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=10, OB=14, Lec=15, Con=3, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 48 |