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Preamble

 

All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityananda Prabhu! All glories to Advaita Acarya! And all glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya!

 

In ecstasy, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went from Atharanala to the temple of Jagannatha. After seeing Lord Jagannatha, He became very restless due to love of Godhead.

 

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went swiftly to embrace Lord Jagannatha, but when He entered the temple, He was so overwhelmed with love of Godhead that He fainted on the floor.

 

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell down, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya happened to see Him. When the watchman threatened to beat Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya immediately forbade him.

 

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was very much surprised to see the personal beauty of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu as well as the transcendental transformations wrought on His body due to love of Godhead.

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu remained unconscious for a long time. Meanwhile, the time for offering prasada to Lord Jagannatha came, and the Bhattacarya tried to think of a remedy.

 

While Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was unconscious, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, with the help of the watchmen and some disciples, carried Him to his home and laid Him down in a very sanctified room.

 

Examining the body of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sarvabhauma saw that His abdomen was not moving and that He was not breathing. Seeing His condition, the Bhattacarya became very anxious.

 

The Bhattacarya then took a fine cotton swab and put it before the Lord's nostrils. When he saw the cotton move very slightly, he became hopeful.

 

Sitting beside Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he thought, "This is a transcendental ecstatic transformation brought about by love of Krsna."

 

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And love means relation (rasa).

 

'SUDDIPTA sattvika' ei nama ye 'pralaya'

NITYA SIDDHA BHAKTE se 'suddipta bhava' haya

 

Upon seeing the sign of suddipta-sattvika, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya could immediately understand the transcendental ecstatic transformation in the body of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Such a sign takes place only in the bodies of eternally liberated devotees.

 

 

The word SUDDIPTA-sattvika is explained as follows by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

"The Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu mentions eight kinds of transcendental transformations in the bodies of advanced devotees.

These are sometimes checked by the devotee, and there are two stages of such checking,

technically known as dhumayita and jvalita.

The dhumayita (smoking) stage is exhibited when only one or two transformations are slightly present and it is possible to conceal them.

When more than two or three transcendental transformations are manifest and it is still possible to conceal them, although with great difficulty, that stage is called jvalita (lighted).

When four or five symptoms are exhibited,

the dipta (blazing) stage has been reached.

When five, six or all eight symptoms are simultaneously manifest, that position is called uddipta (inflamed).

And when all eight symptoms are multiplied a thousand times and are all visible at once,

the devotee is in the SUDDIPTA(intensely inflamed) stage.

NITYA-SIDDHA-BHAKTA indicates the eternally liberated associates of the Lord.

Such devotees enjoy the company of the Lord in the spiritual world in four relationships--as servant, friend, parent or conjugal lover."

 

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Except the four rasas (transcendetal loving relationships) that can be found in the Goloka realm of the spiritual world in their full extent,

there is also

a possibility to get líberated from the three gunas of the material world,

in the mood of neutrality (shanta rasa) or ektavam (to become one with the Absolute), the merging in the radiant efulgence emanating from the body of the Lord, which is the light shield or border of the Vaikunta realm of the spiritual world.

 

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O master, it is said that among the five primary rasas, the madhura rasa (the conjugal transcendental love) is the most confidential. And why not?

Madhura rasa eternally possesses all the virtues present in

shanta (neutrality),

dasya (servitor mood) ,

sakhya (friedship)

vatsalya (parenthood) rasas.

Madhura rasa is the most wonderful and beautiful of all rasas.

How can there be any doubt?

Persons who follow the path of dry renunciation

are completely unqualified to understand the truth of madhura rasa.

On the other hand, the path followed by the materialists is not a good path to follow.

The Vraja madhura rasa (the transcendental love in paramour relation) is completely different from material sexual activities.

 

The Absolute truth has a great variety of unprecedented and wonderful happinesses.

The highest stage of those happinesses is the rasas.

The conditioned souls think of these rasas only in terms of their material reflections.

 

Some thinkers claim that the spiritual truth has no variety. These persons try to become one with the Supreme.

They think variety exists only in the material world and

in the world of spirit there is no variety.

These persons cannot understand the truth about the spiritual world.

However, a person who takes shelter of logic and simple common sense

can easily understand the truth.

The reality is that the Supreme is the resting place of all rasas.

Therefore wonderful variety exists in Him.

The great variety of material rasas are all reflected from Him.

Therefore, by looking at the material rasas

we can understand something of the original spiritual rasa,

which cannot be perceived by the material senses.

 

A great variety of rasas exist within the Supreme. That much may be understood.

The lowest rasa in the spiritual world is the peaceful rasa called shanta-rasa (the neutrality).

Above that is dasya-rasa.

Above dasya rasa is sakhya rasa.

Above sakhya rasa is vatsalya rasa.

Then, above them all, is madhura rasa.

 

However, when these rasas are reflected in the material world,

their positions are all inverted.

 

Thus, in the MATERIAL world

the madhura (paramour love) rasa is in the lowest position

and above all,

is shanta (the peaceful neutrality).

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Raso vai saha

Rasam hy evayam labdhva anandi bhavati

Ko hy evanyat kah pranayati

Yad esha adasha anando na syat

Esha hy eve ananda yati

 

Taittiriya Upanishad 2.7.1

 

The Supreme Absolute Truth is simply rasa.

On attaining that rasa the soul attains ananda.

If that undivided Reality were not the embodiment of ananda

in the form of rasa,

then who could remain alive and who endeavor to live.

He alone gives pleasure to all.

 

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Prior to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

different vaishnava acaryas (empowered spiritual teachers in the science of loving service to the Supreme Personality of God- Vishnu- the Maintainer of the worlds) had established, preached and propagated bhakti tattva (the principle of loving devotional service).

 

Still only Sri Rupa Gosvami, being empowered by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu elaborated on bhakti tattva describing its essence, the bhakti rasa.

He has described the bhakti rasa in detail in his

Bhakti rasa amrita sindhu (The nectar like ocean of the transcendental loving mellows)

and Ujivala Nilamani (which deals with the highest rasa -the paramour conjugal love).

Sri Rupa Gosvami said that bhakti lata bija (the seed of the creeper of bhakti) in the form of Krishna seva vasana (the tendency or inclination to serve the All Attractive Personality of Godhead) develops sequentially from

Shraddha (through sadhu sanga, bhajana krya, anartha nivriti) to nishta, ruci and asakti.

 

Shraddha- is that disposition of the heart in which the following moods are present:

1.pratijna - the VOW that

one will accept only that which is favourable for pure bhakti - anukulyasa sankalpa

one will reject everything which is unfavourable for pure bhakti- pratikulyasa varjanam

2.vishvaso- the TRUST that one will accept the Lord as his only protector - rakshishyatiti vishvaso

3.nirbharata- the TRUST that one will accept the Lord as his only maintainer - goptrite varanam

4. dainya- HUMILITY by which one think of himself of being lower than the straw in the street and more patient than a tree.

5. atma nivedana- SURRENDER one s submission of the soul to guru and Krishna.

 

Nishtha- is the steadfast mood of one s belonging to guru, Krishna and bhakti

Ruci - is the stage by which the activities of bhakti become relishable.

Asakti- the stage of condensation of the taste for bhakti.

 

When it comes to the stage of RATI, the first rays of pure transcendental love of God arise in the heart of the devotee,

both by the power of his endeavours and the mercy of the self realized sat guru,

and the sthayi-bhava (the personal transcendental loving relationship) is revealed.

When the four bhavas, namely

vibhava (the cause of tasting rati),

anubhava (the external symptoms of ecstasy),

sattvika (the symptoms of ecstasy arising from sattva- pure goodness) and

vyabhicari (internal transitory emotions)

meet together in a combined form in the sthayi - bhava ,

then rati in the form of sthayi bhava is transformed into a

relishable and supremely astonishing condition called BHAKTI RASA.

 

REQUEST TO THE ADMINISTRATOR: please delete the previous post because I cannot edit it.

 

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krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matihi

kriyatam yadi kuto 'pi labhyate

tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam

janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate

 

 

krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matihi

indicate one whose intelligence or perception has been awakened toward krsna-bhakti-rasa.

The words laulyam api mulyam ekalam

indeed the only price to attain krsna-bhakti-rasa is greed,

indicate that this supremely rare greed cannot be aroused even by pious activities accumulated over uncountable milions of births (janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate).

Here the inplication is that by faithfully

hearing the narations of Sri Krsna s pastimes

saturated with rasa

from the lips of rasika Vaishnava,

in whose heart krsna-bhakti-rasa is manifested,

that fragrant transcendental sound will water their seed of devotional plant (bhakti lata bija) and the greed to obtain this krsna-bhakti-rasa will be arisen.

 

One who is not bestowed with this association of rasika Vaishnavas

can faithfully and attentively study the transcendental literature written by such rasika vaisnavas,

and some good samskaras (impressions in the heart) will come and the wish to attain their association, by which this greed will come, will grow.

And this is the only mean (api mulyam EKALAM), to the door of ragaanuga bhakti.

 

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