Mādhurya-Premā
Lord Caitanya admitted the superiority of vātsalya-premā over sakhya-premā, but He asked Rāmānanda to go still further in the realm of transcendental mellowness. Lord Caitanya said:
prabhu kahe—”eho uttama, āge kaha āra”
rāya kahe, “kāntā-prema sarva-sādhya-sāra”
"So far, you have certainly explained the gradual development of transcendental, eternal relationships with the Personality of Godhead very well. But above this conception of vātsalya-premā there is a supreme transcendental rasa, which is the topmost transcendental service.”
Upon hearing this suggestion of Lord Caitanya, Rāmānanda declared that a transcendental conjugal relationship with Godhead is the highest form of loving service rendered to the Personality of Godhead.
The process of developing a transcendental relationship with Godhead is understood gradually. By simply accepting the glories of the Personality of Godhead and establishing service to Him in the transcendental rasa of calmness, śānta-premā, the sentiment of love for Godhead as one’s personal master is not developed. Śānta-premā is a stage of peaceful appreciation of the glories of the Personality of Godhead.
In dāsya-premā or transcendental servitude to Godhead, a sense of intimacy with Godhead is not developed. In both sakhya-premā, transcendental friendship with Godhead, and vātsalya-premā, parental affection, the sense of unrestricted approach for loving service is not developed. As such, the complete perfection of transcendental relationships is not found. The fullness of service, unchecked by all conventional restrictions, is only developed in mādhurya-premā, transcendental loving service in conjugal love.
Thus, on the order of Lord Caitanya, Rāmānanda began to explain the nature of mādhurya-premā. Rāmānanda quoted a verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wherein Uddhava spoke of the fortune of Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd girlfriends, who melted away in ecstasy when they heard Uddhava describe the activities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Uddhava said,
nāyaṁ śriyo 'ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ
svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucām kuto 'nyāḥ
rāsotsave ‘sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha
labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād-vraja-sundarīṇām
"The transcendental happiness that was bestowed upon the beautiful damsels of Vraja, who got the opportunity to be embraced by the strong hands of Śrī Kṛṣṇa on the occasion of performing the rāsa-līlā, was never experienced even by Lakṣmī, who resides on the chest of the Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa. Neither was such pleasure ever felt by the angels of heaven whose bodies emanate the smell of lotus flowers. What to speak then of ordinary beauties?” (Bhāg. 10.47.60)
Quoting another passage from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.82.2), Rāmānanda said,
tāsām āvirabhūc chauriḥ
smayamāna-mukhāmbujaḥ
pītāmbara-dharaḥ sragvī
sākṣān manmatha-manmathaḥ
"Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the enchanter of Cupid, dressed in yellow, wore a garland of flowers, and all of a sudden appeared in His eternal smiling form in the midst of the cowherd girls, who were mourning in separation from Him after the pastime of the rāsa-līlā.”
Thus Rāmānanda Rāya summarized all of the different transcendental relationships with Godhead. He said that all of these are means of gaining the favor of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. A devotee in a particular relationship with Godhead will consider that relationship the highest of all, but when all the transcendental relationships are scrutinized and compared from a neutral angle of vision, the difference of intensity can be estimated.
Upstarts
Presently, a class of asuras (ungodly people who are demoniac in nature) have ventured to become preachers of spiritual realization by propagating a novel theory that the Absolute Truth is a matter of personal realization and the particular type of realization one has does not matter. This idea has sprung up from demoniac thinking that directly denies any particular cause of the creation. A description of such asuras is given in the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. The asuras do not believe in the existence of the Personality of Godhead, under whose direction the creation takes place.
According to the asuras, everything in the world is a matter of chance and there is no truth in the belief that God has created the universe. The different philosophical theories about the creation, put forward by atheists, are speculative gymnastic feats. Because they say that determining the Absolute Truth is a matter of personal realization, the so-called favor of Godhead can be achieved by any means that may be conceived of by a simple speculator. They say that there are as many ways of realizing God or the Absolute Truth as there are speculators in the world.
Rāmānanda Rāya is certainly not one of these speculators, and his mention of “various means of gaining the favor of Godhead” does not suggest that the transcendental favor of Godhead can be achieved by any speculative method of the empiric philosopher or the upstarts of spiritual fervor.
In the name of Lord Caitanya’s cult of devotion, many speculators of the above nature have already sprung up. The “various means” as suggested by Rāmānanda is not an adjustment of the false means of achieving the favor of Godhead adopted by the imitation Caitanyaites. “Various means” are mentioned in connection with the perfect mellows of love, namely śānta-premā, dāsya-premā, sakhya-premā, vātsalya-premā, and mādhurya-premā.
The five transcendental rasas of loving service are possible only after one has transcended the stage of material impediments known as anarthas (unwanted things in the heart). Those who have no access to the transcendental service of Godhead wrongly think that manufactured processes are equal to the above-mentioned self-realized stages of love of Godhead. This misconception of the upstarts is but a sign of their misfortune.
Mellow of Sweetness
The analysis of the above-mentioned five transcendental rasas is also made in the Bhakti-rāsamṛta-sindhu. It is said there that the transcendental rasas are experienced in five progressive ways. Yet at a certain point, one rasa is experienced as the sweetest of all.
A practical analysis has been made by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī in the following example: “Ether, air, fire, water, and earth are five different elements. Sound is experienced in ether. Sound and touch are experienced in air. Sound, touch, and form are experienced in fire. Sound, touch, form, and taste are experienced in water. And sound, touch, form, taste, and smell are experienced in earth. Earth has the qualities of all the elements. The analysis is that each elemental quality is developed through the other by gradual development, but the last one, namely earth, possesses all the qualities.”
In the same way, the transcendental mellowness experienced in the stage of śānta-premā is developed in the stage of dāsya-premā and then sakhya-premā. It is further developed in vātsalya-premā, and lastly the complete development is manifested in the stage of mādhurya-premā, for mādhurya-premā includes all the rasas experienced in all the other devotional stages.
According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.82.45), the Personality of Godhead is completely obliged by the transcendental loving service rendered in the mood of mādhurya-premā:
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām
amṛtatvāya kalpate
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho
bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
The Personality of Godhead said, “Loving devotional service unto Me is itself the eternal life of the living entity. My dear cowherd girls, the affection that you have in your hearts for Me is the only cause of achieving My favor.”
In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.11) it is said,
ye jathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
The Personality of Godhead declares that He is experienced in proportion to the degree of one’s surrender. The Lord reciprocates in His different manifestations with the particular feelings of His devotees.
Quacks of Spiritual Science
The materialistic philosophers of this world, by way of mental speculation, have decided that God is approachable by any means of spiritual cultivation. According to them, it does not matter whether the method is fruitive action, empiric philosophical speculation, mystic yoga, meditation, penance, or any other method; all of them will ultimately lead to the highest goal. The example that they generally put forward in support of their theory goes like this: “There may be several thoroughfares, and if any one of them is followed, surely one will reach the desired destination.” More explicitly, they say that God is represented in various forms such as Lord Rāmacandra, the impersonal Brahman, Goddess Kālī, Durgā, Mahādeva, Gaṇeśa, and many others, and as such any one of them can be worshiped with equal value.
Another example they use in this connection is that a man may have many names and if he is called by any one of them, he replies to the call. These statements of the quacks of spiritual science are like the indistinct vocal attempt of a spiritual baby. The indistinct voice of a baby may be very sweet to the ear of mental speculators, but the bona fide spiritualists reject it as a foolish child’s babbling.
Attachment for Demigods
The Bhāgavad-gītā (9.25) states:
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṛn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino’pi mām
The worshipers of the demigods such as Gaṇeśa, Surya, and Indra will ultimately reach the abodes of such gods. They will go to the planets of those demigods respectively according to their worship, while only the devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa will reach the abode of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Thus the mundaners avoid the Bhāgavad-gītā. They forget that they are under the influence of the conditions of the external energy. As such, they worship the demigods motivated by a desire for material gain and develop an illusory attachment for such de- migods and thereby are thrown from the real path of progress— reaching the Personality of Godhead. Being attached thus, the worshipers of different demigods are forced to circumambulate the different spheres of the material world and undergo the rigors of repeated birth and death.
Those who aspire to reach the Personality of Godhead and thereby worship Him by loving service will certainly reach Him. The real explanation is that one gets the result of the quality of their worship, and all the results are not the same, as conceived by the mundane speculators. Those who aspire after the results of their religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and endeavors for salvation cannot expect to reach the same destination as the pure transcendental devotees. The result of religiosity is temporary happiness in the human life. The result of economic development is increased facility for sense gratification. And the result of sense gratification is frustration, which leads to the desire for liberation. The result of salvation is merging into the impersonal Brahman. But the result for the devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the attainment of the eternal service of the Personality of Godhead. The gulf of difference between these diverse results cannot be understood by the mundaners.
Mahāmāyā and Yogamāyā
Mahāmāyā, the mother or source of this material world, and the delegated demigods are but diverse external energies or agencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Under the direction of the Personality of Godhead, these agencies perform their respective functions in the administration of the universal laws. That is the information we have from the Bhagavad-gītā, in which the Personality of Godhead declares that only under His direction does the material energy produce the material world, and the whole administration of the universes is thus controlled, ultimately by Him.
The internal energy of Godhead is different. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā—there is another permanent energy of Godhead that is never destroyed, even after the annihilation of the whole cosmic manifestation. That internal energy is different from mahāmāyā and she is called yogamāyā.
The permanent universe is the creation of yogamāyā. Those who want unalloyed loving service to the Personality of Godhead must ask for the mercy of yogamāyā. Those who want to satisfy their own senses or those who desire to become one with the impersonal Brahman because of being baffled by the pursuit of sense gratification worship mahāmāyā or the predominating demigods respectively.
The damsels of Vraja worshiped yogamāyā to get the son of the King of Vraja as their husband or lover, while others within the system of material varṇāśrama-dharma worship mahāmāyā, the superintending Deity of the material world, to alleviate distress. There is a gulf of difference between the results of these two varieties of worship, and the attempt to equalize such diametrically opposed activities is like the jaundiced eye seeing everything as yellow. Such is the vision of the diseased person in ignorance.
The Name is Absolute
Sometimes a homely man is named “Cupid.” In such a case, the name is without any significance. But this is never the case with the Personality of Godhead. Being the Absolute, all His different features are also absolute. There is no difference between Him, His names, and His features. He is known by different names. He is known as the impersonal Brahman, Paramātmā, the Almighty Creator, Nārāyaṇa, Gopīnātha, Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, and many other such names.
Although every name of the Absolute is absolute in itself, the worshiper of God as the Creator of the Universe cannot relish the same bliss as those who worship God as Nārāyaṇa. “The Creator of the Universe” is the name preferred by materialistic people, as it is suitable for their sense gratification. The conception of ‘Creator’ does not fully represent the conception of Godhead. The creation is a function of Godhead’s external energy. If He is conceived of as the impersonal Brahman, we cannot get information about all of His potencies. His transcendental bliss, knowledge, qualities, and form are not fully represented in His impersonal feature. Paramātmā is also not fully representative of the conception of Godhead. In the Bhāgavad-gītā (18.61), Paramātmā is described as localized Godhead in the heart of all living beings; He is only a partial representation of the Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa. Then again, the worshiper of Nārāyaṇa also cannot relish the transcendental bliss experienced in the service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Rasābhāsa
The pure devotees of Śrī Kṛṣṇa do not wish to worship Nārāyaṇa, in whose personality the transcendental mellowness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is somewhat covered. The cowherd girls never address- ed Śrī Kṛṣṇa as “the husband of Rukmiṇī.” That would be intolerable for them. Rukmiṇī-ramaṇa and Śrī Kṛṣṇa may be the same Personality of Godhead in the opinion of the mundaners, but They cannot be equally relished. If someone mixes up both of the above out of sheer ignorance, that is a defect in relishing transcendental mellowness called rasābhāsa. People who have some sense of the delicate transcendental nature of Godhead do not commit the mistake of rasābhāsa like those who form the society of ignorant people.
Not Possible to Reciprocate
Although the Personality of Godhead reciprocates accordingly with the dealings of His different devotees in different stages of loving service, He has declared His inability to reciprocate with the dealings of the gopīs, the damsels of Vraja who serve Him in the capacity of mādhurya-premā. Addressing the damsels of Vraja, the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa said,
na pāṛaye 'haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ
sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ
yā mābhajan durjaya-geha-śṛṅkhalāḥ
saṁvṛścya tad vaḥ pratiyātu sādhunā
"My dear cowherd girls, your love for Me is spotlessly pure and it will not be possible for Me to reciprocate with the noble service you render to Me, not even in many future lives, because you have completely sacrificed the shackles of family life to come to Me. I am therefore unable to repay the debts I have incurred in accepting your love. You must therefore kindly be satisfied by your own deeds.” (Bhāg. 10.32.21)
The beauty of Śrī Kṛṣṇa increases in the association of the cowherd girls of Vraja, although Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is the last word in all beauty. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.33.6):
tatrātiśuśubhe tābhir
bhagavān devakī-sutaḥ
madhye maṇīnāṁ haimānāṁ
mahā-mārakato yathā
"Although the Personality of Godhead who is the son of Devakī is the last word in beauty, when He is in the midst of the cowherd girls of Vraja, He appears like the most valuable jewel set within a network of golden filigree.”
Lord Caitanya was now completely satisfied by the statement of Rāmānanda Rāya about mādhurya-premā, which is the culmination of transcendental loving service relationships with the Personality of Godhead. Still, He expected something more from Rāmānanda and asked him to go still further. At this most extraordinary request of Lord Caitanya, Rāmānanda was astonished. He knew no devotee who could know more than this. But as expert as he was, Rāmānanda began to go still further by the mercy of Lord Caitanya.
The Topmost Servitor
Having already discussed the superexcellent qualities of the transcendental mellowness known as mādhurya-premā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s inability to repay the service of the spotlessly pure-hearted cowherd girls of Vraja, Rāmānanda then proceeded further in the same line in an attempt to discuss the service rendered by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the topmost servitor among all the cowherd girls.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the full-fledged ānanda-cinmoya-rasa-ujjvala-vigraha: His eternal form fully displays transcendental existence, knowledge, and bliss by His own internal potency called the hlādinī-śakti. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the controlling Deity of that joyous energy of Godhead. The joyous nature of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s energy and Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical, but They appear separately for the purpose of enjoying each other. Therefore, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are two component parts of the same divine entity. Without Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Kṛṣṇa is incomplete; and without Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī is incomplete. Thus these two cannot be separated from one another. They combine as one in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to fulfill this transcendental truth.
Most Magnanimous
It is very difficult to understand the līlā of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, but Lord Caitanya is the most liberal, magnanimous, merciful, and willing benedictor of all living beings in this age of Kali. He is readily distributing the highest secret of the spiritual world and only requires that we accept it.
Lord Caitanya has provided us with the easiest way to receive His topmost gift. The first qualification is that one should at once discard the idea of sāyujya-mukti or becoming one with the impersonal Brahman. The second qualification is that one should simply hear all these transcendental messages in a fully submissive mood from a person who is a bona fide devotee in the line of Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī’s disciplic succession. And the third and last qualification is that one be very pure in all one’s dealings in life, remaining unaffected by the infectious influence of the age of Kali.
A person who has all of these three simple qualifications will have phenomenal success in entering into the plane of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s unbounded mercy. Any deviation from the above-mentioned three qualities will completely close the door of entrance, regardless of how one may try to understand Him by the strength of one’s mundane acquisitions. Without the above three qualifications nobody can enter into Lord Caitanya’s līlā. Those who have tried to enter into it neglecting the necessary qualities are known as āula, bāula, karttābhajā, neḍā, sakhī-bhekī, daraveśa, sāṇi, sahajiyā, smārta, caste goswāmīs, ativāḍi, cūḍādhārī, gaurāṅga-nāgarī, and many others. Such persons may be considered worthless imitators of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s līlā. Unfortunately, they are misleading the ignorant masses who are already condemned by the influence of Kali-yuga.