Taking a particle of mercy from the munificent Mahāprabhu, I will now present the final goal of the scriptures and of all human endeavors- the one, final attainment, prema-which even after compiling, studying and considering all the Vedas for hundreds of kalpas, Lord Brahmā could not understand; and which even Lord Śiva, equipped with all knowledge and yoga powers, the master of the path of renunciation, is always searching for; and which all liberated jīvas continually adore as the attainment of their own glory (sva mahima).
Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in teaching Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī about prema, said the following:
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru kṛṣṇa prasāde pāya bhakti latā bīja
mālī hañā kare sei bīja aropaṇa
śravaṇa kīrtana jale karaye secana
upajiyā bāḍe latā brahmāṇḍa bhedi' yāya
virajā brahmaloka bhedi' paravyoma pāya
tave yāya tad upari goloka vṛndāvana
kṛṣṇa caraṇa kalpa vṛkṣe kare ārohana
tāṅha vistārita hañā phale prema phala
iṅha mālī sece nitya śravaṇa kīrtanādi jala
yadi vaiṣṇava aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā
upare vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi' yāya pātā
tā'te mālī yatna kari' kare āvaraṇa
aparādha hastīra yaiche nā haya udgama
kintu yadi latāra saṅge uṭhe upaśākhā
bhukti mukti vāñcā yata asankhya tā'ra lekhā
niṣidhācāra, kuṭināṭi, jīva hiṁsana
lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhādi yata upaśākhā gaṇa
seka jala pāñā upaśākhā bāḍi' yāya
stabdha hañā mūla śākhā bāṛite nā pāya
prathamei upaśākhā karaye chedana
tave mūla śākhā bāṛi' yāya vṛndāvana
prema phala pāki' paṛe, mālī āsvādaya
latā avalambi' mālī kalpa vṛkṣa pāya
tāṅhā sei kalpa vṛkṣera karaye secana
sukhe prema phala rasa kare āsvādana
ei ta' parama phala parama puruṣārtha
yāṅra āge tṛṇa tulya cāri puruṣārtha
According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.
When a person receives the seed of devotional service he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana the seed will begin to sprout.
As one waters the bhakti latā bīja, the seed sprouts, and the creeper gradually increases until it penetrates the walls of this universe and goes beyond the Virajā river between the spiritual world and the material world. It attains brahma-loka, the Brahman effulgence. Penetrating through that stratum, it reaches the spiritual sky and the spiritual planet Goloka Vṛndāvana.
Being situated in one's heart and being watered by śravaṇa-kīrtana, the bhakti creeper continues to grow. In this way it attains the shelter of the desire tree of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally situated in the planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana in the topmost region of the spiritual sky.
The creeper greatly expands in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, and there it produces the fruit of love for Kṛṣṇa. Although remaining in the material world, the gardener regularly sprinkles the creeper with the water of hearing and chanting.
If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up.
The gardener must defend the creeper by fencing it all around so that the powerful elephant of offenses may not enter.
Sometimes unwanted creepers, such as the creepers of desires for material enjoyment and liberation from the material world, grow along with the creeper of devotional service. The varieties of such unwanted creepers are unlimited.
Some unnecessary creepers growing with bhakti creeper are the creepers of behavior unacceptable for those trying to attain perfection, diplomatic behavior, animal killing, mundane profiteering, mundane adoration and mundane importance. All these are unwanted creepers.
If one does not distinguish between the bhakti latā creeper and the other creepers, the sprinkling of water is misused because the other creepers are nourished while the bhakti latā creeper is curtailed.
As soon as an intelligent devotee sees an unwanted creeper growing beside the original creeper, he must cut it down instantly. Then the real creeper of bhakti latā bīja grows nicely, returns, home, back to Godhead, and seeks shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
When the fruit of devotional service becomes ripe and falls down, the gardener tastes the fruit, and thus takes advantage of the creeper and reaches the desire tree of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vrdnavana.
There the devotee serves the lotus feet of the Lord, which are compared to a wish-fulfilling tree. With great bliss he tastes the juice of the fruit of love and becomes eternally happy.
To taste the fruit of devotional service at Goloka Vṛndāvana is the highest perfection of life, and in the presence of such perfection, the four material perfections-religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation-are very insignificant achievements. (C.C.Madhya 19-151-164)
Kṛṣṇa das Kavirāja has described Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teachings in fitting verses with great expertise. If the jīva can understand the direct meaning of these verses, he will be immediately fortunate. If he understands these eighteen verses he will easily attain what cannot be attained by studying piles of scriptures.
Since time immemorial the jīvas are all wandering in the universe, following the path of karma or jñāna. When the sukrtis which build up the propensity for bhakti become strong, the jīva develops faith in bhakti. With faith, the devotee takes shelter of the lotus feet of sādhu and guru. According to instructions of the guru, he firmly sows in his heart this faith, which is in the form of a seed of the bhakti creeper. The jīva becomes the gardener, and waters the bhakti with water in the form of hearing and chanting the name. The creeper grows bigger and bigger, pierces the universe, crosses over the Viraja, the border of the spiritual world, and after traversing the impersonal brahma dhama enters the place of the Lord's pastimes.
When the jīva pierces the universe an incident takes place, in the form of obtaining the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. The jīva in his spiritual form is very insignificant. Moreover, while giving up matter, qualities get extinguished. The jīva then desires to annihilate his existence. At this crucial time, Kṛṣṇa's own mercy assists the jīva, through the special mercy of Kṛṣṇa's devotees. What is this mercy? It is the hlādinī śakti emanating from the cit śakti or spiritual energy of the Lord. It is extremely powerful. At the time of material cessation, this energy is eager to protect the jīva from annihilation of his spiritual individuality. It transforms sādhana bhakti into a more loving form. By the strength of this more intense form, the jīva attains rati, and gradually begins to ascend. Without the mercy of the hlādinī śakti, the jīva cannot be qualified for the goal of prema.
Equipped with the strength of the hlādinī śakti, the jīva pierces brahma dhāma and attains the spiritual world. At the top of the spiritual world is Goloka Vṛndāvana. There, the creeper of bhakti spreads itself at the feet of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet and yields the fruits of prema. The gardener, still residing in the material world, continues watering the root of the creeper through hearing and chanting Kṛṣṇa's name constantly.
When the creeper sprouts and grows, the gardener must be careful. Sometimes the mad elephant of offenses against devotees in the form of violence, hatred or criticism arises. It tears up the bhakti creeper, and the leaves wither. Sometimes the mad elephant uproots the plant completely. The gardener must be very careful to ensure that this offense does not take place.
One other obstacle may appear: along with the creeper of bhakti, weeds may also spring up. They grow along with the watering process of hearing and chanting and smother the creeper of bhakti. Many types of weeds may grow up: material enjoyment, desire of liberation, desire for mystic powers, desire of women, sinful action, absorption of the mind in forbidden things, violence to other living entities, cruelty, cheating, longing for position, greed for money or material piety. The gardener must be careful to cut down these weeds as they begin to grow.
In this way, the creeper can surpass the material world and attain the spiritual world of Vṛndāvana. The fruit of prema ripens and falls, and the gardener relishes it in great bliss. Prema is the ultimate goal of the jīva. Compared to this, dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are nothing.
Now the nature of prema and the types of prema will be discussed.
śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā prema-sūryaṁśu- sāmyabhāk
rucibhiś citta-māsṛṇya-krd asau bhāva ucyate
When devotional service is situated on the transcendental platform of pure goodness, it is like a ray of the sunlight of love of Kṛṣṇa (prema). At such a time, devotional service causes the heart to be softened by various tastes, and it is called bhāva. (B.R.S. Pūrva Vibhāga 3.1)
samyaṅ masṛṇita-svānto mamatvātiśayaṅkitaḥ
bhāvaḥ sa eva sāndrātmā budhaiḥ premā nigadyate
When that bhāva softens the heart completely, becomes endowed with a great feeling of possessiveness in relation to the Lord and becomes very much condensed and intensified, it is called prema by learned scholar. (B.R.S. Prema lahiri 1.)
From the svarūpa śakti of Kṛṣṇa, which manifets all things, arises the samvit śakti, governing the consciousness in the spiritual world. This feature of the svarūpa śakti is called śuddha sattva, pure goodness. The sattva of māyā śakti is not pure but mixed. Tender and deep emotion with possessiveness of Kṛṣṇa is the special feature of the hlādinī śakti. When these two elements (śuddha sattva (samvit) and hlādinī) mix, they attain the highest and most astonishing state in the jīva's heart: it is called pure prema. In the material world the combination of the maya's samvit and hlādinī potency gives rise to material prema or material love. This is but a perverted shadow of the pure, spiritual prema. The relationship (bhāva ) coming from ones spiritual form in pure, natural consciousness (śuddha sattva svarūpa) and tender actions to express that love (hlādinī) are both present in prema. (Bhāva here refers to sthāyi bhāva, fixed emotion.) Its first appearance is called rati.
sādhana bhakti haite māyā ratira udaya
rati gāḍha haite tā'ra prema nāma kaya
prema vṛddhi krame nāma -sneha, māna, praṇaya
rāga, anurāga, bhāva, mahābhāva haya
By regularly rendering devotional service, one gradually becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When that attachment is intensified, it becomes love of Godhead. The basic aspects of prema, when gradually increasing to different states, are affection (sneha), abhorrence (māna), love (praṇaya), attachment (rāga), further attachment (anurāga), ecstasy (bhāva) and great ecstasy (mahābhāva). (C.C.Madhya 19.177-178)
Bhāva
This bhāva is called the seedling of prema or prīti and when it appears, it shows the following characteristics:
kṣantir avyartha-kālatvam viraktir māna- śūnyatā
āśābandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ
āśaktis tad-guṇākhyāne prītis tad-vasati-sthale
ity ādayo' nubhāvāḥ syur jāta-bhāvaṅkure jane
The symptoms (anubhāvas) of the sprout of bhāva are forbearance, not wasting time, detachment, absence of pride, possibility of attaining Kṛṣṇa, greed for attaining Kṛṣṇa, taste of chanting the name, attachment to discussions of Kṛṣṇa's qualities, living in a place of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. (B.R.S. Pūrva Vibhāga Rati bhakti, 11)
These are also mentioned in Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya Līlā 23. 20-31. When these symptoms of bhāva appear, they are seen as real nature of the person. This rati is the first stage of prema; prema is the deeper stage of rati. Prema is like the sun and rati or bhāva is its ray. When rati arises, very small ecstatic symptoms appear. When rati appears in the mind of the conditioned soul, though it is actually self-manifesting, coming from the soul itself, it appears as if a product of the mind.
There are two types of rati: that caused by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or his devotee, and that caused by absorption in sādhana bhakti. That rati due to sādhana is commonly seen in the world, whereas that due to mercy is very rare. The rati due to sādhana has two types: from vaidhi sādhana and rāgānuga sādhana.
Rati is a rare thing. The apparent symptoms of rati visible in persons desiring liberation or material benefits is but a semblance of real rati. This raty ābhāsa has two types: pratibimba raty ābhāsa (reflection) and chāyā raty ābhāsa (shadow). Seeing those symptoms, the ignorant person will mistake them for real rati.
Sometimes one may see a person who has not done sādhana, but who has genuine rati. In such cases, one must understand that in previous lives his expert sādhana was for some reason interrupted. When that obstacle has been destroyed, the result, pure bhāva, appears in this life.
If one seems to see some discrepancy in the actions or behavior of a person who as attained real rati, one should not be envious of him. He has reached the success of life. Actually such a person is faultless. If one sees in him some mundane action which is contrary to the rules of vaidhī bhakti conduct, from his side there is no fault. It is only apparent fault seen from the eyes of the person on a lower level attached to the rules.
The active portions of rati (ceṣṭā rūpā bhakti) are the anubhāvas (actions generated from emotion for Kṛṣṇa) and the special ingredients of emotion (bhāva rūpā) are the sañcāri bhāvas (transitory emotions). When these mix with rati and rati becomes intense, it is called prema, and prema leads to rasa. The topics of rasa are discussed in the work "Kṛṣṇera Rasāmṛta Samudratva Vicāra" so they will not be mentioned here.
Prema
Prema has two types: kevala (pure) prema and mahima jñāna yukta (endowed with reverence) prema. From rāgānugā sādhana bhakti usually kevala prema arises. Through vaidhī bhakti, mahima jñāna yukta prema arises; the devotee attains the same planet, same opulences, same form and close association of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha. According the Lord Caitanya's teachings, the highest goal is kevala prema.
Prema arises in two ways: from bhāva and from the mercy of the Lord. Prema arising from bhāva has two types: arising from vaidha-induced bhāva and from rāgānuga induced bhāva. Prema arising from mercy alone is very rare whereas prema arising from bhāva is normal. The succession to prema through bhāva is mentioned in Caitanya Caritāmṛta:
kona bhāgye kona jīvera śraddhā yadi haya
tave sei jīva sādhu saṅga karaya
sādhu saṅga haite haya śravaṇa kīrtana
sādhana bhaktye haya sarvānartha nivartana
anartha nivṛtti haile bhakti niṣṭha haya
niṣṭha haite śravaṇādye ruci upajaya
ruci bhakti haite haya aśakti pracura
aśakti haite citte janme kṛṣṇe prīty aṅkura
sei rati gāḍha haila dhare prema nāma
sei prema prayojana sarvānanda dhāma
yāṅra citte kṛṣṇa prema karaye udaya
tāṅra vākya, kriyā, mudrā vijneha na bujhaya
If by good fortune, a living entity develops faith in Kṛṣṇa, he begins to associate with devotees. When one is encouraged in devotional service by the association of devotees, one becomes free from all unwanted contamination by following the regulative principles and chanting and hearing. When one is freed from all unwanted contamination, he advances with firm faith. When firm faith in devotional service awakens, a taste for hearing and chanting also awakens. After taste is awakened, a deep attachment arises, and from that attachment the seed of love for Kṛṣṇa grows in the heart. When that ecstatic emotional stage intensifies, it is called love of Godhead. Such love is life's ultimate goal and the reservoir of all pleasure. If one actually has the seed of transcendental emotion in his heart, the symptoms will be visible in his activities. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures. (C.C.Madhya 23.9-17)
On this there is a kārikā:
ākarṣa sannidhau lauhaḥ pravṛtto dṛśyate yathā
aṇor mahati caitanye pravṛttiḥ prītir eva sā
pratiphalana-dharmatvāt baddha-jive nisargataḥ
itareṣu ca sarveṣu rāgo'sti viṣayādiṣu
liṅga-bhaṅgottarā bhaktiḥ śuddha-prītir anuttamā
tat pūrvam ātmānikṣepāt bhaktiḥ prītimayī satī
Just as iron shows its innate quality when the magnet comes close, so the minute consciousness, jīva, shows his natural tendency when he becomes favorable towards the supreme conscious entity Kṛṣṇa. His natural tendency is pure love of Kṛṣṇa. This quality of rāga is perfect in the spiritual world. The material world is only a reflection of the spiritual world. The jīva, accepting unnatural qualities in the material world, produces a different type of rāga towards the objects of the world, though rāga itself is generated from his nature.
If the conditioned jīva does not destroy his subtle material body, his pure love will not appear. Only after breaking the subtle body, the bhakti which appears is pure prīti. Before this stage, bhakti attempting self- surrender by destroying the material identity and establishing the spiritual identity, has prīti, love, as its quality (prītimayī) but cannot have prīti as its essence (prīti ātmikā).
This state of prītimayī is described in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta:
rāgatmikā bhakti mukhya vrajavāsī jane
tā'ra anugata bhaktira rāgānuga nāme
lobhe vrajavāsīra bhāve kare anugati
śāstrayukti nahi māne rāgānugāra prakṛti
bāhya, abhyantara, ihāra dui ta'sādhana
bahye sādhaka dehe kare śravaṇa kīrtana
māne nija siddha deha kariya bhāvan
ratri dine kare vraje kṛṣṇera sevana
nijābiṣṭha kṛṣṇa preṣtha pāche ta' lāgiya
nirantara sevā kare antarmanā hañā
The original inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are attached to Kṛṣṇa spontaneously in devotional service. Nothing can compare to such spontaneous devotional service, which is called rāgatmikā bhakti. When a devotee follows in the footsteps of the devotees of Vṛndāvana, his devotional service is called rāgānugā bhakti. If one follows in the footsteps of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana out of such transcendental covetousness, he does not care for the injunctions or reasoning of śāstra. That is the way of spontaneous love. There are two processes by which one may execute this rāgānugā bhakti-external and internal. The self-realized, advanced devotee externally remains like a neophyte and executes all the sastric injunctions, especially hearing and chanting. However, within his mind, in his original purified self-realized position, he serves Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana in his particular way. He serves Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours, all day and night. Actually the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are very dear to Kṛṣṇa. If one wants to engae in spontaneous loving service, he must follow the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and constantly engage in devotional service within his mind. (C.C.Madhya 22.149, 153, 156-157. 159)
The kārikā says:
kṛṣṇa-bahirmukhe sā ca viṣaya-prītir eva hi
sā caiva kṛṣṇa-sammukhyāt kṛṣṇa-prītiḥ sunirmalā
raty ādi-bhāva-paryantaṁ svarūpa-lakṣaṇaṁ smṛtam
dāsya-sakhyādi-sambandhāt sa caiva rasatāṁ vrajet
What is the difference between love (prīti) of material objects and love of Kṛṣṇa? When the affection is directed from matter to Kṛṣṇa in a pure way it becomes love of Kṛṣṇa. When the same affection is turned from Kṛṣṇa towards matter, it is called material love or material attachment. In the stages from rati to mahābhāva this affection is intrinsic characteristic for each stage. This sthāyi bhāva, qualified by relations such as dāsya, attains the nature of rasa by mixing of the ingredients (anubhāva, sāttvika bhāva etc.).
In the Śikṣāstaka bhāṣya , based on the Prīti Sandarbha of Srila Jīva Gosvāmī, the development of prīti is described as follows: undeveloped prīti, in the first stage is ullāsamayī, jubilant. It is called rati. This type of rati is present in śānta rasa. When it appears, any other object than Kṛṣṇa becomes very insignificant. When ullasamayi rati becomes extremely possessive it is called prema. This is present in dāsya rasa. When this develops, all causes for breaking the relationship become feeble. When prema becomes viśvāsamayī (confidential) it is called praṇaya. It is suitable for sakhya rasa. When praṇaya manifests, there is no longer any reverence, even where reverence would be suitable. When praṇaya becomes variegated and becomes slightly devious due to taking the identity of a beloved of Kṛṣṇa, it is called māna (pride). When māna appears, even Kṛṣṇa manifests fear (out of love). When the heart becomes melted, prema becomes sneha. With the appearance of sneha, there are symptoms such s shedding of excessive tears. Even though seeing the Lord, the person is unsatisfied, and though capable of pleasing the Lord, the person is fearful and unsteady. When sneha becomes full of desire, it is called rāga. When rāga appears, even a moment's separation becomes intolerable. Meeting is happiness and separation is distress. When rāga realizes the dear object in newer and newer ways and itself appears in newer ways, it is called anurāga. With the appearance of anurāga, the person desires to take birth as an inanimate object just to be related to the Lord, due to the variegated prema resulting from mutual submissiveness. During the pain of separation, Kṛṣṇa makes a sudden appearance. When anurāga attains a state of madness with unequaled amazing appearance, it is called mahābhāva. When mahābhāva appears, during meeting, the passing of even one moment is intolerable, and a kalpa of time passes in a second. In separation, one second seems to be kalpa. In anurāga and mahābhāva, the ecstatic symptoms such as sāttvika bhāvas appear in the most intense form.
The kārikā says:
taraṅga-raṅginī prītis cid-vilāsa-svarūpinī
viṣaye sac-cid-ānande rasa-vistārinī matā
prauḍānanda-camātkara-rasaḥ kṛṣṇe svabhāvataḥ
kṛṣṇeti nāmadheyas tu janākaṛṣa-viśeṣataḥ
cid-ghanānanda-sarvasvaṁ rūpaṁ cāmṛtaṁ priyam
ananta-guṇa-sampūrṇo līlāḍhyo gopī- vallabhaḥ
ebhir liṅgair hariḥ sāksād dṛśyate preṣṭham ātmānaḥ
tena vṛṇdāvane ramye tad-vane ramate tu yaḥ
sa dhanyaḥ śuddha-buddho hi kenopaniṣadaṁ mate
Prīti, the very embodiment of spiritual pastimes, playing in unlimited waves, continually distributes rasa to Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of eternity, knowledge and bliss. Due to the very nature of prīti, rasa becomes extremely blissful and astounding in Kṛṣṇa-who is called Kṛṣṇa because He has a special attracting power for everyone. With his dark, beautiful form of compacted knowledge and bliss, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme sweetness and the generator of prīti, love. Kṛṣṇa, the beloved of the gopis, is full of unlimited auspicious qualities and profuse pastimes. Kṛṣṇa, the dearmost object to the soul, must be experienced directly through His name, form, qualities and pastimes. That person who enjoys with Kṛṣṇa in his Vṛndāvana form in the forest is the most fortunate, most intelligent, according to the Kena Upaniṣad.
pañcāṅge sad-dhiyām anvaya-sukṛti-matāṁ sat-kṛpaika-prabhāvāt
rāga-prāpteṣṭa-dāsye vraja-jana-vihite jāyate laulyam addhā
vedātītā hi bhaktir bhavati tad-anugā kṛṣṇa- sevaika-rūpā
ksipraṁ prītir viśuddhā samudayati tayā gaura-sikṣaiva gūḍhā
The five aṅgas are serving the deity, tasting the meaning of Bhāgavatam with relishing devotees, associating with the superior devotees on rāga marga, chanting the name and living in Mathurā. Practicing these five with an offenseless heart, one attains real mercy. Through that mercy arises a greed to serve the inhabitants of Vraja who are impelled by rāga. From that greed, there arises rāgānugā sādhana-bhakti, which transcends the scriptural injunctions and exclusively serves Kṛṣṇa with a mood of affection of the Vraja vāsīs. By practicing this bhakti (sādhana), very soon, pure, exclusive prīti (kevala prema) for Kṛṣṇa will arise.