Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Nectar of Devotion

These symptoms are divided into two parts: one is called śīta, and the other is called kshepana. When there is yawning, the symptoms are called śīta, and when there is dancing they are called kshepana.

Dancing

While watching the rāsa dance performed by Lord Krishna and the gopīs, Lord Śiva beheld the beautiful face of Krishna and immediately began to dance and beat upon his small dindima drum. While Lord Śiva was dancing in ecstasy, his eldest son, Ganeśa, joined him.

Rolling on the Ground

In the Third Canto, First Chapter, verse 32, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vidura inquires from Uddhava, "My dear friend, is Akrūra in an auspicious condition? Not only is he a learned scholar and sinless, but he is also a devotee of Lord Krishna. He has such ecstatic love for Krishna that I have seen him rolling upon Krishna's footprints in the dust as if bereft of all sense." Similarly, one gopī gave a message to Krishna that Rādhārānī, because of Her separation from Him and because of Her enchantment with the aroma of His flower garlands, was rolling on the ground, thereby bruising Her soft body.

Singing Loudly

One gopī informed Krishna that when Śrīmatī Rādhārānī was singing about His glories, She enchanted all of Her friends in such a way that they became stonelike and dull. At the same time, the nearby stones began to melt away in ecstatic love.

When Nārada Muni was chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, he chanted so loudly that it was apprehended that Lord Nrisimha had appeared. Thus all the demons began to flee in different directions.

Stretching the Body

It is said that sometimes when Nārada, the carrier of the vīnā, remembers his Lord Krishna in great ecstasy, he begins to stretch his body so vigorously that his sacred thread gives way.

Crying Loudly

A gopī once said to Krishna, "My dear son of Nanda Mahārāja, by the sound of Your flute Śrīmatī Rādhārānī has become full of lamentation and fear, and thus, with a faltering voice, She is crying like a kurarī bird."

It is described that by hearing the vibration of Krishna's flute, Lord Śiva becomes very puzzled and begins to cry so loudly into space that the demons become vanquished and the devotees become overwhelmed with joy.

Yawning

It is said that when the full moon rises, the lotus petals become expanded. Similarly, when Krishna used to appear before Rādhārānī, Her face, which is compared to the lotus flower, would expand by Her yawning.

Breathing Heavily

As far as breathing heavily is concerned, it is state d, "Lalitā [one of the gopīs] is just like a cātakī bird, which only takes water falling directly from the rain cloud and not from any other source." In this statement Krishna is compared to the dark cloud, and Lalitā is compared to the cātakī bird seeking only Krishna's company. The metaphor continues to say, "As a heavy wind sometimes disperses a mighty cloud, so the heavy breath from Lalitā's nostrils caused her to miss Krishna, who had disappeared by the time she recovered herself."

Neglecting the Presence of Others

As far as neglecting the presence of others is concerned, the wives of the brāhmanas who were performing sacrifices at Vrindāvana left home as soon as they heard that Krishna was nearby. They left their homes without caring for their learned husbands. The husbands began to discuss this among themselves: "How wonderful is the attraction for Krishna that it has made these women leave us without any care!" This is the influence of Krishna. Anyone who becomes attracted to Krishna can be relieved from the bondage of birth and death, which can be compared to the locked-up homes that were neglected by the wives of the brāhmanas.

In the Padyāvalī there is a statement by some devotees: "We shall not care for any outsiders. If they should deride us, we shall still not care for them. We shall simply enjoy the transcendental mellow of chanting Hare Krishna, and thus we shall roll on the ground and dance ecstatically. In this way we shall eternally enjoy transcendental bliss."

Drooling

As an example of the running down of saliva from the mouth, it is stated that sometimes when Nārada Muni was chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, he remained stunned for a while, and saliva oozed from his mouth.

Laughing like a Madman

When a devotee laughs very loudly like a madman, it is done out of an extraordinary agitation of ecstatic love within the heart. Such mad laughing is an expression of the condition of the heart which is technically called atta-hāsa. When a devotee becomes affected with this mental condition, his love is expressed through the lips. The laughing sounds, coming one after another, are compared to flowers falling from the creeper of devotion which grows within the heart of the devotee. In the Caitanya-caritāmrita devotional service to the Lord is also compared to a creeper which rises up to the lotus feet of Krishna in Goloka Vrindāvana.

Wheeling of the Head

One gopī told her friend, "It appears that Lord Krishna, the enemy of the demon Agha, has released from His mouth a whirlwind which is acting on your head and is gradually proceeding to do the same to the other lotus-eyed gopīs."

Belching

Sometimes belching also becomes a symptom of ecstatic love for Krishna. There is evidence of this in Paurnamāsī's address to one crying associate of Rādhārānī: "My dear daughter, don't be worried because Śrīmatī Rādhārānī is belching. I am about to offer a remedial measure for this symptom. Do not cry so loudly. This belching is not due to indigestion; it is a sign of ecstatic love for Krishna. I shall arrange to cure this belching symptom immediately. Don't be worried." This statement by Paurnamāsī is evidence that ecstatic love for Krishna is sometimes manifested through belching.

Sometimes trembling of the whole body and hemorrhaging from some part of the body are also manifested in response to ecstatic love for Krishna, but such symptoms are very rare, and therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī does not discuss any further on this point.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness