Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Nectar of Devotion

Neutrality

Neutrality can be further subdivided into general, transparent and peaceful. An attraction for Krishna by the people in general or by children cannot take any specific or satisfactory position. It can be manifest sometimes in trembling of the body and changing of the color of the eyes (to red, white, etc.), although there is no symptom of any particular affection.

One old man was told by a young man, "Just see how this child — only three years old — is so jubilant! Simply by seeing Krishna he is running so swiftly, making a tumultuous sound. Just see!" This is an instance of neutral ecstatic love in the heart of a child, without any specific subdivision.

Due to the different types of attraction for Krishna, there are different varieties of devotees. Their symptoms are manifested transparently, just like jewels. It is said that a great devotee brāhmana would sometimes address the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master and sometimes joke with the Lord, using different kinds of familiar words. Sometimes he would protect the Lord with a filial affection, sometimes he would cry out to the Lord, addressing the Lord as his beloved, and sometimes he would meditate on the Lord as the Supersoul. This means that the brāhmana expressed his ecstatic loving symptoms in different ways at different times. But in each instance, because of ecstatic love, the brāhmana merged himself in the ocean of happiness and became situated in pure love. Thus he was a transparent medium, like a jewel that shows reality in varying colors according to its own nature.

When the great sage Nārada was glorifying the pastimes of the Lord with his vīnā, the four Kumāras, headed by Sanaka, although merged in the impersonal conception of Brahman, were trembling all over. Another devotee once exclaimed, "Although I can achieve liberation simply by serving the devotees, my mind is still very much anxious to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily complexion is just like a dark cloud." When a devotee is so anxious to contact the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that can also be accepted as a symptom of neutral love.

Pure and Mixed Flavors

Generally, a devotee of Lord Krishna may be placed into one of three groups. One group consists of those who are completely dependent on the merciful affection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, another group consists of devotees who are dealing with Krishna on friendly terms, and the third group consists of those who are dealing with Krishna as His superiors, with parental affection. These three classes of devotees gradually develop different relationships of transcendental mellow with the Personality of Godhead. When the attraction for Krishna is based on only one particular humor, that humor is called kevalā, or the pure state. One in this pure state of devotional service gradually develops the desire to follow in the footsteps of an eternal associate of Krishna, e.g., to follow in the footsteps of Rasāla, the personal attendant of Krishna in Goloka Vrindāvana, or to follow Krishna's friends, like Śrīdāmā and Sudāmā, or to follow Nanda and Yaśodā, devotees in parenthood. Ecstatic love for Krishna is never manifested directly with Krishna Himself. The devotee has to follow in the footsteps of the eternal associates of Krishna in Goloka Vrindāvana.

When transcendental humors in relationship with Krishna become mixed (e.g., when the relationships with Krishna in friendship, servitorship and parental love become mixed together), the result is called mixed humor or flavor. Such mixed transcendental flavors are manifested by such devotees as Uddhava, Bhīma and Mukharā, the personal attendant of mother Yaśodā. Although devotional humors are sometimes found in mixtures, a particular humor is always found to be a prominent and constant factor. That prominent humor is to be accepted as the devotee's main relationship with Krishna. For example, Uddhava is in relationship with Krishna as a friend, but in Uddhava's character a trace of servitude to Krishna is also visible. Such friendship is called friendship in reverence. The friendship typified by Śrīdāmā and Sudāmā, however, is the standard of friendship without any tinge of reverence.

Subordinate Ecstatic Love

The devotees who always think of Krishna as a superior are in subordinate ecstatic love. To such a devotee the concept of inferiority to the Lord is very prominent, and he rarely takes interest in any other kind of transcendental loving humor with the Lord.

In the Mukunda-mālā-stotra, compiled by King Kulaśekhara, one of the prayers says, "My dear Lord, You are the deliverer of living entities from the hellish condition of materialistic life, but that does not matter to me. Whether I am elevated to the heavenly platform or remain on this earthly planet or am dispatched to some hellish planet, that does not matter at all to me. My only prayer is that at the time of my death I may simply remember Your two beautiful feet, which are just like lotus flowers fructifying during the autumn season."

Friendship

As far as friendship is concerned, those high-grade devotees who are almost like Krishna are considered to be great authorities in the modes of friendly relations with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On that friendly platform there are different kinds of laughing and joking conversations. An example of such a friendly relationship with Krishna is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when Krishna was once thinking, "Today, while I was engaged in tending the cows in the pasturing ground of Vrindāvana, I went to collect some flowers in a beautiful garden. At that time My friends, the cowherd boys, were unhappy even to tolerate a two-minute separation from Me. And when they found Me, there was competition between us as to who would touch the other first with the flowers we had in hand."

One friend criticized Krishna thus: "My dear Dāmodara, although You have been defeated by Śrīdāmā and have become sufficiently minimized in strength, by a false expression of strength You have somehow covered Your shameful condition of defeat."

Parenthood, or Superiority

When mother Yaśodā heard that Krishna's cows were being forcibly moved by the strong servants of Kamsa and that the tender cowherd boys were trying to protect their cows, she began to think, "How can I protect these poor boys from the invasion of Kamsa's servants?" This is an instance of a superior attitude in a devotee.

As soon as mother Yaśodā found her son Krishna returning from the pasturing ground, she immediately began to pat Him, touching her fingers to the cheeks of the Lord.

Conjugal Love

Above even the humor of love between Krishna and His parents is the relationship of conjugal love. The Lord and the young gopīs exhibit this in different ways — glancing, moving the eyebrows, speaking very sweet words and exchanging smiles.

There is a statement in Govinda-vilāsa to this effect: "Śrīmatī Rādhārānī was looking for Krishna very anxiously and almost disappointedly." When there is such an indirect expression of conjugal love, there is smiling, astonishment, enthusiasm, lamentation, anger, dread and sometimes ghastliness. These seven exchanges of conjugal love form another state of ecstatic love.

In a direct relationship of conjugal love, there is laughter, astonishment, chivalry, lamentation, anger and dread, but there is no ghastliness. These expressions are considered to be great reservoirs of pleasure. When these seven kinds of ecstatic loving exchanges are manifested, they attain the status of steadiness by which the taste of conjugal love expands.

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