20260129 Śrī Caitanya-śīksāmṛta 7.7. Conjugal Bhakti-rasa

Jayapataka Swami: Today is my fifth day of gradually getting out of my steroid treatment. Apparently, the body produces its own steroids. The nephrologist told me for two weeks I should take a high dose, and I was taking a dose of 30 mg. For the last two weeks I couldn’t sleep much at night. So I thought how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness! So that was the benefit of not sleeping! Śrīla Prabhupāda told me why do you sleep so much! He would wake up at midnight and start to translate his books. I would sleep till maṅgala-ārati. He would say maybe you are young that is why. Anyway, I have now experienced even though I am down and taking less steroids, I slept last night till 4:20 am. From 4:20 to maṅgala-ārati I was sending messages to my correspondence secretary. Any way they say that you have to gradually wean off the steroid, the body is so strong making its own steroid. When you are taking high dose, it shuts down. I don’t have to make steroid. They are there already. So now I am on 20 then I will go to 10 and 5. So this gives a chance for my body to catch up and start producing its own steroids!

Seventh Shower — Rasa vicāra (Analysis of the mellows)

Seventh Stream — Conjugal Bhakti-rasa

Madhura-Rasa (Conjugal mellow)

For the benefit of the qualified living entities, we shall now describe the truthful glories of the madhura-rasa (conjugal mellow). I am citing the discussion between Vijaya and Śrīmad Gopālaguru Gosvāmī regarding this rasa in thirty-first chapter of Jaiva-dharma written by ourselves (Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura). By contemplating this with a focused mind, the mahātmā readers should enter in this rasa.

Madhura-rasa is supreme

Vijayakumara said,

O Prabhu! The madhura-rasa has been described as the most mystery-inducing rasa among the primary rasas. Why should it not be? When all the qualities of śānta, dāsya, sakhya, and vātsalya rasas are eternally present in madhura-rasa, and whatever wonder and astonishment is lacking in those rasas is beautifully established in madhura-rasa, then is there is any doubt that madhura-rasa is supreme? Madhura-rasa is completely unsuitable for those who follow the path of renunciation due to dryness. Again, for those inclined toward material pursuits, understanding the nature that is distinct from matter becomes difficult. When the madhura-rasa of Vraja is completely distinct from the material concept of śṛṅgāra-rasa (romantic sentiment), then it is not easily attainable. How has such an unprecedented rasa been compared to the extremely inferior mundane rasa of men and women?

Jayapataka Swami: So in the spiritual world there is also transcendental man and woman. And mādhurya-rasa, rasa means love, mādhurya love. We were discussing different types of rasas, diff types of love. In the material world the material sex life is temporary. It only give momentary pleasure and much misery after that. But the sex life of madhura-rasa in the spiritual world, all the rasas are eternal, permanent. Even to the extent, that the gopīs are cursing Lord Brahmā for their blinking. I heard it many times, but when you think about it, how much love they have for Kṛṣṇa that even the blinking of the eye is ah . . . !  We go before the Deities we don’t think about it, all the time we are blinking. How much they love Kṛṣṇa, that even one micro second blinking is matter of lamentation. So how much love they have for Kṛṣṇa, in the material world we have no idea. Lord Caitanya said, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko—whether you are a grhastha or in renounced order, it doesn’t matter. Wherever you are stronger, where you feel natural, that is the place for you. And maybe there is regulated sex life but we know that in the spiritual world the situation is much different. So, we cannot compare, it says ‘extremely inferior mundane rasa of men and women’, with what is going on in the spiritual world. So with that consciousness we should go ahead and study this.

* * *

Matter is the reflection of the spirit

Guru Gosvāmī said, “Child Vijaya! You very well know that the varieties of matter are all but reflections of the varieties of spiritual truth.”

Jayapataka Swami: I have already said this material world is a distorted reflection of the spiritual world, and whatever we see here it is in its distorted form, in the spiritual world it is in its pristine, pure form!

Note: Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 8.

śyāmāc chavalaṁ prapadye
śavalāc chyāmaṁ prapadye

The multifarious energies of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa are known as śabala. Through the process of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, I find shelter in the hlādinī-śakti, which is the quintessence of all His energies. By taking shelter of this hlādinī-śakti, I surrender to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Śyāmasundara.

atha yad idam asmin brahma-pure daharaṁ puṇḍarīkaṁ veśma daharo ṣminn antar ākāśas tasmin yad antas tad anveṣṭavyaṁ tad vijijñāsitavyam

In a great city is a small lotus palace. In that palace is a small sky. That sky should be sought. That sky should be asked about.

taṃ ced brūyur: yadidamasminbrahmapure daharaṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ veśma daharo'sminnantarākāśaḥ kiṃ tadatra vidyate yadanveṣṭavyaṃ yadvāva vijijñāsitavyamiti sa brūyāt.

If they (the students) ask: What does it mean that in the heart of this spiritual city is a lotus abode, the internal part of that abode should be sought, and that part one should desire to know? . . .

brūyād yāvan vā ayam ākāśas tāvan eṣo 'ntar hṛdaya ākāśa ubhe asmin dyāv-āpṛthivī antar va samāhite ubhāv agniś ca vāyuś ca sūrya-candra-samāv ubhau vidyun-nakṣatrāṇi yac cāsyehāsti yac ca nāsti sarvaṁ tad asmin samāhitam iti.

. . . then he (the guru) may say: As in the external world there is a sky, so inside this heart there is also a sky. In both the external world and within this heart there are heaven and earth. In both are fire and air. In both are sun and moon and lightning and stars. Whatever is in the external world and whatever is not in the external world is present in this heart.

taṁ ced brūyur asmiṁś ced idaṁ brahmapure sarvaṁ tad asmin samāhitaṁ sarvāṇi ca bhūtāni sarve ca kāmā yadaitaj jarāv āpnoti pradhvaṁsate vā kiṁ tato 'tiśiṣyata iti.  

If they say: If in this spiritual city all material elements and desires are assembled, then when the body reaches old age or is destroyed at death, what remains after that? . . .

sa brūyann asya jarayāitaj jīryati na vadhenasya hanyata etat satyaṁ brahma-puram asmin kāmāḥ samāhitā eṣa ātmāpahata-papma vijaro vimṛtyur viśoko vijighatso 'pipāsaḥ satya-kāmaḥ

. . . then he (the guru) may say: It is not withered by old age. It is not killed by death. This spiritual city is eternal. Within it are all desires. The soul is free from sin, old-age, death, lamentation, hunger, and thirst, and its desires and thoughts are all automatically fulfilled. As by following good advice people attain their desires, so the spiritualists also attains their desires. 

tad yatheha karma-jito lokaḥ kṣīyate evam evāmutra puṇya-jito lokaḥ kṣīyate tad ya ihātmānam ananuvidya vrajanty etāṁś ca satyaṁ kāmāṁs teṣāṁ sarveṣu lokeṣv akāma-caro bhavaty atha ya ihātmānam anuvidya vrajanty etāṁś ca satyaṁ kāmāṁs teṣāṁ sarveṣu lokeṣu kāma-caro bhavati.           

Just as the fruits of work in this lifetime are all ultimately destroyed, in the same way the benefits in the next life are also all ultimately destroyed. One who does not understand the nature of the soul remains unfulfilled and unsatisfied, even though he may obtain all his desires. He does not attain the spiritual world on the death of the body. One who understand the nature of the soul remains becomes satisfied and fulfilled. He obtains all his desires in this world. He attains the spiritual world on the death of the body.

Jayapataka Swami: So we have here a person who is body consciousness and we have a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Body conscious person is never satisfied and never satiated even if he attains all his desires, it doesn’t matter because his desires are not pure. But the Kṛṣṇa conscious person he obtains a very blissful life in the material world and attains the spiritual world at death.

yaṁ yam antam abhikāmo bhavati yam kāmayate so 'sya saṅkalpād eva samutiṣṭhati tena sampanno mahīyate.

Whatever he desires appears simply by his desiring it. In this way he becomes happy.

atha ya eṣa samprasādo 'smāc charīrāt samutthāya paraṁ jyotir upasampadya svena rūpeṇābhiniṣpadyata eṣa ātmāti hovacaitad amṛtam abhayam etad brahmeti tasya ha vā etasya brahmaṇo nāma satyam iti.

When such a soul leaves the present material body, he enters the effulgent spiritual world. His original spiritual form is manifested there. He is named “soul”. He is immortal and fearless. He is named “satya (the truth).”

The material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The confidential principle here is that the reflected perception, by its very nature, acquires a perverted nature. That which is supreme in the ideal (in the spiritual world) is the lowest in the reflection (material world). That which is the lowest in the ideal appears as the highest in the reflection. This is easily understood by studying the parts of the limbs of the body reflected in opposite way in a mirror. The Supreme Reality, by His inconceivable potency, being reflected in the shadow of His energy, has expanded as material existence. According to this transformation of energy, the Supreme Reality is pure and therefore, the attributes of the Supreme are perceived in a perverted manner within matter. In the same way, the supreme, most relishable rasa of the Absolute Truth has attained perverted nature of disgraceful material rasa in the material world. The wondrous, variety of happiness present in the Supreme Reality is itself the rasa of the Supreme. As that rasa is reflected into matter, the materially conditioned soul, through its thought process, imagines a principle of designation. By equating the qualities of cessation (nivṭta) and non-variegatedness (nirviśeṣa) with the nature of the Supreme Entity (parama vastu), and regarding all variegatedness as material qualities, one is unable to know the unconditioned spiritual existence (nirupādhika sattā) and the intrinsic nature of being (sattā-dharma). Those who take shelter in material reasoning and logic naturally fall into such a misleading goal.

Jayapataka Swami: Many interesting things are brought up here. I was saying that this material world is a perverted reflection or a distorted reflection of the spiritual world. We see the reflection of a tree on the side of the Ganges or some lake. We see the root of the tree high and the branches low in the reflection. Right? Like that what is highest in the material world it is actually the lowest in the spiritual world. What is highest in the spiritual world is lowest in the material world. So we cannot use our material reasoning or logic or ideas to understand the spiritual world. We have to hear from the realized souls, we have to hear from those who know kṛṣṇa-tattva-jñāna, who know the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Supreme reality is pure. It mentions how by taking shelter of the ahlādinī potency, that is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī the pleasure potency, then we can understand, we can get the supreme bliss! Some impersonalists think that anything variegated is material. But actually the spiritual world is full of variegatedness, but because there is variety there, there is also variety in the material world, but the reflection is different.

Rasa is filled with variegatedness.

Factually, the Supreme Entity is the embodiment of rasa. Within Him lies astonishing diversity. Because those spiritual varieties are reflected even in material rasa, one—by taking shelter of that variegatedness—can experience a sense of the transcendental rasa. The diversity of rasa present in the spiritual substance is thus harmonized in this way. At the lowest place of the spiritual world lies the realm of peacefulness (śānta-dharma)—known as Haradhāma or the impersonal Brahman realm. Above that is dāsya-rasa or the plane of Vaikuṇṭha. Above that is sakhya-rasa, located in Goloka’s sakhya-rasa. Above that is vātsalya-rasa—the parental affection in Goloka’s abode of Nanda and Yaśodā. Uppermost of all is madhura-rasa, the place of the gopas and gopīs.

Jayapataka Swami: So, today we were trying to discuss mādhurya-rasa. And we should understand that it is completely different than the material sex life of man and woman. And the problem is this is a very confidential subject. Some congregational members gave the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said, “Please tell us about the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “You are not qualified.” “No, no, they said, we are qualified.” Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Well, I am not qualified!” So this is a subject that everyone wants to hear, but they may mix it up with material ideas! So, we will discuss this topic, but we have to understand, it is transcendental.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

They read out this morning I had distributed 380 books or something. Compared to 17 or less! So, I want to thank all the devotees who are visiting my book table and also calling and buy books. Thank you all! Hare Kṛṣṇa!