Lecture

The Nectar of Devotion

Pradyumna: "The Nectar of Devotion is specifically presented for persons who are now engaged in the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. I beg to offer my sincere thanks to all my friends and disciples who are helping me..."

Prabhupāda: That's all. So, next page. [break]

Pradyumna: " ...auspiciousness: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the reservoir of all rasas, or relationships, which are called neutrality, or passive adoration, servitorship, friendship, parenthood, conjugal love, comedy, compassion, fear, chivalry, ghastliness, wonder and devastation.

"He is the supreme attractive form, and by His universal and transcendental attractive features, He has captivated all the gopīs, headed by Tārakā, Pālikā, Śyāmā, Lalitā and, ultimately, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī. Let His Lordship's grace be on us so that there may not be any hindrance in the execution of this duty of writing The Nectar of Devotion, impelled by His Divine Grace Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda."

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṅa is described as akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. So there are different rasas, five primary rasas. Rasa means the mellow, or the taste, which we enjoy in every activity. That is called rasa. Everything is done with some taste. Whatever you do, you must enjoy some taste out of it. So there are twelve rasas, out of which five rasas are primary and seven rasas are secondary. They are described here.

When Kṛṣṅa was fighting with Bhīṣma... Bhīṣma, you know the story, that Bhīṣma was criticized by Duryodhana: "My dear Grandfather, you are not fighting in full strength with Arjuna because the..., on the other side, they are your grandsons, and you have..., you have got very natural affection for them. So I think you are not fighting according to your strength. Otherwise, they would have been finished by this time."

So Bhīṣma also could understand that, his criticism. Then he promised immediately that: "Tomorrow I shall finish all these five brothers. Will that be happy for you? So I am keeping five arrows to be used tomorrow for killing these five brothers." So Duryodhana became doubtful. So he requested grandfather, "My dear grandfather, may I keep these five arrows with me so that you can take it from me tomorrow and use it?" "All right, you keep it."

So Kṛṣṅa could understand that "Now Bhīṣma has promised to kill the Pāṅḍavas tomorrow, and he has selected five arrows for them." So He has to protect His devotees. Now, He asked Arjuna that "Duryodhana sometimes promised to give you some benediction. Now it is the opportunity. You go there to Duryodhana, and he has kept five arrows very carefully; you take it, them."

So Arjuna went to Duryodhana... Because after fighting, in the evening, they were friends. There was no enmity. One man can go to the other camp as friend, brothers. So when Arjuna arrived to Duryodhana, Duryodhana received him. That is Vedic etiquette. "Arjuna, why you have come? You ask something from me. I am ready to give you. If you want the kingdom without fighting, if you have come for this purpose, I'll give you."

So Arjuna said: "No, my dear brother, I've not come for that purpose. But you remember that you wanted to give me some benediction. So I have come for that." "Yes, I am prepared." "So you give me those five arrows." He immediately delivered.

So next morning, when Bhīṣmadeva asked that "Where are those five arrows? Give me," so Duryodhana said, "Sir, this is the story. It has been taken away by Arjuna." So he could understand it is the trick of Kṛṣṅa. So immediately he, out of devotion, became angry. Yes. So devotion, devotional service can be executed in anger also. Not by simply flowers. If he..., there is a devotee, he can serve Kṛṣṅa by becoming angry.

So he promised immediately that "Today Kṛṣṅa has to break His promise." Because Kṛṣṅa promised that "Although I shall be in the battlefield, I shall simply drive your chariot, but I shall not fight." That was His promise. Now Bhīṣma said that "Kṛṣṅa has broken my promise. So I shall fight in this way today that either Kṛṣṅa has to break His own promise or His friend Arjuna will be killed." Two alternative.

So when Bhīṣma was fighting very fiercely, severely, Arjuna's chariot became broken and he fell down. At that time Kṛṣṅa took one of the wheels of the chariot and immediately approached Bhīṣma, and when He was approaching Bhīṣma, Bhīṣma was also piercing His body with arrows. And Kṛṣṅa was accepting the arrows move lovable than the flowers. This is the dealing. Therefore that is a rasa, ghastly rasa. Apparently it appears to be very severe, that Kṛṣṅa is being pierced by the arrows. But Kṛṣṅa was feeling pleasure.

So Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has explained this portion very nicely, that he has given the example of kissing. Sometimes there is hard pressure of the teeth, but still it is pleasurable. He has given this example, that although Kṛṣṅa was being pierced by the arrows of Bhīṣmadeva, still Kṛṣṅa felt very pleasing. And Bhīṣmadeva also, when he was on his death bed, he wanted to see that form of Kṛṣṅa when He was very angry and approaching before him to kill him in the battlefield. He explained that feature.

So we can enjoy Kṛṣṅa's loving service in so many ways. Not only by the embrace of the gopīs, but in the fight of Bhīṣma with Kṛṣṅa and piercing His body with arrows. Therefore Kṛṣṅa is akhila-rasāmṛta [Cc Madhya 8.142]. Any one rasa... There are twelve rasas, either primary rasa or secondary rasa. Any rasa, Kṛṣṅa is ready to response to any rasa you want to deal with Kṛṣṅa. That is Kṛṣṅa's position. Kāmāt krodhād bhayāt dveṣāt. So what to speak of those who are loving.

Just like Pūtanā. Pūtanā wanted to kill Kṛṣṅa. That was his..., that was her purpose. But when Pūtanā was killed by sucking the breast and life both, then Pūtanā was given the position of Kṛṣṅa's mother. Because Kṛṣṅa took it the bright side. Kṛṣṅa thought that "Whatever her intention may be, she came to Me just like a mother, and I sucked her breast. Therefore she is My mother." She came as enemy, but Kṛṣṅa did not take the inimical side. The motherly side. Tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya [SB 10.33.29].

Similarly, the gopīs, they came to Kṛṣṅa out of lust, but out of lust they became purified. Just like the sun. The sun soaks the water from urinal, but sun is not polluted, but the urinal becomes sterilized. This is the process. So you try to approach Kṛṣṅa some way or other. Then your life is successful. It doesn't matter. Kāmāt krodhād bhayād dveṣāt [SB 7.1.30]. And what to speak of those who are constantly engaged in love with Kṛṣṅa.

Everything is love. As soon as you divert your attention to Kṛṣṅa, that is love. It may be perverted. Just like Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was always thinking of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa... He was also Kṛṣṅa conscious, but he was thinking in terms of killing Kṛṣṅa, as enemy. So this is not bhakti. This is not anukūla. Pratikūla. But still, Kṛṣṅa is so kind that Kaṁsa was also given liberation. This is the special kindness of Kṛṣṅa.

So any rasa. There are twelve rasas. Yena tena prakāreṅa manaḥ kṛṣṅe niveśayet. That is the direction given by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. "Some way or other, fix up your mind in Kṛṣṅa." Then your life is successful. Some way or other. Yena tena. So if your mind is fixed up always in Kṛṣṅa, then your senses will be also engaged in Kṛṣṅa's service. Because mind is the center of all activities of the senses.

So as Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he first of all engaged his mind in Kṛṣṅa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

By fixing up his mind in Kṛṣṅa, then he could use all other senses, namely the tongue... Actually bhakti begins with the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Beginning from tongue, kṛṣṅa-bhakti begins. It may be very awkward to hear, that "By tongue, how bhakti begins?" But that is the statement in the śāstra. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136].

[Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṅa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṅa really is.]

Our present senses, blunt, materially covered, it cannot taste what is Kṛṣṅa's name, what is Kṛṣṅa's form, what is Kṛṣṅa's quality, what is Kṛṣṅa's pastime, what is Kṛṣṅa's paraphernalia. Senses, they taste. But... Just like in..., when one is suffering from liver disease, or jaundice, he cannot taste the sugar candy. The sugar candy is sweet, but a jaundiced patient, if he's given sugar candy, he'll taste it is bitter.

Similarly, our senses being covered with material consciousness, we cannot at the present moment taste what is Kṛṣṅa's form, what is Kṛṣṅa's name, what is Kṛṣṅa's quality, what is Kṛṣṅa's pastime, what is Kṛṣṅa's paraphernalia, so many things. It is not possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136]. Our senses are materially contaminated. Therefore we cannot directly perceive, by using our present senses, what is Kṛṣṅa. So it has to be purified.

Just like eyes. When it is suffering from the disease, cataract, you cannot see properly. But the..., if the, by surgical operation, the cataract is moved, the eyes become purified; you can see. That is also stated in Brahmā-saṁhitā:

premāñjana-cchurita bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti yam śyāmasundaram acintya-guṅa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.38]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

Premāñjana-cchurita. You have to collect the ointment of love for Kṛṣṅa. And if you apply that ointment on your eyes, then... Just like we use surma for clear vision, similarly, when the love of Kṛṣṅa surma is applied on the eyes, these eyes, you'll see Kṛṣṅa. This is the process.

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

You have to get yourself freed from the upādhis, designation. The designation, the sun and substance of designation: this material body. "I am this body." "I am Hindu," "I am Mussulman," "I am American," "I am Hin..., Indian." All designation of this body. So one has to become free from the contamination of this bodily concept of life. That is called sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam.

Tat-paratvena nirmalam. When our spiritual body becomes revealed, the material body, contamination, is washed off, nirmalam. At that time, the senses remain. Senses are there. It is simply covered by the material energies. The senses are there. The living entity is not nirākāra. Living entity has got hands, legs, everything, spiritual. Just like my..., I have got my body, and this body's covered by this shirt, and because I have got this hand, the shirt has got hand. Otherwise, wherefrom this hand comes? Unless the spirit soul has got hands and legs, how we have got these material hands and legs?

Therefore it is..., the conclusion is that spirit soul has form. As Kṛṣṅa has got form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs 5.1]

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Similarly spirit soul, jīvātmā, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, it has got form. That form is also described in the śāstra: keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca, jīva bhāgo sa vijñeyaḥ [Śvetāśvatara Up. 5.9].

[When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.]

A rough idea of the form of the living entity has been given in the Padma Purāṅa, that one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Now, perhaps we have no instrument how to measure one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. But this is given there.

So anyway, because we get information from the Bhagavad-gītā that this body, material body is..., is like a dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṅāny yathā vihāya [Bg 2.22]. As we give up old dress, garment, similarly, when this body becomes useless, we give up this body and accept another, new body. Navāni ghṛṅāti. This is the transmigration of the soul. The soul is transmigrating from one body to another. That is a fact. But the gross..., gross materialists, they cannot see the subtle body. They simply see the gross body. Therefore they say, "When this body is finished, this gross body's finished, everything is finished." No, that is not. Within the gross body, there is subtle body, made of mind, intelligence and ego.

So that is... Just like in every day we have got experience: the gross body is lying on the bed, but the subtle body goes out of the bed, out of the room, goes on the top of a hill or somewhere, somewhere. It walks. That is our practical experience. Similarly, when this gross body is finished, no more usable, the subtle body carries the soul to another womb of the mother. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa jantor deha upapattaye [SB 3.31.1].

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

Through the semina of the father, the living entity is injected within the womb of the mother, and the two secretion becomes emulsified, and it becomes just like a small pea, and within that pea the soul is there, and it develops. This is the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

So soul has got form. It is not formless. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa has got also form. But that form is different from this form. When in the śāstras it is said nirākāra, nirākāra means nirākṛta ākāra, "This ākāra, this form, is being nullified." Nirākāra does not mean there is no ākāra. This body. When it is said nirākāra, that means the soul, the Supersoul or the soul, has no this ākāra, as we see. Just like we are seeing some dog or some cat or some hog, some tree, some plants, so many, 8,400,000's of forms, but this is not the form. Nirākāreti. Not this form. The soul has got a different form. That is described: keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca [Cc Madhya 19.140].

We cannot see, at the present moment. So as we cannot see you. I am not seeing you, you are not seeing me... Just like a man's son dies, or father dies, he cries, "Oh, my father is gone, my father is gone." Where is your father gone? Your father is lying on this floor. Why do you say the father is gone? "No, he's gone. He's no more." That means this thing which has gone, he has never seen. He has seen simply this outward body, dress. This is called ignorance. I am not seeing you; still, I am speaking that I see you. So if I cannot see you, the part and parcel of God, how can I see God with these eyes?

Therefore śāstra says,

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136]

You cannot see God, you cannot see Kṛṣṅa by your these blunt senses, but if you purify your senses, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau... That purification begins from tongue. That purification, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. So by the tongue we can do two things: we can taste foodstuff and we can vibrate sound. So if you engage your tongue for vibrating this transcendental sound, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and do not take anything except prasādam of Kṛṣṅa, then your spiritual life immediately begins. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, svayam eva... Then gradually, as you advance in spiritual life, Kṛṣṅa reveals Himself to you: "Here I am."

You cannot see Kṛṣṅa, but by being satisfied with your service, Kṛṣṅa sees you. Just like you cannot see sun at night. But when the sun sees you, you can see the sun and yourself, both. Similarly, when Kṛṣṅa sees you, being satisfied with your service, then you can see Kṛṣṅa, you can see yourself and you can see the whole world.

Now, whatever you are seeing, this is all illusion. You are not seeing, or we are not seeing, because our senses are blunt to see things as they are. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that,

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṅe gavi hastini śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṅḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg 5.18]

[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṅa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]]

One who has got the eyes to see, he does not see that "Here is a learned brāhmaṅa, and here is a dog." He sees both the learned brāhmaṅa and the dog in equal vision, because he does not see the dress; he sees the spirit soul within the brāhmaṅa and within the dog. That is called brahma-darśana. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg 18.54].

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

When one has got that vision, transcendental vision, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhakti, then the devotional service begins. Not that with blunt eyes and senses one can serve God, devotional service.

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136]

This is the process.

So when our senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc Madhya 19.170],

When our senses become purified, hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate, at that time the hṛṣīka, the senses, are engaged in the service of the Lord. Because Kṛṣṅa is spirit, the Supersoul. He cannot be served by matter. He has to be served with spirit.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26].

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

This bhakti is spiritual activity. Because Kṛṣṅa says, bhaktyā prayacchati. If you offer something, Kṛṣṅa, "Kṛṣṅa, I have brought a very palatable dish. You take it," oh, Kṛṣṅa will not take it. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ [Bg 7.25].

[I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency [yoga-māyā]; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.]

He's not exposed to everyone. It is not possible. You cannot serve Kṛṣṅa if you are not a devotee.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. That is the real thing, bhaktyā. Not that "I have brought a nice plate, and Kṛṣṅa will accept." Not like that. Kṛṣṅa can accept when you offer something—it doesn't matter what it is, it may be a simple flower, a fruit, a..., a small piece of leaf or little water. This is universal. For worshiping Kṛṣṅa, there is no impediment. If you want to worship other demigod, there are so many things required. But for worshiping Kṛṣṅa the poorest man in the world, any part of the world, he can offer his love, his offering to Kṛṣṅa. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26].

So... So real purpose of this Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu by Rūpa Gosvāmī, which we have translated by the name Nectar of Devotion, "The Complete Science..., the Complete Science of Bhakti-yoga," this is very important book of understanding how to become purified in devotional service, how to approach Kṛṣṅa, how to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. These things are described very nicely. And Kṛṣṅa, being Supreme—He's Supersoul—we cannot approach with our material consciousness. Therefore the consciousness has to be changed. Then we can approach Kṛṣṅa. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement.

Unless we change our consciousness... Just like, without being fire, you cannot enter into fire. In the śāstra says without being Brahman, you cannot approach Brahman. Similarly, without being purified of all material contamination, you cannot approach Kṛṣṅa. Hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa. How..., what kind of hṛṣīka, senses? Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

The senses are to be purified. Tat-paratvena. Tat-paratvena means being always attached with Kṛṣṅa.

If you simply see Kṛṣṅa with your eyes, then your eyes will be purified and spiritualized. Because you are touching... Just like if you keep yourself always in touch with fire, you become warm. Warm, warmer, warmer. If you put one iron rod in the fire, it becomes warm, warmer, warmer, and at last, it becomes red hot. When it is red hot, it is fire; it is no more iron rod. You touch that red hot iron anywhere, it will burn. Similarly, if you keep always in touch with Kṛṣṅa, you become Kṛṣṅa..., Kṛṣṅized, and you can appreciate what is Kṛṣṅa.

Thank you very much. [end]