Guest guest Posted February 22, 2002 Report Share Posted February 22, 2002 KRISHNA AS KAMA / EROS, AND OTHER THOUGHTS ON LOVE HERE AND HERE AFTER HARE KRISHNA ! DEAR FRIENDS, I HAVE BEEN A SANNYASI SHIKSHA (INSTRUCTING)MASTER FOR TEN YEARS NOW. SINCE I HAVE NEVER WANTED FOLLOWERS OR FANS, BY LORD BALADEVA'S MERCY I HAVE AVOIDED THE WHOLE PATHOLOGY OF THE DISTORTED MODERN GURU-DISCIPLE SYNDROME. INSTEAD I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD, AND I AM KNOWN FOR MY BHAKTI (LOVING DEVOTION) IN THE BALADEVA SAKHYA-RASA OR CHIVALROUS PROTECTIVE FLAVOR OF FRATERNAL LOVE. MANY OF MY FRIENDS RELATE TO ME AS AN OLDER BROTHER OF SORTS, BUT I AM ALSO RESPECTED AS SOMEWHAT OF A KSHATRIYA BY NATURE, FOR MY NATURAL PROTECTIVENESS AND MY STRONG AND UNCOMPROMISING OPPOSITION TO UNTRUTHFULNESS, SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS FRAUD AND DECEPTION, AND TO VARIOUS FORMS OF OPPRESSION AND EXPLOITATION IN THE NAME OF GOD, RELIGION OR 'SPIRITUALITY'. I READILY CONFESS THAT I AM NOT A BRAHMANA BY NATURE, AND THAT MY PREDOMINANT DEVOTIONAL RASA IS NOT GOPI-BHAVA. THUS I AM NOT IN COMPETITION WITH THE MANY OTHER GURUS IN OUR LINEAGE WHO PRESENT THEMSELVES AS TEACHERS OF THE HIGHEST ESOTERIC SAKHI FLAVORED DEVOTION. I AM CONTENT TO MEDITATE ON AND PREACH ABOUT SRI KRISHNA AND LORD BALARAMA AND SRIMATE RADHARANI FROM A LESS EXAULTED THEOLOGICAL AND EVEN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. SRILA PRABHUPADA TAUGHT THAT WE SHOULD STUDY THE BHAGAVAD-GITA FIRST, THEN SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM AND THEN CAITANYA-CARITAMRTA. HE CAUTIONED US NOT TO TRY TO JUMP AHEAD TO THE ESOTERIC STUDY OF THE GOPI RASA, WITHOUT PROPER SPIRITUAL PREPARATION BEFORE. HE ALSO EXPLAINED THAT THERE ARE A VARIETY OF RELATIONSHIPS WITH SRI KRISHNA IN TRANSCENDENCE. I HAVE TAKEN HIS INSTRUCTION IN THESE MATTERS VERY SERIOUSLY, AND HAVE THUS FOCUSED MY OWN SADHANA APPROPRIATELY ACCORDING TO MY OWN SPIRITUAL NATURE. BECAUSE OF THIS FOCUS, I HAVE DEVELOPED A DEVOTIONAL DESIRE TO CULTIVATE LOVING RELATIONSHIPS IN A SIBLING-LIKE MOOD OF FRIENDSHIP WITH MY GODBROTHERS AND GODSISTERS AND OTHER BEINGS. RELATIVE TO THIS, MY PREACHING MINISTRY HAS A DIFFERENT EMPHASIS THAN THAT OF OTHER GAUDIYA LINEAGE SANNYASIS. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, I SEE THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE NEGLECTING THE WORSHIP OF LORD BALADEVA AND THUS IN GENERAL DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HAVE FRIENDLY AND FAMILIAL RELATIONS. FOR THIS REASON, I THINK THAT IT IS IMPORTANT FOR SUCH PEOPLE TO TRY TO LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE IN THE FLAVOR OF FRIENDSHIP, BEFORE THEY TRY TO JUMP-AHEAD TO GOPI BHAVA. ALSO, ONE SHOULD NOT ARTIFICIALLY ASPIRE TO ENTER THE CAMP OF THE GOPIS, BECAUSE IT IS THE PLACE FOR THE 'HIGHEST' EXPERIANCE OF GOD. WE ARE NOT ALL GOPIS IN TRANSCENDENCE, BUT WHATEVER WE ARE, WE ARE PERFECTLY SATISFIED IN OUR LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH GODHEAD. EVEN IF WE DO BELONG IN THE ASSOCIATION OF THE EXHAULTED GOPIS, WE MUST REALIZE THAT WHILE ALL OF THE GOPIS LOVE KRISHNA, THEY ALSO LOVE SRIMATE RADHARANI AND EACHOTHER TOO ! THIS FRIENDSHIP ASPECT OF THEIR DEVOTION NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED WITHIN OUR SOCIETY, OR JEALOUSY AND RIVALRY FOR SRI KRISHNA'S ATTENTION AND AFFECTION WILL DISTURB THE LOVING RELATIONS IN OUR SOCIETY. BELOW IS A LETTER REGARDING SOME MORE OF MY THOUGHTS ON LOVE. HARE KRISHNA ! SRI SRI GURU AND GAURANGA KI JAYA ! KRISHNA AS KAMA / EROS, AND LOVE IN THE FLAVOR OF FRIENDSHIP...God as Love in Platonism, Friendship in "The Nectar of Devotion", and Other Musings on Love Here and Here After True Love is Divine, and raisies us up to the Transcendent Presence of GODHEAD. Real Love engages us in God-Ess's eternal LILA of relational play, in the bliss of Their Personal Beingness. Let us contemplate THIS HOLY TRUE LOVE, and how we can live in the rarified state of it both HERE and hereafter, through, with, in and by the GRACE of God-Ess, Love's Ultimate Source and Object. THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF LOVE GOD IS LOVE. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ? GOD HAS BEEN CALLED AGAPE, AHABHA, KANA / KAMA, EROS, AND IDENTIFIED WITH PHILOS, AND CHARITAS. HE HAS BEEN CALLED THE BRIDEGROOM OF ALL SOULS, AND THE TRANSCENDENTAL CUPID. THE SPIRITUAL MASTER HAS BEEN LIKENED TO A MATCH-MAKER BETWEEN SOULS AND GOD. THE MASTER, (LIKE THE HELIOPOLITAN HIEROPHANT OF OLD), EVEN ARRANGES FOR THE PERFECTION OF RADHA AND KRISHNAS' LOVING AFFAIRS WITHIN THE GROVES OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL PARADISE OF VRINDAVANA ! PLATONIC TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM WAS CENTERED ON THE WORSHIP OF HELIOS. THUS THE SUPREME GOD AS EROS IN PLATONISM IS KRISHNA, THE KOUROS OR ORIGINAL FORM OF HELIOS. IN THIS LETTER I AM NOT GOING TO GO INTO A LOT OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THESE WORDS FOR LOVE WHICH ARE ALSO NAMES OF GOD. INSTEAD I WANT TO SPEAK ABOUT GOD AS LOVE, GOD'S LOVE AND THE LOVE OF GOD IN A MORE 'PASTORAL' WAY. I WANT TO SHARE SOME ANCIENT WORDS ABOUT GOD AS LOVE, AND SOME OF MY OWN THOUGHTS AND REALIZATIONS ON THE SUBJECT. TO THE ALVAR SAINTS, SRI KRISHNA WAS KNOWN AS KANAN OR KANA. THIS IS THE SAME SANSKRIT WORD AS KAMA, BUT THE ALVAR SAINTS' USE OF IT SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH LEFT HAND TANTRISM AND THE TANTRIC "KAMA SUTRA". INSTEAD, WE SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE ORIGINAL KAMADEVA LOVE- GOD OF THE VEDIC AGE AND PRE-HISTORY WAS SRI KRISHNA. HE WAS AND IS RASA RAJA, THE KING OF ALL RASAS OR FLAVORS OF TRUE LOVE ! IN THE FOLLOWING HYMN FROM THE ATHARVA VEDA, KRISHNA KAMA IS INVOKED AS SUPREME OVER ALL THE GODS. HE ALONE CAN FULFILL ALL DESIRES, DESTROY ALL EVIL, ROUTE ALL ENEMIES AND GRANT ALL BLESSEDNESS ... 19. Kâma was born at first; him neither the gods, nor the Fathers, nor men have equalled. To these art thou superior, and ever great; to thee, O Kâma, do I verily offer reverence. 20. As great as are the heavens and earth in extent, as far as the waters have swept, as far as fire; to these art thou superior, &c. IN THIS VEDIC HYMN, WE SEE KRISHNA AS KAMA / LOVE , AS GREATER THAN ALL OF THE GODS. BELOW THIS READING I HAVE QUOTED PLATO'S "SYMPOSIUM" ON EROS / LOVE AS GREATER THAN ALL OF THE GODS. (THE INTERNET SITE REFERENCE IS LISTED BELOW THE READING) LOVE IN THE ATHARVAVEDA IX, 2. Prayer to Kâma (love), personified as a primordial power. 1. To the bull that slays the enemy, to Kâma, do I render tribute with ghee, oblation, and (sacrificial) melted butter. Do thou, since thou hast been extolled, hurl down my enemies by thy great might! 2. The evil dream which is offensive to my mind and eye, which harasses and does not please me, that (dream) do I let loose upon my enemy. Having praised Kâma may I prevail! 3,. Evil dreams, O Kâma, and misfortune, O Kâma, childlessness, ill- health, and trouble, do thou, a strong lord, let loose upon him that designs evil against us! 4. Drive them away, O Kâma, thrust them away, O Kâma; may they that are my enemies fall into trouble! When they have been driven into the nethermost darkness, do thou, O Agni, burn up their d welling- places! 5. That milch-cow, O Kâma, whom the sages call Vâk Virâg (ruling, or resplendent speech), is said to be thy daughter; by her drive away my enemies; breath, cattle, and life shall give them a wide birth! 6. With the strength of Kâma, Indra, king Varuna, and Vishnu, with the impelling force (savena) of Savitar, with the priestly power of Agni, do I drive forth the enemies, as a skilled steersman a boat. 7. My sturdy guardian, strong Kâma, shall procure for me full freedom from enmity! May the gods collectively be my refuge, may all the gods respond to this, my invocation! 8. Taking pleasure in this (sacrificial) melted butter, and ghee do ye, (O gods), of whom Kâma is the highest, be joyful in this place, procuring for me full freedom from enmity! 9. O Indra and Agni, and Kâma, having formed an alliance, do ye hurl down my enemies; when they have fallen into the nethermost darkness, do thou, O Agni, burn up after them their dwelling places! 10. Slay thou, O Kâma, those that are my enemies, hurl them down into blind darkness. Devoid of vigour, Without sap let them all be; they shall not live a single day! 11. Kâma has slain those that are my enemies, a broad space has he furnished me to thrive in. May the four directions of space bow down to me, and the six broad (regions) carry ghee to me! 12. They (the enemies) shall float down like a boat cut loose from its moorings! There is no returning again for those who have been struck by our missiles. 13. Agni is a defence, Indra a defence, Soma a defence. May the gods, who by their defence ward off (the enemy), ward him off! 14. With his men reduced, driven out, the hated (enemy) shall go, shunned by his own friends! And down upon the earth do the lightnings alight; may the strong god crush your enemies! 15. This mighty lightning supports both moveable and immoveable things, as well as all thunders. May the rising sun by his resources and his majesty hurl down my enemies, lie the mighty one! 16. With that triple-armoured powerful covering of thine, O Kâma, with the charm that has been made into an Invulnerate armour spread (over thee), with that do thou drive away those who are my enemies; may breath, cattle, and life give them a wide berth! 17. With the weapon with which the god drove forth the Asuras, with which Indra led the Dasyus to the nethermost darkness, with that do thou, O Kâma, drive forth far away from this world those who are my enemies! 18. As the gods drove forth the Asuras, as Indra. forced the demons into the nethermost darkness, thus do thou, O Kâma, drive forth far away from this world those who are my enemies! 19. Kâma was born at first; him neither the gods, nor the Fathers, nor men have equalled. To these art thou superior, and ever great; to thee, O Kâma, do I verily offer reverence. 20. As great as are the heavens and earth in extent, as far as the waters have swept, as far as fire; to these art thou superior, &c. 21. Great as are the directions (of space) and the intermediate direction on either side, great as are the regions and the vistas of the sky; to these art thou superior, &c. 22. As many bees, bats, kurûru-worms, as many vaghas and tree- serpents as there are; to these art thou superior, &c. 23. Superior art thou to all that winks (lives), superior to all that stands still (is not alive), superior to the ocean art thou, O Kâma, Manyu! To these art thou superior, &c. 24. Not, surely, does the wind equal Kâma, not the fire, not the sun, and not the moon. To these art thou superior, &c. 25. With those auspicious and gracious forms of thine, O Kâma, through which what thou wilst becometh reaL with these do thou enter into us, and elsewhere send the evil thoughts! http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/atharvaveda.htm LOVE AS EROS IN PLATONIC HELIOS WORSHIP "Plato", Symposium, (page 187, 1969 Classics Club Edition) Walter J. Black. Excerpt from Agathon on Eros (GOD as LOVE) "…I say of Love that he is the fairest and the best in himself, and the cause of what is fairest and best in all other things…This is he who empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection, who makes them to meet together at banquets such as these: in sacrifices, feasts, dances, he is our lord – who sends courtesy and sends away discourtesy, who gives kindness ever and never gives unkindness; the friend of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods; desired by those who have no part in him, and precious to those who have the better part in him; parent of delicacy, luxury, desire, fondness, softness, grace; regardful of the good, regardless of evil: in every word, work, wish, fear, - savior, pilot, comrade, helper; glory of gods and men, leader best and brightest: in whose footsteps let every man follow, sweetly singing in his honor and joining in that sweet strain with which Love charms the souls of gods and men." Some Considerations Regarding Love / Eros in the Writings of Plato The first extensive modern analysis of the worship of Meghistos Kouros (the Greatest Youth) and His Friends, was done by the famous Classicist Jane Harrison, in her book "THEMIS A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion". For a view into how Meghistos Kouros was actually understood in circa 400BC Greece, I suggest reading Plato's SYMPOSIUM (quoted above), in which LOVE is glorified as the original and greatest of all the gods and spirits. In this dialogue, various views of the SUPREME SPIRIT LOVE are expressed. One should realize that the Platonists were Helios worshipers, and Helios was ALWAYS WORSHIPED AS MEGHISTOS KOUROS (the Transcendent Ideal of Youthful Beauty) in `Bridal Mysticism', as the Supreme Source and Object of Love. Knowing this, it is clear that the Beloved Deity EROS, The Supreme God and Spirit of the SYMPOSIUM dialogue is Kouros- Eros as Krishna Kana. The ancients in fact identified Cupid with Eros, and Eros with Kamadeva, however our modern ideas of Cupid, Eros and Kama are pretty much all corrupt. In India Kama has become associated with the "KAMA SUTRA", and in the west, Eros or Cupid is now generally thought of as a fat little 'cherubic' infant with a bow and arrows. To get past these nonsense corruptions to the earlier traditions about God as Love, we need to know where to look. First we can recognize that the Name EROS is related to KOUROS, HORUS, KYRIOS and HELIOS. There are other clues to His identity, like His bow. The arrow is the ray-shaft of the Sun and also the 'weapon' of God, which he uses to wound a heart with Love. This is why the late syncristic Apollo has a bow. He has inherited it from Krishna Kana / Eros. Apollo has also inherited the Nymphs, Muses, Graces etc. of Helios and the Psyche (soul) beloved of Eros / Helios Kouros. To understand more about how the Helios worshiping Greek Monotheists worshiped God (Helios Kouros) as LOVE, read "EROS UNVEILED: Plato and the God of Love" by Catherine Osborne, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. The 1992 Lonergan's Lectures Perspectives tape series by Prof. Bernard MCGinn (University of Chicago) is also an excellent source for more understanding of the Platonic worship of God as Love. These Lectures are entitled 1) God as Eros, 2) The Transformations of Eros: Mystical Uses, 3) Topics of Desire, and 4) Panel Discussion; Eros in Christian Theology and Mysticism. Plato's SYMPOSIUM is the starting place for the Classical and Platonist Christian dialogue on God as The Spirit of Love. Some devotees may have difficulty with SYMPOSIUM, because of several of the participants (which include homosexuals), and opinions in this wide-ranging dialogue on love. For them, I recommend focusing on the theology of the all-attractive BELOVED HIMSELF, expressed in the exchange between Agathon and Socrates. It is the First Person of the Godhead that Agathon describes as ALL ATTRACTIVE. At one point in the dialogue, Agathon has raised the discussion up from the level of the mundane analysis of love, to the contemplation of the SUPREME BELOVED HIMSELF. However, in his typical fashion with questions, Socrates challenges Agathon to explore the less obvious Form of Love as well. The Personality of Love at first described by Agathon is EROS, Who is the Lover of the always FEMININE SOUL, PSYCHE. As the Lover of Psyche, He is also the Beloved of all beings. Thus we can easily see the parallel to the Vaishnava theology of the jivatma as feminine in relationship to Krishna, and Krishna as the Love Object of all souls. Then Socrates challenges Agathon to consider Love in His Unlovable Form. This is clearly to get Agathon and the others (and us) to realize that True Love may forsake His own beauty and power, even to the point of becoming a despised and rejected thing for His beloved. Thus Socrates juxtaposes the all-desired Love / Eros with the rejected and despised Personality of Love. If one realizes that Socrates was a worshiper of Asclepius, this Christological Figure of rejected Love is then understandable. Socrates was speaking of the Human-Divine Second Person of the Godhead in the Heliopolitan Tradition. Asclepius (Iasas / Jesus) even descended to the dead for saving His beloved souls. Socrates himself would be condemned to die for Love's sake, so he well understood the kind of sacrifice he was describing. To understand the ancient worship of Krishna and Balarama in the Mediterranean, amoung the Greek authors, one must read Plato, and understand something about his Helios centered Monotheism. The problematic aspect of SYMPOSIUM, regarding the issue of possible rasabhasa in same-sex friendships, needs to be considered in the light of the following theological premise. To the Helios-Eros worshiping Greeks, all souls / psyches were feminine in relationship to God as Eros. The entire SYMPOSIUM discussion about Love referes to the soul in the Feminine. This idea of the feminine soul pervaded Greek society, and must be remembered when reading Plato and other Greek writers of his time. In fact, 40 times the word 'psyche' is translated as 'life' in the New Testament, and it is translated 'soul' 58 times....all in the feminine gender. These souls are to be the 'brides' of Christ. In both Platonism and the Bible, Wisdom / Sophia (Hebrew Chokmah or Shekinah) was also considered as a Feminine Being. The finite jivatma soul is always a receiver (feminine) in Vaishnava Theology. Like Sophia, Sarasvati, a Shakti of Vishnu, is the Patroness of wisdom and knowledge. Understanding such things about the Mediterranean Traditions can help us to discuss difficult Vaishnava-Judeo-Catholic and Sufi comparative issues more intelligently. The Nectar of Devotion does not shy-away from discussing the difficult issues of rasabhasa, so we should not be afraid to analyze them either. Such examination can help us to better understand pure love, and to purify our own loving of any form of rasbhasa. RASA and Flavors of Love in Platonism C. S. Lewis nicely describes the Greek Heliopolitan concept of the 4 primary flavors (rasas) of love, in THE FOUR LOVES. One of these flavors is PHILOS, or friendship. In Kouros centric Platonism, philos, friendly or brotherly love could be profound, passionate and eternal. One form of such profound friendly love in late classical Greece actually came to be called `Platonic love'. This is one of the flavors of love described in the SYMPOSIUM. Such love is also there in the chaste aesthetic adoration of God as the Eternal Youth and Beauty. This parallels the Gopas' chaste appreciation of Krishna's beauty and attractiveness. In SYMPOSIUM, ultimately Agathon and Socrates (Plato's Master) raise the entire discussion of `love' up from the lowest expressions of the physical to the contemplation of GOD as the SPIRIT OF LOVE, the Transcendent Source and IdeaI Object of Love. Symposium and the other Socratic dialogues and writings of Plato and the other Helios worshiping Philosophers have had a profound effect on Western Monotheism. The followers of Jewish, Catholic, and Sufi Muslim Mystics, whose essential Platonism is readily admitted, need to learn how their own sacred traditions are related to Radha-Krishna and Balarama centric Vaishnavism through the ancient Mediterranean regional Heliopolitan worship of Rhoda-Kouros and Baal (Yahu) Dionysos . HELIOS AND RHODAS' (EROS and PSYCHES' / God and the Feminine Souls') conjugal flavor of love was epitomized by the transcendent Hierogamos union of Kouros and Kore in the bu-colic BOUKOLION (compare Go- Kula). Brotherly and sisterly or friendly PHILOS or PEER / PAL love was epitomized by the love of KOUROS and His Kouroi, and Rhoda- Kore and Her Korae. Just as Kouros Helios and Dionysos danced in the circle Dance with the Korae (Also called Nymphs, Graces, Muses, Horae, Nyads etc.), They also danced with the cowherd boy KOUROI. As Leaders of these Divine Dances, They Both were called Choreagoes (choreagrapher=leader of the dance) and Kouros was called KOURUALES, meaning that He led the Sacred Dance with a FLUTE (AULOS). Rhoda-Kore was also called Nymphia and Her expansions / girlfriends were called Nymphs. Nymph means both Maiden and LOTUS in Greek. So as NYMPHIA, Rhoda-Kore was LOTUS, which in Sanskrit is Sri or Lakshmi's Name as PADMA / LOTUS. (Sometimes the principal Gopis are associated with LOTUS PETALS.) The associates of Rhoda are called HORAE `seasons' and HOURIS in some forms of Muslim Mysticism. Sometimes they are likened to HOURS, and Rhoda to the MOON. Kouros (Krishna) has 365 sacred white cows for days and sheep for nights, which He herds with His `Older Brother' and Hierophant / High Priest, Baal-Dionysos (Baladeva) and Their Kouroi (Gopa) friends. There are 12 Friends / Gopas to heard the sacred white cows. (Circumnambulation / revolution and cosmic cycles are sometimes associated with the cycle / kyklos / cakra dance of Helios.) Relationships in the Dance 1) Helios Kouros dances the Carol Paradise Round with Rhoda-Kore and Her Korae Nymphs (girl friends / expansions). This is the 'Apollonian' or ascetic rite as commemorated at Delphi. The ascetic (sattvic) Religious were admitted to these 'Mysteries'. 2) Dionysos also dances the Chorus Paradise Round with His Entourage of Nymphs. These rites were both Apollonian / Delphic AND COMMON, or practiced by the uninitiated. Thus, in the Greek world, the non- ascetic or non-initiated mass of devotees, not admitted to the more formal rites of Helios and Rhoda, were welcome in the popular common- folks' rites of Dionysos. There was a distinct innocent but 'lawless' flavor of love associated with the rites of Dionysos. Sadly abuse of this is what led to its orgiastic 'Sahajiya' corruption and finally being outlawed in many lands. Dionysos (Baladeva) is Kouros / Krishna descending from His highest heaven and making Himself available to all souls, even the wretched and fallen. Thus Baladeva is also remembered as having His 'Rasa Dance'. The 'Brides of Christ' in the heavenly Garden of Paradise have been chosen by Him and prepared 'for the wedding feast' by His Grace. So too in some Vaishnava schools of thought, there is an esoteric distinction between the Gopis who Dance the 'Rasa Dance' with Lord Baladeva, and Those in the ultimate 'original' circle of Radha and Krishna. 3) Kouros and Dionysos lead the Kouroi in the Paradise Round and other divine dances (for instance pastoral and sporting / martial). 4) Rhoda leads Her Korae in the Paradise Round and other divine dances. I pray that I will someday get the time and energy to write something in-depth on each of these four kinds of sacred dance accross traditions. Parallels to these various dances and related doctrines, songs and rites can be found throughout the world even to today. In these sacred dances the variegated flavors of romantic, brotherly and sisterly love are expressed and celebrated. Some dances are those of reunion, and some of separation and rememberance. The dance party, dancing inwards or outwards, sun-wise or counter-sun-wise, in the day or night, in the full moon or new moon, in the various seasons, and with different meters and steps, different costumes, masks, symbols, songs and instruments....all had significant meaning in the sacred dance. The challenge is to sort-out the sattvic forms of these traditions, or elements of these traditions from the rajarshic and tamasic ones. Corruption of these sattvic sacred traditions is what has resulted in their abandonment and then cultural loss. To revive these traditions, we must recover and restore their highest meaning and sanctity. Learning to Recognize and Avoid Rasabhasa It is a deviation from the tradition of Dionysos-Baladeva, as The Master of the Mysteries of Rhoda and Kouros, which became very corrupted in the late Classical Period. This led to the separation of the Maenad and Bacchae related Left-Hand Tantric false `Dionysian' groups from pietistic / ascetic Heliopolitan Monotheism. The core problem with the deviant groups was impersonalism, rasabhasa and related worship in the ignorant mode of tamo guna. These corruptions still exist in modern India and Europe as forms of so-called Left Hand Tantrism. Pre-Christian Pagan Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and Jews all outlawed these same corruptions, and Christianity merely continued to resist and then to suppress them. However the tamasic deviations have of course still continued to some extent, due to fallen human nature in the age of Kali. Catholic and Vaishnava Religious conservatism is due to a latent fear of these powerful corruptions. Thus we see in Gaudiya Vaishnavism a strong conservative stance in opposition to Sahajiya corruptions, Left Hand Tantrism and liberalism in general. Gaudiya Vaishnava Rasa Theology has highly refined the concept of rasabhasa. Vaishnava masters have hoped that attention to avoiding rasabhasa will protect souls (and the Tradition) from the offences of impersonalism and sahajiya. In the RASA THEOLOGY of GAUDIYA VAISHNAVISM there is an extensive in- depth analysis of the primary flavors of love, and which are compatible, in what proportions. For example, although the `peer' / sibling (brotherly-sisterly) flavor of love is compatible as a sub- dominant rasa within a conjugal relationship, the conjugal flavor is not compatible within a dominant sibling / friendship rasa. Such incompatibility is called rasabhasa. It is a mixing of flavors of love in 'BAD TASTE'. Bhakti religious traditions typically have some systematized theology of rasa or the flavors of love, or relationships, which is expressed in their moral law. For instance, sacramental monogamous marriage and forbidding the marriage of siblings are both derived from the ancient REVEALED rasa theology of the Sattvic Bhakti Traditions. So, while lovers may be and should be `best friends', siblings should not be lovers. In the sibling-like love flavor of friendship, sex violates the mood of the predominant rasa, and therefore is rasabhasa or `in bad taste'. Contrary to popular opinion, genetics has nothing to do with the near universal prohibition on sibling marriage. Rasabhasa relationships are forbidden because they violate the spiritual essence of a particular kind of love. They violate one form of love with another, thus spoiling it. Some mixtures of relational dynamics are essentially incompatible. This is what makes them 'forbidden', not some arbitrary edict by a remote but jealous deity ! To be good, healthy, even divine, love must not be in violation of itself. This is the first principle. For example, true love requires free will. Therefore force or coersion is a violation. True love is faithful, therefore betrayal is a violation. Where dependance and trust exist and protection is required, abuse and exploitation are abominable. Each flavor of relationship has its essence, and whatever violates or corrupts / compromises that essence / flavor of love is rasabhasa. The Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology of Friendly Love The Krishna centric Vaishnava Tradition has minutely analyzed the spiritual science and art of love, producing a complex, detailed, systematized theology of love unique in the history of religion. Within this theology, the love of Krishna and Balarama and the Boys, Radha and the Gopis, and the peer relationships of the `elder' Gopas and Gopis in Goloka Vrindavan exemplify FRIENDSHIP. Of course friendship exists as a sub-dominant flavor of love in the relationship between Radha and Krishna as well. Friendship is compatible as a sub-dominant flavor of love within a conjugal relationship. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna, the Pandava Brothers, Sridama Brahmana and Draupadi is also fraternal or friendly. In Chaitanya Lila, the Gopis' love for Radha-Krishna is embodied in the Girlfriend-flavored devotion of some of the intimate Sakhi-mood Associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus for souls devoted in the mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Gopis, constant meditation on Srimate Radharani and Her Girlfriends' devotion to Krishna is recommended. Chaitanyaite Vaishnavism is especially known for its unique emphasis on the Gopis' devotion to Radha-Krishna. For those souls devoted to Krishna in the fraternal flavor of love exemplified by Sri Nityananda Rama, ( my own predisposition), meditation on the Cowherd Boys' play with Krishna and Balaram is recommended. Actually there are specific, very sweet examples of loving devotion in the various flavors, given in Bhakti-rasamrta- sindhu "THE NECTAR OF DEVOTION", Srila Rupa Goswami's classic treatise on divine love. Below I quote from the 1970 BBT Edition of this work, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In "Nectar..." Part Three 41, "Fraternal Devotion" describes the vayasyas (friends) of Krishna. SRI CAITANYA-CARITAMRTA also describes the expansions / associates of Sri Nityananda Balarama in Chapter 11 "The Expansions of Lord Nityananda". Both of these Shastras are wonderful sources for contemplation of Divine Love in the flavors of Sakhya and Sakhi friendship. Of course the Srimad Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Harivamsa and other original Vaishnava sources, like the writings of the followers of Sri Caitanya, other Vaishnava Masters, and traditional Vaishnava hymns are endless treasure-troves of information about Krishna, Balarama, Radha and the Gopis. For meditation on Sakhi or sisterly / girlfriend flavored love, study the numerous passages in these sources regarding the little girl Gopis (the Manjaris), the older Gopis of Radharani's Age, and the loving relations between the 'elder Gopis' of Mother Yasoda's age. Contemplating True Love in the Flavor of Friendship Since I find the DIVINE ORIGIN and NATURE OF GOD'S MULTI-FLAVORED LOVE an infinitely more important and attractive subject than the shape of the universe, the age of the human race, channeling esoteric 'ascended masters' , speculating about UFOs or the 'hollow earth theory', or analyzing the mechanisms of reincarnation, karma and other such subjects, I am leaving those things up to the many Vaishnavas who can talk endlessly about them. I want to consider the reality of the presence of God's Love in this world. Let us therefore think for a few moments about His Love, distinguishing the flavor (rasa) of love that we call `friendship'. In this spiritual exercize, I would like to invite everyone to chose one sentence or short paragraph, one question, verse or lyric on the subject of sisterly, brotherly, `peer' or other sibling-like or friendly love, that seems important or inspiring to them. Remember that friendship also exists as an sub-dominant element of conjugal and parental love as well. Please share your question, or realization, or a favorite idea or example from the Scriptures or another respected source with someone that you consider a friend. Please everyone read THE NECTAR OF DEVOTION on love in the flavor of friendship. This unparalleled text is a wonderful guide. Try to understand the concept of rasabhasa, so that you can grow your friendships in a strong, healthy, pure and holy way. When selecting specific things to share, imagine that you are cooking for a great holy day offering. Be thoughtful about selecting the ingredients for your offering, and how to prepare it, and you will avoid rasabhasa. Before communicating with your friend, begin your meditation with a reading about friendship from The Nectar of Devotion, or other Scripture or spiritual classic. Learn to identify the signs and symptoms of friendly love, as demonstrated in the lilas of Goloka Vrndavan. Then draw examples from the other Lilas in our Vaishnava Bhakti Shastra, other scriptures and from the writings of the saints, other sources and your own experience. 'Get into the WORD OF GOD' as some Christians say. The object of this thematic study is to enrich your appreciation of GOD AS LOVE, THE OBJECT, ORIGIN, END and MEANS OF LOVE IN THE FLAVOR OF FRIENDSHIP. Contemplate God as Love in the Flavor of Friendship, then begin your own little 'symposium' on love with your friend(s). If you don't have any friends, BEFRIEND SOMEONE. Nursing homes are full of friendless people, in fact they are not at all hard to find, they are everywhere. Find someone to love and start loving them. For God's sake, don't wait until someone comes looking for you ! Contemplate the flavor of friendship. Most people today are not ready for conjugal love, because they don't even know how to be a friend yet. What we want to do, is to raise our experience of friendship up to the contemplation of its Transcendent Source in GODHEAD, The Supreme Personality of Friendship. In this way, our friendly love of God and souls will develope, drawing us together, and together as sisters and brothers in Divine Love, we can begin to build a healthy and inspiring community of faith. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to be a true community of faith, a family bound together through God and Guru's grace in Divine Love and trust. If we don't know how to love and trust, then we must go back and start at the beginning. In our Vaishnava Bhakti Shastra, Fraternal or Sisterly Love is described various ways, but the sentiments of SPONTENEITY, TRUST, INTIMACY and EQUALITY are some of the features of such Friendly Love. What are some of Friendly Love's other characteristic or possible features? Is spontaneous attraction always a feature of friendship? Not always. Sometimes people gradually grow to profoundly respect and love each other. What about `like attracting like' ? Isn't it also true that `opposites attract' ? Some religious traditions teach that we are spiritually emanated or created in batches of spirit-souls, and thus always exist in a particularly close relationship to certain beings. Allied to this is the idea of the `soul mate', something found in both Jewish and Platonic mysticism. Does synchronicity or co-incidence have anything to do with being `soul mates', or in other hidden spiritual relationships? Some devotees are pathologically preoccupied with these kinds of questions, and want some esoteric answer about their 'karma' or 'past lives' to help them decide when and who to love ! While these may be interesting questions, they are not something that we must know or understand to SIMPLY LOVE. So please DON'T GET BOGGED DOWN IN KARMIC ANALYSIS PARALYSIS about co- incidences etc. Don't stray from pure bhakti into preoccupation with karmic mechanisms. To do so means to miss the essence, the experiance of actually loving, while trying to impose some mundane regulation or condition on who to love. Do we want to be like bees crawling on the outside of a jar, or do we want to taste the honey of love WITHIN IT ? Remember, we are aspiring practitioners of BHAKTI YOGA, so we want to avoid the gnostic / jnani tendency to reduce everything to mental-platform logic, structures, organization and mechanisms. Lets not get mundane analysis paralysis over ultimately usless inconsequential things like the mechanisms of reincarnation or how far away the moon is. learning about LOVE from its masters, the saints, is an entirely different order of endeavour than useless 'gnostic' speculation. We could master all the mundane knowledge in the universe, but without learning how to LOVE it would just be a waste. So, together, let us take up the challenge of learning to love in the flavor of friendship, trying to stay focused on GodEss and Their Friends, as the Transcendent Source of our Love. If we are successful in building true, lasting God-centered friendships, we will automatically be successful in serving Srila Prabhupada, and other beings. We will become conduits of God's Love into a world of souls desperately lonely for their Most Dear Friends. A Short Historical and Theological Description of the Place of Friendly Love in the context of ancient Radha-Krishna centric Monotheism......About Divine Friendship in the History and Theology of Some Vaishnava-related Bhakti Traditions Just for some spiritual linguistic fun think of the word FRIEND. It is related to the Sanskrit root PRI meaning to LOVE, and by association to the Sanskrit BHR for Brother or Frater. In Greek the word Philos is related to brotherly love. Krishna's Cowherd boyfriends are the GO (COW) PALAS. English PAL for FRIEND has connections to Sanskrit PALA through the words PEER, FRA and Gypsy (Roma) PAL ! May Krishna-Balarama and Their PALS protect us and bring us all safe back to home, back to Godhead ! It is great to have PALS isn't it? God likes pals so much that He has surrounded Himself with them in Eternity! Radha has Her retinue of Go-PIS and Krishna has His retinue of Go- PALAS. Together, Radha and Krishna reign over the play of all their pals / friends in the eternal abode of Goloka Vrindavan. There, Baladeva, as the `Older Brother' of Krishna, embodies the chi-VAL- rous and protective / guiding semi-parental flavor of Fraternal Love, as the Protector and Maintainer of all devotees and the Supreme Abode itself ! As the Servitor Lord, Sri Baladeva pleases Krishna by His powerful, providential and protective nature. Esoterically Sri Baladeva is even considered the Origin of Nanda Maharaja, the Transcendental Embodiment of Fatherly Love. Srila Prabhupada has written about Sri Baladeva's CHIVALRY, and it is fun to note that the root of VALOUR, (English VAL from Latin) is linguistically related to the Sanskrit BALA as in BALARAMA ! BALA DEVA IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VALOROUS LOVE. VALorous BALaram is the Leader of Krishna's older friends, whose fraternal love is eternally tinged with a little bit of parental affection. Within Gokula, Krishna's vayasyas / friends are generally divided into 4 groups. His older well-wisher friends are the ones who exhibit some protective, parental-like affection. Krishna's same-age friends do not have this element of parental love in their affection, and His younger friends look up to the boys Krishna's `age'. The Manjaris, or younger Gopis' love for Radha and Krishna has a uniquely innocent flavor, admitting them to the most intimate service of Radha- Govinda. Thus, the different groups of friends share specific flavors and fine nuances of devotion. In rasa theology revelation, such spiritual commonality IS THE ULTIMATE BASIS OF THE FLAVOR OF LOVE IN WHICH LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE. Sri Krishna's same-age friends enjoyed the same places, decorations, activities and possessions as their Lord. Thus we see that in similar age groups, the kouroi in Greek society formed self-governing child hood fraternities and elected their favorite kouros to lead them through a lifetime of friendship. This natural impetus is so strong, that in every culture there is some version of this. Children spontaneously chose a favorite child to imitate, and create a fraternity or sorority around that most popular child. If the child is a God centered good person, then such devotion is a good thing. They will learn to be virtuous by imitating their dearmost friend. Of course the opposite is true too. Bad leaders make bad followers. In Platonic Idealism, Kouros and Kore were always the Ideal. Thus it was hoped that children would grow in imitation of their Transcendent Ideal. Persons with the same TASTES are attracted the same ways, and respond the same ways. Finding many important likes and dislikes in common, such persons naturally feel comfortable, appreciated and encouraged in each other's approving association. `As Above, So Below'. In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and historically related Platonic Idealism (which is at the heart of Jewish, Catholic and Sufi Mysticism), holy relationships of love in the material world reflect the Divinely Revealed perfection of the eternal and transcendent IDEAL IN GODHEAD. In the case of fraternity or sorority, the bond involves certain shared attractions and attributes. Thus the Gopas and Gopis are divided into camps, or sup-groups according to `age' lila, attributes and desire. Each group epitomizes the perfection of a specific nuance in their friendly or sibling flavor of Divine Love. Now I would like to share with you some of my favorite "Nectar of Devotion" passages about friendship. "THE NECTAR OF DEVOTION", 1970 BBT Edition, by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Part Three.42 Fraternal Love, page 337 "At this age Krsna was garlanded with various kinds of flowers. He used to put on a silk dress, colored with various kinds of dye. Such beautiful decorations are considered cosmetics for Krsna. Krsna would wear this dress when He used to go into the forest to tend the cows. Sometimes He would wrestle there with His different friends, and sometimes they would dance all together in the forest. These are some of the specific activities of the pauganda age." [pauganda is from six to ten years of age] "The cowherd friends of Krsna were so happy in His company that they expressed their transcendental feelings within themselves thus: 'My dear Krsna, You are always busy tending the cows, which are scattered all over beautiful Vrndavana. You have a beautiful garland, a small conchshell, a peacock feather on Your turban, yellow-colored silk cloth, decorations of karnikara flowers on Your ears and a mallika flower garland on Your chest. Appearing so beautiful, when You pretend, just like an actor, to be fighting with us, You give us unlimited transcendental bliss.'" Pauganda Krsna and His Friends ki jaya! Page 346 "The friendly relationship of the cowherd boys with Krsna is a particular type of spiritual ecstacy almost similar to the ecstacy of conjugal love. It is very difficult to explain this ecstacy of loving affairs between the cowherd boys and Krsna. Great expert devotees like Rupa Gosvami and others express their astonishment at the inconceivable feelings which are in Krsna and His cowherd boy friends." May we be astonished by the Transcendent Love of little Krsna and His Friends today ! SOME OF SRI KRISHNA'S OLDER ATTRACTIVE FEATURES Part Three.41, Page 326 " Sometimes the different names, forms, paraphernalia and transcendental qualities provoke fraternal love: For instance, Krsna's nice dress, the all-auspicious symptoms on His body, His strongly-built body, His knowledge of different languages, His learned teachings in the Bhagavad-gita, His uncommon genius in all fields of endeavor, His exhibition of expert knowledge, His mercy, His chivalry, His behavior as a conjugal lover, His intelligence, His forgiveness, His attraction for all kinds of men, His opulence and His happiness – all provoke fraternal love." HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF 'ECSTACY IN SEPARATION' Part Three.42, Page 345 "There is also an example of madness caused by separation from Krsna. When Krsna was absent from Vrndavan, all the cowherd boys became bewildered, and having given up all kinds of activities, they appeared to be mad and forgot all their regular business. They were sometimes lying down on the ground, sometimes rolling in the dust, sometimes laughing and sometimes running very swiftly. All of these symptoms gave them the appearance of madmen. One friend of Krsna's criticized Him by saying, 'My dear Lord, You have become the King of Mathura after killing Kamsa, and that is very good news for us. But at Vrndavana all the residents have become blind from their continuous crying over Your absence. They are full only of anxieties and are not cheered at all by Your becoming the King of Mathura.'" May the Residents of Vrndavana bless us all with Their tears of desire for GOD today ! THIS IS AN EXAMPLE FOR FRIENDSHIP EXPRESSED THROUGH CHIVALROUS LOVE Page 343 "...according to the prevailing rules of chivalry one's chariot driver should never be attacked by the enemy. But Asvatthama behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack Krsna's body, although Krsna was acting only as a charioteer for Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that Asvatthama was releasing various kinds of arrows to hurt Krsna, he immediately stood in front of Krsna to intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being harmed by those arrows, he felt ecstatic love for Krsna, and the arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers." May our love for Krishna and all His Devotees be as chivalrous and heroic as Arjuna's ! May we not hesitate when the time comes to accept wounding or even death for the sake of Divine Love. MAY WE ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT "Perfect love casts out fear". May we learn to love fearlessly, and prefere rather to surrender our bodies to a shower of arrows, than to betray Divine Love ! May we know the ecstacy of complete surrender in the cause of love, and when we are in pain, may we all remember the ecstacy of Arjuna in his woundedness ! May we all aspire to love as bravely as Arjuna. ARJUNA's LOVE KI JAYA ! FRATERNAL LOVE AMONG THE SAINTS THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE WRITINGS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI. The following words are from a letter written by St Francis Of Assisi to a minister, probably before 1223 A D. This instruction on showing the Lord's mercy to sinners reveals why Francis was known as the friend of the most fallen. "FRANCIS AND CLARE...THE COMPLETE WORKS" 1982, Paulist Press ( from the Classics in Western Spirituality Series). Page 75 "And by this I wish to know if you love the Lord God and me, his servant and yours.....if you have acted in this manner: that is, there should not be any brother in the world who has sinned, however much he may have possibly sinned, who, after he has looked into your eyes, would go away without having received your mercy, if he is looking for mercy. And if he were not to seek mercy, you should ask him if he wants mercy. And if he should sin thereafter a thousand times before your very eyes, love him more than me so that you may draw him back to the Lord. Always be merciful to such as these. And announce this to the guardians, as you can, that on your part you are resolved to act this way." St. Francis, Friend of the fallen ki jaya ! May we always be mindful of the constant intercession of our gurus and all the saints, who are our truest friends in this world and the world to come. May we all receive and give Their Mercy today ! Holy Love in the flavor of friendship is one of Sri Krishna's manifestations of beauty, truth and goodness. It is only accessible to us through the CAUSELESS MERCY AND GRACE OF SRI BALADEVA AND SRIMATI RADHARANI. Sri Krishna transcendentally pours His Grace out to us through Balarama and Radharani, and in this 'saha' world of suffering, the Spiritual Masters the Saints mediate Their Love and Grace to us. They teach us how to dwell in Godhead's Love, by dwelling on GOD. It is dwelling on SRI KRISHNA the TRUE, the GOOD, the BEAUTIFUL, the SWEET, the COMPASSIONATE, the FORGIVING, the PLAYFUL...and on His activities with His loving associates and even with His adversaries, that is the nourishment we need for the revival of our souls. Krishna is present here and now, and His presence is what CAN make us more true, good, sweet, benevolent, compassionate etc. but we must EXPERIANCE HIS PRESENCE TO BENEFIT FROM IT. WE CANNOT BE NOURISHED BY FOOD IF WE ONLY LOOK AT IT. We must 'take' it in and make it part of our being, for it to have its life-giving effect. We must not stay on the outside of the jar. We must cultivate the habit of experiancing the REAL PRESENCE OF GOD. We must try to focus on where Krishna IS, to develope the habit of seeing Him and His devotees everywhere. Then for us, this world will reveal itself as a place of Krishna's Lila too. We need to see that this world as pervaded by His Love for us and the Saints Love for Him. But, we must also remember that real Love comes in many flavors, some of them sharp and bitter. Some of the flavors of Love require aquiring a taste for appreciating them. Whatever the flavor, Krishna's Love and Love of Krishna is always nourishing to the soul. Even a little of it is good for us. We must hanker after it and take it from wherever we can find it, whether it is bitter or sweet. SOMETIMES IT IS SAID THAT THERE IS NO REAL LOVE IN THIS WORLD Getting Past Negative Aversion to Positive Love This is my particular realization about Sri Krishna being everywhere. He is in HISTORY and in His Books, but HE IS NOT A PRISONER OF THE PAST OR AN OBJECT. HE IS PRESENT HERE AND NOW. RIGHT NOW. NOW. NOW. AND ALL OF THE MOMENTS IN BETWEEN. However, if we refuse to acknowledge His Presence, if we don't accept His Love, His Self- Revelation from the past and the present too, these can't change us, they cannot become part of us. We may be able to quote a lot of verses, but we will still be outside of the jar. (How is that for a mixed metaphor?) We may be adverse to the fallen 'material' world of sin, but we will not be filled with Krishna's Love. Emptying out the false selfish 'love' of the fallen world is only required so that we can be filled with Krishna's True Love. There are a lot of devotees / religionists around who are just empty. This is why they can continue to be negative and abusive after so many years of sadhana / religious discipline. They are just stuck in the rejecting, emptying aversion mode, and have not internalized, taken in the life-giving nourishment that will fill-them-up and make them positive, loving, forgiving, compassionate, kind people. They have become adverse to the world, often by practicing unnessary and artificial renunciation, but have not learned anything at all about loving mere sinners (like themselves) or allowing themselves to be loved. Such people often hide their profound bitterness and impersonalism behind a facade of 'holy detachment'. Such people hate sin, or the 'material' world, but that is not the same as loving God. Theravadin Buddhists, Mayavadi Hindus and Gnostic Impersonalists etc. also have disdain for this world, but they have no goal of developing love for God or other beings. Their via-negativa of neti neti rejection and aversion is not the path of BHAKTI YOGA. Such 'Apophatic' so-called spirituality is essentially a kind of covered atheism. It is iconoclastic and loveless. It denies the INCARNATION, God's Salvific Grace, and the REAL PRESENCE OF GOD-WHO- IS-LOVE in this world. Opposed to this pseudo-spirituality of negation, impersonalism and voidism, THE BHAKTI YOGA PATH IS THAT OF POSTIVE PERSONALISM, THE PATH OF DIVINE LOVE, available through God's Grace in His Chivalrous Second Person, the SAVING SERVITOR LORD. We must go past mere aversion to sin and 'the world' to LOVE OF GODHEAD, AND TAKE HOLD OF THE MERCY OF GOD, otherwise we are still stuck in a form maya consciousness. It may be anti-maya consciousness, but it is still a focus on maya instead of Krishna. RECENTLY SOMEONE AGAIN ASKED ME "IS THERE ANY REAL LOVE HERE?" To answer this question, I would like to request everyone to read the Great I AM verses of the Bhagavad Gita, in Chapters 10 and 11. In Chapter 10, text 17, Arjuna asks Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead "How should I meditate on You? In what various forms are You to be contemplated, O Blessed Lord?" Krishna then replies with the GREAT I AM verses and manifests His Universal Form in an astounding Theophany that overwhelms Arjuna so much, that he begs Sri Krishna to conceal it again. In this Theophany Sri Krishna reveals Himself as the Beginning, Middle and End of all existances. Everything exists from, through, with, in and by HIM. He is the Supreme Self in the heart of all beings, the strength of the strong, virtue of the virtuous, even the daring /gambling / risk taking of the cheats. THE DEVAS, and finally Death Itself are all manifestations of Sri Krishna. All that is in the universe springs from but a spark of His splendor. This THEOPHANY of Sri Krishna is one of the two central revelations of the Bhagavad- gita. The other of course is that simple Bhakti Devotion to the Person of Sri Krishna, the Original Supreme Personality of Godhead is recommended over all other practices of yoga. Now if we reflect on all the ways that Krishna has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, it should start to dawn on us that the ESSENCE OF THE BEINGNESS OF SRI KRISHNA IS DIVINE LOVE, AND THAT THE MOST CONFIDENTIAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIM IS KNOWLEDGE OF HIS LOVABLENESS and LOVINGNESS, AND HOW ALL WORLDS ARE SIMPLY PERVADED BY HIS LOVE. If even the daring gambling of the cheats manifests one of His all- pervasive opulences, and the most essential 'part' of HIs Being is LOVE, then how can we imagine that HIS LOVE DOES NOT PERVADE ALL THE WORLDS ? Is there any little manifestation of REAL LOVE (LOBHA), attraction or desire anywhere that does NOT have Sri Krishna as its ULTIMATE CAUSE? Krishna is ULTIMATELY REVEALED AS THE ALL ATTRACTIVE ONE. This is THE SUPREME LORD OF ALL HEARTS WHO REVEALED HIMSELF TO ARJUNA. Is there any flavor of True Love anywhere that does NOT have Sri Krishna and His associates as its Ultimate Cause ? If we actually understand Sri Krishna's instruction to Arjuna in the Gita, we will begin to recognize the LOVING PERSONAL PRESENCE OF THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD PERVADING HIS ENTIRE CREATION. IN THIS WAY, EVERYTHING WILL BEGIN TO REMIND US OF SRI KRISHNA AS ITS ULTIMATE CAUSE AND END. IF WE ACTUALLY REALIZE KRISHNA'S OMNIPRESENCE, WE WILL EXPERIANCE HIS LOVE EVERYWHERE. So rather than thinking 'there is no Divine Love here', once we begin to practice Bhakti Yoga, we should begin to see how Sri Krishna, the All Lovable and All Loving Personality of Godhead is pervading everything here with but a spark of His Splendor and single drop of His nourishing, life giving Love ! When we begin to see all beings / souls in relationship to Krishna, we will begin to experiance their unique lovableness too. And, when we recognize that Krishna's creations are pervaded with HIS LOVE FOR US, AND HIS ASSOCIATES' LOVE FOR HIM IN ALL FLAVORS, then we will start to experiance this omnipresent love ourselves, and to see the Lord and Our Lady's Divine Love affair everywhere, spread throughout the cosmic manifestation. ALL THAT IS HAPPENING HERE OR IN ANY OTHER WORLD IS GIVING AND RECEIVING, AND SRI KRISHNA IS REVEALED AS THE ORIGINAL AND ULTIMATE PURUSHA / GIVER AND SRI RADHA AS THE ORIGINAL AND ULTIMATE RECEIVER. What They are giving and receiving is only LOVE. When we begin to see like this, the loveless world of Maha Maya will then miraculously disappear, and we will find ourselves in the care of YOGA MAYA, practicing the simultaneous means-and-end of Bhakti Yoga. PRACTICING BHAKTI YOGA MEANS CONNECTING TO THE SOURCE, AND TRYING NOT TO IMPEDE THE FLOW OF DIVINE LOVE IN THE WORLD. Bhakti Yoga is at once the means and the end. Once having truely entered upon the path of Bhakti Yoga, one has already arrived at one's destination, because loving devotion is both the simultaneous means and end. Through Bhakti Yoga, we get more Bhakti Yoga ! There is not some other, higher goal, thing or state to be attained. THE GOAL OF LOVE'S SERVICE IS MORE SERVICE. WE MUST NEVER DESIRE TO WORK OURSELVES OUT OF THE JOB. The greatest devotees don't even care about their own personal salvation...only developing unconditional love for Godhead and Sri Radhe ! The ultimate goal of the Bhakti Yogi is not to 'merge into God', or to even acheive some moksha or 'liberation'. The Saint of Bhakti Yoga only desires to continue to serve God, and in so doing, to be perfected in their love in relationship with Him and His associates throughout eternity. Krishna desires that we perfect loving Him, through serving His servants. Therefore, where ever there are His servants, there must be Bhakti Yoga, and real, divine love. We must ourselves accept the gift of Yoga Maya's love-anointed eyes, to see Sri Krishna, Radharani and Their Associates and Their Divine Love all around us ! Let us meditate on how being 'Krishna Conscious' means to be conscious of GOD-WHO-IS-LOVE all around us ! Remember, everything is from but a spark of His splendor ! This means all flavors and manifestations of REAL LOVE IN ALL WORLDS TOO. IF KRISHNA PERVADES THE WORLDS, THEN THERE IS REAL LOVE HERE. May Krishna Kana, the Loveable and Loving, reveal Himself to us today ! May Sri Radhe, the Archetypal Soul, Divine Wisdom and Beloved of GOD-WHO-IS-LOVE bless us with Her service at the feet of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga ! May Lord Baladeva (JESUS), the Servitor Lord and Savior of all worlds, engage us in His salvific service of unconditional Loving today ! Sri Sri Radha-Krishna ki jaya ! Lord Baladeva ki jaya ! Trying to learn something about LOVE, your aspiring servant, Bhakti Ananda Goswami Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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