crying for Krishna

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> I wept several times

> for you and for the devotees in ***. is this my fault?

 

Srila Prabhupada writes in NOD:

 

"...one should learn how to cry for the Lord. One should learn this small

technique, and he should be very eager and actually cry to become engaged in

some particular type of service. This is called laulyam, and such tears are

the price for the highest perfection. If one develops this laulyam, or

excessive eagerness for meeting and serving the Lord in a particular way,

that is the price to enter into the kingdom of God. Otherwise, there is no

material calculation for the value of the ticket by which one can enter the

kingdom of God. The only price for such entrance is this laulyam lalasamayi,

or desire and great eagerness."

 

However:

 

Imitation devotees, who wish to advertise themselves as elevated Vaisnavas

and who therefore imitate the previous acaryas but do not follow them in

principle, are condemned in the words of Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.24) as

stone-hearted. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has commented on their

stone-hearted condition as follows: bahir asru-pulakayoh sator api yad

dhrdayam na vikriyeta tad asma-saram iti kanisthadhikarinam eva

asru-pulakadi-mattve 'pi asma-sara-hrdayataya nindaisa. "Those who shed

tears by practice but whose hearts have not changed are to be known as

stone-hearted devotees of the lowest grade. Their imitation crying, induced

by artificial practice, is always condemned." The desired change of heart

referred to above is visible in the reluctance to do anything not congenial

to the devotional way. To create such a change of heart, conclusive

discussion about Sri Krsna and His potencies is absolutely necessary. False

devotees may think that simply shedding tears will lead one to the

transcendental plane, even if one has not had a factual change in heart, but

such a practice is useless if there is no transcendental realization. False

devotees, lacking the conclusion of transcendental knowledge, think that

artificially shedding tears will deliver them.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 2.117

 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, commenting on this verse, which is

a quotation from Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.24), remarks that sometimes a

maha-bhagavata, or very advanced devotee, does not manifest such

transcendental symptoms as tears in the eyes, whereas sometimes a

kanistha-adhikari, a neophyte devotee, displays them artificially. This does

not mean, however, that the neophyte is more advanced than the

maha-bhagavata devotee. The test of the real change of heart that takes

place when one chants the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is that one becomes

detached from material enjoyment. This is the real change. Bhaktir

paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra ca (SB 11.2.42). If one is actually advancing

in spiritual life, he must become very much detached from material

enjoyment. If it is sometimes found that a kanistha-adhikari (neophyte

devotee) shows artificial tears in his eyes while chanting the Hare Krsna

mantra but is still completely attached to material things, his heart has

not really changed. The change must be manifested in terms of one's real

activities.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 8.25

 

 

So it is good to feel so much for Krishna and His devotees, yet such crying

should be accompanied by serious commitment to devotional service. Crying

for show, to advertize onself as a great devotee, is not good.