hearts

[Guest guest]

Dear Vraja Kumara Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

> In the Nectar of Devotion, (end of) Chapter 32: Symptoms of Continuous

> Love it is stated:

 

This is actually Chapter 31: Additional Symptoms.

 

I was also puzzled when I first heard about the different kinds of hearts.

In the days of yore we used to hear a song, "I've been searching for a heart

of gold; I've been a miner for a heart of gold.......and I'm getting old."

The conclusion was that a heart of gold is rare and desirable. When I saw

your message, I decided to get to the core of the matter. See below

 

> 'The heart of one who is highly elevated and grave is compared to gold. If

> one’s heart is very soft and gentle, his heart is compared to a cotton

> swab. When there is an ecstatic sensation within the mind, the golden

> heart or grave heart is not agitated, but the soft heart immediately

> becomes agitated.

> To offer another example, a grave, magnanimous heart is compared to a

> great city, and a soft heart to an insignificant cottage. There may be

> many lights, or even great elephants in the big city, but no one will take

> particular notice of them. But when such lights or elephants are seen near

> a small cottage, everyone can distinctly point them out.'

>

> This would indicate that to have a golden heart is best, whilst soft

> hearts are considered weak.

>

> However a little later it is stated:

>

> 'A soft heart is compared to honey, to butter and to nectar. And the

> condition of the mind is compared to sunshine. As honey and butter become

> melted even in slight sunshine, softhearted persons become easily melted.

> Nectar, however, is by its nature always liquid. And the hearts of those

> who are in pure ecstatic love with Krsna are by nature always liquified,

> just like nectar.

> A pure devotee of Krsna is always specifically qualified with nectarean

> qualifications and sometimes with the qualifications of butter and honey.

> On the whole, the heart in any of the different conditions mentioned above

> can be melted under certain circumstances, just as a hard diamond is

> sometimes melted by a combination of certain chemicals. In the

> Dana-keli-kaumudi it is stated, “When love develops in the heart of a

> devotee, he cannot check the transformation of his sentiments. His heart

> is just like the ocean at the rising of the moon, when the ebb tide cannot

> be checked: immediately there must be movement of high waves.” Although in

> its natural state the ocean is always grave and unfathomable, when the

> moon rises, nothing can check the ocean’s agitation. Similarly, those who

> are pure devotees cannot on any account check the movement of their

> feelings within.'

>

> This would tend to indicate that pure devotees are soft-hearted.

>

> It seems that these two pieces of evidence are paradoxical.

>

> Unfortunately I am a neophyte so these conclusions may not be correct.

> Please can any of the learned sages offer any further insight?

 

It seems that Srila Rupa Gosvami is not making any kind of value judgement

as to which type of heart is better or worse. He is actually discussing

ecstasy and how it can be perceived by outsiders, by detecting certain

symptoms in the ecstatic person. This becomes clear from his statement just

a sentence earlier in the same passage you quoted:

 

"If one’s heart is highly elevated, grave and magnanimous, or if one’s heart

is rough and crude, different symptoms of ecstatic love will appear,

influenced by the condition of the heart. Actually, people cannot generally

understand such different qualities of mentality, but when one’s heart is

very soft or gentle, these symptoms become very easily visible, and one can

understand them very clearly."

 

These two sentences correspond closely to Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 2.4.258-9:

 

258

citte gari˜he gambh…re mahi˜he karka€dike

samyag unm…lit€ c€m… na lakyante sphu˜aˆ janaiƒ

259

citte laghi˜he cott€ne kodi˜he komal€dike

man€g unm…lit€ c€m… lakyante bahir ulbaŠ€ƒ

 

Rupa Gosvami is then discussing the qualities of different hearts by

masterfully comparing the ecstasies to different natural phenomena.

 

260

gari˜haˆ svarŠa-piŠ€bhaˆ laghi˜haˆ tula-piŠavat

citta-yugme ‘tra vijñey€ bh€vasya pavanopam€

 

"Most heavy, like a lump of gold; the lightest like a cotton swab;

how is ecstasy to be known in this pair of hearts, when it is like a gust of

air?"

 

261

gambh…raˆ sindhuvac cittaˆ utt€naˆ palval€divat

citta-dvaye ‘tra bh€vasya mah€dri-ikharopam€

 

"A heart deep like the ocean, another shallow like a small pond;

how is ecstasy to be known in this pair of hearts, when it is like a

mountain peak?"

 

(A mountain peak can be comfortably submerged in the ocean, but a small pond

would become greatly "agitated"; everybody would see it.)

 

262

pattan€bhaˆ mahi˜haˆ sy€t kodi˜haˆ tu ku˜…ravat

citta-yugme ‘tra bh€vasya d…penebhena vopam€

 

This is the example of the city and the insignificant cottage, the elephants

and the lights.

 

The conclusion is that ecstatic love for Krsna can be present in practically

all sorts of hearts, but in some hearts the meltdown occurs very visibly. It

is not a discussion about which heart is better or worse.

 

Your servant

Ekanatha dasa