Re: The highest truth - God is a person

The Resevoir of Rasa - Sri Krishna

Dear devotees I am reading Madhurya Kadambini presently as a study to understand my inner gradual awakening in bhakti. The book is very helpful for understanding the inner process of mercy (Bhakti Devi), and where we are at. This book is mercy personified itself in my humble realization, I am really grateful that this great saint penned it.

Madhurya Kadambini by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura


First Shower of Nectar (Bhakti is the Ultimate)


The Supreme Personality of Godhead and Brahman

The sruti or Veda offers irrefutable evidence that establishes the Absolute Truth. The Taittiriya Upanishad states that Brahman is the support and mainstay (brahma-puccham pratistha) of He who is the embodiment of unlimited absolute bliss (the Supreme Godhead), His existence being dependent on Brahman. By this statement the sruti gives preeminence to Brahman, although in a later verse the Taittiriya Upanishad states that the Supreme Lord is the reservoir of rasa or ecstatic pleasure (raso vai sa), and on attaining this reservoir of ecstatic pleasure, who is the Supreme Godhead, even that one Brahman who embodies brahmananda becomes submerged in sublime joy (rasam-hy eva-ayam labdhanandi bhavati).

This statement clearly asserts that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is superior to everything, including Brahman. In this way, the One who has been defined as the reservoir of ecstatic pleasure, rasa svarupa, is described in that crestjewel. and essence of all revealed scriptures Shrimad-Bhagavatam as Krishna, son of Maharaja Nanda, the embodiment of rasa.

The Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.43.17) states,
The wrestlers saw Lord Krishna as a thunderbolt, the men of Mathura [saw Krishna] as the best of males, the women [saw Krishna] as Cupid in person.

This statement clarifies that the gradual development of spiritual joy depends entirely on rasa and the degree of its intimacy. Therefore rasa is the singular support of spiritual happiness and bliss.
The Supreme Lord Himself declares in the Bhagavad-gita (14.27), �I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman....� The Supreme Lord describes Himself in this way to reveal His real position. Therefore the Vedic scriptures, both sruti and smriti, point out that Krishna, son of Maharaja Nanda, is the Supreme Lord, eternally situated in pure goodness. He is the primeval Supreme Godhead who manifests Himself through His name, form, qualities, and pastimes, independent of any causes or conditions. Krishna reveals Himself by His sweet will in such a way that the jivas can experience Him with their senses, mind and intelligence.

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