Re: Six Questions about Rasa

Respected Swamiji and Vaisnavas,

   Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! In the Caitanya Charitamrta Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that it is from a neutral point of view (where one is not situated in any of the rasas) that there is a gradation of rasas. However for a devotee who has advanced so far as to reach the spiritual platform and attained his svarupa, his own rasa is what gives him the greatest happiness and is the topmost.

   For e.g. Hanuman who is in Dasya rasa cannot imagine climbing on the shoulders of Lord Rama or playing like the cowherd boys and that does not give him any happiness.

     Srila Prabhupada here gives his opinion :

   Tivrena bhakti-yogena mano mayy arpitam. Mayi, "unto Me, the Supreme Lord, Krsna." This is Krsna consciousness. Always thinking of Krsna, mayi. That will help. Tivrena bhakti-yogena. Always... That is also advised in Bhagavad-gita: man-mana, mad-bh... Man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah. Your mind should be engaged always in Krsna. Krsna or Rama, which form ever you like-Visnu form, or Lord Visnu, Narayana, Kapiladeva. There are innumerable forms of God. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. So Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha, Krsna, Kapiladeva, Balarama -- there are so many forms. So any one of Them, whichever you like... Everyone is... Just like Hanuman. He liked Ramacandra forms, and Arjuna liked Krsna's form. But there is no difference between Rama and Krsna. Ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan nanavataram akarod bhuvanesu kintu [Bs. 5.39].

Sometimes foolish people question us that "You are worshiping Krsna. Why you do not worship Rama?" Rama and Krsna, there is no difference. But anyone has got his liking. Just like Hanuman has liking to worship Lord Ramacandra, and the gopis had the liking to worship Krsna. That does not make any difference. It is like... Ye yatha mam prapadyante [Bg. 4.11]. Krsna, the Lord, appears in different way. Sometimes the gopis... The Krsna went away from the gopis, and the gopis were searching out Krsna. So in some place Krsna was sitting in the Visnu form. So the gopis passed through that Deity, and they did not offer much respect. "Oh, He is Visnu. All right, namaskara." Because they wanted to see Krsna. There is no difference between Krsna and Visnu, but every devotee has got some inclination, love Krsna. Ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan [Bs. 5.39]. So therefore Krsna is all-pervading in different murtis. Therefore in the Vaisnava-sampradaya some of them, they worship Radha-Krsna, and some of them worship Sita-Rama. And some of them worship Laksmi-Narayana. Some of them worship Rukmini-Krsna. There are so many devotees. But all of them are the same, Vaisnava. All of them are the... But not demigods. Visnu. So chanting, bhakti-yoga means to chant Visnu. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]. And Visnu has got so many forms. So either you chant Hare Rama or you chant Hare Krsna, it is the same. There is no difference. Sometimes they first of all place "Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." And sometimes they place "Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna..." There is no difference. Sometimes they say, "No, it should be Hare Rama first." Sometimes they..., "No, Hare Krsna." But that is not very important, childish. Any, either you say Hare Rama or Hare Krsna, the same. So this is to be done. Tivrena bhakti-yogena.

 

  Many people who read that Madhura rasa is highest often go around treating some devotees as superior and other devotees as inferior and , as some say, "We worship Radha Krishna. Why should we listen to devotees of Lord Rama or Nrsimha or observe their festivals?" Really wrong attitude. Srila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura has warned that only a foolish person thinks one Vaisnava to be greater and another Vaisnava to be lesser in the Caitanya Bhagavata in several places. Vaisnavas and rasas are transcendental and are beyond the ordinary mundane conceptions of higher and lower. Barging in with theoritical knowledge alone will result in many mistakes. What the gosvamis address as higher or lower is not like the material conceptions of higher and lower at all. In fact actually every devotee gains his greatest bliss in their respective constitutional positions. Knowledge of the rasa shastras has to be backed by an equal amount of spiritual realisation, or else it is very dangerous in the hands of the neophyte.

 

  My understanding from Hadai Nityananda Dasa's writings and the talks I personally had with him goes as follows : Therefore the only right thing for a conditioned soul like me to do is keep an open mind and not trouble myself too much over these matters -- anyway it is all thought by the material mind in terms of material experience and as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada says, "The materialistic demeanor cannot possibly stretch to the transcendental autocrat." So why try to understand what is currently impossible to understand? As a matter of fact, Siddhanta Sarasvati said that reading these topics is for those who have chanted 64 rounds for 10-15 years -- the statistic may be one thing, but the meaning is that it must be accompanied by the stamp of spiritual realisation. Otherwise the results are more often than not, catastrophic, as is seen by the apasampradayas.

 

 Everything is there in the names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and everything will eventually be revealed at the right time. One must be patient and humble. This is my understanding which I got from your talks. Of course, it is plainly obvious that you have discussed these things for the benefit of fallen souls like myself. Thank you so much and I pray that I continue to keep receiving your mercy.

 

 

Aspiring to be your servant,

 

Srinath

 

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