Topic: Madhurya Kadambini
Today we will be discussing the last chapter of Madhurya Kadambini. The last chapter is entitled as Prema. Prema means pure love. The word love is exclusively for Krishna. In the material nature, whatever is going on in the name of love is actually lust. The difference between love and lust has been nicely pointed out in Chaitanya Chariammrta. It is said that the desire to gratify our own senses is called lust while the desire to gratify Krishna’s senses is called love. Love is also defined as the heart’s (spirit soul’s) spontaneous craving to become united with Krishna. The ultimate goal of life is to attain this love for Krishna. In order to go back to spiritual sky we need only one qualification – develop our love for Krishna. When this love for Krishna becomes most purified, one becomes eligible to enter Vrindavan. From the creeper of bhakti which sprouts two leaves in the sadhana bhakti, now gives rise to petals in the form of anubhavas (the symptoms of ecstasy attached to the flower of bhava). This anubhavas are filled with devotional processes such as hearing and chanting which shine effulgently. The flower of bhava finally ripe into fruits of prema develops. The juice which comes from the fruits of prema is tested as the essential qualities of concentrated bliss and its outstanding nourishing property is its power to attract Krishna. At this stage, one is not aware of himself but of Krishna and His surroundings. Therefore, this is the perfected stage of Krishna consciousness. This is the difference between meditation and prema. In meditation, one’s focus is on one object namely, Krishna’s lotus feet or Krishna Himself. But, he is not conscious of Krishna’s surroundings. Sometimes there is an intense crave for obtaining the Lord like a hunger which cannot be satisfied even by eating the tastiest food day and night.
Burning like a sun in anxiety he is soothed by the coolness of a thousand moons only by testing form, qualities and sweetness of the Lord. Simultaneously, this prema arising from his own appetite increases slightly and the devotee longs for direct contact with the Lord at every moment. The intensity of his longing for the Lord burns like conflagration and tears his body like sharp arrows. He considers his friends useless and his household becomes like a thorn forest. Food becomes distasteful and praise of other devotees is like biting of a snake. All the prescribed rituals become an unmanageable burden. Though he remains constantly awake, wakefulness is full of repentance. His body seems to be the target of chastisement for the Lord. His life is as lifeless as roasted grain. Prema assuming the form of tender kiss attracts Krishna and makes him appear before the devotee for a moment. At that time, all the senses of devotee becomes receptacles of all auspicious qualities of the Lord namely, His beauty, His fragrance, melody, youthfulness etc. Proper words are not adequate to describe the ocean of bliss experienced at that time.
The Lord reveals His beauty to the devotee in this remarkable condition. On account of the sweetness of that beauty all the senses and mind take on that beauty and obstacles like trembling, shedding tears are generated. The Lord then reveals His fragrance to console the devotee. The nostrils of the devotee receive the fragrance and again the devotee feels the bliss. The Lord reveals the sound of His flute and devotee faints again for the third time. The Lord then mercifully places His lotus feet, His hands and breast and the devotee experiences the youthfulness of the Lord. Lord places His lotus feet on those in the mood of servant and holds the devotee in the mood of friendship. The Lord wipes the tears of those who are in the mood of parental relationship and embraces the devotee who is in the mood of conjugal relationship. The devotee takes on the qualities of Lord and faints for the fourth time. The Lord gives the taste with His own lips. This however is bestowed to only those devotees in the mood of conjugal relationship. The devotees take on the sense of taste and faints for the fifth time. All of the Lord’s qualities suddenly manifest themselves to the devotee’s senses. At that time, prema which understands the Lord increases to the extreme and creates affliction among other emotions like hundreds of waves among the ocean of bliss. The devotee is again anxious to see the Lord recovering after some moments.
The same stage of prema is beautifully described by Sanatana Goswami in Brhad Bhagavatamrta. The boy Gopi Kumar sometimes had the darshan of Krishna and sometimes not. The devotee at that time would behold such beautiful form of Krishna and all his consciousness would be focused through his eye. The devotee burning in the separation of Krishna sometimes rolls on the ground, runs from here to there. The devotee at that time feels like having fallen into the hands of a cheater. Therefore, a devotee is unable to distinguish whether he is in bliss or anguish. In the spiritual platform, both enjoyment and suffering is blissful just like in material platform both enjoyment and suffering is miserable.