Question: At the end of the Caitanya Candroday Nataka Mahaprabhu tells Advaita Acarya: “Some devotees are in a mood of servitude, some are fixed in a fraternal mood, some are fixed in the love of Radha and Madhava, others in the Lord of Dvaraka and again others in My different descensions such as Rama and Nrisimha. I will lock you all in the chains of My love and give You attachment to Vrindavana!” On the surface it seems from this verse that Mahaprabhu’s associates are just conditioned souls who are being redeemed by Him, though they are supposed to be nitya siddhas. Plus there seems to be the possibility of being promoted from dasya rasa, Dwaraka rati whatever, to Radha-Madhava.
Question: At the end of the Caitanya Candroday Nataka Mahaprabhu tells Advaita Acarya:
dAsye kecana kecana praNayinaH sakhye ta evobhaye
rAdhA-mAdhava niSThayA katipaye zrI dvArakAdhIzituh
sakhyAdAv ubhayatra kecana pare ye vAvatArAntare
mayyAbaddha hRdo’khilAn vitanavai vRndAvanAsaGginaH
“Some devotees are in a mood of servitude, some are fixed in a fraternal mood, some are fixed in the love of Radha and Madhava, others in the Lord of Dvaraka and again others in My different descensions such as Rama and Nrisimha. I will lock you all in the chains of My love and give You attachment to Vrindavana!”
On the surface it seems from this verse that Mahaprabhu’s associates are just conditioned souls who are being redeemed by Him, though they are supposed to be nitya siddhas. Plus there seems to be the possibility of being promoted from dasya rasa, Dwaraka rati whatever, to Radha-Madhava.
Answer: Mahaprabhu failed to persuade Jiva Gosvami’s father Vallabha to switch from Rama-bhakti to Krishna-bhakti. Nrisimhananda Brahmacari was worshipping Nrisimha, but the object of his love was Gaura. It’s just like Nanda Maharaja, who loves Krishna but worships Narayana.
Question: It is clear from Brihad Bhagavatamrita (2.4.139-140) that all apparent inanimate objects in the spiritual sky are the Lord’s nitya siddha parshadas. They are items of the sandhini shakti. Are they jivas and nitya siddhas or even sadhana siddhas?
Answer: They are nitya siddhas.
Question: So if they speak they are sentient, conscious?
Answer: They can speak, but then there is some aisvarya, because that is superhuman.
Question: Furthermore in this regard, in the Venu Gita the gopis pray to the clouds, trees, birds, etc. Is that just poetry or are they all also sentient beings who can respond?
Answer: Both. They see them all as sentient. It is the nature of the uttama adhikari.
Question: So the uttama adhikari projects his own feelings on the surroundings? Should we also see it with the bhramara gIta (Radharani’s Song to the Bee) like this?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Only Radharani and the eight sakhis are svarupa sakti or all the gopis?
Answer: All the gopis.
Question: Generally, is there shanta rasa in Goloka? Mahaprabhu proclaimed He came to bestow four rasas, yet in the Gosvamis books five rasas are described.
Answer: Yes there is a description in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu of very little girls in Vrindavan who are in shAnta rasa.
Question: What about the stop-over theory, that one graduates from Vaikuntha to Goloka upgrading one’s sthayi bhava?
Answer: sthayi bhava is sthayi bhava. If it is upgraded it was never a sthayi bhava. Vaikuntha is not a stopover. You are quite correct with the examples of Murari Gupta and Vallabha, who could not be persuaded to give up Rama for Krishna. One might go there for sight-seeing as in an excursion, but not as a stopover.
Question: After all, whatever you meditate on is what you will attain, right?
Answer: Right. It is called tat-kratu nyAya.
Question: What is that? I thought kratu means sacrifice?
Answer: No, in this case it means sankalpa. Whatever one vows to attain and is willing to do sadhana for, that one will attain.
Pearl Story / Vrindavan Art
