![]() |
|
Sample Excerpts
|
Analysis of the Preface of The Nectar of Devotion The Nectar of Devotion’s preface addresses two main subjects: it gives a brief history of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu with a biography of its author, and it discusses bhakti-rasa, the primary subject of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. BRIEF HISTORY “BHAKTI-RASAMRTA-SINDHU” Bhakti Bhakti connotes devotion, or love, and love implies service. Service refers to that activity which is intended to please the beloved. Thus “devotional service” is an eloquent definition of bhakti.7 Devotion is the most fundamental drive of every living entity. “The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else.” (NOD, p. xv) We cannot be happy without satisfying this desire to love. We will not be able to perfectly fulfill this desire without permitting its expansion to the most inclusive extent. “In the primary stage a child loves his parents, then his brothers and sisters, and as he daily grows up he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, or even the whole human society. But the loving propensity is not satisfied even by loving all human society; that loving propensity remains imperfectly fulfilled until we know who is the supreme beloved.” (NOD, p. xv) Srila Prabhupada says that love can become all-embracing only when we understand that Krsna is the supreme beloved. He is the root of all creation. By embracing Him we successfully embrace everyone, just as pouring water on the root of a tree successfully nourishes every leaf and branch. “The Nectar of Devotion teaches us the science of loving every one of the living entities perfectly by the easy method of loving Krsna.” (NOD, pp. xv-xvi) The loving propensity expands like a beam of light. By instructing us to love Krsna, “The Nectar of Devotion will teach us how to turn the one switch that will immediately brighten everything, everywhere. One who does not know this method is missing the point of life.” (NOD, p. xvi) Rasa Rasa literally means “juice.” Contextually, it means “mellow.” Mellow means “sweet and full-flavored from ripeness, as fruit.”8 Thus “mellow” refers to the relishably sweet taste of a fruit—the taste contained in its juice. Relationships are comparable to fruits. The pleasure we taste in a relationship is the juice or mellow of the relationship, the rasa. It is the taste of a fruit that attracts us to eat it. Similarly, the force that attracts us to a certain activity or relationship is the taste we enjoy in it. Srila Prabhupada explains: “Driven by affection for his wife and children, a family man works day and night. A philanthropist works in the same way for love of the greater family, and a nationalist for the cause of his country and countrymen. That force which drives the philanthropist, the householder, and the nationalist is called rasa, or a kind of mellow (relationship) whose taste is very sweet.” (NOD, p. xiii) There are two kinds of tastes: (1) bhakti-rasa, the taste relished in devotional service to Krsna; and (2) mundane rasa, the taste enjoyed by sense gratification. Bhakti-rasa is the incalculably superior taste. Not only is it superior to sense gratification, it is limitlessly superior even to the bliss of spiritual emancipation. Srila Rupa Gosvami describes, “If brahmananda, or the happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is multiplied by one trillionfold, it still cannot be compared to an atomic fraction of the happiness derived from the ocean of devotional service.” (NOD, p. 15) It is impossible for us to fully understand the infinite happiness relished in bhakti because it is beyond the realm of anything we can experience in our finite existence. Srila Prabhupada, however, provides us with a glimpse of bhakti-rasa by comparing it to something with which we are quite familiar—mundane rasa. Mundane Rasa Bhoga-Tyaga and Capala-Sukha We enjoy (bhoga) ordinary material pleasure for a time, but because it is temporary happiness (capala-sukha) we soon abandon it (tyaga) in search of some other pleasure. Bhakti-Rasa Amrta Amrta also means “nectar,” a tasty beverage which makes us deathless. Devotional service not only bestows eternal pleasure, it is also the process by which eternity is achieved. Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu
6. Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura are the two most significant commentators on Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. 7. Mitam ca saram ca vaco hi vagmita iti: “Essential truth spoken concisely is true eloquence.” (Cc.Adi 1.106) 8.
Random House Webster’s Dictionary. |