англ. название записи: Q&A: Why Are There Other Rasas If All Rasas Are Included into Mahabhava? - 2026-03-05
0:01Yes, Dave. Hare Krishna, my question is, why are there other rasas, if all the rasas are included in mahabhava, but are more mature than the original rasas singled out?
0:42So, So, Srimad Bhagavatam begins, and Vedanta Sutra begins, janmady asya yatah, the absolute truth is the cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the world. This is a metaphysical interpretation, but as Bhagavatam, every word, every syllable has many meanings, so on a deeper level,
1:23janmādy asya yataḥ means everything comes from adhi, in other words adhi does not mean creation or origin, it means adhi rasa, madhurya rasa.
1:37So madhurya rasa is the foundational rasa and the cause of everything, so that is true. However, just as if you want to make lemonade, the basic ingredient is water, but you'll need some other ingredients. as well, some lemon, some sugar, little camphor, some black pepper to make it extremely tasty. So that is called the rasopakar, the assisting elements. So in the same way, the madhurya rasa becomes so beautiful due to the assisting elements. And so all the other associates who are in dasya rasa, sakhya rasa, vatsalya rasa even, and madhurya rasa, because there's also different varieties within madhurya rasa.
2:53So all those different personalities, they all play a role in the lila, and they all are components which contribute to the relishment of madhurya rasa. So you should see in this way, when Mahabhava appears, then there is a state of forgetfulness of everything. So at that time, there may not be, There's not any remembrance of mother Yashoda, or any cowherd boys, or any servants, or anything.
3:37But before the mahabhava manifest, there's prema, sneha, mana, pranaya, raga, anuraga, and so on. And we're seeing, especially, for example, we're discussing this Muktā-carita līlā. So in this lila, then the gopis are extremely contrary to Krishna. and Krishna is also in rivalry with the Vraja-gopis. So there's so much mellow in this. And then later when the mahabhava manifests, that shift from the state of contrariness, we discussed this yesterday, Krishna from the stage of prem, Krishna is always controlled by his devotee.
4:25but because of avahittha, the concealment of emotions, because of bhamyata, contrariness, because of chapalata, restlessness, the gopis are not, this is the speciality of madhurya rasa, the gopis are not controlled by Krishna, in the stage of prems, man, pranaya, rag, they're not, in other rasas, Krishna and his devotee, they're controlling each other by their love, but in madhurya rasa, there's some asymmetry, it's an asymmetrical relationship. But when the contrariness melts away, and the truth, the reality, that the gopi's innermost intention is to give happiness to Krishna, and they were hiding that, when that becomes revealed, then there's a massive increase of the rasa, so that is called paraspara-vaśī-bhāva-viśeṣa, that takes place in the very intense level of anurāga, and then from that mahabhava appears.
5:40So in the prema and the anurāga is increased when there are some obstacles, you see? And so the contrariness, the avahittha-bhāva, the restlessness of Vraja-gopis, which gets in the way of Krishna fulfilling his desires to enjoy loving pastimes with the gopis, and even gets in the way of the gopis fulfilling Krishna's desire. Actually these obstacles fulfill his desire even more because the anticipation heightens Krishna's desire. So when the meeting finally takes place there's much more bliss. Understand? Does anyone understand? If you don't understand you can raise your hand.
6:38So the obstacles, they increase anticipation, and because the anticipation is higher by the time the Krishna and the gopis play together, then there's a greater happiness, greater joy in that. Just like if you're a little bit hungry and you eat something, there's a little bit of pleasure, but if you're starving and then you eat something, then, you see?
7:08So, the obstacles create deeper thirst. And so, these obstacles that intensify the thirst, they can come from so many quarters.
7:40And just as a lion becomes more invigorated with courage when he has to face a big obstacle, if he has to fight with a deer, then he doesn't get invigorated, but if a lion has to fight with an elephant, a huge war elephant, then he becomes invigorated with courage. So in the same way, prema becomes invigorated by the obstacles, and these obstacles, lokād vā, svajanataḥ, parataḥ, svato vā, these obstacles can be created by so many different parties, so lokād vā, svajanataḥ, the obstacles can be made by, Radharani is saying, your own group, your own people.
8:37So sometimes Lalita, she will provoke Radharani's man and it makes an obstacle. So that's an obstacle made by your own group, svajanataḥ. The obstacle, it can be there made by others, not your own group like Lalita, but it may be made by others. For example, Jatila makes obstacles. Kutila makes obstacles. Even mother Yashoda, though she's not against in any way, just the fact that she's in vātsalya-rasa and Radha Krishna's love has to be kept secret, even Yashoda's presence can become an obstacle.
9:30So, loka, means obstacles can be made by persons in this world or beyond this world. The demigods can make an obstacle. The devatas can make an obstacle. Gopis are in their homes, they're waiting for Krishna to return, but he's late because all the devatas have come to offer arati to him and he's just giving them a chance to finish their puja and their prayers before he comes back.
10:07The obstacle can be made by yourself. Radharani is saying, I myself make the obstacle. Because of Radhika's own avahittha-bhāva creates the obstacle. But it increases, it serves to increase the prema like a lion. Prāṇa-priyāt, or even your beloved, who is more dear to you than your own prāṇa, that means Krishna, Krishna himself will make an obstacle.
10:37So, prāṇa-priyāt, sumerusamaḥ yadi syāt, even if that obstacle is like a mountain, not like an ordinary mountain, like Mount Sumeru, which is in the middle of the universe, so huge, if the obstacle is like Mount Sumeru, but it doesn't matter, prema becomes increased by that. and so you say well what is the need of the other rasas? So the other rasas also are part of the matrix of the obstacles to meeting but they all serve to increase the rasa and in fact if there weren't obstacles then mahabhava would not even manifest. In Dwaraka there's no obstacle for Krishna and Rukmini meeting together. There's also no mahabhava in Dwaraka.
11:41So even though the obstacle is not the cause of the love, the love is svābhāvika, it's in the hearts of the gopis, but the obstacles are the causes of it manifesting, just like in a rocket, in a rocket there's fuel, the fuel has energy, but unless there is an obstacle, that is that that energy in the fuel is being blocked and there's only a small hole in the bottom of the rocket, then that energy, what power is there, will not manifest.
12:20If the energy in the rocket is not contained, like sometimes on the launch pad the rocket just explodes, it just blows up on the launch pad, it doesn't go to the moon. Why? Because it's not being contained. So the love is there in the gopi's heart, but the power of that love will not manifest unless it becomes restricted and contained. So the other rasas are also playing that role in mādhurya-rasa.
12:58then it is nourished by Vīra-rasa. So if the gopis are spying on Krishna, how he's playing with his cowherd boys, and how he's wrestling and defeating them, then seeing Krishna, oh he's such a great hero, this is nourishing their romantic mood. If Krishna will kill a demon, it's nourishing their romantic mood. So like this, in Vraja, no one is superfluous, no one is unnecessary, everyone is necessary, Everyone is important, everyone is playing a role Everyone, every tree, every creeper, every flower, every insect in Vraja is full of joy and playing a role, a favorable role in nourishing the pastimes of Radha and Krishna
14:03So this is why the other rasas exist. And your question is quite, it's a salient question because in Vraja there are other Vraja-rasika sampradayas and Radhakrishna are just in the kunja and there are no other rasas in their conception. So your question raises a vaiśiṣṭya, a speciality of the Gaudiya Sampradaya, the avatāra-vaiśiṣṭya, a speciality of the contribution of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It raises this. And so it's a profound question. And I have only given just a brief overview of the answer to that question.
14:59If we will deliberate on it, then more and more nuances of why this is important and beautiful and why Mahaprabhu has given this conception and not only Mādhurya-rasa exists, more and more of these things will appear in the heart. And even you are hearing now theoretically, but there's a chance that you're not feeling it.
15:26If you feel it, it is adbhuta, astonishing. Because it's related to the question, if Mahābhāva is the greatest, do I even have Prema and Sneha and Māna and Rāga and Anurāga? Why do they even exist? So they're also playing a role in the context, because the transition from Anurāga to Mahābhāva itself is adbhuta.
16:05And then, coming back into the other stages of prema, there's some impression of what it was like, what that Mahābhāva was like, and so then there's an eagerness for that, which impels them in their līlā, though there's not a clear memory of what it is like, because just as entering into rūḍha-bhāva obliterates the memory of what happened before, Coming from the Mahābhāva back into Anurāga, and prema, sneha, obliterates the memory of what happened during the Mahābhāva as well.
16:42And so all the līlās are fresh and new, and Radha Krishna feel like we never met before.
16:52So everything is adbhuta, everything is amazing.
16:58At first a person cannot understand, why is Rupa Goswami spending so much time explaining, This is prema, and these are all the symptoms of prema. Or this is sneha, and all these are the symptoms of sneha. This is māna, this is rāga. It seems somewhat arbitrary or unnecessary. But if a person goes deeply into the vicāra-dhārā of Rūpa Gosvāmī, then you can realize what role the different stages in the krama-prakāśa that means the sequential manifestation of the foundational emotion, why each stage is different, and what role each stage plays, and then if within the heart one can behold the entire edifice, this monumental edifice of Rūpa Gosvāmī, what he has written, then it is adbhuta, camatkāra.
18:02So, but when we are, if a person is in the guṇas, affected by the guṇas, then their mind has a certain mental inertia, there's a stiffness to the capability to deliberate on the subject, there's a stiffness, there's a lacking in flexibility and there's an inertia, there's a darkness there, but only by chanting, chanting,
19:06So Rāgānugā-bhakti, this is Rāgānugā-bhakti when the person upon hearing, he becomes struck because he has a realization of how sweet is the loving relationship between Krishna and his devotees.
19:27And only a genuine realization can awaken greed.
19:35jai shishi guru, gauranga, gandha, pakir dharishi siradha, samasundar ju ki, jai
19:54Only a genuine realization internally of the nature of the stages of love between Krishna and his devotees, then that gives rise to greed, because it is the greed, it comes from the The kiñcid-anubhūti, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī said, there must be some realization of how sweet these loving relationships are, and when a person realizes how sweet they are, then he wants that, and therefore, the instigation, that which is instigating to engage in hearing, chanting, and remembering, is not some intellectual idea, it's not a concept,
20:55It's not that he understands, yes, bhakti is the right thing to do because I am a soul and a soul is part of God and therefore it's his duty to serve God and moreover if I don't do it I'll suffer like anything in the material world. So when the attitude by which we are instigated to engage in bhakti is based on the yukti, logical reasons, and buddhi, intelligence, the intelligence by which we have understood the logic of scripture, then that's called vaidhī-bhakti.
21:52But the engagement of hearing and chanting and remembering, which is instigated by the ullāsa, the expansion of the heart that takes place when a person has some realization of how wonderful the relationships are between Krishna and his devotees, then that is called Rāgānugā-bhakti. So we have to go on hearing, and chanting, because if we are listening, but the heart has not become purified, it will not happen So I see the Jīva Gosvāmī pāda in Bhakti-sandarbha said, the heart which is being purified by chanting, by surrender and chanting, is like a crystal But if your heart is like a crystal, covered in mud, then it will not become the ullasita
22:55there will not be an illumination when hearing harikathā, because when a pure Vaishnava is speaking, he's not speaking theoretically, he's realizing, and so because he's realizing, the moon-like rays of the feelings of the vraja-vāsīs are emanating in that kathā, but if the heart, which is by nature like a crystal, if it's all covered in mud, then that crystal will not sparkle.
23:28It will not sparkle by being touched by the moon-like rays of those divine feelings. And so, both things have to be there. The speaker should be realized and the one who is hearing should have some qualification.
23:53There should be, that's why he said that two things are necessary, kṛpā and sādhana. When we hear from pure devotees the nectar of Krishna's pastimes, this is kṛpā coming to us. It's just pure mercy. But if ourselves we don't do sādhana, then we'll not have the qualification to catch it if it's raining. But if you have an umbrella, you will not get wet. So in the same way we're in Vaishnava Sangha, then the mercy is raining everywhere. But unfortunately we have an umbrella to make sure we don't get touched by that mercy. That is our covering. What is the covering?
24:43jñāna and karma. In karma is that we want to act to get some worldly benefit or we want to use our philosophical speculation to attain freedom from suffering or liberation. So that's the covering, that's the umbrella. So the practice of bhakti is
25:47that's why from śraddhā to niṣṭhā is only the development of faith and from ruci it is should the the svarūpa of pure bhakti is manifest. Understand? Very good question. Thank you.
