Overcoming fear, desire and anger to take shelter of Krishna

[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chowpatty, India]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Shloka Hare Krishna So today morning here, the glories of the lotus feet of the Lord and taking shelter of those lotus feet is being discussed and here the word Dhuma Ketu Ashubhashya Dhuma Ketu and there is inauspiciousness in the heart which is destroyed by the lotus feet which acts like a flaming fire So the word dhuma-ketu commonly refers to a comet, generically if you look from Sanskrit etymologically it refers to a ball of fire, dhuma is fire, ketu is basically an object which is moving very fast, a projectile of fire specifically. So now the fire metaphor comes later also in the 11th canto in the context of purification, said that just as gold when it is subjected to smelting, to heating, at that time all the impurities go out and then the pure gold shines forth. Similarly for the sadhakas, the process of bhakti, the process of yoga which culminates in bhakti yoga acts like the purifying fire which frees us from the contaminations which adulterate our eternal spiritual nature as souls who are parts of Krishna.
So in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about how he descends to give us his shelter, to establish dharma, in 4.7 and 8 he talks, the famous verses about how dharma samsthaapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge, and then he says I come again and again to give shelter, then in not just establishing order in this world, shelter is ultimately establishing order in this world to help us come out of this world. So generally in broader the Hindu society often 4.7 and 8 are quoted very frequently, what God has sent to this world, but Prabhupada quotes 4.9 much more frequently. 4.9 is janma karma cha me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so arjuna, that those who come to know about me in truth, tattvatah, they will attain me and won’t attain this world again.
How does one come to know Krishna tattvatah, in truth, in a way that we take shelter of him, that is explained in the next verse. And there Krishna says, 4.10 is vitaragbhaya krodha manmaya mam upashyatah, bahavo jnana tapasah, poota mad bhagam agatah. So poota, poota means you become purified.
So purification, this is the metaphor which I am connecting over here. The fire just as it purifies the gold of the adulterants, of the contaminants, so that the gold can shine through. Similarly, it is said here, poota, we become purified.
And what is it that we need to be purified of? Vita, raga, bhaya and krodha. Attachment, fear and anger. Desire, fear and anger we could say.
And by this, if we become free from these three things, then manmaya, we’ll be able to fix the mind, consciousness in him. Mam upashyatah. And take shelter of him.
In this way, bahavo jnana tapasah. Many people in the past have become purified. The word tapasya is also associated with fire.
Tapa agni it is said. Tapa is like a fire which creates power, which cleanses away the impurities. So I’ll talk about these three impurities which are purified by the process of bhakti.
Raga, bhaya and krodha. Desire, fear and anger. Essentially, we as souls are parts of Krishna.
He is the whole and we are his parts. We are meant to serve him. And the three misdirections.
Raga means we have desires. And based on our desires, we want to be the controllers. So the mentality to be want to be a controller is signified by desire attachment.
Inability to be the controller leads to fear. Oh, if I can’t control, so many things will go wrong. What will happen? What will happen? That is fear.
Now, when this inability to control is expressed in words or we could say is expressed in the mode of ignorance. Then or rather expressed in a passive way, it leads to fear. When this mode of ignorance or this inability to control is expressed in an aggressive way that leads to krodha.
So krodha is if I can’t control, then I will just destroy everything. So nobody will be able to control. So now there is a lot of fear.
I just came from America a few days ago. So especially in America, there is a fear that there may be a escalating nuclear war that may take place between North Korea and America. And in such a situation, they call the result will be what is called mad.
Mad is mutually assured destruction. And I destroy you and you destroy me. This is this is fear.
And now this fear actually is the nature of our existential condition. Why? Because at one level, we all have a need to control. Every service that we do, every responsibility that we take, every role that we take up, we have a need to control in that.
If somebody becomes a parent, parent is to control and train the child. Somebody becomes a teacher, they expect to control and train the students. Even if we are driving a bike or a car, no, we are expected to control.
So for us to function in the world, there is the need to control. At the same time, there is much in the world that is not in our control. So I’m driving a car, but for me to go safely, other people should also follow the rules.
If on the other side, a drunk driver is coming, that person rams into me, I’m helpless. I’m driving a car, but suddenly in the middle, the wheel comes off. What do I do at that time? So because we at one level have the need to control, and at the other level, we have an inability to control.
This is the root cause of our fear. And fear is basically an existential predicament. It is just ingrained in the nature of existence.
Shri Prabhupada, in the introduction to Bhagavad Gita as it is, writes that our very existence is in the atmosphere of non-existence. So we may be destroyed at any moment. Now, there are unavoidable fears and there are avoidable fears.
So our fears increase in proportion to our desires. Why is that? Because we, for functioning in the world, we need some amount of control. But the greater the control we seek, the greater becomes the fear, what if I’m not able to control? And Krishna says that, even when he talks about the materialistic worldview that the ungodly have in 16.11, he says, चिन्ताम परिमेयाम्च प्रलयान्ता उपाशितः काम उपभोग परमा एतावद इति निष्चितः So those who have decided, काम उपभोग, that worldly enjoyment is the purpose of life.
Prabhupada translates that as, एतावद इति निष्चितः, परमा एतावद इति निष्चितः They have concluded, asserted, निष्चितः, that this is the prime necessity of life. And the result of that is, चिन्ताम परिमेयाम्च प्रलयान्ता उपाशितः चिन्ता, anxiety, fear, worry For how much time? He says, immeasurable and interminable. अपरिमेयाम् You cannot count how many fears are there.
And interminable. प्रलयान्ता उपाशितः The word प्रलय can be translated as death, or it can be translated as the end of material existence, when the universe shuts down. So, till that point, as long as existence is there, fear will be there.
So, in that sense, fear is co-eternal with existence. So, these three impurities, desire, the more we desire control, then if I am unable to control, there is fear. So, as I talk about the avoidable and unavoidable fears, if somebody is very attached to say cricket, and then they want their favourite team to win the cricket match, that is their desire.
And if that team doesn’t win, or is on the verge of losing, then that leads to either fear or anger. So, if the fear goes inwards, then people become paranoid, people get, when a few years ago, Sri Lanka lost the World Cup final against India, maybe nearly a decade ago, at that time, the number of people in Sri Lanka who committed suicide, just because their team lost the finals. So, here what has happened, that desire is so strong, and when the desire is not fulfilled, people go, what is the point of my living? The fear becomes so much, how can I live? Just end their life.
More commonly, people express, the frustration of desire, actually the possibility that my desire may not be fulfilled, that causes fear. When it becomes clear my desire is not going to be fulfilled, that comes out as anger. Suicide is actually not just an expression of frustration, it is an expression of frustrated anger directed towards oneself.
More often, people direct their frustrated anger outwards. So, people may destroy their television, or a particular player has played very badly, they may burn the effigies of that player. So, this is simply the flip side of the intense investment of consciousness that has happened because of desire.
So, for us, when we are trying to practise bhakti, we chant the holy names, we hear Krishna’s message, we worship the deities. The purpose of all this, ultimately, is to situate ourselves in the understanding that I am a servant of Krishna. Jiva krishna das, ei nishwas, kohle toh aara dukkha nahi.
Bhaktivinoda Thapura says that if we just get conviction that I am a servant of Krishna, then there will be no distress. Now, no distress does not mean that old age will not be there, disease will not be there, death will not be there, or the Tiruvannamalai Thap will not be there. It means that the distress that is avoidable in this world will not be there.
As devotees also, when we take up some responsibility, to some extent, that means we are taking up the role of being a control. If we are, say, managing a particular service, a particular department, our philosophy is we are not controllers. But when we have big festivals, one important department is crowd control.
So, we have to be controllers. So, actually, we may take up the role of being a controller. But if we have a fundamental identity and we have a functional identity.
A fundamental identity is that I am a servant of Krishna. From a functional perspective, okay, I may be a teacher, I may be a manager, I may be a commander, I may be a controller in various ways. So, to the extent, the whole process of bhakti is actually a process of moving from the functional identity to the fundamental identity.
Now, for moving from the functional, the functional identity is, okay, I am a man, I am an Indian, I am this, I am that. These are functional identities. And the functional identities are not to be rejected.
But they are to be connected with our pursuit for realising our fundamental identity. So, Arjuna is told by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, you are not the body, you are the soul. In, He says that you, you are not the body.
And yet in the next verse, Krishna refers to Arjuna with two designations that are related with the body. He says, So, if you are not the body, then how are you the son of Kunti? How are you the descendant of the Bharata dynasty? The fact is that the functional identity is not to be rejected. The functional identity is meant to be used to realise the fundamental identity.
So, Krishna is telling Arjuna that, yes, to act at the level of the soul is difficult. Because at the bodily level, pleasure and pain will come. So, when these come, tolerate it.
But tolerance is difficult. Yes, but you can do it because you are the son of a great woman. You are the descendant of a great dynasty.
So, use the functional identity to pursue the fundamental identity. So, we, if we are controllers, if we have a particular service, in that service, we may have to control. Now, we use that service.
We try to exert that control. But our purpose is not to identify ourselves as controllers. Our purpose is to realise ourselves as servants.
About 20-25 years ago, when I first started giving classes, one senior devotee gave me a series of guidelines of how to speak in public. And the last guideline was, depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared.
Depend on Krishna, but only after you have prepared. If, if I don’t prepare, and then I come for a class, I say, I am dependent on Krishna. That is not dependence.
That is irresponsibility. Now, when we are preparing for a class, what are we doing basically? We are actually trying to gain control of the knowledge that we have learned. Okay, I have learned this fact over here, this argument over here, this shloka over here, this example over here, this story over here.
Let me bring it all together. So, we are trying to gain control so that we can put it in an orderly perspective. And so, if we don’t gain that control, if we don’t take that control, we will not be able to do the service properly.
So, whether we may think of control sometimes in terms of external things or people we control, but there is internal control. Control of our thoughts, control of our thought flow, control of our attitudes. So, this kind of control is required.
But we are meant to use the control for serving the supreme control. In fact, we can see this paradox again in the idea that we are told that we are not the controllers. And yet we are told that we all have to develop self-control.
Now, if we are not controllers, then how can we control the self also? Now, the idea is we do have control. But whatever control we have, we want self-control so that we can surrender to the control of the supreme controller. We want self-control so that we can better serve Krishna.
We can surrender to the control of the supreme controller. And if we don’t have self-control, we will not be able to surrender to Krishna. So, for us self-control is like if we are driving a car, then at that time if we are driving some other senior devotee, we are taking them to a particular destination where they want to go.
Now, we are meant to serve. So, we want to take the car where they want us to take the car. But to take the car there, we have to be able to control the car.
Now, if we can’t control the car, instead of going to the destination, we will go to a ditch. So, we want control. We want control over the car so that we can serve.
So, like that Krishna is present in our hearts. And he is, the body is compared to a car. So, Yantra Rudhanimaya, we are situated on the body which is like a machine.
And Ishvara Sarvabhutana, that Lord who is the controller of all living beings, He is directing our wanderings. Brahmayan. Now, this word Brahmayan is interesting.
Prabhupada translates this as directing the wanderings. If you look at the Sanskrit, Brahman means to wander. And Brahmayan means to cause to wander.
So, Brahman is what I voluntarily do, wandering. Brahmayan means, so the Lord is causing the wandering of all living beings. There are many people in the West who argue that Indian thought is very fatalistic.
I was just in, I gave a talk in Yale University when I was in America. So, after that I was talking about science, spirituality and self-improvement. And one Muslim scholar of Islamic studies had come for the programme after that.
And he was asking this question that Indian system, Indian thought is very fatalistic. He said the caste system is all based on fatalism. That you are born in a particular position and that is the way you are going to live throughout your life.
And there is no scope for self-improvement or social improvement within the Indian thought system. Now, this is a misunderstanding. Complete misunderstanding.
It’s not the thought which we have in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhakti literature. It is not fatalistic. Fatalistic means, oh, actually everything is designed by God, nothing is in your control.
So, the first way we can respond if somebody says everything is designed, well, then you can ask, is your asking of this question designed? You know, you use your free will to ask this question. You could have chosen not to ask this question. So, everything is not designed.
Now, Brahman, what it actually means is interesting. So, if we take literally it means cause to wander. So, is Krishna causing the wandering of all living beings? Actually, it is our own desire.
The soul gets situated in material nature because of its own desire to enjoy material nature. So, when the soul is situated by its own desire, means good and bad in various species. So, it’s our desire which places us in material existence.
So, Brahman means that Krishna is not controlling, but he is not causing in the sense of being the primary cause. He is causing in the sense that he is the facilitator, he is the media who enables us to execute our desires. When we desire to wander, he allows us to wander.
And this is immediately evident if you look at the context. Because if Krishna is the absolute controller, he is the supreme controller, but he is not the absolute controller. Absolute controller would mean that we have no free will.
Everything about what we are doing is controlled. Now, he is the supreme controller who has given us a particular area of control. In which we exercise our free will.
So, that is evident from immediately the next verse. 18.62, 61 might give the idea that Krishna is causing our wandering, so we have no control. But 18.62 is, So, he is saying, therefore surrender to him.
Sarva bhavena bhavata, wholeheartedly, with all the emotion of your heart, just surrender to him. And, by his mercy, you will get the supreme peace. you will get the eternal destination.
See, the Bhagavad Gita has begun with Arjuna’s conflict about what is more important. Is Shanti more important or is Thana more important? Is peace more important? If he has to get peace, he can’t fight the war. But if he doesn’t fight the war, then he loses the territory.
He can’t have any kingdom to do his Kshatriya dharma. But if he wants the territory, he wants the Thana, then he will lose the Shanti. We have to fight the war.
Krishna is telling Arjuna over here, if you surrender to me, you surrender to the Supreme Lord in the hearts, then you will get both Shanti and Thana. Your situation, this or this, that will be resolved because you will get both. How? Ultimately, by raising to spiritual consciousness.
So, the point which I am making here is, in the flow of our thought is, that Krishna is telling Arjuna, you surrender. Now, surrender means that you must have free will. Otherwise, how can you surrender? When that becomes even more clear in the next verse, Therefore, deliberate and decide what you want to do.
So, do what you do. Krishna is saying, do as you desire. Do, that means, do means you have some free will with which you do.
So, essentially, when it is said that Krishna is causing the wandering of all living beings, going back to the earlier example of the car. So, Krishna is like a super soul sitting in the seat next to us in the car. And, if we want to go to a particular destination, Krishna provides us the car, that is, Krishna provides us the body.
Krishna provides us the intelligence in the subtle body, by which we can operate that body. And then, Krishna enables us to go wherever we want. So, in that sense, Krishna is the cause.
Without Krishna’s sanction, Upadrashtana Mantra, we would not be able to go anywhere. So, Krishna is causing our wandering in the sense that He is providing us the resources for wandering, if that is what we want. But then, Krishna is telling, you are in this car, use it to come to Me.
Tameva sharanam gaccha. Now, to go there, we have to have some control. So, going back, so the whole process of Bhakti, we talked about how this fire of Bhakti will free us from the impurities.
So, we as souls are like gold. We are parts of the all-attractive Supreme. We are also attractive.
But we are covered over by contaminations now. Contamination of fear, desire and anger. So, let’s understand these three in the context of this metaphor.
If I am driving a car, and I am, I meant there is somebody with me, who knows a good destination to go to. But if I have my own desire, now I want to go somewhere else. Then, although that person is present next to me, that person will not be able to take me to a good destination.
So, veet raag. Give up your own desire. That doesn’t mean there is no desire.
We have desire, but we use the desire to serve the desire of the Supreme Lord. Kaamam cha dasya, na tu kaama kaamaya. It is said about Ambarish Maharaj that he did not become a servant of his desires, but he made his desire his servant.
That means he considered himself a servant of the Lord, and he made his desire his servant. So, veet raag, baya. So, if while driving, suddenly I become fearful.
How will I be able to drive? There is so much traffic. This road has so many bends. This road is so slippery.
What if somebody comes propelling down and rams into my car? This is baya. Then, know that Krishna is in control. Do not be fearful.
Even if bad things happen, Krishna is in control and Krishna will bring good. Even out of the bad. So, if we think we are all alone in this world trying to drive a car, or trying to drive ourselves in this world, it is possible that when difficulties come, we will become fearful.
But, if instead of looking at the problem, looking at the danger, if we just turn towards Krishna and try to remember Him, then we will get relief. So, to the extent we look at the world and think we are all alone against this big bad world, there will be fear. But, to the extent we turn our consciousness towards Krishna, to that extent, we will get relief from fear.
During my recent US trip, when I was in Denver, I was flying from Denver back to Gainesville, and when I was going through the security check, at that time, suddenly, big alarm rang when my crutches were going through the security check. And it was like, within 10 seconds, almost like 50 security just swaggered on me. And, they just surrounded me from all sides and they said that, in your crutches, we have found an explosive.
Our alarm has detected the explosive. And, usually, I just arrive at the airport at the last moment. So, I was already a little late.
And they said, you know, we have to take you to a separate chamber. So, then they took the crutches and they said, because this explosive alarm has been detected, therefore, we will have to take you to this chamber and we will have to have a thorough body check. So, then they took me there and then they were trying to find out what is there.
So, they said, we will have to break the crutches. I said, if you break the crutches, how will I walk? He said, that is not my problem, that is your problem. So, I just didn’t know what to do at that time.
So, I was thinking, first, I was annoyed, irritated that I will miss the flight and how will I reach for, I had some programme in the next place, how will I reach for the programmes? But then, they said, we will have to break the crutches. And I started thinking, how will I move about? What will I do? So, then, as I was becoming panicky, suddenly, I like to recite Gita verses. Somehow, I started reciting these three verses, say, 18.61, 62 and 63.
So, just as Krishna is guiding all the mantras of all living beings, I just surrendered to Krishna. So, when I just recited this verse, Tameva sharanaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata tat prasādāt parāṁśyāntin sthānaṁ prāpsidhi śāśvatam I just suddenly experienced, I started thinking that, no, I am just travelling from one place to another, I am getting so worried. But as a soul, I have travelled through so many lifetimes.
And what control did I have at that time? Krishna guided me from one body to another. In this life also, so many places I have travelled. I am all alone, but Krishna has guided me.
Krishna has brought me this far. He will take me further also. He says, Krishna, whatever you want, I surrender.
And just as soon as I did that, immediately, another security person came and he said, why are you troubling him? He says, no, no, we detected this. Okay, you detected this. And he said, okay, these crutches are openable.
It is a simple thing, but when I got panicky, I also forgot that the crutches are openable. He said, you open the crutches. And they opened the crutches and they found there is something suspicious looking substance inside it.
So then they started putting in their probes and taking it out. And what actually was there, simply some mud was there. When I had gone, before going to America, when I had gone to Vrindavan, the rubber padding that was there below my crutches, that had come out.
And because of that, when the crutches were put on the ground of Vrindavan, some dust had gone inside there. So it was Vraja-Raja, which they considered as explosive. So then they removed the dust.
And he said, are you sure this is all that is there? He said, you can try removing everything. They said, they pulled out, pulled out, they saw nothing, there is dust over there. Then they fixed it up and they let me go.
So, although I missed that flight, somehow after 30 minutes there was another flight. And because it was not I who had been late, the security clearance had called them late, so they themselves arranged for another flight. So I reached just in time for my programme.
So that time it struck me that actually fear is unavoidable. Things can always go wrong. But to the extent we can remember that we are servants of Krishna.
Yes, we have to control, I have to get for a programme in time, I have to catch a flight, I have to go here, I have to go there. But if we remember that we are servants, then substantially the fear goes down. Because we see what is in our control.
And we leave that which is not in our control to Krishna. So when fear accelerates the imagination, at that time faith is the brake. We have to use faith as the brake.
And faith means the faith that Krishna is always in control and Krishna will bring good even out of the bad. So to the extent we can develop this faith, throughout the Bhagavatam if we see, it’s all about bad things happening to good people. The whole Bhagavatam is what? Parikshit Maharaj, small infraction, small mistake, big curse.
Chitraketu, just a small laugh and devastating curse. Similarly, we see again and again, Ajamil, just one misdirected glance and disaster because of that. Bharat Maharaj, just an attempt to save a deer and that led to disaster.
So quite often the Bhagavatam talks about, whether because of a small mistake or because of no mistake. Big bad things happen to people who are basically good. But the whole Bhagavatam shows how? By taking shelter of the Lord, ultimately good results.
Ultimately auspiciousness results. So the bhaya that comes upon us, when we feel that we are unable to control, that can be resolved when we look not just at what is not in our control, but look towards Krishna with the faith that he is in control. So in the materialistic conception of life, we have only two options.
Either things are in my control or things are not in my control. But in the spiritual understanding of life, things that are not in my control are in Krishna’s control. And things that are in my control are also by Krishna’s control.
If I’m able to do something right now, that is by Krishna’s mercy. So that way, if we have this understanding, then the krodha also, basically anger comes when we have the expectation that we should be able to control and somebody doesn’t fall in line. Then anger comes out.
But if you understand that Krishna is still in control, then we will channel the power of anger which is there constructively. Because sometimes we have to take disciplinary action against someone who is doing something wrong. But we will do it not in an unregulated excessive way, but we will be able to do it in a constructive positive way.
So the purification that is meant to come by the process of bhakti is that we become more and more situated in our role, as in our identity, fundamental identity as servants of Krishna. And to the extent we become situated in that, then the raga bhaya krodha, the desire, fear, anger, which are the impurities which misdirect our consciousness will go away. And we will become better and better connected with Krishna.
And in that stronger connection with Krishna, even in the here and now, we can experience higher satisfaction. We can experience higher joy. And ultimately, when we attain Krishna, in that time is param shanti and shashtasthana.
We get the supreme destination and the supreme peace. So I’ll summarise. I spoke today about how process of bhakti purifies us of our contaminations.
It’s like a fire, dhumaketu, a projectile of fire. Which cleanses us of impurities. We talked about what is impurities in terms of what is it that prevents our mind from focussing on Krishna.
That is the desire that I want to control. Fear, I’m unable to control. Or anger, why can’t I control? So I’ll destroy that which is out there.
So, fear is inevitable in material existence because we have a need to control. At the same time, we have an inability to control. And the need to control comes from our functional identity which brings with it certain responsibilities to execute which we need control.
But in these responsibilities, we often experience our limitedness and can’t control. So at that time, the process of bhakti is not meant to reject our functional identity but to use our functional identity to realise our fundamental identity. I act as a speaker, not so that I think that I’ll speak so well but so that I can serve Krishna and realise I’m a servant of Krishna.
I’m a manager, I’m a mother, whatever service I’m doing, I do it in the mood of service to Krishna. So if people who say that the Vedic literature are fatalistic saying that everything is in the control of God. Krishna is the supreme controller but he’s not the absolute controller in the sense that it is not that he has taken away our freedom.
The Vedic literature is not fatalistic because that same literature talks about what we are meant to do and how we are meant to do it. So to take the metaphor of a car, we can drive the car wherever we want but Krishna is there next to us in the car and if we drive where he wants us to drive, he will take us to the supreme destination. So we need to control the car so that we can take it where he wants.
So although we are not the supreme controllers, we are meant to have self-control so that we can drive the car. So if we act according to our own desire, we take it to some other destination. If we become paralysed by fear, we won’t move the car itself.
If we become angry, then we may cause damage to the car or whatever. But if we can get the conviction that Krishna is our greatest well-wisher, Krishna is the greatest source of peace and satisfaction. Krishna says, if you surrender to me, you will get both shanti and sthana.
You will get peace and you will get the supreme destination. So if we can get that conviction, then we will harmonise our desire with Krishna’s desire. And when fear comes, when we see that things are going out of control, if we remember that Krishna is still in control and Krishna will bring good even out of the bad, then we will not be overwhelmed by fear, but rather by coming to our position as servants of Krishna, we will be able to find a way out of that fearful situation.
And similarly, the frustration when it is expressed outward, the anger, that can also be overcome when we see that, ok, I am not able to control, but Krishna is still in control. This is the time when I have to renounce control. Sometimes when we exercise control for our service, and sometimes when things go beyond our control, we have to renounce control.
But Krishna will take care of things. So with this mode, when we reinforce our understanding that I am a servant of Krishna, situate ourselves in that role, then that understanding will burn away the impurities within us, by which we will all be able to move steadily towards Krishna. So today is the experience day of Lord Shri Das Thakur.
And he has described in his works, especially in Chaitanya Bhagavata how there is the ecstasy of surrender to Krishna. Bhakti is a relationship of ecstatic asymmetry. Normally people want, we want to be equals.
No, we want to be subordinate to Krishna. And the devotee who becomes subordinate to Krishna, he describes especially in Chaitanya Mangala how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is in ecstasy in the mood of servant of Krishna. And among the different biographies of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Chaitanya Mangala is most permeated with the Madhurya Ras.
And its description of how Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited intense emotions of ecstasy. And he also composed many wonderful songs, which Srila Prabhupada talked about in Vaishnava songs, that they can act as thunderbolts, also like fire, which can destroy the contaminations in our heart. And thus we can surrender more deeply to Krishna by becoming fixed in our position as His servants.
Srila Uchandas Thakur ki, Srila Prabhupada ki, Gaur Bhakta Binda ki, Dai Gaur Premanandai.