Are the five rasas progressive? What is the difference between rasa and bhava? Does rasa grow into bhava?

Question Are the five Rasa’s progressive? Rasa and Bhava are different And are Rasa and Bhava different? So does one progress from one Rasa to another Rasa as one advances spiritually? Answer The Rasa’s are progressive in terms of their own ontological status. Ontological status means their nature. Ontology refers to the nature of existence.
That means from the point of objective nature Madhurya Rasa is higher than Dasya Rasa or any of the previous Rasa’s. And Chaitanya Chaitanya Tamla describes how when Shanta Rasa is infused with the desire to serve, there is an addition to that, then it becomes Dasya. And Dasya is infused with the feeling of intimacy, of friendship then it becomes Sakya.
Then when Sakya is further infused with the feeling of the need to protect the Lord, then that becomes Vatsalya. And when Vatsalya is infused with desire for intimate relationship with the Lord, then that becomes Madhurya. So from the point of view of their own nature, there is progression in this.
So from the point of view of the seeker, is there progression? The Brihad Bhagavatam describes the story of Gopukumar who who went to different levels of spiritual perfection. He went to Vishnu in Vaikuntha, then he went to Ram in Ayodhya, then he went to Dwaraka, Krishna and finally he attained Rajya Krishna. And that’s where he was satisfied.
So this does indicate a spiritual progression to the highest level of perfection. The understanding here is that his Swaroopa was as a Gopa in the spiritual world. Now, the Gopukumar does not become a Gopi.
Although the Madhurya Bhava is higher than Sakya Bhava, the Gopukumar’s spiritual evolution doesn’t go to the Madhurya Bhava. Gopukumar and cowherd boy is the same? Gopukumar is a cowherd boy, yes. So, there is the story in a book called Brihad Bhagavatam by Prasanthana Goswami which describes how this boy who is a bhakta in the material world gets initiated from Narada Muni, gets initiated from his spiritual master and starts making spiritual growth.
And ultimately he returns back to the spiritual world. But he ultimately becomes a Gopukumar, he doesn’t become a Gopi. So, there is progressive spiritual evolution till we attain our Swarupa.
So, whatever our Swarupa is, so, if somebody’s Swarupa is in Dasya Bhava, that person will go from Shanta till Dasya and attain Dasya Bhava. Somebody’s Swarupa is Vatsalya Bhava, that person will attain Vatsalya Bhava. So, our natural spiritual desires will awaken as we become purified and those natural spiritual desires will be according to the rasa that we have originally.
Just like, if there is pathway for water, if there is flat surface and there is a groove in it, then water naturally flows according to the groove. So, similarly, when we become purified, our desires naturally flow according to whatever is our Swarupa eternally. So, is there progression in the five rasas? In terms of their own status, there is no progression.
Madhurya is higher than the lower Sakya, Dasya, Vatsalya, Madhurya like that. Sorry, Sakya, Dasya, Vatsalya, all of them are lower. But in terms of a soul, it is not that Hanumanji will sometime become Sita.
Hanumanji is eternally satisfied in Dasya rasa. Similarly, Sridhama, Sridhama, Madhumangal, all these Gopas, they are eternally satisfied in Sakya rasa. They do not desire to become Krishna’s parents or Krishna’s consorts.
So, that means, for a seeker, the seeker in the process of spiritual growth will progress till the point where the Swarupa is. Is initiation required? Yes, of course. Initiation is the beginning.
The spiritual master only gives us the Swarupa. No, that is, Bhaktivinoda Thakur describes in Jayava Dharma that it can happen that the spiritual master tells the seeker that this is the Swarupa and the disciple understands it. Or, in some cases, the spiritual master is not there also.
The spiritual master is apart from the world. So, then one can, as one progresses, one can get the Swarupa Siddhi oneself. One will get a mystical realization.
It is said, Gaurav Mishra was chanting Hare Krishna in Mayapur, in his Vajankote, and there is a place where he suddenly got Swarupa Siddhi. This is my Swarupa. That can also happen.
So, how the Swarupa Siddhi will come, that will vary from person to person. And it is not necessary that Swarupa Siddhi has to happen in this life itself. Even if Swarupa Siddhi does not happen, if our desire to serve Krishna is stronger than all other desires that we have, then that desire itself is enough to take us back to the spiritual world.
And eventually, during the journey back to the spiritual world, whatever else is there will be revealed. And Krishna will take care of us in the future. So… So, initiation is not the foremost criteria required for going back to Godhead? Initiation is the beginning.
Is there no chance of going back to Godhead? Is there no chance of going back to Godhead? It is not that Krishna is going to check somebody’s attendance at some ritual. Krishna is going to check the state of the heart. So, if somebody has developed love for Krishna, that person will definitely go back to Godhead.
Somebody is remembering Krishna with a loving attitude, that person will definitely go back to Godhead. But, the point is, how will that state of loving remembrance come about? Will it come automatically? It will come by the practice of committed devotional service. And initiation is the formalization of the commitment to practice devotional service.
So, one shouldn’t think that getting initiated is like a magic wand. That just by getting initiated I’ll go back to Godhead. And just because I’m not initiated there’s no chance for me to go back to Godhead.
We have to understand that what takes us back to Godhead is our loving devotion to Krishna, our remembrance of Krishna. And that comes by following a process. And that process Rupa Goswami describes, he says, in the 64 items of devotional service described in the Nectar of Devotion, he says that taking shelter of the Guru is the first among the 64 items of devotional service.
So, if we have not got initiated, we should not think that whatever I am doing is of no use. No. Whatever bhakti we are practicing, that is purifying us, that is awakening the soul.
And it is the process of bhakti itself that takes us back to Godhead. And initiation is the formalization of our commitment to practice bhakti. Yes, I will follow these principles.
I will practice bhakti lifetime. Formalize that. So, one extreme is to think that initiation is all important and the other extreme is to think that initiation is utterly unimportant.
Initiation is an important part of the process that helps us to develop love of God and that love of God is what takes us home back to Godhead. So, initiation is the beginning. It is an important step in the process and for most people initiation is essential.
There can be some exceptions of some great souls who may have been initiated by a spiritual master in a previous life. And just some small percentage of bhaktis remaining to be practiced. And this life itself, by their consciousness, by their behavior, you see that they are so devoted to Krishna.
And that small, the men practiced, they do in this life, they go back to Godhead. So, in principle, it is possible that somebody can go back to Godhead even without initiation. But in practice, we should not assume that we are among those exceptions.
So, Praviji, a person is initiated and he is not able to go back to Godhead in this lifetime and the next lifetime he practices again devotional service because Krishna is a devotee in his previous life. So, in the next life, he doesn’t need initiation. He can follow the So, if somebody has practiced God initiation in one life, then doesn’t that person need initiation in the next life? It is not safe for us to assume that we have been initiated in the previous life.
But in principle, the connection with Krishna has to be established. So, if all that I am saying over here is that if somebody exhibits very advanced devotion, then we should not think that Bhakti Devi Bhakti Devi is actually Swaraj. She is independent.
We should not think that Bhakti has to be limited to only the Ampradayas and only to the initiation in the Parampara. Bhakti Devi is Swaraj. She can give her mercy anywhere, to anyone.
And it is possible that she has given her mercy in her previous life and through initiation itself. And in this life, somebody can go back to Godhead. So, if somebody is… There are some children who are born in devotee families and since childhood, they have a great attraction to Krishna.
And, you know, since their childhood, they start memorizing verses, they start going down to Hades, their parents will treat them delightfully. And they are so attracted to Krishna. And sometimes, in some accident or something, they die at the age of 5 or 6 or 7. If they were so devoted to Krishna, is it necessary that just because they have not taken initiation, they will not go back to Godhead? No, we can’t say that.
So, we should not reduce Bhakti to rituals. But at the same time, we should not reject rituals for the sake of Bhakti, in the name of Bhakti. So, that balances the rituals, help us to develop Bhakti.
Not only Anarthani Vritti, Artha Pravritti also. Anarthani Vritti is giving up the negative. Artha Pravritti is developing the positive.
The rituals help us in developing the positive also. The commitment to chant a fixed number of rounds every day, that helps us in making our commitment to Bhakti serious. And that helps us to develop our attraction to Krishna.
So, both are important. Rituals are important and the essential Bhav is also important. So, by the practice of Bhakti, diligently, we will be able to advance and go back to Godhead.
Now, is the Bhav and Rasa different? The word Bhav has many different meanings. Bhav, at one level, means one of the stages of Bhakti. There is Vaidhi Bhakti, there is Bhav Bhakti and there is Prem Bhakti.
Bhav is also one of the stages of the nine stages of Bhakti. Before Prem comes, Bhav. Bhav comes after Rasa.
Only after developing Rasa, Bhav comes. I am telling you that the word Bhav has different meanings. So, in the Bhagavad Gita when Krishna uses the word Bhav, if you look at the dictionary, Bhav also means nature.
Bhav also means general emotion. So, there are words, the meanings of words are not frozen in different contexts. If you look in English, there is a word which has 373 meanings.
In Sanskrit, there is one word which has 1455 meanings. So, in technical context, certain words can have certain meanings. So, in a general sense, Bhav refers to emotion.
So, Dasya Bhav means just the mentality of service. In a technical sense, the way it is defined by Rupa Goswami, Bhav is one of the stages, the eighth among the nine stages of Bhakti. Bhav and Prema.
And, is there any relationship between Rasa and Bhava? No, the two are different things. It is not that Rasa grows into Bhava. Rasa is a particular, Rasa basically means emotion.
So, Shanta Rasa or Dasya Rasa, that is the eternal relationship. So, in Dasya Rasa, one will have Dasya Bhav. In Sakya Rasa, one will have Sakya Bhav.
So, Bhav is emotion. So, in a general sense, Bhav refers to emotion. So, when we say Dasya Bhav is common to all the five Rasas.
Even Yashodamayi has the mood of serving Krishna. Even when she is chasing Krishna to tie her up, she has the mood of serving Krishna. So, the serving mentality is common to all the Bhavas, also all the Rasas.
But, within a specific Rasa, there are specific emotions that come up. And, they may also be referred to as Bhava. So, the word Bhava can have different meanings.
the word at this level, when we talk about the seekers at our level, it primarily refers to the mentality of service. So, rather than bothering about what our eternal Swarupa is, what our Rasa is, right now, we focus on developing the service attitude. That is the Dasya Bhav.
So, now Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, Jivera Swaroop hoye, Krishna Nitya Das. So now, what if somebody’s Swaroopa is to be a Gopi? Gopi is also a Das. So, all of us are servants of Krishna.
And, the way we serve Krishna is different. So, the service attitude that we are all, that Dasya Bhav is common to all Rasas. And, that is what we focus on developing in our presence to give bhakti.
And then, gradually as Dasya Bhav develops more and more, then naturally, just as a flower blossoms, and then the colours that are there within it, the fragrance that is there, the shape that is there, all manifest. So, like that, the natural Swaroopa of the soul and its particular Rasa, its particular unique relationship with Krishna, all that manifests. So, we primarily focus on developing the Dasya Bhav, the service attitude right now.