CC daily 148 – M 6.212 – Ecstasy and sobriety are both meant for service

So please, prayers.

Thank you. Sthirahiya. Sthirahiya means then He became pacified, He became peaceful.

Bhattacharya bahustuti kahilam. Then He offered a lot of praise. So what this means is that actually Sarvam Bhattacharya is here demonstrating the principle of devotional reciprocation with the Lord.

Sarvam Bhattacharya, of course, is here transformed, dramatically transformed by the mercy of the Lord. And this dramatic transformation is what is fundamentally being demonstrated. So it is mentioned that Sarvam Bhattacharya was in great ecstasy, dancing, singing, crying.

And the last few verses are describing the exchanges between the devotees and Lord Chaitanya while Sarvam Bhattacharya was in ecstasy. So seeing Sarvam Bhattacharya in ecstasy, dancing, singing, Gopinath Acharya and the other devotees became very happy. And Gopinath Acharya credited Lord Chaitanya for this extraordinary success.

And Lord Chaitanya responded by saying that the credit goes to the devotees and to Lord Jagannath. And while this endearing exchange is happening, after this endearing exchange transpires, then Lord Chaitanya sees that Sarvabhauma is still in ecstasy, crying, dancing wildly. So he pacifies him.

But it's not specified exactly how Lord Chaitanya pacifies him. But Chaitanya, just by the same touch, the same embrace by which he had sent him into a rapture of ecstasy, by the same touch, by his words, by his glances, he has the potency to transport our consciousness. There is a transformation and there is transportation.

Normally transformation refers to change in a person, change within a substance or change in a person. Transportation refers more to relocation of a person, movement of a person or object from one place to another. So liberation, for example, is more a function of transformation than of transportation.

Some people think that liberation means going beyond this material world. Yes, that is true. No doubt about that.

To go beyond the material world to the spiritual world. But liberation is not just a function of that transportation. It is a function of transformation.

When our dispensation, when our disposition changes from negative to positive, when our dispensation changes from wanting to enjoy material things to wanting to love and serve the Lord, then at that time we naturally want to move onwards in our journey towards the Lord by focusing on the sincerity and intensity of devotion, of our devotion, of transformation of our heart. So here Lord Chaitanya is telling, Lord Chaitanya is by his glance, by his touch, by his words, whatever he is transporting, Sarobhama from his ecstatically enraptured consciousness, from his internal consciousness, he is bringing his consciousness back to this realm. And he brings Sarobhama's consciousness back to the external realm.

So Sarobhama becomes peaceful. So ecstasy is wonderful. At the same time, if we want to act in this world, if our service is in this world, then ecstasy has to be subordinated to and sobriety of consciousness has to be restored.

In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, there is the description of Lord Krishna's servants like Raktak. When they are fanning the Lord at that time, but beholding the beauty of the Lord, they feel such ecstasy that they start shedding tears. And when they shed tears, at that time, they just can't get away with it.

They just can't hold on to it in the sense that they can't serve the Lord properly. They can't see where is the Lord sitting, where should we fan properly. And so they feel, oh, this ecstasy is coming in the way of our service.

So let this ecstasy go away so that we can serve. Similarly here, Sarvabhauma, Lord Chaitanya, of course, is happy that Sarvabhauma is in ecstasy, but then for functioning at a practical level in this world, for acting, for reciprocating, for contributing, a person needs to be in a sober consciousness. So Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the bestower of ecstasy and is also the bestower of the return from ecstasy.

And in this context, he gets Sarvabhauma back from ecstasy. And when Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya becomes sober, then he offers various praises. Now there is, this is the second time Sarvabhauma is praising Lord Chaitanya.

First is, as soon as he had darshan of the Vishnu-Krishna forms of Lord Chaitanya, of the Vishnu-Krishna forms, which Lord Chaitanya revealed, at that time he offered the Shatashloka, which is known as Sarvabhauma Shatak also sometimes. And now again he is offering prayers. So essentially, the ecstasy of Bhakti is the ecstasy of loving reciprocation.

And that loving reciprocation can happen when the consciousness is transported. It can happen at other worldly level where the devotee is wildly dancing and singing and is reciprocating love with Krishna's devotees or with Krishna at another plane of consciousness. Or it can happen at this level where the devotee may act soberly and do various services, but even they are permeated with the ecstasy of Bhakti.

And either way, what is essentially required is the transformation of the heart, whereby one focuses on the reciprocation with the Lord and not the gratification of the senses with the objects of the world. Thank you.