RASA acronym for finding rasa in bhakti

Congregation Program at San Jose

RASA acronym: Redirection, Adaptation, Spiritualization, Appreciation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Om Bhishma Pahadaya, Krishna Prashtaya Bhutale, Shri Dev Bhakti Vedanta, Swami Nithyanandam. Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharini, Nirmishesha Shunyavadi, Ashakti Deshatarini, Vanchakam Pataru Vishya, Kripasindhu Kailvachar, Keetanam Pavanevi, Shri Vidhyo Namo Namaha.
Jai Shri Krishna Chaitanya, Bhool Tyananda, Shri Advaita Vedadhara, Kasadi Gaur Bhakta Binda. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna.
Yeah, it’s on, but we have to just keep it up. Okay, am I audible now, do you think? Okay, thank you. So, I’m happy to be here with all of you.
Sayonara, all of you under the expert care of Bhai Jaya Chitrakoot. Proud to serve in my small way, by speaking on the topic of rasa. So, appreciating rasa in Krishna Bhakti.
So, I’ll talk about this topic in four parts, which will be centred on the acronym rasa. RASA is a concept, I’m also using that as an acronym, so R-A-S-A, so redirection, appreciation, redirection, adaptation, spiritualization and appreciation. Now, redirection, the whole process of modern society runs on exploiting people’s emotions, runs on exploiting people’s emotions, we are all emotional beings, we are of course rational creatures, but our rationality is often subordinated to our emotionality.
If you look at the history of advertising, say before the turn of the century, before 1920, the advertisement was there, after industrialisation happened, advertisements started happening. Now, advertisements are so common that we may not even think that there was a time when people lived without advertisements, but for thousands of years people lived without them. So it was only when goods were mass produced that they needed to be aggressively marketed.
So, till around 1920, 1930, the advertisements were based on describing the merits of the product. And based on describing the merits, the idea of this product is so good, therefore purchase it. So they were appealing to the intelligence.
And towards the start of the last century was Sigmund Freud, he is considered by many the father of modern psychology. So he had many strange ideas, but along with that, he got some good insights also. So one of his insights was that we are rational creatures, but our rationality is like a small canoe, a small wooden structure without any walls, just a small canoe atop a turbulent ocean.
And that turbulent ocean is comprised of the waters and waves of our irrational emotions. That means we have rationality, but a small canoe, what can it do if the ocean becomes turbulent? So like that our rationality cannot protect us if the irrational emotions get triggered. And his theory was that whenever great wars have happened, whenever man-made disasters have occurred, at that time people have triggered, people’s irrational emotions have been triggered.
So his idea is valid from the Vedic perspective. When Shri Prabhupada went to America, when he was in Boston fire, the first thing he said is, rajas tamo gunaera sabaiyachana. He said this is Ugrasthan.
Now few Indians will see America and say this is Ugrasthan. This is a wonderful stand people will say. So Prabhupada said Ugrasthan.
What was the Ugrata? He said this is covered with the modes of passion and ignorance. So passion and ignorance are like that ocean of irrational emotions filled with turbulent waves. And the sattva is like the canoe.
So now few decades, few years after Freud came up with these ideas and populated them, popularised them. So the advertising industry picked up those ideas. And they said that if you want to sell our products, trying to make people see the merits of our product, by that we cannot captivate people as much as if we can make them, may captivate them emotionally.
So instead of telling consumers how good our products are, advertisements started focussing on how good the products will make them feel. So the products became not about facts, advertisements became not about the facts of the products, facts about the products, but about the feelings of the consumers. So for example, by 1927-28, the tobacco industry produced cigarettes.
They realised that their market had come more or less to a peak because all men wealthy enough to purchase cigarettes, they are purchasing. So then one of them, some of them, they got a brain wave. Actually 50% of humanity is not yet marketed.
So now traditionally cigarettes were portrayed as the signs of masculinity. And that’s why it is socially considered not very, it is somewhat taboo for women to smoke. But then they made in 1929 in the Independence Day march in America at various places, they had some of the most popular female icons whip out at the most photogenic moments, when the TV cameras, when the video cameras were all there, they all whipped out, they specially made thin cigarettes and they all lit it.
They said we are lighting the torches of freedom. Now that was the time when the suffragette movement was gaining momentum and women were feeling we have been exploited, dominated for centuries. Now we want to be free.
And the idea of freedom captivated the imagination so much that practically no one asked the question how lighting a cigarette will lead to freedom. Just call that a torch of freedom and within a decade, millions of women started smoking. So only much later that the harms of smoking came into light and especially the harms of smoking for women and especially the harms of smoking of a woman who are pregnant.
So all that came later. So today if you see most advertisements are about making, manipulating people’s feelings. So I was going to my airport, I was at the Calcutta airport waiting to clear and I saw an advertisement of a famous well-known Bollywood star.
There was a young man who was walking along and this Bollywood star comes from the opposite side and there is a bevvy of young good looking girls. They all squeal and run to this Bollywood star and they hug him and kiss him and they ooh and aah over him. And this young man is thinking, oh nobody notices me at all.
And then this Bollywood star comes along and he tells him, I’ll tell you my secret. My secret is some hair shampoo from Fair and Handsome or something like that. And now, there’s a text on this.
This young man comes with his, applying Fair and Handsome apparently and then when he comes in, again all the girls come rushing to him. Now such an advertisement is actually an insult to both male and female intelligence. You know, to say that women will fall for a man just because he’s applied a shampoo.
It’s an insult to female intelligence. And to say that men will believe such fairy tales, that is an insult to male intelligence. But somehow, our society is so sex centred that anything that is even claimed to improve one’s sex appeal, people get so captivated by that, that those irrational emotions just sweep away any rational intelligence that is there.
So essentially, the point I’m making is we live in a society which is filled with exploitation of our emotions. For one’s own purposes. And emotions are a natural part of our very being.
So when people’s emotions lead them astray, when people’s emotions get them into trouble, one reaction is to try to deny one’s emotionality itself. And that is why forms of spirituality which focus more on the pacification of emotions, on the suppression of emotions, such as impersonalism or even Buddhism, they have become popular. Because people see that their own emotions, whether triggered internally or triggered externally, often agitate them.
Get them into trouble. If I can just become peaceful, if I can just become calm, if I can just become free from this pull of emotions, then I will be okay. Do I need to repeat or will you be able to hear? So if I can just become peaceful, then I’ll be free from a lot of trouble.
So to some extent, it is true that our emotions get us into trouble. But bhakti tells us that emotions are also, emotions can be the way to trouble, but emotions can also be the way out of trouble. We are meant to redirect our emotions, not eliminate our emotions, not remove our emotions.
In the Ramayana, when Ram, Lakshman and Sita are in the forest in Chitrakoot, they are on top of a hill, and they hear suddenly a loud noise. And they see there that an army is coming. And Lakshman climbs up a tree and from there he sees it’s Bharat’s army.
And then he suddenly gets angry and says, this Bharat, he must have come to kill you now, to finish the work which his mother has started. But he doesn’t know that I am there, I will kill him and I will kill all those who have come with him today. He just vents out a fury.
And Ram just smiles and says, Oh Lakshman, why have you become so angry with Bharat? Is it that he has offended you in any way? Or is it that in a spur of emotion, you decided to come with me to the forest? And now that you are seeing the reality of the austerity in the forest, you are regretting your hasty decision. And now you are thinking that Bharat is enjoying in the palace. And because of that you are getting angry with him.
If that is the case, now Lakshman, slowly each word of Ram is like a pin deflating the balloon of his anger. And as it goes on and on, finally Ram puts out a last word. He says, if that is the case, if you are fed up with the austerity of the forest, he says, I will tell Bharat to stay in your place and you can go and live in the palace.
So, that time Lakshman becomes completely silent. And then when he sees how much the selfless love of Bharat, that he is begging to Ram to take a kingdom. Now, I have written several articles on the Ramayana.
It is on my website. So, one article about that meeting between Lakshman, between Bharat and Ram. So, I gave the title for that article as A Succession Conflict Caused by Selflessness.
Normally, succession conflicts happen when a patriarch dies, when a father dies. A succession conflict is because both, all the successors are selfish. But here both are selfless.
You take the kingdom, you take the kingdom. So, anyway, so then when he sees finally how Bharat takes Ram’s paduka. Today if one brother gave his slippers to another brother, the other brother would probably bang his head with the slippers.
So, he takes the slippers and goes and he is completely embarrassed with his anger. And then he asks Ram, Oh Ram, why do I get angry so quickly? So, then Ram says that, Lakshman, you are sentimental. You are emotional.
So, then Lakshman gets perplexed. He says, are sentiments bad? He says, no, sentiments are not bad, but sentiments are the ornaments of life. Sentiments are what give beauty to life.
But we should choose those sentiments that take us towards dharma and reject those sentiments that take us away from dharma. So, we cannot live without sentiments, but we choose sentiments that elevate us and reject sentiments that degrade us. So, bhakti tells us how to trigger the elevating sentiments within us, how to activate those sentiments which will lift us higher.
So, when we practise bhakti, when we sing kirtans, when we take darshan, at that time we do feel higher emotions and those higher emotions are meant to be nourished and they are meant to be strengthened. So, the whole process of bhakti is of redirection of emotions. Redirection.
So, emotions are presently directed primarily, if not entirely, towards worldly things. So, we want to redirect our emotions towards Krishna. So, Prabhupada at different times gives different definitions of Krishna Consciousness.
One definition he gives is that Krishna Consciousness means to desire everything for Krishna. To desire everything for Krishna. So, a devotee sees a magnificent building and he says, Oh, if here we could have Krishna’s temple, we could have programme about Krishna’s glories, here we could distribute books about Krishna, here we could share Krishna’s essence, it would be so wonderful.
So, a devotee tries to connect everything with Krishna. So, that is redirection of our emotions. Now, A is Adaptation.
Adaptation, I will take a little historical detour over here to explain what I mean by adaptation. We generally talk about the word rasa in the context of bhakti. Sometimes when we feel very dry and dull in bhakti, Oh, I am getting no rasa in my japa.
Sometimes we take out the beads from the bead bag, mala is not getting over on me. So, you know, has somebody put 1000 beads in my japa? So, this is… We don’t get any rasa. So, we use the word rasa primarily to refer to some spiritual emotion.
It is true, but the word rasa has a technical meaning also. Probably most of us before we were introduced to bhakti, the only time we heard of rasa might have been amras, ganna ras, you know, sugarcane juice, rasna, sugarcane juice, mango juice, something like that. So, the word rasa, rasa means essentially, in the Indian tradition, just as there is bhakti yoga, just as we know there are various traditions that were there.
There is a yoga tradition, there is the jnana tradition, there is the bhakti tradition. So, like that, there has been a well-developed rasa tradition. And what was this rasa tradition? This is described by Bharat Muni in his book called Natya Shastra.
And in Natya Shastra, it describes that one time the sages desired for the devatas, they desired some form of uplifting entertainment. And then they went to Brahma. And Brahma told them about Natya.
Now, we also many times, we may see dramas, we may do dramas, and that is good. But Natya, drama in the Vedic context was a fully developed school of art. In fact, now also the study of drama is called as dramaturgy.
So, Vedic dramaturgy is described in Natya Shastra. And there, in Natya Shastra, Bharat Muni describes that when certain stimuli are provided in a drama, then certain emotions are evoked in the audience. At a simple level, sometimes you may see this in comedy shows.
So, somebody does some joke, and sometimes in the comedy shows, there is a background soundtrack of laughter. So, the idea is that for main action of comedy, along with the background soundtrack of laughter, both combine together to evoke the haasya rasa, the emotion of humour in the audience. So, that principle is something which is understood even in today’s, even the advertisements are also trying to evoke some emotions within us.
But Natya Shastra means that there is a whole analysis, systematic analysis of what kind of stimuli will awaken what kind of emotions. Now, by the time Vishwachandra Mahaprabhu appeared in 15th-16th century, at that time, Natya Shastra had become immensely popular. So, there was, after Bharat Muni, he is the primaeval founder, but after that there were many other authors.
We have Vishwanath Chakraborty Thakur, there is another Vishwanath before him. Many other authors who expounded on the concept of Natya and on the concept of rasa. But their idea till then, the concept of rasa was used primarily to talk about emotions in a dramatic theatre.
So, how should a person dress? This is actually a technical field. I will not go too much into this. If any of you have read Bhakti Rasamritsundu, Nectar of Devotion, you may have heard of these terms like Vyabhicari Bhav, Thayi Bhav.
So, all these Bhavs, without going into technicalities of these Bhavs, I will explain simply. What the Natya Shastra states is that when a drama is being performed, so there are players, there are players who are performing the drama, there is the setting. Then there are the actions that are done by the players.
And there are changes that happen in the setting. And all these four combine together to evoke emotions in the audience. The setting, the players, the emotions, the actions, gestures of the players and the changes in the setting.
So, for example, say suppose somebody wants to evoke the rasa of bhibats, bhayanak, fear, horror. Then suppose there is a horror movie. There is a creepy sort of setting where there is a tree with all the leaves have fallen off.
It’s a deserted bungalow. And suddenly the window opens on its own and then you hear some mysterious laughter. And there is laughter but people get a tremble because of that.
So these are basically changes in the setting or changes in the players. So now in this way different emotions can be evoked. Now Rupa Goswami, he saw that this rasa shastra, this concept of rasa has become very popular.
And he, based on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s guidance, he decided that bhakti, the wisdom of bhakti can be presented through this. The acharyas are always looking for opportunities. Now looking for opportunities to present the timeless wisdom in timely ways.
The timeless has to be presented but it has to be presented in timely ways. And to the extent there is timely presentation, to that extent it becomes intelligible and relishable for people. People can understand it and people can delight in it.
So we have Prabhupada where say Rupa Goswami came when that was the age of rasa. Prabhupada came when it was the age of LSD. So when Prabhupada was asked what is Vaikuntha like? Prabhupada told him, Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD.
But the point is that when scripture is to be taught, the point is not just to get it right. The point is to get it across. The point is to get it across.
The message has to go through. And that is what Rupa Goswami did at his time. So if you see, in the writings of the previous acharyas before Rupa Goswami, whether in Ramanuja or Madhava, they don’t talk about rasa in relationship with bhakti so much.
Now there are two different things over here. One is the emotion of bhakti that many acharyas have experienced. And what to speak of acharyas, there are saints across various traditions who have experienced the emotion of bhakti.
But the explanation of that emotion in terms of rasa, in terms of the rasa theory, that is done for the first time by the Gaudiya Vishnu Sampradaya, by Rupa Goswami. So what Rupa Goswami explains, his first book is Patrasamritsindo and the advanced book is Ujjvalilamani. Ujjvalilamani is all about the Madhuri rasa, past times between Krishna and the Gopis.
And essentially, the whole book is an explanation of how a devotee sadhaka can stimulate spiritual emotions through exposing oneself to appropriate stimuli. So just as in a drama, when appropriate stimuli are provided, then say humour or fear or horror will be evoked. So similarly, Rupa Goswami explains that if a devotee exposes oneself to appropriate stimuli, that can evoke bhakti rasa.
Now the difference, so Rupa Goswami takes the same structure of the rasa theory that has been given by Bharat Muni, that has been developed by subsequent thinkers. But he, whereas earlier rasa theory was primarily about drama, now he explains rasa in terms of the relationship between the soul and the Supreme. So whereas rasa in Natya Shastra can be experienced when a person is watching a drama, a devotee can experience rasa as a fact of life, as a constant reality.
Because a devotee can actually see Krishna, see things that remind him of Krishna, and thus become spiritually stimulated. So if we see, for example, I’ll give two examples to illustrate this. Now, Mother Yashoda has great devotion for Krishna, has great love for Krishna, great affection for Krishna.
But when at the end of the day, when Krishna comes back from the forest, at that time, all the brajavasis, as the sun starts going its downward journey, all the brajavasis are repeatedly peering out on the footpath. When is Krishna going to come? And as they’re watching, awaiting, longing, the first thing that they see is a dust cloud. Because all the cows are coming back with their feet, who are raising a dust cloud.
And through the dust cloud, they slowly start seeing the cows coming. And then they see behind the cows, there are the gopas. And then behind the gopas, at the last, Krishna is there waiting to check, is there any cow left anywhere else? All the cows and he’s coming back.
Now, Yashoda Mai, she’s Krishna’s mother, so she comes right out, eagerly waiting for Krishna. The young gopis, Radharani, Chandravali, Lalita, Abhishekha, they cannot come out publicly, so they go on the terrace of their houses. And there, they wait.
And from there, they’re beholding Krishna. And when Krishna sees, all the gopis are waiting for him to come back. So he has Shudama on one side, he has Madhumangala on the other side, and he has Balram with him.
Now Krishna, when all the young gopis are there above, he feels shy to reciprocate with them and Balram is present. So, he everyday finds an excuse to make Balram go away. And then, he reciprocates loving glances with all the gopis and then finally goes inside.
Now, when Mother Yashoda sees Krishna coming, at that time, the sight of Krishna, there is already affection within her heart, but the sight of Krishna is what Rupa Goswami calls the Uddhipan. Uddhipan means something that stimulates spiritual emotion. So, Alamban are the players.
So, Krishna in this case is the Alamban, the conscious person who stimulates the emotion, that is the Alamban. There is a change in the setting that further intensifies the emotion is called as the Uddhipan. So, when Krishna comes in, at that time, when we feel some emotion, there are certain conscious actions that we do and there are certain subconscious actions that automatically happen.
So, for example, when Mother Yashoda sees Krishna, her hands go out, she opens her arms for Krishna to embrace and she is quite much taller than Krishna. So, automatically, her knees bend down, she comes to her knees and Krishna rushes into her embrace and they hug each other. So, now, this is an action that enhances the emotion.
So, the emotion is there, the perception stimulates the emotion. Oh, I have seen Krishna. And then further, when Yashoda opens her arms, bends down and hugs Krishna and Krishna runs into her embrace, into her arms.
So, all this intensifies the emotion further. Now, what Rupa Goswami explains is that just as in Krishna Leela, there are certain stimuli which can intensify the emotions. Similarly, in the life of a sadhaka, if that sadhaka exposes oneself to the appropriate uddhipana, then spiritual emotion can be awakened even in the sadhaka.
So, the whole Bhakti as Amrit Sindhu, that book’s focus or purpose is to awaken spiritual emotion within the sadhaka. And what Rupa Goswami has done is, he has adapted the rasa theory. Adaptation means you take something but we change something also.
So, he takes the structure of the rasa theory but he replaces its secular, dramatic content with a devotional content centred on Krishna. Then S, we are discussing the acronym rasa, R-A-S-A. So, S is spiritualization.
So, spiritualization means there are, if we look at our emotions, sometimes we classify our emotions as material and spiritual. That is a fair enough classification but that is not always a complete classification. In the sense that we think that material is to be rejected and spiritual is to be accepted.
That is true but we cannot have a very superficial understanding of what material means. As long as we have a body, we have to take care of the body. So, is anything that is related with the body entirely material? And is everything connected with the body to be rejected? Not necessarily.
Now, even in the material, we can divide the material into three things. There is pro-devotional, there is non-devotional and there is anti-devotional. So, that means, for example, say somebody can sing nicely and that person hears music or sings songs, strong emotions come.
This ability, this inclination, this can be used in bhakti. So, it is not necessary that whatever abilities we have and now if somebody is singing should one worry that if I sing then I will become proud that I am such a good singer and therefore better let me not become proud so I will not sing. Actually, this argument sometimes devotees may use this but this argument is based on a misconception.
First misconception is that first people think that I will become proud. That means I am not yet proud. So, it is not actually speaking you know, it is pride is already there in our heart.
If we are able to do something wonderful then we get a reason to express that pride. It is not that at that time you become proud. I hope the difference is clear.
If it is, when I am able to do something wonderful then if I have not done anything if I become proud people will say I am a fool. So, I have no reason to be proud. But if I do something wonderful then doing wonderful things makes me proud rather doing wonderful things gives me reasons to express my pride.
So, now if thinking that maybe doing some service nicely will make me proud so I should not do that service by doing this the pride will not go away. The pride is still there in the heart. And that pride will express itself in an ugly way as envy for those who are doing something wonderful.
So, if I don’t sing nicely and somebody else sings nicely and others praise that devotee he or she sings so nicely he is singing only for this praise. So, the cure for pride is not separation of talent. The cure for pride is purification of intent.
It is not separation of talent. So, if I say that when I sing I will become proud. No.
That is a perspective where we are not seeing the ability’s potential to connect us with Krishna and the ability’s potential to connect others with Krishna. So, even if a devotee is going to become proud still we are doing service to Krishna and that service to Krishna will purify us. If I don’t serve Krishna by singing when I have the ability to sing then I am not doing anything to remove the pride.
What we are going to remove the pride is the contact with Krishna. So, it’s like if this is the circle of Krishna Bhakti and this is the circle of what we like to do, what we are talented at doing the whole principle of Varnashram is to situate people in the intersection. The intersection of what is spiritual and the intersection of the circle of what is spiritual and of what is materially harmonious for certain people.
So, Brahmana likes to study. Now, Brahmana can study various subjects but Varnashram means one can study those things which are connected with spiritual truth which are connected with Krishna, which are connected with Atma Tattva. So, spiritualization of emotions means or spiritualization, earlier I talked about redirection and adaptation.
So, redirection means we try to evoke emotions directly in connection with Krishna. That means when we hear Krishna’s pastimes, when we take darshan, when we hear kirtan directly devotional activities stimulate certain emotions within us. But in our sadhaka stage we cannot do directly devotional activities constantly.
So, at that time we need to spiritualise our remaining activities. So, that’s why I said what we call as material that material we can divide into pro-devotional, non-devotional and anti-devotional. So, pro-devotional means that which can be used in bhakti.
And there are some things which may not be directly connected with Krishna, may not be directly connected with bhakti but they are not non-devotional. They are not against devotion directly. So, those we can do if we have to do.
We don’t have to spend too much time and energy on that. But that is not something which is necessarily wrong or sinful. When I talk about anti-devotional that means things which involve breaking of the regulatory principles and there are so many kinds of indulgences which go on in materialistic society.
That we need to participate. Bhaktivinoda Thakur in the Chaitanya Shikshamrith explains that devotees it’s like a Chaitanya Shikshamrith and Jaiva Dharma are very beautiful and important books by Bhaktivinoda Thakur about how a sadhaka should live one’s life. There he says that a devotee can participate in three different kinds of festivals.
Devotee’s heart is for directly Vaishnava festivals. Where the lord is being glorified. And that is where the devotee should spend maximum time, maximum energy, invest maximum emotion.
But along with that there can be some social festivals which promote some good values in society. So, it’s not that a devotee has to necessarily give up these festivals. So, depending on time, place, circumstance, these are festivals that a devotee can participate in.
And then he raises the question, if there is some worship of demigods, should a devotee participate in that or not? So, actually speaking, a devotee doesn’t need to participate in demigod festivals. So, before that I’ll give you an example of the second. Say, where there are festivals that promote good values.
Now, I answer questions on my website. So, recently I was asked this question, now can devotees celebrate the festival of Rakshabandhan? Now, Rakshabandhan is a festival when a sister ties a Rakhi. What do you call Rakhi in English? I would call it… Wristband.
Wristband. It’s such a… It’s such a dramatically different image that comes up when you talk about wristband as compared to compared to when we use when we use Rakhi. So, most of you know what Rakhi means.
So, Rakshabandhan is basically when a sister ties a wristband. And that indicates their bond of affection. So, the brother promises to protect the sister.
So now, this is a quite widely celebrated festival in India and so this question comes up, should devotees celebrate it? Now, first of all, there is nothing anti-demotional about it. We are not meant to become hard-hearted or insensitive in our relationship with others. The whole principle of Bhakti is not that we reject worldly relationships, but that we don’t restrict our relationships to only worldly relationships.
So, that we have to reject worldly relationships but we don’t restrict our relationships to only worldly relationships. Now, we have a vertical relationship with Krishna and we have a horizontal relationship with others. The idea of situation is where our horizontal relationships and our vertical relationships, our vertical relationship is symbiotic.
Where our devotion to Krishna inspires us to become more tolerant, more sensitive, more helpful in our horizontal relationships and if our horizontal relationships are also with those devoted to Krishna, then that inspires us in our vertical relationships. Now, there is some horizontal relationships may not directly contribute to a spiritual relationship, but that doesn’t mean that we have to reject those relationships, we just have to reposition them so that they don’t interfere with our vertical relationship with Krishna. So now, Raksha Bandhan is a good festival in which the sister brother’s bond is sanctified and if there’s a culture where one celebrates it for a long time, just because one has become a devotee, one stops celebrating it, it can alienate one’s relatives, it can hurt people and we don’t need to do that.
Actually, if you go back further, some people say that Draupadi tied a Raksha Bandhan Rakhi to Krishna. Now, there’s no mention of this in the Mahabharata, so I wouldn’t use that as a substantiation for that. So, Raksha Bandhan as far as we know, it’s not a spiritual festival, although in one of the Goswami literature, it is mentioned that in Vrindavan, the devotees celebrated Raksha Bandhan.
So, again, that could refer to that even at that time, the Raksha Bandhan celebration was celebrated, but what is the significance of that, whether there is some divine brother sister who celebrated that, we don’t know. So, even if there is no spiritual import to it, still, it is a festival which is conducive towards human values, so good values, sattvic values, so definitely devotees can celebrate that. So, the point I’m making is there is non-devotional, sorry, pro-devotional, non-devotional, anti-devotional.
So, anti-devotional is something which we need to stay away from. And even if devotees may not go for festivals where the devatas are being worshipped, but it’s not that we have to be deliberately disrespectful or insensitive. Now, even it is described in the, if at all we have, because of family tradition, we need to go where sometimes some puja of the devatas is being done, so at that time, we can consider devatas to be actually servants of Krishna and meditate on them accordingly.
Others may be worshipping them in a different mode, but we can worship them like that. Vishwanath Chakravarth Thakur explains in his fourth canto commentary that when Prithu Maharaj was performing yajna, so when he was the king and he was expected to perform yajna, so at that time, he would perform yajna, he would have to offer aahuti to the devatas also, but internally, externally he was chanting the mantras for offering aahuti to the devatas, but internally, he was meditating that all devatas are the limbs of the body of the Supreme Lord and therefore, what I am offering is being offered to the Supreme Lord. So, we don’t have to go about promoting the puja of the devatas, but we don’t have to go about disrupting that puja.
That is what is being done traditionally and we need to be sensitive. So, we cannot, by living in this world, we cannot have a rigid spiritual material division. We have to see what in the material, what is dotable with Krishna bhakti and what is not.
This is spiritualization. So, when we are doing directly devotional activities through our sadhana, through coming to temples, through coming to satsang, to participating in kirtans, that is good, but to sustain those directly spiritual stimuli, along with that, we need to spiritualise the rest of our life also. Otherwise, if our rest of life is just entirely like materialists or largely like materialists, then whatever spiritual warmth we might get by coming in the association of devotees, that will be doused.
Those flames will get extinguished by going in the association of non-devotees. So, we need to, as much as possible, spiritualise the rest of our life also. And then last A is, as I said, adoration, attraction, appreciation.
They are all same point in different degrees. The whole principle of spiritual advancement is increasing appreciation. That means, when we take darshan of the deities and say a pure devotee takes darshan of deities, both are seeing the same deities, but they are not seeing the same thing.
The difference is, there is far greater appreciation. We chant the same holy names, advanced devotees, not that they are chanting some secret mantra that they have not revealed to us. No, they are chanting the same holy names.
But what is the difference is that appreciation has increased. In the Bhagavad Gita, 6th chapter, 20 to 23 verses, Krishna talks about the state of samadhi. And there he says, yam labdhva cha param labham manyate na adhikam tatha yasmin sthito na dukhena gurunapi vichalyate He says, yam labdhva, having attained this, cha param labham, that there is something more to attain, manyate na adhikam tatha.
The yogi thinks that having attained this, there is nothing more to be attained. And yasmin sthito, if one is situated like this, na dukhena. Even if there is a great misery, na vichalyate, one will not be agitated, one will not be disturbed.
So here, Krishna uses the word manyate. The yogi thinks that there is no greater gain than this. Now normally, in our conversational sense, when you say, I think like this, he thinks like that.
Now that thinking is used to bring in an element of subjectivity and relativity. You think like this, maybe it is not like that, it is just your thinking that it is like that. So material subjectivity implies that something may not be true.
This is your subjective observation, this is my subjective observation. Sometimes people say, okay, we agree to disagree. So there is no solution to this issue, we just agree to disagree.
Now in the spiritual circles, also there is transcendental subjectivity. Transcendental subjectivity means that there can be different pure devotees and they may see the same absolute truth differently. So for example, there is a book called Brihadbhagavatamrita, written by Saravan Goswami, which describes the levels of the spiritual world.
It is Gopakumar who goes from the world to the spiritual world. So he goes through various stages, he goes to Vaikuntha, he goes to Ayodhya, he goes to Dvaraka, and ultimately that is Goloka. Now through this trajectory of the Gopakumar’s elevation, Goswamis are trying to show how Krishna in Vrindavan is the highest manifestation of the absolute truth.
Krishna in Vrindavan is Rasa Raj, is Rasa Shiromani. But still, they are so sensitive over there. Now when this Gopakumar, while going to the spiritual world, he goes to Vaikuntha.
At that time, he sees that there in Vaikuntha, all the Vaikuntha Vasis think that Vishnu is the highest absolute truth. And they think that Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu. They think that Krishna is an expansion of Vishnu.
And now, it is not that the Goswamis immediately say, they think like this but they are wrong. There is no reason like that. There is no attempt to correct them over there.
That is a matter of Rasa. And for them, in Vaikuntha, they relish Vishnu, Vishnu, Narayana the most. And that’s wonderful.
It’s wonderful. Sometimes we think, yes, we Gaudiya Vaishtas are going to Goloka, Vaikuntha. We think, that is like my backyard, you know.
Actually, Vaikuntha is also the spiritual world. It is the highest spiritual world. It is the highest, you understand, it is a part of the highest reality.
So, similarly, say when this Gopakumar goes to Ayodhya, the devotees of Ram and Ayodhya think that Ram is the highest absolute truth. And there is nothing wrong in this because in the spiritual realm, the transcendental subjectivity actually enhances the Rasa. It enhances the Rasa.
So, when here it is said in the Bhagavad Gita, that having attained this, there is nothing more to attain. Then the Yogi feels this. See, the material world, no matter how much we have attained, we always feel there is more to attain.
If I have attained this much wealth, I have to attain this much more wealth. If I am wealthy, okay, if I am wealthy, I want to become the wealthiest person in my family. Wealthiest person in my family, then I want to become the wealthiest person in my caste or my community.
Then I want to become the wealthiest person in my county. Then I want to become the wealthiest person in my country. Then I want to become the wealthiest person in the world.
Then I want to become the wealthiest person in the history of the world. By that time, I become history. In material life, there is nothing more I want to achieve.
So, whereas, when a devotee realises Krishna, there is nothing other than Krishna I want to achieve. Yes, the devotee still wants to go deeper and deeper into Krishna, relish Krishna more and more. But there is nothing other than Krishna that a devotee wants to achieve.
So, this appreciation of what we have got, that is very important for us to steadily grow in our bhakti. Now, at our stage, what would that appreciation mean? All of us have, sometime or the other, experienced some spiritual emotions. Maybe during some festival, during some Katha, during some Kirtan, during some Yatra, we experience some spiritual emotions.
Now, those spiritual emotions, they are glimpses of what awaits us ahead. And we need to appreciate and cherish those emotions. Unfortunately, our mind has a very long memory, has a very strong memory when it comes to material emotions.
And it has a very short memory when it comes to spiritual emotions. If whatever sense gratificatory images we may have seen 25 years ago, they are still sometimes burned in the mind. And they keep burning us in the mind also.
But spiritual stimuli, somehow, they are very uplifting. But still, sometimes, they just seem to go away. So, whenever we get some spiritual experiences in our life, we need to appreciate them, see them as Krishna’s gift and cherish them.
Cherish them means we need to remember them. For example, we may go to Yatra and we may take photos in the holy places. That is good.
But along with that, whatever we experienced, if we say, write it down in your journal, preserve that, so that later on, sometimes, we start feeling that, this bhakti is so dry, I don’t know when I will experience spiritual emotions. I don’t know how many lifetimes I will have to practise this. So, what happens is, as soon as we start thinking, I have to practise lifelong.
Lifelong appears too long. Every time I think, I can’t do it. And what we could have done, we don’t even do that.
I may not be able to chant 16 rounds attentively throughout my life, but I can chant one mantra attentively. But while chanting that one mantra attentively, if I think I have to chant 16 rounds like this throughout my life, by that, just thinking about that, one, two, three, so many mantras go away. So, as we have experienced some spiritual emotions, and rather than looking up to what task awaits us, we can look at what we have relished even at our staging bhakti.
And remembering that, cherishing that, will increase our appreciation for what we have. And the more we value what we have, Krishna will give us more. So, it is not that Krishna wants to withhold the advancings of bhakti from us, but Krishna wants to give us so that we value what He is giving.
And so, the more we learn to appreciate, appreciate means whatever experiences we have had, we say we should be grateful. But what does it mean to be grateful? Now, gratitude is not just an emotion. If we say we feel gratitude is just an emotion, sometimes I feel grateful, sometimes I don’t feel grateful.
But gratitude is not just an emotion, gratitude is also a contemplation. It is also a contemplation. We consciously choose to contemplate the things that we can and should be grateful about.
The nature of the material world and especially the nature of today’s materialistic society is to bombard us with the things that we don’t have. The whole advertising industry is what? Basically showing us things that we don’t have. And if we are being shown things that we don’t have, how can we be grateful for what we have? Because, you know, quite often our situation becomes like, you know, we have a, suppose we are in a feast, where everybody is given a feast, but everybody is given slightly different items.
So, we also have a feast, but we are looking, he got that, he got that, he has got that, he has got that, you have got something, you have got that. So, the society is such that today, that we are shown everything that everyone has and what we have, we just don’t notice it only. So, we have, that’s why I said gratitude is not just emotion, it is also a contemplation.
If we contemplate that, okay, this is what I have and sometimes we may think, okay, I have this, but I have this, what’s so great about it? You have to remember, yes, the same holy name, in the past, it has given me so much spiritual emotion, it has given me ecstasy. The same activities of bhakti, they have given me spiritual emotion earlier, although I may not have relished it right now. So, may not be relishing it right now.
So, if we do that, then even though we may not feel devotional, still we can perceive it in our bhakti. Now, Krishna, when we say he is bhavagrahi, when we say bhavagrahi, that means he sees our emotions. But what it also means is, Krishna sees not just our feelings, but he also sees our feelings about our feelings.
Our feelings about our feelings means, sometimes certain feelings come within us, although we don’t want to. Sometimes, we pick up our beads for chanting, we don’t feel like chanting at all. Now, we want to chant enthusiastically, we want to feel prayerful when we are taking darshan, but we are just not feeling prayerful.
So, when we are not feeling prayerful when we are taking darshan, now, that is a feeling which is coming simply because of the modes. So, Krishna says, the characteristic of a transcendentalist, Krishna analyses the modes in the 14th chapter, from the first verse till the 20th verse, then Arjuna asks the question, what is the characteristics of one who has transcended the modes? And while replying, the first thing that Krishna says is, So, he says, the previous verses have described the modes and the defining characteristic of sattva is prakasha, that is illumination, the defining characteristic of raja is pravrtti, activity, hyperactivity, and the defining characteristic of tamo, ignorance is moha, illusion. So, he says that, he described the defining qualities of the three modes, that means he described the three modes, and he says, that when these come, one does not resent them.
And when they go away, when they go away, one does not crave for them. That means, Krishna is saying to be transcendental, don’t expect that the modes will no longer trigger emotions, but don’t get affected by those emotions. You see, these are emotions which are coming, they will be there for some time, they will go away, just tolerate them.
So, if we, yes, Krishna, I don’t want to feel so apathetic, I don’t want to feel so dry, I’ll try to do whatever I can, please help me. So, if we may not feel devotional, but even at that time, we maintain somehow the desire to feel devotional, Krishna will appreciate that also. So, that means, we try to cultivate appreciation for what we have, based on our past experiences, even if our present experiences do not kindle that kind of appreciation right now.
And that way, that appreciation at one level is itself advanced, as an advanced devotee, we appreciate the holy name, we appreciate the deities far more than we do. But along with that, at our stage also, appreciation will pave the way to advancement. Because if we appreciate what we have, then we will reserve the holy name attentively, we’ll serve the deities carefully, we will cherish and relish Krishna Katha.
And that way, we can move onwards towards Krishna. And gradually, we can come to a stage where the spiritual emotions become so strong in our heart, that the material emotions, even if they come, they don’t agitate us so much. So, the spiritual emotions, the stronger and stronger they become, they are so fulfilling, that then, as compared to them, material emotions and whatever stimulation, whatever titillation they offer, that will seem superficial.
Krishna gives the example of our ocean in 2.17, So he says that, just as if there is an ocean, then the rivers come in, the ocean is not disrupted. But if there is a small padal, and in that a river comes in, the whole padal will get devastated. So here, the river, Krishna is referring to the flow of desires, flow of temptations, more specifically.
And the body which contains the water, whether it is an ocean or a padal, that is our consciousness. So if our consciousness is filled with Krishna, who is like an ocean, then when the rivers of desires come in, they will not agitate us too much. But if our consciousness is empty, we are experiencing no spiritual satisfaction, we are not having any spiritual determination to experience spiritual satisfaction, then we will be internally empty, like a padal.
And then temptations come in, we will be caught by those temptations. So Krishna uses the word there, Kama Kami. Kama Kami is a very significant word.
It says, don’t be a desirer of desire. So what it means is, desires will come. Yes, the world is going to still present tempting objects to us.
Temptations will come, we don’t have to welcome. Temptations will come, we don’t have to, Oh, the temptations will come, Oh, we’ll roll out the red carpet. No, we don’t have to roll out the red carpet, we have to show the red flag.
No, Kama Kami. So desires will come, but we don’t have to desire the desires. And that we can do when we appreciate Krishna in our heart, appreciate the things that invoke Krishna’s presence in our heart.
And thus we can move onwards towards Krishna. I’ll summarise. I was talking about the role of Rasa in Krishna Bhakti.
So I took it four points. Acronym R-A-S-A. R was, does anyone remember? Redirection.
Yes. I talked about how we are emotional creatures and today’s society exploits our emotions for its own purposes. I talked about Sigmund Freud talking about the Kano atop a turbulent ocean.
So Kano is like Sattvaguna. The turbulent ocean and its waves are like Rajoguna and Tamoguna. I talked about the torches of freedom idea that was used to make women smoke.
And then this ad of, ad that is an insult to male and female intelligence of hair shampoo for men. Then I talked about Lakshman’s, Ram telling Lakshman that we can’t give up emotions, but we should choose those emotions that take us towards dharma, not those which take us away from dharma. So the whole process of Bhakti is, when people are too exploited by their emotions, they simply want to eliminate the emotions.
That’s why emotionless forms of spirituality become popular. But ultimately, we are emotional creatures. So we need to purify our emotions, redirect our emotions towards Krishna.
And then in redirection, I talked about adaptation, how Rupa Goswami took the structure and the concept of rasa as given in Narati Shastras and he adopted it from the field of dramaturgy to the field of devotion. And then we discussed briefly about Alamban, or Uddipan, about how a devotee by exposing oneself to appropriate stimuli can evoke spiritual emotions. So when we take new darshan of deities, when we are praying to Krishna, when we are hearing Krishna gatha, we are surrounding ourselves with spiritual Uddipan.
Then I discussed about R.A.S. was? Spiritualization. Yeah, spiritualization means that we have directly devotional activities, but the rest of our life, it’s not just material in the sense that it should be rejected. But even in the material, there is pro-devotional, non-devotional, anti-devotional.
So pro-devotional means that which can be connected with Krishna. So using our God-given abilities in Krishna’s service, we can go closer to Krishna by this. We don’t have to reject those abilities.
We may become proud, but the cure for pride is not reject suppression of talent. It is purification of talent. And then talked about different kinds of festivals, as a Raksha Bandhan or Devata Puja, and how a devotee can try to make the vertical and the horizontal relationships symbiotic.
And then lastly, I talked about A.S. appreciation. The whole process of bhakti is appreciating more and more Krishna and the manifestations of Krishna. And I talked about transcendental subjectivity in the spiritual world and how different devotees can appreciate different manifestations of the Supreme Lord as the highest.
So in our case, the transcendent subjectivity is that although Krishna is the highest reality, we don’t appreciate Him as the highest. So we need to become purified. Then we’ll appreciate Him more and more.
But right now, what we could do is, at the times whenever we have had spiritual emotions, when we have relished, when we have experienced how relishable Krishna consciousness is, we need to remember those, cherish those memories. And using those memories, we can sustain our spiritual determination even when we feel dry and dull in our bhakti. And Krishna sees not just our feelings, but He sees also our feelings about our feelings.
So the feelings that are induced by the modes, are we welcoming them or are we trying to fight them and reject them? We perceive it in our bhakti. And if we continue like this, then we will be so, we’ll over time become more and more emotionally enriched till our heart becomes like an ocean. And then when the waves of rivers of material desires come, worldly emotions come in, anti-devotional material emotions come in, they won’t agitate us.
We’ll just neglect them and keep moving onwards towards Krishna. Thank you very much.