Passage 5

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In plain words

Once Rāma asked Hanumān, ‘In what way do you love Me?’ Hanumān said, “Lord, in the way of the body You are the Master and I am the servant. In the way of the mind You are the original and I am the reflection. In the way of the Ātma You are I and I am You. With this feeling I experience You. As long as the delusion of the body remains, You are the Lord. I am the servant. Your very shadow am I.” In dāsya Bhakti this bond is tighter.

The ideal of anurāga Bhakti is the Gopīs. Whatever work they did, they made the time holy with the Name of Kṛṣṇa. They did all their actions as done for the pleasure of God. Whatever they did was an offering to Kṛṣṇa. So every work they did took the form of worship. Going through all hardships and losses, joys and sorrows, they knew anurāga Bhakti for Kṛṣṇa. ‘Though the mothers-in-law cry out, though the husbands sharpen their knives’… The husband says he will cut her throat if she talks with Kṛṣṇa. They do not grow angry, they go nowhere, they take no fright, the Gopīs. Like the painted figures in a book, Kṛṣṇa is within them. You cannot separate the print from the paper. He has been printed into the heart. You cannot separate a printed picture from the paper. Their feelings became full of Kṛṣṇa. This is anurāga Bhakti. Bhakti without separation.

For vātsalya Bhakti, Yaśodā is the ideal. Whatever kinds of wonders and marvels she saw, her feeling was that Kṛṣṇa was simply her son. Even after seeing the fourteen worlds in His mouth, she would think, ‘All this is my illusion; Kṛṣṇa is simply my son.’ Once Uddhava came from Madhurāpuri to Vrepalle. Yaśodā asks him. “Uddhava! Is our Gopāla well?” “What could the one who sports in Madhurāpuri lack, mother? He is well and happy,” he said. “No, I did not ask about the one who sports in Madhurā. I am asking about our Gopāla,” said Yaśodā. “The one who roams Bṛndāvan is joyful, mother,” he said again. “Not him, sir! I am asking after our Gopāla,” said that mother. Each person comes to love one particular name. Though she knew Kṛṣṇa was God, Mīrā uttered no other name; she would say only ‘Giridhara Gopālā, Giridhara Gopālā, Giridhara’. Sakkubāi would say ‘Raṅgā, Pāṇḍuraṅgā’. ‘Kṛṣṇā’ she never said. Each one chooses a name of his own. But all names merge in the one Name.

Madhura Bhakti is Rādhā's Bhakti. For her, she was not one thing and Kṛṣṇa another. A bond of inseparability and of each resting on the other. Where Kṛṣṇa is, Rādhā is. Where Rādhā is, Kṛṣṇa is. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are none other than Prakṛti and Paramātma. Kṛṣṇa is Paramātma. Rādhā is dharā. Dharā means Prakṛti, matter; Paramātma, energy. The union of these two is human life.

The body is matter, substance. The Ātma is energy, power. These two are always together. We must not think of the mind as different from the Ātma. Difference arises through the senses.