Nectar of Devotion – Part 2 (Rasa)

Nectar of Devotion – Part 2 (Rasa) @ ISKCON Japan on Nov 16, 2021

Hare Krishna!

nama om vishnu-padaya Krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine

nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine

sri-Krishna-chaitanya

prabhu nityananda

sri-adwaita gadadhara

shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So the topic was the Vibhava, which are the primary ingredients for Rasa, that is, the people involved. So we have the object of love, in that case it’s Krishna for us, and we have the Asraya, that is the experiencer, that could be us, individual devotees, or it could be the Gopis, or the cowherd boys, or whatever.

So usually in describing Rasa in the books, we’re not describing it from Krishna’s point of view, but from our point of view. So we’re the experiencer, and Krishna is the object of love. But you could also describe everything from Krishna’s point of view, where He is the Asraya, He has a certain experience in looking at Radha, or the Gopis, or the cowherd boys, and they would be the Vishaya for Krishna. So that is the main part of Vibhava, but then there’s another part of Vibhava.

So within the Vishaya, then we have things, that usually connected with the Vishaya, that is Krishna, which will stimulate the Sthayi bhava and the love. These are called Uddipana, which means something which stimulates. So within the Vishaya, or related to the Vishaya, there must be something to stimulate the love.

So why do we have love for Krishna? So then there are certain things in Krishna which will invoke that love. Maybe His qualities. Maybe His form. Maybe His decorations. The sound of His flute. Maybe it’s His garland. It could be His prasadam. So all of these are part of the Vibhava.

Okay, just to talk about Krishna as the Vishaya, or the object of love, He can be directly the object of love, or in a disguised form. So usually He is directly present, and people see Him. But sometimes Krishna hides, He disguises Himself. So there’s a verse quoted in the Nectar of Devotion, in which Krishna hides Himself by disguising Himself as a queen in Dwaraka. So then Uddhava is asking, I’m so attracted to this queen, I wonder why[Laughs].

Okay. Another example is for one year, Krishna became all the calves and cowherd boys in Vrindavan. Because Krishna was all the cowherd boys, the parents of the cowherd boys had more love for their children than previously. And the cows had more attraction for those calves, who were actually Krishna, than their own calves. They had given birth to new calves, but they were more attached to these calves, who were actually Krishna, who were older now. After one year, Balarama noticed this is very strange. Why are all the parents so attracted to their children suddenly? Why are the cows so attracted to those older calves? And it was because they were all Krishna.

Okay, So, some of the qualities in Krishna are mentioned in the Nectar of Devotion, so 64 qualities are mentioned there. Fifty of those qualities, Jivas can attain in a very small quantity. Shiva and sometimes Jivas like Brahma can get up to 55 qualities. Vishnu has five extra qualities. This will distinguish Him from Shiva and also from the Jivas. And Krishna has four extra qualities that even Vishnu does not have.

So, what are the five extra qualities beyond the jiva, that Shiva has? One is, he has an eternal form not affected by maya. The Jivas get material bodies affected by maya, but Shiva does not get a material body. So, Shiva has all knowledge. Shiva never gets old. He has a sat-cit-ananda body. He has powers that jivas don’t have. Such as he can destroy all the material worlds. Jivas cannot do that.

Vishnu has five more qualities, more than Shiva. So, one quality of course is that Vishnu can bewilder even Shiva and Brahma. From His form comes millions and millions of universes. From Him comes all of the avatars. These are things that even Shiva does not do. Fourth quality is, when He kills a person like a demon, He gives them a benediction. For instance, when Ramachandra killed Ravana, He didn’t go to hell. He got born again as Sishupala. So, He got some good blessing. And the fifth quality is that He is attractive to Atmaramas. An example of that is the Kumaras. They were Jnanis, Atmajnanis… Atmaramas, but they became attracted to Vishnu.

So, Krishna, of course, also manifests these five extra qualities. But He does so in a more remarkable way. So we see that one of the qualities is that He creates millions of universes. So, Yes, Krishna creates, it’s not like Vishnu who just creates the material world. Everything in the spiritual world also emanates from Krishna. And then Mahavishnu and from Him comes Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and the avatars manifest, but Krishna is the manifestor of Mahavishnu even. So He is the ultimate seed of all the avatars.

So, one other quality was that Vishnu when He kills a demon he doesn’t go to hell, he gets a nice birth. When Krishna kills a demon He may liberate them or He may give them prem in the spiritual world. So when Krishna killed Putana, she did not take birth again in the material world, she went to the spiritual world and became a nurse. When Krishna killed Agasura, He got Svarupya and of course when Krishna kills sishupala he also got Svarupya.

So one of the qualities of Vishnu was the atmaramas are attracted to the Supreme Lord. So the quality of Krishna that not only atmaramas are attracted to Krishna but even Vishnu is attracted to Krishna. An example of that is, Krishna and Arjuna they had to go to see Mahavishnu to collect the sons of the brahmana who disappeared. So then Vishnu explained, well, the reason I stole the brahmana’s children is because I wanted to see You. So normally of course Vishnu should not give disturbance to the brahmana by stealing all of his children, but He did this because He was so eager to see Krishna.

Arjuna was wondering, well, why didn’t Vishnu just come to Dwarka, He could see Krishna there. But He didn’t and He made this a whole elaborate scheme of kidnapping all the children of like [Laughs] this and offending the brahmana in the process, so there must have been a good reason for this. And the answer is that He wasn’t allowed to go there! So anyway, Vishnu himself is attracted to Krishna! Even more surprising that even Krishna is attracted to Krishna [Laughs]! Krishna looks in the mirror He says who is this attractive person, so wonderful [Laughs]!

Okay. So apart from those five qualities which are more attractive and more astounding in Krishna than in jivas or in Shiva then we end in the four qualities which are especially in Krishna.

All of these qualities have to do with sweetness. We see the many qualities that were manifested in Vishnu had to do Aiswarya, with power. He creates all the material worlds he produces all the avatars – things like this. So Krishna also does that but then He has these extra qualities which don’t manifest in Vishnu or in the avatars.

So, the first is, that His form is very sweet, Madhurya rupa. We have many verses in the Bhagavatham describing the sweetness of Krishna’s form. Sometimes the residents of Vrindavan or the Gopis will describe that form of Krishna.

Now all the forms of the Lord – form of Vishnu, form of Ramchandra, Narashima Dev they’re all beautiful and spiritual. But the beauty of Krishna is sweet, that is His beauty invokes a very intimate relationship. In other words, one forgets about the power of God and one thinks more of his intimate relationship of love with Krishna.

So the second quality is, He’s surrounded by many many types of sweet devotees. The devotees have intimate relationship with Krishna and from that they do not see His power, they simply seek intimate relationship with Him. With all the other forms of Supreme Lord like Ramachandra, Narashimadev, Varaha, Hayagriva and Vishnu there is always a great respect and reverence. With  Ramachandra there’s a little relaxation, a little intimacy there.

With Krishna in Dwarka, there is a realization of Krishna’s power still there is great intimacy there. And thus we have the sweet relationship between Krishna and the queens of Dwarka or the sweet relationship between Uddhava and Krishna or Arjuna and Krishna. But in Vrindavan, that relationship becomes even more sweet, because they don’t see His powers at all and so because of that sweetness of Krishna, the sweetness manifests in these different relationships. Other forms of the Lord, the principal relationship is servant, Dasya. But with Krishna we get all of the five primary rasas manifest.

So Dasya is manifested, but above that we have Sakhya. So Krishna has millions and millions of cowherd boyfriends and the friends act as equals of Krishna and all this is done with great intimacy. There are elders in Vrindavan and many of them act as parents in Vatsalya rasa and of course the principal person there is Yasoda but there are millions and millions of devotees in Vatsalya rasa in Vrindavan and then in Madhurya rasa we have millions and millions of Gopis.So Krishna is surrounded by all these different devotees and variegated rasas in a very very sweet relationship. But we don’t see this with the other forms of the Lord.

So with the devotees then Krishna has very sweet pastimes. So there are a variety of pastime – pastimes with servants, pastimes with friends, pastimes with parents, pastimes with the Gopis and they’re all very very sweet and intimate and this becomes attractive to all people and thus we find that Krishna’s pastimes are attractive to people in this world. And for that reason people are attracted to the stories in the Bhagavatham and of course among the pastimes but now we’re celebrating Damodar month. So this is a pastime of Vatsalya rasa which is unique to Krishna, we don’t find this in any other form of the Lord.

So the fourth unique quality is the sweetness of Krishna’s flute. Of course everything is sweet about Krishna, peacock feather etc but the flute has a very important role to play in Krishna’s pastimes. The sound of this flute attracts all the devotees in all the different rasas. He attracts the cows, He attracts the deer, He attracts the birds, He attracts the cowherd boys, He attracts the parrots, He attracts the Gopis. And what happens, they all develop sweet prema. So these are the unique qualities of Krishna that no one else manifests.

Translator devotee: So may I confirm that one was sweet form, second was surrounded by devotees and then the third sweet pastime and fourth is the sweet flute. Okay Thank you.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay, so Krishna appears in three places – in Vrindavan, Mathura, and Dwaraka. And in all these places He is superior to the other forms. But in Vrindavan He is the most complete. That is called Purnatama. Purna means full. Purnatama means the most full, the most complete.

So in Vrindavan Krishna manifests not only full sweetness but also full power. So usually we don’t think of power being manifesting in Vrindavan, because the people there don’t appreciate power. But Krishna manifests to some people like Brahma. So, to Brahma Krishna showed him that He was greater than all of the Vishnu forms. He could manifest all the cows and cowherd boys as Vishnu forms, then have them disappear and all merge into Krishna.

So normally we think that Brahma is coming from Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu and then so Brahma thinks that Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu is great and then Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu is coming from Mahavishnu. But then everybody is coming from Krishna ultimately, so then Krishna is much greater.

And in Vrindavan, apart from the great powers, then the full sweetness is manifested. So here we find the most intimate relationships in the different rasas with Krishna. And then we get manifested these very unique pastimes in Vrindavan.

In Vrindavan we also get the full manifestation of mercy. So here we see how Krishna was merciful to Putana, and even though Putana tried to kill Him, she was elevated to the spiritual world and got a spiritual body. Later on, the Devatas were watching when Krishna killed Aghasura, and then he got liberation. And the Devatas were astonished. Oh, how Krishna is doing this!

When Krishna goes to Mathura and lives with the Vrishnis, or the Yadus, then His sweetness and the powers are somewhat covered. That is because the Yadus, they appreciate Krishna for His powers. So there is still some Vatsalya rasa there, as with Vasudeva and Devaki.

But that Aishwarya, kind of limits the sweetness. So Krishna in Mathura is called Purnatara. Purnatama means the most complete. Purnatara means more than, more complete, but not as complete as Purnatama[Laughs]. And when Krishna appears in Dwaraka, He is called Purna, just perfect, complete.

So in Dwaraka, more powers are manifested. Consequently, the sweetness is a little bit less. Krishna goes to other places, like Avanti, where He gets educated, Gurukul. He goes to Hastinapur, He goes to Kurukshetra. So He manifests various amounts of qualities with various persons there.

So we talked about the 64 qualities of Krishna. So usually these qualities will manifest, not all the qualities at once, but some of the qualities become prominent in certain persons. Some of these qualities are quite different from each other. So we get different personalities. So when the material dramatists make a drama, then the hero may be one of these types. So Krishna is able to be all four types [Laughs].

So the first type is called Dhirodatta, which means very noble. So He’s hard to understand, we don’t know what He’s going to do. He’s very modest. He is tolerant. He is merciful. Determined to follow His vows. He obscures others’ pride, that is, He can [Laughs] conquer people. He doesn’t boast. He’s very strong. So this is a person maybe idealist, a king.

So the Dhiralalita is a very playful type of person. Very clever.He’s young, end of Kaishora period. He’s skillful at joking. He’s free of worries. He’s controlled by His devotees. So this way we see Krishna manifests with the Gopis in Vrindavan quite often.

Dhira santa, a very gentle person. He’s peaceful, tolerates. He uses discrimination, in other words, He’s very thoughtful. And very modest.

And the last one is quite different. He’s a Dhirodhatta, very proud [Laughs]. He may show envy, pride, deceit, anger, fickleness. He may boast. Of course we often see this manifested in demons like Kamsa. But Krishna may also manifest when He’s going to fight with a demon, for instance.

So these are four different types of heroes. And Krishna can be all four. So the qualities are sometimes contrary, like boasting and not boasting [Laughs] however but they can all exist in Krishna, all these qualities. And none of the qualities are faulty in Krishna.

Okay, so the Asraya, that’s the devotee. So they have deep attraction for Krishna. So they are of two types. One is the person who has bhava, so he’s not perfect yet, but he’s able to see Krishna. So therefore the rasa can be established. Because he still has some anarthas, then the rasa is not so strong. So this person is called the Sadhaka. So the person who has no anarthas, the one who has Prema, is called Siddha. So these two types are the Asraya.

So among the siddhas, they are divided into two types. Those who attain that perfection and those who are eternally in that position. So one may attain by Sadhana. And some may get by krpa – mercy. Like Sukadeva Goswami or Bali Maharaj. So the devotees often will be on the 50 qualities, they may even get 55 qualities.

So among the devotees, we have five types. We have those in Santa, those in Dasya, those in Sakya, those in Vatsalya, and those in Madhurya.

Okay, any questions then?

Q&A

Translator devotee: I have two questions. One is from actually, Kirtan Prabhu. He wanted to ask, but he had to do daily service. So his question was..

1) In the Brihad Bhagavadamruta, there is a showing about Gopa Kumar. And he goes back to Goloka. And I think there is a painting where Krishna is embracing him. And Krishna is saying, where were you? We were waiting for you. So I think Kirtan Prabhu wanted to ask if Gopa Kumar was Nitya Siddha or Sadhana Siddha?

So that story is told to show the progress of Sadhana. But the problem comes when you go to the spiritual world, how do you get introduced to the spiritual world? Because people, they see you come there and say, where do you come from? [Laughs] So, somehow, the devotee gets introduced to the spiritual world.

So in this case, Krishna introduces him. He is the brother of so-and-so. [Laughs] Where have you been? [Laughs] But once they are there, then generally, they feel like they are there eternally. So in other words, they don’t feel any difference between themselves and the people who are the Nitya Siddhas.

Translator devotee: Thank you.

2) Krishna had the extra four qualities. And I read that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is like the same as Krishna.I forgot the word. So does Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also have these four extra qualities?

So what happens is that Lord Chaitanya is the hidden avatar, so he hides his qualities [Laughs].

Translator devotee: Oh, I see. [Laughs]

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: But we don’t see the Rasas manifested in the same way as with Krishna. So we do have a little Vatsalya with His parents. We have Sakya Rasa with Nithyananda and others. We have Madhurya Rasa with His wives – Vishnu Priya and Lakshmi Priya.

But instead of that idea of Madhurya or great intimacy in Rasa, there is something called Audarya. That means great compassion. In other words, the predominating mood among all Lord Chaitanya’s devotees is this compassion to uplift the fallen souls.

Translator devotee: Thank you very much.

3) Question asked in Japanese only [No English translation].

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No, no.In the Vibhava there is Uddipana. Stimulus.

Devotee: Uddipana is… ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It’s part of Vibhava.

Devotee: The fruit is the Uddipana?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. I see. It stimulates love. Vishaya, Asraya and its Uddipana.

4) Can you tell us what you think about the four qualities of Krishna… like for first time hearing in order there is very natural progression like first, Krishna’s form and then there is the devotee and between Krishna and devotees there is the pastime then the last, the flute comes in and He feels that the flute has a very special, important role in kind of allowing that Rasa between Krishna and the devotees. He wants to hear more, would you like to expand more on that, I guess.

Okay. Yeah, so when the flute sound is described, it’s described in such a way that anyone who hears the flute begins to develop that sweet prema. Even the animals start melting [Laughs]

And the plants begin to develop ecstatic symptoms. And the rocks begin to melt. And the river begins to become solid. It doesn’t flow anymore. The clouds stop in the sky. The planets stop moving.

5) And so, like in Raga, different Ragas invoke a specific emotion. So when Krishna plays the flute, does like the one melody invoke a different emotion / mood in different devotees? Or depending on who He’s calling and which mood or which Rasa He wants, like He plays different melodies, like different Ragas?

Well, it will depend on the pastime and who He’s trying to attract. Well, there are general things. For instance, in the monsoon season, He will play the Megh Malhar Raga or something like that, which is a monsoon Raga, or the Vasant Raga in the springtime, etc. General ones are also there.

And then some express a particular sentiment, like joy. But the nature of these Ragas for Krishna is little different, because through those Ragas, He can give in some messages [Laughs].

So when the Gopis hear the flute, then they get messages from Krishna, [Laughs] and they know where to go. Of course, when Krishna plays His flute, He can call the cows also.

6) When Krishna gave the Vedas to Brahma, he will also play the flute? Yes?

Brahma heard the flute sound, and through that, he got the Gayatri Mantra. [Laughs]

He got initiated through that.

7) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Dandavat Pranams. May I ask a question? So Maharaj, the sound of flute of Krishna is like an ordinary vibration, or it’s a vibration that can also have clearly sounding mantras or shlokas that Lord Brahma can hear and understand?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, it’s a spiritual sound. [Laughs]

Devotee: Okay, then it has everything in it.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, so Krishna can convey anything through that. But obviously, usually He’s going to make something spiritual through that, not material. [Laughs]

So it’s absolute, just like in one syllable, “OM”, all the Vedas is there through the Gayatri Mantra, all the Vedas are in that. Or in the four shlokas of Bhagavatam, the whole Bhagavatam is there. So spiritual sound is a little bit different from material sound.

8) So Maharaj, is it like that the Hare Krishna mantra is also coming from Goloka? So this mantra is also having everything like Vedas and everything, like absolute?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, we say that Krishna, through chanting Hare Krishna, you can realize Krishna’s form, His qualities, His pastimes, His rasa. So you can realize everything in the spiritual world through the name of Krishna.

Devotee: So it’s like a Shakti avesh avatar of Krishna ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It’s non-different from Krishna. So He’s Swayam Bhagavan, He is everything. He’s the sum total of all avatars plus extra. [Laughs]

Devotee: Jai

9) Question asked in Japanese only [No English translation]

Well the Dasya is there in Vrindavan also we don’t hear about it too much, but Krishna has servants in Vrindavan, they are in Dasya Rasa

Devotee: In the house?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. Raktaka is one of His servants. [Laughs]

10) How about this Santa Rasa the awe & like neutral?

Santa Rasawe don’t hear too much in Vrindavan, more in Mathura and Dwaraka, the sages who saw Krishna come in the arena of Kamsa. There were some sages in Santa Rasa. [Laughs]

Devotee: Oh, I see.

11) What about the cow or tree or grass? They’re kind of not Santa Rasa?

It doesn’t come up to rasa. Maybe you can say Santa Bhava, but not rasa. Because rasa means you know they can communicate with Krishna directly, whereas the cows and the grass cannot.

So they can’t develop a real strong relationship.

Devotee: They cannot express the bhava?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Not much, no. Not much Anubhavas. They get a few Sattvika bhavas, but not much Anubhavas, no actions of service. And you know, they can’t express themselves in words. [Laughs] So they’re quite limited in what they can do.

Devotee: Even not considered Santa Rasa?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, in Nectar of Devotion there, when Rupa Goswami describes it, he describes it in relation to some yogis who developed into devotees. And then they went to the spiritual world and they got some Santa Rasa [Laughs]. They see the Lord and they feel like Brahman.

12) So in like a spiritual, like Goloka Vrindavan, if there are like trees and cows and things. They are also Santa, Santa Bhava?

Well, yeah, they don’t really, Rupa Goswami doesn’t cover them in terms of rasa. He does also say that the elders, some elders and young children, very young children who have not developed, they’re in the Santa Rasa. Because they haven’t developed any particular rasa. [Laughs]

13) Maharaj, is it possible like, because those jivas are covered by a material body like grass or a tree or maybe like clothes. So is it possible for them to have these kind of exchanging on a spiritual platform? Like maybe materially they are not able to exhibit those qualities?

Well, materially, then we’re not talking, we’re talking about spiritual world where the grass and trees don’t have material bodies. It’s all, you know, spiritual substance. In the material world, obviously they’re covered by gross matter. So they can’t even, their consciousness is very low.

Devotee: And in the Vrindavan, in this planet, so the things like the garland, the clothes and flute of Krishna, they exhibited this Santa Rasa.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Which things?

Devotee: Like garlands, clothes or the flute or ornaments of Krishna.

 HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: They’re not said to have Rasa and normally they don’t because as I said, Rasa is established when we can communicate nicely. So they can’t communicate, so they’re passive.

14) But Maharaj, like one example we have heard about one devotee during Chaitanya Lila, who was an incarnation of Krishna’s flute. So is it possible that in some other form that same devotee is able to display some other Rasas and devotion to Krishna? Just like there is an example of a devotee in Chaitanya Lila, who was said to be an incarnation of Krishna’s flute. So in that incarnation, that devotee can display the symptoms or can have exchanges with Krishna.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: I don’t know, so it goes on to discuss the flute as a personality, but obviously you could. Also the desire tree became, I think Madhavendra Puri was a desire tree in Vrindavan or something like that. So in some cases, we do find devotees who have taken those roles of trees or flute or whatever.

Devotee: And Maharaj, like there are some examples of devotees like who in one incarnation who exhibit the Dasya Rasa, and in another incarnation, they are exhibiting some different Rasa. So just for example, Murari Gupta, like in the previous incarnation, he exhibited Dasya Rasa.

But along with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he did many compositions, which also described the Lilas of Krishna with Gopis. So is it possible that in one birth, a devotee can exhibit some other Rasa and in another birth, it can?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:  Well, they’re not taking birth in the material sense. So some devotees can be a combination of different personalities, like I think in Puri, we find, what’s his name, was a combination of Lalita and Arjuna, etc.

Devotee : Ramanda Raya ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Hmm, But in the normal cases, they usually are made separate. But some say, they’re extraordinary cases also where there may be combinations. But when I say they take birth, they’re not really taking birth, because those are not material bodies. In the case of Murari Gupta, he remained a devotee of Ramachandra.

Translator Devotee: Even in the Chaitanya Lila, he was also a Ram devotee?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, you should worship Radha Krishna. He said, no, I cannot. I am a devotee of Ramachandra.

15) Why taking initiation… ? Is Diksha Guru very important? If someone don’t take Diksha from arriving(living) Guru, and maybe someone understands, my Guru is Srila Prabhupada. And all life, if he practices Bhakti Yoga very seriously, following all the regulative principles and doing devotional service and book distribution and everything, then that person can also go back to Godhead at the last?

So in Caitanya caritāmṛta, there it is mentioned that chanting the holy name does not depend on Diksha. And by chanting Hare Krishna, we can attain the highest perfection. So then the logical conclusion from that is, no, Diksha is not necessary to get the highest perfection.

Chanting Hare Krishna will give that. However, to chant Hare Krishna properly and purely, we do need good instruction. We need Sampradaya.

We need Shiksha. So of course, if personally we accept Srila Prabhupada as Shiksha Guru, fine, that’s good. At the same time, usually we see that the advice is that you take some living Guru as well. So you should have some living Shiksha Guru. Because we always have the danger of misinterpreting even what Prabhupada said.

And if we follow the Acharyas of our Sampradaya, most of them took Diksha as well. So just to follow the procedure or custom, we can say you can take Diksha, but that’s not the necessary qualification for going to Krishna.

Devotee: Thank you very much.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay, that’s it ?

16) So it’s interesting about the qualities, how Krishna attracts Vishnu, but also Krishna Himself. And then there was one instance where he heard that Krishna was influenced for a moment by Maya, like the material Shakti, Maya Shakti. He can’t remember what instance, what past time it was. So if you know, if Maharaj knows..

I haven’t heard that past time [Laughs] But if it wasn’t Maya then it must have been somebody else like Radharani. [Laughs]  

Devotee: For a moment, He was feeling upset ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh! He becomes bewildered, seemingly bewildered. Or whatever, when Agasura was there and all the cowherds, they were always like, what is this? He was astonished by the Lila Shakti. Sometimes the Shaktis causes astonishment to Krishna. Sometimes the sakthis of Krishna get so enthusiastic, they start doing things that surprise Krishna.

Devotee: Sounds like they have the individual spontaneity? [Laughs]

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, well that’s all within the Svarupa Shakti, the internal energy. All part of Krishna. But then that Shakti can act in very, you know, spontaneous, unpredictable ways.

17) Dandavat pranams Maharaj, Hare Krishna. Maharaj, What is the part of Yoga Maya in the past times of Krishna? Like, she makes it Krishna to forget, Krishna is God Himself, to have intimate relationship with all the devotees?

So yeah, Yoga Maya is the potency to cause forgetfulness in the spiritual world. So it’s a type of ignorance. So for instance, Mother Yasoda doesn’t know anything about Rasalila.

But everybody should know everything in the spiritual world. So Yoga Maya covers certain things in order that the rasa may go on nicely. Spiritual ignorance to increase the rasa. [Laughs]

Translator Devotee: Does Yoga Maya also act on Krishna, so Krishna Himself forgets?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:  It’s possible [Laughs]. Yeah, ultimately, of course, Krishna is the Shaktiman. So He is in controller of the Shaktis. But we see the case, for instance, with Balaram. For one year, He could not understand that Krishna was all the cowherd boys. That was Yoga Maya acting on Him. So after one year, He said, this is very strange. And then He realized, who can do this? Krishna can do it. Krishna can put Yoga Maya on Me.

Devotee: Question in Japanese [No English translation].

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, that’s Yoga Maya also.

Devotee: Thank you very much, Maharaj. My long-lasting dilemma is cleared today. I had this impression, how come Yashoda Mataji doesn’t know about the Rasa Lila? Thank you very much, Maharaj.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay, Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Thank you very much Maharaj. HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!

Devotee Translator: Thank you very much, Maharaj. There will be a continuation of this Rasa next week?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes, next week.

Devotees: Thank you very much.