NECTOR OF DEVOTION
Chapter 29: Intoxication

When one becomes arrogant with false prestige due to drinking intoxicants or being too lustful, the voice becomes faulty, the eyes become swollen, and there are symptoms of redness on the body. There is a statement in the Lalita-mādhava that Lord Baladeva, intoxicated from drinking excessive quantities of honey, once began to address the ants, "O you kings of the ants! Why are you hiding yourselves in these holes?" At the same time He also addressed the King of heaven, "O King Indra! You plaything of Śacī! Why are you laughing? I am now prepared to smash the whole universe, and I know that Kṛṣṇa will not be angry with Me."* Then He addressed Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, tell Me immediately why the whole world is trembling and why the moon has become elongated! And O you members of the Yadu dynasty, why are you laughing at Me? Please give Me back My liquors made of honey from the kadamba flower!" Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī prays that Lord Balarāma will be pleased with all of us while He is thus talking just like an intoxicated person.

In this state of intoxication, Balarāma felt tired and lay down for rest. Generally, those who are exalted personalities lie down when they feel intoxicated, whereas those who are mediocre laugh and sing during intoxication, and those who are lowly use vulgar language and sometimes cry. Such intoxication is manifested according to different ages and mentalities. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī does not describe further in this direction because there is no necessity for such a discussion.

There is another description of the symptoms of intoxication in the person of Śrī Rādhārāṇī after She saw Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes She was walking hither and thither, sometimes She was laughing, sometimes She was covering Her face, sometimes She was talking without any meaning, and sometimes She was praying to Her associate gopīs. Seeing these symptoms in Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs began to talk among themselves: "Just see how Rādhārāṇī has become intoxicated simply by seeing Kṛṣṇa before Her!" This is an instance of ecstatic love in intoxication.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK (from Krishna.com):

Once one of Kṛṣṇa's friends informed Him, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, if You will open Your mouth, then I shall give You one nice sugar candy mixed with yogurt." Kṛṣṇa immediately opened His mouth, but instead of giving Him sugar candy with yogurt, the friend dropped a flower in His mouth. After tasting this flower, Kṛṣṇa turned His mouth in a disfigured way, and upon seeing this all His friends standing there began to laugh very loudly.
The Nectar of Devotion - Chapter 45 Paragraph 1

Painting by Ramadasa Abhirama Dasa

SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 4 Text 10
vita-raga-bhaya-krodha
man-maya mam upasritah
bahavo jnana-tapasa
puta mad-bhavam agatah

vita--freed from; raga--attachment; bhaya--fear; krodhah--and anger; mat-maya--fully in Me; mam--in Me; upasritah--being fully situated; bahavah--many; jnana--of knowledge; tapasa--by the penance; putah--being purified; mat-bhavam--transcendental love for Me; agatah--attained.

TRANSLATION

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me--and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

JOURNAL:

Today as I read this sloka it dawned on me what a great promise this is. Being absorbed in Krishna not only will bring us the love of the Lord but will also free us from attachment, fear and anger. Who could ask for anything more?

In his purport Srila Prabhupada quotes this sloka from Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.4.15-16);

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya, tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat, tato nistha rucis tatah, athasaktis tato bhavas, tatah premabhyudancati, sadhakanam ayam premnah, pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Krsna consciousness, which is matured in bhava, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life."

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.21.15
nadyas tadā tad upadhārya mukunda-gītam
āvarta-laksita-manobhava-bhagna-vegāh
ālińgana-sthagitam ūrmi-bhujair murārer
grhnanti pāda-yugalam kamalopahārāh

nadyah — the rivers; tadā — then; tat — that; upadhārya — perceiving; mukunda — of Lord Krsna; gītam — the song of His flute; āvarta — by their whirlpools; laksita — manifest; manah-bhava — by their conjugal desire; bhagna — broken; vegāh — their currents; ālińgana — by their embrace; sthagitam — held stationary; ūrmi-bhujaih — by the arms of their waves; murāreh — of Lord Murāri; grhnanti — they seize; pāda-yugalam — the two lotus feet; kamala-upahārāh — carrying offerings of lotus flowers.

TRANSLATION

When the rivers hear the flute-song of Krsna, their minds begin to desire Him, and thus the flow of their currents is broken and their waters are agitated, moving around in whirlpools. Then with the arms of their waves the rivers embrace Murāri's lotus feet and, holding on to them, present offerings of lotus flowers.

JOURNAL:

There is a meditation I do that works well for me. I sit by a river and, as I watch it flow, I put music to its movements in my head. I like to do this after I have been chanting japa and I am "tired of it"; a relative phrase at best. Here is an excerpt from The Nectar of Devotion, page 173;

As far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Kåñëa was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world. There are three kinds of flutes used by Kåñëa. One is called veëu, one is called muralé, and the third is called vaàcé. Veëu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. Muralé is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute. This kind of flute produces a very enchanting sound. The vaàçé flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Kåñëa used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Kåñëa has a longer vaàçé, which is called mahänandä, or sammohiné. When it is still longer it is called äkarñiëé. When it is even longer it is called änandiné. The änandiné flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vaàçulé. These flutes were sometimes bedecked with jewels. Sometimes they were made of marble and sometimes of hollow bamboo. When the flute is made of jewels it is called sammohiné. When made of gold, it is called äkarñiëé.

Notes on Cupid

Notes on "Cupid" in The Nectar of Devotion.

There is a statement in this connection that Krsna, on arriving at this age, manifested such beautiful bodily features that His restless eyes became the playthings of Cupid, and His mild smile resembled the newly grown lotus flower. The enchanting vibration of His songs became a great impediment to the young girls, who were supposed to remain chaste and faithful to their husbands.
(p.170)


As far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Krsna was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.
(p.173)


When Cupid came on one occasion to visit Lord Krsna, some devotee addressed him thus: "My dear Cupid, because you have been so fortunate as to have placed your eyesight on the lotus feet of Krsna, the drops of perspiration on your body have become frozen, and they resemble kaëöaké fruits [a kind of small fruit found in thorny bushes]."
(p.245)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK (from Krishna.com):

Krishna Sees His Reflection by Prasanta Dasa

In Rupa Goswami's Lalita-madhava, it is said, "One day Krishna happened to see the shadow of His beautiful form reflected on the jeweled foreground. Upon seeing this bodily reflection, He expressed His feelings: 'How wonderful it is that I have never seen such a beautiful form! Although it is My own form, still, like Radharani, I am trying to embrace this form and enjoy celestial bliss.' " This statement shows how Krishna and His shadow reflection are one and the same. There is no difference between Krishna and His shadow reflection, nor between Krishna and His picture. That is the transcendental position of Krishna.

Quoted in Nectar of Devotion, Ch. 22 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 14 Text 11
sarva-dvaresu dehe 'smin
prakasa upajayate
jnanam yada tada vidyad
vivrddham sattvam ity uta

sarva-dvaresu--in all the gates; dehe asmin--in this body; prakasah--the quality of illumination; upajayate--develops; jnanam--knowledge; yada--when; tada--at that time; vidyat--know; vivrddham--increased; sattvam--the mode of goodness; iti uta--thus it is said.

TRANSLATION

The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.

JOURNAL:

I was listening to tape two of the lectures of Srila Prabhupada on his book, "The Nectar of Devotion" (Vrindavan, India, October 21, 1972). Here he says that if one dies in the mode of goodness he is, at the least, guaranteed birth in a human body in the next life.

An excerpt from The Necter of Devotion

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body; (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pleasing; (4) effulgent; (5) strong; (6) ever youthful; (7) wonderful linguist; (8) truthful; (9) talks pleasingly; (10) fluent; (11) highly learned; (12) highly intelligent; (13) a genius; (14) artistic; (15) extremely clever; (16) expert; (17) grateful; (18) firmly determined; (19) an expert judge of time and circumstances; (20) sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures; (21) pure; (22) self-controlled; (23) steadfast; (24) forbearing; (25) forgiving; (26) grave; (27) self-satisfied; (28) possessing equilibrium; (29) magnanimous; (30) religious; (31) heroic; (32) compassionate; (33) respectful; (34) gentle; (35) liberal; (36) shy; (37) the protector of surrendered souls; (38) happy; (39) the well-wisher of devotees; (40) controlled by love; (41) all-auspicious; (42) most powerful; (43) all-famous; (44) popular; (45) partial to devotees; (46) very attractive to all women; (47) all-worshipable; (48) all-opulent; (49) all-honorable; (50) the supreme controller; (51) changeless; (52) all-cognizant; (53) ever fresh; (54) sac-cid-ānanda (possessing an eternal blissful body); (55) possessing all mystic perfections; (56) He has inconceivable potency. (57) Uncountable universes generate from His body. (58) He is the original source of all incarnations. (59) He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills. (60) He is the attractor of liberated souls; (61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes). (62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead. (63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute. (64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation (Chapter 21).

PICTURE OF THE WEEK (from Krishna.com):

Gopinatha Garden Flute

Quality of Krishna #63:

"He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute."
Nectar of Devotion, p.130