Where is the Intensity ?

Where is the intensity in our spiritual practice? To experience the love of Godhead, our practice will need to be intense. We cannot imitate our spiritual teachers, but we can learn from them. For our spiritual teachers intensity means spending every moment in life thinking about or serving Krishna in some way. Through body, mind, and words they are always serving Sri Sri Radha Krishna. That intensity and urgency of our practice will allow us to experience the intense love that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was experiencing. The intense separation that He exhibited while He performed His pastimes on Earth are told in scriptures so we can understand and desire to receive just a drop of that mood of separation. An extreme amount of purity is required for that and one has to exercise discipline in their daily practice. I am sharing some of the ecstasies that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was experiencing. We can learn and intensify our spiritual practice, as we approach the very powerful month of Purushottam, a fasting and bhajan opportunity that comes every three years.

The moods of humility and separation are what we need to imbibe in our spiritual practice. Our time is passing by. We have no realization of this; each day the sun rises and falls and another day has passed without any serious practice. This human body is a precious gift. We must utilize it now with intensity in our purpose. Our Gurudev always sings kirtan with such intensity. In his voice there is a sense of purpose, intensity, a calling to the Lord and love. That is how one should be singing kirtan and chanting the holy names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

Sharing a few verses from Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila Chapter Two

Text 3: During His last twelve years, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu always manifested all the symptoms of ecstasy in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

Text 4: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s state of mind, day and night, was practically identical to Rādhārāṇī’s state of mind when Uddhava came to Vṛndāvana to see the gopīs.

Text 5: The Lord constantly exhibited a state of mind reflecting the madness of separation. All His activities were based on forgetfulness, and His talks were always based on madness.

Text 6: Blood flowed from all the pores of His body, and all His teeth were loosened. At one moment His whole body became slender, and at another moment His whole body became fat.

Text 7: The small room beyond the corridor is called the Gambhīrā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to stay in that room, but He did not sleep for a moment. All night He used to grind His mouth and head on the wall, and His face sustained injuries all over.

Text 45: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “ ‘My dear friends, I have not the slightest tinge of love of Godhead within My heart. When you see Me crying in separation, I am just falsely exhibiting a demonstration of My great fortune. Indeed, not seeing the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, I continue to live My life like an insect, without purpose.’

Text 46: “Actually, My love for Kṛṣṇa is far, far away. Whatever I do is actually an exhibition of pseudo love of Godhead. When you see Me cry, I am simply falsely demonstrating My great fortune. Please try to understand this beyond a doubt.

Text 47: “Even though I do not see the moonlike face of Kṛṣṇa as He plays on His flute, and although there is no possibility of My meeting Him, still I take care of My own body. That is the way of lust. In this way, I maintain My flylike life.

Text 48: “Love for Lord Kṛṣṇa is very pure, just like the waters of the Ganges. That love is an ocean of nectar. That pure attachment to Kṛṣṇa does not conceal any spot, which would appear just like a spot of ink on a white cloth.

Text 49: “Unalloyed love of Kṛṣṇa is like an ocean of happiness. If someone gets one drop of it, the whole world can drown in that drop. It is not befitting to express such love of Godhead, yet a madman must speak. But even though he speaks, no one believes him.”

Text 50: In this way, Lord Caitanya used to revel in ecstasy day after day and exhibit these ecstasies before Svarūpa and Rāmānanda Rāya. Externally there appeared severe tribulation, as if He were suffering from poisonous effects, but internally He was experiencing bliss. This is characteristic of transcendental love of Kṛṣṇa.

Text 51: If one tastes such love of Godhead, he can compare it to hot sugarcane. When one chews hot sugarcane, his mouth burns, yet he cannot give it up. Similarly, if one has but a little love of Godhead, he can perceive its powerful effects. It can only be compared to poison and nectar mixed together.

Text 52: Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu spoke, “ ‘My dear beautiful friend, if one develops love of Godhead, love of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, all the bitter and sweet influences of this love will manifest in one’s heart. Such love of Godhead acts in two ways. The poisonous effects of love of Godhead defeat the severe and fresh poison of the serpent. Yet there is simultaneously transcendental bliss, which pours down and defeats the pride of nectar and diminishes its value. In other words, love of Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that it simultaneously defeats the poisonous effects of a snake, as well as the happiness derived from pouring nectar on one’s head. It is perceived as doubly effective, simultaneously poisonous and nectarean.’ ”

Text 56: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to lament by saying, “Where is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose form is curved in three places? Where is the sweet song of His flute, and where is the bank of the Yamunā? Where is the rāsa dance? Where is that dancing, singing and laughing? Where is My Lord, Madana-mohana, the enchanter of Cupid?”

Text 57: In this way various ecstatic emotions evolved, and the mind of Caitanya Mahāprabhu filled with anxiety. He could not escape even for a moment. In this way, because of fierce feelings of separation, His patience began to totter, and He began to recite various verses.

Text 58: “ ‘O My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, O friend of the helpless! You are the only ocean of mercy! Because I have not met You, My inauspicious days and nights have become unbearable. I do not know how I shall pass the time.’

Text 59: “All these inauspicious days and nights are not passing, for I have not met You. It is difficult to know how to pass all this time. But You are the friend of the helpless and an ocean of mercy. Kindly give Me Your audience, for I am in a precarious position.”

Text 60: In this way, the Lord’s restlessness was awakened by ecstatic feelings, and His mind became agitated. No one could understand what course such ecstasy would take. Because Lord Caitanya could not meet the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, His mind burned. He began to ask Kṛṣṇa about the means by which He could reach Him.