Key Points

  • Every relationship we cherish in this material world — the love of a parent, the loyalty of a friend, the tenderness of a spouse — has its original, eternal version in the spiritual world. Here they are temporary and laced with suffering. There, they are permanent, ever-fresh, and completely free from anxiety or loss
  • The Vaishnava tradition identifies five primary modes of relationship with Krishna, called rasas (literally “tastes” or “mellows”). Each is complete in itself, each is blissful, and each soul has one that is most natural to it — called the svarupa, one’s original constitutional position
  • In this material world, these rasas are present but they are covered by the selfish impulse of the conditioned ego. A mother loves her child, but that love is mixed with possessiveness and fear. In the spiritual world, the same love exists — but purely, without any trace of self-interest or fear of loss
  • Bhakti is not a foreign practice imposed on the soul. It is the restoration of what is already natural to us. When a covered mirror is cleaned, the reflection does not appear from somewhere new — it was always there, waiting. Similarly, our love for Krishna does not have to be manufactured; it has to be uncovered
  • The most intimate rasa is madhurya, conjugal love, embodied by the gopis of Vrindavana — especially Srimati Radharani. This love is entirely selfless, the highest expression of devotion known in the Vedic literature. Prabhupada was careful to note: this is not material romantic love. It is the complete opposite — total self-giving, without any expectation of personal gratification

Sanskrit Terms

  • Rasa — spiritual taste or mellow; the quality of the eternal relationship between the soul and Krishna; there are five primary (mukhya) and seven secondary (gauna) rasas
  • Shanta-rasa — the mood of neutrality or passive adoration; the rasa of sages who are in awe of the Absolute without active personal interaction
  • Dasya-rasa — the mood of servitude; the rasa of servants of Krishna like Hanuman or the servants of Dvaraka
  • Sakhya-rasa — the mood of friendship; the rasa of Krishna’s cowherd friends like Sudama and Sridama who play and wrestle with Him freely
  • Vatsalya-rasa — the mood of parental love; the rasa of Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda, who love Krishna as their dependent child
  • Madhurya-rasa — the mood of conjugal love; the highest and most intimate rasa, expressed by the gopis and supremely by Srimati Radharani
  • Svarupa — one’s original, eternal constitutional form and nature; includes one’s specific relationship (rasa) with Krishna in the spiritual world

Scriptural References

  • Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.12.11 — “When Krishna and Balarama played with Their friends in the forest of Vrindavana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all incarnations, was just like an ordinary child.” — This illustrates the intimacy of sakhya-rasa: Krishna’s cowherd friends relate to Him without awe, as an equal
  • Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.1.3 — “The Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless Purana… it has the concentrated spiritual emotions of pure devotional service.” — The Bhagavatam is the literary manifestation of rasa, the science of relationships with Krishna
  • Bhagavad-gita, 9.29 — “I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” — Krishna personally enters into a reciprocal relationship with the devotee
  • Narada Bhakti Sutra, 82 — “The nature of love is beyond all description. It is like a dumb person trying to describe what sweet tastes like.” — The spiritual rasas are ultimately beyond intellectual description; they are to be tasted

References

Practical Takeaway

Observe the relationships around you — with parents, children, friends, a spouse — and practice seeing them as reflections of the original relationship with Krishna. Use the love you already feel as a steppingstone: ask yourself, “If I feel this imperfect love for a conditioned soul, how much more fulfilling must be the original love between the soul and Krishna?” Let this contemplation draw you toward bhakti.