Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

We can not clarify more as we are Prabhupadas followers and it is quite clear to us that we worship him in dasya rasa. For other bhavas go to Gauranganagaris.

We can clarify according to Srila Prabhupadas discussions and his books namely Chaitanya Charitamrta

Infact the words worship and dasya rasa cannot go together, not externally. How can you be a friend (Dasya) and at the same time give worship? Externally we always worship in awe and reverence and in full respect of our lordships however internally as our love grows we can meditate and think upon the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. We worship both Radha Krishna and Gaur Nitai in awe and reverence, do we not bow our heads to Gaura Nitai? Make offerings and worship the Pancha Tattva and more specifically Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as none other than the combined form of Radha and Krishna?

The word Dasya Rasa is a stage of transcendental devotional service it is not an aspect of worship (internally it is but not externally). After many years of worship and following the Viddhis (rules and regulations) that Srila Prabhupada has carefully laid out for us if we are fortunate by the grace of Guru (Srila Prabhupada) and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we can then enter into loving transcendental service.

As Srila Prabhupada points out in C.C uc0u256 di 3.11"Du257 sya-rasa is the basic relationship between Kru803 su803 nu803 a and His devotees; therefore this verse considers du257 sya the first stage of transcendental devotional service"

Srila Prabhupada also carefully points out in C.C u256 di 3.15 in his translation "Everywhere in the world people worship Me according to scriptural injunctions. But simply by following such regulative principles one cannot attain the loving sentiments of the devotees in Vrajabhu363 mi."

But as Srila Prabhupada also points out without following the regulative principles you wont even begin to appreciate the glories of the Supreme Lord, so follow the regulative principles and clean your temple (mind and consciousness) then begin the internal meditation.

in C.C u256 di 4.6 Srila Prabhupada eloquently states "In the Third Chapter, fourth verse, it has been clearly said that Lord Caitanya appeared in order to distribute love of Kru803 su803 nu803 a and the chanting of His transcendental holy name, Hare Kru803 su803 nu803 a. That was the secondary purpose of Lord Caitanyas appearance. The real reason is different, as we shall see in this chapter."

Srila Prabhupada goes on to state in u256 di 4.15-16 in his purport "But the real purpose of Lord Kru803 su803 nu803 as appearance was to stage a dramatic performance of His transcendental pastimes at Vrajabhu363 mi, thus exhibiting the highest limit of transcendental mellow in the exchanges of reciprocal love between the living entity and the Supreme Lord. These reciprocal exchanges of mellows are called ru257 ga-bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord in transcendental rapture. Lord u346 ru299 Kru803 su803 nu803 a wants to make known to all the conditioned souls that He is more attracted by ru257 ga-bhakti than vidhi-bhakti, or devotional service under scheduled regulations. It is said in the Vedas (Taittiru299 ya Up. 2.7), raso vai sahu803 : the Absolute Truth is the reservoir for all kinds of reciprocal exchanges of loving sentiments."

So we follow the regulative principles and bow our heads down in awe and reverence and as our devotion and love grows internally we seek to follow in the footsteps of the Rupanugas or the followers (acharyas) in the disciplic line of Rupa Goswami. If one follows Srila Prabhupadas books and reads C.C it is all given. At some stage the internal meditation will take over although externally you will continue to bow your head, internally your mind will be fixed in Madhurya Rasa.

If anyone states that Srila Prabhupada only teaches Dasya Rasa then they are mistaken and they should read Srila Prabhupadas books namely the Chaitanaya Charitamrta, where he gives the full conclusions of the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that was to deliver Madhurya rasa. However we always worship in awe and reverence...externally. Yes devotees from the beginning are advised to consider Krishna your friend but really we worship both Radha and Krishna in awe and reverence giving full respect but internally as the devotee advances his loving exchanges increase culminating in Madhurya Rasa. As followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabha, Rupa Goswami and Srila Prabhupada we only seek Madhurya Rasa.

This is why some devotees come out with these rediculous statements that Srila Prabhupada only teaches Dasya rasa so if you want the deepest mood Madurya Rasa you will need to look elsewhere. This of course is completely bogus, our Srila Prabhupada delivered the full conclusions of Madhurya Rasa, and one only has to read his books namely Chaitanya Charitamrta and Nectar of devotion to understand this. However so many devotees simply do not read. As most of Srila Prabhupadas disciples came from a western background he advised to follow the regulative principles and start with Bhagavad Gita..clean the conciousness before you seek to go further and that is what we must all do. You will know when it is time to go further. But in the end you must go further as Aindra Das has stated in his book.

PAMHO AGSP
Hare Krishna

Thank you for answering that question, I feel it very important seeing that in ISKCON we worship Gaura Nitai with peacock feather and all the same dress as we would offer Krishna.

> How can you be a friend (Dasya) and at the same time give worship?

Simply. Friend is sakhya.

> in ISKCON we worship Gaura Nitai with peacock feather and all the same dress as we would offer Krishna.

At the same time They follow Ekadasi, which Radha Krishna dont.

Yes and the Sahkyas (meaning friendship e.g. cowherd boys) do not worship Krishna, they treat him only as a friend. Devotees worship in awe and reverence which means servant of the servant of the servant and when grace is bestowed by Guru and Krishna then you can go further, but not until then. We are the most fallen, you are either his friend Dasya or on a deeper rasa or you are servant of the servant of the servant. We are all very fallen, who here can claim he is really on the Sahkya Rasa platform and is friends with Krishna?

Even Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was extremely humble and sat in very ignorable places during public speeches, what to speak of us?

Yes and Gaura Nitai display the spirit of devotees, how to be a devotee or devoted to Sri Radha Krishna, so one would expect them to follow Ekadasi but not Radha and Krishna.

Its not only viddhi, its Their sadhana in prakat lila. See Prema vivarta 18.