Page 18 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

service to the Lord by which the devotee can experience the sweet mellows
of interpersonal loving relationships. Eventually individual souls will fall down
from the Brahman unless they progress to the stage of devotional service because
the nature of the soul is to be active with desires and aspirations. The Mayavadis
will all fall down because they do not believe there is anything beyond Brahman
effulgence. They do not really experience complete santa rasa or the neutral
appreciation of the Lord’s transcendental qualities because they wrongly claim
there are no individuals in the spiritual world. They say that individuality is
false. There philosphy is full of mistakes and blasphemy of Lord Krishna. Bhakti
Vedanta Swami Prabhupada writes: Impersonalist commentators on the Bhagavad-
gita unreasonably assume that Brahman takes the form of jiva in the material world, and to
substantiate this they refer to Chapter Fifteen, verse 7, of the Gita. But in this verse the Lord
also speaks of the living entity as “an eternal fragment of Myself.” The fragment of God, the
living entity, may fall down into the material world, but the Supreme Lord (Acyuta) never
falls down. Therefore this assumption that the Supreme Brahman assumes the form of jiva
is not acceptable. It is important to remember that in Vedic literature Brahman (the living
entity) is distinguished from Para-brahman (the Supreme Lord).(Bg 8.3 - Purport)
Achieving sweet relationships with the Lord (the mellows of rasa)
Santa rasa is experienced when the mystic yogis take shelter of Lord Vishnu,
the four-handed eternal form of the Lord Krishna in the material world present
in the heart of every living entity and in every atom. They become captivated by
the beauty of the Lord. The appreciation of the Lord’s transcendental beauty is
called santa rasa or the neutral stage of devotional service.
When the appreciation of the Lord’s enchanting beauty increases the yogi
feels impelled to serve the Lord. He begins a potential upward movement of
different degrees of sincere service (dasya rasa) under the tutelage of a sincere
devotee expert in the mood of service that leads him closer and closer to the
Lord. This attitude of service can also evolve to gradually become the intimate
friend (sakya rasa) of the Lord like Arjuna. There are different types of service
attitude. One may serve the Lord with awe and reverence as in Vaikuntha for
Lord Narayana. Or one can aspire to be a gopa, a cowherd boy who is a close
companion of Krishna and engage in taking the cows and calves to pasture in
Vrindaban. The gopas do not see Krishna with awe and reverence. They have
a playful and intimate relationship with the Lord who they consider their peer.
In order to experience such a close relationship with the Lord, they must be
under the infl uence of Krishna’s spiritual illusory energy called Yogamaya in
the material world. There is Mahamaya (represented by Durga devi) who puts
people into illusion so that they can go away from Krishna and engage in material
life. Then there is Yogamaya (represented by Subhadra, Krishna’s sister) who
puts devotees into illusion so that they can intimately associate with the Lord
in loving relationships without any strict formalities. This is the case of Arjuna.
One can evolve to the pinnacle of rasa by becoming the conjugal consorts of the
Lord like the gopis or cowherd girls. This is called madhurya rasa, which is the
very intimate relationship of conjugal love between Lord Krishna and His most
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