Other Ecstatic Symptoms
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earth with her red, lotus-like nails. Because she was shedding tears, the black ointment from her eyes was dripping, along with the tears, onto her breasts, which were covered with  kuṅkum  powder. Rukminī was so aggrieved that her voice was choked up.
Devastation
When a person is confused by simultaneous happiness and tribulation and does not know what to do, this state of confusion is called  pralaya , or devastation. In this condition of  pralaya  one sometimes falls down on the ground, and all the symptoms of ecstatic love become manifest. When the  gopīs  were searching after Kṛṣṇa and all of a sudden He came out from the bushes and creepers, all of them became stunned and almost senseless. In this state the  gopīs  appeared very beautiful. This is an example of  pralaya , or devastation in happiness.
There are also instances of  pralaya  in distress. One such example is described in the Tenth Canto, 39th Chapter, 14th verse of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , where Śukadeva Gosvāmī tells King Parīkṣit: “My dear King, when the  gopīs  were missing Kṛṣṇa, they were so much absorbed in meditation upon Him that all of their senses stopped functioning, and they lost all bodily sense. It was as though they had become liberated from all material conditions.”
Out of the many ecstatic symptoms of the body, the symptom of being stunned is especially significant. According to the degree of being stunned, the vital force within the body becomes agitated, and due to such a state, the other ecstatic loving symptoms sometimes become altered. These transcendental ecstatic symptoms gradually develop, and in the course of such development, they are sometimes called smoky, sometimes called blazing, and sometimes called shining. These three degrees are experienced for many, many years and extend to different parts of the body. Unlike the shedding of tears and faltering of the voice, the condition of being stunned is spread all over the body. The shedding of tears and faltering of the voice are simply localized symptoms.
The shedding of tears, however, sometimes makes the eyes become