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The Nectar of Devotion
or observed by the specific ecstatic symptom. In fact, all the different humors and mellows of the devotees possess various specific feelings within the mind. And, according to these differences, the symptoms of ecstatic love appear in different forms and degrees. If one's heart is highly elevated, grave and magnanimous, or if one's heart is rough and crude, different symptoms of ecstatic love will appear, influenced by the condition of the heart. Actually, people cannot generally understand such different qualities of mentality, but when one's heart is very soft or gentle, these symptoms become very easily visible, and one can understand very clearly. The heart of one who is highly elevated and grave is compared with gold. If one's heart is very soft and gentle, his heart is compared with a cotton swab. When there is an ecstatic sensation within the mind, the golden heart or grave heart is not agitated, but the soft heart immediately becomes agitated.
To offer another example, a grave, magnanimous heart is compared to a great city, and a soft heart to an insignificant cottage. There may be many lights, or even great elephants in the big city, but no one will take particular notice of them. But when such lights or elephants are seen near a small cottage, everyone can distinctly point them out.
Hardness of the heart is compared to a lightning bolt, with gold and with shellac. The lightning bolt is very strong and never becomes soft. Similarly, the hearts of those who are engaged in severe austerities and penances do not become very easily softened. The golden heart becomes melted at high temperature, as in ecstatic love. And the shellac heart is very easily melted in slight temperature.
Softness of the heart is compared with honey, with butter and with nectar. And the condition of the mind is compared with sunshine. As honey and butter become melted even in slight sunshine, so soft-hearted persons become easily melted. Nectar, however, is by its nature always liquid. And the hearts of those who are in pure ecstatic love with Kṛṣṇa are by nature always liquified, just like nectar.
A pure devotee of Krşna is always specifically qualified with nectarean qualifications and sometimes with the qualifications of butter and honey. On the whole, all the different conditions of the heart mentioned above can be melted under certain circumstances, just as a hard diamond sometimes is melted by a combination of certain