Neutral Love of God
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tions. Another symptom is that such persons are very careful to step forward when giving speeches. When they speak, they join together the forefinger and thumb. (This is called the  jñāna-mudrā  position.) They are not against the atheists, nor are they particularly inclined to the devotees. Such persons give stress to liberation and detachment from the materialistic way of life. They are always neutral and have no affection for nor misidentification with anything material. They are always grave, but fully absorbed in thoughts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These uncommon features develop in devotees who are situated in  śānta-rasa .
Regarding concentration of the eyesight on the tip of the nose, there is a statement in the  Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu  by a devotee who observed this being performed by a  yogī . He remarked, “This great sage is concentrating his eyesight on the tip of his nose, and from this it appears that he has already realized the eternal form of the Lord within himself.”
Sometimes a devotee in  sānta-rasa  yawns, stretches his limbs, instructs on devotional service, offers respectful obeisances unto the form of the Lord, offers nice prayers to the Lord and has a desire to give direct service with his body. These are some of the common symptoms of the devotee who is situated in neutrality. One devotee, after observing the yawning of another devotee, addressed him thus: “My dear mystic, I think that within your heart there is some ecstatic devotional love which is causing you to yawn.” It is sometimes found that a devotee in the  sānta-rasa  falls down on the ground, his hairs stand up on his body, and he trembles all over. In this way, different symptoms of ecstatic trance are exhibited automatically by such devotees.
In the  Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu  it is said that when Lord Kṛṣṇa was blowing His conchshell known as Pāñcajanya many great sages who were living in the caves of the mountains immediately reacted, being awakened from their trance of meditation. They immediately saw that the hairs of their bodies were standing. Sometimes devotees in  śānta-rasa  become stunned, peaceful, jubilant, deliberate, reflective, anxious, dexterous and argumentative. These symptoms indicate continuous ecstasy, or established emotion.