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The Nectar of Devotion
tion. In that affectional stage no one can bear separation from Krşna even for a moment.
One devotee told Dāruka, the servant of Kṛṣṇa: “My dear Dāruka, when you become like wood because of your separation from Kṛṣṇa, it is not so wonderful. Whenever  any  devotee sees Kṛṣṇa, his eyes become filled with water, and in separation any devotee like you would become stunned, standing just like a wooden doll. That is not a very wonderful thing.”
There is a statement about Uddhava’s symptoms of love. When he saw Lord Krṣṇa his eyes filled with tears and created a river which flowed down toward the sea of Krṣṇa to offer tribute, as a wife offers tribute to her husband. When his body erupted with goose-pimples, he appeared like the  kadamba  flower, and when he began to offer prayers, he appeared completely distinct from all other devotees.
When affection is symptomized by direct happiness and distress, that is called attraction. In such an attracted state of ecstatic love, one can face all kinds of disadvantages calmly. Even at the risk of death such a devotee is never befert of the transcendental loving service of the Lord. A glorious example of this ecstatic love was exhibited by King Parīkṣit when he was at the point of death. Although he was befert of his entire kingdom, which spread over all the world, and although he was accepting not even a drop of water in the seven days remaining to him, because he was engaged in hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he was not in the least distressed. On the contrary, he was feeling direct transcendental ecstatic joy in association with Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
One devotee has confidently expressed this opinion: “If a drop of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy can be bestowed upon me, then I shall feel completely carefree, even in the midst of a fire or an ocean. But if I become bereft of His causeless mercy, then even if I became the King of Dvārakā, I would be simply an object for pinpricks.”
Devotees such as Mahārāj Parīkṣit and Uddhava are all situated in ecstatic attraction on the basis of affection, and in that state of affection a feeling of friendship becomes manifest. When Uddhava was freed from all material contamination, he saw the Lord, and his throat became choked up, and he could not speak. By the movements