Ways of Meeting Krsna
319
Krṣṇa’s personal servant, Dāruka, seeing Krṣṇa at the door of Dvārakā, forgot to offer Him respects with folded hands.
When a devotee is ultimately situated in association with Kṛṣṇa, his position is called steadiness in devotional service. This steady position in devotional service is explained in the book known as  Haṁsadūta . It is described there how Akrūra, who was considered by the  gopīs  to be terror personified, would talk with Kṛṣṇa about the activities of the Kuru dynasty. A similar steady position was held by Uddhava, the disciple of Bṛhaspati. He would always massage the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa while kneeling down on the ground before Him.
When a devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord, it is called the attainment of  yoga . The English equivalent to the word “ yoga ” is “linking up.” So actual linking up with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, begins when the devotee renders service unto Him. Devotees situated in the transcendental  rasa  of servitorship render their particular service whenever there is an opportunity. Sometimes they sit down in front of Kṛṣṇa to receive orders. Some persons are reluctant to accept this level of devotional service as actual  bhakti-yoga , and in some of the  Purāṇas  also this servitorship in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is not accepted as the actual  bhakti-yoga  system. But in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  it has been clearly indicated that the servitor relationship with Kṛṣṇa is the actual beginning of  yoga  realization.
In the Eleventh Canto of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , 3rd Chapter, 33rd verse, it is stated that when devotees are engaged in the discharge of  bhakti-yoga , sometimes they cry from thinking of Kṛṣṇa, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they become jubilant, and sometimes they talk in very uncommon ways. Sometimes they dance, sometimes they sing, sometimes they are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, and sometimes they sit down silently as if absorbed in trance.
Similarly, in the Seventh Canto of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , Chapter 28, Prahlāda Mahārāj says to his friends: “My dear friends, as soon as pure devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa hear of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, who is the eternal reservoir of pastimes, or hear about His transcendental qualities they become overpowered with jubilation. Ecstatic symptoms are manifested in their bodies. They shed tears, talk falteringly, glorify the Lord in a loud voice and chant and dance in ecstasy. These ecstasies are always there, but sometimes they over-