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Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
of becoming an adherent of Me alone. They consider that I am their Soul, I am their Freind, I am their Son, I am their Master, I am their Well-wisher, I am their God, and I am their Supreme Goal. My dear Mother, there is no action of time upon such devotees.” In the  Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu , the author offers his respectful obeisances to such persons who always think of Krishna as He is, as when He is Son, Well-wisher, Brother, Father, Friend, or any such relationship. Anyone following the principles of devotional service with attachment, and in terms of a particular devotee in Vrajabhumi certainly achieves the highest perfectional love of Godhead in that spirit.
There are two developmental characteristics for such seeds of love of Godhead. They are known as  Rati , or attachment, and  Bhava , the condition immediately preceding love of Godhead. By these two characteristics the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna is conquered by such devotees. These two characteristics are there before any symptoms of love of Godhead. This was explained by Lord Chaitanya to Sanatan Goswami. Lord Chaitanya said that there is really no end to describing the system of devotional service with attachment, and He is simply trying to offer a sampling of such devotional service.
Lord Chaitanya then said to Sanatan Goswami that He would describe the ultimate goal of devotional service, that which is meant for such a person who wants to attain perfection. When one’s attachment for Krishna becomes very deep, this condition is called love of Godhead. Such a state of being is called the permanent situation of the devotee. Kaviraj Goswami has offered in this connection his respectful obeisances unto Lord Chaitanya for His sublime teachings of love of Godhead. It is stated in the  Chaitanya Charitamrita : “O You Supreme Personality of Godhead, whoever awarded such pure devotional service to anyone else? O most magnanimous Incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, for my part I offer my respectful obeisances to this Incarnation, known as Gaura Krishna.”
In the  Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu  the state of being in love of Godhead is compared to the sunshine emanating from the Sun of love for Godhead; and this shining makes the devotee’s heart more and more lovely. The heart of such a devotee is situated in a transcendental position, beyond the modes of goodness of material Nature. And the process of making the heart further and further sterilized by the sunshine of love is called  Bhava . This description of  Bhava  is given by Rupa Goswami.  Bhava  is called the permanent characteristic; and the crucial point of progress for  Bhava  is called the marginal state of love of Godhead. When the  Bhava  state becomes deeper and deeper, the learned devotees call that state of being love of Godhead. In the  Narada Pan-