122 The Nectar of Devotion

nation, and gradually the worshiper develops spiritual love and
achieves that ultimate goal of life which is desired by the pure devo-
tee.”

The gopis may be considered to be examples of spontaneous love
in sensual attraction. The gopis are young girls, and Krsna is a young
boy. Superficially it seems that the gopis are attracted to Krsna on
grounds of sex. Similarly, King Karnsa was attracted to Krsna because
of fearfulness. Kamsa was always fearful of Krsna because it had been
foretold that his sister’s son, Krsna, would kill him. Sigupala was also
always envious of Krsna. And the descendants of King Yadu, due to
their family relationship with Krsna, are always thinking of Him as
one of their members. All of these different kinds of devotees have a
spontaneous attraction for Krsna, in different categories, and they
achieve the same desired goal of life.

The attraction of the gopis for Krsna and the affection of the
members of the Yadu dynasty are both accepted as spontaneous, or
raganuga. The attraction of Kamsa to Krsna in fearfulness and the
attraction of Sigupala in enviousness are not accepted as devotional
service, however, because their attitudes are not favorable. Devotional
service should be executed only in a favorable frame of mind. There-
fore, according to Srila Ripa Gosvami, such attractions are not con-
sidered to be in devotional service. Again, he analyzes the affection
of the Yadus: If it is on the platform of friendship, then it is spon-
taneous love, but if it is on the platform of regulative principles, then
it is not. And only when affection comes to the platform of spon-
taneous love is it counted in the category of pure devotional service.

There may be some difficulty in understanding that both the gopis
and Kamsa achieved the same goal, so this point should be clearly
understood, because the attitudes of Kamsa and Sigupala were dif-
ferent from that of the gopis. Although in all these cases the focus
is on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all of the devotees
are elevated to the spiritual world, there is still a distinction between
these two classes of souls. In the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam
it is said that the absolute truth is one, and He is manifested as im-
personal Brahman, Paramadtma (supersoul), and Bhagavan (the Su-
preme Personality of Godhead). Here is a spiritual distinction. Al-
