148 The Nectar of Devotion

ter. In the Eleventh Canto, 2nd Chapter, 38th verse, of the Srimad-
Bhagavatam this ecstatic love, born of the execution of regulative de-
votional service, is explained: “‘A devotee, in the course of executing
the regulative principles of devotional service, develops his natural
Krsna consciousness, and being thus softened at heart he chants and
dances like a madman. While performing chanting of the holy name
of the Lord, he sometimes cries, sometimes talks wildly, sometimes
sings, and sometimes—without caring for any outsider—dances like a
madman.”

In the Padma Purana there is a statement about ecstatic love born
of spontaneous affection. Candrakanti, a celebrated fair-faced girl,
rigidly observed celibacy in order to obtain Krsna as her husband.
She always engaged herself in meditating on the transcendental form
of the Lord and always chanted the glories of the Lord. She did not
desire to accept anyone else as her husband. She had firmly decided
that only Lord Krsna would be her husband.

The Lord’s Extraordinary Mercy

When a devotee is found to be always associated with the Lord in
ecstatic love, it is to be understood that such a position is awarded by
the Lord Himself out of His causeless extraordinary mercy. An exam-
ple of such extraordinary mercy is given in the Eleventh Canto, 12th
Chapter, 6th verse, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, wherein Lord Krsna
tells Uddhava: “The gopis in Vrndavana did not study the Vedas to
achieve Me. Nor had they ever been in holy places of pilgrimage. Nor
did they devoutly execute any regulative principle. Nor did they un-
dergo any kind of austerity. It is simply by My association that they
have attained the highest perfection of devotional service.”

From the example of Candrakanti as found in the Padma Purana
and from the example of the gopis as found in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam, it appears that a devotee who always thinks of Krsna
and who always chants His glories in ecstatic love, regardless of his
condition, will attain the highest perfection of unalloyed devotional
love due to Lord Krgna’s extraordinary mercy. This is confirmed in
