Transcendental Mellow 154

favor of Govinda by being engaged in transcendental loving service at
His lotus feet. Being encouraged by such a feeling, one who is con-
stantly engaged in discharging the regulative principles of devotional
service in such a way as to please the Supreme Personality of God-
head develops two principles of compelling force, which come under
the heading of vibhava. Thus one enjoys transcendental bliss.

There are several origins or causes for this compulsive love of
Krsna, such as Krsna Himself, the devotees of Krsna, Krsna’s playing
on the flute, etc. The effect is sometimes loving and sometimes
stunted.

There are eight transcendental symptoms found in the body during
ecstasy, and all of them are possible only by a mixture of the above-
mentioned five ecstatic divisions. Without some mixture of these five
ecstatic principles, one cannot relish transcendental bliss. The cause
or basis for relishing transcendental mellow is exactly what we mean
by vibhava. This vibhava is divided into two—namely, basic and im-
petuous. In the Agni Purana the description of vibhdva is given as fol-
lows: ‘‘The basis from which ecstatic love is born is called vibhava,
which is divided into two—basic and impetuous.” In other words,
there are two kinds of ecstatic love. The object of basic ecstatic love
is Krsna and His devotee. Lord Krsna is the object of basic ecstatic
love, and His pure devotee, a reservoir of such love, is the object of
impetuous ecstatic love. Impetuous ecstatic love, then, is that love
which develops when one sees an object which reminds him of Krsna.

Lord Krsna, who is the possessor of inconceivable potencies and
qualities of transcendental knowledge and bliss, is the basic cause of
ecstatic love. Lord Krsna also becomes the reservoir (impetus) of
ecstatic love by His different incarnations and expansions. In the
Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a statement in connection with the
brahma-vimohana-lila, which demonstrates something of this impetu-
ous feature of ecstatic love. When Brahma was deluded by Krsna, who
expanded Himself into so many cowherd boys, calves and cows,
Krsna’s elder brother, Sri Baladeva (a direct expansion of Krsna Him-
self), felt astonishment and said, ‘““How wonderful it is that my ec-
static love for Krsna is again being attracted to so many cowherd
boys, calves and cows!” He was struck with wonder by thinking in
