28 / Other Ecstatic Symptoms

Existential Ecstatic Love for Krsna

When a devotee is always intensely affected by love for Krsna in a
direct relationship with Him—or even a little apart from Him—his
status is called existential ecstatic love. The symptoms originating
from such existential ecstatic love are divided into three headings—
namely, moist, burnt and dried-up.

Moist existential ecstatic love aroused in connection with Krsna is
divided into two: direct and indirect. Radharani was weaving a gar-
land of kunda flowers, and, upon hearing the vibration of Krsna’s
flute, She immediately stopped Her work. This is an example of
direct moistened existential ecstatic love. Indirect moistened existen-
tial ecstatic love is described in the following statement: Krsna, who
is also called Purusottama, is to the eyes of Mother Yasoda just like
the cloud is to the eyes of the cataki bird. When Krsna had been
brought to Mathura, Mother Yasoda, being very anxious and angry,
began to rebuke the King of Mathura.

Burnt existential ecstatic love is divided into three, and one exam-
ple is as follows: One day, Mother Yasoda was dreaming that the gi-
gantic demon, Putana, was lying on the courtyard of her house, and
she immediately became anxious to seek out Krsna.

When there are manifestations of ecstatic symptoms in the body
of a nondevotee, these are called dried-up symptoms of ecstatic love.
The nondevotees are actually materialistic, but in contact with some
pure devotee, they sometimes may manifest some symptoms of ec-
stasy. Devotional scholars call these dried-up symptoms.

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