251 The Nectar of Devotion

derful it is that when the Sankhaciida demon—vast and strong as a
great hill—attacked your Cupid-like beautiful son, there was no one
present in Vrndavana to help. And yet the demon was killed by your
little son. It appears to be due to the result of severe penances and
austerities in your past lives that your son was saved in this way.”

In the same Lalita-madhava there is an account of Krsna’s kidnap-
ping Rukmini at her royal marriage ceremony. At that time all of the
princes present began to converse amongst themselves, saying, “We
have our elephants, horses, chariots, bows, arrows and swords, so
why should we be afraid of Krsna? Let us attack Him! He is nothing
but a lusty cowherd boy! He cannot take away the Princess in this
way! Let us all attack Him!” This is an instance of emotion caused
by the presence of enemies.

Srila Ripa Gosvami is trying to prove by the above examples that
in relationship with Krsna there is no question of impersonalism. All
personal activities are there in relationship with Krsna.

Madness

Srila Bilvamangala Thakur prays in his book as follows: “Let Sri-
mati Radharani purify the whole world, because She has surrendered
Herself completely unto Krsna. Out of Her ecstatic love for Him,
She sometimes acted just like an addled person and attempted to
churn curd, although there was no curd in the pot. And seeing this,
Krsna became so enchanted by Radharani that He began to milk a
bull instead of a cow.” These are some of the instances of insanity or
madness in connection with the love affairs of Radha and Krsna. In
the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that when Krsna entered the poison-
ous waters of the Yamuna, Srimati Yagoda Devi went insane. Instead
of searching for curative herbs, she began to speak to the trees as if
they were snake chanters. With folded hands she began to bow down
to the trees, asking them, “What is the medicinal herb which can
check Krsna’s dying from this poisonous water?” This is an instance
of insanity caused by some great danger.

How a devotee can be in a state of insanity because of ecstatic
love is described in the Tenth Canto, 30th Chapter, 4th verse of
Srimad-Bhagavatam, where the gopis were searching for Krsna in the
