Further Features of Ecstatic Love for Krsna 262

dental devotional service to God—at that time his state of endurance
or steady mind is called dhrti. At this stage one is not perturbed by
any amount of loss, nor does anything appear to be unachieved by
him.

According to the opinion of Bhartrhari, the learned scholar, when
a person is elevated to this state of endurance, he thinks as follows:
“I do not wish to be a highly posted government servant. I shall be
satisfied even if I have to eat food collected by begging. I shall prefer
to remain naked, without proper dress of garments. I shall prefer to
lie down on the ground without any matress. And despite all these
disadvantages, I shall refuse to serve anyone, not even the govern-
ment.”’ In other words, when one is in ecstatic love with the Person-
ality of Godhead, he can endure any kind of disadvantages calculated
under the material concept of life.

Nanda Maharaj, the father of Krsna, used to think: “In my pas-
turing ground the goddess of fortune is personally present, and I
possess more than ten hundred thousand cows which loiter here and
there. And above all, I have a son like Krsna, who is such a powerful,
wonderful worker. Therefore, even though I am a householder, I am
feeling so satisfied!” This is an instance of mental endurance resulting
from the absence of all distress.

In another instance a devotee says, “I am always swimming in the
nectarean ocean of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, and
as such I have no more attraction for religious rituals, economic de-
velopment, sense gratification, or even the ultimate salvation of
merging into the existence of Brahman.” This is an instance of the
mind’s endurance due to achieving the best thing in the world. The
best thing in the world is absorption in Krsna consciousness.

Happiness

It is described in the Visnu Purana that when Akrira came to take
Krsna and Balarama to Mathura, just by seeing Their faces he became
so cheerful that all over his body there were symptoms of ecstatic

love. This state is called happiness.
It is stated in the Tenth Canto, 33rd Chapter, 12th verse of Srimad-
