Neutral Love of God 291

understanding is the Supreme Person. The impersonalistic commen-
tary on the Bhagavad-gita is therefore disastrous because, without
understanding the transcendental pleasure of the Gita, the imperson-
alist wants to interpret it in his own way. If an impersonalist can,
however, come in contact with a pure devotee, his transcendental
position can be changed for greater elevation. Great sages are there-
fore recommended to worship the form of the Lord in order to
achieve that highest transcendental pleasure.

Without worshiping the arcd-vigraha, the form or Deity of the
Lord, one cannot understand such literature as the Bhagavad-gita and
Srimad-Bhagavatam. For those great sages situated in the position of
transcendental neutrality, the beginning should be to take shelter of
Lord Visnu, the four-handed eternal form of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. The mystic yogis are therefore advised to meditate on
the form of Lord Visnu as recommended by Kapila Muni in the
sankhya-yoga system. Unfortunately, many mystic yogis try to medi-
tate on something void, and as is stated in the Gita, the result is that
they simply undergo trouble and do not achieve any tangible result.

When some great saintly persons who had undergone penances and
austerities saw the four-handed transcendental form of Visnu, they
began to remark as follows: ‘““This four-handed form of the Lord,
manifested in a bluish color, is the reservoir of all pleasure and the
center of our living force. Actually, when we see this eternal form of
Visnu, we, along with many other paramahamsas, become imme-
diately captivated by the beauty of the Lord.” This appreciation of
Lord Visnu by saintly persons is an instance of situation in santa-
rasa, or the neutral stage of devotional service. In the beginning, those
who are aspiring for salvation try to get out of the material entangle-
ment by performing painful austerities and penances, and ultimately
they come to the impersonal status of spiritual realization. At this
brahma-bhita stage of liberation from the material entanglement, the
symptoms, as explained n the Bhagavad-gita, are that one becomes
joyous beyond any hankering or lamentation and gains a universal
vision. When the devotee is situated in the santa-rasa, or neutral stage
of devotional service, he appreciates the Visnu form of the Lord.

Actually, all Vedic culture is aiming at understanding Lord Visnu.
In the Rg Veda one mantra says that any advanced saintly person is
