Neutral Love of God 295
tions. Another symptom is that such persons are very careful to step
forward when giving speeches. When they speak, they join together
the forefinger and thumb. (This is called the jiana-mudra position.)
They are not against the atheists, nor are they particularly inclined
to the devotees. Such persons give stress to liberation and detachment
from the materialistic way of life. They are always neutral and have
no affection for nor misidentification with anything material. They are
always grave, but fully absorbed in thoughts of the Supreme Person-
ality of Godhead. These uncommon features develop in devotees who
are situated in santa-rasa.

Regarding concentration of the eyesight on the tip of the nose,
there is a statement in the Bhakti-rasdmrta-sindhu by a devotee who
observed this being performed by a yogi. He remarked, “This great
sage is concentrating his eyesight on the tip of his nose, and from this
it appears that he has already realized the eternal form of the Lord
within himself.”

Sometimes a devotee in santa-rasa yawns, stretches his limbs, in-
structs on devotional service, offers respectful obeisances unto the
form of the Lord, offers nice prayers to the Lord and has a desire to
give direct service with his body. These are some of the common
symptoms of the devotee who is situated in neutrality. One devotee,
after observing the yawning of another devotee, addressed him thus:
“My dear mystic, I think that within your heart there is some ec-
static devotional love which is causing you to yawn.” It is sometimes
found that a devotee in the sdnta-rasa falls down on the ground, his
hairs stand up on his body, and he trembles all over. In this way, dif-
ferent symptoms of ecstatic trance are exhibited automatically by
such devotees.

In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu it is said that when Lord Krsna was
blowing His conchshell known as Paficajanya many great sages who
were living in the caves of the mountains immediately reacted, being
awakened from their trance of meditation. They immediately saw
that the hairs of their bodies were standing. Sometimes devotees in
Santa-rasa become stunned, peaceful, jubilant, deliberate, reflective,
anxious, dexterous and argumentative. These symptoms indicate con-
tinuous ecstasy, or established emotion.
