296 The Nectar of Devotion

Once a great realized sage was lamenting that the Supreme Lord
Krsna was living in Dvaraka but that he was unable to take advantage
of seeing Him. After thinking this, the sage immediately became
stunned. He was thinking that he was simply wasting his time. In
other words, the sage lamented because the Supreme Personality of
Godhead was personally present, and he still could not take advan-
tage of this because of his meditation.

When a mystic is transcendental to all kinds of mental concoctions
and is situated in Brahman, his state is called trance beyond the in-
fluence of the material conception of life. In that stage, when one
hears about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, there may be
shivering in the body.

When a Brahman-realized devotee who has come to the stage of
steady trance comes into contact with the eternal form of Krsna, his
transcendental pleasure increases millions of times. One great sage
once inquired from another, “My dear friend, do you think that after
I perfect the eightfold yoga performance I shall be able to see the
eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?” This enquiry
from the sage is an instance of inquisitiveness in a devotee situated in
the neutral stage of devotional service.

When Lord Krsna, along with His elder brother Balarama and sister
Subhadra, came to Kuruksetra in a chariot on the occasion of a solar
eclipse, many mystic yogis also came. When these mystic yogis saw
Lord Krsna and Balarama, they exclaimed that now that they had
seen the excellent bodily effulgence of the Lord, they had almost
forgotten the pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman realization.
In this connection one of the mystics approached Krsna and said,
“My dear Lord, You are always full with transcendental bliss, ex-
celling all other spiritual positions. And so, simply by seeing You
from a distant place, I have come to the conclusion that there is no
need of my being situated in the transcendental bliss of impersonal
Brahman.”

When a great mystic was once awakened from his meditative
trance by hearing the vibration of Krsna’s Paficajanya conchshell, the
mystic became overpowered. So much so, in fact, that he began to
bash his head on the ground, and with eyes full of tears of ecstatic
