310 The Nectar of Devotion
tion. In that affectional stage no one can bear separation from Krsna
even for a moment.

One devotee told Daruka, the servant of Krsna: ““My dear Daruka,
when you become like wood because of your separation from Krsna,
it is not so wonderful. Whenever any devotee sees Krsna, his eyes be-
come filled with water, and in separation any devotee like you would
become stunned, standing just like a wooden doll. That is not a very
wonderful thing.”

There is a statement about Uddhava’s symptoms of love. When he
saw Lord Krsna his eyes filled with tears and created a river which
flowed down toward the sea of Krsna to offer tribute, as a wife offers
tribute to her husband. When his body erupted with goose-pimples,
he appeared like the kadamba flower, and when he began to offer
prayers, he appeared completely distinct from all other devotees.

When affection is symptomized by direct happiness and distress,
that is called attraction. In such an attracted state of ecstatic love,
one can face all kinds of disadvantages calmly. Even at the risk of
death such a devotee is never bereft of the transcendental loving ser-
vice of the Lord. A glorious example of this ecstatic love was exhibited
by King Pariksit when he was at the point of death. Although he was
bereft of his entire kingdom, which spread over all the world, and
although he was accepting not even a drop of water in the seven
days remaining to him, because he was engaged in hearing the tran-
scendental pastimes of the Lord from Sukadeva Gosvami, he was not
in the least distressed. On the contrary, he was feeling direct tran-
scendental ecstatic joy in association with Sukadeva Gosvami.

One devotee has confidently expressed this opinion: “If a drop of
Lord Krsna’s mercy can be bestowed upon me, then I shall feel com-
pletely carefree, even in the midst of a fire or an ocean. But if I be-
come bereft of His causeless mercy, then even if I became the King
of Dvaraka, I would be simply an object for pinpricks.”

Devotees such as Maharaj Pariksit and Uddhava are all situated in
ecstatic attraction on the basis of affection, and in that state of af-
fection a feeling of friendship becomes manifest. When Uddhava was
freed from all material contamination, he saw the Lord, and his
throat became choked up, and he could not speak. By the movements
