8 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila, Ch. 23

TEXT 13
CHS “Sle? Nip Cara HCH “ata -aTT
CAB GAA ‘aicate HA tarH-ATT YO |

sei ‘bhava’ gadha haile dhare ‘prema’-ndma
sei prema — ‘prayojana’ sarvananda-dhama

SYNONYMS

sei bhava—that emotional condition; gadha haile—when it becomes inten-
sified; dhare—takes; prema-nama—the name love of Godhead; sei prema—that
love of Godhead; prayojana—the ultimate goal of life; sarva-ananda-dhama—the
reservoir of all pleasure.

TRANSLATION

“When that ecstatic emotional stage intensities, it is called love of God-
head. Such love is life’s ultimate goal and the reservoir of all pleasure.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura summarizes this growth of love of Godhead as a
gradual process. A person becomes interested in devotional service by some
good fortune. Eventually he becomes interested in pure devotional service with-
out material contamination. At that point, a person wants to associate with devo-
tees. As a result of this association, he becomes more and more interested in dis-
charging devotional service and hearing and chanting. The more one is interested
in hearing and chanting, the more he is purified of material contamination. Libera-
tion from material contamination is called anartha-nivrtti, indicating a diminishing
of all unwanted things. This is the test of development in devotional service. If
one actually develops the devotional attitude, he must be freed from the material
contamination of illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating. These are the
preliminary symptoms. When one is freed from all material contamination, his firm
faith awakens in devotional service. When firm faith develops, a taste arises, and
by that taste, one becomes attached to devotional service. When this attachment
intensifies, the seed of love of Krsna fructifies. This position is called priti or rati
(affection) or bhava (emotion). When rati intensifies, it is called love of Godhead.
This love of Godhead is actually life’s highest perfection and the reservoir of all
pleasure.

Thus devotional life is divided into two stages —sdadhana-bhakti and bhdava-
bhakti. Sadhana-bhakti refers to the development of devotional service through
the regulative principles. The basic principle for the execution of devotional ser-
vice is faith. Above that, there is association with devotees, and after that there is
initiation by a bona fide spiritual master. After initiation, when one follows the
