34 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

Havirhotra, Dravid or Drumil, Chamass, and Karabhajan. The four Kumaras,
great sages, are: Sanaka, Sanandan, Sanatkumar and Sanatana. Examples of
devotees in the transcendental mode of servitorship are, in the Gokula, Raktak,
Chitrik, Patrak; these are all servants of Krishna. In Dwarka there are Daruka,
and in the Vaikuntha planets, there is Hanuman, and other persons. Devotees
in friendship are like Sridam in Vrindaban, and Bhima and Arjuna in Dwarka
or on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. So far as those in paternal love with
Krishna are concerned, the devotees are his mother, father, uncle, and similar
relatives. In conjugal love, the devotees are first the damsels of Braja, Vrind-
aban, and the Queens and Goddesses of Fortune in Dwarka. No one can count
how many they are.

Attachment for Krishna is also of two kinds: One kind of attachment is
with awe and veneration. There is a lack of freedom in such attachments,
which are exhibited in Mathura and the Vaikuntha planets. In such Abodes of
the Lord, the flavor of transcendental loving service is restricted. But in the
Gokula, Vrindaban, the exchange of loving is freely done, and the cowherd
boys and the damsels of Vrindaban, although they know that Krishna is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, do not show awe and veneration on account
of their thick and thin relationship in great intimacy with Him. Out of these
five principal transcendental tastes, awe and veneration are sometimes im-
pediments to perceiving the Lord’s greatness, or in the matter of service to
the Lord. But in the matter of friendship and paternal affection, and in conjugal
love, such awe and veneration is reduced. For example, when Krishna ap-
peared as the Son of Vasudeva and Devaki they prayed to the Lord with awe
and veneration, because they understood that the Supreme Lord Krishna or
Vishnu had appeared before them as their little child. This is confirmed in the
Srimad Bhagwatam, Tenth Canto, Fourty-fourth Chapter, 51st verse: Devaki
and Vasudeva, after knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, began to
pray to Him, although He was present as their Child. Similarly, when Arjuna
saw the Universal Form of the Lord, he was also afraid, and he begged pardon
because in his dealings with Krishna as an intimate friend, he had engaged in
much unceremonious behaviour with Him.

This is stated in the Bhagavad Gita, that Arjuna prayed, “My Dear Krishna,
I have sometimes insulted You, calling You my dear Friend Krishna, without
knowing the greatness of Your inconceivable power. Therefore, please forgive
me, because I was mad to address You like a common friend or a common
man.” Similarly, when Lord Krishna was playing jokes on Rukmini, she
thought Krishna might leave her, and therefore she was very much afraid,
