Tears of Love

Verse 6 of Sri Siksastakam
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatar of Lord Sri Krishna, appeared on this earth just 520 years ago, and displayed his pastimes as a devotee, one madly searching after Himself.
He instructed his disciples and followers to write hundreds of volumes of books on philosophy. But He Himself left only Eight Beautiful
Verses of Instruction.

Here in the blog, i’m exploring these 8 Divine Instructions, one by one. These verses contain the complete theory and practice of pure love for God, from the lips of Sri Krishna Caitanya, God in the role of His own devotee.

Sanskrit, Verse 6:
nayanam galad asru dharaya
vadanam gadgada ruddhaya gira
pulakair nicitam vapuh kada
tava nama grahane bhavisyati

Translation & Commentary:

When will tears of love
run madly down my cheeks like waves of ecstasy?
When will my voice tremble,
my words getting chocked up in my throat?
When will the hairs on my body stand up in rapture
as i chant Your Names?

After a devotee prays (in verses 4 and 5) to let go of all material attachments and be accepted as a servitor of the Lord, he/she gets more association—directly or indirectly— with saintly persons. Not with ordinary devotees, but with sadhus of the highest order. Those who have no concern with any material ambition: uttamas, situated in transcendence, far beyond the charm of this world. Protected and encouraged by this association, new feelings arise in the devotee's heart. He/she is inspired to experience intense spiritual emotions.

Spiritual emotions are pure and uncommon. They come only from intimacy and spontaneous attraction for Krishna. Only toward Krishna can the heart feel such deep, natural, spontaneous attraction. This is when sadhana bhakti (the routine practice of devotional service) transforms itself into raghanuga bhakti (spontaneous loving service).

As the reservoir of pleasure, Krishna captures the heart of the devotee. As Hari, he can steal anyone’s mind. And as Krishna, he takes over the heart with love and affection. The beauty Krishna shows his devotee is unequalled.

As a devotee begins to experience these feelings of affection in his/her heart, their hope increases. They think: “I want to be in an intimate relationship with You, Krishna. Before i could only think of being somehow connected to You as a servant, in a distant way, but now, i want to feel intimacy with You at every moment. I want to sing and dance ecstatically. I want to cry, lose control, feel rapture when remembering You. Routine chanting is not enough. My aspiration has changed. Now i want to become mad when i chant your Names!”