Text 6

In his spiritual body (siddha-deha ), the living entity is a transcendental servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When attachment to service (dāsya-rati) arises, the jīva deems his material designations insignificant.

The following statement of Śrīman Mahāprabhu is found in Padyāvalī (74):

नाहं विप्रो न च नर-पतिर् नापि वैश्यो न शूद्रो नाहं वर्णी न च गृह-पतिर् नो वनस्थो यतिर् वा
किन्तु प्रोद्यन्-निखिल-परमानन्द-पूर्णामृताब्धेर् गोपी-भर्तुः पद-कमलयोर् दास-दासानुदासः

nāhaṃ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro nāhaṃ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrṇāmṛtābdher gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

I am not a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, nor am I a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha or sannyāsī. My nature is to be a servant of the servants of the Vaiṣṇavas who are the servants of the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā-vallabha, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is naturally effulgent and the complete ocean of bliss.

विप्र, क्षत्र, वैश्य, शूद्र कभु नाहि आमि
गृही, ब्रह्मचारी, वानप्रस्थ, यति, स्वामी

vipra, kṣatra, vaiśya, śūdra kabhu nāhi āmi
gṛhī, brahmacārī, vānaprastha, yati, svāmī

प्रभूत परमानन्द-पूर्णामृतावास
श्री-राधा-वल्लभ-दास-दासेर अनुदास

prabhūta paramānanda-pūrṇāmṛtāvāsa
śrī-rādhā-vallabha-dāsa-dāsera anudāsa

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

The living entity is actually a servant of the transcendental Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra, the ocean of all nectarean mellows.

This is confirmed in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 5.142):

एकला ईश्वर कृष्ण, आर सब भृत्य
यारे यैछे नाचाय, से तैछे करे नृत्य

ekalā īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya
yāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya

Lord Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so. *

The living entity who is bound by māyā identifies himself with the temporary material body of a woman or man and various other designations. However, with His own lotus mouth, Śrī Gaurasundara, the incarnation in Kali-yuga and saviour of all fallen souls, instructed the human beings tormented by Kali. He said, “We are not bound by social classes (varṇas), such as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or sūdra, nor by brahmacārya or other stages of life (āśramas). Our pure identity is gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, that of the servant of the servant of the servant of the maintainer of the gopīs.”

Because the living entity is conditioned, he receives a new body according to his previous life’s desires and impressions (saṃskāras), and thus takes birth in one of the varṇas. The destination he attains after death is in accordance with his karma. This is called karmacakra, the cycle of action and reaction. The living entity realises his pure form (śuddha-svarūpa ) by taking shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide guru and thereby following the path of bhajana as established by the previous mahājanas. His material identification is removed by his constant performance of nāma-bhajana. A pure spiritual mood then manifests, and he attains a pure, transcendental body with which he can serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This body is also endowed with hands, legs and so forth, just like the material body.

In pure, transcendental nature, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the only male and all jīvas are female. Actually, in the structure of the jīva’s heart, male and female characteristics do not exist; yet when embodied, the living entity naturally conceives of himself as being male or female. The jīva attains a pure body through the medium of sādhana-bhajana. A person who is inclined towards the amorous mellow (mādhuryarasa) will perform sādhana-bhajana under the guidance of rasikabhaktas and, according to his own desire and constitutional nature, he will attain his spiritual form, which will be the body of a gopī. Yogamāyā makes all arrangements for the devotee’s service in a specific rasa by the potency that makes the impossible possible (aghaṭana-ghaṭana-paṭīyasī-śakti). Prema-bhakti-candrikā states: sādhane bhāviba yāhā, siddha-dehe pāba tāhā, pakvāpakva mātra se vicāra

Whatever one contemplates in sādhana, one will attain at perfection. The only difference is that in sādhana it is unripe, and at perfection, ripe.

Dāsānudāsa–No one has the qualification to enter mādhuryasevā to Śrī Yugala-kiśora unless he is under the guidance of the vrajagopīs. By performing bhajana under the guidance of the mañjarīsakhīs, who are following those gopīs, one can attain the post of a maidservant. At the time of sādhana, one desires to have a mood of service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa according to the moods of the vraja-gopīs. Then, when bhāva arises he considers himself to be a maidservant of a vrajagopī like Lalitā Sakhī and serves Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa under her guidance. In śṛṅgāra-rasa-upāsana, worship through the amorous mellow, one conceives of oneself as a paramour (parakīya or paroḍhā).

Some persons, although male, consider themselves to be Lalitā or Viśākhā. They adopt feminine attire, pose as sakhīs, and thus perform ‘bhajana’. By such actions, they only destroy themselves and others. To think, “I am Lalitā” or “I am Viśākhā” is the ahaṅgrahopāsanā of the māyāvādīs, a type of worship in which one considers himself to be identical with the object of worship. Those who think like this are offenders at the lotus feet of Lalitā, Viśākhā and others, and they descend into the most dreadful hell. The living entity can never become Rūpa Mañjarī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s eternal kiṅkarī, nor can he become Lalitā or any other sakhī. These sakhīs are not in the category of living entities; they are Śrī Rādhā’s direct expansions (kāya-vyūha-svarūpa ).

While performing śṛṅgāra-rasa-upāsana at the time of sādhana, the living entity should serve Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s eternal sakhīs. Conceiving oneself as a paramour, one’s aspiration should be to take birth in the home of a vraja-gopī, marry a specific gopa and remain a childless gopa-kiśorī. This kiśorī, whose mood is parakīya-bhāva, is a female sādhaka with an intense yearning to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of Śrī Rādhā. When this bhāva is perfected, one attains gopī-bhāva.

In his song Dekhite dekhite, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings: “vraja-gopī-bhāva, haibe svabhāva, āna-bhāva nā rahibe–my sole disposition will be that of a vraja-gopī. Any other mood will not remain.”