Three Stages of Uttamā Bhāgavata

Śrīla Gurudeva has explained the three stages of uttamā bhāgavata during his Caitanya-caritāmṛta classes in the mid-eighties, in Śrī Keshavji Gauḍīya Māṭha, Mathurā. One who is on the highest platform of spontaneous devotion or the uttamā mahā bhāgavata has three stages of spiritual absorbtion.

One is called bāhya-dāśā or external awareness in which he can be seen performing Harināma sankīrtana and all the limbs of bhakti. In that external state, the pure devotee follows all rules and regulations and appears to be a resident of this world.

The second stage is called ardha-bāhya-dāśā meaning half internal and half external consciousness. In this middle stage there may be signs such as incoherent speech or movement. Explaining this stage and Śrīla Gurudeva gave the example of Śrī Mahāprabhu Himself. He said that the uttamā-bhāgavatas (topmost devotees) in our guru-varga, when they are speaking hari-kathā, they are said to be situated in the external stage, while being at the same time in the internal stage. Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself exhibited this stage of ardha-bāhya-dāśā.

When Śrīman Mahāprabhu would be in the internal stage, at that time His lotus feet and hand would retract into His stomach and He would turn into a round shape resembling a pumpkin or like a tortoise with limbs retracted. Continuous foam would ooze from His lotus mouth, tears pouring from His lotus eyes, and hairs standing on end throughout His entire body. In this way He would appear to be externally inert, but internally fully relishing spiritual bliss. Sometimes his joints would dislocate and stretch several inches, making Him appear longer.

One night, a fisherman captured Him inside His fishing net in the ocean. When the devotees headed by Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara approached a raving mad fisherman asking him if he had seen Mahāprabhu, the shaken fisherman said, ‘No, what I’ve seen is a powerful ghost and he has possessed me. I have seen Mahāprabhu before so many times. This is not Him. I fish every night and to protect me, I always remember Lord Narasiṃhadeva; no ghost can ever haunt me, but this time, as much as I remember Narasiṃhadeva, the ghost keeps attacking me again and again.’

When Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and all the accompanying devotees came to place where the fisherman said the ghost was, they found Mahāprabhu in His internal stage. All of them quickly surrounded Mahāprabhu and started hari-kīrtana. As soon as Kṛṣṇa’s name was uttered in Mahāprabhu’s ear, He roared and jumped up. All His dislocated joints returned to their proper positions.

Upon seeing so many devotees there, Śrīman Mahāprabhu came into the half external stage. Mahāprabhu spoke to them, “Seeing the river Yamunā, I went to Vṛndāvana. There I saw Śrī Vrajendranandana Śyāmasundara doing water-sport pastimes along with gopīs headed by Śrīmatī Rādhā Ṭhākurānī. Being on the bank of the Yamunā with other sakhīs, I was watching these sporting pastimes. I was very happy there. Now, all of you made some noise and forcibly brought me here.”

Now we will explain about the third stage of uttamā-bhāgavata which is known as antar-dāśā. Antar-dāśā is the state of being internally absorbed in the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, in the uttamā-bhāgavata’s eternal spiritual form (siddha-śarīra). In that internal stage there may be no signs of external activity such as speech or movement. Sometimes however symptoms of the activities in that antar-dāśā stage of the siddha-śarīra are visible or externally manifested on the body of the uttamā-bhāgavata (sādhaka-śarīra).