Siddha Śarīra Symptoms

[Full title: Examples of Occurrences of Siddha Śarīra Symptoms on the Sādhaka Śarīra]

Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī starts his Śrī Vilāpa-kusumāñjali by this auspicious invocation:

त्वं रूप-मञ्जरि सखि! प्रथिता पुरेऽस्मिन्
पुंसः परस्य वदनं न हि पश्यसीति
बिम्बाधरे क्षतम् अनागत-भर्तृकाया
यत् ते व्यधायि किम् उ तच् छुक-पुङ्गवेन

tvaṃ rūpa-mañjari sakhi! prathitā pure'smin
puṃsaḥ parasya vadanaṃ na hi paśyasīti
bimbādhare kṣatam anāgata-bhartṛkāyā
yat te vyadhāyi kim u tac chuka-puṅgavena

“My dear friend Rūpa Māñjarī! You are well known in Vraja for your chastity; you don’t even look at the faces of other men. It is therefore surprising that although your husband is not at home, your lips, which are as beautiful as red bimba fruits, have been bitten. Has this perhaps been done by the best of parrots?”

Śrīla Gurudeva explains, “Before writing Śrī Vilāpa-kusumāñjali, Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was thinking, ‘I should write a mangalacaranam, an auspicious invocation.’ As soon as he picked up his pen, he at once entered ardha-bahya-dāsa (half internal, half external consciousness), and then antara-dāsa (internal consciousness). In that inner state, in his form as Śrī Rūpa Māñjarī, he saw the smiling face of Śrī Rūpa Māñjarī and noticed some unnatural marks–bite marks–on her lips. Rūpa Māñjarī also began to smile…”

“In a joking manner he said as Rūpa Māñjarī, ‘You are famous in Vraja as a chaste lady. However, although your husband has been gone four or five days and has not yet returned, I see that you have fresh cuts on your lips from a few hours ago, or maybe from last night. I think that perhaps a small parrot has come and mistaken them for a bimba fruit.’ Rūpa Māñjarī then glanced towards Rūpa Māñjarī and, being very pleased with her, smiled still further…”

“In this world we have a guru and we are his disciples, but in rāgānuga-bhakti (internally) the guru is like a friend. Viśrambhena gurau sevā. In the spiritual realm, there is no formal relation of guru and disciple as there is in this world. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī used to address Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as guru, and he respected him as such. Inwardly, however, he saw him as a sakhī, as Rūpa Māñjarī…”

All the verses of Śrī Vilāpa-kusumāñjali mercifully written by Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī are revelations of his confidential moods while he was deep in his internal stage of devotional trance.

The following are more examples of the manifestation of such divine symptoms on the body of the pure devotee. Many times I have also personally seen so many symptoms on Śrīla Gurudeva’s sādhaka śarīra but I never shared it with others. I instead used to joke with Śrīla Gurudeva due to our intimacy.

One time Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, being situated in his sādhaka-śarīra or his manifest body in this world, was meditating on the holi pastime (the colour festival) of the Divine Couple. In his mañjarī form Śrīnivāsa entered the joyful pastime and saw Śrī Radhā and Kṛṣṇa’s bodies, covered in a myriad of bright colours. Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His friends were in one party and Śrīmatī Rādhikā and Her sakhīs were in the opposite party. There were more gopīs than there were gopas. Both parties also had large syringes and were spraying many colors which were not easily removable. Everywhere, all the places and creatures also became reddish with the throwing of great quantities of red powder; the sky, trees, cows and everyone in Vraja became reddish at that time. As Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa were enthusiastically throwing colours at each other, Śrīnivāsa, under the guidance of his guru-mañjarī began to supply coloured dye to Rādhikā.

In Bhakti-ratnākara, it is explained how after the pastime was complete, Śrīnivāsa came to external conciousness and saw that his sādhaka body and clothes were covered in colour from the holi pastime.

Once, Śrīlā Narottama dāsa Thākura was seeing in his meditation the pastime of the Divine Couple in his internally spiritual form. Śrīmatī Radhīkā requested her maidservants to bring some food preparations. They came with many different delicious items. Narottama dāsa Thākura in his mañjarī form, under guidance of his guru-mañjarī, began to boil some milk. The milk began to boil over and being unable to find a cloth he removed the pot from the fire with his hand. His hand was burned but without caring about it, he gave the milk to his Guru who offered it to the Divine Couple. While Śrī Rādhā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa were eating, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura’s meditation broke and he saw to his surprise, that his hand was bearing the burn mark from the hot milk pot.

Another example is given in Śrīmad-bhāgavatam where Uddhava was deeply immersed in the pastime of His dearmost friend Dvārakādīśa Kṛṣṇa.

As he returned to external consciousness, he spoke gently to Vidura.

शनकैर् भगवल्-लोकान् नृलोकं पुनर् आगतह्
विमृज्य नेत्रे विदुरं प्रीत्याहोद्धव उत्स्मायान्

śanakair bhagaval-lokān nṛlokaṃ punar āgatah
vimṛjya netre viduraṃ prītyāhoddhava utsmāyān

Śrīmad-bhāgavatam 3.2.6

The great devotee Uddhava soon came back from the abode of the Lord to the human plane and wiping his eyes, he awakened his reminiscence of the past and spoke to Vidura in a pleasing mood.

Śrī Uddhava is a very special intimate associate of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In all of Dvārakā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa only revealed to Uddhava, the agony of his separation from His beloved Vrajavāsīs. Kṛṣṇa wanted Uddhava to understand the superior nature of the love that the Vrajavāsīs have for Him, particularly that of the gopīs.

The sweetness and spontaneity of the love that the residents of Vraja have for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, brings Him immense happiness. This is confirmed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta where it is said that the spontaneous loving dealings of the Vrajavāsīs causes Kṛṣṇa millions of times greater pleasure than dealings in awe and veneration. Therefore Kṛṣṇa sent Uddhava to learn and see for himself the exalted love of the gopīs, most particularly, that of Śrīmatī Rādhikā.

To absorb one’s mind exclusively in Kṛṣṇa is called man-manā bhavā.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself has accepted the gopīs as the highest ideal of man-manā bhāva devotees and expresses this to Uddhava in sweet words in ŚrīmadBhāgavatam 10.46.4-6:

Dear Uddhava, the minds of the gopīs are always absorbed in Me. I am their very life and their all-in-all. It is for My sake alone that they have relinquished everything, including their homes, husbands, sons, relatives, shyness, chastity, religious principles and so forth. They constantly remain absorbed in thoughts of Me alone. It is only by their trust in My statement that I will come back, that they are somehow or other, maintaining their lives in great difficulty and are waiting for Me.

This description of the gopīs who are feeling great anxiety in separation from Kṛṣṇa is the highest example of man-manā bhāva.

Śrīla Gurudeva, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja explains that Kṛṣṇa was also feeling unbearable separation, but no one knew that. The gopīs could share their suffering with each other, but Kṛṣṇa could not share His feelings with anyone. He wept alone. This is why He sent Uddhava to Vṛndāvana; He wanted Uddhava to be admitted into the school of the gopīs, so that he would learn the meaning of the word love, prema.

Kṛṣṇa considered, “When Uddhava understands the love of the gopīs, he will be qualified to realize My feelings of separation.”