(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya and Radha-Krishna)
"Just like Rādhārāṇī. She thinks always Herself as the lowest of the devotees. She thinks always. She sees always that the gopīs, other gopīs, they are better qualified to serve Kṛṣṇa, and She is not qualified, so much qualified. Therefore in Vṛndāvana, you'll find the devotees approach Rādhārāṇī: 'Jaya Rādhe,' because if Rādhārāṇī advocates for him to Kṛṣṇa, it is very easily accepted. And Rādhārāṇī says... If Rādhārāṇī's pleased, then She represents the devotee's case that 'Here is a devotee. He's better than Me. Kindly accept his service, Kṛṣṇa.' So Kṛṣṇa cannot deny. So mahā-bhāva. Rādhārāṇī is mahā-bhāva.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu displayed that mahā-bhāva. That mahā-bhāva is not possible for ordinary man. It is especially prerogative of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who played the part of Rādhārāṇī, although He's Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So mahā-bhāva, the ecstasies, that is not to be imitated by us, but to be aware of this fact that how mahā-bhāgavata, mahā-bhāva, they treat with Kṛṣṇa."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972)
"Rādhārāṇī always feels that 'I do not know how to love Kṛṣṇa. Oh, he..., here is a gopī. How she loves Kṛṣṇa.' That is Her... This is called mahā-bhāva. So we should not imitate Rādhārāṇī.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's the symbol of Rādhārāṇī's mahā-bhāva. He says that 'I do not love Kṛṣṇa. I do not know how to love Kṛṣṇa.' Then if you..., somebody, if somebody says, 'Then why You are crying?' 'Well, that is a show. I am making a show. I am crying.' Then what is the symptom? 'The symptom is that if I would have loved Kṛṣṇa, then without Him I have died long, long ago. I should have died. I am living still without Kṛṣṇa; that means I do not love Kṛṣṇa.' This is mahā-bhāgavata-bhāva, separation.
āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām
marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanān
yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ
(Śikṣāṣṭaka 8)
(I know no one but Kṛṣṇa as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly in His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.)
This is mahā-bhāgavata. So mahā-bhāgavata, we should not imitate."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972)
"Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me (Śikṣāṣṭaka 7): 'I see everything vacant being separated from Govinda.' This is called love. So, of course, it is not possible to come to that position like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That is mahā-bhāva, mahā-bhāva. It is not for any human being to come to that stage. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu has shown how to become mad after Kṛṣṇa by His life when He was in Jagannātha Purī, Caitanya. At night He would go out and fall down on the sea or somewhere. Nobody knows. The door was closed, and still, He would get out and go, and, 'Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?' Then His assistants, secretaries, would go out and find out Him. So for eighteen years He was in that way in Jagannātha Purī. That is called mahā-bhāva.
So it is not possible for human being."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture San Francisco, July 20, 1975)
Prabhupāda: Best devotee sees, "Nobody is envious to God. Everyone is better than me." Just like Caitanya-caritāmṛta author, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. He says that "I am lowest than the worm in the stool."
Bob: Who was saying this?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa... The author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. Purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha (CC Adi 5.205). He's not making a show, he's feeling like that, that "I am the lowest. Everyone is best, I am the lowest. Everyone is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, I am not engaged." Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Oh, I have not a pinch of devotion to Kṛṣṇa. I cry to make a show. If I would have been a devotee of Kṛṣṇa I would have died long ago. I am living; that is the proof that I do not love Kṛṣṇa." That is the vision of the best devotee. He's so much absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's love that he sees, "Everything is going on; simply I am the lowest, therefore I cannot see God." That is best devotee.
Bob: So then a devotee must work for everybody's liberation?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. A devotee must work under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. Not imitate the best devotee.
(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, Mayapur, February 27, 1972)
