CC Madhya 23.55

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta - Madhya-līlā - Chapter 23: Life's Ultimate Goal — Love of Godhead

Madhya-līlā 23.54 - Madhya-līlā 23.56

Compare Versions: CC 1975 with CC 1996

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 55

sakhya-vātsalya-rati pāya 'anurāga'-sīmā

subalādyera 'bhāva' paryanta premera mahimā

SYNONYMS

sakhya — in friendship; vātsalya — in parental affection; rati — affection; pāya — obtains; anurāga-sīmā — up to the limit of subordinate spontaneous love; subala-ādyera — of friends like Subala and others; bhāva — ecstatic love; paryanta — up to; premera mahimā — the glory of love of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

"After the mellow of servitorship, there are the mellows of friendship and parental love, which increase to subordinate spontaneous love. The greatness of the love found in friends like Subala extends to the standard of ecstatic love of Godhead.

PURPORT

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the mellow of neutrality increases to simple love of Godhead. In the mellow of servitorship, love of Godhead increases beyond that to affection, counterlove (anger based on love), love and attachment. Similarly, the mellow of friendship increases to affection, counterlove, love, attachment and subattachment. It is the same with the mellow of parental affection. The special feature of the mellow of friendship exhibited by personalities like Subala is that it increases from fraternal affection to counterlove, to spontaneous attachment, to subordinate attachment, and finally to the ecstasy where all the ecstatic symptoms continuously exist.

Madhya-līlā 23.54 - Madhya-līlā 23.56