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Exchanging rasas

Posted by Madhumangala on December 5, 2012 at 7:39am in Scriptures

Srimad Bhagavatam teaches us that there are twelve rasas: anger, wonder, conjugal love, comedy, chivalry, mercy, servitorship, fraternity, horror, shock, neutrality and parenthood. It is stated that there is no possibility of an exchange of rasas between man and animal or between man and any other living being here in the material world.
Well this got me to thinking... as I sit here with the rain falling I am looking over at my dog and cat snuggled together on their bed. I love them. I've shown them mercy by caring for them. They entertain me and make me laugh when they play and act silly. They comfort me when I am sad. They anger me when they break something, and in me they find these things as well. Isn't this an exchange of rasas?

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  • Volunteer
    Gopal das December 19, 2012 at 9:08pm

    MADHURYA RASA‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    SHANTA RASA‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    DASYA RASA‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    SAKHYA RASA‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    VATSALYA RASA‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    CONJUGAL LOVE.‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

  • This reply was deleted.
    • Madhumangala December 7, 2012 at 1:31am

      Thank you Zola, you're right, "rasa" was probably the wrong word to use, as it refers to spiritual activities. I love my pets and all animals and I guess in some ways I am attached to them, they make me happy and give me companionship and show me love, and I suppose I'm willing to pay the karmic debt for that exchange if there is one and if Krsna chooses to punish me for showing compassion, mercy, care and love for them. Haribol! :)

  • Volunteer
    Gourab Saha December 5, 2012 at 11:13am

    Hare Krishna!!

    Can it be that Krsna as paramatma because of love for me, is allowing me this exchange of certain rasas with my pets because that is his was of satisfying my senses on a material level? /

     

    I understand ur feelings. It is not that you neglect them, but we should not have any attachment for anything except Krishna. Have u heard the story of Jadabharat ? He was a saint but developed attachment for a deer, The next life he was born as deer. There was a king who thought of his beautiful wife before death. Next life he was born as a beautiful woman. Then Krishna came in guise of a brahmana and gave him the Supreme Knowledge of SELF-REALIZATION. Then the person finally got attached to Krishna and finally lost attachment for everything. So rasa in material level is bondage, in spiritual level with Krishna is freedom. So Krishna will never want us to engage in something that causes our bondage. He always wants His children to be with Him. So He wants us to love Him solely so that we can ultimately go back to Him. We have to understand the very purpose of human birth, which is to realise God. Human birth is meant to be uplifted to the spiritual level, not to rest content in the material level. Material level is for other forms of life. The moment you accept the material level, you are drifted away from Truth, beacuse being originally soul and not the body, we should be situated in the spiritual level. You must feed ur pet, take care of him, but also remember Krishna every moment.

     

    Your aspiring servant,

    Hari bol !!

    • Madhumangala > Gourab Saha December 6, 2012 at 12:34am

      I guess I just don't understand why loving and caring for your pets and animals and and enjoying their companionship is wrong and somehow so offensive to God that he would punish you for it. I'm also an environmental activist and care deeply about the ecology of this planet, does that mean that I will reincarnate as pollution in my next birth?

      I live very close to the ISKCON farm and the devotes there love and care for the cows deeply, how is this any different? We honor and celebrate the cows for go-puja. Does that mean we will become a cow in the next life? Well I guess coming back as a cow on a devotee commune wouldn't be so bad, if given worse options, lol. 

      • Volunteer
        Mohini Madhavi > Madhumangala December 6, 2012 at 12:16pm

        love for cows we show by offering them green grass, taking her milk, using her milk in other preparations.

        To engage her cow and he the bull with service means to serve to them. For example, bull works on the field. And cow gives milk which we use in the service of Krishna. 

        In this way they will wash their karma. Cats we engage with the service of catching rats and dogs with the protection of the house ...but to show our love to them just brushing their hair, feeding them with costly food, letting them to sleep with us etc is not love. It will degrade them. 

        Cats are lazy they should be engaged with service not to sleep and eat.

        That is love. To help them to give their debts and in the next life get higher birth.

        Your servant, 

  • Volunteer
    Mohini Madhavi December 5, 2012 at 10:50am

    i think You are joking Miguel Prabhuji, by posting such like discussion?! No?!

    Between animal and human can be a friendship rasa or Master and servant or any other if our consciousness is human than  we will have high rasas but if our consciousness is dirty we will have dirty rasas.

    But in material world all these types of things are only on bodily platform. 

    What is the use? All the bodies will die today or tomorrow and bring us pain. 

    ---

    Material world is reflection of Spiritual world. So to some extent we can understand what is there in Spiritual world by seeing this world. These material rasas look like as spiritual but the problem is we are conditioned with 6 enemies which poison these rasas. The main one is envy.

    ...

    Your servant, 

    • Volunteer
      Mohini Madhavi > Mohini Madhavi December 5, 2012 at 10:51am

      why to loose time serving to home animals better engage them in Krishna's service and use our energy in serving to the Deity form of God and have rasas with Him.

      Your servant

      • Madhumangala > Mohini Madhavi December 6, 2012 at 12:38am

        I wouldn't say that I am serving them in the same context that I serve Krsna. I am caring for them, with love and compassion. I rescued both my dog and cat from the streets. If anything I showed them mercy and acted in a way that I think Krsna would expect me to. In showing stewardship towards less fortunate beings, I think that's what is expected as a devotee. 

  • Volunteer
    Gourab Saha December 5, 2012 at 10:08am

    Hare Krishna !!

    Of course, this is rasa, but material, not spiritual. When we dwell on the bodily platform, we seek rasa on that platform and those who participate in this rasa are men, women, son, daughter, pets. But these are all designations. Our true self is the soul. Being actually spiritual in nature, our eternal relation is with Krishna. Suppose,  a man makes love to a woman, not to her dress.  Our bodies are like dresses, our self is the soul. It is the same soul which is dressed as man, woman, dog. They are all part and parcel of Krishna. So if we have to love someone,if we have to exchange rasa with someone, it ought not to be with these dresses, these material designations but with the True Person who is beyond these designations with whom we have an eternal relationship i.e. Krishna. Krishna is the very embodiment of all kinds of rasas, therefore He is known as Rasavigraha. If anyone can truly satisfy our senses, it is Krishna because He is perfect and complete.

    The Natural Propensity to Love

    The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being. Even an animal like a tiger has this loving propensity at least in a dormant stage, and it is certainly present in the human beings. The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can become happy. At the present moment the human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. That missing point is Krsna, and The Nectar of Devotion teaches us how to stimulate our original love for Krsna and how to be situated in that position where we can enjoy our blissful life.
    (The Nectar of Devotion, p. xv)

    The Material World is a Reflection of the Spiritual World

    In the Bhagavad Gita (15.1) it is stated: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is said that there is an imperishable banyan tree that has its roots upwards and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.” In his purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada explains:

    Now, there is no experience in this world of a tree situated with its branches down and its roots upward, but there is such a thing. That tree can be found beside a reservoir of water. We can see that the trees on the bank reflect upon the water with their branches down and roots up. In other words, the tree of this material world is only a reflection of the real tree of the spiritual world. The reflection of the spiritual world is situated on desire, just as a tree’s reflection is situated on water. Desire is the cause of things being situated in this reflected material light. One who wants to get out of this material existence must know this tree thoroughly through analytical study. Then he can cut off his relationship with it. This tree, being the reflection of the real tree, is an exact replica. Everything is there in the spiritual world…The material world is the perverted reflection, so the spiritual world must have the same variegatedness, but in reality…A reflection is temporary, for it is sometimes seen and sometimes not seen. But the origin from whence the reflection is reflected is eternal…The purpose of the Vedas, as disclosed by the Personality of Godhead Himself, is to cut down this reflected tree and attain the real tree of the spiritual world.
    (Bhagavad-Gita As It Is 15.1, purport)

    Your aspiring servant,

    Hari bol !!

    • Madhumangala > Gourab Saha December 5, 2012 at 10:54am

      Thank you for your kind reply. I understand and agree with everything you're saying and have pointed out - that we should always chose Krsna to satisfy our senses. I just don't understand why it has to be either or. It's not like I am choosing the love and companionship of my pets over Krsna. Can it be that Krsna as paramatma because of love for me, is allowing me this exchange of certain rasas with my pets because that is his was of satisfying my senses on a material level?

This reply was deleted.