Nectar of Devotion – Preface & Introduction – Brief Summary

Nectar of Devotion: author and teachings

- Author
o The Nectar of Devotion is a summary study of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which was written
in Sanskrit by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda.
o Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda was the chief of the six Gosvāmīs, who were the direct
disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When he first met Lord Caitanya, Śrīla Rūpa
Gosvāmī Prabhupāda was engaged as a minister in the Muhammadan government of
Bengal.
o He and his brother belonged to Sārasvata Brāhmaṇa community, but they were ostracized
due to their acceptance of ministerial posts in Hussain Shah’s government
- Teachings
o The principle of Lord Caitanya’s movement in educating and elevating everyone to the
exalted post of a Gosvāmī is taught in The Nectar of Devotion.
o The sum and substance of The Nectar of Devotion is to understand how to love Kṛṣṇa in
five different transcendental mellows
o The Nectar of Devotion further teaches how to turn the one switch that will immediately
brighten everything, everywhere. One who does not know this method is missing the point
of life.
Dabir Khās (Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī) and Sākara Mallik (Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī) join Chaitanya
Mahāprabhu’s mission
- Chaitanya Mahāprabhu met the two in a village named Rāmakeli in the district of Maldah
- The two decided to retire from government service after the meeting
- Dabir Khās (Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī) had accumulated a lot of wealth which he divided into three
parts:
o 50% - distributed to the Kṛṣṇa conscious people, namely, the brāhmaṇas and the Vaiṣṇavas
o 25% - distributed to relatives
o 25% - kept for emergencies (this amount was later used by Sākara Mallik to escape from
Hussain Shah’s prison)
Bhakti Rasa
- The force that drives living entities to do some service is called rasa – a kind of mellow/relationship
whose taste is very sweet
- Bhakti-rasa is a mellow different from the ordinary rasa enjoyed by mundane workers
o Bhakti-rasa is perpetual similar to amṛta
o Ordinary rasa is a duo of enjoyment and renunciation (bhoga-tyāga) and does not last long
(capala-sukha)
o This eternal engagement in bhakti-rasa can be understood by a serious student upon
studying The Nectar of Devotion.
o The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love
someone. The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can
become happy. The missing point is Krishna
o Bhakti is defined as engaging our senses in the service of the proprietor of the senses
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu – The Ocean of the Pure Nectar of Devotional Service
- The Supreme personality of Godhead is compared to the ocean and multiple paths to liberation are
compared to the rivers flowing into the ocean
- Impersonalists are fond of merging into the ocean, however, the great devotees and ācāryas are like
sharks that do not care about rivers
- Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is divided into four parts such as east, south, west, north oceans and further
division under these four parts named as waves:
o Four waves of Part – 1
▪ Wave – 1: General description of devotional service
▪ Wave – 2: Regulative principles for executing devotional service
▪ Wave – 3: Devotional service in ecstasy
▪ Wave – 4: Love of God
Bhakti – Devotional Service
- Devotional service is a sort of cultivation. It is not simply inaction for people who like to be inactive
or devote their time to silent meditation
- Cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is done via anuśīlana, or cultivation by following the
predecessor teachers (ācāryas)
- “Cultivation” refers to involvement of activity as consciousness alone cannot help us. Activities are
of two types:
o Activities to achieve certain goals - pravṛtti
o Activities for avoiding some unfavorable circumstance - nivṛtti
- While cultivating spiritual life and executing devotional service – we are always engaged in some
activity such as thinking, feeling, willing, etc. which can be classified into three:
o Activities of the body – Physically doing some action is the manifestation of the activities
via gross bodily senses
o Activities of the mind – Mentally, a devotee should always think about the
activities/pastimes of Kṛṣṇa
o Activities of speech – Engaging our words being in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for preaching the
glories of the Lord is called Kīrtana
Kṛṣṇa’s energies
- Kṛṣṇa’s energies are classified into three:
o External energy - the material cosmic world’s manifestation
o Internal energy - spiritual world’s manifestation
o Marginal energy – The living entities
- Living entities perform activity under external energy; When one performs activities under internal
energy, the person is said to be Kṛṣṇa Conscious
- The whole jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is directly under the spiritual energy – Kṛṣṇa and
the spiritual master
- The impersonalists sometimes misunderstand devotional service in such a way that they divide
Kṛṣṇa from His paraphernalia and pastimes.