Letter No. 1

To, Great Soul:

     To make love with Krishna, one must have craftiness. This craftiness should not be with reference to love but only to hoodwink obdurate persons like Jatila and Kutila. This secrecy is for fooling Maya. There is no question of practising tricks on Krishna. Before Him one must appear in all nakedness. If a man talks about his way of adoration to all and sundry before his love has begun to grow deep, then other people’s jeers and taunts may induce him to leave the way of adoration and finally he will give it up. There will be no need of such craftiness when love becomes like a tiger; then the agents of Maya will slink away in terror. One has to practise artfulness until one’s heart has attained strength and fortitude. His condition is thus described, “When the tiger of Krishna’s love entered his heart, things began to tremble in the thick of the jungle.” Then the roar of the tiger will make other animals in the jungle scurry out to safety. You will then feel safe and the rest of the people who went in fear of lesser animals like dogs and foxes will heave a sigh of relief. That is the reason why Gouranga used to sing Sankirtan with a voice as loud as the lion’s roar. The sound of Name made Maya fly away from the earth and people freed from illusion bowed down at the feet of Krishna with a singleness of mind and purpose. The object of raising one’s voice while singing is to make Maya and her henchmen leave the jungle for good. Hence sing the sweet Name both loudly and in a hushed tone, if you would pass your days in joy. If you start in a hushed tone, the intensity increases of itself, as you get more and more intoxicated. That is why wiles are necessary at the outset. Narottam Thakur has similarly echoed, “One must not speak of one’s own adoration to all and sundry; one must be careful.” The Tantras, too say likewise that it must be done secretly to the best of one’s ability. Those who are addicted to drink take it on the sly in the beginning; but once the drinking goes to their heads, they have no qualms even if they roll in the gutter. When a man takes to a paramour for the first time, he is very careful and secretive about it; but once he becomes an adept, he publicly extols his paramour’s virtues. Bilwamangal Thakur is a case in point. Mere remembrance of the Lord, not unlike the thoughts of a married woman for her paramour, is the same thing as the contemplation of Him in mind and soul. This alone brings about love. That has been demonstrated by Narottam Thakur thus, “As I go to the kitchen, I sing your praise, O my friend, and weep on the pretext of the smoke.”

     Krishna never hustles one out of the haven of His feet, for where would one stay then? The Gita (X-42) F.N:says, “The world rests only on one of the parts”. And so there is no resting place except the feet of Krishna. But then those who are not given to introspection do not realize His favours as a spoilt child thinks that his parents do not love him.

     Love multiplies and becomes sweeter by mutual exchange. It does not appear so sweet when it is one-sided. Therefore do not take Krishna to be crooked. If you become simple, He too will become simple; in fact He is always so, but we can realise His true nature only when we practise simplicity. Love is exceedingly simple, but why does it then become perverse sometimes? It is like sugar cane; the closer you approach a knot, the sweeter it becomes. In a similar way, an occasional dash of perverseness is necessary to make love even sweeter. Perhaps that is why Krishnadas Kaviraj writes in Chaitanya Charitamrita, “Perverse love goes forward; it cannot discriminate between good and bad, nor does it care for the right or the wrong place.” No one is simpler than one who cannot discriminate between good and evil. Then why can it be perverse? The object of all this is to heighten the sweetness. That is why Rupa Goswami remarked while describing Krishna Prema, “Peedaabhirnavakaalakootakatuthaagarvasya.”Krishnadas Kaviraj too follows the same line when he describes Krishna Prema as the mixture of nectar and poison. He has further said, “The tasting of Krishna’s love is like chewing sugarcane after it is heated; one’s mouth burns, but it cannot be stopped.” Sugarcane is cooling and soothing, but it has to be heated to heighten the sweetness. In a similar way, simple love is given a touch of perversity to increase its flavour. Otherwise nothing is simpler than love. Surely that repository of that love, Krishna can never be crooked. The tears of the Gopis, Yasoda and the devotees are like knots in love and are therefore sweet beyond measure. That is why devotees pray for tears above everything else. Tears are but the knots in love; that is why they are so sweet. The love of one, who does not dissolve into tears, is no love worth the name. As borax is to gold, so are tears to love.

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F.N:Gita,( X-42); But of what avail is it to you to know all these details (regarding Me); I exist pervading this entire universe by a portion of Myself.