What is prem?
‘Prem’ ordinarily means ‘love’. We find this word overused in the material world. But what is really meant by prem or love?
“hlâdinir sâr prem”
Meaning – “Love is the essence of Hlâdini shakti.” – (C.C.)
Love is the topmost manifestation of Hlâdini Shakti. Hlâdini is pure goodness and love is its characteristic. When we perform bhajan and we get Sri Bhagavân’s blessing then our heart becomes clean. It is now ready to receive pure goodness. Then Sri Krishna flings Hlâdini Shakti into our heart. When we put an iron rod in fire, it gains the property of the fire – that is – it becomes red in color and hot to touch. Similarly our heart becomes one with pure goodness and gets its characteristics. Now pure goodness starts expressing its qualities through our mind. Its main quality is ‘a desire to please Sri Krishna’s senses’. This is love.
“krishnendriya-priti-ichchhaa dhore prem nâm.”
Meaning – “Love is the desire to please Sri Krishna’s senses.” – (C.C.)
Sri Krishna’s eternal associates always express the desire to please His senses. This means love is eternally present in them. When the sâdhak’s heart is cleansed by hearing, chanting etc. then the same love flows into this material world like the river Mandâkini. It rushes down through the channel of devotees and manifests in our hearts.
“We can never get the everlasting love for Sri Krishna that His eternal associates possess by means of any spiritual practice. When our heart becomes clean due to hearing etc. it manifests itself.” – (C.C.)
Now we can understand that although love does express itself in this world it is never worldly. Love is the characteristic of the transcendental inherent potency of Sri Bhagavân – Hlâdini Shakti. Therefore when we call worldly affection as ‘love’ – such as ‘brotherly love’, ‘love for the society’, ‘love for the nation’, ‘love between men and women’ – we are inflicting a grievous insult on the word ‘love’ – we can easily understand this.
In fact –
“Lust and love are distinct from each other just as iron and gold. Lust indicates a desire to satisfy one’s own senses, while love wants to please Sri Krishna’s senses only. Lust wants only sexual satisfaction for own self, while love’s strongest desire is to delight Sri Krishna.”- (C.C.)
We can define ‘lust’ as the living being’s material affection for each other. It is as cheap as a piece of iron for it is self-centered. On the other hand love is brilliant like gold because it wants to satisfy Sri Krishna. Lust stinks like hell for it smacks of sense-gratification, while love is fragrant like the celestial garden Nandan-kânan because it is aromatic with the wish to please Sri Krishna. Lust is as dark as the New Moon night for it is so selfish, whereas love is self-luminous and as bright as daylight because it seeks to make Sri Krishna happy.
“Hence we see that lust is very much different from love – lust is pitch dark, while love shines like the brilliant sun.” – (C.C.)
Srila Rupa Goswâmipâd has written –
“When a sâdhak who is in the advanced stage of bhâv-bhakti – his heart is much more melted or serene as compared to when he was in the primary stage of bhâv-bhakti – and now he feels the topmost supreme bliss – and he also feels strongly that Sri Krishna belongs to him – the wise call such a bhâv as prem.”
– (B.R.S.)
Difference between bhâv and prem |
In the stage of bhâv, our chitta becomes clean while when we reach prem we are absolutely spotless. In bhâv we have profound interest in Sri Krishna, whereas in prem we are extremely possessive about Sri Krishna. Srila Rupa Goswâmipâd has quoted in Sri Nârad-Pancharâtra to prove this point –
“When we feel that our body, house and every other physical possession does not belong to us – and in stead consider Sri Vishnu alone as our sole possession – great saints such as Bhishma, Prahlâd, Uddhav and Nârad call this stage as ‘prem’.”
Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has explained this verse as follows –
“Prem is a characteristic of Hlâdini shakti. Therefore prem is intensely blissful. This is its primary characteristic. Prem also has two secondary characteristics – a) our chitta is squeaky clean and b) we feel extremely possessive about Sri Bhagavân.”
“Character and nature are the primary characteristics (of anything) and the secondary characteristic, by which we recognize it – is how it acts.” – (C.C.)
Lets us now examine prem using the above principle.
What is the character and nature of prem? |
Prem is ‘very intense’ – this is its character and this is how we distinguish prem from bhâv. In the stage of bhâv we have lukewarm love for Sri Bhagavân while in prem it becomes extremely passionate. What is prem made of? The nature of prem is that it is the essence of samvit and samvit is the essence of Hlâdini Shakti. We have already mentioned it.
We can recognize something by its action. Prem has two secondary characteristics –
- it is spotlessly clean and
- it gives us a sense of possessiveness.
When we gain intense passion – that is we gain prem – our chitta becomes completely clean and melts. Our desires regarding Sri Krishna increases. We express external symptoms such as tears, goose flesh etc. when we gain prem.
“If the heart does not melt, how come there is goose flesh? Without goose flesh how come there are tears of joy? Without tears of joy how is it possible that our chitta is cleansed?” – (S.B.11.14.23)
Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has written in Priti-Sandarbha (69th chapters) –
“So we see that love results in melting of the heart which leads to goose flesh etc. Although our heart may melt somewhat and we may express some signs of ecstasy such as goose flesh and joy – yet if our chitta does not become clean, we should realize that Sri Krishna-prem has not manifested itself completely.”
These statements prove that when we perform sâdhanâ, our heart becomes pure. Then bhakti appears in our heart. When bhakti appears in our heart then we become exceedingly eager for Sri Bhagavân’s darshan. It is like a blazing fire while the sâdhak’s heart is like gold. The fire (bhakti) melts the especially pure gold (heart) – “darshanotkanthaagnidrutikritachittajaambunadah” (Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd) – in this manner when prem arises, the chitta melts completely and the premik cries, sings and dances in ecstasy.
Srimad-Bhâgavatam says (11.3.31 – 32) –
“When love for Sri Bhagavân appears in the devotees’ hearts, he remembers Sri Hari Who destroys all sins. The devotees also remind each other of Sri Hari. Their sâdhan-bhakti ultimately results in prem-bhakti and they express goose flesh. They remember Achyuta Sri Bhagavân and sometimes they laugh and at other times they cry. Every now and then they speak of things that are out-of-this-world and at other times they dance and sing. By following in the path of Sri Bhagavân Who is without birth, they become supremely blissful and remain silent.”
Sri Krishna-prem has another secondary characteristic – intense possessiveness about Sri Krishna. Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has explained in Priti-Sandarbha (84th chapter) –
“Love results in extreme possessiveness. Although numerous circumstances arise that threaten to destroy love, it does not diminish and there is no decrease in loving behavior. Love is rich with possessiveness. We can see it in other scriptures as well. Mârkandeya Purân says – ‘We feel so sad when a cat eats up our hen, since the hen belongs to us, whereas if a chatak1 devours a mouse, we do not grieve, since it does not belong to us.’ Therefore possessiveness is the sign of love. Naarad-Pancharaatra says – ‘We can say we have bhakti when we feel that nothing belongs to us other than Lord Vishnu.'”
(to be continued……..)
1
Name of a bird