“When maan deepens to become vishrambha then we call it ‘pranay’.” – (U.N.)

Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has explained ‘vishrambha’ as – “Vishrambha is a state when we consider ourselves non-different from our dear one.’

We should note the point that ‘we are non-different from each other’ is not at all like the feeling of the brahma-yogis who think they are non-different from Brahman. Pranay is a very high stage of love. And love means to serve Sri Krishna and please Him. So the devotee serves more when he attains the level of pranay. If Sri Krishna and the devotee think they are non-different from each other, how will the devotee serve Sri Krishna and how will He accept the sevâ? Then what does ‘feeling non-different from each other’ imply here? Srila Vishwanâth Chakravartipâd has cleared our doubt in his Aananda-Chandrikâ purport –

“‘Vishrambha’ means ‘to have faith’ or ‘without awe and reverence’. The lovers consider each other’s life, mind, intellect, body and belongings to be the same. Whatever belongs to Him is mine; whatever is mine belongs to Him. This is the feeling. In spite of this, sometimes they do get angry with one another – this is only to create ras. We should understand this. If we touch our body with our feet, do we apologize? We do not hesitate to wipe our face with our garments, do we? Similarly when the sweetheart touches Sri Krishna with her feet, she is not embarrassed; neither does she seek permission to wipe her face with His golden yellow robe. In brief, lack of self-consciousness is the main sign of pranay. The height of pranay is – ‘naa so ramana naa ham ramani, duhu mana manobhava peshala jaani.¹‘”

True, we have mentioned that maan deepens to become pranay. However this rule does not hold good all the time. Sometimes pranay turns into maan. Thus pranay and maan give rise to each other. Srila Rupa Goswâmipâd says –

“Sometimes sneha deepens to form pranay and then the lover attains maan; and in some cases, sneha matures into maan and then the lover reaches the stage of pranay. Thus we see that maan and pranay are interconvertible. Therefore we are specifying that when maan deepens so much that the lovers express vishrambha (lose self-consciousness) we call it pranay.” – (U.N.)

Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has explained his statement in his Lochan-Rochani purport as follows –

“Crookedness is the specialty of maan and crookedness is possible only when the lover attains the stage of pranay. So it is logical that maan should appear after pranay. However love travels in a twisted course; the sweetheart’s love is naturally warped. Hence she can feel maan because she has a reason and maan may arise in her heart for no rhyme or reason. Hence it is Srila Rupa Goswâmi’s personal opinion that maan deepens so that the lovers lose self-consciousness and they graduate onto the level of pranay.”

(to be continued)

¹

He is not the lover, neither am I the beloved, our hearts have merged to become one.