“Those who have past and present desire for devotional ras, they alone can relish bhakti-ras.” – ( B.R.S. 2.1.6.)

Srimat Jiva Goswâmipâd has explained the above verse –

“Past desire refers to the yearning for bhakti in the past life, while present desire means the desire for bhakti in this life. When a devotee has a passion for Sri Krishna in this life, it is clear that he has present desire; however to realize ras, he also has to have past desire. Both are necessary to relish ras.”

Srila Vishwanâth Chakravartipâd has clarified further –

“When we are offense less and if we practice bhajan under the shelter of Sri Gurudev’s lotus feet, we can reach the state of passion; even then, we will relish ras only in the next birth.”

Now we have to see what we mean by ‘the desire for ras’¹ ? How does it arise in the heart? When? In whose heart does it arise? When we delve deep into tattva, we learn that Sri Krishna is rasa-swarup (ras personified). He and the living being are related to each other since infinity and the living being longs for rasa-swarup Sri Krishna since then – and not for anybody else. However the living being has turned away from Sri Krishna and so he does not understand this. The longing drives him to enjoy Krishnetar objects (things other than Sri Krishna). Of course, he does not really enjoy. The innate desire of his original self is to relish rasa-swarup Sri Krishna. In stead of doing this, he simply wallows in sense-gratification. However, the soul is transcendental. He is against material pleasure. He is not happy to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh. After all, the soul has only one goal – to relish sevâ-ras of the rasa-swarup Sri Krishna. This means, the soul enjoys when he serves Rasarâj. This is why, in spite of rolling in material enjoyments since infinity, the living being remains ever dissatisfied. He can gain satisfaction and become blessed only by relishing divine ras. The Shrutis are very merciful. They clearly tell the living being, who has floundered from his goal (ras-relish) that Sri Krishna is ras personified. They proclaim –

“raso vai sah” – He alone is ras.

“rasam hyevâyam labdhânandi bhavati” – Sri Bhagavân is ras personified and only by obtaining Him the ras-thirsty living being can gain bliss.

The words ‘alone’ and ‘only’ indicate that we can never gain happiness from anything (or anyone) other than Sri Bhagavân. Thus when we search for our root desire, we discover that it is the ‘desire to serve Sri Krishna’ or simply put, ‘bhakti-desire’. When we have faith and reverence, we should take the shelter of the saints and Spiritual Master. We should associate with them and gain their kripâ. By their mercy, the desire for bhakti arises in our heart. It is the same as the desire to perform bhajan. After this we embark on the path of bhajan. When we perform bhajan enthusiastically, gradually we are rid of anarthas. Then we gain nishthâ, interest, âsakti and finally we are promoted to the stage of rati. Rati (passion) is a devotee’s permanent bhâv. This ‘permanent bhâv’ mingles with vibhâv, anubhâv² etc. and gets converted into bhakti-ras. Thus we see that a passionate devotee is one worthy of relishing bhakti-ras.