Velocity of the Soul and Space Travel by Yogis

From CC Adi 5.22

Velocity of the Soul

The aṣṭāṅga-yogasystem is a materialistic art of controlling air by transferring it from the stomach to the navel, from the navel to the heart, from the heart to the collarbone, from there to the eyeballs, from there to the cerebellum and from there to any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he has no information of the velocity of the mind and intelligence. We have some limited experience of the velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away. Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul travels by its own strength and not with the help of any kind of material vehicle.

Space Travel by the Yogis

As already described, a yogī can go anywhere he desires without mechanical help, for a yogī can place his mind and intelligence within the air circulating inside his body, and by practicing the art of breath control he can mix that air with the air that blows all over the universe outside his body. With the help of this universal air, a yogī can travel to any planet and get a body suitable for its atmosphere. We can understand this process by comparing it to the electronic transmission of radio messages. With radio transmitters, sound waves produced at a certain station can travel all over the earth in seconds. But sound is produced from the ethereal sky, and as already explained, subtler than the ethereal sky is the mind, and finer than the mind is the intelligence. Spirit is still finer than the intelligence, and by nature it is completely different from matter. Thus we can just imagine how quickly the spirit soul can travel through the universal atmosphere.

When the pleasure of love interferes with the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the devotee becomes angry toward such ecstasy

CC Ādi 4.197 — There is another natural symptom of the gopīs’ love that shows it to be without a trace of lust.

CC Ādi 4.198 — The love of the gopīs nourishes the sweetness of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That sweetness in turn increases their love, for they are greatly satisfied.

CC Ādi 4.199 — The happiness of the abode of love is in the happiness of the object of that love. This is not a relationship of desire for personal gratification.

CC Ādi 4.200-201 — Whenever there is unselfish love, that is its style. The reservoir of love derives pleasure when the lovable object is pleased. When the pleasure of love interferes with the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the devotee becomes angry toward such ecstasy.

CC Ādi 4.202 — “Śrī Dāruka did not relish his ecstatic feelings of love, for they caused his limbs to become stunned and thus obstructed his service of fanning Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

CC Ādi 4.203 — “The lotus-eyed Rādhārāṇī powerfully condemned the ecstatic love that caused a flow of tears that hindered Her sight of Govinda.”

 

When due to devotional service we get some material comforts  do I relish in them or do I put them aside seeing them to be a distraction in my service?

Gopis dedicated their bodies and everything else they possesed to Krsna

CC Ādi 4.181 — Now, whatever affection we see the gopīs show for their own bodies, know it for certain to be only for the sake of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

CC Ādi 4.182 — [The gopīs think:] “I have offered this body to Lord Kṛṣṇa. He is its owner, and it brings Him enjoyment.

CC Ādi 4.183 — “Kṛṣṇa finds joy in seeing and touching this body.” It is for this reason that they cleanse and decorate their bodies.

CC Ādi 4.184 — “O Arjuna, there are no greater receptacles of deep love for Me than the gopīs, who cleanse and decorate their bodies because they consider them Mine.”

 

At our level, we can consider using our bodies totally in Krishna's service and in sharing Lord Caitanya's movement with others. Taking care of our health, cleanliness, exercise  etc because it is Krishna's body so it can be used in His service for His pleasure.

 

Sicne this body is meant for Krishna's pleasure sleeping too much, relaxing too much, wasting time on electronic gadgets and using the body for sense gratification is inappropriate. 

Renunciation does not mean renunciation of duties in relation to the body and mind

From the purport to CC Ādi 4.170

The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta advises everyone to give up all engagements of sense gratification and, like the gopīs, dovetail oneself entirely with the will of the Supreme Lord. That is the ultimate instruction of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. We should be prepared to do anything and everything to please the Lord, even at the risk of violating the Vedic principles or ethical laws. That is the standard of love of Godhead. Such activities in pure love of Godhead are as spotless as white linen that has been completely washed. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura warns us in this connection that we should not mistakenly think that the idea of giving up everything implies the renunciation of duties necessary in relation to the body and mind. Even such duties are not sense gratification if they are undertaken in a spirit of service to Kṛṣṇa.

Difference between lust and love

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CC Ādi 4.162 — The love of the gopīs is called rūḍha-bhāva. It is pure and spotless. It is not at any time lust.

CC Ādi 4.163 — “The pure love of the gopīs has become celebrated by the name ‘lust.’ The dear devotees of the Lord, headed by Śrī Uddhava, desire to taste that love.”

CC Ādi 4.164 — Lust and love have different characteristics, just as iron and gold have different natures.

CC Ādi 4.165 — The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kāma [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].

CC Ādi 4.166 — The object of lust is only the enjoyment of one’s own senses. But love caters to the enjoyment of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus it is very powerful.

CC Ādi 4.167-169 — Social customs, scriptural injunctions, bodily demands, fruitive action, shyness, patience, bodily pleasures, self-gratification and the path of varṇāśrama-dharma, which is difficult to give up — the gopīs have forsaken all these, as well as their own relatives and their punishment and scolding, for the sake of serving Lord Kṛṣṇa. They render loving service to Him for the sake of His enjoyment.

CC Ādi 4.170 — That is called firm attachment to Lord Kṛṣṇa. It is spotlessly pure, like a clean cloth that has no stain.

CC Ādi 4.171 — Therefore lust and love are quite different. Lust is like dense darkness, but love is like the bright sun.

CC Ādi 4.172 — Thus there is not the slightest taint of lust in the gopīs’ love. Their relationship with Kṛṣṇa is only for the sake of His enjoyment.

Definition of Pure Love

The revealed scriptures describe pure love as follows:

sarvathā dhvaṁsa-rahitaṁ saty api dhvaṁsa-kāraṇe
yad bhāva-bandhanaṁ yūnoḥ sa premā parikīrtitaḥ

“If there is ample reason for the dissolution of a conjugal relationship and yet such a dissolution does not take place, such a relationship of intimate love is called pure.”

The predominated gopīs were bound to Kṛṣṇa in such pure love. For them there was no question of sexual love based on sense gratification. Their only engagement in life was to see Kṛṣṇa happy in all respects, regardless of their own personal interests. They dedicated their souls only for the satisfaction of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. There was not the slightest tinge of sexual love between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa.

Sexual Love is for one's own enjoyment :

• The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta asserts with authority that sexual love is a matter of personal sense enjoyment. All the regulative principles in the Vedas pertaining to desires for popularity, fatherhood, wealth and so on are different phases of sense gratification.
• Acts of sense gratification may be performed under the cover of public welfare, nationalism, religion, altruism, ethical codes, Biblical codes, health directives, fruitive action, bashfulness, tolerance, personal comfort, liberation from material bondage, progress, family affection or fear of social ostracism or legal punishment, but all these categories are different subdivisions of one substance — sense gratification.
• All such good acts are performed basically for one’s own sense gratification, for no one can sacrifice his personal interest while discharging these much-advertised moral and religious principles.
• But above all this is a transcendental stage in which one feels himself to be only an eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, the absolute Personality of Godhead. All acts performed in this sense of servitude are called pure love of God because they are performed for the absolute sense gratification of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

 

The Confidential Reasons for the Lord's Appearance

CC Adi 4.16
The Lord’s desire to appear was born from two reasons:

•  the Lord wanted to taste the sweet essence of the mellows of love of God,
•  and He wanted to propagate devotional service in the world on the platform of spontaneous attraction.   

 
CC Ādi 4.230 "Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī, as the moon appeared from the ocean.”



From the Introduction to Adi Chapter 4- 3 reasons for the Lord's appearance

In this chapter of the epic Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has stressed that Lord Caitanya appeared for three principal purposes of His own. 

1. The first purpose was to relish the position of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who is the prime reciprocator of transcendental love of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of transcendental loving transactions with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The subject of those loving transactions is the Lord Himself, and Rādhārāṇī is the object. Thus the subject, the Lord, wanted to relish the loving mellow in the position of the object, Rādhārāṇī.
2. The second reason for His appearance was to understand the transcendental mellow of Himself. Lord Kṛṣṇa is all sweetness. Rādhārāṇī’s attraction for Kṛṣṇa is sublime, and to experience that attraction and understand the transcendental sweetness of Himself, He accepted the mentality of Rādhārāṇī.
3. The third reason that Lord Caitanya appeared was to enjoy the bliss tasted by Rādhārāṇī. The Lord thought that undoubtedly Rādhārāṇī enjoyed His company and He enjoyed the company of Rādhārāṇī, but the exchange of transcendental mellow between the spiritual couple was more pleasing to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī than to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī felt more transcendental pleasure in the company of Kṛṣṇa than He could understand without taking Her position, but for Śrī Kṛṣṇa to enjoy in the position of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was impossible because that position was completely foreign to Him. Kṛṣṇa is the transcendental male, and Rādhārāṇī is the transcendental female. Therefore, to know the transcendental pleasure of loving Kṛṣṇa, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself appeared as Lord Caitanya, accepting the emotions and bodily luster of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

Lord Caitanya appeared in order to fulfill these confidential desires, and also to preach the special significance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare and to answer the call of Advaita Prabhu. These were secondary reasons.

Knowing Krsna's Transcendental Nature Protects One from Material Contamination

SP purport to CC Adi 4.35

One who has not been attracted by the transcendental beauty of rasa will certainly be dragged down into material attraction, thus to act in material contamination and progress to the darkest region of hellish life. But by understanding :

1. the conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa one is freed from the grip of attraction to material so-called love between man and woman.
2. Similarly, one who understands the pure parental love of Nanda and Yaśodā for Kṛṣṇa will be saved from being dragged into material parental affection.
3.  If one accepts Kṛṣṇa as the supreme friend, the attraction of material friendship will be finished for him, and he will not be dismayed by so-called friendship with mundane wranglers. 
4. If he is attracted by servitorship to Kṛṣṇa, he will no longer have to serve the material body in the degraded status of material existence, with the false hope of becoming master in the future. 
5. Similarly, one who sees the greatness of Kṛṣṇa in neutrality will certainly never again seek the so-called relief of impersonalist or voidist philosophy. 

If one is not attracted by the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, one is sure to be attracted to material enjoyment, thus to become implicated in the clinging network of virtuous and sinful activities and to continue material existence by transmigrating from one material body to another. Only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can one achieve the highest perfection of life.