More on the rasas of the inert

Bhakta: "Do clouds have consciousness? They are living entities?"

Advaitadas: "In both the material world and the spiritual world. There was the Samvartaka cloud that was sent by Indra to Vraja to shower the Vrajabāsīs so that Kṛṣṇa had to lift Girirāja. parjanyād anna sambhavaḥ  (B.Gītā 3.14)

Bhakta: Is the cloud in dāsya rasa? What is his attitude?

Advaitadas: Look at Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.21.16 - sakhyur vyadhāt - The clouds are in sakhya rasa. They rendered loving service to Kṛṣṇa by shading Him like an umbrella. Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments on this verse that the cloud is in sakhya rasa because it shares Kṛṣṇa's complexion with Him and they both remove others' distress with a downpour of rasa (rain in the cloud's case). svīya vidyud garjanābhyāṁ pīta-vastra veṇu-nādayoḥ sāmyaṁ dṛṣṭvā ca sakhibhāvam abhimanyamānaḥ “Seeing he is equal to Kṛṣṇa with the rumbling sounds he makes, with his lightning (in the form of Kṛṣṇa's yellow cloth) the cloud identifies himself in sakhya-rasa.” hanta hanta sakhya-bhāva-vanto’pyātmānaṁ kṛtārthayantītyāhuḥ – The gopIs lament about the clouds “Alas! Alas! Even those who are in the mood of friendship with Kṛṣṇa (sakhya bhāva) have become blessed by serving Him.”

The cows are also not in śānta rasa, but in vātsalya rasa, according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī's commentary on S.B. 10.21.13 - na ca tatrāpi vātsalya-bhāva eva mohane hetur astīti vācyam “The cows (not the calves) are in vātsalya rasa", and sva manasaḥ kroḍe eva vātsalyāt sthāpayantyas tasthuḥ  “The cows stand still as they take Govinda within their hearts through their tear-filled eyes and embrace Him out of vātsalya bhāva..."

Bhakta: Speaking of clouds, what līlā is Kṛṣṇa playing in the rainy season? Some Rāsa-līlā?

Advaitadas: Jhulan, in August. He sits on the swing with Rādhikā and gets all soaked from the rain."

Bhakta: "That sounds unpleasant."

Advaitadas: Nothing is unpleasant in Kṛṣṇa-loka, it is warm and the rain is like nectar. Though we are in Nara līlā (human like pastimes) ultimately Yogamāyā does have to perform all kinds of tricks. For instance, it is really impossible for a married girl to spend every night 7 hours with a paramour, every single night, even in western culture, let alone the strictly controlled Vedic culture, how come the gopīs never get pregnant etc. etc. So many miracles are still happening in the human-like līlā."

Bhakta: "In Surata Kathāmṛta (54) it is said: "...the bees, that are like panegyrists, sing Your glories." Are they fully conscious? But they don't talk....

Advaitadas:" Same thing here - on the one hand these are human pastimes, in which bees do not speak, but on the other hand the spiritual sky is full of consciousness. In Vraja Vilāsa Stava (72) Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī offers a long śloka to the bees of Vraja alone. They do a great service, causing great romantic incitement. In Govinda Līlāmṛta (14.1-4) a bee brings Rādhikā into the divine madness of prema vaicittya, in which She falsely thinks that Kṛṣṇa has left Her though He is right there with Her! She speaks like mad to a bee in the Bhāgavata (bhramara gīta, 10.47.12-21) - bees have the same complexion as Kṛṣṇa and nature too (going from flower to flower as He goes from gopī to gopī) - ye bhṛngāḥ paritas tayoḥ sukhabharaṁ vistārayanti - the bees always give great joy to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. The bees actively assist in the most intimate pastimes, in the above-mentioned manner and also by buzzing dangerously close to Rādhikā so that She jumps into Kṛṣṇa's arms, afraid to be stung by them. In a sense they are much closer than Nanda and Yaśodā, in all their simplicity. Their humming is called 'the kettledrums of Cupid" by the ācāryas."

Bhakta: "How does one ultimately end up with Mañjarī bhāva?

Advaitadas:
"1. In the course of studying the Gosvāmīs' books you will eventually come across the books of Raghunātha Dās Gosvāmī.
2. You may receive it from Śrī Guru.
3. You may hear about it from a sādhu.
4. Rādhikā will reveal it to you from within.

Some intellectuals come cross it in their systematic studies and feel some attraction and may even take initiation into this sādhana, but since their main drive is intellectual curiosity (jijñāsu, Bhagavad Gītā 7.16) they later change the topic of their studies and leave the practise behind just as easily."

Bhakta: "Rādhikā says in Surata Kathāmṛta (77) "My body vomits sweat-drops" - I thought there was no jugupsa rasa (sub-mellow of disgust) in mādhurya rasa?"

Advaitadas: "In Vedic aesthetics this is somehow used often without aiming at the effect of disgust. There are many instances of this in the Gosvāmīs' books, I can only now think of tavodgīrnaṁ bhojyam in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali (56) wherein Tulasī covets the food vomited out by Rādhikā. I think this should more be seen as spitting out, and even then there is no disgust or horror involved - it is just an expression Vedic poets use often, like that."

Bhakta: 'And then there is all the mentioning of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa's long nails..."

Advaitadas: "Yes well as you know nails (bones) and hairs are impure according to sadācāra vidhi, but such rules do not apply to the spiritual world. In Vilāpa Kusumāñjali (18) Tulasī offers to wipe Rādhikā's toilet with her hair and Kṛṣṇa has long nails so He can claw open the ropes used to tie up the calves, or to scratch Rādhikā with during Their amorous pastimes. Everyone also has long hair in the spiritual world, though materially that is also not considered so pure."

Bhakta: "Someone I know has seen Kṛṣṇa's eyes and says they are brown."

Advaitadas: "One should not impose one's imagination upon an eternal, transcendental and immutable form. Kṛṣṇa's pupils are dark-blue like a bee, the eyeballs are a bit lighter blue, then there is the eye-white and finally He has red borders around the eyes. This is in śāstra."