Letters from Srila Prabhupada Vol.1 1947-1969

442 Letters from Srfla Prabhupiidadoes not matter one feels it in Christianshurch or in other church. But, one whofeels ecstasy in Krishna Consciousness orGod-consciousness, he finishes his ecstasyin material enjoyment-that is thetest. One cannot say he is feelingenjoyment-that is the test. One cannotsay he is feeling ecstasy in some company,and at the same time, he is trying to takeadvantage of material sense gratification.This is not possible. This ecstasy doesn'tdepend on the intelligence or nonintelligence;it is spontaneous response,without any cause. If one is fortunate tohave such ecstasy, it is to be understoodthat his life is successful . We do not advocateany sectarian religion. We are concernedto invoke our dormant love forGod. Any method that helps us in reachingsuch platform is welcome, but we findpractically that by chanting Hare Krishna,many students have come to the platformof ecstasy. But we have hardly found anyoneto come to that stage simply by followingthe religious rituals; that is thedifference. So, Krishna Consciousness ismeant for the most intelligent class ofmen.Your question, "if in the Vaikunthasecstatic love between Lord Narayan andHis devotees and Lord Krishna Consciousnessand His devotees on KrishnaLoka is qualitatively the same, then whatis the advantage of following the path ofKrishna Consciousness, whose philosophyausterity is difficult to understand?"Krishna Consciousness philosophy includesthe whole Vaishnava philosophy.When we speak Krishna, the very Wordmeans, Rama, Nrisingha, Baraha, and allother similar expansions and incarnations.So Krishna Consciousness includesVaikuntha consciousness, but Vaikunthaconsciousness does not include KrishnaConsciousness. Those who are strictlyfollowing the rules and regulations ofVaishnava activities, they are promoted toVaikuntha lokas. But those who have developeda spontaneous love for Krishna,they are pro,oted to the Krishna Loka.Therefore, although Krishna Consciousnessincludes Vaikuntha consciousnesspure Krishna Consciousness is spontaneouslove for Krishna without any regulativeprinciples. The idea can be explainedthat a young boy or a young girl are spontaneouslyattracted, without following anyregulative principles previously. Whenone developes such spontaneous love forGod, that is called pure Krishna Consciousness.In our conditioned life, wehave forgotten our relationship with God,but by regulative principles, we can makealert the inert activities. Just like a rheumaticcrippled man is gradually elevatedby some bodily exercises. Similarly, theregulative principles are to make us habit·uated to our dormant service, attitude, butwhen that is mature, it becomes spontaneous,and that is pure krishna Consciousness.And such highly elevated Consciousnessmakes one eligible to enter intthe Krishna Loka. The living example formuch spontaneous love are exhibited bythe Gopies and inhabitants of V rindaban.We can learn this from Srimad Bhagavatamhow much they love Krishna spontaneously.Your question, "what is the relationshipof sweethearts in Vaikuntha to eachother and to Lord Narayan? Is conjugallove, parental affection, and unalloyedfriendship there in the Vaikunthas?" No.In Vaikuntha there are two kinds of trascendentalmellows, dasya and the lowerhalf of sakya rasa. The lower half of Sakyameans friendship in adoration. And thehigher half of Sakya rasa is friendship onequal level . So in Vrindaban the reciprocationof transcendental humor is higherthan in Vaikuntha. It is there more freeand spontaneous without any restrictionarranged by yogamaya principle.Yes, other slokas in the Shastra that