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Saturday, June 06, 2009

Nine Symptoms of Ecstatic Love

Rüpa Gosvämi describes the characteristics of a person who has actually developed his ecstatic love for Krishna. A good meditation, the characteristics are listed here as follows:

(1) He is always anxious to utilize his time in the devotional service of the Lord. He does not like to be idle. He wants service always, twenty-four hours a day, without deviation.

(2) He is always reserved and perseverant.

(3) He is always detached from all material attraction.

(4) He does not long for any material respect in return for his activities.

(5) He is always certain that Krishna will bestow His mercy upon him.

(6) He is always very eager to serve the Lord faithfully.

(7) He is very much attached to the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

(8) He is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord.

(9) He is very pleased to live in a place where the Lord's pastimes are performed, e.g., Mathurä, Vrndävana or Dvärakä.

(taken from NOD 18)