Monday, July 18, 2016

SHADOW ATTACHMENT

It is described in Nectar of Devotion that there are such things as shadow attachment and reflection of attachment to Krishna. If we are supremely fortunate we will not get stuck there.
Shadow attachment...
"As attachment can be invoked by the association of pure devotees, so attachment can also be extinguished by committing offenses at the lotus feet of pure devotees. To be more clear, by the association of pure devotees attachment for Kṛṣṇa can be aroused, but if one commits offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee, his shadow attachment or parā attachment can be extinguished. This extinguishing is like the waning moon, which gradually decreases and at last becomes darkness. One should therefore be very careful while associating with pure devotees to guard against committing an offense at their lotus feet." NOD 18
Reflection attachment..
"Sometimes impersonalists who are not actually in devotional service may also exhibit such symptoms of ecstatic love, but this is not accepted as actual ecstasy. It is a reflection only. For example, sometimes in Vārāṇasī, a holy city for impersonalist scholars, there may be seen a sannyāsī crying from hearing the glories of the Lord. Impersonalists also sometimes chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and dance, but their aim is not to serve the Lord. It is to become one with the Lord and merge into His existence. Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore says that even if the reactions to chanting are manifested in the impersonalist's body, they should not be considered to be symptoms of actual attachment, but reflections only, just like the sun reflected in a dark room through some polished glass. The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, however, is so nice and transcendental that it will eventually melt even the hearts of persons who are impersonalists. Rūpa Gosvāmī says that the impersonalists' symptoms are simply reflections of ecstatic love, not the real thing." NOD 28

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