Suddha Rasika Vaishnava

Singing and listening to the sringara lila of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda is the topmost form of worship and it constitutes nitya-bhajana (eternal, perfected, internal service). It is improper and offensive to sing such bhajana-lila in front of common people. If we listen to rasa-gana, songs about the most private matters of rasa, from the mouths of professional singers, who are womanizers and hungry for worldly recognition, we dishonour our previous acarya´s statement, "apana bhajana-katha, na kahibe yatha tatha – do not give an open account of your personal bhajana just anywhere" (Prema-Bhakti-Chandrika, song 9, verse 19), and thus we commit a terrible offence.

Whenever there is a gathering of people with varying degrees of spiritual qualification, it is appropiate to chant Hari -Nama and to sing humble prayers (prarthana) and narrations of pastimes that pertain to the trascendental moods of dasya-rasa, that is, the moods of a loving servant of the Supreme Lord. Only when everyone present in the gathering is a pure and exclusively devoted Vaishnava established in the art of relishing rasa (suddha rasika vaishnava), may they listen to the most elevated rasa-gana. At that time, the may experience the ecstasies of their perfected internal service in accordance with their intrinsic, spiritual form.

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