In this dark age of Kali, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on Earth in the form of a Golden Avatar and mercifully flooded the entire world with the sweetest nectar of divine love. Among His especially dear devotees one can find the name of the venerable Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, the supreme jewel among those who are skilled in enjoying subtle spiritual tastes. In this work he gives us a few drops of this amazing grace flowing from the feet of Sriman Mahaprabhu. A long bank of clouds is called kadambini in Sanskrit. However, these clouds are not full of water, but of exquisite sweetness (madhurya), which, pouring nectarean rain on the conditioned souls, relieves them from the tormenting heat of the fire of material existence. Naming his book “Madhurya Kadambini”, Srila Chakravartipada divided it into 8 nectarean streams, eight chapters, which contain a detailed description of the science of bhakti, revealing to us the beauty of sadhana-bhakti, madhurya, Krishna-nama-madhurya, bhava-prema madhurya and Sri Krishna-madhurya.

Comparing bhakti to a wish-fulfilling plant, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti describes the successive stages of its development, from the appearance of the first two leaves to the flowering at the bhava stage and finally to the ripening of the fruit of prema. Throughout the description, he provides the reader with many quotations from the scriptures to confirm his words, especially from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which he calls the emperor of all authoritative sastras.

In the first chapter, Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti describes the causeless and the supremely independent nature of pure bhakti and asserts its superiority over all other methods of self-realization such as karma, jnana and yoga. The remaining seven chapters are devoted to a detailed description of the stages of development of bhakti, from sraddha to prema, in the same sequence in which these stages are listed in the famous verse “Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu” by Srila Rupa Goswami:

adau sraddha tatah Sadhu-Sango Tha Bhajana-Kriyatato Nartha-Nerttih Nishtharucycucy Tathaathasaktis tato tatam premabhyudsadhacakans aim prandurbhava bhaveda Kramamy

The consistent development of Bhakti, starting from Shraddhi, ends with the premium Ra (Shraddha), communication with devotees (sadhu-sanga), performing devotional service (bhajana-kriya), getting rid of undesirable qualities (anartha-nivritti), constancy in devotional service (nishtha), taste (ruci), attachment (asakti), bhava (the stage preceding love of Godhead), and finally prema (pure love of Godhead). (“Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu” 1.4.15- 16)

Selected quotes:

Like the philosopher's stone, by its very presence, bhakti frees the heart and feelings of a person from the iron trash of material qualities and endows them with the purest gold of spiritual qualities.

My friend, why did you exchange the sweet nectar of the Lord's name for meaningless conversations about family, material comfort and other vanities? What can I tell you? I myself am no less sinful. Having received by the mercy of the spiritual master a precious diamond of devotional service, I, unfortunate one, failed to understand its value. Having tied it in the hem of my clothes, I went in search of fragments of a mother-of-pearl shell, a spark of illusory happiness flickering on the shore of the ocean of worldly life. Throwing about in fruitless searches, I wasted years of my life. By neglecting devotional service, I was simply showing my weakness. What a liar one must be, how deluded one must be in order to experience pleasure in licking the acrid mucus of banal mundane chatter and remain indifferent to hearing about the names, qualities and pastimes of the Lord. Oh, how low I have fallen! When I begin to hear about the Lord, I feel sleepy, but as soon as I hear some vulgar worldly conversation, I immediately strain my ears and try not to miss a word. By my presence I pollute the association of devotees and everything around me. There are no sins that I would not commit, even as a decrepit, hunched old man, just to please my insatiable stomach. I don’t know whether there is such a hell where I can atone for my misdeeds and how much I am destined to suffer.

He takes shelter of the holy dhama and completely devotes himself to the pure service of the Lord. Ignorant people, seeing this, think that he has gone mad. But the dance teacher Ruchi herself takes him by the hands and teaches him a new dance step, perfecting his blissful dance of meditation and service to the Lord. Understanding the science of dance under the guidance of Ruchi, he experiences unimaginable and indescribable bliss. So is it possible to describe in what spheres of bliss he will find himself when his mentors will be the two best dancers: Bhava and Prema?