Manasi Seva (in English)

Uninterrupted Conscious Service in Eternal Lila

In desperation I search for a certain state of consciousness, which is much more than dear to me. Such state leads me to where, even living with physical body in the material world of Kali Yuga, amidst its contradictions, I only think and feel my relationship with Krishna. All the time, without interruption, because everything I see reminds me of Him. And all I think about is Him, so I stop paying attention to the details of the external life itself. 

This type of Service for the Lord is called Manasi Seva, what means to serve God (seva), using for that the power of mind (manasi). To carry out Manasi Seva one must control one's mind completely, in order to give space for it to be occupied night and day only in thinking about Him. 

When Bhava and Rasa exist and we fully control the mental emissions, by continuous meditative act, throughout our daily cycle, our mind get involved only by internal thoughts, which belong to the eternal soul and result from what we exchange with Keshava in transcendental Lila.

Bhava is the mood in which one is in a relationship with Him and Rasa is the way that Bhava expresses itself according to how the Asraya (the one who loves Madhava) gets involved in the relationship. Letting myself uninterruptedly opened to the Bhava of Madhurya-Rasa, through which I express myself with Krishna, I perform Manasi Seva, if I do not allow the mind to move from the inner focus of Madhurya-Lila thoughts. 

So my external life also becomes transcendental experience and, most importantly, in loving lila with Madhava. About this state of consciousness, which is completely transcendental, I wrote in Madhurya, the Rasa of Sweetness (2015). 

Such a state is expressed in the exalted condition of the Gopis, which is often mentioned in writings such as Sri Krishna Bhavanamrta Mahakavya, by Srila Vishvanatha Thakura. There, Radharani and Her friends appear thinking and articulating around Madhava throughout different periods of the day. I see, in my own experience, what it's like to live the same way they are though while still present in the material world without Krishna being around.

This world is devoid of Sphurti, therefore, people are forgotten of their eternal and transcendental relationship with God. Sphurti is the presence of Krishna also in the external life of one who loves Him uninterruptedly in consciousness of the eternal Lila in which he/she is next to His Person. In Madhurya, the Rasa of Sweetness, I have commented that nothing can be compared to the sensations this type of experience causes for the soul devoted to his/her Visaya (object of extreme adoration).

Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains in Madhurya Kadambini that this feeling becomes so unconditional that the soul cries for it day and night, not allowing himself/herself to think of anything but the Lord. I add that whoever knows such a way of being in the world cannot stand to be without it. This person despairs in the moments when Madhava intentionally causes the suffocation for the absence of sensations associated with the same state of consciousness (Vipralambha). 

Thus it is impossible to develop great devotional works and / or have many followers (or disciples) and at the same time engage in Manasi Seva. For this reason, the state of consciousness of an authentic Paramahamsa is incompatible with activities of wide preaching, which require continuous contact with followers, frequent displacements between different cities and countries, collection of large sums of money and intense agendas of events.

 

These kinds of occupation do not allow the quietness necessary to be always busy in Manasi Seva, which is an intimate and confidential service to Krishna. When we stay for few moments without the experience, we feel excruciating pain, because on such a platform of Service, you are aware of everything you live next to Him. 

The experience is very vivid and clear without interruption, so if something external interferes with the flow of it, you cannot be with Him in Lila. When it happens, in desperation, a hard cry is made, in the form of lamentation. 

The heart begs for those moments you are so accustomed to live with Krishna. I think it is possible to compare the feeling of emptiness that results from this with the despair of a still alive drawn from the water fish and / or of a little newborn and still blind from the eyes bird when it is withdrawn from the nest. When, to sharpen Bhava, Keshava fails to present Himself to the direct vision of a lover and / or wife, the consort despairs. So the Gopis sing: 

"It is only for His sake that we keep our lives," "You are killing these servants," "is not this a murder?", "Our minds are shaken when we think of the intimate conversations we had with You in secret, "and" we experience the most severe of hardships by Your Person "(excerpts from the Gopi Gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.1-19).

Such laments are in the soul of those who live with Him the intimate relationship, fulfilling their tasks in Manasi Seva. This Seva is confidential and perfect for, through the same category of service, Madhava gives us the blessing and grace to serve Him uninterruptedly.

 Even if one is still associated with a physical body, one experiences feelings, thoughts and acts of the Lila without interruption. Our thoughts are all day associated with the same transcendental pastime. Then we remember things He speaks to us, His plays and cheating, His mannerisms and sweetest humor. 

In the same way a person living an external life with relationships, he / she cultivates in the material world, is absorbed in what is doing in the midst of materiality, when we reach the platform of Manasi Seva, we live absorbed in an inner life, although there is physical permanence on the Earth of this epoch.

It is reported that Shri Krishna Caitanya, in his last 18 years of life in Puri, lived absorbed in Lila. Other Acharyas of devotional Vaishnavas lines also refer to their personal experiences, but Caitanya reaches a different summit from the others. He is an embodiment of the devotional aspect of Vishnu-Tattva, that is, of the Masculine Principle, but in the mood of Srimati Radharani. Thus, the manifestation of Prema and Vipralambha that is in him is very specific and intensely profound. 

Very specific is also the experience I live, however, I am an embodiment of the conjugal aspect of Shakti-Tattva in the mood of Shri Krishna’s madhurya. As such, my attachment (Rati) to Krishna makes me think only of what causes Him the pleasure of making me to be with His Person, serving Him in bhava of marital sweetness. 

Such an attachment intensifies as, by opening even more space in the mind and heart, I allow the relationship mood to amplify up to the point where even when I am talking to somebody else in this external world, I can see how it would be if Krishna was talking in my place, involving myself with His loving tricks, as if I were in the other person's place.

I see nothing but Him, I think of nothing more than my personal experience with Him. Everything that is part of my external experience integrates my inner experience or, in other words, there is nothing that does not belong to such a transcendental context. This is Manasi Seva, the focus of one's life as an eternal soul expressing himself/herself to the world, fully conscious on the Lila of God, in every moment of external experience, which has internalized (transcendentalized). 

To know more about it, keep following me or, if you have the momentum, better still, look for my personal association. I'm at srikrishnamadhurya@gmail.com. I teach Manasi Seva and Bhakti-Rasa, as well as strategies for attaining these modes of living, conscious of Krishna in love and in choices. 

Everything turns to the Lord, who is beautiful, attractive, sweet and perfect. Then the world fills itself with the beauty of Him, His attractiveness, sweetness and perfection, enveloping us with the most intense Bhava (humor in a relation with God) - Shri Krishna (who, for my own perception, is also Vishnu and / or Shiva – Harihara).