Srila Prabhupada Glorifies Rasa Lila

Mahanidhi Madan Gopal Das

You will be surprised to know that way back in 1969, Srila Prabhupada glorified the hearing of rasa lila and even encouraged it in the right circumstances. Gurudeva even went so far as to say that conditioned souls, which means everyone on this planet, “SHOULD HEAR THE RASA LILA.” Please do the needful after deeply reflecting on the following statements Srila Prabhupada made in his Kåñëa Book printed in 1969. In the early days, Srila Prabhupada’s disciples made sure they read Kåñëa Book everyday without fail. May those days come again. And may all my friends dive deep into the ocean of pure spiritual nectar called Kåñëa Book.

In chapter 33 of Kåñëa Book, Srila Prabhupada said, “Discussion of the räsa-lélä among people in general is discouraged, but if one who is advanced explains and people hear from him, certainly the hearers will be gradually elevated to the position of Kåñëa consciousness and liberated from materially contaminated life.

“In other words, one who actually hears the räsa-lélä will become completely freed from the lusty desire of sex life and elevated to the highest level of spiritual understanding.

“The conditioned soul should hear the räsa-lélä dance from an authorized spiritual master and be trained by him so that he can understand the whole situation. Thus one can be elevated to the highest standard of spiritual life.

“One who has developed his faith in Kåñëa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Spirit Soul, can both describe and hear the räsa-lélä. So one must always follow the disciplic succession and not hear from any stray professional reciter.

“Anuçåëuyät means that one must hear from an authorized person who is in the disciplic succession and is always engaged in Kåñëa consciousness. When a person hears the räsa-lélä in this way, the effect will be sure: he will be elevated to the highest position of spiritual life.” (Kåñëa Book, Srila Prabhupada)