Separation for a Sadhaka

The mood of separation from Krishna is not only an intensified emotional state found in pure devotees, but is also a cultivation that can assist the practitioner devotee in their spiritual progress. In 1969, Srila Prabhupada instructed the devotees to cry prayerfully for Krishna while chanting His name: “So we are addressing, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: ’O the energy of the Lord, O the Lord, please accept me.’ That’s all. ’Please accept me.’ We have no other prayer. ’Please accept me.’ Lord Chaitanya taught that we should simply cry, and we shall simply pray for accepting us. That’s all. So this vibration is simply a cry for addressing the Supreme Lord, requesting Him, ’Please accept me. Please accept me.’”

Srila Prabhupada confirms this in another place: “This crying is the last word in the progressive path of devotional service. One who can cry for the Lord in love is certainly successful in the line of devotional service.” (SB 3.4.35)

It is said that separation is the best mood in which to perform one’s spiritual practices. When we are chanting Hare Krishna with an awareness of how we are separated from Krishna, we’ll begin to feel a deep necessity to reconnect with Him. Srila Prabhupada once said, “Actually, meeting Krishna is possible through the attitude of separation taught by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When the feeling of separation becomes very intense, one attains the stage of meeting Sri Krishna.” (CC Adi 4.108)

The acaryas explain that vipralambha, love in separation, expresses itself in four varieties:

Purva-raga – the feeling of separation that is experienced before the lovers actually meet and express their sentiments for one another

Mana – the feeling of separation that is experienced when lovers quarrel with one another

Prema-vaicittya – the feeling of separation that occurs when the lovers are together but they fear the potentiality of parting

Pravasa – the feeling of separation that occurs when lovers are actually parted by distance and time

In analysing the relevance of these for a practitioner devotee (sadhaka), Bhaktivinoda Thakura comments as follows:

“It is essential for the sadhaka jivas to cultivate only the mood of vipralambha, and because they have never experienced meeting with Krishna, their vipralambha will come only in the category of purva-raga. But without having ever met with Krishna, how can they experience separation in purva-raga from Him? By hearing the lila-katha of Sri Krishna from others, purva-raga is awakened. This was the case with the dvija-patnis as well as the ladies of Mathura before Krishna’s arrival there. Rukmini also had never seen Krishna, but by hearing about Him from Sri Narada, purva-raga arose within her heart. Thus she became exceedingly anxious to meet with Krishna. Similarly, by hearing from the guru and Vaisnavas or by reading the sastras, the jivas may have purva-raga vipralambha awakened within their hearts.”