Volume 7 - Prabhupada

Text 184] The Lord Instructs Srila Rupa Gosvami 363to render some service and thus become favored by the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. A devotee in the santa-rati is not very much willing to render service tothe Lord, but a devotee in the dasya-rati voluntarily wants to render service. Dueto this attitude, the devotee in the dasya-rati realizes the Supreme Personality ofGodhead more fully than a devotee in the santa-rati. He considers the Lord to be aworshipable object, and this means that his attachment for the Lord increases. Onthe dasya-rati platform a devotee is attached to rendering service to the Lord, andhe is detached from material activities. The santa-rati is neither material norspiritual, but the dasya-rati is actually on the spiritual platform. There is no attachmentfor material things on the spiritual platform. A devotee in dasya-rati has noattachment for anything but Krr;a's service.Sakhya-rati is described in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (2.5.30) as follows:ye syus tulya mukundasyate sakhaya/:1 sataril mata/:1samyad visrambha-rupai$ari1rati/:1 sakhyam ihocyateAccording to the opinion of advanced devotees and learned scholars, a devoteein sakhya-rati feels equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is a relationshipin friendship. Due to having a friendly relationship with the Lord, not onlyis one free from material attachment, but one believes in equal dealings with theSupreme Personality of Godhead. This is called sakhya-rati. The sakhya-rati devoteeis so advanced that he treats the Lord on an equal level and even exchangesjoking words. Although one is never equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead,the sakhya-rati devotee feels equal to the Lord, and he does not feel guiltybecause of this. Actually it is offensive to consider oneself equal to the Lord. TheMayavadTs consider themselves equal to the Lord, but such feelings entailbereavement because they are material. The sakhya-rati, however, is a feeling experiencedin the mind by a pure devotee, and he is eternally related with theSupreme Personality of Godhead in that feeling.Vatsalya-rati is described as follows in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (2.5.33):guravo ye harer asyate pujya iti visruta/:1anugrahamayi te$ari1ratir vatsalyam ucyateidam lalana-bhavyasiscibuka-sparsanadi-krtWhen a living entity is situated on the platform of vatsalya-rati, he thinks of theSupreme Personality of Godhead in His childhood feature. In this feature, the Lord