Overview
Continuing with Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda’s deliniation on the twenty-six qualities of a devotee, in this article from Sajjana Toṣaṇī (Vol.20, Issue 8) published in 1917, Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains the quality of mṛdu, or gentleness, in a devotee and concludes that only a devotee can truly be gentle.
Articles in This Series:
When a materialist serves the objects of the senses, it makes his heart hard. Due to the incessant beatings of the sense-objects, there is absolutely no softness left within him. As he tolerates the sharp barbs produced by the miseries of these sense-objects, day by day, his heart become harder and harder. Seeing that ignorance or foolishness is endangering him at every step, he endeavours to attain some recognition by becoming skilled in various types of severe intellectual practices. Being fatigued by different kinds of problems and scarcities, he learns how to become arrogant and renounces any gentleness. By learning the art of debate and counter-debate, he hardens his hearts and, without analysing the various circumstances, becomes adept at arguing and seeks only victory. Becoming disturbed at the behaviour of others, he invokes a variety of wicked and unfortunate situations in order to harm them. The hearts of those who are devoted to Hari are not like that. They are gentle (mṛdu).
Bhagavān is as hard as thunderbolt to a materialist, yet He is softer than a flower to the devotee. Although He may be perceived as harsh by critics, His sweetness and soft-heartedness is supremely charming to the sādhus. Due to the influence of Bhagavān’s supremely delightful charm, His own devotees, who have taken shelter of Him, are a constant source of gentleness. In the process of sādhana practised by those devotees, especially when bhāva arrives after the stage of anartha-nivṛtti, a state of detachment from material sense-objects is observed. The heart of the sādhaka is always softened by relishing that which is connected to Bhagavān. Although he may still possess anarthas, a devotee is specifically imbued with śuddha-sattva, or pure goodness.
The relationship between Bhagavān as the viṣaya (the object of love) and the āśrayālambana (the devotee who is a subject in love) manifests within his heart in an excellent way. He is immersed in the stimulating mutual emotions of the viṣaya and the āśraya. Due to the overwhelming influence of Bhagavān’s qualities and endeavours, his heart softens. Those undertakings that express the mood of the heart, which are indicative of his gentle mood, manifest in the form of actions. In the songs and dances of the devotees, who are free from deceit, extraordinary gentleness is observed. The assault upon the mind by the divine bhāva of Hari is called sattva. From such pure sattva, aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva arises.(1) In particular, when sthāyī-bhāva for Kṛṣṇa predominates, it manifests thirty-three secondary bhāvas in speech and gestures.(2)
At no time is there an absence of tenderness in the mental state of a sādhu. A devotee is gentle at all times. At the time when he is still engaged in sādhana, a devotee rejects wicked association that promotes concepts opposed to Hari. While he is engaged in various activities, although to the eyes of a hard-hearted worldly person, there may seem to be an absence of tenderness in him, in reality, even at that time, he is not without a gentle disposition. A person who is always under the shelter of the supremely gentle Gaura-hari always possesses a gentle nature. Even though he abandons the association of harsh people in society along with their bad conduct, the innate natural softness within does not abandon him. Apart from a devotee, no one else can ever be gentle. A materialist is never gentle at any time.
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