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Discussions specifically related with the various aspects of practice of bhakti-sadhana in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Bhaktas In Ecstasy - not attracting special attention



nabadip - Sun, 11 Apr 2004 02:11:13 +0530
Jagat writes in his editorial

QUOTE
Over the course of the day and night of constant chanting, something snapped in this gentleman, a middle-class Calcutta babu, and he started rolling on the ground, crying and calling out, holding on to the kirtaniyas’ feet and in general making a very shocking display of himself, completely forgetting all decorum.

Throughout all this, the kirtaniyas themselves did not act as though there was anything particularly unusual about the event, and though respectful, were somewhat blasé. The crowd itself did not applaud or jeer, but took his transports in stride. Afterwards, the dishevelled ecstatic seemed rather embarrassed by it all, even a little ashamed, though I don’t think anyone reproached him at all.


Just a brief affirmation from my own witnessing something similar. At Gour Vinod Angan in Nabadwip, where I join the sanga at the feet of my gurudev, when there is a rather big crowd of bhaktas at Gaur-Purnima, an elderly lady, a disciple of my param guru Gour Vinod dasji from Puri is regularly present. Sometimes during kirtan she does a certain small act, I do not know what it is called, she acts out what others sing, but with just a few gestures and a certain way of walking a few steps. Then she merges again in the crowd of the bhaktas, and is just there singing like everyone else. It happened, that I saw this lady fall unconscious to the ground, she was standing, dancing, singing in the last row of ladies, not conspicuous at all, I just happened to see her fall, role, someone attends to her from the ladies, helps her up, guides her a little outside the bhakta crowd, she seems a little astonished, somone gives her some charanamrita, and she is back to normal. No big attention from the other bhaktas, just noticing.

When I saw this the first time, I thought also: Oh, what are they going to do... then I saw, it was not seen as special or something. To be sure, next morning at the pump, cooking dishes all piled up, who is washing them? The elderly lady from last night...