There are different categories of Divine bliss.
रसो वै सः। रसं ह्येवायं लब्ध्वानन्दी भवति।
Raso vai saḥ. Rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati.
- Taittiriya Upanishad 2.7
The Taittiriya Upanishad states that God is ras (the embodiment of Divine bliss and sweetness). God is Ras (Bhagwan ras hai), but even this does not satisfy the Gopis of Braj (Lekin isse yeh Braj gopiya jo hain, yeh tripta nahi hoti.). For them, the highest and supreme Ras has been described. (In ke liye to rasatamah paramah kaha gaya.)
So, God is bliss, but this bliss is not enough. Maharas (the supreme Divine dance of Divine love) is far beyond this anand Brahm (the bliss of the impersonal Brahman), because in anand Brahm there are categories.
There is Brahmanand (the bliss of realization of the impersonal Brahman), then there is parmanand (the bliss of realization ‘the Supersoul’, and then there is premanand (the bliss of Divine love), which is Ramanand or Krishnanand (the Divine bliss of Bhagwan). Brahmanand is of the impersonal, unmanifest aspect of God, and Parmanand is of Paramatma. Bhagwan’s anand is known as premanand - Shree Ram’s and Shree Krishna’s Premanand. But in this Premanand we have got three categories.
We’ve got C class, we’ve got B class, and we’ve got A class.
Just like when we travel on an airplane, the A-class ticket is much more expensive. Not everyone can sit there. The destination is the same, but there is an A class, a B class, and a C class (Jaise plane mein baithte hain to A class ke ticket bade mehnge hote hain. Usme sab nahi ghus sakte. Woh manzil ek hi hai, lekin ek A class, ek B class, ek C class.)
So God is God. They will all get God, who is anand (Divine bliss), but the ras, the sweetness, the madhuryata (sweetness), the nectar of the ras, is of different levels.
The C class is known as sadharani rati prem (ordinary conjugal Divine love).
The B class is known as samanjasa rati prem (harmonious conjugal Divine love).
And the A class is known as samartha rati prem (the highest, completely selfless Divine love).
So, on this particular night of Sharad Purnima (the full moon night of the autumn season), it was the samartha rati premi (those possessing the highest selfless Divine love) Gopis, the A-class premis (Divine lovers), whose love is completely unconditional.
Now check yourselves out here.
We go to the temples of God. We have temples in our own homes of the Lord. And the list of desires - you check yourself - you don’t have to tell me the list of desires that you have, especially the material desires.
“God, please make this work out for me. God, please fulfill this desire. Please get me a green card. Then I will offer You ten kilos of laddus (a traditional Indian sweet)!” (Bhagwan mera yeh kām bana dena. Bhagwan mera yeh kām bana dena. Mujhe green card dilwa dena. Phir main aapko kya doonga, ya doongi? Das kilo ka laddu chadha doonga.)
It’s bribery. This kind of give-and-take is simply business. (To yeh len-den wala to business hai.) Prem (Divine love) is pure. Love is unconditional all the time, but in this category of love, there is C, B and A class.
So we have to be very careful not to have any selfish desires, even of the spiritual nature. Any kind of selfish material desire is not even bhakti (devotion) to God. It’s not devotion.
