My friend, Swami Vivekananda had not discouraged ordinary people from practising Prema Bhakti (intense spiritual love of God) in the Dasya Bhava (the mood of the devoted servant towards his Master), the Sakhya Bhava (the mood of the devoted friend towards his Master who also is his friend), the Vatsalya Bhava (the mood of the mother towards her child) or the Shanta Bhava (the mood of the devoted wife towards her husband whom she considers as her Lord and Master) . He had instead cautioned them against attempting Prema Bhakti in the Madhur Bhava (the sweetened mood of the lover for her beloved) which in his view was safe for practice only by advanced spiritual practitioners who had successfully tided over the carnal instinct. At any rate Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda had both advocated Prema Bhakti as the final fruition of Bhakti necessary for God-realisation along the dualistic path of devotion. Only, like every other spiritual discipline, Madhur Bhava also had its pitfalls and prerequisites to be observed for its proper practice to lead to spiritual fulfilment. Prema Bhakti is the imperative in the path of devotion but may be approached in several well-defined moods as mentioned above : Shanta, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhur Bhavas.
The practice of Madhur Bhava indiscriminately by various decadent sects in Bengal had drawn the severest displeasure of Swamiji even during his Dakshineshwar days at the feet of his divine Master Sri Ramakrishna. One day the young Narendranath raved against it for three hours at a stretch to the amusement of Sri Ramakrishna who kept on mutely listening to his protege's deliberations. When the young eagle had finally perched after its prolonged flight, the mother gently said : " Well, well, you know there is a door for the scavenger at the rear of every house and you may get into the house by the front door or the rear as you please. But you all should avail of the main entrance and not go by the dirty rear one but why should you object if anyone prefers to enter the house from behind ? After all, even in these sects that practice devotion the other way there have been aspirants who have attained to illumination. Let them do what they will but you go along the royal path." At this the disciple was silenced for the while but not quite satisfied for in later years as the world-famous Swami Vivekananda he thundered in his Calcutta address ' The Vedanta in all its Phases ' in 1897 : " Give up this filthy Vamachara that is killing your country...These Vamachara sects are honeycombing our society in Bengal..." Swamiji introduced the pristine philosophy of the Vedas in Bengal, in India and elsewhere whereby men would grow in the robust spirituality that derives its basis in the Atman ( the Self ) and not in any weakening paralysing debauchery masquerading as spiritual love. This was Swamiji's stance so far as the practice of Prema Bhakti was concerned following the Madhur Bhava, never altogether against it but forever cautioning, nay, dissuading the ordinary aspirant from attempting to scale such sublime heights of spirituality without adequate prerequisites of spiritual purity based on perfected continence, prior realisation of the Divine following some other spiritual mood and having the expert guidance of a realised soul in the said Madhur Bhava. Swamiji held Madhur Bhava to be the quintessence of divine love, the sublimest expression of the human heart, now rendered divine by the sheer force of love, for the Divine Beloved and the acme of spirituality. He himself was often flooded by it when he would call upon austere Jnana to chain himself to his mortal coil whereby he could fulfil the mission of his divine Guru. The peerless Paramahamsa smiled on as indulgently as ever as his beloved Naren controlled his spiritual emotions for orchestrating his Master's divine mission on Earth. And was not Swamiji's love for Thakur Prema Bhakti ? But he ever harboured the Sakhya Bhava towards his beloved Master. And there, my friend, lies the answer, the key to practice of devotion in this Age. When love matures into its fullest bloom it is ever sweetened in the syrup of the Master's love be He approached in any mood to begin with. It is Prema Bhakti, Madhur Bhava at the divine end.
Om Madhu! Om Madhu! Om Madhu!
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