The lineage of the Esoteric Teaching begins from Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and continues down to the present day. What is so unique and interesting about our lineage is that it is the only living mystery school that accepts, understands and develops the mood of conjugal love with Kṛṣṇa, or God: mādhurya-rasa, or śṛṅgāra-rasa.
Madhura means sweet, because this relationship is the sweetest and most enjoyable of all rasas or ecstatic loving relationships with Godhead; and śṛṅgāra (ornament) means that, like the colorful peacock feather adorning His crown, Kṛṣṇa’s relationship with His erotic partners is considered the most precious ornament of His Godhood.
Conjugal means “of or relating to marriage or to married persons and their relationships.” But our definition of conjugal love pertaining to Kṛṣṇa is much broader, because Kṛṣṇa also has conjugal relationships with devotees outside of marriage. Does this mean that Kṛṣṇa is immoral? No, because whatever God does is the essence of morality. He has an unconditional right to control and enjoy His creations and energies. Perhaps a more accurate term would be ‘transcendental erotic love.’ But our predecessor Master Teachers used ‘conjugal love,’ and we will stick with that standard for clarity and convenience.
But there is no escaping the fact that ‘conjugal love’ means erotic love in one form or another. And the Western theological framework cannot comprehend how God can be involved in erotic affairs without being a material being. Fortunately, this is not a problem for the Esoteric Teaching. According to Vedic philosophy, sexuality is a symptom of the living entity or soul. Every living being has some form of sexuality or reproduction, therefore all these forms and flavors of sexuality are present in Kṛṣṇa, because He is the root cause and source of everything.
There are several other lineages of the Esoteric Teaching that specialize in the rasas of servitude, friendship and even parenthood; but none of them has such a deep realization of mādhurya-rasa as the esoteric lineage descended from Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Caitanya appeared about 500 years ago in Bengal, and He is the incarnation or avatāra of Godhead for the present historical period, Kali-yuga. He gives the yuga-dharma or yogic process for the age, saṅkīrtana-yajña or the sacrifice of chanting the Holy Name, and He also embodies the mood of mādhurya-rasa. Therefore we students of the Esoteric Teaching follow in His footsteps and also cultivate this mood.
Not everyone is in this mood of conjugal love. Many devotees are in love with the Lord in the rasas of neutrality, servitorship, friendship and parenthood. These rasas and relationships are fully fulfilling for the devotees that have them eternally. We can also help those devotees realize their ecstatic eternal relationship with the Lord, but it must be understood that historically, our lineage’s specialty is mādhurya-rasa. Therefore we accept the conclusion that the highest mode of worship is to offer one’s sexuality to the Lord.
smerāṁ bhaṅgī-traya-paricitāṁ sāci-vistīrṇa-dṛṣṭiṁ
vaṁśī-nyastādhara-kiśalayām ujjvalāṁ candrakeṇa
govindākhyāṁ hari-tanum itaḥ keśi-tīrthopakaṇṭhe
ma prekṣiṣṭhās tava yadi sakhe bandhu-saṅge ’sti raṅgaḥ“My dear friend, if you are indeed attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands on the bank of the Yamunā at Keśī-ghāṭa. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places, appears very bright in the moonlight.” [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.239]
Generally people in conditioned consciousness try to relish the pleasure of material society, friendship and love. But we cannot be satisfied with such false and temporary love. The great and learned poet Vidyāpati has said that the pleasure derived from friendship, society and family life in the material world is like a drop of water, but our hearts desire pleasure like an ocean. Thus our hearts are like a desert of material existence, that needs an ocean of pleasure to mitigate its dryness. If there is a drop of water in the desert, such a minute quantity of water has no value.
Similarly, there is a little drop of pleasure in this material world, but there is never enough friendship and love to satisfy us. Therefore if one wants to derive real pleasure within his heart, he must seek out the lotus feet of Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, and surrender there. One who takes shelter under His lotus feet will immediately forget the minute temporary pleasure of this material world, because he has become immersed in an ocean of transcendental pleasure and love.
Therefore anyone who is not satisfied with limited material pleasure may seek the lotus feet of Govinda, who stands on the shore of the Yamunā at Keśī-ghāṭa in Vṛndāvana and attracts all the gopīs to His transcendental loving service by playing very sweetly on His transcendental flute. This is actually the perfection of yoga.
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