When a devotee is always intensely affected by love for Kṛṣṇa in a direct relationship with Him—or even a little apart from Him—his status is called existential ecstatic love. The symptoms originating from such existential ecstatic love are divided into three headings—namely, moist, burnt and dried-up.
Moist existential ecstatic love aroused in connection with Kṛṣṇa is divided into two: direct and indirect. Rādhārāṇī was weaving a garland of kunda flowers, and, upon hearing the vibration of Kṛṣṇa's flute, She immediately stopped Her work. This is an example of direct moistened existential ecstatic love. Indirect moistened existential ecstatic love is described in the following statement: Kṛṣṇa, who is also called Puruṣottama, is to the eyes of Mother Yaśodā just like the cloud is to the eyes of the cātakī bird. When Kṛṣṇa had been brought to Mathurā, Mother Yaśodā, being very anxious and angry, began to rebuke the King of Mathurā.
Burnt existential ecstatic love is divided into three, and one example is as follows: One day, Mother Yaśodā was dreaming that the gigantic demon, Pūtanā, was lying on the courtyard of her house, and she immediately became anxious to seek out Kṛṣṇa.
When there are manifestations of ecstatic symptoms in the body of a nondevotee, these are called dried-up symptoms of ecstatic love. The nondevotees are actually materialistic, but in contact with some pure devotee, they sometimes may manifest some symptoms of ecstasy. Devotional scholars call these dried-up symptoms.
There are eight symptoms of existential ecstatic love: becoming stunned, perspiring, standing of the hairs on the body, faltering of the voice, trembling of the body, changing bodily colors, shedding tears, and devastation.