View source for This sudden development of the devotional attitude in a person must be understood as a special mercy of Krsna or of His devotee

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[[Category:Suddenly]]
[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:Devotional]]
[[Category:Attitude]]
[[Category:Person]]
[[Category:Must Be]]
[[Category:Understand]]
[[Category:Krsna's Special Mercy]]
[[Category:Krsna's Devotees]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 17 - Ecstatic Love]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapters 01 to 51]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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Sometimes, however, it is found that without undergoing any devotional process, one all of a sudden develops devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa. This sudden development of the devotional attitude in a person must be understood as a special mercy of Kṛṣṇa or of His devotee. This apparently accidental development of ecstatic feelings through the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa can be divided into three groups: simply by speaking, simply by glancing and simply by good wishes.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 17 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 17]]
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This statement is also confirmed in the [[Vanisource:SB 3.25.25|Third Canto, 25th Chapter, 22nd verse]], of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where Lord Kapila says, "My dear Mother, when a person is actually in association with pure devotees, the sublime potency of My devotional service can be experienced." In other words, when a pure devotee speaks, his words act upon the hearts of the audience. What is the secret of hearing and chanting? A professional speaker cannot impress transcendental ecstasy within the hearts of the listeners. However, when a realized soul who is engaged in the service of the Lord is speaking, he has the potency to inject spiritual life within the audience. One should, therefore, seek the association of such pure unalloyed devotees, and by such association and service a neophyte devotee will certainly develop attachment, love and devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Padma Purāṇa there is the story of a neophyte devotee who, in order to raise himself to the ecstatic platform, danced all night to invoke the Lord's grace upon him.

Sometimes, however, it is found that without undergoing any devotional process, one all of a sudden develops devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa. This sudden development of the devotional attitude in a person must be understood as a special mercy of Kṛṣṇa or of His devotee. This apparently accidental development of ecstatic feelings through the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa can be divided into three groups: simply by speaking, simply by glancing and simply by good wishes.

In the Nāradīya Purāṇa there is a statement about development of ecstatic love simply by speaking. Lord Kṛṣṇa said to Nārada, "O best of the brāhmaṇas, I wish that you may develop unalloyed devotional service to Me, which is full of transcendental bliss and all auspiciousness."

In the Skanda Purāṇa there is a statement about developing ecstatic love towards Kṛṣṇa simply by glancing. It is stated there: "When the inhabitants of Jaṅgala Province saw the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, they were so stricken with feeling that they could not withdraw their glance from Him."

As far as heartfelt wishes are concerned, there is a statement in the Śuka-saṁhitā where Nārada tells Śrīla Vyāsadeva, "You have a son who is the greatest devotee of the Personality of Godhead, and I can observe that without any following of the regulative principles of devotional service, he is already enriched with many of the symptoms achieved by the execution of devotional service after many, many births."

As for ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, there is a statement in the [[Vanisource:SB 7.4.36|Seventh Canto, 4th Chapter, 26th verse]], of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in which Nārada addresses King Yudhiṣṭhira: "My dear King, it is very difficult to describe the character of Prahlāda. He developed a natural attraction for Kṛṣṇa, and whatever I can explain about his character will simply be an arrangement of words; his actual character is impossible to describe." This means Nārada himself admitted that the natural development of Prahlāda's ecstatic love was by the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
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