From Faith to the Pinnacle of Prema

The Complete, Detailed Journey of Bhakti (with the Seven Supreme Stages, the Four Highest Mahābhāvas, the Prajalpas and the Tenfold Citra-jalpa)

Based on Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu & Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi), explained by Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, and presented in spirit by Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Svāmī Prabhupāda.

This essay maps the entire inner landscape of Gauḍīya bhakti — from the first soft stirrings of faith to the inconceivable peak of Rādhā’s love. It explains each stage so you can see how the heart evolves, how one stage prepares the next, and why certain ecstatic symptoms (the prajalpas and citra-jalpas) appear only at the summit of divine love.

INTRODUCTION — WHY A STAGED MAP OF BHAKTI?

Gauḍīya ācāryas teach bhakti as an organic, inwardly-graded science: the heart is purified, opened, and finally transformed into an instrument of loving service. Each named stage is not a dry label but a living mood. Knowing them helps aspirants recognize their own state and cultivate humility before the mysteries of Vraja rasa, especially the moods of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

FOUNDATIONAL PROGRESSION:

śraddhā → prema

These are the practical, commonly attainable stages of devotional growth. They prepare the heart for the rarer, vrajavāsī emotions.

1. 

Śraddhā

 (faith)

A gentle, trustful acceptance of spiritual truth: faith in the guru, śāstra and saints. It is not blind; it is the soul’s readiness to accept that serving Kṛṣṇa yields ultimate fulfilment. Śraddhā directs one to hearing and association.

2. 

Sādhu-saṅga

 (association with devotees)

Association with pure devotees kindles taste. In sādhus’ company one hears authentic teachings, sees practical example, and receives mercy that wakes genuine aspiration.

3. 

Bhajana-kriyā

 (regulated practice)

Regular practices — hearing (śravaṇa), chanting (kīrtana), worship, service — become established. These disciplines remove gross material habits and place the practitioner on the path of inner change.

4. 

Anartha-nivṛtti

 (cleansing of unwanted things)

As practice deepens, mental impurities (greed, lust, vanity — anarthas) recede. The inner mirror clears and is able to reflect transcendental feelings.

5. 

Niṣṭhā

 (steadiness)

Devotion becomes steady, reliable: one does not fall away easily. The life is ordered around serving Kṛṣṇa.

6. 

Ruci

 (taste)

Devotion is now sweet; hearing and chanting are relished, not performed out of duty. This taste naturally sustains further progress.

7. 

Āsakti

 (attachment)

Attachment shifts from the form of practice to Kṛṣṇa Himself. One’s thoughts turn spontaneously to Him.

8. 

Bhāva

 (first dawn of ecstatic mood)

A subtle emotional transformation: the heart experiences devotional feelings — gentle longing, new tenderness. Rūpa Gosvāmī calls bhāva a ray of the sun of prema.

9. 

Prema

 (divine love)

When bhāva matures and stabilizes, it blossoms into prema — pure, selfless love of Kṛṣṇa. Prema is not a single static state but a platform from which deeper flavors grow.

THE SEVEN SUPREME STAGES OF DIVINE LOVE

These are the inner expansions of prema, the refined moods that characterize Vraja rasa. They are progressive but also interpenetrating: the heart may display many of their features simultaneously.

1. 

Sneha

 — melting affection

The heart becomes tender and soft as oil: constant tears, irresistibly sweet remembrance, and an inability to bear separation even for brief moments. Sneha is the root of deeper yearning.

Signs: continual weeping, thought naturally drawing to Kṛṣṇa, physical weakness born of longing.

2. 

Māna

 — sweet, loving sulkiness

A playful, jealous displeasure with the beloved intended to deepen intimacy. Māna is not crude anger; it is a loving withdrawal that makes the beloved try harder to win the lover back.

Signs: averted glances, proud refusal, teasing silence — all meant to increase mutual sweetness.

3. 

Praṇaya

 — intimate trust and oneness

A stage of relaxed intimacy: formality drops away and the lover interacts with Kṛṣṇa as “my own.” This is viśrambha — fearless familiarity — and allows boldness in play, complaint, and tenderness.

Signs: teasing, intimate service, free speech and bodily closeness.

4. 

Rāga

 — deep, insatiable attachment

An intense thirst: Kṛṣṇa fills the mind at every instant. Separation feels like death; even short distance causes acute pain.

Signs: overwhelming craving, fixation on Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, spontaneous service.

5. 

Anurāga

 — ever-fresh, growing love

Kṛṣṇa appears new every moment even after prolonged association. The lover feels they have never “seen” Kṛṣṇa properly; each second contains fresh sweetness.

Signs: constant renewal of taste, increased sensitivity to Kṛṣṇa’s every nuance.

6. 

(Advanced) Bhāva

 — fully enflamed emotion

A higher bhāva than the early bhāva: intense physiological and psychological symptoms (trembling, fainting, feverishness, bewildered speech). This bhāva serves as the launching point into mahābhāva.

Signs: physical fainting, disorientation, ecstatic cries, loss of ordinary awareness.

7. 

Mahābhāva

 — the supreme flowering of prema

Prema in fullest blaze. All normal faculties are spiritualized; the lover experiences the utmost sweetness and intense pains of separation. Mahābhāva has internal gradations (rūḍha, adhirūḍha, mohan, madanākhyā) which we now explain.

THE FOUR HIGHEST STAGES WITHIN MAHĀBHĀVA

These are the rare, sublime peaks that manifest most perfectly in the Vraja-gopīs and in fullness only in Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

1. 

Rūḍha-mahābhāva

 — deeply rooted splendour

Rūḍha means fixed and powerful. The symptoms of mahābhāva intensify: body and mind are overwhelmed in both union and separation. Rūḍha involves sustained, extreme manifestations: continuing fainting, unceasing tears, telegraphic, overwrought speech.

Who? Senior gopīs like Lalitā and Viśākhā manifest rūḍha; queens of Dvārakā do not reach this level.

2. 

Adhirūḍha-mahābhāva

 — beyond rūḍha; deeper immersion

Adhirūḍha is a further intensification. It contains two poles commonly described: modana (blissful height in union) and mohana (bewildering agony in separation). In adhirūḍha the lover’s identity dissolves almost totally into the relation with Kṛṣṇa — actions, speech, and even bodily processes become instruments of ecstatic exchange.

Who? Very advanced gopīs; traces in chief sakhīs; Rādhā’s adhirūḍha is unsurpassed.

3. 

Mohan-mahābhāva

 — bewilderment of separation

Mohan literally refers to bewilderment — an incomprehensible, sweet madness produced by intense separation. The lover speaks strangely, addresses winds, birds, objects, and experiences citra-jalpa (variegated, ecstatic speech). In mohan the mind becomes compulsively absorbed in the beloved to the point of apparent irrationality.

Symptoms: loss of bodily consciousness, ecstatic speech (including prajalpa types), seeing Kṛṣṇa everywhere and nowhere, addressing messengers (like bees) with accusation and longing.

Who? Candrāvalī and some sakhīs may have partial mohan; in perfection, only Rādhā has full mohan.

4. 

Madanākhyā-mahābhāva

 — the unsurpassable, paradoxical peak

Madanākhyā is the summit: the supreme experience of love so subtle that even in union Rādhā feels separation. While sitting with Kṛṣṇa, Her heart cries, “Where is Kṛṣṇa?” — a paradox of separation within union. This mood transforms Kṛṣṇa Himself; He is so affected by Rādhā’s love that He tastes Himself as the beloved and descends as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to experience Her rasa.

Who? Exclusively Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in full. It is the final secret of Vraja prema.

MOHANA’S ECSTATIC SPEECH: THE PRAJALPAS

Within Mohan, the heart’s speech takes particular forms called prajalpas — major varieties of ecstatic complaint and dialogue. These four prajalpas (Vilāpa, Unmāda, Prajalpa, Saṁjalpa) form the backbone of citra-jalpa behavior in separation.

1. 

Vilāpa

 — lamentation

A raw outcry of grief: continuous crying, helpless questions, and sorrowful appeals. The devotee laments Kṛṣṇa’s absence as the prime misfortune.

2. 

Unmāda

 — divine madness

A state of transcendental madness in which external logic collapses: singing to trees, mistaking a bee for a messenger, wandering in delirium. This is a higher, less articulated form than vilāpa.

3. 

Prajalpa

 — bitter, passionate reproach

Sharp, sarcastic complaints aimed at Kṛṣṇa’s behavior. Although bitter, prajalpa still springs from love; the complaint is the language of a heart that cannot stop loving.

4. 

Saṁjalpa

 — contradictory, hope-filled dialogue

A sweet mixture: blame and yearning, threat and invitation, pride and surrender. Saṁjalpa often resolves into renewed hope and is seen as the most refined prajalpa.

These four are progressive in depth but may alternate like tides. Only Rādhā experiences every prajalpa in fullest measure.

CITRA-JALPA: TEN VARIETIES OF ECSTATIC SPEECH

Citra-jalpa — “variegated speech” — appears as a richly textured set of emotional expressions in mohan. Rūpa Gosvāmī catalogs ten types. Each is a different color of the lover’s speech; together they describe the full palette of Rādhā’s voice in separation.

List: Prajalpa, Parijalpa, Vijalpa, Ujjalpa, Sañjalpa, Avajalpa, Abhijalpa, Ājalpa, Pratijalpa, Sujalpa.

Below each is expanded with its characteristic mood, psychological root, and an illustrative manner of speech (in Rādhārāṇī’s tone).

1. 

Prajalpa

 — (already treated above) — bitter complaint

Mood: sharp accusation born of yearning.

Psychology: pain seeks outlet in reproach.

Utterance style: “You cruelly leave after stealing my heart!”

2. 

Parijalpa

 — analytical criticism

Mood: cool, reasoned condemnation.

Psychology: the lover uses logic to scold the beloved, as if analyzing a riddle.

Utterance style: “See how this boy’s play destroys household order — that is his nature.”

3. 

Vijalpa

 — disdainful dismissal

Mood: dismissive rejection used as defense.

Psychology: wounded pride pretends indifference.

Utterance style: “Let him go—he’s merely a cowherd boy; what worth?”

4. 

Ujjalpa

 — jealous inquiry

Mood: suspicious questioning about Kṛṣṇa’s fidelity.

Psychology: jealousy manifest as interrogation.

Utterance style: “With whom has he gone dancing now? Tell me!”

5. 

Sañjalpa

 — mixed, hopeful contradiction

Mood: alternating hope and despair.

Psychology: emotional volatility; love undecided in expression.

Utterance style: “If he returns soon, I will forgive him; if not—then death!”

6. 

Avajalpa

 — hopeless surrender (despairing dismissal)

Mood: resigned sorrow.

Psychology: sorrow convinces the lover of final loss.

Utterance style: “He will never return; my hope is false.”

7. 

Abhijalpa

 — blaming the messenger/associates

Mood: fury toward Kṛṣṇa’s messengers or friends.

Psychology: displacement of anger onto accessible targets.

Utterance style: “O bee, you false messenger—tell him I will not forgive!”

8. 

Ājalpa

 — exalted praise in pain

Mood: despite suffering, the lover glorifies the beloved.

Psychology: the heart cannot stop recalling beauty.

Utterance style: “His smile—how it conquers even the moon!”

9. 

Pratijalpa

 — firm, dramatic vow of rejection

Mood: resolute condemnation; dramatic intensity.

Psychology: extreme māna (sulk) given verbal form.

Utterance style: “Even if He begs my forgiveness, I will not look at Him!”

10. 

Sujalpa

 — tender, artistic praise (heart-melting)

Mood: the softest speech; poetic longing.

Psychology: deep tenderness surfaces as artistic praise.

Utterance style: “His flute breathes sweetness into the air; without it the world is empty.”

How the ten operate: they do not appear strictly one after another; rather the lover cycles through them as moods fluctuate. In the most perfect practitioners these ten modes arise spontaneously and flawlessly — particularly in Rādhārāṇī, who enlivens all ten with unsurpassed artistry.

EXAMPLES: HOW THESE STAGES APPEAR IN PRACTICE

To make this practical: a sincere practitioner may experience śraddhā → rāga → anurāga over years. A sudden mercy may give bhāva symptoms (tears, intense taste). With continued mercy and grace of guru and Krishna, bhāva may deepen into sneha and māna experiences (tenderness and sweet sulkiness in prayer or meditation). The truly rare experiences (mahābhāva, prajalpas, citra-jalpa) are gifts of the highest mercy and not results of calculation — they require the particular conditioning and confidential mood of Vraja and the Lord’s special bestowal.

CONCLUSION — WHAT THIS MAP TEACHES US

1. Bhakti is progressive but gracious. Practice prepares; mercy perfects.

2. Each stage refines the heart. Lower stages remove obstacles; higher stages transform identity.

3. Vraja rasa is unique. Intimacy, māna, and the prajalpa/citra-jalpa outpourings are specialties of Vraja, and the apex — madanākhyā — belongs fully to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

4. Mystery and humility: seeing one or two symptoms is no proof of attainment; these are confidential moods that require guidance, purity, and mercy. Approach them with reverence.