Madhurya (“Honeyed”) Bhava

The second of the five modes of devotion to God that were articulated by
Rupa Goswami, a devotee (bhakta) of
the god Krishna and a follower of the
Bengali saint Chaitanya. Rupa used
human relationships to describe the
connection between devotee and deity.
The five modes showed growing emotional intensity, from the peaceful
(shanta) sense that comes from realizing one’s complete identity with
Brahman or Ultimate Reality, to conceiving of God as one’s master, friend,
child, or lover. The Madhurya Bhava is
the last and most intense of the five
modes of devotion. In this mode, devotees consider the relationship between
themselves and the deity as that of lover
and beloved. This mode appeared most
prominently with regard to the god
Krishna (in which the model devotees
were the cowherd women of Braj), and
395
Madhurya (“Honeyed”) Bhava
Radha (who is a symbol for the human
soul.) This particular mode is seen as the
most intense and demanding because of
its emotional closeness. For that same
reason, it is also seen as the sweetest.