CC Madhya 23.55
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 55
sakhya-vātsalya-rati pāya ‘anurāga’-sīmā
subalādyera ‘bhāva’ paryanta premera mahimā
sakhya-in friendship; vātsalya-in parental affection; rati-affection; pāya-obtains; anurāga-sīmā-up to the limit of subordinate spontaneous love; subala-ādyera-of friends like Subala and others; bhāva-ecstatic love; paryanta-up to; premera mahimā-the glory of love of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
“After the mellow of servitorship, there are the mellows of friendship and parental love, which increase to subordinate spontaneous love. The greatness of the love found in friends like Subala extends to the standard of ecstatic love of Godhead.
PURPORT
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the mellow of neutrality increases to simple love of Godhead. In the mellow of servitorship, love of Godhead increases beyond that to affection, counterlove (anger based on love), love and attachment. Similarly, the mellow of friendship increases to affection, counterlove, love, attachment and subattachment. It is the same with the mellow of parental affection. The special feature of the mellow of friendship exhibited by personalities like Subala is that it increases from fraternal affection to counterlove, to spontaneous attachment, to subordinate attachment, and finally to the ecstasy where all the ecstatic symptoms continuously exist.