(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 May 2014, Bhaktivedanta Manor, England, Caitanya Caritamrta Adi Lila 8.27)
The Nectar of Devotion speaks about the person with a heart which is like a cotton swab – a tiny, little, fine thread of cotton that at the slightest breeze starts trembling; then it speaks about a person with a golden heart – these two prototypes are given. One is a person who is very easily emotionally moved; the slightest thing will bring out a lot of emotional reactions, “Krsna… Krsna… Krsna… Oh God!” (dramatic)
Then there is the other person who has the golden heart, who is very grave, and all these emotions are deep and internal. It says in the Nectar of Devotion that from both these platforms, the heart can melt – sneha takes place; where the heart actually melts. It is not that one is closer to melting than the other; whether you have a cotton swab heart or a golden heart. What kind of heart did Srila Prabhupada seem to have? You can think about it… Very grave! Remember how Jadurani was talking about that handbill that Prabhupada carried with him on the Jaladuta – it was a picture of himself with the corners of the mouth deep down and she was supposed to make a painting of that. She said, “Oh, I think you were not so happy when this picture was taken.”
Prabhupada said, “What do you mean, this was my moment of greatest ecstasy!” I kind of like that; it is a nice detail about Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada displayed this mood of the golden heart, not to speak out against the cotton swab, but Krsna chose Srila Prabhupada to be his representative…