At a Bhakti-Vrksha program near Udupi which my husband and I attended, one devotee in the audience raised his hand and asked my husband to tell about his remembrances of Srila Prabhupada. My husband told the story of how in Mayapur in early 1977, Srila Prabhupada had circumambulated Sri Sri Radha-Madhava three times, ringing the bell each time, and had then begun to dance in front of the Deities, jumping up and down with his arms raised in the air. At that time, Srila Prabhupada emitted a striking effulgence--bright as the light of the sun--from his entire body. My husband is not the only devotee who saw it.
My Prabhu then went on to tell how he had read recently in the Srimad-Bhagavatam about the Nava-Yogendras, the nine sons of Lord Rsabhadeva who were self-effulgent, shining rsis, fully Krsna conscious and bright with their own natural light that emanated from within. This light emanating from the bodies of those nine great sages was described in the eleventh canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. King Nimi had invited the Nava-Yogendras to come to his palace and when they came to visit the king, he saw how effulgent they were and his heart became filled with ecstasy:
My Prabhu then went on to tell how he had read recently in the Srimad-Bhagavatam about the Nava-Yogendras, the nine sons of Lord Rsabhadeva who were self-effulgent, shining rsis, fully Krsna conscious and bright with their own natural light that emanated from within. This light emanating from the bodies of those nine great sages was described in the eleventh canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. King Nimi had invited the Nava-Yogendras to come to his palace and when they came to visit the king, he saw how effulgent they were and his heart became filled with ecstasy:
"Overwhelmed by
transcendental joy, the King humbly bowed his head and then proceeded to
question the nine sages. These nine great souls glowed with their own
effulgence and thus appeared equal to the four Kumäras, the sons of Lord
Brahmä." It is explained in the purport that the effulgence emitted by the Nava-Yogendras was not due to their ornaments, but rather sourced from their natural brightness as realized souls: "Çréla Çrédhara Svämé has
pointed out that the word sva-rucä indicates that the nava-yogendras glowed
from their own spiritual effulgence and not due to their ornaments or any other
cause." (SB 11.2.27) This information underscored my husband's experience of seeing Srila Prabhupada, a fully Krsna conscious, self-realized soul who emitted a dazzling effulgence that emanated in all directions from his body, and also substantiated that such an effulgence, when manifested from the body of a self-realized soul, is not produced by his jewels or ornaments or any external, material source. It is the natural light of the soul.
Srila Prabhupada many times used the term "self-effulgent" to mean glowing with natural light. He ascribed this description to Lord Sri Krsna, to the spiritual planets within the spiritual sky, and also to a true acarya.
We are all self-effulgent sparks of Lord Krsna "The individual soul, being part and parcel of the Lord, is also self-effulgent" (SB 11.2.27 Ppt), but our natural glow is hampered by our material mind. "The material mind is not a figment of the empiric imagination. It is a real envelope and has to be completely discarded. It will not do to imagine this enveloping darkness as possessing anything in common with the light. The material mind is like a sheet of impenetrable darkness that completely shuts out the light of the soul. The soul is by his nature self-effulgent and has nothing to do with the material mind which acts as a screen to cut off the light of the soul from the view of the observer who uses the mind for such a purpose. This is fact and not a hypothesis like the so-called 'truths' and 'facts' conceived by the material mind in the vanity of its ignorance. The spiritual realisation of the categorical difference and relation of utter incompatibility between mind and soul is the first unique experience on the threshold of the awakened spiritual life." ("Thakur Haridas" Part I, BTG Magazine #14, 1967, from the book Shri Krishna Chaitanya by Professor Sanniyal)
When we become fully Krsna conscious, completely uncovering our love for Krsna, then our natural brightness shines from within our hearts. This is the meaning of "self-effulgent" as it pertains to the individual soul. Not only are we souls naturally shining with spiritual light, but it is our duty to return to our natural state of pure Krsna consciousness so that our native effulgence can again manifest.
