nadati kvacid utkaṇá¹ho
vilajjo ná¹›tyati kvacit
kvacit tad-bhÄvanÄ-yuktas
tanmayo 'nucakÄra ha
nadati - exclaims loudly (addressing the Lord, 'O Kṛṣṇa'); kvacit - sometimes; utkaṇá¹haḥ - being anxious; vilajjaḥ - without shame; ná¹›tyati - he dances; kvacit - sometimes; kvacit - sometimes; tat-bhÄvanÄ - with thoughts of Kṛṣṇa; yuktaḥ - being absorbed; tat-mayaḥ - thinking as if he had become Kṛṣṇa; anucakÄra - imitated; ha - indeed.
PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja sometimes felt that the Lord was far away from him and therefore called Him loudly. When he saw that the Lord was before him, he was fully jubilant. Sometimes, thinking himself one with the Supreme, he imitated the Lord’s pastimes, and in separation from the Lord he would sometimes show symptoms of madness. These feelings of a devotee would not be appreciated by impersonalists. One must go further and further into spiritual understanding. The first realization is impersonal Brahman, but one must go still further to realize ParamÄtmÄ and eventually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is worshiped by the transcendental feelings of a devotee in a relationship of Å›Änta, dÄsya, sakhya, vÄtsalya or mÄdhurya. Here the feelings of PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja were in the mellow of vÄtsalya, filial love and affection. As a child cries when left by his mother, when PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja felt that the Lord was away from him he began to cry (nadati). Again, a devotee like PrahlÄda sometimes sees that the Lord is coming from a long distance to pacify him, like a mother responding to a child, saying, “My dear child, do not cry. I am coming.†Then the devotee, without being ashamed due to his surroundings and circumstances, begins to dance, thinking, “Here is my Lord! My Lord is coming!†Thus the devotee, in full ecstasy, sometimes imitates the pastimes of the Lord, just as the cowherd boys used to imitate the behavior of the jungle animals. However, he does not actually become the Lord. PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja achieved the spiritual ecstasies described herein by his advancement in spiritual understanding.