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Neither of the definitions given above, however, fully captures what is distinctive in the devotional mood of the Bhagavata-purana It is therefore necessary to emphasize the extent to which the bhakti of this purana is different from the forms of devotion that found expression in earlier texts of the Sanskrit tradition, for example, in the Gita. If the language of the Bhagavata-purana is rich and sensual in comparison with that of Krsna's dialogue with Arjuna, so is the devotion that it expounds. That the Bhagavata regards itself as something of a new gospel is suggested by its own explanation of its origins. Early in book one we find the story of the discontent of Vyasa, who is traditionally regarded as the author of the purana. Though he was a knower of Brahman and

104 had successfully completed the gigantic task of editing the endless Veda into four collections suitable to the limited intellects of men of the kali-yuga, though he had composed the huge epic the Mahabharata, including the precious Gita, and had distilled the essence of the entire wisdom of the Upanisads in aphoristic form in the Brahmasutras, still this great sage was dissatisfied. His spiritual malaise, we are told, was not removed until he had sung the glory of fervent 27 devotion to the Lord in the verses of the Bhagavata-purana The appearance of a novel conception of devotion in this text was mentioned as early as 1920 by Farquhar, who declared: "What distinguishes it [the Bhagavata-purana] from all other literature is its new theory of bhakti."28 This fact has been recognized and studied by Gonda, Hacker, and most recently Hardy. In the terminology which I proposed in chapter one, the new approach involves a shift from a 29 "contemplative" style of devotion to one easily recognizable as "ecstatic." Gonda writes: Particularly in the life of the young herdsman god Krsna a theory and practice of bhakti is developed in a very emotional and sensual poetry, which differs in its passion and its emotionalism from the more speculative descriptions of the earlier texts. Bhakti is here an overpowering, even suffocating emotion, which causes tears to flow and the voice to falter, and even, [sic] stimulates hysterical laughter, loss of consciousness, and trance.30 When set beside the bhakti of this purana, that of the Gita seems subdued indeed. There is nothing in the latter text

105 to compare, for instance, with what Krsna says to Uddhava at Bhagavata-purana 11.14.23-24: Without bristling of the body-hair, without melting of the mind, without tears of joy, without bhakti, how can the heart become pure? [But] one whose voice is choked with emotion, whose mind melts, who weeps incessantly and sometimes laughs, who sings shamelessly and dances-one who is thus full of devotion to Me purifies the 31 [whole] world. Other examples could be adduced by the dozen. Since, however, the characteristics of ecstatic bhakti will be amply illustrated by the citations from the Bhagavata which appear in chapter one of the Bhakti-rasayana, 32 there is no need to dilate on them here. As we have already suggested, the distinctive emotional tone of the Bhagavata-purana has its roots in the spirituality of the Alvars. This conclusion, long assumed by scholars, has recently been irrefutably demonstrated by Hardy, through painstaking literary analysis. In his discussion, Hardy emphasizes the importance to ecstatic bhakti of the theme, prominent in the gopi story, of the intensified emotion of love-in-separation (viraha) The Bhagavata-purana describes the gopis 鈥� 33 as experiencing the absence of their beloved in several ways. Krsna leaves the village daily to take the cows to pasture. While he is gone, the cowherd women dwell on him in their hearts, in thought, in conversation, and in song. Sometimes they hear his flute in the distance, and are filled with longing. 34 On one occasion, Krsna conceals

106 himself from the gopis to humble their pride at having won his favor: this causes them to experience intense anguish. 35 The final viraha occurs when Krsna leaves Vrndavana for Mathura, never to return. In songs that are adaptations of Alvar poems, the gopis express the excruciating love-agony of separation from the physical presence of the allattractive bhagavat, and while they despair at not seeing their Lord, their bhakti reaches new heights of intensity. The shift from contemplative to ecstatic bhakti, as 36 I suggested in chapter one, does not change the structure of our key problem, the tension between devotional spirituality and Advaita. If anything, it serves to highlight it. To see this, one need only picture the contrast between the austere Samkara samnyasin, intent and vigilant in his discrimination between the "eternal" and the "non-eternal" (or absorbed in the tranquility of eternal union with Brahman), and the inconsolable gopf, lost in a frenzy of anguish at her separation from the maddeningly beautiful form of Krsna. One might well ask if there is any possibility at all of a rapprochement between these two visions of the spiritual life.