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Because the recounting of, and imaginative In participation in, the stories of Krsna's life formed such a large part of Vaisnava spiritual practice, it was natural and relatively easy for the Goswamins to transfer the theories of classical Sanskrit aesthetics from their literary ambience to the sphere of the devotional cult. this connection, it should be noted that love (as in other literary traditions) had long been a popular and absorbing theme in Sanskrit drama and poetry. Sanskrit aesthetics had consequently developed the theory of sragararasa to a high

216 level of complexity and detail, particularly under the influence of such writers as Rudrabhatta (tenth century) and Bhoja (eleventh century). This made the rasasastra even 45 more ideally suited to the needs of the Gosvamins, who were especially concerned with explicating the nuances of the ecstatic love-relationship of Krsna and the gopis.46 From what has been said about rasa-theory thus far, the reader will have noticed that it is not elaborated from the viewpoint of the artist or poet and his act of creation. Rather, the chief focus of study is the sentiment 鈥� 47 experienced by the individual involved in appreciating the emotions portrayed in the work of art, i.e., the spectator (samajika) or connoisseur (rasika) When the theory is applied to bhakti, the devotee takes the place of the* artistic connoisseur, and the center of discussion becomes (1) his or her enjoyment of the bliss of devotion and (2) the process of interaction with the drama, in this case the story of Krsna's life and exploits, by which this experience is elicited. The question of the actual locus of rasa is one of the first that must be dealt with. The Vaisnava theologians point out that there is disagreement among the orthodox rhetoricians on this problem. While some hold that the sentiment exists in the original hero and heroine depicted in the drama and impersonated by the actors, others locate

217 it in the actors themselves. Some, such as Visvanatha, hold that it resides in the spectator or connoisseur, and there are yet others who hold that, if the actor is a person of taste (sahrdaya), rasa may exist in both the actor and the audience. The Vaisnavas expand the latter position, declaring that rasa exists simultaneously in the spectators (samajika), in the actors (anukartr), and in the original characters (anukarya).48 In the case of bhaktirasa, the original characters are Krsna and his associates, such as Radha and the gopis, his friends, and his foster parents. The roles of both the audience and the actors are taken by the devotees, who assume various bhavas or moods as, in the process of their devotional practice, they imaginatively identify with one or another of Krsna's companions. Five key modes of approach to the divine are recognized in this regard, each associated with particular characters in the scripture who epitomize the kind of relation with Krsna that is involved. Connected with these five devotional moods (pancabhava) are an equal number of primary (mukhya) bhaktirasas. These, the Vaisnavas believe, are the sentiments truly authenticated by the puranic accounts.49 The five bhavas are arranged hierarchically as follows: (1) santi ("tranquility"), the attitude of enlightened sages--jnanins or yogins--like Sanaka; (2) dasya ("servanthood"), experienced by devotess who served Krsna,

218 such as Uddhava; (3) sakhya ("friendship"), enjoyed by Arjuna, Sridhaman, and others; (4) vatsalya ("parenthood"), associated with Nanda and Yasoda, the Lord's foster parents; and (5) madhura ("sweetness"), the mood of erotic love experienced especially by the gopis. 50 Ultimately, the sthayibhava of Bhaktirasa is one: namely, "love that has Krsna as its object" (srikrsnavisaya rati).51 In the tranquil mood, this appears in a form uncolored by other emotional attitudes; hence this bhava is also called suddha ("pure").52 In the other four bhavas, love (rati) for Krsna is refracted, as it were, through the prism of various emotional tones, as indicated by the names given these states. It is important to note, though, that these "mixed" moods are considered to be more blissful, and hence more valuable, than the "tranquil" or "pure" form of devotion. The latter (along with its associated rasa, santa) is regarded as lower than the others because it is based on the realization of God in his Lordly nature 53 which inspires (Isasvarupa) as the four-armed Narayana, awe in addition to love. The santabhaktas do not desire to serve Krsna or enter into his joyous lilas, but are satisfied in merely obtaining a vision of the deity 54 (tadiyanubhavamatranistha). True ecstatic bhakti, therefore, begins only in dasya, with the emergence of a feeling of a distinctly personal relationship with Krsna as

219 the supremely blissful bhagavat. Here, the bhakta begins to develop a real sense of participating with the Lord, in however small a capacity, in his eternal sports. After dasya, the ascending order of bhaktirasas is determined by increasing degrees of the feeling of intimacy with Krsna, the recognition of his divine sweetness (madhurya), and a corresponding loss of the sense of his overwhelming majesty and power (aisvarya). The latter, the Gosvamins emphasize, 55 seriously interferes with the ecstatic devotional mood. The hierarchy culminates in the sentiment of the gopis, madhura, the most highly prized of all rasas since it involves the most intimate and most blissful relationship with the Lord. Capable of being experienced in its completeness only by Radha herself, it is called bhaktirasaraj, the "king of all devotional sentiments."56 Sragara, the erotic sentiment of the aestheticians, is in this scheme subsumed in madhura. The remaining seven rasas of the classical writers, insofar as they may be associated with Krsna, are given secondary status as gaunabhaktirasas. If they do not involve rati for Krsna, however, they are not rasas at all, since only love for the Lord can elevate them to that state. 57 It is obvious from this that Rupa and Jiva do not accept the theories of the rhetoricians without modification. In fact, they alter the system significantly

220 in order to accommodate their particular religious ends. Most notable in this connection is their elaboration and extension of the metaphysical dimensions of rasa-theory in the interest of allowing the initially literary encounter with the gopt's Lord to become a distinctly religious experience. The Gosvamins want to create a situation in which "aesthetic" joy has the potential of genuine, indeed ultimate, soteriological consequences. Thus the Krsna-lila is regarded as much more than just another historic or even supernatural event that has been immortalized by a poet. It is an ongoing, transphenomenal reality, eternally taking place on the highest celestial plane. Imaginative identification with the story, therefore, if practiced with sufficient intensity, becomes much more than a source of aesthetic pleasure, more even than a cause of profound religious emotion. It is a means of effecting a change in ontological level, of truly transferring one's being to Krsna's eternal realm or, however briefly, making that world manifest to the devotee dwelling in the terrestrial sphere. The metaphysical interest continues in the analysis of bhaktirasa itself. The permanent emotion of the devotional sentiment, like that of the poetic rasas, is latent in the heart of the appreciator. But in the case of bhakti, according to the Gosvamins, it is not acquired through ordinary external experience. The sthayibhava of

221 devotion, love for Krsna, is none other than the rati that, as we have already seen in chapter five, is innately present in all beings as an aspect of the Lord's eternal hladin sakti, the divine "power of bliss."58 Krsnarati, the seed As a of bhaktirasa, is therefore eternal in nature (nityasiddha) and constantly abiding, in latent form, in the heart. sthayibhava, it is truly permanent. Bhaktirasa is thus included in the Gosvamins' efforts, discussed in chapter four, to give bhakti a share in ontological ultimacy. Since it develops from this unique spiritual sthayibhava, it is supernatural (alaukika), indeed divine, in nature. The efforts of Rupa to disassociate bhakti from the mental faculties in which it is manifested are worth recalling here. In this case again, though the sentiment appears in the mind, it is not of the mind: it is a manifestation of the divine bliss itself. 59 The orthodox rhetoricians think of their rasas as supramundane (alaukika) because they transcend the cares and limitations of ordinary daily experience. The Gosvamins, however, never tire of asserting that, in comparison with bhaktirasa, the secular sentiments fair so poorly as to be considered mundane (laukika). Consisting of the material quality of luminosity (sattvaguna), they belong to the realm of maya.60 The pleasure that the worldly-minded count as rasa is consequently limited and, like all material

222 pleasures, inextricably connected with pain. 61 Bhaktirasa is far superior, for its bliss, being that of Krsna's highest sakti, is infinite. Even if it is allowed that the joy of literary sentiment is similar to that of the realization of Brahman, the rhetoricians' case is not helped, for according to Bengal Vaisnava theology, the bliss of Brahman is inferior by far to the bliss of Krsna, the bhagavat, who is the full expression of the Godhead. 62 In their analysis of the various modes and degrees of bhaktirasa that may manifest in the devotee, the Gosvamins, savoring every possible variation of the sentiment, enter with scholastic earnest into seemingly endless detail. We discover in the end, however, after all the classifications and lists of minutiae are patiently gone through, that the ultimate locus and final connoisseur of rasa is Krsna himself, not the devotee. Against Mammata's dictum that devotion to a deity cannot be a sentiment, the Vaisnavas argue that this objection applies only to the "ordinary" deities (prakrtadeva), not to Krsna, for as the Upanisad declares: "He, verily, is rasa. Devotional sentiment is raised from the level of the psychological to the highest ontic plane: rasa somehow constitutes the essential nature of bhagavat. That which appears in different devotees resulting in various modes of ecstatic love is the one, eternal, infinite rasa. The variety of "63

223 sentiments experienced by jIvas is only a limited reflection of the various modes of relationship possible between the Lord and the manifold aspects of his Sakti. 64 And not only is Krsna rasa itself, as the Upanisad suggests, he is also "1 the supreme rasika, "relisher of rasa. Being perfectly detached and free, and at the same time capable of perfect enjoyment, Krsna is the ideal samajika. In him, the fullness of rasa is experienced eternally by the power of his hladinisakti, using which he simultaneously, out of 65 grace, manifests bhakti in the heart of his devotees.