Essay name: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
Author:
Lance Edward Nelson
Affiliation: McMaster University / Religious Studies
This is a study and English translation of the Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati (16th century)鈥攐ne of the greatest and most vigorous exponents of Advaita after Shankara-Acharya who was also a great devotee of Krishna. The Bhaktirasayana attempts to merge non-dualist metaphysics with the ecstatic devotion of the Bhagavata Purana, by asserting that Bhakti is the highest goal of life and by arguinng that Bhakti embodies God within the devotee's mind.
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NOTES: CHAPTER SIX 445 12 Wulff, pp. 2, 9; Hardy, VB, pp. 559-557.
"
13 We find references to poetic terms in the Vedas
and in P膩峁噄ni's grammar (fourth century B.C.E.). See Edwin
Gerow, "Classical Sanskrit Aesthetics, in Joesph W. Elder,
ed. Lectures in Indian Civilization (Dubuque, Iowa:
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 88-89. On the
date of the NS, see S. K. De, Sanskrit Poetics (2nd rev.
ed.; Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukopadhyay, 1960), I, 18-31.
Masson and Patwardhan remark: "While an exact date seems out
of the question, we are inclined to date the text within two
or three hundred years of the third century A.D." (Aesthetic
Rapture, I, 1).
14 Sometimes, as "mood," though "sentiment" is more
popular, having the advantage of suggesting refined,
pleasurable emotion. In the works of A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Sw膩mi, founder of the K峁涐梗峁嘺 Consciousness movement, the term
is translated as "mellow" or "transcendental mellow.
It
11 15 Ras, "to taste," is the Sanskrit root. According
to the standard etymology, "Rasa is that which is tasted or
enjoyed" (rasyate 膩sv膩yate iti rasa岣�, quoted by Chakravarti,
p. 345, note 9 [my trans. ]). The word can also mean sap,
"juice," "liquid extract, "elixir," "essence, "pith,
"pleasure, "delight," or even "bliss.
at
11 "
"
"
16,
6rase s膩ra艣 camatk膩ro yam vin膩 na rasorasa岣�
(Ala峁噆膩rakaustubha, 5.7; quoted by Chakravarti, p. 345, note
10.
17 NS 6.15-16; De, Sanskrit Poetics, II, 275.
18 The Bengal Vaisnava tradition uses this same term
to designate the first appearance of bhakti in the heart of
the devotee. See chap. 4.3.4.
19 NS 6.17.
20 De, Sanskrit Poetics, II, 133-134, note 40.
20De,
The
first explanation is referred to by Jiva Gosv膩min as a rule
of the exponents of the rasa艣膩stra: viruddhair aviruddhair
v膩 bhavair vicchidyate na yah atmabh膩vam nayaty any膩n sa
sth膩y墨 lava峁嚹乲ara岣� (quoted by Chakravarti, p. 349.
21rasik膩 eva ras膩sv膩de yogya岣�, quoted by S. K. De,
Sanskrit Poetics as a Study of Aesthetic (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1963), p. 54 (my trans.).
22 The question of the nature and original source of
the sth膩yibh膩va of bhaktirasa is a crucial one for both the
