Love in action

What is śṛńgāra?

śṛńgāra [love, pleasure or delight that emerges between lovers, ornamentation]

In the poems and prayers of the Bhakti tradition, śṛńgāra leads a sweet yet mysterious double-life.

On the one hand, in the spiritual tradition where jewels, trimmings, and decorations meet our eyes every day, śṛńgāra is ornamentation. On the other hand, through the Bhakti practice of serving and nurturing divine love (prema), śṛńgāra refers to the deepest and sweetest emotion experienced by the heart.

How is this double-meaning possible? Only in the practice of Bhakti.

In the most evolved expressions of this practice, the two meanings of śṛńgāra shift seamlessly. The brilliant verses of Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, for example, move quickly from one meaning to the other.

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A taste for chanting

O Lord! You have given us many names of Yours to chant, investing them with all Your transcendental power, and there are no strict regulations as to when to chant or remember these names. Such is Your mercy, O Lord, but I am so unfortunate that I have not taste for this chanting.

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 2

The Vedic story of the cosmic birth tells that at its creation the universe takes the form of sound. The purest energy of sound was not created and will never perish. It is an eternal vibration. It precedes the creation and will forever outlast it. The Truth of the universe is this sound vibration. Not because it is a message of truth about what is already there. But because this sonic energy, this Truth, is reality itself.

According to the Vedic story, the ancient ṛṣis, the enlightened seers and seekers of the Vedic tradition, entered into states of profound meditation, tuned their souls to the vibrations of the cosmos and heard these eternal sounds.

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Bhāva and rasa

Of all the ideas that guide us in devotional practice, bhāva and rasa are the most subtle, profound, and intimate. They describe the two purest functions of the heart: the way our heart relates to the world in its purest form (bhāva) and the flavour of the soul’s pure and natural love for the Divine (rasa).

The best English translation of ‘bhāva’ is perhaps ‘mood’. And yet there is an important difference between our everyday mood and our spiritual mood (bhāva).

In material consciousness, our mood refers to our general emotional state of mind, temperament, or attitude. Our material mood influences the temporary emotions we experience, which are shaped by the temporary conditions of the material world, our thoughts, or our bodies. Thus we speak of being in a ‘good’ mood (cheerful, excited, calm) and being in a ‘bad’ mood (grumpy, gloomy, anxious), all of which are based on our relation with our bodies and our minds.

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What is mercy?

kṛpa [compassion, mercy, grace, or kindness]

Mercy is widely understood as a key element for success in spiritual practice. It is said that the spiritual path we are on can only lead to its ultimate goal with the ‘help’ of mercy—be it Ishvarakṛpa, Daivakṛpa, Gurukṛpa, and so on. It seems that our spiritual ambitions can only be fulfilled through the compassion and grace of external powers.

This leads us to ask: How do I receive mercy? What are the requirements? Are there specific conditions? Should I offer gifts to the deities? Should I make special efforts to please the guru?

This transactional way of thinking—‘I can get mercy if I give that—confuses us, if only because the material gifts we might give would only bring material satisfaction to whoever receives them. Spiritual contentment is unattainable by material means.

Mercy is not a trade-off. Mercy is not even a thing that could be traded for something else, something that the ‘worthy’ will receive and the ‘unworthy’ will not, be it from God or guru.

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We pray

In Bhakti-sādhana, the practice of cultivating an inner life of devotion, we commonly say that devotional service consists of nine different activities: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping, obeying, maintaining friendship, surrendering, and praying.

But why do we pray? Who do we pray to? What do we pray for?

To pray is most often understood as addressing a request to some supernatural being—a request that cannot be satisfied by mundane means. Either the request is beyond our material reach, or directly impossible. Our expectation in praying is that the request will be granted by some agency beyond our knowledge, beyond our experience, beyond our control.

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What is sambandha?

sambandha [connection, relationship, union, association]

In Caitanya-Caṛtāmṛta, Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains: ’One’s relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead [sambandha], activities in terms of that relationship [abhidheya], and the ultimate goal of life [prayojana] — these three subjects are explained in every aphorism of the Vedānta-sūtra, for they form the culmination of the entire Vedānta philosophy’ (Ādi-līlā 7.146).

In other words, every word on every page of every book in the spiritual tradition of Bhakti yoga contains these essential elements. The first and most important of these is sambandha (relation).

Where do these two kinds of relationships meet?

In mundane language, the word sambandha has ordinary associations. It refers to family relationships, working associations, contracts that form connections to objects, property, and so on.

But in spiritual experience sambandha refers to the mystery of spiritual relationships.

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Rādhā’s beauty

In Her resides all beauty and brilliance. All the lakṣmīs derive their beauty from Her.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 4.92

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 4.92 in the last of a series of verses expressing the idea that the eight lakṣmīs, most beautiful, most splendid, most prosperous and fortunate of all demigods, derive their beauty from Rādhā.

We know Rādhā’s outward appearance to be beautiful. Images of her physical qualities adorn every corner of Vrindavan.

But these verses confirm that Rādhā is not only beautiful, she is also the source of all beauty. She is both beautiful and she bestows beauty on others. If there is beauty, then Rādhā is at its root.

Any object we find beautiful, from the charm of the most delicate flower, to the wonder of the sun-rays at dawn, from the smile of an infant to the glow that flows from the eyes of the wise, traces its beauty back to Rādhā. Any object that gives pleasure, not only to the eyes, but to any of the senses may be called beautiful. The pleasure it brings, the happiness it causes, can be attributed to Rādhā.

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What is abhisāra?

abhisāra [the passionate pursuit by the secret lover of the beloved]

A term borrowed from classical Indian poetry and drama, abhisāra refers to the quest of a heroine to meet against all obstacles, both social and material, her beloved.

Abhi is a prefix meaning ‘toward’, ’to’, or ‘near’ (we think of abhidheya, the process of devotional service that leads to the ultimate goal, dheya, of loving service to RādhāMohan.) Sāra means journey, but also movement or approach.

It is easy to understand that in the tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, abhisāra refers to the journey to the secret, loving meetings of Rādhā and Mohan. Rādhā overcomes all odds to leave her home in search of her lover. Then, with the help of her mañjarīs she must confront the twists and turns of desire that finally unite her with her lover. Love-in-separation (vipralambha), the painful longing that grows in the absence of the beloved, is the fuel of this abhisāra.

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