The Author’s Submission

—assisted me freely in this work. By giving me unrestricted permission to inspect and take notes from their collections of ancient, handwritten, and extremely rare works, they placed me under an immeasurable obligation. Sri Ramkumar Das Ji at Maniparvat in Ayodhya also possesses a substantial collection of such books, and I benefited from his library. Yet without the help of Swami Paramanand Ji and Mahatma Ramkishor Sharan Ji, my work could never have been completed.

At the beginning, Sri Janakdulari Sharan Ji of Sri Rupakala Kunj also gave me considerable assistance. I am grieved that he departed for Saketa before this book was completed.

In connection with the work, I had opportunities to travel through Galavashram in Jaipur, Chitrakoot, Kashi, Ayodhya, Janakpur in Mithila, and several other places. Many great souls helped me in many ways. The saint of Sankat Mochan in Kashi is a practitioner of this rasa, and he greatly assisted me in recovering the tradition of this worship. At the root of everything was certainly the Lord’s grace, through which I received the opportunity to examine and study profoundly secret and rare manuscript literature.

It was extremely difficult to obtain from Shravan Kunj in Ayodhya the original handwritten copy of the Bhūṣuṇḍi Rāmāyaṇa, which contains sixty thousand verses in the anuṣṭubh metre. Had the renowned and revered “Bhaiji,” Sri Hanuman Prasad Poddar, editor of Kalyan, not helped me at that time, I would have been deprived of seeing the work. In the end, Gita Press prepared a complete photostat of the manuscript, and that priceless book may perhaps now become available to everyone.

I saw, read, and took notes from hundreds of books that had remained tied in bundles for centuries and whose only use had been ritual worship with incense, lamps, and ārati. To take notes from books treated as objects of worship seemed extremely strange to saints and great souls, yet by the gracious power of the Lord the task was completed without obstruction. There must certainly remain many works in Chitrakoot and Ayodhya, at Galtagaddi in Jaipur, and in Janakpur that are indispensable for understanding the literature of rasika worship. Those who wish to know should seek them out.

A distinctive sign of the saints of rasika worship in Rama devotion is that beneath the vertical śrī of their forehead mark they place a dot. They usually wear garments dyed with the sacred earth called rāma-raja, adorn their necks with many kinds of tulsi ornaments, apply a turmeric tilaka, and mark the forehead with the names of the Divine Couple. In the contemplation of divine sport, the Mithila, Awadh, and Chitrakoot dispositions are principal; upon this basis proceed the modes of worship called sva-sukhī, tat-sukhī, and cit-sukhī.

Just as devotees regard Lord Krishna as full in Mathura, fuller in Dwarka, and fullest in Vrindavan, so here Lord Rama is regarded as full in Awadh, fuller in Mithila, and fullest in Chitrakoot.