Chapter Five: Avatāra Doctrine and Rama Worship

“—You alone are the object of my longing. Whoever desires you has no concern with the wealth of the three worlds.

“Bhagavan, I do not hope for righteousness, wealth, sensual pleasure, or anything of the kind. Let whatever follows from my former actions occur. I pray only this, again and again: may unwavering devotion to your two lotus feet remain within me birth after birth.”

Two things are clear from the passages above: (1) worship of Rama had begun in India by approximately the seventh century, and (2) from its beginning it contained the conjugal or sweet disposition alongside servitude.

The interweaving of servitude and sweetness

The truth is that every discipline of worship gives predominance to one particular devotional determinant, while other dispositions spontaneously manifest within it. Wherever there is servitude, parental affection and sweetness are present too; wherever sweetness predominates, servitude, friendship, and parental affection remain. These dispositions are so interwoven that separating them is difficult, even impossible. One disposition nevertheless predominates in a given tradition, while the others are included or threaded through it.

The influence of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

In time, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa exerted a profound and extensive influence upon Rama-bhakti. Among Vaishnava Puranas, the Padma, Viṣṇu, Bhāgavata, and Brahma-vaivarta are principal. Ramanujacharya quotes the Viṣṇu Purāṇa repeatedly, and in one sense it serves as a foundational text of the Sri Sampradaya. Among all these Puranas, however, the Śrīmad Bhāgavata exercised the broadest and most compelling influence upon the heart. It left an indelible mark upon both the Rama and Krishna traditions. The principal reason was its exposition of loving devotion, and that in an exceedingly—

Sri Shathakopa Muni begins his celebrated Sahasra-gīti with a plea for a suffering heroine: “She is utterly helpless. In her innocence she pours streams of tears day and night from her dark eyes, destroying them. You destroyed Lanka and its wicked king Ravana with his entire family. Compassionate Lord, please protect this poor woman’s eyes by a gracious glance.”¹ The work contains other songs that voice separation from Rama.