Chapter Five: Avatāra Doctrine and Rama Worship

—an enchanting arrangement of music accompanying the rāsa dance. The account closely follows the five rāsa chapters of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata and is clearly influenced by them. During this great rāsa, cows, deer, animals, birds, human beings, Gandharvas, gods, and all other creatures lose awareness of themselves, become insensible to everything else, and have their hearts drawn toward the dance. One scene of the divine union of the beloved pair is especially enchanting.¹

3. A panoramic view of the Śrī Hanumat Saṃhitā

The Śrī Hanumat Saṃhitā gives a magnificent description of the “Great Festival of the Nectar of Love.” It takes the form of a dialogue between Agastya and Hanuman.

Rama, passionately devoted to Janaki, comes to the bank of the Sarayu with his life-beloved and innumerable companions endowed with beauty and youth. Immersed in the nectar of love, they delight one another with laughter, graceful dance, sidelong glances, and charming flattery. They drink the honeyed liquor in the kadamba forest, proceed to the madhavi grove, then to the sandalwood forest, and finally to the Ashoka grove.

This Ashoka grove cannot be seen by those fixed in the masculine disposition; it becomes accessible only to practitioners who have entered the receptive feminine mood.² Rama, beautiful as ten million Love-gods, moves from grove to grove, awakening Janaki’s joy and passion through laughter, dance, and glances. Beholding his captivating adolescent form, the companions long for union, and Bhagavan fulfils them in many ways.

As the moon appears beautiful surrounded by stars, so does Ramachandra among the companions. Delighting their hearts through many graceful dances, Bhagavan drinks the nectar of their lips—