Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition

Sita governs creation, preservation, and dissolution; Rama himself acts according to her gesture. Bhagavati Sita exists as the power of will, the power of action, and power directly manifest.

The power of will has three forms: (1) Sri, auspicious Rukmini; (2) Bhu, the form of sovereign manifestation; and (3) Nila, whose forms are moon, sun, and fire. Symbolically, Rukmini arises from Sri, Satyabhama from Bhu, and Radha from Nila.¹

As the moon she produces medicinal plants. As nectar she satisfies the gods with the highest fruit, nourishing human beings with grain, animals with grass, and all creatures with food suited to them. As the sun by day and moon by night, Sita illumines moving and unmoving beings and is thus the primal mover of the wheel of time. As fire she is digestive fire, forest fire, submarine fire, fire latent in wood, fire present in the mouths of gods, and every other fire.

As Sri she is Lakshmi. As Bhu she is the foundation and content of all fourteen worlds—bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, and the rest—and is the embodied praṇava. As Nila, filled with hosts of lightning powers, she nourishes medicinal plants, vegetation, and the life of every creature.

As the power of action, sound arises from the Supreme Self’s mouth, the point from sound, and Omkara from the point. Beyond Omkara stands Rama. From Rama come the four Vedas, all their branches and sub-branches, the Upanishads, ritual science, grammar, phonetics, etymology, astronomy, metre, and the other disciplines. This power of action is directly Brahman.

Power directly manifest produces form and withdraws it at Bhagavan’s mere remembrance. It is grace, restraint, peace, and splendour; it eternally accompanies Bhagavan and, with his closing and opening of the eyes, is fully capable of creation, preservation, and dissolution.

At cosmic dissolution, the power of will rests upon Bhagavan’s right breast in the form of the Shrivatsa. The powers of action and direct manifestation likewise return to sleep within his heart.