Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition
—Radha into Sita, and Krishna into Rama. Rama and Sita then performed a divine rāsa. This eternal play continues perpetually in divine Chitrakuta. As Vrindavana is to Krishna’s devotees, so Chitrakuta is to Rama’s.
Krishna enters Rama and becomes wholly absorbed in him.1 In Rama’s rāsa, millions upon millions of Brahmas and Brahmanis, Vishnus and Lakshmis, Shivas and Parvatis appeared. All entered the gopikā disposition and danced in the circle of the rāsa with their sovereign Sita.
At the same time, sixty thousand sages of Dandakaranya assumed the gopikā mood and appeared with the Divine Couple in the circle. Time itself and the revealed scriptures joined the dance in that mood. The full-moon night became six months long, and—
The source quotes the Śuka Saṃhitā’s extended account: the great Radha-Krishna pair reverently enters the Sita-Rama pair; Rama then begins a rāsa centred upon Sita, accompanied by drums, cymbals, conches, and other instruments. The Couple dance as one, delighting all companions. Rama’s flute swells the wonder, while the companions answer Sita’s song. Kisses, embraces, playful words, laughter, many gestures, and countless sweet conversations adorn the great festival.
Footnotes
-
Śuka Saṃhitā, chapter 1, third section: “At the end of his own rāsa, Krishna, son of Nanda, enters dark-hued Rama, embodiment of being, consciousness, and bliss. Even now he plays upon lovely Chitrakuta within the eternal Vrindavana, in the Grove of Sweetness. Thus Krishna enters the all-pervading Rama, complete embodiment of his own bliss. Rama is seen there as the supreme reality, beyond the reach of all else.” ↩