Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition

—no place of pilgrimage is greater than the water that has washed a Vaishnava’s feet, for such water purifies even the eternal Ganges.¹

The final portion describes the mysteries and distinctions of Bhagavan Sri Rama’s form, qualities, splendour, and the act of taking refuge. It is an exceptionally important part of the work and sheds distinctive light upon Vaishnava rasa-sādhanā. It makes clear that Swami Ramcharandas was both experienced in secret Rasika practice and a discerning knower of its essence—in other words, both learned in revelation and firmly established in Brahman.

At the opening of this section appears a couplet of his own composition. Karunasindhu likewise inserts self-composed songs at many points, allowing us to perceive the current flowing within him. The couplet reads:

Until the beauty of Sita and Rama, from toenails to crown, dwells within the heart,
O Ramcharan, regard every spiritual discipline as fruitless.

At the end, Karunasindhu gives two unequalled verses of his own for meditation upon the chosen Lord:

Meditate upon Rama, stainless and dark as a massed raincloud, concentrated existence, consciousness, and bliss. His paired yellow garments flash like lightning, and the auspicious garland rests upon his chest. Anklets, armlets, jeweled bracelets, a ringing girdle, and splendid rings adorn him; he shines with pearl necklace, crown, earrings, bow, and wondrous arrows.

His face is framed by curling locks and marked with a saffron tilaka; he smiles and glances from the corner of his eye. His betel-reddened lower lip is a tender shoot filled with rasa, and a pearl ornaments the tip of his nose. One should meditate upon him beneath a parasol and divine fly-whisks, seated upon the jeweled throne of Saketa, an arm resting upon his knee, surrounded by companions, eternally abiding in the bower.

In the Rāma-navaratna, Swami Ramcharandas Karunasindhu has thus arranged with great skill many essential matters concerning the rasa-filled discipline of Rama-bhakti. His exact and well-ordered arrangement of scriptural testimony reveals his extraordinary synthesizing intelligence, immense learning, and wide study. Nowhere does he force a meaning or resort to far-fetched imagination.

Śrī Sītārāma-nāma-pratāpa-prakāśa

Swami Yugalānanda Sharan compiled the Śrī Sītārāma-nāma-pratāpa-prakāśa on the greatness of Sri Rama’s name from authoritative passages in revelation, tradition, Purana, secondary Purana, Saṃhitā, Tantra, drama, esoteric texts, the Śrīmad Rāmāyaṇa, and other sacred works. It was printed in 1925 CE by Lucknow Steam Press—