Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

The Beloved Lady dwells in her Beloved, and the Beloved in his Lady;
their hearts remain entangled in one another night and day.
The Beloved is the life within Sita’s heart;
Sita is the dense life-cloud of her Beloved’s very breath.
While the beloved boy beholds Sita nearby, bliss rains in every direction.
Knowing this, the beloved of his life never remains apart from him even for a moment.
With unwavering gaze he beholds Sita’s beauty and offers his entire being to it;
the more he drinks that beauty, the more his thirst increases.
Day and night he remains saturated with happiness there,
his mind a fish moving in the waters of Sita’s beauty.

Sumukhi objects: “Hari is fulfilled in every desire, the abode of every happiness, delighting in the Self. He desires happiness from nothing beyond himself. How, then, is his dalliance with a woman possible?”

Kripavati replies: “Sita and Hari are not two distinct beings. They are a single form manifested in two fair bodies. Delight is not pleasing in solitude; therefore that same Lord became husband and wife.”

Prabhavati thus cuts through Samshrama’s net and attains her supreme chosen Lord. The allegory should be remembered: Prabhavati-Sumukhi is the practitioner; Samshrama is Maya; Kripavati is the guru; and the meeting with the chosen Lord is the attainment of Bhagavan. The work concludes in thirty-six prakāśas.

Mahatma Bal Ali’s large Dhyāna-mañjarī is another principal and authoritative text of rasa-upāsanā. We shall now quote several passages from the Neha-prakāśa:

The secret of Veda and Vedanta, the very form of the true doctrine—
victory to Sita, the Āhlādinī Power, sovereign of every host of powers.
She is the supreme mode of worship and the Supreme who is worshipped.
The One does not delight alone and desires a companion;
the one Brahman delights by becoming husband and wife.
Living beings draw life from drops of their ocean of happiness;
immersed in the flavour of love’s rasa, the beloved Lady and her Beloved sport.
Fresh pearl garlands are perfumed with many fragrances;
networks of latticed windows, set with innumerable gems, open in every direction.
Beautiful cushions and bolsters stand with many implements of play;
a joyful company of companions serves the Couple’s feet.

The companions’ names and services

Sri Vimala, Ruchi, Sharada, Vijaya, Vamavama,
Kamala, Kantimati, Kala, and Kelikovida—