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Chapter One: Rāgamayī Bhakti and Its Vaishnava Tradition

In the divine abode of Saketa, tens of millions of sakhīs manifest from the sacred limbs of the Divine Couple. Only through the gracious glance of these sakhīs does devotion in the form of love arise, and only then is one granted eligibility for the worship of Rasarāja. Spiritual practice or accumulated merit serves to attract their auspicious glance; the true gain comes solely through their grace. That true gain means the right of entry into the realm of Rasarāja, the playful exchange of glances between the Beloved Lady and her Beloved, and the most transcendent vision of their holy recreation. Upon attaining this, the jīva becomes fulfilled and all its desires are satisfied. This is the state the Upanishads describe as delight in the Self, play in the Self, union with the Self, enjoyment in the Self, and repose in the Self. So much for that subject.

The question arises, however: if the flavour of the Supreme Beloved's beauty, līlā, or service can be relished only in a feminine disposition or the disposition of a sakhī, what is a poor man to do? We shall consider this question at some length in the next chapter. Here it is enough to indicate that the jīva is neither woman, man, nor neuter. Whatever body it assumes, it identifies with that body according to the body's attributes.¹ Likewise, the Supreme Self is neither woman nor man, neither boy nor girl. Everything in the universe is that very Reality.² Consequently, every kind of relationship is possible between devotee and God: master and servant, friend and friend, father and son or son and mother, husband and wife or wife and husband.

We shall show later that every jīva is an object of God's enjoyment; the Lord alone is the enjoyer. The jīva cannot be the enjoyer, for it lacks the capacity to be so. Only by the gift of the Lord's grace does it become his divine object of enjoyment. Right knowledge of the enjoyer, the enjoyed, and the impeller is supreme knowledge.³ The subject of enjoyer and enjoyed is, in truth, exceedingly profound and secret. We shall discuss something of it by way of indication in the next chapter. So much for that subject.

When we study the progressive development of rāgamayī-bhakti, we see clearly in the literature of South India's most ancient Alvar Vaishnava saints that its dominant note is rāgamayī-bhakti. The word "Alvar" means a self-realised devotee who remains forever immersed in the love of God. Twelve Alvars are regarded as principal; among them, Goda Andal, like Mirabai, was a priestess of divine love. These Alvar devotees lived between the seventh and ninth centuries of the Common Era. They were embodied images of the devotion called complete self-offering. They accepted the Bhāgavata's declaration that Hari, whose nature is love, is pleased only by devotion; everything else—