Chapter One: Rāgamayī Bhakti and Its Vaishnava Tradition
—regards bringing about their meeting as her one duty, and remains supremely happy because she takes the joy of serving them to be the source of highest delight. Having contemplated oneself in this way, one should remain absorbed in their mental service from the brāhma-muhūrta until the final portion of the night.
Among practitioners of rāgānugā-sādhana, those in whom rati has not yet arisen should, according to the guru's instruction, contemplate themselves as adolescent girls beautifully dressed and ornamented, in the disposition of a companion to a particular sakhī. In those in whom rati has arisen, this perfected form reveals itself spontaneously.
In the ancient Alvar devotee Sathari Muni, the disposition of the perfected body descended into the practitioner's body itself. He experienced Sri Bhagavan alone as the Supreme Person and the entire universe as feminine in nature. His work Tiruviruttam should be consulted on this subject. It is said that the disposition of a woman in love truly manifested in Sathari:
"Because maleness is restricted to the one distinguished as the Supreme Person, while the whole universe is described as predominantly feminine, the sage Sathari developed the condition of a woman in love with Hari, although Hari's captivating body and qualities can enchant men as well." [Vaiṣṇava Dharma]
Following the sequence of works such as the Govinda-līlāmṛta and Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta, Gaudiya Vaishnava practitioners remember the eight periods of Sri Radha and Govinda's daily līlā in a disposition that follows the guru and Gauranga Deva. Desired service is continually offered through mental forms of worship within this meditation on the līlā. In Sri Vallabhacharya's Puṣṭi Mārga too, remembrance of the aṣṭayāma pastimes is a principal discipline.
Kṛṣṇa-sevā sadā kāryā mānasī sā parā matā—"Service to Krishna must always be performed; mental service is regarded as supreme." [Siddhānta-muktāvalī]
Sri Hariraya's Sahasraślokī Sevā-bhāvanā is a work worth consulting on this subject. It describes in detail the service-dispositions of the gopīs. In addition, from the morning maṅgala-āratī until the Lord's repose at night, numerous songs composed by the great teachers of that tradition are available and sung by devotees. Set in different rāgas and rāginīs, they accompany the different pastimes at the different hours. By means of them, the Lord's varied līlās are easily remembered, contemplated, and meditated upon. Wherever the devotee may physically be, in the body of devotional feeling the devotee remains continually in the Lord's presence and enjoys a happiness like nectar.
The history of the Vaishnavas of Bengal offers the following vivid example of how the perfected body manifests within the practitioner's body. The Bengali practitioner Srinivasa Acharya was once—