Chapter One: Rāgamayī Bhakti and Its Vaishnava Tradition
The Lord's elders are called his venerable guardians. Their gracious rati toward him is called parental affection. It gives rise to fondling, blessings, touching his chin, and similar acts.
The rati that brings about meetings and other exchanges between the Lord and his beloved ladies is called belovedness. Its other name is madhurā-rati. Sidelong glances, movements of the eyebrows, loving speech, smiles, and the like have their place within it.
Secondary rati is likewise of seven kinds: laughter, wonder, courage, sorrow, anger, fear, and disgust. Detailed accounts may be consulted in the various works on rasa.
Devotion and Power
There is devotion at the beginning of spiritual practice and devotion at its end. Devotion is the very life of practice. The jīva's self is of the nature of Shiva. Covered by delusion and ignorance, it lies unconscious. This self, which is Shiva, abides like a corpse in the ether element—that is, in the viśuddha-cakra. Its sleep is exceedingly profound. It is not merely difficult but impossible to advance on the path of self-knowledge without awakening this sleeping self, Shiva reduced to a corpse.
Power alone can awaken the sleeping self; without Shakti, no one can awaken Shiva. Yet Shakti herself, overcome by sleep, lies like an inert mass in the foundation centre. The practitioner's first and foremost duty is therefore to awaken this sleeping Power and, with her assistance, rouse Shiva from his corpse-like condition.
The five centres from the mūlādhāra to the viśuddha-cakra are the centres of the five material elements. In her pervasive condition, Shakti sleeps everywhere. Power is one and indivisible, yet her condition appears distinct according to the different centres. When the Power in the mūlādhāra awakens, her influence awakens the Power situated in the svādhiṣṭhāna; in this way Power successively awakens in all five centres.
As Shakti awakens and rises upward, her awakening becomes progressively more luminous and distinct. At the culminating stage, when she is completely awakened, all five centres open and not the slightest appearance of inertia remains. In this state—the complete awakening of Power in the ether element— Shiva, who had become like a corpse, awakens. The beginningless sleep of the self is broken, and the harmony of Shiva and Shakti is realised.