Monday, December 23, 2013

Uddīpana and an āśā-vāṇī


Bhakta - Reading this somehow breaks my understanding. On page 38 of Śrī Ananta dās bābājī’s book ‘Rasa-darshan’ it is said:

“A great preceptor like Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī has written in his book Sarva-samvādinī - "kāvyālaṅkāra kāma-tantra-gandharva-kalās tu tat-tat-carita mādhurya anubhava vaiduṣya siddheḥ" “The study of rhetoric, the science of love-making and performing arts helps in experiencing the sweetness of the Supreme personality of God". Here kāvyālaṅkāra refers to worldly rhetoric and kāma-tantra may refer to the Kāma-sūtra of Vātsyāyana, since any spiritual Kāma-tantra does not exist. “

Please could you tell me how to make love helps to experience the sweetness of God? After all it is said by Jīva Goswāmī and he does not make any mistake."

Advaita Das:
It does not say lovemaking, it says reading Kāma-tantra or Kāma-sūtra. Later Ananta Dāsjī quotes the verse yaḥ kaumāra hara sa eva hi vara, the mundane rasa-śloka that Rūpa Goswāmī quoted to Mahāprabhu (‘he who took my virginity is now my husband’).

Bhakta - OK, but Kāma-tantra is not spiritual and refers to the art of love-making, isn’t it? Then how is it that by read this book that refers to sexuality and it is material, one can experience the sweetness of the Lord?

Advaitadas – “There is a certain sādṛśya, (similarity) but again, the ācāryas do not say we should have sex with other mens’ wives like the sahajīyās do, and they never did such things themselves either. Reading Kāma-sūtra is one thing, practising it is another thing. Jīva Gosvāmī obviously refers to 'uddīpana' here - an incitement, like seeing a peacock feather. Not that a rāgānugā sādhaka should get deeply absorbed into mundane kāma śāstra, what to speak of committing sinful acts to imitate Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise the Goswāmīs would contradict the Bhāgavat statement -

naitat samācarej jātu manasāpi hy anīśvara
vinaśyaty ācaran mauḍ̣hyād yathārudro 'bdhi-jaṁ viṣ̣am

“A person who is not a great controller can never imitate the Rāsa līlā, not even mentally. If out of foolishness an ordinary person does imitate such behavior, he will simply destroy himself, just as a person who is not Rudra would destroy himself if he tried to drink the poison from the milk ocean.” (Ś.B 10.33.30)

In Caitanya Caritāmṛta it is mentioned that Śrīman Mahāprabhu was inspired by the abovementioned mundane śloka, yaḥ kaumāra hara, and also by Rāsa līlā performances at Kānāi Nāṭśālā; He saw Kṛṣṇa in the son of king Pratāparudra and saw the Yamunā in the Gaṅgā etc. - note too that Anantadāsjī says earlier that such a devotee is acting on prāktana saṁskāra, relishing rasa based on a cultivation in a previous life, and has a vision like the avadhūta brāhmin had in the 11th canto of the Bhāgavata. It is not for everyone."

*

The Bhāgavata is inexhaustible both in quality and quantity. This verse is added to my blog of May 11, 2011

6.16.39 kāma-dhiyas tvayi racitā na parama rohanti yathā karambha-bījāni
jñānātmany aguṇamaye guṇa-gaṇato 'sya dvandva-jālāni

“Oh Lord! Desires for material pleasure, directed to you, who are composed of spiritual knowledge and are different from the material guṇas, do not produce further material bodies, just as roasted seeds do not grow.  The networks of duality causing rebirth arise from the material guṇas.”

Āśā-vāṇī – words of hope. If one conceives a Kṛṣṇa-conscious child, even with obvious lusty desires, or one takes prasāda with a desire to enjoy the tongue, still one does not take birth again in the material world.”




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