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.”
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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