Part 3.6 - Bhakti Given Ontic Status as Krsna's Highest Power

That the gopi-paradigm occupies a central place in the devotional theory of the Krsnaite tradition should by now be apparent. To a certain extent, its importance corresponds to that of "bridal mysticism," so-called, in the spirituality of such Christian mystics as St. Bernard and

142 92 St. John of the Cross, who have much to say about the erotic imagery of the Song of Solomon. Hindu thought seeks to avoid charges of moral impropriety in connection with the gopt episodes by a wide variety of stratagems, which I cannot discuss in detail here. The Bhagavata-purana itself intertwines several levels of interpretation, from explicitly realistic to symbolic and metaphysical. All emphasize that the bindingness of dharma is suspended in face of the immediate presence and irresistible call of the divine source of dharma. 93 Some later writers allegorize the affair-especially the willingness of the gopis to endure the social consequences of being unfaithful to their husbands, which were extreme in India--as symbolic of the demands of true religious love, which override all other considerations. Others chose the route of denying that the encounters described in the Bhagavata were sexual, because the Krsna upon whom the gopis doted was too young. 94 The Bengal school itself deals with the issue in several ways, the most interesting of which is the doctrine that the gopis were not ordinary humans beings at all, but incarnations of Krsna's various divine powers or saktis. Being such, they were the Lord's eternal companions (parikara) and therefore ultimately inseparable from him. Their sport was thus merely a wondrous manifestation of the eternal play (lila) of Krsna and his own energies, the play that, on a vaster scale, underlies the whole of creation. 95

143 This metaphysical turn brings us to what is, from the point of view of the present study, the most important aspect of the Gosvamins' theory of bhakti. In defining sadhanabhakti, as we have seen, Rupa says that its aim is the manifestation of bhava in the heart. This appears simple enough, but it is necessary to realize that the word "manifestation" (prakatyam) is not used casually. It is chosen to compliment and support the author's contention, expressed in the same verse, that bhava is "eternally accomplished" (nityasiddha).96 This means that it is not something which is produced, say, by spiritual practice, nor is it an activity of the devotee's mind. Indeed, the Gosvamins want to assert that bhava is not phenomenal in nature at all but rather eternally existent, transphenomenal. The orthodox Advaitins, we have seen, deny bhakti any final ontological status. But for the Bengal Vaisnavas it is the paramapurusartha, superior even to moksa. Such an assertion cannot be based on devotional experience alone; it requires an adequate theological foundation. If bhakti is truly a higher spiritual goal than moksa, it must have a corresponding metaphysical value. Bhakti, in short, is so important for the Gosvamins that they seek to give it an ontological status beyond that of the merely psychological. In the thinking of Rupa and Jiva, it is not a mode of the

144 mind (manogati) as it is in the definition of Bhagavata-purana 3.29.11-12, which from this point of view is inadequate. Neither is it ultimately worshipful service or even love, if the latter is understood as a function of human consciousness. Bhakti in its essential nature is an aspect of the highest power (sakti) of God. We have seen that Krsna, according to the Gosvamins' theology, has three main powers: the essential power (svarupasakti), the power of manifesting individual souls (jIvasakti), and the power of creating the universe (maya- Sakti). To understand their metaphysics of bhakti, we must consider this doctrine in more detail. The essential power is itself divided into three aspects. These correspond to the formula "existence-consciousness-bliss" (saccidananda). which, here as well as in the Advaita, is thought to express 97 the inner nature (svarupa) of the ultimate. are: (1) the power of upholding existence (samdhintsakti), (2) the power of consciousness (samvitsakti), and (3) the power of bliss (hladinisakti). The last of these, as it includes and transcends the other two, is regarded as the 99 highest aspect of the Lord's essential power. 98 The three It is this non-phenomenal hladinIsakti which appears in the heart of the devotee, taking the form of bhava or preman and causing the experience of bliss. Or, according to an even more subtle analysis, it is actually not the

145 whole but only the purest essence (sara) of this highest divine power that appears as preman. Mahabhava, in turn, is the supreme essence (paramasara) of preman. 100 Bhakti, then, is identified with the highest aspect of the Lord's most intimate power and placed at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of divine energies. The schematic arrangement of saktis may be summarized as follows: the highest of the three main powers is the svarupasakti ("essential power"), the highest aspect of this is the hladinIsakti ("power of bliss"), and the highest aspect of this is devotion, in the form of mahabhava. Radha, the Lord's most intimate companion, is this supreme devotion personified (mahabhavarupa).101 While bhakti may seem to be identical with the mental modification in which it becomes manifest, because it takes on that particular form, in reality it is not. It is like fire, says Rupa, which appears to become one with the red-hot iron by assuming its shape but actually remains separate.102 it. Bhakti is in the mind, so to say, but not of Although it is self-luminous (svayamprakasarupa), it nevertheless appears as if illumined by a mental modification since it enters the latter and even seems to be identical with it. 103 Thus the devotion which resides in the devotee and appears to be a function of the devotee's mind is really autonomous and non-phenomenal, the essence of the highest divine power.

146 When the Gosvamins say that bhakti is nityasiddha ("eternally accomplished"), they point to the idea that it exists constantly in a dynamic and fully actualized condition, entirely independent of its particular manifestation in the mind of the devotee. Ultimately, it is nothing less than an experience eternally belonging to bhagavat himself. Krsna not only is bliss. In conjunction with Radha, his inseparable hladin sakti, he enjoys bliss-and that continually--as mahabhava, the highest state of bhakti. In this connection, Chakravarti writes: The Lord, being the supreme relisher of bliss (rasika cudamani) relishes not only the bliss of His own self (svarupananda) but also the bliss that flows from His Sakti (Saktyananda). He enjoys His own nature as bliss with the help of His Hlanini-sakti which is essentially delightful. The bliss that flows from Hladinf gets transformed into Bhakti and grows much more relishable when it is thrown by the Lord into the hearts of His devotees (bhakta), attendants (parikara) and other individuals. 104 The elevation of hladinIsakti above the powers samdhinf and samvit suggests the subordination of the existence (sat) and consciousness (cit) aspects of the ultimate to his nature as bliss (ananda). The Gaudiya Vaisnavas, reflecting in an extreme way the typical devotional interest in the affective and the ecstatic rather than the cognitive, opt for pure bliss as the highest essence of the Godhead and the heightened experience of "Krsna bliss in bhakti as the raison d'etre of his saktis. is bliss," says Krsnadasa Kaviraja. Using his hladinisakti,

147 he causes the tasting of bliss (sukha asvadana) in his devotees, and, by the same power, he savors his own bliss himself. 105 In their emphasis on the idea of sakti and their decision to describe the relation of Krsna and his saktis as one of "inscrutable difference and non-difference" (acintyabhedabheda), the Gosvamins exhibit an apparent philosophical inclination, or at least a temptation, toward a tantric-style bipolar monism. This is no doubt due to the actual influence of tantric schools, which were powerful religious forces in Bengal and Orissa for many centuries. 106 The saktis, especially hlanint, are not adventitious (aropita), but are part of bhagavat's essential nature (svarupabhuta).107 In terms of the Vaisnavas' mythometaphysical vision, Radha is separate from Krsna, yet tends to union, ultimate non-separation, even identity. The fullness of deity is Radha-Krsna. While it is true that Radha and the Saktis are dependent upon Krsna, he is also dependent upon them, not only for the full realization of his own joy, 108 but even for the complete expression of his majesty and sweetness as bhagavat. Without the saktis, without Radha, bhagavat remains merely brahman, undifferentiated (nirvisesa), formless, and devotionally uninteresting. 109

148 All of this, of course, is very close to the Saktivada of the tantrics, with Radha-Krsna substituting for Siva-Sakti as the ultimate bipolar unity. The Gosvamins, however, retreat from the abyss of monism, feeling compelled by the requirements of their practical faith to retain the finality of difference and relationship, which they consider to be necessities of devotional spirituality. They manage this by their doctrine of "inscrutability" or kan" "incomprehensibility.' The svabhavikatva of the divine energies, their being an essential part of the Lord's nature (svabhava), is tempered by their acintyatva, the final "incomprehensibility" of their relation with the ultimate. This allows identity and difference to coexist. The combination of these two emphases produces some interesting results. Consider, for example, Krsna's celestial paradise, which is the goal of all true devotees. It and all its charming features, inhabitants, and so on, including especially Krsna's boyish form, are taken to be non-phenomenal, absolute realities, greater even than brahman. This, though absurd from the point of view of traditional Upanisadic Vedanta, is made possible by the incomprehensible power of bhagavat, which is inscrutably capable of all that appears impossible to the human mind. The Lord's heaven and its inhabitants are forms of his svarupasakti, which is non-phenomenal, identical in a sense with its possessor, and hence absolute. 110

149 From the standpoint of the present discussion, the most important consequence of the doctrine of inscrutable difference and non-difference is that it gives an exalted, almost absolute ontological status to the divine power of bliss--and therefore, a fortiori, to bhakti, which is its highest essence. Devotion becomes bhagavat's own essential energy and, by extension, bhagavat himself appearing in the heart of the devotee. Since as such it is the eternal relishing of divine bliss in its most highly articulated form, a state that is superior, both ontologically and experientially, even to moksa, it is eminently worthy of being regarded as the supreme goal of life (paramapurusartha).