Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s2.1

c8.s2.1

The *Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu*² is divided into four parts (Vibhāgas), respectively entitled Pūrva, Dakṣiṇa, Paścima and Uttara,—a veritable quadrangular scheme of a strange world of spiritual experience. Each part is divided into Laharis (Waves) in keeping with the figurative title of the work. Like all scholastic writers, Rūpa Gosvāmin delights in elaborate definitions, fine distinctions and minute classifications of the devotional sentiment in all its moods, phases, adjuncts and situations; but the master-analyst is seen in the firm grip not only upon the subtle details of the whole gamut of a peculiar religious emotionalism, but also upon its fundamentals, both in theoretical conception and in its practical realisation.