Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s3.84.3

c8.s3.84.3

It seeks to realise, in its theory and practice, the actual passion of the deity, figured as a friend, son, father or master, but chiefly and essentially as a lover. The too ardent tendency of the position lapses into sensuousness of a refined type, but the mystical sensibility is chiefly vicarious. The doctrine, no doubt, attempts to transfigure the mighty sex-impulse into a deeply religious emotion, but the way of realisation insists upon an abnormal mental state, which seeks the highest satisfaction in a vicarious enjoyment of the erotic sports of Kṛṣṇa, contemplated not merely in a figurative but also in a vivid literal sense. It is important to note that the Vṛndāvana-līlā is not a mere symbol or divine allegory, but a literal fact of religious history. The Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa myth, as depicted in the Purāṇas and elaborated in the Kāvyas, Nāṭakas and Campūs, as well as in the Rasa-śāstra, of the sect as the basis of its theology and devotional life, is taken as a vivid historical, as well as super-historical, reality; and there is no suggestion of its being an allegory. The pressure of modern thought has, no doubt, induced some modern writers on the subject to the desperate method of allegorical interpretation, but the theologians and poets of the sect never think it necessary to spiritualise the myth as a symbolism of religious truth; for the Purāṇic world to them is manifestly a matter of religious history.