Raas Leela
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Introduction
Mystical dance of the soul
Raas Leela: Mystical Dance Of The Soul
Pranav Khullar The Times of India Mar 05 2015
The philosophical proposition of “achintya bheda abheda“, establishing a principle of an inconceivable oneness and difference existing simultaneously in nature, is at the heart of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya. Taking the middle path between Shankara's advaita which states that the individual soul and God are one and Madhava's dvaita position that the individual soul and God are eternally separate, Chaitanya suggests that God and his creation are separate yet inconceivably linked, just as the spider and its web, as the Sun and its sunshine, and the nature of this symbiotic relationship is incomprehensible to the human mind. This becomes the cornerstone of devotional theism, with Krishna personifying the Self, whose love is accessible to all jivas or individual souls once they aspire to it. From this tenet flowed the revolutionary Sankir tana movement of Chaitanya, the mass chanting and singing of the name of God. This ecstatic outpouring of love for one's deity in the form of singing and dancing was presented by Chaitanya as the most natural and best sadhana for the seeker. Krishna is Brahmn or Sat-chit-ananda, both the efficient cause and the material cause of the world, and even though He manifests Himself differently to different kinds of seekers, a bhakta alone can enjoy the blissful love of a personal god.
The notion of Krishna as the Supreme deity , the embodiment of the vedantic Self, man ifested itself in the singing of the leela or play of the boy Krishna, and in the resurrection of his playground, Vraja bhumi in Vrindavan. The Gau diya tradition establishes Radha as a symbol of supreme prema bhakti for Krishna, with Jiva Goswami stating it as the highest form of liberation, to which every Vaishnava seeker aspires.Chaitanya and his six Goswamis recreate the charm and aura of Krishna's boyhood at Vrindavana, by seeing Krishna as the highest personal aspect of Godhead.
Just as Vallabhacharya states his theological principle of surrender and grace to God, around the adoration and bhakti-seva of the boy Krishna, as at Nathdwara, through the Pushtimarga, Chaitanya takes the seeker into the magical raas-world of Krishna and the gopis, a mystical dance of the soul, incomprehensible to the worldly mind.
The Gaudiyas bring alive the innermost desire of each seeker to merge with Brahmn, embodied in the madhurya feelings of the gopis towards Krishna. Chaitanya prods the seeker to be like the gopis, wherein complete detatchment from the outer world alone will trigger the inner attachment towards Krishna.The union, separation and reunion of Radha especially , with Krishna, is nuanced in Gaudiya tradition sketching her out as the perfect epitome of this maha bhava, placing her as Krishna's eternal soul-mate at the centre of this theology . The vision of Krishna through the eyes and soul of Radha, is the highest form of bhakti.
Chaitanya also emphasised the need to chant the mahamantra, which would awaken this love for Krishna. And this awakening would be a call to the search for the larger meaning of life. Chaitanya brought the mahamantra chant of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, from the KaliSantarana Upanishad, to the people, stating ancient vedantic truths through the magnetic persona of Krishna, whom Chaitanya felt personified the Self completely .
The Dance Of Bliss And Realisation
Swami Swaroopananda, Oct 19, 2021: The Times of India
All bliss, all joy, all rasa – is from Paramatma – Krishn. The Self is the source of all bliss. The supreme Truth is rasa. The jiva becomes blissful on attaining this rasa.
Rasa is the essence, the juice of everything; rasa is anand and that bliss is Paramatma – the supreme Infinite seen as Krishn. It is only in the Infinite that all sense of incompleteness, all yearning and wishes come to an end. It is a victory over all egocentric desires.
It was a Sharad Purnima night; the moon was in its full effulgence; Krishn stood in the forest and played his flute. Hearing it, gopis, the cowherd girls, dropped everything and, with hearts pining for the Lord, ran to the forest. These gopis were exalted sannyasi who had given up all desires, and with their thoughts ever concentrated on Krishn, they served everybody seeing him in all. They came and fell at the Lord’s feet. With tearful eyes, they requested him not to abandon them; he alone was their Lord, the Self of all beings, the source of all happiness. Touched by their devotion, pure love and knowledge, Krishn danced with them.
There was one Krishn amongst all the gopis, yet each one felt that she was the chosen one. They started feeling proud; the ego reappeared, and the Lord disappeared. When they noticed that Krishn was not in their midst, despondent and distressed, they ran around the forest searching for him.
Weeping for Krishn and remembering all His glories, they soon forgot their ego.
The moment the gopis forgot themselves and remembered Krishn with total absorption, they found him sitting amongst them. Somewhat offended, they told him that he had remained unresponsive to their love – was he ever unattached like exalted saints and sages? Krishn replied that he would do anything for his devotees in order to destroy all their attachments and intensify their devotion so that they would constantly think of him.
Now that the gopis had given up their ego, the dance of divine love began. The heavenly devtas gathered to see this unique sight, showering fragrant flowers on Krishn, standing in the middle with the gopis dancing around him. His form could be seen between each gopi. Finally, one gopi left the circle and embraced the Lord. Radha and Krishn stood in the centre, and everybody danced around them.
This Raas Lila is meditation at its highest. It is the dance of bliss and realisation. The gopis are thoughts – all thoughts arise from Consciousness. On hearing the spiritual call of the flute, abandoning all external impulses, desires and attachments, the gopis run to Krishn and dance around him. In the seat of meditation, when all thoughts are centred on the Lord, the seeker sees the blue spark of consciousness between each thought. As meditation deepens, she leaves all thoughts, moves to the Eternal, fixed Centre and attains the bliss of pure samadhi.
This beautiful dance of love and bliss goes on for all eternity. The dance still continues … When you are in bliss, absorbed in the Lord, when there is no ‘you’, Eternity becomes a moment, and a moment is Eternity.
