The place of the hidden moon: erotic mysticism in the Vaisnava-sahajiyā cult of BengalMotilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991 - 299 pages |
Common terms and phrases
Advaita Akiñcana-dāsa Ananda-bhairava Antya attitude Avadhūta avatara Basu Bauls Bengal Bhagavat Bhāgavata bhakti Bhaṭṭa bhāva bliss body Brahman Caitanya called Caṇḍīdāsa caste CC Adi CC Madhya century cult dāsa Dasgupta desire devotion divine doctrine eternal Vṛndāvana Gopala Gopis Gosvāmins guru Hindu Ibid Indian jīva jiyās kāma Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇadāsa līlā lotus lover mantra māyā meaning Murshidabad Murshidabad edition nature Navadvip nayaka nāyikā Nityananda orthodox Vaisnavas parakīyā paricaya PCSC Phakir pleasure poems poet poetic poetry prakṛti pupil quoted Rādhā Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa rāga rāgānuga Raghunatha Rāmānanda rasa religion religious ritual Rūpa sadhana sahaja Sahajiyā Sahajiyā texts sahitya śakti Sanskrit śāstras says scholars sexual society songs Śrīnivāsa SS pada story Sukumar Sukumar Sen svakīyā svarupa Tantric Tantrism term things tion tradition true truth union University of Calcutta vaidhi vaidhi-bhakti Vaisnava Vaiṣṇava-sahajiyā Vedas Vraja Vṛndāvana woman women worship writes
Popular passages
Page 247 - Who understood Whatever has been said, sighed, sung, Howled, miau-d, barked, brayed, belled, yelled, cried, crowed, Thereon replied: 'A cockerel Crew from a blossoming apple bough Three hundred years before the Fall, And never crew again till now, And would not now but that he thought, Chance being at one with Choice at last, All that the brigand apple brought And this foul world were dead at last. He that crowed out eternity Thought to have crowed it in again.
Page 8 - With all my will, but much against my heart, We two now part. My Very Dear, Our solace is, the sad road lies so clear. It needs no art, With faint, averted feet And many a tear, In our opposed paths to persevere. Go thou to East, I West. We will not say There's any hope, it is so far away. But, O, my Best, When the one darling of our widowhead, The nursling Grief, Is dead, And no dews blur our eyes To see the peach-bloom come in evening skies, Perchance we may, Where now this night is day, And even...
Page 247 - AND thus declared that Arab lady: ' Last night, where under the wild moon On grassy mattress I had laid me, Within my arms great Solomon, I suddenly cried out in a strange tongue Not his, not mine.
Page 227 - ... meaning" with the thing or with its prototype. ... In studying the infantile formation of meaning and the savage or illiterate meaning, we found this . . . magical attitude towards words. The word gives power, allows one to exercise an influence over an object or an action. The meaning of a word arises out of familiarity, out of ability to use, out of the faculty of direct clamouring as with the infant, or practically directing as with primitive man.
Page 247 - I went in search of my art, often incurring danger of life. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds, hangmen, and barbers.
Page 9 - We declare and affirm agreeably to the general opinion of those present that love cannot exercise its powers on married people. The following reason is proof of the fact : Lovers grant everything mutually and gratuitously, without being constrained by any motive of necessity. Married people, on the contrary, are compelled as a duty to submit to one another's wishes, and not to refuse anything to one another. For this reason it is evident that love cannot exercise its power on married people.
Page 156 - Gandhi adopted a curious mental attitude which, though rare, is one of the established modes of the subordination of sex among spiritual aspirants in India. It was by becoming a woman that he tried to circumvent one of the most powerful and disturbing elements which belong to our biological existence.
Page 180 - God other than man. Even Radha and Krsna are never regarded as deities to be worshipped, — they represent principles to be realised in humanity. Humanity itself is thus viewed from a sublime perspective. What is then the real significance of the Aropa of the Sahajiyas? It is nothing but viewing our whole being in all its physical, biological and psychological aspects from an ontological point of view. And when everything is thus viewed from the ontological perspective, human love acquires an ontological...
Page 184 - The Self cannot be realized by the study of the Vedas, nor by intelligence, nor by deep learning. It can be realized by him only whom it chooses or favours.
Page 11 - O my friend, my sorrow is unending. It is the rainy season, my house is empty, the sky is filled with seething clouds, the earth sodden with rain, and my love far away. Cruel Kama pierces me with his arrows: the lightning flashes, the peacocks dance, frogs and waterbirds, drunk with delight, call incessantly - and my heart is heavy. Darkness on earth, the sky intermittently lit with a sullen glare... Vidyapati says, how will...