Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/82

ART IN BENGAL VAISHNAVISM 67 no actual sense-reference. The cultivation of bhahti or love of God through the msa-s of Bengal Yaishnavism is bassd upon this psychological experience. Yicariousness is a fundamental clement of our enjoyment of all art-creations, whether of painting or sculpture or poetry and the drama or music. The highest form of God-realisation in the bhakti cult of Bengal, that which is called the raganuga bhahti, is reallj’’ pursued through Yaishnavic art, particularly through Yaishnava lyrics or keertana-s. These keertatia-ssook to portray the romance of the Purusha and His Prakriti. All the relations of life as wc experience them here below, have, as already indicated, two aspects, one as eternally realised in the Being of the Lord, and the other as progressively realising in our life and experiences. These relations exist eternally realised in Shree Krishna in and through His relations with Shree Radha or His Prakriti. As father and son or friend and friend or as lovers, our rela-, , tions here below are really reproductions of the eternally realised relations of love and romance in the Being of Shree Krishna, where- in His Prakriti stands as the counter-part. In seeking to cultivate the highest or ragantiga bhakti with the help of these Yaishnava