BENGAL VAISHNAVISM 68 lyrics, we are distinctly avsked to pursue this vicarious method. The key to the cultiva- tion of this bhaJcti has been supplied by the Chaitanya-Charitamrita, the special scripture of Bengal Yaishnavism, in a very remarkable, though largely ignored, couplet, which says ; siir ^ TnJT-SWT 13^ I which means that the devotee remembering his eternally realised “body” in Braja or Brindabana, day and night worships Radha- Krishna. In this eternally realised existence of ours we stand in a net-work of relations as parent and child, as friends, as lovers. And Shree Krishna and Shree Rad ha are the centre of this eternalh’" realised system of relations. The Bengal Vaishnava h’rics seek to portra3' the sport of the Lord with His own Prakriti in Brindabana for the realisation of the rasas. In this drama Shree Krishna represents the son, and Yasoda represents the mother. It is worthy of notice that Shree Krishna is not born of Yasoda, but Yasoda has, so to saj", adopted him as her son. Thus there is the essen- tial element of vicariousness in the parental romance of Yasoda and her husband Nanda with Shree Krishna. The dasya romance or the romantic attachment of the servitor to
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