Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/84

ART IN BENGAL VAISHNAVISM 69 his lord or master has found, however, a very small place in Bengal Yaishnava lyrics ; and there is really no representation of it in our Vaishnava keertana-s. These keertana-s are re- presentations of the three other rasas, the sakhya, the batsalya and the madhurya. And this last or the madhurya or the romance of the man and wife or hero and heroine relation forms the principal subject of these keertanas. And those who desire to pursue the ideal of ro- mantic or raganuga bhakti are enjoined, while following or enjoying these keertanas, to remember their eternally realised bodies, which are spiritual bodies, and their eter- nally realised relations, which are not carnal or sensuous but necessarily spiritual relations in the very Being of the Lord or Shree Brindabana, where everything stands in their ideal form and relation. In their eter- nally realised bodies they are not Shree Radha or the chief consort of Shree Krishna but are only, so to say, companions of Shree Radha. As such, they are helps to the Radha- Krishna sport, but not the principal actors. The implication is that here in their eternally realised beings in Braja or Brindabana, the devotees participate in the romantic attach- ment of Shree Krishna through Shree Radha