Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/87

72 BENGAL VAISHNAVISM The body is not the objective of this passion. The whole being hungers after complete union with that of the object of our love. And as in our present life we are not mere spirit or soul, but our spirit or soul is indissolubly bound up with our body, being influenced by it and influencing it, we cannot in actual realisation completely eliminate our body from this hunger for complete union. But though we cannot absolutely negate our physical organs and instruments in the realisation of the highest romantic affection, we always strive to rise above the limitations of these in our desire for the complete union. Our Yaishnava lyrics have repeatedly essayed to present this yearning of love to eliminate, so far as may be, the limitations of the flesh in its passionate desire for union with its lover. And the key to this realisation is not abstraction of the spiritual from the physical, but the idealisation and spiritualisation of the latter. Realism and idealism have, therefore, been exquisitely blended together in the Yaishnavic cult and culture of Bengal in all its three essential aspects, in its philosophy, its religion, and its art. The Art of Bengal Yaishnavism is em- bodied in the Bengalee Yaishnavic lyrics. These