The Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu Of Rūpa Goswāmin

David Haberman & Kapila Vatsyayan, Kapila Vatsayan | 4.65 | 9 ratings and reviews

Bhakti or devotional love is the way of directly encountering the rasa in human experience. The aesthetic experience of rasa which is available to human beings was somehow not fully manifested and established from the 'intellectual' point of view. A glimpse of the rasa accomplished is available in the encounter of Uddhava and the Gopis. Humans by nature are rational and logical beings. They prefer logical conclusions which have universal applicability. To logically establish the path of rasa was the endeavour of the seekers and thinkers of Vrindavan, which emerged as the 16th century intellectual, cultural and spiritual centre of the Vraja region. Śṛī Rūpa Goswāmin, a direct disciple of Śṛī Caitanya, was a shining member of the team of six Goswāmins. For him the emotionally experienced bhakti-prema-rasa is equally knowable and communicable. The human consciousness could reach the ocean of rasa through Śṛī Rūpa Goswāmin's unique work, Śṛī Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu. If there is an experience, it can be expressed and for an expression to be meaningful it has to be guided by 'grammar' or a śāstra. The famous trilogy of Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, Ujjvalanīlamaṇi and Nāṭakacandrika of Śṛī Rūpa Goswāmin provided for the first time a total śāstra of bhaktirasa.

It is felt that the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu be made available to the English-knowing world as well. Dr. David Haberman has fulfilled this need by undertaking the stupendous task of translating this definitive text on bhaktirasa into English. The present edition includes the original Sanskrit in Devanāgarī, Dr. Haberman's translation and exegetical notes explaining all the intricate points of the text. An exhaustive table of contents and elaborate introduction, glossary and bibliography have greatly enhanced the value of the edition.

In the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, the bhaktirasa is totally uncovered and consecrated in its own right. The human intellect drank to its heart's content this pure, unadulterated rasa through this text. This comprehension gets manifested in the rich poetic, musical, dramatic, ritualistic and architectural traditions of the 16th century Vraja. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts has covered some of these manifestations in the following Vraja Nathadwara Prakalpa studies: "Evening Blossoms - The Temple Tradition of Sanjhi in Vṛṇdāvana" (1996); "Govindadeva - A Dialogue in Stone" (1996); "In Favour of Govindadevi - Historical documents relating to a deity of Vṛṇdāvana and Eastern Rajasthan" (1999). In the Vraja Prakalpa it is a major commitment to make available this wisdom of rasa tradition, the tradition of Śṛīmad Bhāgavata and the Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharat culminating in the text of Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu by Śṛī Rūpa Goswāmin. The late Dr. Premlata Sharma, an esteemed scholar of rasa-śāstra, undertook the responsibility of translating this famous rasa trilogy into Hindi. Her Hindi translation of the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu is being published. The English translation of the same text has been undertaken by Dr. David Haberman.

Dr. Haberman is currently (2003) on the faculty of College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University. His translation of the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu not only shows his academic capability but also speaks his being soaken in the rasa paramparā. Not only his two decade long physical journeys in the forests of Vraja-Vṛṇdāvana but also several of his well acclaimed published works on the cultural spiritual traditions of Vraja bear testimony to that. less

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