Christian Bhakti

[Gauracandra]

This is part of a book called "Vaisnavism: Contemporary Scholars Discuss the Gaudiya Tradition" by Steven Rosen. I've edited it abit, and will post more in a little while (comparing the relationship between Radha-Krsna and the Christian conception of the Trinity (Father, son, and Holy Ghost) as a theology of love.

 

Dr. Klostermaier: Now, if we want to specifically speak about bhakti or Vaisnava sensibilities, we can also find them in the Bible. The Canticle of Solomon and the Gita-govinda of Jayadeva agree both in form and in spirit – and in a great variety of ways. You are familiar with the development of bhakti literature in the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, which is voluminous. There is also a Christ-bhakti literature, if you will, that arose in the late middle ages.

 

SR: You are referring, no doubt, to ‘The Imitation of Christ’…

 

Dr. Klostermaier: Right. The ‘Imitatio Christi’ is a classic of Christ-bhakti literature. There are many other such books, too, which are classified under “devotio moderna”. You have St. John’s ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ as well. This could be seen as a Christian version of viraha-bhakti or love of God in the mood of separation.

 

SR: Oh, yes. St. Teresa speaks of it as “the great dereliction”, and Madame Guyon calls it “mystic death”. It is a temporary loss of the vision of God. Like Mephistopheles’ description of hell: “Having once seen the Lord, to be denied that vision.” Of course, this makes one mad with anticipation and increases one’s sense of devotion. I believe Christian mystics not only experienced this very advanced level of God consciousness, but they also exhibited the bodily symptoms that go along with it.

 

Dr. Klostermaier: The sattvika-bhavas. Right. St. Teresa experienced loneliness and desolation, accompanied by a kind of catalepsy, with muscular rigidity and temporary cessation of the pulse. These symptoms are there in the Vaisnava mystics as well. The last eighteen years of Caitanya’s life include a particularly poignant display of these ecstatic symptoms – viraha-bhakti of the highest order. I explain these feelings at some length in my paper called “A Universe of Feelins” [in Weber/Chopra, eds., Shri Krishna Caitanya and the Bhakti Religion (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang, 1988)].

 

SR: Right. I read that paper. I thought it was an excellent summary of the basic Gaudiya ideology. It was that paper, in fact, that really started me thinking about the similarities between Vaisnava and Christian philosophers. After reflecting on the scholarship of these two traditions, I started to think of Jiva Goswami as the Thomas Aquinas of the Gaudiya tradition, since it was he who systematized the whole thing in a very coherent and methodical way.

 

Dr. Klostermaier: There are actually other Christian philosophers who come a good deal closer, like Bonaventure, for example. His perspective accentuates feeling and emotion more than the intellect. And I think if you look at the Gaudiya philosophers, even a particularly rigorous thinker like Jiva Goswami, you will see that feeling and emotion are considered much more important than the intellect. After all, it is bhakti, bhava, and prema, emotional states, that are the desired goals of those who follow the Gaudiya tradition, not karma, jnana, or even mukti.

 

But I think you are looking for parallels in Christian and Vaisnava traditions, and this can be found quite readily. In fact, if you look long and hard enough, you can find points of similarity all the way through; and you can even reconcile many of the obvious differences that the two religions have come to engender. You can see it in the basic practices of these religions. Certain key practices of Gaudiya Vaisnavism are found in Christian mysticism as well, and through this you can find many parallels. But, again, it is quite difficult to generalize. You see, Jiva Goswami does not represent all Gaudiya Vaisnavas; and Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas do not represent the mass of Christian believers.

 

Still, if you speak in general terms, there are certain generic spiritual practices and ideals that the two traditions share, especially if you look into the monastic communities. There is a sense of worshipping God in a regulated way; liturgical ceremonies; temple worship; subduing the senses; self-control; loving one’s neighbor; communal worship; meditation; prayer. You can see these things, for example, in certain early Franciscan orders – a religion of song and dance. It is currently seeing some revival.

 

Here is a good parallel for what one might see in a Gaudiya Vaisnava community. It, too, is an exuberant sort of piety. Bonaventure was a Franciscan. So I do see a similarity there. You know, the Franciscans were even vegetarians – for a large part they still are. I think there are certain things you can look for in all genuinely spiritual traditions. The sense of love, compassion, commitment.

 

[Gauracandra]

Continuing from the book:

 

SR: Let’s talk about that: the nature of God. The Christian conception of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost seems as though it has its natural parallel in Visnu, his pure devotee, and Paramatma, or the indwelling manifestation of the supreme. What do you think?

 

Dr. Klostermaier:Well, again, it really varies according to which conception of Vaisnavism and Christianity you are referring to. For myself, I see more of a parallel between the Christian Trinitarian concept of deity and the doctrine of Radha-Krsna as such.

 

SR: Really? How so?

 

Dr. Klostermaier:The inner, divine relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is fundamentally a relationship of love – profound, unending spiritual communication. Even though it is described in terms of a father/son interaction, it develops into the highest kind of madhurya relationship. You see, there is a virtually unknown Trinitarian theological system of emotional feelings. It was explored to some degree in the Middle Ages, but I think it needs further exploration. I hint at this in my Kristvidya, but it has yet to be taken up. The Western theological context in which the love of Radha and Krsna could perhaps be best understood is precisely that of Trinitarian theology. For the Christian, the Trinity represents the deepest mystery faith. If one took literally the symbolism of the Son being eternally generated by the Father, for example, one could come up with all kinds of mundane crudities and perversions. Similarly, the Radha-Krsna relationship cannot be fathomed by paralleling it with romantic love poetry or late medieval Marian devotion, as some writers have tried to do. The mystery of these things goes very deep, and there is no earthly symbolism that can accurately convey its truth.

 

SR: I think this is also true of rasa theology, which, again, has parallels in the Christian tradition.

 

Dr. Klostermaier: It certainly does. There are so many different kinds of loving relationships among the characters of the Bible. There is the love of Abel and Abraham; the love of the prophets; the love of Moses and David; the love of those who were exiled in Babylon and the love of those who remained in Jerusalem; the love of the shepherds and the disciples; the love of Mary Magdalene and of Zachaeus; the love of Peter and of John; the love of Mary toward the child and towards the crucified; and then there is the love of Christ. Jesus says, “He who does the will of my Father, is to me brother, sister, mother.” I think these various kinds of love adequately approximate the kinds of rasas that are developed by Rupa Gosvami.

 

SR: Yes. This has been brought to light by several important writers. I think the first was Melville Kennedy, in his classic work, The Chaitanya Movement (Calcutta: Association Press 1925). He was later paraphrased by Sudhindra Chandra Chakravarti, whose book, Philosophical Foundation of Bengal Vaisnavism (Calcutta: Academic Publishers, 1969), has some interesting statements about rasa theology in relation to the Christian tradition. Let me read this one section to you:

 

“Like the advocates of Bengal Vaisnavism, Christianity has availed itself of the rich imagery of human relationship to represent the five stages of religious feeling. The quietistic type of Christian devotion familiar in all periods of Christian history corresponds to the santa-bhakti of Bengal Vaisnavism. The figure of Mary, sister of Martha, at the feet of Jesus is an apt illustration of this type of religious experience. The second stage called dasya, which is characterized by the feeling of being a slave or a servant, has its counterpart in the devotion of Paul, the bondslave of Christ. An unbroken line of devout spirits following Paul is known to have expressed the utter devotion of heart in terms of slavery and servitude. Once, while washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus said, ‘I am among you as he that serveth’. The fact reveals Jesus’s attitude toward the dasya aspect of devotion. The sakhya stage has its counterpart in the relationship between Jesus and his disciples, indicated by his own words, ‘No longer do I call you servants… but now I call you friends.’ The devotion in terms of the parent and child relation is quite fundamental to Christianity. According to the Christian faith, God is the eternal Father, and all are His children. The vatsalya stage of Bengal Vaisnavism, however, is concerned only with the parental feeling toward the Lord. It has its parallels in the New Testament picture of the wise men and the Christ child, and the worship of the Bambino as it obtains in the Roman Catholic Church. The madhurya stage of bhakti finds its parallels in the mystical practices of mediaeval monasticism. The Roman Catholic nun is taught to regard her soul as the bride of Christ. In Protestant teaching, the church is regarded as the bride of Christ.

 

Dr. Klostermaier: Yes, I accept this idea completely. You have mentioned some of the paradigmatic figures, but there are many examples of this secret love affair with God in the Christian tradition. And another, related subject to explore is this: the more a devotee became absorbed in his or her distinct relationship with God, or rasa, the more the outside world had trouble dealing with it. Not only were many of the Christian saints so overwhelmed by their love for God that they never married – as you noted, nuns throughout the ages considered themselves the spouses of Christ – but there are quiete well-known instances where this development of inner taste, or rasa, led men and women to leave behind their mortal spouses, with whom they had been leading a perfectly normal and happy life. Such love of God led to the incarceration of St. John of the Cross by his fellow monks; it led to persistent abuse in the case of Teresa of Avila; it led to estrangement and suspicion in the case of many others. In the Vaisnava context, Mirabai could serve as an example for such estrangement and misunderstanding. Caitanya himself was eventually seen as a raving madman by all but his most intimate followers.

 

This is the point: divine love cannot be understood by Everyman. It is a cherished goal, and one that is rarely attained. In Vaisnavism and in Christianity you have examples of saints who have achieved this goal – but it is not so easily attained. What’s more, when it is attained, it can make one an outcaste in the conventional world – in the reality to which we have become accustomed. One’s consolation is that, when one achieves that goal, one is no longer an outcaste in the spiritual realm. And this, according to devotees of both traditions, is a reward that is more than worth the struggle.

[Maitreya]

When I read the Song of Solomen it reminds me of madhurya-rasa.I don't know the intent of the author however.Perhaps someone will speak to this song.I would love to hear an advanced soul with knowledge of rasa discourse on this song.And what a nice gift it would be to the Christian world.

 

This is from Chapter five.The Shulamite(young Palestinian women)is speaking as she has just heard her beloved knocking and speaking to her at her bed chambers door.

 

4. My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door,and my heart yearned for him.

 

5.I arose to open for my beloved, and as my hands dripped with myrrh,my fingers with liquid myrrh,on the handles of the lock.

 

6.I opened for my beloved,but my beloved had turned away and was gone.My heart went out to him when he spoke.I sought him,but I could not find him;I called him, but he gave me no answer.

 

7.The watchmen who went about the city found me.They struck me,they wounded me;The keepers of the walls took my veil away from me.I charge you,O daughters of Jerusalem,if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am lovesick.

 

 

[talasiga]

Originally posted by Maitreya:

I would love to hear an advanced soul with knowledge of rasa discourse on this song.

Perhaps the "advanced soul"

is too modest

to put herself forward.

 

Would Maitreya reconsider his request?

 

 

 

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talasiga@hotmail.com

[jijaji]

Desert Father stories

 

--

There were two old men who dwelt together for many years and who never quarreled.

Then one said to the other:

"Let us pick a quarrel with each other like other men do."

"I do not know how quarrels arise," answered his companion.

So the other said to him:

"Look, I will put a brick down here between us and I will say 'This is mine.' Then you can say 'No it is not, it is mine.' Then we will be able to have a quarrel."

So they placed the brick between them and the first one said:

"This is mine."

His companion answered him:

"This is not so, for it is mine."

To this, the first one said:

"If it is so and the brick is yours, then take it and go your way."

And so they were not able to have a quarrel.