The Gaze into the Infinite

Viyoga – The Intense Love of Separation

Sant Jnaneshvar, fondly called ‘Mauli’ or Mother by his devotees, has given us this sublime hymn written in an emotive poetic form called Virahini.

In the spiritual journey, there comes a time when the devotee or bhaktā feels a deep alienation from God that no words can adequately describe. However, one human emotion that comes closest to expressing this angst is the intense agony of separation (viraha-bhāv) felt by a woman or feminine¹ who has been deserted by her absent, forgetful lover/partner/masculine.

This love hymn portrays Rādhā as the heroine who yearns to reunite with her Kānhā² who has left her. Her intense longing is captured in six 
exquisite verses, or ovī, which closely mirror a devotee’s desire for reunion with God (Iśvar).

In this mood, no amount of cold can soothe the searing heat of her longing; no amount of sweet temptation can assuage the ache in her heart. And Rādhā is the only heroine who fully captures this mood!

“The return of the lover, or Krishna (in manifestation), may be beyond the control of the bhaktā, whether male or female.”³ Yet, it is the pain of viraha alone that enables the “devotee’s total absorption in the remembrance of the beloved and her all-consuming devotion, bhakti, the saving grace that fixes her mind on God.” It is only through viraha that the “bhaktā resists māyā⁴ or temptation in the absence of God, since māyā is the principle that creates the illusion of separation of the devotee from God.”⁵

The entire life of a bhaktā, Rādhā, therefore, is a longing for the beloved where the experience of viraha feeds the sacred fire in the mantle of her soul that eventually burns not only all mundane desires, including the illusion of separateness from God, but also consumes the devotee along with her grief/viraha. Intense separation is therefore the divine fuel that lights the alchemical fire of divine union!

In the annals of bhakti traditions, loving God as one’s beloved and being consumed in God-intoxication is considered supreme devotion—parā-bhakti. So, to experience this deepest state of profound intimacy with the Divine within, numerous saints of India have channeled the mind-body-soul of the sacred feminine and her innate capacity for viraha to taste the nectar of divine love. For instance, Chaitanya Mahāprabhu and Sant Jnanadeva, in this exquisite abhang!⁶

The hymn opens with this scene–

Krishna has left Rādhā behind to rule over Dwāraka as its king, and the old days of frolicking in the grass are gone. A distraught Rādhā sits by her window on a spring monsoon evening, brooding, while her friends try to relieve her agony!

The moon peeks in and out playfully, and the clouds are heavy in anticipation of the spring showers. The peacocks are in a frenzy, dancing with their dazzling plumage in hopes of attracting their mates. This scene would have aroused anyone’s passions, but it only causes Rādhā to be even more sullen. She sees no reason to wear beautiful clothes or adorn herself in fine jewelry, as they only make her grieve his absence more. To be pleased, or to be pleasing to herself or another, holds no interest anymore, as her emotional state demands her full presence! And so she pleads with her friends—

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घनु वाजे घुणघुणा । वारा वाहे रुणझुणा । Ghanu vāzē ghuṇa-ghuṇā. Vārā vāhē ruṇa-zhuṇā. “The spring clouds rumble a ceaseless drum roll and the wind hums in feverish anticipation of monsoon rains. This bewitching hour stirs my passion for Kānhā and makes me miserable! O sakhi, take my message to him..”	भवतारकु हा कान्हा । वेगीं भेटवा कां ॥१॥ Bhavatāraku7 hā kānhā. Vēgīṅ bhēṭavā kāṅ “Kānhā, are you not the savior of all souls? Make haste and relieve me of the languor in my heart!”
चांद वो चांदणें । चापे वो चंदनु । Chāndu vō chāndaṇē. Chāṅpaē vō chandane. “The mesmerizing moonlight, the heady scent of champa, the fragrant sandalwood…	देवकीनंदनु-विण । नावडे वो ॥२॥ Dēvakīnandane-viṇa. Nāvaḍē vō (2) …delight me no more when Devaki’s nandana (son) is not by my side.”
चंदनाची चोळी माझे । सर्व अंग पोळी । Chandanācī chōḷī māzē. Sarva aṅga pōḷī. “My friend, despite the cooling sandalwood poultice on my bodice, my whole being burns…	कान्हो वनमाळी वेगीं भेटवा कां ॥३॥ Kānhō vanamāḷī8, vēgīṅ bhēṭavā kāṅ (3) Tell Kānhā to hurry with His wildflowers; and soothe this pain!“
सुमनाची सेज | सितळ वो निकी । Sumanāchī sēza, sitaḷa vō nikī. “My friend, you have strewn my bed with cool / Suman flowers, but when I lay on it, they singe like hot coals!	पोळे आगीसारिखी, वेगीं विझवा कां ॥४॥ Pōḷē āgīsārikhī, vēgīṅ vizavā kāṅ (4) (Will you) “Tell Him to please hurry and extinguish this fire (of yearning) in me!”
तुह्मी गातसां सुस्वरें, ऐकोनि द्यावी उत्तरें । (Tumhī gātasāṅ su-svarēṅ, aikōni daāvī uttharaēṅ. “My friends, your singing is delightful, but why have you not responded to me?…	कोकिळें वर्जावें, तुह्मीं बाईयांनो ॥५॥ Kōkiḷēṁ varzā-vēṅ, tum-hīṅ bā’ī-yānnō (5) …I forbid cuckoos to sing until they have taken my plea to Him!”
दर्पणीं पाहतां रूप, न दिसे वो आपुलें । Darpaṇīṅ pāhataṅ rūpa, na disē vō āpulēṅ. “When I look in the mirror, I no longer see my own form…I only see Krishna!”	बाप रखुमादेवी-वरें, मज ऐसें केलें ॥६॥ Bāpa rakhumā-dēvī-varēṅ, mazu aiseṅ kēlēṅ (6) “Oh! That Vittoba, the groom of Rukmini Devi, has done this to me—I am ‘me’ no more!”

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Samyoga – The Intense Love of Divine Union

Building on the crescendo of emotions, the last verse reveals the poignancy of the moment when Kānhā’s grace grants Rādhā¹⁰ her final deliverance, the elixir of divine inner union!

Rādhā’s longing for Krishna has consumed her body, thoughts, and emotions to such an extent that neither the sensual fullness of the world beyond her window, nor the soothing comforts in her chambers, nor her own beautiful form holds her attention anymore. In fact, so disgusted is she with all worldly sense pleasures that she settles into the deep, sullen well of grief (viraha-tāpa).

Haunted by her feelings for Kānhā, when Rādhā looks in the mirror, it is not her familiar alluring form she sees; instead, it is His form that stares back! She averts her gaze, crying out in agony, but then a miracle happens. Suddenly, her emotions quieten, her mind becomes still, and an unbroken serenity permeates her being, pervading the entire space and she slowly turns to face the mirror. Only this time, the inherent grace of Vittobha pouring from the vision in the mirror consumes her! Krishna, the ocean of bliss, rushes forward to embrace the stream (dhārā) of Rādhā until no part of her remains separate from Him. In that final glance of complete surrender, Rādhā awakens to the Supreme Knowledge and she sweetly sings—“I see only Krishna in me!” … “I am ‘me’ no more!” … “I Am That!“.

This abhang so beautifully illustrates how continuous devotion, para-bhakti, can bring the bhaktā eventually to the dawning of true wisdom, jñana, that one’s real nature is Absolute Existence! As Ramana Maharshi states,

“It is the wisdom that also brings in its wake complete elimination of all thoughts.” After all, bhakti in its highest expression is “continuous contemplation of one’s essential nature.”¹⁰

Rādhā’s all-consuming love for Krishna in the beginning of the abhang ends with her being utterly consumed by Him. And like that vision in the mirror, until the final grace arrives granting us eternal salvation and ceaseless communion, we must assiduously commit to our spiritual practices, sādhanā, with utmost faith and zeal.

“Trying to understand spiritual Truth through the medium of the mind is a very dangerous thing to do, as ignorance will continue to prevail if it is not backed by any sādhanā (practice) or actual realization on the part of the sādhakā (spiritual aspirant).”¹²

Mirror mirror on the wall…Will you shine Thy Light on us all?

The use of the ‘mirror’ as the divine agent that awakens Rādhā to her real Self is profoundly revealing!

In the Dakshinamurti Stotram¹³, Sańkara starts with a reference to the mirror—

विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतं
पश्यन्नात्मनि मायया बहिरिवोद्भूतं यथा निद्रया ।
यः साक्षात्कुरुते प्रबोधसमये स्वात्मानमेवाद्वयं
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥१॥

viśvaṃ “darpaṇa"-dṛśyamāna-nagarī-tulyaṃ nijāntargataṃ
paśyannātmani māyayā bahirivodbhūtaṃ yathā nidrayā |
yaḥ sākṣātkurute prabodhasamaye svātmānamevādvayaṃ
tasmai śrīgurumūrtaye nama idaṃ śrīdakṣiṇāmūrtaye ॥ (1)

1. I bow to the Him by whose grace the whole world is found to exist entirely in the mind, like a city’s image reflected in a mirror; 
Though like a dream, through Māyā’s power it appears outside; 
And by whose grace again, on the dawn of Knowledge it is perceived as the everlasting and non-dual Self. 
I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my Guru, who reveals this Truth;

The last line in the above stotra underscores the Guru as that illuminating principle of Truth that dispels all darkness in the devotee, and without whom/which the Supreme Absolute or Brahman remains concealed.

In the abhang, the ‘mirror’ symbolizes Māyā¹⁴, who is both the great deluding power, māyā–śakti, as well as the guru essence, chit-śakti, the luminous power of Self-awareness. Māyā-shakti is the first seed of primal ignorance that is sown in the human mind, which conceals the truth of our Real nature and births the dual forces of I & you, I & the world (plurality). She is also the power of divine grace, chit-śakti, that lifts the veil revealing the witnessing Self in us and awakens us from the dream of plurality and duality. When the light of the guru essence shines on us, the deluding power of our mind-mirror vanishes, and māyā-śakti dissolves into the all-consuming Absolute, along with all identifications conjured by our unconscious mind (ego-I, the world, God, and the existence of universes). All stories that the mind clung to for a sense of certainty crumble into the ground of impermanence of the Absolute! Gone. Poof!

Just as when we awaken from a dream, the emotions, thoughts, and identity we took on vanish as we become rooted in the waking self, so too when we awaken to our True Self, the waking reality is seen for what it truly is—a dreamlike manifestation that arises from the Absolute with a capacity to dazzle with an infinite display of light and magic.

There are other Sanskrit texts that use the mirror metaphor like the Ashtavakra Gita, Verse 19,

यथैवादर्शमध्यस्थे रूपेऽन्तः परितस्तु सः ।
तथैवाऽस्मिञ्छरीरेऽन्तः परितः परमेश्वरः ॥ १९ ॥

yathaivādarśamadhyasthe rūpe'ntaḥ paritastu saḥ
tathaivā'smin śarīre'ntaḥ paritaḥ parameśvaraḥ

1.19.  Just as a mirror exists both within and without the image reflected, so also the Supreme Self exists both within and without the body.

1.19. Just as a mirror is implied within the image it reflects, but also stands beyond the show; so too, the highest principle that rules the world is found within the body, and beyond as well.

Ashtāvakra takes the example of a mirror to explain our real Self. A mirror exists by itself without a need for the object it reflects, and when an object appears in it, the mirror remains unaffected by it, just like a movie screen. “In the absence of a mirror, there can be no appearance at all, although in the case of phenomenal manifestation, the ‘background’ as Consciousness is itself responsible for, and constitutes the appearance.”¹⁷

Ramana Maharshi, when asked, “But why did the Self manifest as this miserable world?” responds, “In order that you might seek it. Your eyes cannot see themselves, but if you hold a mirror in front of them, they see themselves. Creation is the mirror. See yourself first and then see the whole world as the Self.”

Our true Self is Being-ness-sat that is beyond all knowing, yet the closest awareness of It comes when Its presence is noticed in ourselves—Consciousness-chit. So awareness is a Self-reflection process. Here, Self is not to be thought of as a thing or an entity, rather as a background, or a groundless ground, much like a movie screen that is rolled out in space to show moving lights and sound and then removed from that space when it is done. The gaze that ultimately dissolves Rādhā into Being-ness is truly profound!