Harmonist | A Transcendental Dialectic

Harmonist | A Transcendental Dialectic 

The Taittiriya Upanishaddescribes parabrahma as rasa: raso vai sah (Taittiriya, Ananda Valli, 7). Rasa is concentrated ananda or bliss; ananda in its concentrated form assumes a figure. The figure is the figure of Sri Krishna. Ananda-brahman is the formless expansive glow ofparabrahma, just as moonlight is the formless expansive glow of the moon. In Ananda-brahman rasa is dormant—still and motionless. It is not rasa in the real sense. In rasa-brahman orrasa as Sri Krishna, it is dynamic, restless, effulgent, ever-flowing, and ever-growing. It is astonishingly new and relishable—passing every moment beyond itself to new levels of rasa-consciousness.

Krishna is rasa itself. He is both rasa and rasika. As rasa he is the highest thing to be relished and asrasika he is the greatest enjoyer of rasa. Rasa is dynamic because it is the essence of love. Love is never satisfied with itself. The more the love, the more the longing for it. The dynamism of rasa makes Krishna desire to revel ever and ever more in beatific pastimes of love. But this is not possible if Krishna remains the Supreme Being who is one without a second, or the lone rasika who enjoys his own rasa. Therefore the unity of rasa and rasika in him bursts and blooms into the duality of Krishna and Radha. Krishna is personalized rasa and Radha is personalized bhava, or pure and selfless love (prema) at its highest. Loving communion between the two generates higher and higher dimensions of rasa.