The Celebration of Emotion: Vallabha's Ontology of Affective Experience Author(s): Jeffrey R.

Timm Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 41, No. 1, Emotion East and West (Jan., 1991), pp. 5975 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1399719 Accessed: 03/08/2009 00:46
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THE CELEBRATION OF EMOTION: ONTOLOGY

VALLABHA'S

R.Timm Jeffrey

OF AFFECTIVE EXPERIENCE

Western scholars focusing on non-Western philosophy have increasingly AssistantProfessor recognized something that our colleagues in Anthropology have long of Religion understood. Studying even the abstract, philosophical dimensions of Wheaton College, MA another culture will be enhanced, and may even take surprising new Norton, turns, when the other culture is experienced at first hand. Testing the merit of this claim I spent a research year in India. Most of my workstudying and translating a text by the philosopher-theologian Vallabha (1479-1531 C.E.)-kept me at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, but from time to time I would visit other cultural centers. One such tour took me to Mathura, and by chance I happened upon an evening service at the Vallabhite Dwarakadhis temple, the largest temple in the city. That visit put me face to face with the question of emotion in religious experience, and I began to wonder about the place accorded to affective experience within the context of Vallabha's theology of revelation. Nothing I had studied had really prepared me for that visit. Up a wide stone stairway from the street, through a large doorway, was a huge room with high ceiling, its walls covered with bright, polychromatic paintings depicting various Vaisnava scenes, and crowded with hundreds of people. Men and women of all ages stood in the thick, perfumed atmosphere; the din of their collective voices was pierced by the metallic toll of a bell sounding from somewhere in the room. As I made my way through the crowd, a curtain which separated the elevated altar from the room was suddenly removed; immediately the focus of the room turned toward the small figure of Krishna, lavishly dressed, decorated, and attended. The effervescence of the crowd welled up as people called out to Krishna and made their way with considerable difficulty closer to the altar. The excitement and collective enthusiasm in this crowded hall was palpable; I had been in Hindu temples before, but I had never experienced anything like this. What might account for this emotional effervescence? This question had been filed somewhere in the back of my mind by the time I made a second visit to a Vallabha temple a few months later. I was invited to a program held at the Gopala temple in Varanasi. About fifty or sixty people, mostly women, came to hear the speaker, a philoso- PhilosophyEast& West pher at Banaras Hindu University. After the talk, as most of the audience Volume 41, Number 1 dispersed, I was introduced to various community leaders including one January 1991 devotee who was a retired High Court judge. As we spoke the judge 59-75 ushered me into a long room divided by a small barrier;the far end of the ? 1991 room was dark, fully obscured by a curtain. Suddenly the curtain was by University of pulled back and everyone moved as close as the barrier allowed. Not Hawaii Press 59

PhilosophyEast&West

twenty feet away was Krishnawith his beloved Radha, both beautifully clothed, about one foot in height, being slowly rocked in an elaborate silver swing. Everyone in the room stood captivated by the scene. But what were they "seeing"?The moment lacked the palpable excitement of the Dwarakadhis temple, but nevertheless something important was happening-a more subtle emotion in play, perhaps? As I stood trying to understand what was going on, I noticed that the judge had produced binoculars to empower his gaze. After a few minutes the curtain was closed; my visit with Krishnawas over. These two experiences raised particular questions about the nature of Vallabhite worship. Could this worship be a liturgical expression of sthayibhava, the stylized emotion/relationships at the center of much Vaisnava devotional literature? What was the role of emotion in this worship? How was emotional experience valued by these Vallabhites? More general questions followed. In light of India's well-known ascetic practices, what kind of role could emotion play in religious expression? Isn't emotion dangerous, something to be avoided? What is "emotion," anyway? Is it the same in the Indian context as in the West? Anthropologists seem to be doing the most interesting work on this last question (and I will have occasion to mention some of it as I proceed); not being an anthropologist I propose to take a different route by considering Vallabha's own view: how he understood emotion, the context of that understanding, and the implications it had for the life of his devotional movement. In my estimation, Vallabha's ideas about the role of emotion relate directly with two of the most distinctive characteristics of the Vallabha community: (1) the emphasis on seva or devotional service to Lord Krishna publicly expressed through congregational worship; and (2) the absence of any significant affirmation of samnyasa, the traditional fourth stage of life in the asrama system. Despite disagreements on the nature of authentic renunciation, nearly every school of vedanta has reserved a placed of honor for those who choose to enter this fourth stage. In light of the traditional, dharmic view, which ultimately prescribes a lifestyle of renouncing both possessions and emotions, how does Vallabha explain his devaluation of renunciation and his emphasis on seva? Does the aesthetic displace the ascetic? And if so, how is such displacement justified? My thesis is that Vallabha's unique affirmation of affective experience results from his conclusions about the nature of God, the nature of the world, and the nature of the relationship between the two. What I hope to uncover in this essay, then, is the connection between Vallabha's ontology and his understanding of emotion. The essay is divided into four parts. First,it is necessary to consider the question of definition and of cross-cultural understanding. What do we mean by the term "emotion"? What special difficulties arise by carrying

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emotion concepts across cultures? A brief look at how one anthropologist has approached the study of emotion will help formulate these issues. Second, the role of emotional renunciation in the Indian context will be considered by looking at the medieval debate on the nature of samnyasa. How did Vedantic communities like the Advaita and the Visistadvaita understand renunciation? What enabled Vallabha to reverse this understanding, placing the affective dimension at the very center of spiritual life? Third, Vallabha's understanding of emotion will be explored. To what degree does Vallabha borrow from the rasa theory of Sanskrit poetics to arrive at his distinctive understanding? How does his understanding of emotion affect the forms taken by devotion service (seva)? And fourth, the ontological foundation of his emotion theory will be examined. How does Vallabha's devaluation of asceticism and his affirmation of emotional worship reflect his conclusions about the nature of ultimate reality and the nature of the world? I. Cross-cultural Understanding of Emotion In the scope of this essay there is no space for a full analysis of the Western views of emotion, nor is there time to consider the thorny issues of how, and under what conditions, we can claim to "understand" across cultures. And yet, an attempt to understand "emotion" in Hinduism can ill afford to ignore the fact that in the West the word "emotion," as well as emotion words (like anger, fear, joy, and so on) carry implicit meanings and buried presuppositions which can complicate cross-cultural understanding. Luckily,such issues have received attention from a small group of anthropologists who are challenging a long-standing presumption that emotion is metacultural.1 Concerned with both theoretical and commonsense views of emotion which have been dominant in the West, these anthropologists (who identify their approach as social constructionism) argue against the Euro-American tendency to view emotion as natural, biologically determined, and internal, that is, essentially private, known primarilyby introspection. Instead of presuming a universal set of primary emotive states experienced the world over, they claim that emotion is first and foremost a social construction and hence must be examined in a cultural context. Before examining emotion in another culture, however, it must be understood as fully as possible in its "Euro-American"guise. This requires a deconstruction, an unpacking of the so-called Western view. One such unpacking occurs in Catherine Lutz' recent study of emotion in Micronesia, Unnatural Emotions. Lutz begins by pointing out that most attempts to understand the non-West presuppose the categories of emotion established in Euro-American culture, so that the non-West is found either (1) emotionally indistinguishable from the West, or (2) emotionally opposite to the West, or (3) emotionally deficient according to

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Western views of emotional normalcy.2 Lutz wants the Ifaluk, the subjects of her study, to reveal their own categories for understanding emotion. So, to clear the decks, she first examines the Western understanding and evaluation of emotion. Lutz points out that in the West emotion tends to be devalued by placing it in opposition to and in conflict with rationality. Contrasted with rationality, emotion represents an obstacle and a weakness. This commonsense view is supported by identifying emotion with socially devalued groups like ethnic minorities, women, and children, and associating rationality with white, male adults. The nonrationality of emotion is further asserted by describing emotion as subjective, denying it epistemic potency. Lutz argues that Thisview of emotion as subjective is related to the notion that ideallyone can and should know the world best by achievinga timeless, transcendent, decentered, and unpositioned knowledge. This, the knowledge of positive science, is not seen as the only way to know, but it is seen as the most effective, the most mature.3 Despite the recognition of external triggers or public expressions, most Western theories have affirmed the view that emotions are natural, interior, and subjective, and have their locus in the individual experiencer. Studies begin by asserting, for example, that "[w]e must distinguish an emotion as a kind of temporary state of a person ... from the more or less long term dispositions to various states, including emotional states, and activities."4 In a study which challenges many of these presuppositions, philosopher Robert Solomon writes: "[t]hewisdom of reason against the treachery and temptations of the passions has been the central theme of Western philosophy."5 In the Western commonsense view, the devaluation of emotion is thorough, but it does have a limit. Presidential candidates, for example, are not supposed to cry in public, but neither are they expected to respond with cool legalism at questions about the hypothetical rape of a family member. Thus, emotion in a more valued guise forms a second polarity over against estrangement. The person lacking emotion is "coldblooded," lacks empathy, and hence, like Mr. Spock, is less than fully human. Unable to enter into emotional bonds with individuals or groups, such a person is viewed with suspicion at least, and perhaps as a potential threat. Despite the ambiguity of contrasting emotion with both rationality and estrangement, Western emotion concepts have typically understood emotions as singular events situated within the individual rather than the product of a social context. Our reactions to emotion, our thinking about emotion, may be the product of socialization, but emotions themselves are natural. The social constructionism view is a direct

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challange to this understanding: emotions are not feelings as opposed to thoughts, they are ... thoughts somehow "felt"in flushes, pulses, "movements"of our livers, minds,hearts,stomaches,skin.Theyare embodiedthoughts,thoughtsseeped with the apprehensionthat "Iam involved".... Feelingsare not substancesto be discovered in our blood but in social practices organizedby stories that we both enact and tell.6 This insight is central to the social constructionism of anthropologists in the latter part of the twentieth century; and, as I hope to make clear in a moment, it resonates with Vallabha's fifteenth-century understanding, as well. Emotion is about relationship not inwardness, about process not states. As Lutz says, ... emotion words are everywhere used to talk about the relationshipbetween the self and the world. What is culturallyvariable however, is the extent to which the focus in emotion concepts is on the self or on the world which creates emotion, and on how autonomouslythat self is defined. The of anomic emotion, arisingwithinthe individual ... and ending there, portrait or not characterize emotional life in twentieth may may century America. It serves poorly, however as a model for socioemotional relations in all cultures.7 Lutz's theoretical reflections on the cross-cultural study of emotion help clear the ground by exposing the sometimes unconsciously held, culturally determined presuppositions about emotion. Turning now to the context which produced Vallabha, we will consider the medieval debate on the nature and status of renunciation and find that in some ways it presages the modern Western debate on the value and locus of emotion. II.Medieval Debate on Renunciation One dimension of the medieval Indian debate on renunciation, well documented by recent translation work, illustrates the controversy between Sam.kara'sAdvaita Vedanta and Ramanuja's Visistadvaita.8 Much of this debate concerns orthopraxis: what is and is not ritually required of a person who enters into the fourth asrama or stage of life called samnyasa. Sastric authority texts went into great detail defining the requirements of samnyasa, the ascetic lifestyle, and prescribing the manner in which these requirements could be met. The debate focused on the three traditional marks of the ascetic: the staff, the sacrificial thread, and the topknot (a tuft of hair left uncut when the head was ritually shaved). Reviewing all the details of this debate is not relevant to our present concern, but it is necessary to consider at least the basic contours of the Advaita/Visistadvaita controversy to understand the radical shift made by Vallabha's renunciation of renunciation. The crux of the samnyasa debate was this: Advaitins argued for a fifth

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asrama or stage of life which was trans-dharmic. In other words, the samnyasa described in the Sastric literature was not the highest stage at all; therefore, ascetics who followed forms of behavior prescribed by sastra were distant from the goal of enlightenment. Slaves to "proper" ritual and ethical behavior, they remained trapped in the duality of samsara. Samkara, in his commentary on Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 3.5.1, states that One should know, moreover,that the self does not possess qualitiessuch as hunger,and therefore is differentfrom instrumentand result.... The result and the instruments of rites have ignoranceas their sphere and are different fromthe self that transcendssamsaricqualitiessuch as hunger,accordingto hundredsof statements such as: Forwhere there is dualityas if it were.... [BaU2.4.1.4.] "Heis one and I another," (Whoeverworshipsanother divinity), thinking: he knows not. [BaU 4.4.10] Butthey who know otherwisethat this.... [ChU7.25.2] Likelight and darkness,furthermore, knowledge and ignorance cannot coexist in the same person, because they cancel each other. Thereforeone whose sphereis ignorance,and which should not considerritualqualification, is distinguishedin terms of rite, instrument,and result,as belongingto one who possesses the knowledgeof the self.9 Any behavior following prescribed rites like the ritual marking entry into samnyasa, any concern for prescribed instruments like triple staff, cord, and topknot, and any thought of result like freedom from samsara indicates an absence of genuine self-knowledge, an estrangement from ultimate reality, an ego trapped in the endless cycles of samsara. Like ritual action, worship of any sort is a sure sign of ignorance as it necessarily involves a dualism between one who worships and the object of that worship. This radical, antinomian asceticism of Advaita was not acceptable to Visistadvaita proponents. While happy to affirm the renunciation of emotional life and material attachments, the Advaita claim of a transdharmic state of affairs, a fifth asrama, went too far. In the Pancamasramavidhana, a Visistadvaita objection is formulated like this: [OPPONENT] Surely, for the sake of the world's welfare one should not abandon the staff and the like because of the smrtistatement:"Evenif you consideronly the welfareof the world,you should work."(BhG 3.20)10 In other words, the ascetic who abandons the traditional marks flies in the face of social order and sends the wrong message to other members of society. Some Advaitins, following their "fifth asrama" view to its logical conclusion, affirmed a thoroughgoing antinomianism and libertinism

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(svaira). But, as their response to the Visistadvaita opponent shows, this libertinism followed directly from Advaita's ontological position. The welfare of the world (has relevance)only to those who con[AUTHOR] sider the world as real. What does the world'swelfare mean to those who regardthe world as unreal?It is of no concern to one whose self is pure consciousness.11 The Visistadvaitins were not satisfied by the Advaita formulation of the problem, and they certainly did not accept the Advaita asceticism hierarchy culminating in a fifth, trans-dharmic asrama. They were, however, in full agreement that the life of the ascetic involved both material and emotional renunciation. This is clear in their description of the "silent sage" from the Satyayaniyopanisat: Now, let learned Brahmins,untouched by desire, turn their minds to the highest and eternal Brahman.He indeed who is calm, controlled, tranquil, patient, devoted to learning,and possessing equanimity,comes to know it. On knowing it, without desires and free from doubt, he may live in any asramawhatsoeveras a silent sage. Then, he enters the final asrama, taking as appropriatethe five articles. let Havingascertainedthat the entire universe has the nature of Brahman, him wanderon earth unnoticed, bearingthe emblem of Visnu.'2 Here, then, is the ontological key to the Visistadvaita side of the debate: "the entire universe has the nature of Brahman." Accordingly, the Advaita position is warped because it fails to recognize the true nature of the universe as Brahman.The erroneous assertion that the world is unreal leads Advaita to faulty conclusions about the nature and necessity of authentic samnyasa. Like the Visistadvaitin, Vallabha was a staunch critic of Advaita. And even though he affirmed the authenticity of samnyasa for those who wished to follow the path which he called maryadamarga, the path of ritual observance, he claimed knowledge of a superior way, a way better suited to the present age of decreased spiritual capacity, a way revealed by Krishnahimself which he called pustimarga, the path of grace. Quite simply, this path displaces and supercedes sastric prescriptions of renunciation with the requirement to experience and to enjoy life given by and, most importantly, dedicated to Lord Krishna, the ultimate reality. Because this path is pusti, attained only by the grace of God, sastric debate about proper ritual means, religious rites, and ascetic practices was viewed as largely irrelevant. There was nothing one could do to deserve this grace, so knowledge about proper ritual acts and observances was simply not helpful. Furthermore, asceticism, which arises out of contempt for the world, is based on a fundamental epistemological error. According to Vallabha,

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Inthe heartsof those who know Brahman feelingsof contempt [forthe world] never arise.... Such feelingsariseonly with the perceptionof separateness.13 In a sense, Vallabha seems to confirm the Advaitin view that a renunciate who is goal-oriented, ritually encumbered, and trapped in dualistic consciousness will necessarily fail to achieve supreme consciousness. And even though he recognizes the possibility of such consciousness, Vallabha does not value it in the same way. He says: One who is liberated,havinggiven up the composite [of body, senses, and so or achieves the Brahman state. Hisessence on] either dissolvesinto Brahman is bliss,or by his nature he experiences bliss. Butthe free devotees, like the gopis et cetera, experience bliss through all their senses, their mental processes, and by their essence. Thereforecompared to the liberatedsoul, the householderstage of the devotee bestowed with the grace of Bhagavan, truly excels.14 So, according to Vallabha, the fullest expression of bliss and enlightenment occurs not in some rarefied context of pure consciousness or as the result of ritual acts of renunciation, but instead during the householder stage while one is married, raising children, and earning a living. No one could be expected to renounce the emotional dimension of life during the householder asrama. Thus, making this stage the locus of supreme religious experience is an explicit denunciation of asceticism and an affirmation of passion's salvific efficacy; not ordinary worldly passions, to be sure, but passion divinized, a celebration of emotion which fulfillsthe devotee's desire for intimacy with God.15 Ill.Bhava on the Path of Grace Rather than a dimension of human experience to be denied, Vallabha embraces emotion as the preferred medium for experiencing God. Emotional life, devalued by other Vedantic schools in their affirmation of samnyasa, is transformed by Krishna'sgrace, according to Vallabha, and becomes the means and the fulfillment of devotional longing. Emotion (bhava) is thus a means and an expression of transcendental (alaukika) experience.16 With Krishna as a locus, the full range of human emotions, dispositions, attitudes, and qualities becomes the means for spiritual fulfillment, liberation from samsara, and eternal life with Krishna.Vallabha develops this view of emotion by adapting the rasa theory of aesthetic appreciation which has its roots in the N.tya Sastra,'7 and was systematized by Abhinavagupta (tenth century c.E.).18 Two central concepts in the theory are bhava and rasa. Both are sometimes translated as "emotion," but the difference between them is important. Bhava may be understood as any intense personal emotion; the Natya Sastra gives a list of eight primary emotions (sthayibhava): love,

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humor, pathos, violence, heroism, fear, loathsomeness, and wonder. A ninth bhava, santa or quietude, does not appear in all recensions of the it is considered preeminent.'9 text, but from the eighth century C.E. Through the enjoyment of poetry or drama,for example, bhava can be transformed into an impersonal aesthetic emotion called rasa, which literallymeans juice or essence. The process works likethis: ... watching a play or reading a poem for the sensitive reader (sahrdaya) entails a loss of the sense of present time and space. All worldlyconsiderations for the time being cease.... We are not directly and personally involved, so the usual medley of desires and anxieties dissolve. Our hearts but not selfishly.Finally,the rerespond sympathetically(hrdayasamvada) and we identify with the situation becomes total, sponse all-engrossing, is and for the durationof The transcended, depicted (tanmayTbhavana). ego is suspended.20 the aesthetic experience,the normalwaking"I" Thus Sanskrit poetics describes the aesthetic process whereby bhava (as intense personal emotion) is transformed into rasa (impersonal aesthetic emotion) and the individual sense of self is momentarily transcended. Vallabha gives this process something of a twist. In the context of the seva of congregational worship, rasa must be present, enlivening worship with devotional sentiment. Vallabha says: In the absence of love, worshipby its own naturewould not take the shape of an aim of life due to the absence of the manifestationof devotional sentiment (rasabhivyakta).2' The movement from bhava to rasa, from personal emotion to detached aesthetic experience described by traditional aesthetic theory, is shifted to a new key. It could be said that for Vallabha rasa (aesthetic and impersonal) provides an occasion for extraordinary bhava: an intensely Says Valpersonal experience of emotional relationship with Krishna.22 as its is the divine called bhava."23 (ratih) labha, "passion object having The devotee's sense of individual self is not transcended; it is instead divinized in the experience of intimacy with Krishna.24 This intimacy can take a number of forms, but the best-known follow a stylized pattern of four types of emotional relationships with Krishna which appear again and again in the worship, music, art, and literature of North Indian bhakti communities. These included dasya bhava, the emotion/relationship of servant to master characterized by feelings of fear, awe, and humility; sakya bhava, the emotion/relationship of friend to friend characterized by feeling at ease, solidarity, affection, and playfulness; vatsalya bhava, the emotion/relationship of parent to child characterized by feelings of parental concern, love, and joy; and madhura bhava, the emotion/relationship of lover to beloved characterized by feelings of passionate love, pleasure in union (sambogha), longing, and JeffreyR.Timm

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pain of separation (viraha). These four bhava can be further analyzed into their constitutive qualities so that the entire gamut of human emotional life is included.25 In this manner, Vallabha situates devotion to Krishna in basic human relationships, occasioning the strongest emotional experiences, both positive and negative. Evan a "negative" emotion such as anger or fear may provide the context for Krishna'sgrace. Many stories told in the Bhagavata Purana illustrate this theme. Krishna'sevil uncle, Kamsa, who plots to kill Krishna but is eventually killed by Krishna, attains identity with Visnu because out of hatred, with a mind agitated by fright, he constantly visualized the And the demoness Putana, who sought to kill the baby Krishna, Lord.26 achieves liberation when killed by him, despite her evil intent.27 This is possible, according to Vallabha, because Krishna's nature makes him "one whose deeds are wonderful." He transforms attitudes and dispositions which would typically promote ignorance into the means of realization.28 If fear and anger can function in this way, how much more salvific efficacy must follow from approaching Krishnawith love? What could be more attractive and satisfying than enjoying the full range of play, delight, and positive emotional coloration available through serving Krishna. So Vallabha points out that "by devotional service (seva) to Krishnathe senses become divine."29Thus, by means of seva or devotional service fashioned after one of the four bhaktibhava, ordinary (laukika) human emotions are transformed into something extraordinary (alaukika).30 Although Vallabha himself seems to have preferred vatsalya bhava, serving Krishnaas a parent cares for a child, the literature of the Vallabha community explores and develops all four bhaktibhava. One of the most striking bhava themes, and certainly the best-known in the West, is expressed in the rasa ITa, or love dance of Krishna.3'In this story the adolescent Krishnalures the gopis, the young milkmaids, from their male guardians to enjoy nights of passion in the sylvan glades of Vrindavana. Told and retold in Vaisnava art, poetry, music, and literature, this story of seduction, intimacy, and emotion contains themes central to Vallabha's theology. Because of their adolescent arrogance, Krishnadecides to teach the gopis a lesson, and he suddenly disappears from their midst. Their subsequent longing for Krishna,their search for him, and their expressions of suffering and melancholy at his absence provide a central motif, viraha,which occurs again and again in Vaisnava thought.32 Bhaktibhava is not complete without the experience of both union and separation, so that separation always holds the potential for reunion, and union maintains within itself the potential for separation. Thus, bhaktibhava homologizes the ebb and flow marking ordinary emotional life. The range of emotion and feeling is maintained; only the object of one's emotional life has shifted. & West East Philosophy

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With Krishna as the final locus, emotion elevates worship to a new level. Because the spiritual efficacy of autonomous practice has been severely curtailed in this present age,33 Krishna provides a new avenue for liberation, pustimarga, and a new practice, devotional service characterized by love. Such a path is available to all, regardless of caste or stage of life. Thus, pustimarga challenges elitist liberation by asserting a supreme spiritual experience which is outside the domain of brahmanical renunciates. Advaita, of course, argues to relativize the value of devotion by associating the "otherness" required by devotion with ignorance. But this characterization is itself the product of ignorance, according to Vallabha, because it fails to distinguish seva from autonomous, goaloriented practice. On this Vallabha says: Worship (upasanah)is explained ... for the sake of attaining knowledge. Some claim that it is a way of purifyingthe mind, but the correct view is demonstrates his greatness by rewardinghis that through love [Krishna] devotees.34 Vallabha rejects the either/or logic of Advaita's distinction between means and end, which, in the final analysis, stations all paths in vyavaharika and hence in the sphere of the less-than-really real. Seva embodies both means and end, so that devotional sentiment, not the promise of liberation or the hope for any other goal, charges service with great attractiveness. In the absence of love, devotional service would become sterile, a burden, a duty performed without delight with an eye to what could be gained; alternately, love requires service, the concrete expression of devotion and care. Thus seva is a bodily affair,35 leading the devotee into with Krishna. Says Vallabha: "The goal is greater and greater intimacy achieved only when Bhagavan is revealed. For the sake of such revealment devotional service with love (premasevam) is described."36 IV. The Ontological Basis of Affective Experience In religion, as in every human endeavor, ideal and application sometimes fail to correspond. As the Vallabha community grew in size and in wealth, the extravagance and opulence surrounding seva increased. It is not surprising that excess and impropriety sometimes occurred. Mahatma Gandhi, born into a Vallabhite family, did not like the "pomp and glitter" of the congregational worship and, hearing rumors of immorality, "loss all interest in it."37Associating the range of human emotional relationships with worship and devotional expression is not without its dangers.38 European missionaries of the nineteenth century, however, saw only immorality and idolatry. Scholarship has come a long way since those days, but the danger of misunderstanding remains if Vallabha's distinctive view of emotion is not understood in its ontological context.

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Vallabha claims that bhava is the preeminent abode of Krishna,who is none other than ultimate reality.39In his Anubhasya he calls the state of divinity "bhagavad-bhava."40 Connecting God with emotion makes sense when we recognize that Vallabha presents us with a process view of reality. Being, one and absolute, enters into the process of becoming. The multitude of apparently independent and individual entities, forms, qualities, and emotions are nothing in and of themselves. In reality they are partial manifestations of the ultimate, a simultaneous revealment and concealment (avirbhavatirobhava) of God's innumerable and contradictory qualities. Thus, according to Vallabha, the world is not samsara but prapanica, a real though partial manifestation out of the fullness of ultimate reality, Krishnarevealing himself through self-imposed limitations. Bridgingthe gulf that separates the world from ultimate reality (a gulf affirmed by Advaita Vedanta) secures the soteriological potency of revelation in the form of scripture, teacher, and path. Everythingin the world, insofar as it relates to the ultimate, becomes an occasion for acknowledging God. In his Nirodhalaksana, Vallabha says: ... Krishna's form is to be meditated upon continuouslywith full conviction; thus, while acting and moving[inthe worldthe devotee is]in realitycontinuously seeing and touching [the Lord].41 As an expression of loving delight the devotee participates in seva, at first perhaps only through external participation in congregational darsan of the svabhava, the form of Krishna at the center of worship. Eventually seva becomes all-inclusive because nothing in human experience, including emotion-perhaps one should say especially emotion-lies outside the path of grace revealed by Krishna. The soteriological efficacy of bhava is based on an ontology which affirmsthe reality of God, of the world, and of the relation between them. This is the suddhadvaita, the pure nondualism of Vallabha's theology; in the context of bhava it leads to a very interesting result. At the height of realization, the tension between distinction (required for diversity and devotion) and unity (the primordial nature of the absolute) is not obliterated in the silence of a qualitiless absolute; instead it leads to an alternation of identity between the devotee and God. This is hinted at in 4.11 when Krishnasays "As they seek refuge in me, I the Bhagavad CGai devote myself to them,"42and in the poetry of Kabirwho writes: Beforethe Unconditioned,the conditioned dances: "Thouand I are one."... The Gurucomes, and bows down before the disciple:Thisis the greatest of wonders.43 In the Vallabhite context, the best expression of this "wonder" occurs through sakya bhava, the emotion relationship in which the devotee is identified as a friend and close companion of Krishna.This bhava, avail-

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able only to the most advanced devotee, finds literary expressionin the
Caurasi Vaisnava ki Varta. One instance occurs in the story of the

famous blindpoet Suradasa. Sur was left alone in the temple when his servant, Gopala,went for some cow dung before fillingthe water pot. Gopala became distracted and forgot about the water. MeanwhileSutr began to eat his lunch, and while he was eating a morselstuck in his throat. Unableto call out, and in a panic, he groped for the absent water pot. Seeing the distressof his devotee, SrT Krishna, NathajT, suddenlyappeared,placinghis own pitcher near Sur, and Sur drank. When Vallabha learned of the incident, he who replied:"When Suradasabecomes excited, NathajT, questioned SrT then I get excited too. Whoever is my BhagavadTya (one who belongs to In another story, SrT Bhagavan)is my svarupa (object of devotion)."44 of the viraha, pain being separatedfrom the beloved, NathajT expresses of the absence a devotee.45 Thus,for Vallabha,a relationshipof during full reciprocitycan arise between the devotee and the Lord,and, in moments of emotional intensity,the sense of which is which may become blurred. It is clear by now why Vallabhacelebratesthe life of emotion, viewing it not as an obstacle to be overcome, but as the very center of spiritual life.What is not clear is why many Western thinkersconsiderthe emotional renunciationof Advaitaor Visistadvaita more reasonable,at least at first glance. Could it be that Western sensibilitiescorrespond more closely with these views?Advaita'selevation of knowledge over devo"silent sage," described as one who is "calm, tion, and Visistadvaita's controlled,tranquil,patient, and devoted to learning"-these views resonate with the Western characterizationand evaluation of emotion. Vallabha challenges this characterization.Likea social-constructionist Vallabhaunderstandsemotion, not as a subjectiveentity anthropologist, buried within the individualhuman psyche, but as an expression of of course, goes one step furtherthan the Vallabha, dynamic relationship. His contemporaryanthropologist. ontological insight into the nature of God, the nature of the world,and the relationbetween the two, affirms the divinityof relationship and providesa foundationfor the celebration of emotion.

NOTES

1 - These studies include: The Social Construction of Emotion, edited by Rom Harre (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986); Culture Theory: Essays on

A. Shwederand RobertA. Jeffrey edited by Richard R.Timm Mind,Self,and Emotion,

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LeVine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984); Catherine Lutz, Unnatural Emotions: Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll and Their Challenge to Western Theory (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988); and Divine Passions: The Social Construction of Emotion in India, edited by Owen M. Lynch and Pauline Kolenda (forthcoming). 2 - Lutz, Unnatural Emotions, p. 218. 3 -Ibid., p. 71. 4- William P. Allston, "Emotion and Feeling," The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York: Macmillan, 1967), vol. 2, p. 479. 5 - Robert C. Solomon, The Passions: The Myth and Nature of Human Emotions (New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976), p. 11. 6 - Michelle Z. Rosaldo, "Toward an Anthropology of Self and Feeling," in Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self, and Emotion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 143. 7 - Lutz, Unnatural Emotions, p. 223. 8 - Patrick Olivelle, Renunciation in Hinduism: A Medieval Debate, 2 vols. (Vienna: Publications of the De Nobili Research Library,1986, 1987). 9 - Olivelle, Renunciation in Hinduism, vol. 1, pp. 86-87. 10- Ibid., p. 151. 11 - Ibid., p. 152. 12 - Olivelle, Renunciation in Hinduism, vol. 2, p. 28. 13 - kutsitatvam na kvacidapi brahmavidam hrdaye bhasate.... prthagbhana eva tatha pratTteh(TVD, pp. 258-259). Note: unless otherwise indicated, translations from Sanskrit are mine. TVDis the TattvarthadTpanibandha, edited by K. N. Mishra (Varanasi: Anand Prakashan Sansthan, 1971). 14 - yo hi mucyate, sa sanghatam parityajya brahmani ITyate,brahmabhavam va prapnoti. tasya svarupanandah svarupena va anandanubhavah svatantrabhaktanamr tu gopikaditulyanam sarvendriyaih tatha'ntahkaranaih svarupena ca nanandanubhavah.ato bhaktanamr jlvanmuktyayeksaya bhagavatkrpasahitagrhasrama eva visi.yate (TVD, pp. 154-155). 15 - Lutz makes a point that seems timely in this regard. Speaking of the Western opposition of emotion and rationality, she writes: "When the emotions are valued, what was their irrationality becomes their PhilosophyEast& West mystery. The mystery of love and other emotions is then not frustrat-

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ing because unfathomably irrational, but romantic confirmation of the value of emotion in combating an overly prosaic and rationalized world" (Unnatural Emotions, p. 61). One might argue that Vallabha's affirmation of emotion in the face of the Advaita and the Visistadvaita denial embodies a similar move. 16 - This valuation of emotion is not unique to Vallabha, but he gives it a systematic, ontological basis. For example, consider the verse of Kabirwhich says: "O Sadhu!the simple union is best. there has been no end to Since the day when I met with my Lord, the sport of our love. I shut not my eyes, I close not my ears, I do not mortifymy body; I see with eyes open and smile, and behold Hisbeauty everywhere; I utter Hisname, and whatever I see, it remindsme of Him;whatever I do becomes Hisworship. (Songs of Kabir, trans. R. Tagore [New York: Samuel Weiser, 1977] pp. 88-89) 17 - The Natya Sastra is attributed to the sage Bharata and is thought to have been composed sometime between the second century B.C.E. and the second century C.E. 18 - For an explication of the rasa theory see Wm. Theodore de Bary,ed., Sources of Indian Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press), pp. 261-275. 19 - Ibid., p. 268. 20 - J. L. Masson and M. V. Patwardhan, Santarasa and Abhinavagupta's Philosophy of Aesthetics (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1969), p. vii. 21 - tatha prema api angam, tadabhave bhajanam svata.hpurusartharupam na bhavet rasabhivyaktyabhavat (TVD, p. 317). Vallabha 22 - However, it should be noted that in Anubhasya 111.3.10, brahmano Brahman is as"sarvarasatmakatvam nirmntam," i.e., says: certained as forming the nature of all rasas (cited in Chinmayi Chatterjee's Studies in the Evolution of Bhakti Cult (Calcutta: Jadavpur University Sanskrit Series, 1976), p. 123, n. 2). 23 - ratirdevadivisayin?bhava ityabhidhlyate (TVD,p. 124). 24 - The importance of proper bhava in the Vaisnava context should not be underestimated. Entwistle points out that recent studies on attitudes towards Western Vaisnavas (members of ISKCON)in Vrindavan indicate that local residents may admire the American and European devotees "fortheir endorsement of pure "Vedic" values ...

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"but there are many who doubt whether they really have the proper bhav" (Braj:Center of KrishnaPilgrimage (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1987), pp. 224-225). 25 - This understanding of bhava is also found in Bengali Vaisnavism. See Edward C. Dimock, Jr., The Place of the Hidden Moon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 20-25. However, in addition to the four bhava found in Vallabha literature, the Bengali view includes a fifth bhava, santi, translated as peacefulness or quietude. Thus, it is a "negation of emotion," or the "emotion" of emotional emptiness. Be that as it may, Vallabha does not seem interested in it as an emotion-relationship category, and its dismissal can probably help account for the lack of a Vallabhite samnyasa community. Such an ascetic group is associated with Bengali Vaisnavism. 26 - Bhagavata Purana X.45.39. 27 - Bhagavata Purana X.6.35. 28 - bhagavato'dbhutakarmatvamagre vyutpadyam, asadhanam sadhanam karotityadi (TVD, p. 6). 29- asanyasya harervapi sevaya devabhavatah. indriyanam ... (TVD, p. 109). 30 - RichardBarz, The Bhakti Sect of Vallabhacarya (India:Thomson Press, 1976), p. 92. 31 - See James D. Redington, Vallabhacarya on the Love Games of Krsna (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983), and R. S. McGregor, Nanddas: The Round Dance of Krishna and Uddhav's Message (London: Luzac & Company, 1973), for a fuller account of how the Vallabha comtheme. munity has incorporated the rasa ITIa 32 - Thus viraha, the pain of separation, is an "emotion concept" in Lutz' sense. She says that "... discrete emotion concepts, like all concepts, have nested within them a cluster of images or propositions. We recognize the existence of an emotion by the occurrence of a certain limited number of events that those images or propositions depict.... In each cultural community there will be one or more "scenes" identified as prototypic or classic or best examples of particular emotions" (Lutz, Unnatural Emotions, p. 211). In the Vallabha community the rasa ITla represents one such scene. 33 - According to traditional cosmic chronology, the present age, kaliyuga, is the fourth and final in the great cycle of time (mahayuga). As such it represents a period of decadence and diminished spiritual capacity. PhilosophyEast& West 34 - brahmakanidejnanasiddhyartham upasanah nirupyante. taccittasud-

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dhidvaraiva iti kecit; phaladanadvara mjhatmyapratipadanena bhaktidvara iti siddhantah (TVD pp. 40-41). 35 - Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922), vol. 4, p. 351. 36 - ... tadavirbhave eva phalam siddhyati iti avirbhavairtham premsevam nirupayanti... (TVD, p. 128). 37Homer A. Jack, ed., The Gandhi Reader (New York: Grove Press, 1961), p. 14.

38 - Moral transgressions of several nineteenth-century Vallabhite leaders received great attention in the Indian English press. The situation reached its peak during the 1862 libel trial, which exposed some unseemly behavior on the part of a Vallabha leader in Bombay. Unfortunately, the negative publicity generated by the trial continued to affect Western perceptions well into the twentieth century. 39 - Amit Ambalal, in his book, Krishna as Shrinathji (New York: Mapin International, 1987), attributes the following quote to Vallabha: "He dwells not in wood, in clay or in stone; in bhava He dwells, [Krishna] which holds the first place of all ..." (p. 49). 40 - Chatterjee, Studies, p. 120. 41 - harimurtih sada dhyeya samkalpadapi tatra hi. darsanam sparsanam spastam tatha krtigat sada (Nirodhalaksana, verse 17). 42 - Barbara Stoler Miller, trans., The Bhagavad Cita (New York: Bantam Books, 1986), p. 50. 43 - Tagore, trans., Songs of Kabir,pp. 76-77. 44 - Barz, Bhakti Sect, pp. 125-127. 45 - In the story of Kumbhanadasa (ibid., p. 186).

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