Jagat

  Although Krishna is generally thought of as an adolescent, sometimes This picture follows the idea that Krishna was only 11 years old when he left Vrindavan, as stated in the Bhāgavatam: tato nanda-vrajam itaḥ pitrā kaṁsād vibibhyatā | ekādaśa samās tatra gūḍhārciḥ sa-balo’vasat || Thereafter, His father, out fear of Kaṁsa, carried Him from prison to Nanda’s Vraja. He lived there with Balarāma for eleven years, like a hidden fire. (3.2.26)

A major insight of Bharata Muni in the Natya Shastra is the statement: “There is no communication of any meaning without rasa.” ( na rasād ṛte kaścid arthaḥ pravartate ) This has been more or less at the bottom of my thinking over the past few days, as I have been doing a prolonged manana on the concept of the vicāra-mārga and the ruci-mārgas that Jiva Goswami talks about throughout the Bhakti-sandarbha [See esp. Anu. 202]. In fact, if anything at all, the bhakti path itself is a consequence of understanding that the sentiments are far more powerful than the intellect. If you can communicate to the sentiments, then the intellect will follow. Barely anyone is so devoted to the truth that they currently possess they will not compromise it for a reward, if it is nice and sweet. But the point of bhakti is that it is a higher taste -- one that uplifts. It is one that has a message that makes one strive to be a better human being, according to the concept of what it is to be a Vaish...