MahaRass
The great dance of Mystic love
The union of individual souls with the absolute, where the distinction of the souls and absolute soul is destroyed, and the soul feels it is verily the absolute soul. To put it another way, when the soul’s own existence merges into the lotus feet of Godhead. Then what’s left is only absolute soul but many devotees don’t like to gain salvation by loosing their existence in the way as the poet Tulsidas says he who worships true virtue seeks not salvation because their emotional essence in the relationship of love which is the joy of life and pain of separation the polygamy of lovers’ complaints. The charm of mock quarrels and wooing where is such joy once you gain salvation so the relationship of these souls and Krishna is that of the lover and the beloved wants her lover to be only hers and his love should be only for her she does not want to share love. Similarly all the women dancing the Maharas each of them has her own Krishna . The hidden meaning of Mahras is that every individual soul has its own absolute soul with whom it is eternally engaged in playful union. As keep a hundred pots filled with water you see the sun reflected separately in every pot and every pot thinks the sun belongs only to it because the sun is inside it and nowhere else. This is the offering of devotion as love this is the great cosmic dance that goes on in creation eternally, Every atom of creation experiences this. This is the great dance of mystic level the share dance, and followers rejoice all the four directions resound to the flute echo (reverberation) spiritual awakening blossoms in every heart. This signifies coexistence of hedonism and Asceticism is innate parts of each other.
The root of the word Rass is Ras or emotional essence. Shree Krishna embodies this essence that I am the essence of all: the lord’s beloved Goddess Radha is Parkrity(Nature) and innate spiritual power. krishna is cosmic man and absolute soul and Brindawan(MahaRass performed in Brindawan, a town in India UP) is the thousand petals lotus and milkmaids are multiple facts of the heart, the pure sweet melody is flute is the vital primeval sound, the ascetic hears. Heance, when love rites are described, it has to be portrayed in human terms. As the poet Surdas says, when Radha and Krishna comes into the forest, they talk and walk with hands in hands and exchanges their appearances and voices. Radha makes herself in Krishna’s dress and Krishna makes himself as Radha. The interchange of their roles between Radha and Krishna is widely depicted in paintings. This is divine love, can’t be portrayed without physical depiction of love.
Some research scholars say earlier Radha and Krishna were worshiped separately. The worship of their conjoined dual image is a legacy of Nimbark tradition. The great philosopher Dr. Radhkrishnan(one of the President of India) writes Krishna and Radha takes place of Narayana and his Consort. Dr. Radhakrishnan says a very significant thing later on Bhakti that Bhakti is neither mediation nor ritual worship but Bhakti is love and devotion. He clearly makes a distinctions between meditation and devotion. It is very significant, this proves that ritual worship is not devotion, but devotion is symbol of love and Radha is the complete embodiment of love. -View of Ramanand Sagar
Krsna's rasa dance should never be compared with any kind of material dance, such as a ball dance or a society dance. The rasa dance is a completely spiritual performance. In order to establish this fact, Krsna, the supreme mystic, expanded Himself in many forms and stood beside each gopi. Placing His hands on the shoulders of the gopis on both sides of Him, He began to dance in their midst. The mystic expansions of Krsna were not perceived by the gopis because Krsna appeared alone to each of them. Each gopi thought that Krsna was dancing with her alone. Above that wonderful dance flew many airplanes carrying the denizens of the heavenly planets, who were very anxious to see the wonderful dance of Krsna with the gopis. The Gandharvas and the Kinnaras began to sing, and, accompanied by their respective wives, all the Gandharvas began to shower flowers on the dancers. Words from George Harrison
