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Devotion in the Bhāgavata Purāna and Christian Love: Bhakti, Agape, Eros
Abstract
The Bhāgavata Purāna, a ninth century encyclopedic Hindu text, combines Vedantic non-dualism and Vaiṣnava devotionalism or loveofGod. Its non-dualism accommodates the reality of the universe with its individual selves in the all-encompassing realityofGod. The BhP has two formsofdevotion: one is a meditation which absorbs the devotee within the unityofGod's reality; the other is an ecstasy which glories in separation from God in order to love God more. The Eros-Agape motif is used to compare this tradition of the loveofGod with thoseofChristianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Like them, the BhP stresses the personhoodofGod; unlike them, it stresses an ontological, not a mystical or spiritual, unionofDeity and devotee.
Love for God as an actual concrete activity of a human being is sometimes obscured in contemporary American Christian culture. This essay studies the role of maternal affection for the divine child Krsna, humanly embodied as a male child, in order to serve as a cross-cultural catalyst for the traditions of Christian love for Christ. The focus is the tenth-century Hindu Vaisnava text, the Bhagavata Purana. Vaisnavas promote the experience of loving God through imaginative participation in narratives of Krsna’s loves and by identification with human women who loved him, particularly his mothers. They are the exemplars of a maternal love for a divine child. This imaginative participation and identification is open to both men and women. This study illustrates the roles of gender, narrative, and imagination in the experience of loving God with one’s whole heart, soul, and might.
This thesis argues that for the two chosen mystics, Mantak Chia (Taoist) and William Blake (Christian), sexual feeling (energy) is vital for developing the mystical consciousness necessary to arrive at an end state of ‘unity’. Their alchemical systems are broken down into a tripartite model that represents the whole person. Both tripartite models incorporate the brain, heart and sexual regions. Ultimately, this thesis shows that within their alchemical systems, sexual feelings play a role as a vital ingredient, starting point and catalyst in producing the end state of 'unity'. This conclusion is based on a critical comparative analysis of their respective practices and poetry using primary accounts and secondary literary sources. The thesis also comments briefly on the implications of their systems for an aspirant leading a chaste or married life.
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