Raas, the dance of celebration, is the most profound
attribute of the mighty stream of creation The whole of life is a meeting of
contradictory forces, and that all its happiness comes from this union of the
opposites. The very mystery and ecstasy of life lies hidden in this unio
mystica, Raasleela, the dance of celebration.
Raas has a universal meaning; it has
a cosmic connotation and significance.
Firstly, the meeting of opposite energies is the cornerstone
of all creation, of the universe. This division of energy is at the root of all
creation. When the same energy becomes one, when it returns to its primordial
state, total destruction, the ending of the universe happens. And when the same
energy again divides itself into two, creation begins a new.
Without
the meeting of the two, creation is impossible. So we have to go into the
significance of Krishna’s raas in this context.
Krishna’s raas with the milkmaids of his
village is not an ordinary dance, on a small scale it really represents the
universal dance of creation that goes on and on. It epitomizes the everlasting
drama of the making and unmaking of the universe.
It
is for this reason that Krishna’s maharaas
ceases to have a sexual connotation. Not that it prohibits any sexual
interpretation, but for certain, sex has been left far behind. In reality
Krishna does not dance as a mere Krishna, he
represents her, the whole of the male element in creation, known in Sanskrit as
purusha. And similarly the gopis represent the entire female element, prakriti.
The maharaas represents the combined dance of prakriti and purusha.
People
who take the maharaas as a sexual representation of life are mistaken; they
really don’t understand it. To put it rightly, it is a dance of the meeting of
the male and female energies, of purusha and prakriti. It has nothing to do
with any individual man and woman; it represents the mighty cosmic dance. It is
because of this that a single Krishna dances
with any number of gopis. Ordinarily it is not possible for a single man to
dance with many women at a time. Ordinarily no man can be in love with many
women together, but Krishna does it, and does
it beautifully. It is amazing that every milkmaid, every gopi taking part in
the maharaas, believes that Krishna is dancing
with her, that he is hers. It seems Krishna has turned into a thousand Krishnas so that he pairs off with each of the thousand
women present there.It is utterly wrong to take the maharaas, the celebration
dance of Krishna, as that of an individual
person. Krishna is not a person here; he
represents the great male energy, purusha. The maharaas is a representation in
dance of the great meeting between male and female energies.
But
the question is: Why only dance is chosen as a medium for this representation? Nothing
can express it better than dance. Dance is the most primitive form of human
language, because when man had not yet learned to speak, he spoke through
gestures. To me, the great raas happening in infinite space, with millions of
stars like the sun and moon dancing rhythmically, is not an ordinary dance. In a sense it should
be described as overflowing bliss. There is such an abundance of bliss in the
heart of existence that it is flowing, overflowing. That is what we call the
river of existence. The presence of the polar opposites in the universe
facilitates its flow.
Man alone
cannot flow; he needs the presence of woman. Without the woman man is inhibited
and closed. In the same way, without man the woman is inhibited and closed.
Their togetherness causes their energies to spring into the form of love. What
we know as love between man and woman is nothing but the flowing of yin and yang
together. And this love, if it is not personalized, can have great spiritual
significance. The attraction of man and woman for each other is what brings them
together so that their latent energies flow into the stream of love and life.
That is why a man feels relaxed with a woman and a woman feels at ease with a
man. Separated and alone they feel tense and anxious; coming together they feel
as light as feathers, weightless. In this interplay of energies, which is raas,
And this dance of male and female energies together brings deep contentment and
bliss; it turns into an outpouring of joy and bliss.
Although
Krishna and his girlfriends are no more with us as
people, the moon and the stars under which they danced together are still with
us, and so are the trees and the hills and the earth and the skies that were
once so drunk with the bliss of the raas. So, although millenia have passed,
the vibes of the maharaas are still with us.
Now scientists have come forward with a strange theory. They
say although people come and go, the subtle vibes of their lives and their
living remain suffused in existence forever. If someone goes to dance on the
grounds where Krishna once danced with his
gopis he can hear the echoes of the maharaas even today. If someone can play a
flute near the hills that in the past echoed with the music of Krishna’s
flute, he can hear those hills still echoing it, everlastingly.
In my
view, the raas symbolizes the overflowing, outpouring of the primeval energy as
it is divided between man and woman. And if we accept this definition, the raas
is as relevant today as it was in the times of Krishna.
Then it is everlastingly relevant.
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