About Rasa-Lila

The Rasa-Lila Dance is probably the most renown and simultaneously esoteric “divine play” from the life and story of Krishna, a form of God popular throughout India. Within the play Krishna lures the cowherd damsels, the gopis, to Him by His all-attractive nature and enchanting flute. Each gopi is secretly madly in love with Krishna although they have other things to attend to and are married to other men, including Radha, Krishna’s beloved counterpart. The gopis and Radha are madly in love with Krishna because Krishna is not an ordinary person, He is God, Beauty and Love incarnate. The gopis love of Krishna are pure-hearted and innocent and they love to serve and attend to Him and Radha in a spirit of devotion. Thus the gopis in the life of Krishna represent the highest potential for any individual soul, and the Rasa-Lila Dance is the most sacred and beautiful “act” any individual soul can experience. The Rasa-Lila Dance inevitably becomes a representation of the soul’s eternal longing: the intimate personal relationship with God.

rasa-dance

As legend goes Krishna, being capable of doing any inconceivable act, duplicates Himself many times over so He can dance with each gopi in the moonlight personally. Knowing everything, He dances with each gopi exactly as each gopi secretly hopes to dance with Him in tthe depths of heir hearts, and so many gopis and Krishnas encircle Radha-Krishna (God & Goddess) and dance for an incomprehensible time, in perfect harmony, like a beautiful lotus flower. The sight being so inconceivably beautiful is showered with flower petals from the demigods who have all gathered to watch from the clouds above.

This treasured legend is considered by many Krishna devotees to be the most secret and confidential “play” in Krishna’s life. The notion that the Rasa-Lila (which literally means play of beauty) is alike any mundane human nature is not accepted. Rather, it is a depiction and symbolic of an entirely spiritual deeply profound existence. It shows the souls original nature, in perfect harmony and relation to one another and to our Eternal Beloved. It is the actual portrayal and enactment of eternal Divine Love, Grace, Mercy. The truth that each soul has an eternal loving personal relationship with their Beloved is given.

Apollo & the Muses in the Ring Dance

Apollo & the Muses in the Ring Dance

Because the Rasa-Lila Dance is a testament to the eternal reality of Love, and this Love is actually the foundation of everything, spiritual and material, everything is formed out of Its image, and are child of It. Even the material nature (the physical universe), which is a temporary perverted reflection of the spiritual nature carries resemblance and is made in the image of the Divine Dance. Therefore we see, from the highest perspective, from the perspective of our soul, that everything in the physical universe is also beautiful, sacred and in perfect harmony with itself. We can move to or from any point in the microcosm or the macrocosm, within or without, mentally, physically, or emotionally we will discover the qualities and symptoms of the Dance of Divine Love; Balance, duality, movement, flavor, inherent beauty is there. So whether we are looking at the stars, at ourselves, our relationships, at energy, the seasons, the elements, the change we can view it from the perspective of being a sacred part and parcel of Love. In this way we can understand the fundamental basis of our connection to everything and everyone, in Love, and strive to actualize our highest potential to personally and tangibly know that Love Eternal ourselves.

 

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  1. John D Haynes June 21, 2016
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