Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/50

 THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE 36 wheel of the Ultimate All-Good. It accepts, however, the essential point in asceticism, which is meant to secure the freedom of the spirit from the domination of the flesh. Yaishnavic discipline seeks to secure this free- dom by consecrating all our senses and our domestic and social relations to the Lord. When the conceit of our personality or indi- viduality is completely cured, and with the elimination of all self-regarding desires in the pursuit of our sense-life and the pleasures and obligations of the domestic and social relations, these are completely transfigured as the leelOf or the sport of the Lord Himself, the Yaishnavic ideal is realised, so far as such realisation of the Absolute is possible within the limitations of man’s earthly life. To sum up, the Absolute or the Ultimate Reality in Bengal Yaishnavic thought is not nirakara or formless — a mere abstraction or generalisation of our experiences but is a Concrete Reality. Asa Person He stands differ- entiated from all other objects and persons in creation. Therefore, He has necessary notes and marks constituting the elements of this differentiation. These notes and marks are fundamental and necessai-y ele- ments of what we understand by form or