Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/66

 THE BENGAL BHAKTI CULT 51 non-material or spiritual. They are called the measure ( matra ) of all material objects. These exist eternally realised and perfect in Shree Krishna, as the Object ol our senses. They are organised in the Being of the Lord. Therefore, the eternal and universal objective of all our sense-organs is really not the particularities of our sense-experiences, but as objects that exist eternall3^ realised in the very Being of the Lord Himself. This is the postulate that stands behind the definition of Bhakti as the worship or the service of the Lord through our senses. This is the impli- cation of the injunction that for the realisation of this ideal of Bhakti the senses must be purified not bj" negative methods of popular mediaeval repressions and renunciations but through their idealisation and spirituali- sation in the consciousness of the working and presence of Shree Bhagavan or Shree Krishna inside our sense-organs on the one hand, and in all sense-objects, on the other. This consciousness must necessarily’- cure all conceits of our individual ownership in our senses. It must also necessarily cure all self-regarding desires as a sin against the Lord Himself, and as suicidal to our own highest realisation of our sense-activities and sense-enjoyment as well.