Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/67

 62 BENGAL VAISHNAVISM The definition of Shakti as the service of the Lord of the senses with the senses points to the waj" of yoga or the realisation of the presence and operation of the Lord in this world of sense-objects on the one side, and in our sense-organs on the other. This may even be the Bhakti of the Samkara- Vedanta school. The Samkara-Yedanteen also strives to realise the presence of Brahman in every object as well as in his senses themselves. This is the union of conciousness or jnana- yoga. But Bhakti as realised by the Bengal school is not merely the Union of Conscious- ness or the realisation of Brahman in all objects as well as in the senses through which we cognise them, but the Union of Love, which means the union of the devotee with the Lord in all His passions or desires and activities. This is a concrete and more com- plete union. This union is possible only on the plane of love. Mere consciousness of the Universal Presence of the Lord cannot bring it about, particularly as that consciousness may be the result of abstraction, the Lord Himself being realised as what is called the Abstract Universal or the Nirgwna Brahman of our ancient theology. The union, which is the ideal of Bhakti or Love of God, as realised