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WHO SEEKS NIRVANA?
ing allure of the world and worshiping with single-pointed attention the formless Brahiman-Ātman; to the Tántric, however-as to the normal child of the world--this notion seems pathological, the wiong-headed effect of a certain malady of intellect. By the true lover of the Goddess, not merely the secking of liberation but even its attainment is not desired. For what is the use of salvation if it means absorption? "I like cating sugar," as Rāmprasād said, “but I have no desire to become sugar." 17 Let those who suffer from the toils of sainsīra seek release: the perfect devotee does not suffer; for he can both visualize and experience life and the universe as the revelation of that Supreme Divine Force (sakli) with which he is in love, the allcomprehensive Divine Being in its cosmic aspect of playful, aimless display (lila)—which precipitates pain as well as joy, but in its bliss transcends them both. He is filled with the holy madness of that “ecstatic love” (prema) which transmutes the world.
This very world is a mansion of mirth; Here I can cat, here drink and make merry.18
Artha (prosperity), kāma (the fulfillment of sensual desires), dharma (the enactment of the religious and moral rituals of everyday lise, with an acceptance of the burden of all the duties), and mokṣa (release from it all) are one. The polarity of mokșa and the trivarga 19 is transcended and dissolved not in introverted realization alone, but in living feeling as well. By virtue of his talent of love for the merciful Goddess, the true devotee discovers that the fourfold fruit of artha, kāma, dharma, and mokșa falls into the palm of his hand.
17 Supra, p. 561; cf. E. J. Thompson, “A Poet of the People," The London Quarterly Review, CXXX, Fifth Series, XVI (July-October, 1918). p. 71.
18 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 139. 19 Cf. supra, p. 41.
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