What is viraha? A sense of the void stemming from unslaked longing: on one side, we have the void (abhava); on the other, a simultaneous sense of fulfillment (bhava). The reason is that no sooner does the yearning reach its acme of intensity, than the hiatus that stands between--of space and time and what not--is annihilated, leading to attainment (prapti). With every attainment the aspirant’s receptivity grows, whereafter the soul cries out once agin: “I want more, indeed, still more!” As a result, the attainment fails to retain its native status and a new quest begins. How to put a term to the Termless? In the infinite lila of love one meets with a new attainment with each new approach: one attains and yet feels as though one has failed to attain, one sees and yet feels as though one has not seen enough, and so the pilgrimage to the infinite continues everlastingly. A new savor accrues at every bend: the infinite delight(rasa) has infinite lilts, so the journey knows no end.
And yet there is an end to everything--everytime and everywhere, for how can motion outpace the Eternal Poise--the imperturbable, the tranquil?
Nonetheless, motion, too, is a reality wherefore the center of every milan is ever-resonant with the melody of viraha: the lila of the Infinite comes floating, unimpeded, into each finite entity. The drop in the Deep and the Deep in the drop are both true--at one and the same time.
Just as the pain of viraha lurks at the heart of milan, so the anguish of viraha outflowers as the eternal bliss of Mahamilan, the Last Mergence. At the point of this final dissolution in the Timeless, the drop and the Deep become, indeed, one; but in the lila in Time a gulf still persists which, even when bridged, seems unbridgeable. In other words, at every clasp of milan, even when a part of the hiatus is spanned, a part still survives which never comes to an end in endless Time. The attainment (prapti) does, indeed, come, but only to be overtaken by the void (abhava) once more so that the quest can start over again. Fulfillment and frustration (bhava and abhava) are equally indispensable to the continuance of the Play. This is the glorious glory of Mahabhava, the Identity in time: even when one attains, the longing for attainment remains unfulfilled: even when one sees, the thirst for seeing says unslaked.
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