Dance of Divine Love is a translation of the sacred Hindu text, Rasa Lila. The main pretext of this ancient Hindi story is that Krishna beings to play his flute in the woods, drawing out women from all around. They dance, sing and rejoice in Krishna’s presence. Soon however Krishna detects arrogance among them and leaves them. He later returns to show them that he loves them all equally and that he has always been with them all, making none of them better than the others or those that are not there. When Krishna returns he manifests himself in numerous ways so that he can dance with each of them at the same time, and then begin to form a circle with Krishna dancing with his most beloved Gopi Radha.
This circle allows all of the Gopis to see and experience Krishna at the same time. It is very similar to the use of circle in the ritual performances of tribal cultures, especially as we saw in class through the movie The Bounty. We saw how the ritual was being performed inside the circle. And that the shape of the circle was conducive to letting even those on the outside become a part of the ritual. Even as Mel Gibson’s crew watched the ritual dancers, unbeknownst to them, they were becoming part of the ritual the natives were enacting. They all were at the outer edge of the ritual and no one was pushed back into any kind of corner, allowing everyone an equal view of the dance, and equal ability to hear the music, singing, and chanting. In this way just like all the Gopis were able to experience Krishna at once both through his divine powers and through the use of circle so were the bystanders of the native’s ritual in The Bounty. Although, Krishna did use divine power to help all the Gopis feel connected to him, the circle is a symbol of the all pervading use of this divine power and further emphasizes the point.
It is also symbolic of the derived use of them semi-circle in theater, as originated by the Greeks. The ancient Greeks altered the tribal circle slightly by changing it into a semi-circle. This concept was used in theater to: better center the attention on the main act, and create better vocals, while still keeping the same involvement the tribal ritual method used. This is resonated in the Rasa Lila by Krishna focusing himself with Radha at the center of the circle, showing an attempt to center the attention on the middle of the circle. Also as the other divinities gather around in the sky they form a semicircle to watch the events. This event is very much like the Greek orchestra.
In both instances the people around the circle or semicircle are participating vicariously in both the tribal ritual and the Rasa Lila.
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Joanna Andrusko
I read that book as well for my Hinduism class and I found the most interesting part of that book to be the ability for the gopis to experience life with mortals and with the divine at the same time. That seems to be a common element in the Lakota tradition as well. I was reading more into the practice of the Sioux where they enter the sweat lodges, essentially steam-filled cabins. They were talking about how often more than one person can go in and the two may even interact but they will also both acknowledge that the other one is experiencing the divine at the same time. And there is an understanding that one's experience may be entirely different than another's. Each person is entitled to experience the divine how and will she may. They are not limited to that practice either, some practice a form almost like meditation in the wilderness. Their God is not limited to set practices, to set traditions, to set customs. I think that element is true in Christianity but it is not celebrated the way it is in primal religions. We feel almost heretical seeing God in nature, outside of His church. Why do modern communities often feel they must set boundaries on the divine? Wouldn't that be a more heretical statement?
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