155. ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF ÆSTHETICS 175

ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF ÆSTHETICS 175

is characterised by total absence of such a fact. It is purely subjective.

This point may be clarified as follows :-

Amorous sport, in the world of reality, is a thing between two persons of opposite sexes in a state of infatua- tion. It represents the culmination of the stream of pleasant experiences. The beautiful world, presented by a poet, has no reality of the ordinary world inasmuch as it is purely imagi- nary. In this world of imagination there is no insentient object of enjoyment as in the ordinary world of reality. The culminating point in the stream of enjoyment is presented, not by physical union of the two in love, but in the spiritual union of two groups of ideas, which consists in mutual1 merging of the two in each other so as to lose duality. It is such a love as makes the couple look upon each other as the very life. It is just what Rāma says in separation from Sita "My effort of breahing is a mockery, Janakī is my life". It is dedication of the whole being of the lover to his object of love.

we keep this conception of Rati in mind, we shall at once realise that Vatsalya, which is admitted by some to be an independent Rasa, with tenderness as its basic mental state, is nothing but Srngara and tenderness is nothing but Rati, inasmuch as Sneha consists in completely merging one's being into another and, therefore, is essentially Rati. For instance, a son, towards whom his father has tenderness, if it is true, will ultimately express itself in looking upon the son as the very life of himself and in deny- ing to himself everything for the sake of the son i.e. completely merging his whole being into that of the son.

1. A. Bh., Vol. I., 303.