A mística devocional (Bhakti) como experiência estética (rasa): um estudo do Bhakti-Rasāmrta-Sindhu de Rūpa Gosvāmī

Abstract

The Hinduism witnessed in the sixteenth century the consolidation of the devotional tradition (bhakti), which was expressed especially through the Vaiṣṇavism. This movement has spread across the Indian subcontinent and had as one of its main characters Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486-1533). The tradition established by Caitanya had the great mystic, philosopher and poet Rūpa Gosvāmī (1489-1564) as one of his greatest theological expressions. Rūpa Gosvāmī has integrated the concept of aesthetic experience (rasa), while essentialization of emotions, developed by Bharata Muni, the systematizer of the scenic and poetic arts of India, with the concept of loving mystical or bhakti. Different traditions of aesthetic and religious theories paved the way for Rūpa Gosvāmī to develop a salvific dimension establishing the emotional devotion as an aesthetic experience (bhaktirasa). The reasons for this original development, which climaxes in the Bhakti-rasāmṛtasindhu work – the main object of this thesis – is deeply rooted in the Vedic tradition of the Upaniṣads, in Vaiṣṇava Tantras and Purāṇas. Rūpa Gosvāmī in the tradition of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, better known as Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, identified the devotional emotion (bhakti-rasa) as the way and perfeccional condition of existence, understood as a relationship of pure love for Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-prema-bhakti).