EROTIC MYSTICISM

Edward C. Dimock, Jr., The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal (Chicago & London: U. of Chicago Press, 1966) (From the bookjacket: "The dichotomy between sensual and ascetic is prominent in Indian as well as Western culture. Attempts have been made to incorporate the sensual and the erotic into Indian religion, especially by certain cults, in a way which has hardly occurred in the West, although there are suggestions of it in the cult of the troubadours." "The Vaisnava-sahajiva cult that arose on Bengal the sixteenth century was an intensely emotional attempt to reconcile the spirit and flesh. Edward C. Dimock, Jr., here partially lifts the veil from an obscure religious phenomenon in a study that will appeal to students of the history of religion as well as of Indian culture." "The Sahajiya, unlike the orthodox Vaisnava, not only exalted 'love in separation,' but even considered marriage as profane, poetically and doctrinally. They held that the union of the human and the divine was literally possible, that 'ultimately one can pass even beyond the pleasure of actual union . . . and know the divine joy entirely within one's self.'"  'The sect was viewed with disfavor by the society at large, an attitude heightened by its contempt for  social opinion and its esoteric emphasis. It was secretive on principle, with the doctrine and ritual transmitted exclusively from guru to disciple. The sources of our knowledge of the sect includes hundreds of poems written by numerous poets using the name 'Candidas.' Mr. Dimock has skilfully sorted out the many bards both in time and in their relationship to the cult.").