66 BENGAL VAISHNAVISM ethical disciplines and the exercise of that religious imagination — which is the soul of all hhahti — are, therefore, an essential pre-condition of the Yaishnavic bhakti. The most distinguishing character of the bhakti cult of Bengal is what may be called its vicariousness. The cultivation of this vicarious sentiment in the pursuit of the romantic love of God or the realisation of the four ms«-s in relation to the Lord is necessary for the cure of all self-regarding desires in the enjoyment of these romantic experiences. This is the only way to the complete elimination of the senses and the sensuous from our actual enjoyments and exultations of the romantic affections or rasas. When Emerson wrote : “I thank yc, o young excellent lovers, ye keep the world yoving for me,” he must have referred to this vicarious character of all selfless romance. It is not reallj^ outside even our ordinary experiences. When we enjoy the wooing of ovtr sons and daughters and feel a resurrection of our own past youth in their romances, we realise this vicariousness. This is a common experience of all those who have been able to rise above the lowest animal plane. In these vicarious experiences there is absolutely
