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Liberation and desire
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Goddard, Eileen Lucille. Liberation and desire. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-eyz6-qe34

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TitleLiberation and desire
NameGoddard, Eileen Lucille (author); Bryant, Edwin F (chair); Rutgers University; School of Graduate Studies
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-05 (degree)
SubjectYoga, Rāsa literature, Religious Studies
Extent1 online resource (iv, 54 pages)
DescriptionThis thesis prioritizes the use of Sanskrit primary texts and adopts a philological and comparative philosophical methodology. It investigates the relationship between the enlightened mental state which occurs penultimately to liberation in relationship to the experience of liberation itself, through the lens of desire. The desire for liberation plays a key role in praxis for the Yoga, Nyāya, and Advaita Vedānta schools. However, all desire must be eliminated prior to liberation, which is then understood as a passive and inactive state. By contrast, the 16th century Vraja traditions of Kṛṣṇa bhakti consider both the penultimate enlightened mental state and liberation to be active states, characterized by personal and eternal devotional desire for God. Kṛṣṇa theologian Rūpa Gosvāmi draws on the work of previous rasa theorists in order to establish his unique aesthetic-religious understanding of rasa, which is synonymous with liberation. The correlated siddha-deha doctrine postulates the eternal embodiment of a liberated Kṛṣṇa devotee in a brahman body composed of consciousness and bliss. This thesis culminates in a detailed analysis of potential origins of this perfected eternal body, ultimately suggesting two divergent theories. While each theory provides potential insights, each also raises further questions about whether devotional desire can activate, shape, and sustain the state of liberation.
NoteM.A.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD graduate
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-eyz6-qe34
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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