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SAHRDAYĀLOKA upārjanā”di-vigha-bahulād, yogi-pratyayāc ca visayā"svāda-sūnyatā-parusad vilaksaņā”kāra-sukha-duḥkhā"di-vicitra-vāsanánuvedhópanata-hrdayátis'aya-samviccarvaņā”tmanā bhuñjate budhāḥ...."
“Aesthetic enjoyment consists in the tasting of one's own consciousness; this tasting is endowed with extreme pleasantness (beauty), which it obtains from a contact with the various latent traces of pleasure, pain, etc. It differs both from ordinary perception, which is full of obstacles (pragmatic requirements, etc.), and from the perception of the yogins, which is not free from harshness, on account of total lack of any tasting of external objects.” Thus by comparison with the aesthetic experience, the compact homogeneity (eka-ghanatā) of mystical experience possesses a certain harshness. Its pursuit, that is to say, calls for uncommon force and energy (cf. the concept of vīra, hero). Aesthetic experience, on the other hand, is easily attained. It is particulary suitable to people endowed with a “gentle mind."- (sukumāra-mati). In the Dh. Ā. L., p. 51, A. G. defines Rasa in the following terms :
śabda-samarpyamāņa-hțdaya-samvāda-sundara-vibhāvánubhāva-samucitaprāgvinivișa-ratyā"di-vāsanánurāga-sukumāra -sva-samvid ānanda-carvaņā-vyāpārarasanīya -rūpo rasaḥ.”-“Rasa is tasted through the act of tasting the beatitude of one's own consciousness. This tasting is pleasant (and not parusa as in mystic experience) in that the consciousness is coloured by the latent traces of the mental states of delight, etc., pre-existing in the minds of the spectators). Such traces are aroused by the corresponding determinants and consequents-which pleasant (beautiful, etc.,) by virtue of the consent of the heart-are afforded by the words." cf. Dh. Ā. L., p. 81 -
anubhāva-vibhāváva-bodhanóttaram eva tanmayībhavana-yuktyā tadvibhāvánubhāvócita-citta-vștti-vāsanánurañjita-sva-samvidānandacarvaņāgocarórtho rasā”tmā sphuraty eva..."
Gnoli, in ft. note 1, on pp. 84 also notices H.C.'s modification and enlargement of A.bh.s passage as quoted above. He observes : “This passage has been somewhat modified and enlarged by Hemacandra (see the critical Apparatus) :" Here, on the
ontrary, because of the absence [of the sensations of pleasure, pain, etc.) as inhering exclusively in our own person, we are not at the mercy of the [adored] object; because of an active participation in our own self [and] the absence (of the aforementioned sensations) as inhering exclusively in other persons, there is no lack of evidence; and because of the immersion in the latent traces of our own
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