Rasas in Divine Relationships

Rasas are emotions, the plethora of feelings experienced by our gods, fellow humans, and even our
mighty animal kingdom. It transforms an external experience into an internal feeling, which in turn
enables us to form our society, our relations, and eventually ourselves. Each of us can be described
by features dominated by a single emotion or a combination of emotions. Thus, it is safe to say
that essentially rasa is in everything and everything has rasa—our everyday, our vulnerabilities, our
struggles, and most of all our triumphs. Sadly, our hectic lifestyles are driving us farther away from
our abilities to express and experience our emotions freely. Bounded by social restrictions, we, the
new, modern humans, are allowing ourselves to be held back by our liabilities.

In an effort to break these bondages, Rasas in Divine Relationships uniquely interweaves the concept
of emotions, rasas, from the Natya Shastra (a treatise on the performing arts) and the lives and
stories of deific couples, to lead as examples. These larger-than-life characters with extraordinary
qualities, upon whom we mortals base our belief system, are depicted as being vulnerable to some
of the base desires and vices, thereby making them relatable for the present generations.