Absent and Present

The second chapter initiates the comparative readings by examining the dynamics of absence and presence through the lenses of poetry and theological meaning. Read together, the Cántico and Rāsa Līlā bring into focus the capacity of poetry to evoke the presence of God. But in the two poems most of such evocations take place not through descriptive narratives but through intimations of God’s presence when he is not obviously there. The two sections that comprise this second chapter—“Singing the Absent God” and “Looking for God in Nature”—examine the means by which the Cántico’s female lover (the Amada) and Kṛṣṇa’s lovers (the gopīs) search for their hidden lovers and invoke his presence. In their commentaries, John and the Gauḍīya theologians explain God’s absence and presence as the two sides of the coin of God’s love.