Viraha is longing. To feel the emotion of separation.

It is the ultimate test of love (Bhav)

To like somebody when he is there in front of you is easier, but the real test of our love is when the Pritam, the beloved is not there and then we remember and long for him, to such a degree that our mind is filled with the remeberance of the time spent together, his words, his achtions, his face, and always the heart feels heavy as to when shall we meet again. We may do other work, but our heart and mind is not in them.

That is Viraha Agni. The fire of longing. It burns away all our sansarik aham and mamatva. So Shri Vallabh is also known by Viraha-anubhavaikartha-Sarva- Tyag-Updeshka.

In our laukik relations, when we newly fall in love, we may feel the separation to some extent. But as time passes, we just act out our respective parts when in the company of each other. The emotion that we earlier used to feel goes on decreasing with time.

But in relations with Shri Thakurji, Seva in sanmukh and reading Bhagvad Varta in anavsar, naturally go on increasing our Bhav for Shri Thakurji, which in turn also increases our Viraha bhav for him.

Nanddasji has so beautifully rendered in words the different types of viraha that the Gopis used to feel for Shri Thakurji.

1. Deshantar Viraha
2. Vanantar Viraha
3. Palkantar Viraha
4. Pratyaksh Viraha

I suppose the names itself clearly indicate the type of viraha, so I will not go deeper into the explanation.

As mentioned earlier even in our unique Brahmasambandha Diksha we ask for nothing else except 'Tap - Klesh - Anand ' unique because no other sampradaya diksha is such that is asks for, ' the happiness of the saddness of longing ' in sanmukh of Shri Vallabh Kul we plead to Shri Thakurji, Prabhu ! Accept me as your servant. So many Yugs have passed in separation from you, but I am so immersed in Sansar, that I don't even feel the separation. So I totally surrender the sansar at your feet. Just Grant me, ' the happiness of the saddness of longing (Viraha Taap)' What a beautiful Oxymoron.

PG