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Utsāha is an essential factor in matters governing human thoughts and actions, and directs all human achievements because primarily it is the strength of will, firmness of resolve, energy and power, endurance and perseverance, and the joy and elation resulting from achievement of predetermined objectives.
Utsāha (Sanskrit: उत्साह) means – 'enthusiasm', 'zeal', 'energy', 'strength', 'power', 'fortitude', 'strength of will', 'resolution', 'firmness', 'effort', 'endurance', 'perseverance', cheerfulness', 'joy', 'happiness';[1] it also means 'initiative' or 'drive'.[2]
Sridharswami regards joy as the energy (utsāha) of the mind due to the attainment of cherished objects or the union with a beloved person; in other words,utsāha is a mode of essence of the mind; it is an essential psychical element in a violation, which precedes a voluntary action. Therefore, Madhusūdana describes it as a resolution of the mind.[3]Utsāha or enthusiasm is roused in superior persons by the absence of sadness; this dominant state rouses the vira rasa or the emotion of heroism, and by rousingutsāha,jadata or stupor andnidra or sleep caused by physiological action, is inhibited.[4]
Bharata, the legendary author ofNatyashastra, speaks about the nine primary emotions by whichRasa, the primary sentiment that appeals to poetic sensibility, is nourished; they are –rati ('enjoyment'),hāsya ('mirth'),śoka ('grief'),krodha ('anger'),utsāha ('enthusiasm'),bhaya ('fear'),jugupsa ('disgust'),vismaya ('surprise') andsama orśanta ('peace'), based respectively on ninenavarasas ('primary sentiments').[5]Utsāha or energy relates to 'virya rasa' and to persons of the superior types. Utsaha is a 'bhava' (emotional state) caused by Determinants such as absence of sadness, power, patience, heroism and the like, and is represented on the stage by Consequents such as steadiness, munificence, boldness of an undertaking and the like.[6]
According toAbhinavagupta the rasas are like gods, andśanta is like their highest centre,Shiva, he insists on transcendence as the highest value in literary aesthetics. Bharata does not consider complete detachment,Nirveda (world-weariness) as thesthāyibhāva ofśanta because detachment ordinarily does not arise from knowledge of the truth. Ishvarakrishna states that from detachment comes onlyprākrtilaya i.e. the dissolution of the eight causes, and notmoksha, andPatanjali states that from knowledge of truth arises aversion to thegunas (detachment) which is really the highest state (kaśtha) of knowledge.Atman alone, possessed of pure qualities such as knowledge, bliss etc., and devoid of enjoyment of imagined sense-objects, is thesthāyibhāva ofśanta.Śanta issama andsama is the true nature of the Self. Energy may be said to be based on egoism as its essence, andśanta may be said to consist in the loosening of egoism, but there is no state that is devoid ofutsāha (energy).[7]Utsāha or dynamic energy is thesthāyibhāva or primary state ofvira rasa, withoututsāha one cannot act;Nātya Śastra VI.66 tells us thatvira rasa is a dynamic energy (utsāha) which arises from various causal factors (arthaśeśa) such as decisiveness, not giving way to depression, not being surprised or confused.[8]
A ruler is supposed to possess and the means of gaining three kinds ofshakti (powers) viz., the powers ofmantra (counsel),prabhutva (command over material resources) andutsāha (energy).Yudhishthira considered counsel as being superior to the command over material resources and dignity, andChanakya putsutsāha in the lowest position among these three powers.Utsāha also refers to heroic energy or effort.[9] "Resolve is the root of king’s righteousness…He who is strong on resolve rules over those strong on words."Mahabharata (XII.58.13-15),andutsāha is one's resolve. TheVedic king was not regarded as the lord of the earth (bhu-pati) but the lord of men (nr-pati) (Rig Veda IV.38.2) or cattle (go-pati)(Rig Veda VI.28.3); it is at the time of the epics that territorial rights had assumed a dominant role.[10]
Bhagavad Gita (XVIII.26) refers toutsāha as the untiring self-application and dynamic enthusiasm for achieving a chosen goal.[11]Krishna tellsArjuna that one who performs his duty without association with the modes of material nature, without false ego, with great determination and enthusiasm ( धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः), without wavering in success or failure is said to be a worker in the mode of goodness; this means that such a person is always enthusiastic till the completion of such work.[12]Ramana uses the word,uran to refer to the strength of will, self-control or knowledge or to mean specifically strength of conviction to know oneself.[13]
Aurobindo recalls to mind the combined working of the four great instruments ofYoga for gainingYoga-siddhi or perfection in yoga, viz.,śāstra i.e. the knowledge of truths, principles, powers and processes that govern self-realization,utsāha, the patient and the persistent action on the force of personal effort on the lines laid down by knowledge,gurū or teacher andkāla the instrumentality of Time.[14]Utsāha is a mental spirit (mānasī kriyā) which leads to promptness in every action.[15] But, inAmera Kosha it occurs as a synonyme ofadhyavasāya meaningBuddhi or intelligence, andMitākshara explainsadhyavasāya orutsāha – पुरुषार्थसाधन कर्म्मारम्भोऽध्यवसायः - as the effort or perseverance in the performance of acts accomplishing the objects of man.[16] In the context ofSpandakarikā (St.15) which states that only the effort directed towards the product of action disappears here (in states of intense introverted contemplation), it has been explained that "the product of action" is the created object of perception, the "effort directed towards it" is the exertion orutsāha inherent in the agency of the Self.[17]
