Jagat

I find the Prema-vilāsa a bit confusing; it seems to switch times, people, voices without giving full warning. Some of it is acknowledged in the appendix (the half vilāsa ). There it says that chapters 15 and 16 have been erroneously switched around. It was already mentioned that Jahnava's two trips seem to have gotten mixed up. This confirms it. However, the appendix also confirms the contents of the chapters, putting aside any suspicions of interpolation. For instance, the case of Krishnadas Kaviraj leaving his body on hearing about the missing books is confirmed. Sometimes I think that there have been scribal errors. For instance, in chapter 17 (page 145), two Vaishnavas come back from Vrindavan and meet Ramachandra and Narottam in Khetari. Then there is this verse: rāmacandra kohe ṭhākur koho mukhe śuni more kibā rūpa gosāi jānila Ramachandra said, "Thakur, please tell me how did Rupa Goswami come to know about me?" Rupa Goswami had left this world even b...

The hammer is coming down on this reading of Prema-vilāsa . I am becoming more convinced of the importance of this book, in spite of some of the problems it presents. In general, I feel that Nityananda Das's presentation is simple and credible. He was born in 1537 in Srikhanda, was an eyewitness to many of the events he describes, such as at the beginning of chapter 14, where he recounts the meeting of Srinivas Acharya with Raghunandan Thakur in Srikhanda. रघुनन्दन रूपे भुवन मोहन । श्रीनिवासेर रूप ताहे आत्यन्त शोभन ।। देखिया मोहित हैल चित्त जे आमार । से जाने दोंहार रूप नयने लागे जार ।। He is also present in Jajigram when Ramachandra Kaviraj meets Srinivas. Vyasa Acharya is also there in Srinivasa's entourage and engages in debate with Ramachandra. There are few specifics about their discussion, but it does seem to confirm Yadunandan's account in Karṇānanda that Vyasa and Ramachandra tended to have disagreements. Nityananda Das does not recount the legend of Srinivas ...

As I review this historical material, I am reminded of the things that struck me the first time around. As mentioned in the previous post, we have a problem--the CC date given at 1581 AD. Karṇānanda is supposed to be written in 1607 by Yadunandan, who was a disciple of Hemalata Thakurani, Srinivasa Acharya's disciple. Since there are numerous quotes and references to Caitanya-caritāmṛta in this work, if we accept the 1607 (1529 Saka) date of completion, our 1615 date for CC becomes problematic. The Karṇānanda is dominated by the  svakīyā  / pārakīyā question. This arises in particular in conversations between Ramachandra Kaviraja and King Birhambir. The issue seems to have arisen out of the impact that Gopāla-campū had when it came to Bengal. Everyone, it seems, had become quite used to the pārakīyā mood in song and story, and to suddenly have the GC come and say otherwise was confusing. Ramachandra refers to the GC in words taken directly from CC, making it perfectl...

I have been working on an article about Jiva Goswami for the Journal of Vaishnava Studies . Basically it is just a chapter from my thesis, which I published on line without footnotes ( Jiva Goswami: Biographical information and Jiva Goswami: An Overview of his writings ). One matter that I did not get into in that article was Jiva Goswami’s controverted relation to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta , which is described in Prema-vilāsa and Vilāsa-vivarta . This is primarily because I accepted the 1615 date for the CC; and since Jiva’s disappearance took place in 1608, the question of Jiva's throwing the CC into the Yamuna, being envious of KK, etc. (as found in VV), did not arise. Nevertheless, I confess that I had never gone through the Prema-vilāsa thoroughly, so I decided to revisit the question after procuring the reprint of Jashodalal Talukdar's complete 1913 edition of Prema-vilāsa , which came out in 1999. The complete version contains "24 1/2" chapters, but this...

Worked out quite nicely. I'll get more feedback on it in on Tuesday.

I published this and then started revising it, but unfortunately, my connection was broken and so this is the unedited version. I am busy, so it will be a few days before I can come back and make the necessary repairs.

On the agenda today--I am taking my students to the Iskcon temple, where Bhaktimarga Maharaja will be present. I emailed the following to Maharaj the other day: Dandavats Maharaj. Thank you for responding so promptly. And double thanks for showing such enthusiasm to help me out. The students have been told to come to the temple at six o'clock. The plan was to hear, chant and take prasad. I don't think they have any specific questions, or at least none that I know of. What I really want is for them to have an experience of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as a living tradition. In other words, they have been reading texts about the life of Chaitanya and the developments in Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, etc. But they haven't experienced it as a living thing, powered by faith and practice. I'd like to be able to get them to chant, to hear a basic lecture on the elements that really are at the center of Iskcon devotees' faith. As I said in my previous letter also, I know that y...

As I have been trying to say, I am approaching the question of Krishna consciousness and sexuality from my own life experience. I should therefore confess that my sexual drive has been (I believe) comparatively low in comparison to the majority of the population, particularly in the West. I did not have an especially great struggle as a brahmachari and my motivations in becoming a householder in Iskcon may sound rather strange to most: I saw it as a psychologically purificatory experience. I slipped out of that experience rather easily in the late seventies and did not find it a great jump to taking sannyas in 1979. The straw that broke the camel’s back of my stay in Iskcon was, in fact, the experience of listening to a brahmachari masturbate in the toilet cubicle next to mine in the Hyderabad temple. It was my feeling then that the Iskcon environment was too sensual to assure self-control. The lifestyle of Bhavananda Maharaj seemed to caricature the true renunciate lifestyle, which is...

(I was rummaging around in Gaudiya Discussions and came across this, which I though was worth preserving here. I was surprised a little to see myself using vocabulary and themes that I am still hammering away at. Some of the points might require a little bit of revision.) Rāgānugā bhakti means imagining yourself as a part of Radha and Krishna's world, and doing all sadhana in that consciousness. Vidhi bhakti is primarily conducted only in the sadhaka deha--hearing, chanting, etc., are all there, but the goal of being with God (in whatever form) is left in his hands. "Give me whatever service YOU want." Rāgānugā bhakti  begins with the prayer, "I want specifically THIS in Radha Krishna's world." The  rāgānugā bhakta  's sadhana is mystical participation in the divine realm. Through  rāgānugā bhakti , one quickly ceases all prayers for liberation because one practically loses all consciousness of being a sadhaka. This colors his perception of and pa...

I was forced to reflect, once again, after some respondents on this blog made statements that indicate a prurient interest in the sexual aspects of the sadhana I am supporting. I have to admit that I have foreseen some of these questions and think that if one is solidly fixed in the Goswamis’ siddhanta, one will resist the temptation. Indeed, this is the reason why I have emphasized and will continue to emphasize the following three things: (1) The necessity of the pravartaka stage. (2) The necessity of understanding the parallelism between one’s sadhana partner and Guru Tattva. (3) The necessity of taking the female point of view or identity. ========================================== Due to time considerations, what I am going to post today is background information for what will follow. On January 12, 2006, I posted the following texts on Gaudiya Discussions: ========================================== viharati vane rādhā sādhāraṇa-praṇaye harau vigalita-nijotkarṣā...

Yesterday, I was feeling a little fed up with the topic of sahajiyaism and I thought it was time to change flavors for a little while. So I decided to look at two books by Srila Prabhupada that I had not read before, both from well before the time he came to North America. These are both posted on Rocana's website: the first is called Message of Godhead , which was apparently written when Prabhupada was still a householder and trying to establish the League of Devotees; the second is In Search of the Ultimate Goal of Life , apparently written in 1959. The manuscript was discovered by B.G. Narasingha Maharaj and published fairly recently by him. The first book, which according to the Prabhupada Lilamrita was written very quickly, is a summary study of the first few chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, while the second covers the teachings of Ramananda Ray to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the eighth chapter of the Madhya Lila. Naturally, it all comes back to the same thing for me now—hard not t...

I am sad to learn that Malati Devi, the wife of Madhavananda Dasji, has apparently fallen seriously ill and been taken to the hospital for an operation. Unfortunately, Madhavananda has not been answering emails, probably due to preoccupation with taking care of her, and as I am not in contact with anyone who can provide me more information, I cannot pass anything more than this along. I had the opportunity to spend time with Madhavananda and Malati in Radha Kunda a couple of years ago and they are as sweet a couple of devotees as God has had the good grace to place on this earth. Malati's constitution has always been delicate and the two of them kept to a diet that was ascetic and frugal. I know that Radharani has enveloped both Madhava and Malati in her love and has much service planned for them both. I pray with all sincerity that Malati quickly recovers and returns to serving Gaur and Nitai and the Divine Couple in Radha Kund. Jai Parama Karunamayi Sri Radhe!

I realize that I went on and on about ahaṅgrahopāsanā and āropa and concluded by identifying the latter with sādhāraṇīkaraṇa and mañjarī-bhāva . I realize now that it might not have been so clear. So I am going to try to explain mañjarī-bhāva in the light of this concept of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa . Sādhāraṇīkaraṇa is generally defined as the "universalization" or "generalization" of emotions, but I think that this terminology is obscure, when the perfectly good concept of "identification" comes closer to our understanding. The word "identification," which is useful in understanding both ahaṅgrahopāsanā and āropa , is here a term particular to psychology, "to regard oneself as sharing characteristics with another person." Unfortunately, this definition from the Oxford dictionary does not do credit to the unconsciousness of such a process, which is in fact what happens when one reads a novel or watches a film and identifies with one or m...

In view of the discussions in this blog, I though the article “Bishop’s take on sexuality ignites debate” (Michael Valpy, Globe and Mail , March 9, 2007) interesting. I have excerpted liberally from that article here. The Anglican Church is currently in the middle of a crisis that threatens schism. The issue is that of sexuality, with liberal North American churches taking a progressive stand on homosexual marriage and other hot button issues, while the numerically superior and more vibrant, at least in terms of growth, third-world churches taking conservative positions and resisting what appears to them as the first-world churches’ arrogance. One of the more vociferous spokesmen of the liberal position is Bishom Michael Ingham of New Westminster in British Columbia. Last week, at a church conference in Ottawa, he said that the church’s opposition to birth control, abortion, masturbation and homosexuality is morally groundless because its traditional teaching that sex is reserved for p...