Current Events
Sorry about the lack of content here over the past little while. I have a half-dozen posts in the works, but haven't been able to bring them to the publishable stage. For whatever standard this blog aspires to.
Currently I have taken on a further task which may be the proverbial drop that makes the vase overflow. That is a Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi class at the local Radha-vallabhi temple, which is within cycling distance on the road to Rishikesh. The idea to do this came to me when I first came to Rishikesh and discovered that this ashram was started by the same sadhu who published the edition of RRSN I had just purchased, and who coincidentally also comes from Satya Narayan's home village. Too many coincidences.
But recently I decided I had to do this, or I would be forever mired in Yoga-sūtra and Bhagavad-Gītā. Even now, my Saturday and Sunday classes at Madhuban are pretty loosely connected to the Gita--since the words kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta appear so often in Prabhupada's commentaries, it tends to give me an excuse to improvise. I think this is the theme of one of the unpublished posts. Let's just say that my interest in the Gita is ongoing, but it needs to be supplemented with a healthy dose of the ultimate goal of our sampradaya's bhakti practice.
I have mentioned Harilal Vyas's commentary on RRSN. It is pretty interesting, as he gives lots and lots of interpretations on each verse. In that sense it is quite complementary to Ananta Dasji's commentary--except where they disagree. But there is little doubt that in most of the cases of disagreement, Ananta Das tends to side with Gaudiya orthodoxy, which I don't believe that Prabodhananda (what to speak of Harivams) did.
It would be nice if I could post the classes, somehow. I was even thinking of starting a Hindi language blog, but I can't even find the time to write superficial posts like this one, what to speak of such ambitious ideas. I don't even really have time to prepare for these classes, which is a drag. At a certain point, it gets harder to wing it. I have let my handful of shrotas on to the fact that I am there to read the commentary and would only add something if it was worthwhile. Still end up talking way too much. The average commentary is about six pages, and after a week, I am still only on page 3 of the first verse.
Anyway, bless me, dear readers, that I will one day be able to glorify Srimati Radharani. That is currently my only desire, and I hope that I never pray for anything else. I promise you that you will be the beneficiaries.
jāgrat-svapna-suṣuptiṣu sphuratu me rādhā-padābja-cchaṭā
vaikuṇṭhe narake’thavā mama gatir nānyāstu rādhāṁ vinā |
rādhā-keli-kathā-sudhāmbudhi-mahā-vīcibhir āndolitaṁ
kālindī-taṭa-kuñja-mandira-varālinde mano vindatu ||
Currently I have taken on a further task which may be the proverbial drop that makes the vase overflow. That is a Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi class at the local Radha-vallabhi temple, which is within cycling distance on the road to Rishikesh. The idea to do this came to me when I first came to Rishikesh and discovered that this ashram was started by the same sadhu who published the edition of RRSN I had just purchased, and who coincidentally also comes from Satya Narayan's home village. Too many coincidences.
But recently I decided I had to do this, or I would be forever mired in Yoga-sūtra and Bhagavad-Gītā. Even now, my Saturday and Sunday classes at Madhuban are pretty loosely connected to the Gita--since the words kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta appear so often in Prabhupada's commentaries, it tends to give me an excuse to improvise. I think this is the theme of one of the unpublished posts. Let's just say that my interest in the Gita is ongoing, but it needs to be supplemented with a healthy dose of the ultimate goal of our sampradaya's bhakti practice.
I have mentioned Harilal Vyas's commentary on RRSN. It is pretty interesting, as he gives lots and lots of interpretations on each verse. In that sense it is quite complementary to Ananta Dasji's commentary--except where they disagree. But there is little doubt that in most of the cases of disagreement, Ananta Das tends to side with Gaudiya orthodoxy, which I don't believe that Prabodhananda (what to speak of Harivams) did.
It would be nice if I could post the classes, somehow. I was even thinking of starting a Hindi language blog, but I can't even find the time to write superficial posts like this one, what to speak of such ambitious ideas. I don't even really have time to prepare for these classes, which is a drag. At a certain point, it gets harder to wing it. I have let my handful of shrotas on to the fact that I am there to read the commentary and would only add something if it was worthwhile. Still end up talking way too much. The average commentary is about six pages, and after a week, I am still only on page 3 of the first verse.
Anyway, bless me, dear readers, that I will one day be able to glorify Srimati Radharani. That is currently my only desire, and I hope that I never pray for anything else. I promise you that you will be the beneficiaries.
vaikuṇṭhe narake’thavā mama gatir nānyāstu rādhāṁ vinā |
rādhā-keli-kathā-sudhāmbudhi-mahā-vīcibhir āndolitaṁ
kālindī-taṭa-kuñja-mandira-varālinde mano vindatu ||
May the lustrous rays of Radha's lotus feet appear to me whether I am awake, dreaming or in deep sleep. Whether I am in Vaikuntha or in hell, may I know no other destiny than Radha. And may my mind always be agitated by the great waves rising and falling in the nectar ocean of the stories of Radha's pastimes, and search out always the grounds surrounding her bower temple by the Yamuna's banks. (164)
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