Jagat

About three months ago, my cousin Rients, whom I had not seen for several years, suddenly emailed me to tell me that he was coming to India. He had just gotten divorced and was going traveling to follow up on a long-held desire to go on a spiritual adventure. I immediately told him to come and see me first here in Rishikesh and that is what he did. I was waiting outside in the tea stall out in front of the ashram when he went trundling past in a three-wheeler, wearing his tilley hat and khaki shorts. I went chasing after the vehicle shouting at the driver to stop, and soon we were embracing in the midday sun. In our childhood, Rients and his family were frequent visitors to our home in Montreal. At various junctures throughout our lives, our paths crossed. When I came back from India in 1985, he was in New York, trying to make it as an artist with his dark, brooding, almost frightening chthonic visions. Much later, I saw him in Montreal when he was on his way to England to stay at a Bu...

I have been giving a weekly class in the Bhagavad-gītā at the ashram. We are currently doing the third chapter. A couple of months ago, one student gave me a Hindi edition of Osho's Karma-yoga , which is a series of lectures on the third chapter. Somewhat to my own surprise I found it not only fairly orthodox philosophically, but insightfully so. In his discussion of 3.3, Osho made much of the introverted and extraverted personality types, which he said were these two-- jñānīs and karmīs . Shankara, as everyone may well know, introduces the Gita with a discussion of karma and jñāna , saying that jñāna or consciousness alone gives liberation and that no amount of "works" will liberate one. Shankara also denies that there is any possibility of liberation by a combination of knowledge and works. Now, devotees know that our acharyas say that bhakti alone grants liberation, or the results of jñāna and karma . But where is bhakti in this verse? So far, in the second...

Radhe out, Shyama in. That is all. Actually, all such sexual meditations are dependent on a certain amount of built capacity to resist orgasm. If either partner has an orgasm, this results in a break in the meditation and thus a decrease in the pleasure. Krishna enters the kunja where Radha awaits. Radha chants Shyama. Then Radha rushes forth to greet Krishna. Krishna chants Radhe. Start slowly, meditating on the picture of Radha meeting Krisha in the kunja. Feel their bhava. Witness the union of the Divine Couple after you and your manjari companion have achieved the goal of your service and brought them together after a long separation. Feel the sights and sounds, smell the fragrances of their sacred bower. Gradually build up until the chanting of Radha and Shyama's names becomes a all-encompassing explosion absorption in the sound and all else but the names are erased from the consciousness. Continue until exhausted. Then slow down and start again. Or, simply return t...

I just heard about the sad turn of events at the annual Surya Kunda festival in honor of Siddha Madhusudana Das Babaji. Ananda writes about it on his blog , after getting first hand information from Malati. He also links to Madhumati's blog where more is available. That is basically why we do all these things [like question the meaning of our existence], because things like this happen. May the end result be that everyone's faith, compassion and love is deepened, and not weakened.

From time to time I listen to New Dimensions , a program on New Age teachings hosted by Michael Thoms. I discovered it on the Australian Broadcasting Company, which is where I usually listen to it. This program gives me an introduction to many of the current popular meditation teachers in the West. Today I am listening to More love, more compassion, more joy with Jack Kornfield, a Buddhist psychologist. The reason I am blogging this is what this program is making me reflect on the differences between Vaishnavism and this new realm of popular New Age spirituality. It is also making me reflect on what I am doing here in this ashram? These thoughts are also connected to those in the post I made on Thanksgiving. As Kornfield demonstrates in the beginning of this program, these people take pains to distinguish their activities from religion--it is a philosophy, it is practical psychology, it is a process of self-improvement, etc., anything but a religion. This is that "scienti...

Radha and Krishna's loves do not appear like mature love in the modern psychological sense to which they would appear more like "infatuation." If that is the case, then how can they be "ideal"? Are they ideal in the sense that they are supposed to be exemplary to couples who want to develop a mature relationship between them? What does Sahajiyaism have to say here? To begin with, I am not against mature relations between the sexes. And, hopefully, the purpose of everything that I am saying will help lead to mature spirituality in which other, objectively higher realms of agape and caritas are practically realized in behavior. So I not only honor the idea of maturity in love, but hope that all Sahajiya practitioners work to cultivate mature relationships in the modern sense. The ideas of Christian love and so on that are often refered to as superior to erotic love should be familiar territory to anyone who tries to advance in spiritual life. But that is n...

Yesterday I went to the HIHT to check out my knee, which has been giving me a lot of trouble of late. A couple of weeks ago, I took the brisk walk through the hills to Ram Jhula and afterwards my right knee was all swollen for several days. It has been exceedingly difficult to sit crosslegged, which needless to say is a great handicap for me, with all that sitting on the floor you have to do in my profession... The doctor told me that it was a sign of OA Arthritis. What brought it on, I don't know, but it is not uncommon in men of my age. Basically he said, "It is never going away. Watch out it doesn't get worse. That is about all you can do." And he prescribed some painkillers, which I have no intention of taking. I have enjoyed pretty good health throughout my life, and I confess that the knee problem has affected me more than it should. I am getting used to the idea now, but I may never sit crosslegged again...

I have a tendency to sit on posts for various reasons. Sometimes I feel it is better to think about something for a while rather than posting in the heat of the moment. It is really because I don't want to get into the kind of tit-for-tat debate that characterized Gaudiya Discussions and other forums of that type. So I often respond very belatedly, sometimes I take an objection or an argument under advisement and meditate on it, and it comes back out in some other form later on. The basic reason is just that I am a slow thinker and not particularly clever when it comes to that kind of debate. Anyway, here are a few backdated posts that may be of interest (or not): Samanjasa (2007-12-06) I wouldn't be surprised if I update this one again. HIHT Annual Festival (2007-12-05) Moved to Jagat Jindagi Swami Krishnananda's Visit (2007-12-05) Moved to Jagat Jindagi Same Old Same Old II (2007-12-06) I have also finished the third part of the series on Na Hanyate. If you missed tha...