Jagat

Some make the unequivocal statement that it is never correct for a guru to sleep with his disciples. I would like to state that in reverse. I say: A woman should only sleep with her guru, and a man should only sleep with his guru. All sexual relationships should be mutual guru-disciple relationships. The guru-disciple relationship is the vātsalya relationship par excellence, in that it selflessly seeks the welfare of the other. Vātsalya , like friendship, service, and admiration, is included in madhura . But in the latter, vātsalya  must be mutual, i.e., felt by both parties. Without mutuality, if vātsalya or, worse, vātsalya-ābhāsa (the mere outward appearance of guru sentiment) is predominant, then sexual relations would be inimical to love, or  rasa-virodha , to use the Sanskrit terminology. Rasa-virodha means "distasteful", which is a rather understated translation. That is why we recoil at these guru-disciple sexual relations and why we intuitively ...

mugdhaṁ māṁ nigadantu nīti-nipuṇā bhrāntaṁ muhur vaidikāḥ mandaṁ bāndhava-sañcayā jaḍa-dhiyaṁ muktādarāḥ sodarāḥ | unmattaṁ dhanino viveka-caturāḥ kāmaṁ mahā-dāmbhikaṁ moktuṁ na kṣamate manāg api mano govinda-pāda-spṛhām || Let the sharp moralist accuse me of being illusioned; the experts in Vedic ritual may slander me as misled, friends and relatives may call me lazy and irresponsible, while my brothers, no longer respectful or affectionate, call me a fool. I don't mind. The wealthy mammonites will point me out as mad, and learned philosophers assert that I am much too proud. Still, my mind does not budge an inch from its determination to serve Govinda's lotus feet. ( Pady ā vali 81, M ā dhavasya ) Actually, I don't think it is just "I don't mind." It is a kind of relish. We Hare Krishnas have been thumbing our nose at the Establishment since 1966. And they called us irresponsible and told us to get jobs, or to be good Christians, or philoso...

Whatever you do, whatever you do, whatever you do, don't drop the bindu. This, my friends, I share with you the secret to all sādhana . In Radha-Krishna bhakti-sādhana , the bindu is the moment of divine union between the Divine Couple. It is the compact, condensed moment before the big bang. It is the love that existed in the Divine Couple before the conception of the universe. It is the ānanda from which all things have sprung. That is the bindu . Bhaktas! Find it, and don't drop it!!! It is Radha and Krishna on the bed of lotus petals in the nikuñja . It is Radha and Krishna in oblivion. It is  Their asamprajñāta samādhi , their total forgetfulness of everything but pure being, consciousness and bliss. That is the bindu . Find it and don't drop it! प्रेमा योऽसौ राधिकाकृष्णयुग्मं स्वानन्देन प्लावयित्वा सखीश्च । शश्वद्विश्वं प्लावयन् सुप्रसिद्धः सोऽयं बुद्धिं नः समिद्धां करोतु ॥ premā yo'sau rādhikā-kṛṣṇa-yugmaṁ svānandena plāvayitvā sakhīś ca | ś...

Very few languages in the world still have the dual number, like Sanskrit. This helps account for the large size of Sanskrit's conjugations and declensions, but it has a certain logic that has provoked a bit of thought in me about relationships. It seems that by insisting on a dual number, Sanskrit is giving a great deal of importance to the one-on-one relationship. It is true that one is usually different when by oneself, in the company of one other person, particularly one with whom one has an intimate relationship, or in a crowd. Prema, which is both the sādhana (means) and the sādhya (end) of spiritual life, is to be experienced on all these three levels of relationship. The singular Love of the personal God comes in the "singular." One might think that since there is a duality ( bheda ) between the individual and the Supreme Other, this is a "dual" relationship. This is philosophically true and is the main reason that we have proposed the singula...