Jagat

kiṁ brūmo'nyatra kuṇṭhī-kṛtaka-jana-pade dhāmny api śrī-vikuṇṭhe rādhā-mādhurya-vettā madhupatir atha tan-mādhurīṁ vetti rādhā | vṛndāraṇya-sthalīyaṁ parama-rasa-sudhā-mādhurīṇāṁ dhurīṇā tad-dvandva-svādanīyaṁ sakalam api dadau rādhikā-kiṅkarīṇām || In this land of Vrindavan, Krishna knows Radha's sweetness and Radha knows the sweetness of Krishna. But can we say the same of other places, even the Holy Dham of Vaikuntha, which renders insignificant the abodes of Brahma and other gods and men [where no one knows either of them]? This abode of Vrinda's forest is charged with all the varieties of sweetness of the ambrosia of the highest rasa and it has bestowed everything this Yugala relishes to Radha's dasis [alone]. (RRSN 175) Now there is a siddhānta . Prabodhananda is interesting in that he is one of the few personalities who seems to be accepted by all the Vrindavan sampradāyas, thought there may be some differences of detail. In this verse, however, his attit...

Today is Radhashtami.  The verse 10.82.49, quoted in the previous file, after his ambiguous instructions in the soul. Just thinking again, I was remembering that the Mahābhārata has an Anugīta , which is much more advaita in its philosophical orientation. Maybe this was a response. The verses Krishna spoke are as follows: gopyaś ca kṛṣṇam upalabhya cirād abhīṣṭaṁ yat-prekṣaṇe dṛśiṣu pakṣma-kṛtaṁ śapanti dṛgbhir hṛdīkṛtam alaṁ parirabhya sarvās tad-bhāvam āpur api nitya-yujāṁ durāpam The gopis saw their beloved Krishna [at Kurukshetra] after their long separation. They cursed the creator for creating eyelids that interfered with their vision, [and so] they secured him in their hearts through their eyes and embraced, and thus attained a depth of emotion so intense that not even those who are with him in eternal union can attain it. (10.82.40) So right away you can see this theme of separation being more powerful than union, and the mental more powerful than the phy...

Since I came to Canada, I have been keeping myself busy with the Vrindavan Today project. I have been posting a daily verse from Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta there, with commentaries of varying lengths. I am also working on Śrī-kṛṣṇa-sandarbha to the extent that I can. Some friends have told me they miss having anything new to read here, so I though I would share something from that work. Although the theme is familiar and I have gone through it many times, correcting the translation of Jiva Goswami's explanations has been having quite an effect on me. The subject under discussion is the mantropāsanā-mayī and svārasikī līlā , separation and union, and the prakaṭa and aprakaṭa prakāśas . It has been going on since Section 153, so it is rather a long and somewhat complex matter. Suffice it to say that the bulk of the discussion is around the instructions that Krishna gave his parents and then the gopis through Uddhava, instruction which to an uneducated eye look suspiciously like tea...