Jagat

Truth Dig published an interesting excerpt from a book by Robert Jensen called “The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men, " [ dead link ]  which begins with the question of sexual equality and prostitution. "How can a society achieve a meaningful level of justice if people from one sex/gender class could be routinely bought and sold for sexual services by people from another sex/gender class?" This of course leads to questions about the meaning of sexuality itself, and these significant questions are at the basis of the theory and practice of Sahaja. The excerpted piece ends with the following reflection, More than two decades ago, when I first started thinking about this question, I kept coming back to the phrase to describe an argument that is intense but which doesn’t really advance our understanding — we say that such a debate ‘produced more heat than light’. Much of the talk about sexuality in contemporary culture is in terms of heat: Is the sex you are ha...

This book is the first draft of a Sanskrit text book that was used in the 2016-2017 academic year at the Jiva Institute in Vrindavan. It is still in need of revision and refinement, which will be undertaken during the next academic year of the Jiva Tirtha course while being used for a second group of students. It will also be expanded as the first year students continue in their studies. Exercises and vocabulary are an important element in such a course and I have integrated many verses and texts that I prepared in an earlier publication, Sādhaka pāṭhyam, which was done on behalf of the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in Rishikesh. The Jiva Institute under the direction of Mahant Satya Narayan Das Babaji started the Jiva Tirtha program in the autumn of 2016 with 25 students from Europe and America. The Sanskrit course started with a couple of trial and error efforts using different texts, including Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇam, the grammar text composed by Srila Jiva Goswami himself. Since he...

Gadadhar Pran's Gadadhar Pran. জয় শচীনন্দন, জয় গৌর হরি গদাধর প্রাণ নাথ, নদিয়া বিহারী নিতাই গদাইএর সঙ্গে গৌর জয় জয় যাঁহার কৃপা কটাক্ষে প্রেম ভক্তি হয়. Today is an auspicious day. Let us rejoice that by the grace of Sri Guru we have been able to live our lives in the adventure of following Gauranga Mahaprabhu's conception of reality, along its hundreds and thousands of streams and rivulets. Whereby our brains have been illuminated by contemplation of the the question of Divine Love in all its splendor, Whereby our hearts have been granted the hope to become servants of that Love. Whereby we have been initiated into the mysteries of the Hladini Shakti, whose rays of effulgence shone on the world through him. Whereby we have learned the ecstatic meaning of separation as bliss. Whereby we have learned that all words are a song when they are the Holy Name. And that all words _are_ the Holy Name. All sounds are the Holy Name. Whereby every movement becomes a dance, fo...

Dear friends, I have been trying to respond to all your happy birthday wishes, but my connection here is not so good and I have not been able to answer all of them. Please be assured that I appreciate getting so many happy birthdays. It helps me forget that I am just getting older and closer to death... On the other hand, some people have told me to have a "Krishna conscious" birthday. Though I could be a little smug and say, "Then it is no different from any other day," in fact I have to say that today I awoke singing the Maha Mantra to one heck of a happy tune and truly feeling as though I was the luckiest person in the world. I told Babaji this morning that this year at Jiva has been the happiest year of my life. Babaji's friendship is making it possible for me to accomplish many things that I would like to accomplish before I finish this particular lila. I am becoming more and more eager to do bhajan -- something about seeing Binode Bihari Dasji in Bar...