Jagat

Trying to divide these up into meaningful sections is a bit difficult, like I said yesterday. There are only a couple of verses describing the ideal servant, or dependent person, but I gave them its own section. The section on the wicked is somewhat short also. Then we will move into a section on the characteristics and behavior of the wicked. I think ideally, the entire sataka should be slightly reorganized for the sake consistency.  The dependent yad dhātrā nija-bhāla-paṭṭa-likhitaṁ stokaṁ mahad vā dhanaṁ tat prāpnoti marusthale'pi nitarāṁ merau tato nādhikam | tad dhīro bhava vittavatsu kṛpaṇāṁ vṛttiṁ vṛthā mā kṛthāḥ kūpe paśya payonidhāv api ghaṭo gṛhṇāti tulyaṁ jalam || 49 || Everyone is destined to have a certain amount of wealth, great or small; it has been written on the tableau of your forehead. You will get what is coming to you even if you live in the desert, and will not get it by climbing Mount Meru. So be patient and do not play the beggar with the wealt...

It is a bit hard to divide the Nitisatakam into categores, since it is does tend to repeat certain themes. At any rate, the next 15 verses mostly talk about the characteristics of a hero and of a ruler. santy anye'pi bṛhaspati-prabhṛtayaḥ sambhāvitāḥ pañcaṣās tān praty eṣa viśeṣa-vikrama-rucī rāhur na vairāyate | dvāv eva grasate divākara-niśā-prāṇeśvarau bhāskarau bhrātaḥ parvaṇi paśya dānava-patiḥ śīrṣāvaśeṣākṛtiḥ || 34 || There are five or six planets like Jupiter in the sky that are certainly great and influential, but Rahu does not pick enmity with them; he seeks greater prey. Just look, brother! Though he is left with nothing but a head, when the proper moment comes, he attacks the great luminaries of the sky, the sun and the moon. vahati bhuvana-śreṇiṁ śeṣaḥ phaṇā-phalaka-sthitāṁ kamaṭha-patinā madhye-pṛṣṭhaṁ sadā sa ca dhāryate | tam api kurute kroḍādhīnaṁ payodhir anādarād ahaha mahatāṁ niḥsīmānaś caritra-vibhūtayaḥ || 35 || Ananta Sesha carries the pla...

I am feeling a bit blissful today. I am going to escape to a holiday in Barsana, and if Radharani is merciful, I will spend it in the proximity of Binode Bihari Baba and his merry band of bairagi bhajananandis. Oh how I have looked forward to this day! There is a lot of preeti for me in Barsana. In my crazy life... what kind of crazy... I guess I have been talking a lot about my crazy in the past few weeks. But, today, I am diving deeply into a project that I have been meaning to do for a long time: I am finally getting into revising the current available English translation of Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Jivani. I cannot tell you all how much I feel guru-kripa raining down on me as I read this book with care. So let me take care to thank two Ukrainian devotees, Hanna Chaikovska (Anu Krishna Dasi) and Muraliswara Das, who have been continuously pressuring me into doing this task after exacting my promises, and without whose insistence and strong desire, I would probably s...

hartur yāti na gocaraṁ kim api śaṁ puṣṇāti yat sarvadā’py arthibhyaḥ pratipādyamānam aniśaṁ prāpnoti vṛddhiṁ parām | kalpānteṣv api na prayāti nidhanaṁ vidyākhyam antar-dhanaṁ yeṣāṁ tān prati mānam ujjhata nṛpāḥ kas taiḥ saha spardhate || 16 || Knowledge is an internal wealth: it is imperceptible to the thief; it always brings real calm to the spirit; when given away to those who ask for it, it increases rather than dwindling, and even after ages, it does not come to destruction. O kings, give up your pride with those who possess such wealth, for it is not possible to compete with them. adhigata-paramārthān paṇḍitān māvamaṁsthās tṛṇam iva laghu lakṣmīr naiva tān saṁruṇaddhi | abhinava-mada-lekhā-śyāma-gaṇḍa-sthalānāṁ na bhavati bisa-tantur vāraṇaṁ vāraṇānām || 17 || Never disrespect the scholars who have understood the highest goals of life. Fortune is like grass to them; it cannot bind them any more than the threads found in the stem of lotus can bind a mad ele...

This is the first of three centuries, or works of a hundred verses each, written by the very influential Sanskrit poet Bhartrihari. Many legends are told of this Bhartrihari and perhaps I will later recount some of them. His style of writing subhāṣitas , or "well-turned verses," have affected many poets throughout the history of Sanskrit literature, including most notably for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Prabodhananda Saraswati. Bhartihari’s three śatakas have the themes of nīti (moral philosophy) , śṛṅgāra (love) and vairāgya (renunciation). I translated these many years ago, but I never posted them on this blog, though I did post them on-line a few years ago and reposted on Speaking Tree in 2012 ). I have made a few changes. The first theme of the Nīti-satakam is “the fool.” dik-kālādy-anavacchinnānanta-cin-mātra-mūrtaye | svānubhūty-eka-mānāya namaḥ śāntāya tejase || 1 || I bow down to the Supreme Lord whose form is infinite and spiritual, unrestricted by time and space, ...

Last night a couple of friends advised me to pull back. The trolls have been fed and is getting fatter and stronger. I let them get to me. I went to see Banke Bihari Maharaj this morning. When I sat down for meditation, I heard Bihariji tell me to come to the temple. It was early and the streets were empty except for piles of detritus and troops of monkeys. The new crop of monkeys is just in. There is not a female that does not have a baby clutching to her belly. The Bihariji temple was empty. I didn't realize that the first darshan only comes at 7.30, so I just sat and chanted and prayed for my mind to be free of these distractions and fixed on Bihariji's lotus feet. I am not going to continue with this nonsense. Demian is an unfortunate soul. He has everything and yet he has nothing. The first time I ever met him, my first question was, how are you doing in relation to the goal of prema-bhakti . He had no good answer. Over the years I have watched him. I stopped asso...

Jai Sri Radhe! Well, I have to confess (ha ha) that I have been having misgivings about embarking on this adventure. But I made a decision and I will carry on with it, the consequences are in Radharani's hands. Let's go through Demian's diatribe. I am not going to spend too much time on accusations 1-4, which contain the faintest seeds of truth that have metastasized in the manure of his malice. Let me say first that as soon as Demian's letter was posted on the Paundraka Vrindavan Today, I immediately wrote to Babaji and told him that I would resign from Jiva Institute on the spot if he felt that the accusations made in this letter were going to diminish the Institute's reputation. So far, Babaji has not asked me for a resignation. Indeed, he has expressed to me that Demian's posting on that website was a de facto admission that he was siding with individuals who had made enmity to him their purpose in life. This obviously is not a situation that can endu...

This is Part 8 of a series called "Confession and the Authentic Self." 1. Prologue . 2. Setting the scene. The saga of the Paundraka Vrindavan Today . 3. Staking out the high ground. The frequentations of swans and crows . 4. Confession, a religious act. A concealed provocation. 5. A profession of love and respect for Babaji. 6. Aiming again at the high ground, and a concern troll 7. Bhakta Demian challenges me to confess more. When I finished reading Demian's twelve points, I decided to remain mum for the reasons I have already given previously. But nevertheless, I continued to think that surely I can find a way to soften his heart and to come to a position where he will see what the character of a devotee is like. So I thought that I should praise him first. The letter that I posted on Facebook was also posted on the thread on the Paundraka Vrindavan Today because I wanted Demian to read it. Now, Demian's answers are given below and you will see that ...

This is Part 7 of a series called "Confession and the Authentic Self." 1. Prologue . 2. Setting the scene. The saga of the Paundraka Vrindavan Today . 3. Staking out the high ground. The frequentations of swans and crows . 4. Confession, a religious act. A concealed provocation. 5. A profession of love and respect for Babaji. 6. Aiming again at the high ground, and a concern troll We are now closing in on the purpose of this series of posts. When I published my response to Alex's publication of my "confession letter" on May 31, Bhakta Demian posted as a comment the letter you see below. On reading it, I had to almost laugh at the venomous diatribe, the pent-up nastiness, and the utter absence of any sign of genuine spiritual insight or understanding, the kind of visceral hatred that should be completely absent from the heart of a devotee... well I refer you to my comments on the first article in this series. Even now as I read this article, the s...