My third year of participation in Jiva Tirtha comes to completion

Today was the conclusion of the third year of the Jiva Tirtha program. The audience was small as a number of the students had already trickled back to their homes elsewhere in the world before our final end-day ceremony.

Swamini Radhika is also a widely known senior scholar, writer, poet and artist. She has been sharing her appreciation of the vernacular bhakti poets and shared her insights each week to a core group of dedicated listeners.

Altogether there was a lot of mutual thanking going on. Babaji complimented the students: It is actually amazing that even this many students have been sufficiently inspired to come and spend six months at their own cost to hear the scriptures from Babaji and, in many cases, to learn Sanskrit. Babaji particularly noted how Manu had managed to convince his boss to have a six months leave every year and still be able to come back to his job in the spring.

Many of the students offered testimonials to the transformative nature of hearing shastra directly from an advanced scholar and realized soul like Babaji.

Navadvipa Dasa, the chief editor of the Sandarbha's project was present and both he and Babaji reminisced about their long relationship with each other.

Navadvip Dasaji recounted that he had been participating in the Sandarbhas project since Babaji fist starting translating these book in Iskcon, nearly three decades ago. Babaji said that at that time he had had quite a bit of facility in Iskcon for the project and several helpers. Of them, only Navadvipa was left. Over the years there have been many edits and reedits. The fact that it has taken so long was really a good thing, since it allowed for all those involved in the project to mature in their understanding and allowed them time to consider and reconsider every word before rendering the original text into English. By working in this way, we will hopeful arrive at an authoritative and empowered translation that is effective in transmitting the thought of Jiva Goswami as purely as possible into the English language so that it may have the most beneficial long term effect on those who study it.

Babaji stressed that studying the Sandarbhas is service to Jiva Goswami, which gives him pleasure and induces his mercy. The writers of the shastra did not ask for material benefits for their work, but only that others read them and benefit from them. So this is the spirit in which the long term and diligent effort for publishing these essential works for our sampradaya, and the creation of the Jiva Institute as a place of spiritual learning based on these works being carried out.

As far as I am concerned, about 11 students stuck it out with me through to the end. Several of the advanced students are getting pretty close to achieving a reading knowledge of Sanskrit. They have been quite serious about learning and making use of whatever resources they can to supplement the knowledge that comes from sitting with me. Two of them, Marky and Willi, are supplementing their course with me to go to Balaram Acharya, who teaches them Harinamamrita-vyakarana.

My view is:

na hy ekasmād guror jñānaṁ/

susthiraṁ syāt supuṣkalam

So I do not discourage a serious student from looking to the best resource they can find to quake their thirst for knowledge. In fact a good teacher's role is probably to give his students a taste for learning the subject, a love for the subject. The student makes the teacher as much as the opposite is true.

Over the past three years I have been assiduously updating and revising /the manual. Though it is thus constant undergoing renovation, I believe that the first several chapters are sound, but may need a bit of tightening in the examples and the addition of more narrative readings to keep up the interest..That is a bit of a trick, but hopefully I will manage it so that this manual can have a parampara. With the advanced students we studied the Gita commentaries of Sridhar and Vishwanath for the Sthita-prajna-lakshanam and Saptashloki Gita and Chatuhshloki Gita, and a bit of Hitopadesa. Anyway, the goal is just to see how much we can get the students to relish the pleasures of Sanskrit. Their enthusiasm to learn makes me lift my standards. The Sanskrit play was one result.

In my brief talk today, I primarily thanked Babaji for breathing renewed life into the Vrindavan Today and Grantha Mandir projects by giving financial and moral backing, as well as by giving the task for managing the GM to a disciple of his, Willi Mueller, who is a bright and competent young Sanskrit student who is eager to enter into the Gaudiya Vaishnava and broader Sanskrit scriptural canon through this service.

I sincerely bless him that he perfect this service and receive all the divine benefits that will come through it. May he find ways to move this project on to its full potential as an integrated database that serves the student, devotee and scholar, one that can support a large variety of search functions, but nevertheless open-source to insure the most accurate critical readings through the input of the entire community of Vaishnava scholars..

Vrindavan Today is more alive than ever, though I almost took myself completely out of it after last year's disastrous events. At any rate, Jagannath Poddar has seized the initiative and is building it up. He brought out the first print edition in March and the April edition will soon be out. Jennifer Michael and Ashee Sharma have been steadily providing content on line and in the print edition. Madan Gopal Das Mahanidhi  has become a regular contributor, adding to VT the much needed voice of an experienced sadhaka from Radha Kund. If you ask me, from the content point of view it is looking pretty good. Now we just need to build a readership for the glossy magazine and do all the professional things that are necessary for this to become everything that a webzine/print magazine should be.

I also pray sincerely that Jagannath learn all the arts of intelligent management so that he can build a competent, loyal, and dedicated team and inspire them with the magazine's mission of service to the Dham. I have no doubt that he will direct VT into the influential position it could gain both locally and in the global Brajvasi community.

Babaji Maharaji is the chief trustee of the Vrindavan Today Trust Board, as well as a member of the Editorial Board. So I hope sincerely that those who support him and the Jiva Institute will also contribute specifically to these programs.

I would also like to thank all my students for their persistence. My main purpose is to make the course both enjoyable and useful. If any of those following the course in person or on line is benefitted by it, I am most grateful.