Jagat

sarva-prema-rasaika-bīja-vilasad-vipruṇ-mahā-mādhurī- pūrṇa-svarṇa-sugaura-mohana-mahā-jyotiḥ sudhaikāmbudhīn | ekaikāṅgata unmada-smara-kalā-raṅgān duhanty adbhutān vṛndā-kānana-saṁplavān hṛdi mama śyāma-priyā khelatu ||2.21|| May that great light, enchanting, the lovely hue of perfect gold, which is that of the great sweetness found in the drops that hold the unique seed that contains all the different kinds of prema-rasa; which then flow out from her every limb, as oceans of the true ambrosia, the playground for the astonishing, maddened erotic arts, which then flood the Vrindavan forest... May that beloved of Shyamasundar play within my heart. Here Prabodhananda shows off his virtuosity with a single compound word consisting of fifteen words, and that is naturally a bit of a puzzle to break down. We are again looking at a "great effulgence" a brilliant light, mahā-jyotiḥ . What is this light? It is mohana , enchanting. How so? It is of a gentl...

kiṁ krīḍaiva śarīriṇī ? smara-kalā kiṁ dohinī ? kiṁ ratiḥ svābhā mūrtimatī ? kim adbhuta-manojanmāstra-vidyaiva vā ? kiṁ vā jīvana-śaktir eva satanuḥ śyāmasya ? na jñāyate sā rādhā vijarīharīti hariṇā vṛndāvane'har-niśam||2.20|| Is this that appears before me nothing other than play possessing a body? Or is it the art of erotic love, yielding its gifts? Or is it the pleasures of love, taking an effulgent form? Or is it only the science of Cupid's wondrous weaponry? Or perhaps it is Shyamasundara's life energy embodied:   I do not know. It must be Sri Radha, who is dallying with Hari day and night with eternally increasing intensity in Vrindavan. This verse follows the formula of sandehālaṅkara , based on doubt. One speculates about the nature of the object being perceived by pointing to its qualities and those things to which they can be compared. In this case, it is the third kind of sandehālaṅkara called niścayānta , in which the doubt is resolve...

sarvābhāsa-jyotiṣo'nanta-pāra- syāntar-jyotir vaiṣṇavānanda-sāndram| tasyāpy antar-jyotir asty aprameyā- nandāsvādaṁ tatra vṛndāṭavīyam|| Within the boundless, all-pervading effulgence is the densely blissful, inner light of Lord Vishnu. That realm also has an inner light of immeasurable transcendental bliss. Therein lies this forest, Vrindavan. Prabodhananda now makes a statement on Vrindavan tattva. We are accustomed to hearing of the spiritual realm as being one of light. It begins with the Upanisads. na tatra sūryo bhāti na candra-tārakaṁ nemā vidyuto bhānti kuto’yam agniḥ | tam eva bhāntam anubhāti sarvaṁ tasya bhāsā sarvam idaṁ vibhāti || "There the sun does not shine, nor the moon and stars, there is no lightning, what to speak of fire! There everything is light because he is effulgent; by his effulgence all this [visible creation] is illumined." (Kaṭha Up. 2.2.15; Muṇḍaka Up. 2.2.11) God is customarily associated with light, a...

nāhaṁ gamiṣyāmi satāṁ samīpato nāhaṁ vadiṣyāmi nijaṁ kulādikam| nāhaṁ mukhaṁ darśayitāsmi kasyacit vṛndāṭavī-vāsa-kṛte'tisāhasī ||2.18|| I will not leave the company of the saintly. I will not speak of my family past or caste. I will not show my face to anyone. I am boldly intent on residing in Vrindavan. Indeed, one must be atisāhasī to live in Vrindavan. Spiritual life is not for the weak, says the Upanishad. But don't go to Vrindavan to get caught up in the same entanglements that torment everyone in the world outside. The purpose of Vrindavan is to go deeper into oneself until one finds the jewels of prema . To remain always on the surface of things is a lack of courage. In the previous verse ( 2.17 ), Prabodhananda Saraswatipada talked about caste and here again he mentions it in connection with courage. Although I translated as bold or courageous, Monier-Williams give "rash, precipitate, inconsiderate, foolhardy" as the definition of sāhas...

Sewa Kunj (PC Newsgram ) soḍhvāpi duḥkhāni suduḥsahāni tyaktvāpy aho jāti-kulādikāni | bhuktvā śvapākair api thutkṛtāni vṛndāṭavī-vāsam ahaṁ kariṣye ||2.17|| Tolerating even intolerable sufferings, leaving behind identity with my caste or kin, and eating that which is spit out even by untouchables, but I shall make my residence in Vrindavan. Here again Prabodhananda is making no differentiation between residing in Vrindavan and renunciation. One who takes sannyāsa must be ready to suffer because he places himself entirely at the mercy of the Supreme. But the price one must pay for spiritual perfection is complete surrender. To achieve any great thing one must persist despite obstacles, and obstacles to the attainment of the goal are always painful. Yet if the goal is good, and one persists with faith, those sufferings always bear the sweetest fruit. Tapasyā means to accept physical hardships because they favor the healthy awareness of the limitations of pleasure...

Sri Sri Radha Damodar, parīhāse'py anyāpriya-kathana-mūko'tivadhiraḥ pareṣāṁ doṣānuśrutim anu viloke'ndha-nayanaḥ | śilāvan niśceṣṭaḥ para-vapuṣi bādhā-lava-vidhau kadā vatsyāmy asmin hari-dayita-vṛndāvana-vane || When will I become dumb, incapable of speaking words that are hurtful to others, even if only spoken in jest? When will I become deaf, incapable of hearing others' faults, and blind to seeing them? When will I become as inactive as a clod of earth, incapable of any movement that brings others even the slightest pain? When will I thus reside in this Vrindavan forest, which is so dear to Hari? C omment As if to soften his statements in the previous verse , Prabodhananda turns to the quietism that is more natural to him. The qualities that he speaks of here are those taught by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his famous verse about chanting the Holy Names in humility and tolerance and respect for all creatures. For just as the...

Celebrating Lokanath Goswami's disappearance at his samadhi on the Gokulananda temple grounds. vṛndāraṇyaṁ tyajeti pravadati yadi ko'py asya jihvāṁ chinadmi śrīmad-vṛndāvanān māṁ yadi nayati balāt ko'pi taṁ hanmy avaśyam| kāmaṁ veśyām upeyāṁ na khalu pariṇayāyānyato yāmi kāmaṁ caurye kuryāṁ dhanārthaṁ na tu calati padaṁ hanta vṛndāvanān me || Should someone advise me, "Leave Vrindavan," I will cut out his tongue. If someone tries to drag me from Vrindavan by force, I will most surely kill him.  I would fain marry a prostitute, but will not go to wed someone elsewhere. If I need to steal to earn my livelihood, I will do so, but I will not take a single step out of Vrindavan. Comment Here Prabodhananda Saraswatipada makes one of his more outrageous statements ( prauḍhokti ), deliberately provoking the mentality of the materialistic moralists. They do not need to be taken literally, but are strong statements to others who wish to dissuade h...

Can't wait to get back to Vrindavan to take my own photos. At least VT needs a good photographer. bhrātar bhogāḥ subhuktāḥ ka iha na bhavatā nāpi saṁsāra-madhye vidyā-dānādhvarādyaiḥ kati kati jagati khyāti-pūjādy-alabdhāḥ | adyāhāre'pi yādṛcchika uru-guṇavān apy aho saṁvṛtātmā śrīmad-vṛndāvane'smin satatam aṭa sakhe sarvato mukta-saṅgaḥ || O brother! What enjoyments have you not already fully experienced here in this world? And what fame and adoration have you not had in the midst of this repeated birth and death through your learning, charity and sacrifice? My friend! From today on, in matters of eating, accept whatever comes unsought; even if you have all good qualities, keep yourself hidden and wander constantly, completely free from all attachments, in this beautiful forest of Vrindavan. Commentary Prabodhananda Saraswatipada returns again from his meditation on the eternal Vrindavan to instruct his mind to adhere to an absolute comm...

ananta-rucimat-sthalaṁ sphurad-ananta-vallī-drumaṁ mṛga-dvijam anantakaṁ dadhad-ananta-kuñjojjvalam | ananta-susarit-sarovaram ananta-ratnācalaṁ smarāmy aham ananta-tad-dvaya-ratena vṛndāvanam || I meditate on this limitlessly delightful place filled with limitless vines and trees, limitless deer and birds, limitless splendid groves, limitless charming lakes and streams, limitless jeweled mountains... I remember it as Vrindavan, the place of that Dual's limitless loves. Comment The eternal place of bliss and joy must be like that Vrindavan, because it would be the love playground of the fundamental Duality of gender. True love always basks in paradise, even if external reality tries to impose the opposite. That is the way we are to remember Vrindavan. That is the way we are meant to perceive Vrindavan: As the place of Radha and Krishna's love pastimes. This post was originally written on Govardhan Puja when I had been thinking of Sri Giriraj all da...

Bhagavata Nivasa, Vrindavan dravanti hari-bhāvatas taraṇa-tāraṇe'tikṣamās tato druma-taru-prathā vratatayaś ca kṛṣṇa-vratāḥ | sphuranti hariṇā iha prakaṭa-kṛṣṇasāra-prathā mṛgāś ca pada-mārgiṇaḥ pravilasanti vṛndāvane || In Vrindavan forest the trees fulfill their name druma because they melt ( dru ) with love for Krishna; and the name taru because they are very capable of shielding ( tāraṇa ) him from the sun ( taraṇa ). The vines are rightly called vratati because of their firm vow ( vrata ) to serve Krishna. And the deer have fulfilled the meaning of their names  kṛṣṇasāra because they see Krishna as their own essence ( sāra ), and mṛga because they always seek to find ( mṛg ) Krishna's footprints. Comment: In Vrindavan, everything is made of prema-rasa . There is nothing but prema-rasa, and all the living entities, moving or unmoving, are prema-rasa through and through. And as conscious beings, they also respond with all the emotional ...

Jai Sri Radhe. Well I am finally going to be speaking at a few programs here in Montreal. I will still try to do more. Swami Bhakti Bibudh Bodhayan Maharaj is here in Montreal at the moment. He has been preaching in the Montreal area for more than ten years now, since one of his disciples, Anuradha Dasi , an innovative Odisi dancer from La Belle Province, is also something of a good promoter. Another friend of his is  Patrick Bernard, Prahlad Das , an ex-ISKCON person who took mantra initiation from Bhakti Rakshak Shridhar Maharaj. He has become fairly successful as a New Age musician with plenty of fans. So through the two of them, Bodhayan Maharaj has made plenty of contacts in local yoga schools, etc. Bodhayan Maharaj and Paramadwaiti Maharaj at Vrinda Kunj in Vrindavan, 2009. I went to a couple of Bodhayan Maharaj's programs, and have met many of his disciples, who are mostly new and real beginners. The mood in his programs is very good and quite different from t...