Jagat

What can I say about the magnificence of Gadadhar Pran Das? It has been 40 years since he embarked on this journey of discovering rāgānugā bhakti and kāntā bhāva . His explorations have taken him into regions of Gaura bhakti tradition that very few have managed to find. Who has been able to understand the meaning of Rupa Goswami's verses and how to transform them into an active devotional life? Who has understood the meaning of madhura-rasa in the way that he has? Who has shown the kind of unbroken and constant commitment to the goal of prema-bhakti that he has? In this chapter of this work, in which he connects Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur to the origins of the guru-paramparā and finds a connection to Gora nagara bhāva is a great achievement of svārasikī bhajana . In this chapter and the previous, he has justified sharing some of the intimate details of his bhajan so that ordinary practitioners on the vidhi-mārga , who think they have learned everything there is to know...

Gadadhar Pran Das has sent me a couple more chapters of Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur  to share with you all. Jai Radhe! Jai Gaura!  We have found that some devotees don’t believe in this  sādhana , and take it to be mental concoction. So before beginning this chapter’s story, let us examine Rupa Goswami’s guidelines for those who hanker to take up  rāga-mārga bhajana . Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur 28 :  Sri Gopinath’s Sevā Pālā As we were reading in Chapters 26 and 27 about Gaura and Gadadhar’s madhura lilas that unfold in Their bhāvāḍhya and rasātmikā moods, now in the next two chapters (28 and 29) it will be similarly rewarding to investigate how the bhaktas’ sevā unfolds in two ways also: in the ānugatyamayī and in the pratyakṣa moods. The first step is the ānugatyamayī sevā , when one serves the Lord following after their guru, guru-varga and Mahaprabhu’s nitya-siddha bhaktas . In the next stage, however, which...

13.3 The liberation of having the same opulences as Bhagavān ( sārṣṭi ) tathā sārṣṭiś ca darśitā bhakti-sandarbhe [309], "martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā ity-ādau, "mayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai" [bhā.pu. 11.29.35] ity anena | The mukti called sārṣṭi was shown in Bhakti Sandarbha (309) in verses such as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.29.35, i.e., "He becomes qualified to attain opulence like Me." martyo yadā tyakta samasta karmā niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me tadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamāno mayātma bhūyāya ca kalpate vai When a mortal creature gives up all works and completely surrenders himself to Me, engaging in activities according to My desire, then he attains immortality by My grace, becoming equal to Me in spiritual quality. When a mortal being offers himself unto Me, relinquishing all duties, I desire to bless such a soul. Attaining immortality, he becomes eligible to attain the state of complete identification with Me. (SB 11.29.34, CC 3.4.193) Bha...