Jagat

There was a book by the famous travel writer  Paul Theroux  left lying by a previous guest in the cottage at SRSG, The Old Patagonian Express . Theroux writes about pretty much nothing with such ease. He is a good writer and learned in literary matters, but his subject matter seems somewhat trivial to me. This book is about his travels on trains from Boston to Patagonia, the things that happen to him and the people he meets. Seems like a very easy formula: no reason for writer's block if that is all you have to do. It is basically a diary. But diaries can be a great literary form... I have often wanted to write a kind of spiritual journal, like Thoreau  or even like Satsvarupa Maharaj , but I am afraid I just don't have the discipline. Writing is time-consuming and exhausting, and I have a lot of it to do. Day-job type of thing. This kind of writing is an indulgence if it cannot be monetized... and even then it is not my genre, so I should rather avoid getting...

আজকে রাধাকুণ্ডে গিয়েছিলাম। রাধাকুণ্ড মহান্ত শ্রী শ্রী অনন্তদাস পণ্ডিত বাবাজী মহারাজের কাছে গিয়েছিলাম দর্শনের জন্য । উনি আমার সঙ্গে কিছু ক্ষণ কথা বললেন । পুরানো স্মৃতির আবৃত্তি হলো কিছু ।   বাবাজী অসুস্থ হলেও, ৯২ বৎসর বয়সেও এ বৎসরে নিত্য নিয়মিত পাঠ করবেন নিয়ম সেবার সময়. আমাকে রাধাকুণ্ডে থাকতে বলেছেন. আমি যে গোপালচম্পূ পাঠ করব বললাম. উনি খুশী হলেন.   বার বার বলছিলেন, "এসো, থাকো রাধাকুণ্ডে." আমি বললাম গোপালচম্পূ পাঠের কথা. বাবাজী মহাশয, "ভালো ভালো" বললেন.   আমি বলেছিলাম, "এত দিন পরে আপনার দর্শনে এলাম্. আপনার সঙ্গ লাভ করতে হলে আমার পুনর্জন্মের অপেক্ষা."   শেষে আমার মাথায় হাথ বুলিয়ে আমাকে বললেন, "তুমি আমার প্রাণের বন্ধু !" কি সুন্দর কথা, আমি চোখের জল সংবরণ করতে পারলাম না । ভেসেই গেলাম ।   রাধাকুণ্ডের পরিক্রমা করার সময, তিনকুডির প্রভুর আশ্রমের সামনে দিয়ে আমার সেই পুরানো স্মৃতি এলো -- সে নিয়ম সেবা যখন সেখানে তাঁর কাছে থাকলাম এক মাস । ঐ ছোট সরু শিরির দিয়ে আমি নেমে ঠাণ্ডা জলে, শীতের হাওয়ায় শ্রীকুণ্ডে স্নান করতাম ভোর বেলায়।   ...

I get regular mailings from the Pure Bhakti website of Narayan Maharaj's sangha. The last few days have been full of messages citing Narayan Maharaj's warnings about Ananta Das Baba. Today was the bouquet, as we say in French, as the headlined audio file was "Satsvarupa Goswami confirms Srila Narayan Maharaja saved him and others from Ananta Das Babaji."

Harilal Vyasa (HLV) has given a lengthy 157 verse introduction to his commentary in which he points out his principal intentions in his work. In it, he cites verse 146 (147 in the Gaudiya edition) as a case of rasa-bhāva-vivecanam , and the point he makes there is the following: rasopasarjanī-bhūto bhāvo mukhyo rasaḥ smṛtaḥ | bhāvaḥ śyāme raso gaure yasya sādhāraṇo na saḥ | [Since] bhāva is that which produces the rasa, rasa is therefore the more prominent [of the two]. One whose bhāva is in Shyam and rasa in Radha is not common. (103-104) This is meant to be a quick summary of HLV's understanding of the verse and a highlighting of its importance. Now let's look at the verse itself in a little more detail: na jānīte lokaṁ na ca nigama-jātaṁ kula-paraṁ- parāṁ vā no jānāty ahaha na satāṁ cāpi caritam | rasaṁ rādhāyām ābhajati kila bhāvaṁ vraja-maṇau rahasy etad yasya sthitir api na sādhāraṇa-gatiḥ || One who does not know the ways of the world, nor the scrip...

Rasaraj Dasji has just reminded us all that hundreds of copies of the Mādhurya-kādambinī we all worked so hard on several years ago are just gathering dust in various people's basements. It is really wonderful, when you think of it. In the Gaudiya Discussions days, an almost magical kind of synergy developed, and this publication was probably its most concrete and permanent fruit. Advaita Dasji did the original translation, and that was then gone over with a fine tooth comb by yours truly. Many wonderful posts and discussions on the Gaudiya Discussions resulted from that work and my reflections on it. Advaita Dasji later renounced all credit for any work that he had done because he did not wish to be associated with anything that had my name on it (sigh!) but later he generously admitted that I had done a good job. Anandaji did a great job on the layout, Rasaraj and Braja provided funds... I think that everyone who participated in this work could and should feel proud of wha...

Flickr As I go through the dāna-līlā episode of Chandi Das's Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtana , there are many songs in which Krishna describes Radha's beauty, and a regular feature of that includes descriptions of her breasts. In fact, breasts are a subject that is prominent in all Sanskrit poetry, and is even standard in prayers to goddesses. There does not seem to have been any inhibition in talking about breasts in the ancient Indian culture, even though I dare say, there is more of one in the modern society, in spite of Bollywood. There is, however, an apparent restriction in talking about genitals, male or female, in the so-called erotic poetry of India--Sanskrit or vernacular--even when lovemaking etc., is described. Such descriptions would automatically fall into some other genre. In Radha and Krishna descriptions, I cannot recall ever seeing or hearing a passage that mentioned genitals or overt sexual activity. It is nearly always spoken of somewhat euphemistically. I remember ...

Actually, we are having very nice Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi classes by the Ganga, thank you. Ananta Das Babaji's purports are wowing whoever listens and at least one person has said they are sending away for a copy--to keep in the Swami Rama Sadhana Mandir ashram . The place we have our readings is just out in front of the ashram, and they end when the pujari comes out and does Ganga arati. This is actually only one of about four ghats along the promenade where Ganga arati is held. Down towards the town, the next ghat over really has a hopping women's bhajan program every sandhya with at least 50-60 women attending. They also end with arati. Further down, at the end of the promenade, there is a Rama temple where a lot of people go regularly and do their own little thing. Anyway, Ananta Dasji, if I may say, is pretty amazing. He does not miss anything, and often finds stuff that you just never would know or find on your own. His knowledge of Bengali padavali is vast and he re...

Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi . We have been doing the wonderful descriptions of Radha's abhisāra in verses 19-22. Five or six people are coming every day, from a pool of about 10 or 15. Ananda Kumar Tiwari is the main man, though. He is so enthusiastic, it warms the heart. Just enough time to share some of it. The abhisāra descriptions, though, fit in nicely with the theme of the poem that I wrote the other day. Ananta Das seems to say almost the exact same things as he describes how the kinkari serves Radha from beginning to end of the abhisāra . First by making Radha conscious enough to go after she hears the flute to protecting her on the way: "No, swamini, you are going too fast. Wait for me, I can't keep up. Besides, if you go too fast, you might fall and hurt yourself. What if you scratch your feet, which are Govinda's very life?" dṛṣṭvaiva candrakam atīva-camatkṛtāṅgī veṇu-dhvaniṁ kva ca niśamya ca vihvalāṅgī | sā śyāmasundara-guṇair anugīyamānaiḥ...

A project I would like to finish is my translation and commentary on Dāna-keli-kaumudī . I have been interested in the the origins of the dāna-līlā theme for a long time and would like to highlight the differences between the different approaches to it, as well as trying to understand what it all means... Sanatan Goswami most significantly mentions the Dāna-khaṇḍa and Nauka-khaṇḍa as the original contribution of Chandi Das, but works of this name by this author were nowhere to be seen until Basanta Ranjan Ray Vidvadballabh discovered and published Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana (SKK) in 1914. Though some, including the very reputable Biman Bihari Majumdar ( Caṇḍī-dāsera Padāvalī , Kolkata, Bangla Sahitya Parishad, 1961, pages 53ff), are certain that the book belongs to the post-Chaitanya period, we will accept the still prevailing wisdom, primarily on the basis of Sanatan Goswami's testimony. But it is also significant that Chandi Das, despite being mentioned so frequently in the Cai...