Jagat

In the previous post, Vishwanath Chakravarti stated that the word yoga in Gītā 2.40 refers to svarūpa-siddhā bhakti because only such devotion is transcendental to the guṇas . Jñāna and karma are within the guṇas and therefore do not fulfill the conditions of yoga that the verse itself promises: through yoga one will transcend the guṇas . He looks at the totality of yoga with bhakti as its culmination. Thus there is a sequence or progression in the process leading to that bhakti. Śrīdhara and other commentaries have defined yoga here as bhagavad-arpita-karma , and it is precisely this that Vishwanath finds to be inadequate. This is also the definition given by commentaries on the īśvara-praṇidhāna of the Yoga-sūtras . But bhakti is not subordinate to yoga, it is the fruition of yoga; it is the complete manifestation of yoga. Now we look at Vishwanath's commentary to 2.41 where he continues his argument:

So I was thinking about Vishwanath Chakravarti's commentary to 2.40-41. He makes a bold statement that the word yoga (in buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śr̥ṇu ) means bhakti-yoga , and he continues this argument in the following verse when explaining vyavasāyātmikā buddhi . Now everybody else takes yoga to mean karma-yoga , so is Vishwanath's interpretation strained ( kaṣṭa-kalpanā )? Let's look at it...

Photo Vishakha Dasi. śrī-vastrābharaṇādibhiḥ kara-padādy-utkarta-dāhādibhir nindā-saṁstava-koṭibhir bahu-vibhūty-atyanta-dainyādibhiḥ | jīvann eva mṛto yathā na vikṛtiṁ prāptaḥ kathaṁcit kvacit śrī-vṛndāvanam āśraye priya-mahānandaika-kandaṁ param|| Whether I am covered in beautiful clothes and ornaments, or suffer from cuts and burns to my limbs; whether I am copiously criticized or lavishly praised; whether I live with great riches or in complete poverty, like a dead man, I will remain unchanged at all times and in all circumstances, but I will definitely be alive, for I take refuge in Vrindavan the single supreme root of all the great joys of my beloved Lord and Lady. (1.29) Commentary [This verse is where I stopped posting daily meditations from the Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta . When I reached it, I found I had written nothing previously and I hit an inspirational brick wall. So I let it sit for all this time. This time, some thoughts occurred to me. In act...

In response to my discussion of asana-siddhi , it was suggested that this was intended to impress others rather than to be a value in itself. Of course this is not about impressing anyone, except for impressing on them the importance of physical culture, deha-sādhana . I cannot possibly agree with those devotees who think that proper care of this human body is irrelevant to the pursuit of bhakti. Who think that exploring the potential of the human body has no relation to the culture of Krishna prema . śarīram ādyaṁ khalu dharma-sādhanam The body is the beginning point of all spiritual culture. The shastra glorifies the human body as the vehicle to spiritual realization, but we think it is only talking about the human brain and we ignore the rest of the possibilities and glories of this body. Dattatreya says the human body is the 25th guru. In other words, of all the "natural" gurus, the human body is the best. Yet we think that listening to and learning from this mir...

[ I   am happy to have finally received a copy of the  Yoga-taraṅgiṇī , which has been published by Motilal Banarsidass with the Himalayan Yoga Publications Trust. When I was writing the introduction, I started also to describe the adventure that working on this text represented, and became quite bogged down as the self-examination and other external factors made it seem impossible to conclude. Finally, I just gave up on the idea and handed in the manuscript without this part of the introduction. This is the first part, which discusses the apparent conflict between the bhakti and yoga paths. ] In the SRSG library and research center. Bhakti and Yoga I often wonder about the relationship of a translation to the original text. The famous Italian saying that "to translate is to betray" indicates that any translation is inevitably an interpretation of some kind. A third person enters between the speaker and his audience, and neither the third person nor the audience wer...

Just as I finished writing about my renewed sense of purpose about teaching about the role of sexuality on the bhakti path, I came across an article posted by Abhaya Mudra Dasi on the Sampradaya Sun. Abhaya Mudra is a Bulgarian disciple of Suhotra Swami who has a jyotish website with Prabhupada disciple Patita Pavan Das. At first view, her article, Sex and Spirituality , is a defense of standard ISKCON teaching on sexuality, though it adds a few interesting twists. I have personally come to the conclusion that even though mainstream Western devotees still following ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math start out deeply committed to a doctrine that marginalizes sexuality, as the years go by, a great number of them become frustrated by double standards and hypocrisy that seem endemic in the movement. The Western Krishna consciousness movement has no bigger " shadow " than sexuality. Though child abuse scandals have rocked ISKCON and repeated "falldowns" or sexual peccadill...

Anyone who has studied the Bhagavad- gītā  will know the following verse: ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ karma kāraṇam ucyate | yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate || For one seeking to rise to the platform of yoga, work is said to be the cause. For the same person when arisen to the platform of yoga, mental pacification is said to be the cause. (6.3) This somewhat innocuous verse says a great deal about the structure of the Gītā and the sixth chapter, and indeed about the entire Gītā philosophy of yoga. As many will already know, Madhusudan Saraswati has divided the Gītā into three six-chapter sections, on karma, bhakti and jnana, respectively. This scheme has been accepted by the two Gaudiya commentators, Vishwanath and Baladeva, also. The sixth chapter also serves as a bridge from the karma section to the bhakti section as the number of references that Krishna makes to himself, to thought of him, to the vision of him, etc., is substantially greater th...