Jagat

A major insight of Bharata Muni in the Natya Shastra is the statement: “There is no communication of any meaning without rasa.” ( na rasād ṛte kaścid arthaḥ pravartate ) This has been more or less at the bottom of my thinking over the past few days, as I have been doing a prolonged manana on the concept of the vicāra-mārga and the ruci-mārgas that Jiva Goswami talks about throughout the Bhakti-sandarbha [See esp. Anu. 202]. In fact, if anything at all, the bhakti path itself is a consequence of understanding that the sentiments are far more powerful than the intellect. If you can communicate to the sentiments, then the intellect will follow. Barely anyone is so devoted to the truth that they currently possess they will not compromise it for a reward, if it is nice and sweet. But the point of bhakti is that it is a higher taste -- one that uplifts. It is one that has a message that makes one strive to be a better human being, according to the concept of what it is to be a Vaish...

We are in full rainy season mode and that is tree-planting time, but not much is going on in that respect here as we already live in a forest, even though it is one that is rapidly being closed in on by urban development. (Not the worst kind, though, as we are still far enough from Kolkata to be a bit protected from urbanization's worst ravages. The problems with the land occupation appear to be coming to an end. There is a new municipal chairman who favors the temple and there is a great deal of support for us in the community. So we have the green light to throw the occupiers out with police backing in a few days. The first item on the agenda is to finish building the boundary wall. The encroachers cleared out part of the mango garden on the other side of the pukkur (actually a good thing). Once that area is freed, we will make a parikrama route through the mango orchards and around the rest of the perimeter. It will be very nice. I am also thinking that we should build...

  I was greatly disturbed today to learn from my godbrother Hari Gopal Dasji Maharaj, the current president of the Bhaktivinode Gosthi, that the Birnagar birthplace of Bhaktivinoda Thakur is under attack. Some neighbors are claiming that they have ancestral rights over the land, even though the property was clearly given to our Gurudeva, Sril Sril Lalita Prasad Thakur, in the 1930’s and the ashram has the papers to prove it. It happens that the town of Birnagar has grown up around the Dwadash Mandir property, making it extremely valuable real estate. Dwadash Mandir for the most part is unchanged from 40 years ago before greed and development had become the de facto religion of this country. In the last few years, the population of the ashram has dwindled and made it vulnerable to this kind of attack. Land Mafias everywhere in India take advantage of such situations to their profit. When it became clear to the trustees of the Goshthi that the ashram was in danger, they...

Harigopal Dasji and Vamshi Dasji. So I did not finish reflecting on the visit to Dwadash Mandir. Some came out today in a bit of a poetical form, which can be seen here . Let me quote the relevant parts, which is actually most of the poem: It was a visit to a distant past, my guru's ashram. Strangely unchanged, though changes are coming, like everywhere, like a cancer they spread through every artery in the shape of fallen trees and piles of bricks in various shapes and forms, usually square and shapeless, devoid of love or art. ...  But Dwadash Mandir sits in obliviousness to the norms of the modern world. It is dangling with cobwebs the spaces are just nooks, the women are just cooks. And the bell rings and the gong chimes and one or two voices sing the mangal arati waking up the rest, who slowly drag themselves into their daily routine of cooking and cleaning the men are dragging long tubes or piles of wood, or bringing in mangoes from the orchard...