Jagat

rādhā-keli-mṛgasya kasyacid aho śyāmasya yūnau nava- syābhīrī-gaṇa-kāṅkṣamāna-karuṇā-dṛṣṭeḥ smaronmādinī | sarvāmnāya-durūha-kṛṣṇa-rasa-sarvasvaika-saṁcāriṇī śrī-vṛndā-vipinābhidhā vijayate kandarpa-keli-sthalī || All glories to that playground of Cupid known as Vrindavan, which increases the desires of Radha’s pet and plaything, a certain black-colored youth, whose merciful glances are coveted by all the milkmaids! This land is the one inspirator that sets into motion the sum total of Krishna rasa, something impossible to find in any of the Vedas. Commentary This verse further confirms what was said at the conclusion of the previous verse about Vrindavan. The dhāma , being the viśuddha-sattva or completely pure existence is the locus of the Lord’s pastimes. It is the prominent manifestation of Krishna’s sandhinī śakti . The essential thing to know is that this is the “internal” energy, which can only be known subjectively. It is not “external” or accessible em...

PC. Pixelartz If Vrindavan, the light of the Self,      which is endowed with a great effulgence      that is the source of all the light manifest      in the sun, moon, fire and lightning             a million times over, should manifest itself in one’s heart,      then the desires for wealth, sons and heaven      will never again enter his mind.  vṛndāṭavī yadi ravīndu-hutāśa-vidyut- koṭi-prabhā-vibhava-kāri mahā-prabhāḍhyā | ātma-prabhā sakṛd api pratibhāti citte vittaiṣaṇādi nahi tasya manasy udeti || Commentary Prabodhananda Saraswati continues to use language that is redolent of his life as a Vedanta scholar. Here he says that Vrindavan is the light of the Self, knowing which all desires are eliminated. In Vedanta, the light of the Self means spiritual knowledge: ( dīpād ity-ādīnām apy ātma-prabhā-rūpaṁ jñānam , Ramanuja to Gītā 13.17). When o...

Satyaraj Prabhu asked me to write about Vrindavan as a tirtha for the upcoming edition of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies. I have written so much over the years, you would think that I had some kind of clear idea of what I want to say. I have been spending my time looking over the old material and trying to reduce it all to around 5000 words and to make a coherent presentation. The problem is, as always, what do I want to say? What is my “big” realization of the moment? Or the inspiration that guides my understanding of the Dham? Well, first of all I think it is necessary to distinguish the tirtha from Dham. Tirtha is a place you visit, the Dham is a place you stay. I think that needs to be narrowed down a bit more. Dham includes tirtha, but tirtha does not include Dham. A tirtha is usually primarily about expiating sins, one's own or those of one's forefathers. Its primary goal is mukti, whereas the Dham is about bhakti and enhancing one's devotion to Krishna. Resid...

A couple of decades ago I worked for Raoul Ramdas Goff of Mandala Press translating. Ramdas is a disciple of Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaj , the founder of the Gopinath Gaudiya Math , which is now headed by Sripad Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaj . My relationship with Mandala came to a sudden end when the company went through a period of financial difficulty and so many of the projects that I worked on never found their way to the printing presses. One of those projects, which was in an advanced state of completion, started out as a translation of Sri Kshetra by Sundarananda Vidyavinoda, but since Sundarananda's book was written near the end of the pre-Independence period (pre-1947) a lot of the information was out of date and required considerable supplementary research. We prepared maps and so on, but needed photography and I felt I needed to do some on the spot research. My relationship with Mandala was severed before that took place and the project was left in limbo. S...