Jagat

[ This is an article from a few years back. It feels like it is in need of some work. But since I may need it for reference, I am putting it back on line, as I don't think it is available anywhere. Sorry, the internal links for footnotes don't work. ] There are few traditional societies in which women have played a dominant historical role. In this respect, Gaudiya Vaishnavism is no different. The egalitarianism of bhakti movements, which stress the universality of devotion and deny any disqualifications based on birth, sex, or caste, seems to have had limited real effects on the actual social circumstances of any of these classes of people. There are some, including the eminent Bengali historian, Ramakanta Chakravarti, who feel that the status of women was improved in Chaitanya Vaishnavism, mainly due to the singular example of Jahnava Devi. (1) Indeed, it does appear that literacy rates among women (and men) in Vaishnava castes in Bengal were somewhat higher than in other, ...

This is a combination of four articles that were posted on Gaudiya Discussions from April 10, 2004. Since I am engaged in a bit of reminiscence, this fits in right about here. I. Ritual and Structure: The meaningful organization of symbols One thing I learned about in the phenomenology of religion course during my university days was to look for structures in religious rituals. As I have stated many times, religious symbols are inexhaustible sources of meaning. They should contain all the elements of a dialectic within them, so that each completion of the dialectic circle results in a deepening of perception of one's ultimate religious concern. A great religion generally has a little something for everybody--a saint, a demigod, a little myth or legend, a theological interpretation. These all expand out of the great central constellation of myths. A religion's rituals generally recapitulate these myths communally, so that they are reinforced by their performance. T...

(2) The unification of male and female principles in sexual ritual SS has given a great deal of emphasis on this second item. Evidently this is the subject that attracts the most interest from students and dilettantes alike. Here it is stated that Radha and Krishna have been appropriated as replacements for Shiva and Shakti: “…supreme bliss ( maha-sukha ) is said to arise from their union. This blissful unity forms the foundational basis for nearly all Tantric religion.” Here SS says, “… this state of blissful union is conceived of through the worship of Krishna, who is seen as the supreme power of the universe. While Krishna occupies a central place in the tradition, unlike in the Gaudiya system, the focus is more on his abstract cosmic principle rather than his mythological principle (Glen Alexander Hayes, “The Vaishnava Sahajiya Traditions of Medieval Bengal.” in Religions of India in Practice , 333). As noted in the article related to Su.'s paper on Radha, Donna Wulff has astut...