Jagat

Old photo of Jagannath Vallabh Garden in Puri. P.C. Iskcon Desire Tree. It was during his stay in Jagannath Puri [149-154] that Bhaktivinoda Thakur got the golden opportunity to observe Gaudiya Vaishnava culture from a very privileged position in one of its most prominent centers. As Deputy Magistrate, he had the great responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the great temple. "I blissfully served Lord Jagannath for almost five years," he writes. [154] This was the time when he was able to undertake an intense and comprehensive course of study in the bhakti shastras. Moreover, he himself became something of a teacher of Vaishnava scripture, even holding public Bhāgavata classes in the Jagannath Vallabh garden and on the Jagannath temple grounds, classes that were attended by many brahmins and Vaishnavas. The Thakur gave special attention to learning Sanskrit and made great strides, so much so that he even composed his first Sanskrit work, Datta-kaustubha , in 18...

I was trying to find an old article I wrote and it wasn't on the blog. I will need to rewrite and comment on Jiva Goswami's vicāra-mārga and ruci-mārga , an important discussion that I often find myself refering to and need to have a link to send people to. So, looking for that I found this, which probably was on some on-line forum 15-20 years ago and never put on this blog. So, for the record. It is relevant to my earlier post about Jordan Peterson and meaning . Someone wrote: The Vaishnavas also say they believe in the oneness of God. That it is a fundamental doctrine of the Vaishnava creed. But really guys, come on, you have so many "deities" floating around. Are the Muslims right when they accuse you of "idol worship" and "dividing the ONENESS?" I have heard Vaishnavas say "we are not "idol worshippers" like the Hindus or Pagans. But it looks the same. What is the difference? The word "pagan" evokes all kin...

Part I : Tirtha, Kshetra, Dhama Part II : Pilgrimage to Puri in the 19th Century Part III : Gaudiya Vaishnava Pilgrimage How a Gaudiya Vaishnava performs pilgrimage In a 1967 article about the Chaitanya Gaudiya Math pilgrimage to Jagannath Puri, Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj summarized the speech given by His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja to the assembled devotees on the first evening of their arrival at Dudhwala Dharma Shala: According to our most worshipable Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, performing the Dham parikrama is a way in which a devotee can easily practice the five most powerful acts of devotional service: associating with devotees, chanting the Holy Name, hearing the Bhagavatam, residing in Mathura (or the Holy Dham) and serving the deity form of the Lord. sādhu saṅga nāma kīrtana bhāgavata śravaṇa mathurā vāsa śrīmūrtira śraddhāya sevana sakala sādhana śreṣṭha ei pañca aṅga kṛṣṇa prema janmāya ei pāṅcera alpa saṅga eka aṅga sādhe keha...

Part I : Tirtha, Kshetra, Dhama Part II : Pilgrimage to Puri in the 19th Century Part III : Gaudiya Vaishnava Pilgrimage Pilgrimage in the 19th century With all these layers of spiritual significance, Puri has always been a great magnet to the people of India, who left their homes at great personal sacrifice, often spending their entire life’s savings just for the chance to see Lord Jagannath and bathe in the ocean tirtha. The Chaitanya Charitamrita describes the annual pilgrimages made by Mahaprabhu’s followers, who would walk the 500 kilometers from Bengal. Mahaprabhu’s dear associate Shivananda Sena would supervise the trip, taking care of travel arrangements, accommodations, border crossings, river crossings, and tolls for the several hundred pilgrims who would go to see Mahaprabhu every year during the Rathayatra. These times were often troubled and Shivananda had to make full use of his extensive diplomatic skills to negotiate through the various difficulties. W. W...

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...