Jagat

Another Side of Thakura Bhaktivinoda Pariśiṣṭa (An Additional Topic):  "What Changed the River’s Course?" By Gadadhar Pran Das  Email: gadadhar_das000@yahoo.co.in  After completing thirty chapters and assuming that our writing task was done, one reader put forward a good question: “Although the guru parampara of Thakur Bhaktivinoda that is described in your book appears to be genuine, why don’t more of his followers know about this?” Yes, we considered, he is right. Here is a matter that merits explanation. But before we attempt to uncover the Thakur's legacy, we should say a few words about what was going on in the beginning. Because from Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s time there was a traditional system in our Gaudiya Sampradaya that was much more in practice in Bhaktivinoda’s period than it is today: Vaishnavas were accustomed to take diksha from a Goswami parivara, a family line of Vaishnava Acharyas that descend from one of Gauranga’s eternal associates. Not only does Thakur ...

This is the last portion of the Service to Guru series, which is taken from a collection of articles by Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj, originally published in Chaitanya Vani, the magazine of the Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. 4. Sudama Vipra at the ashram of Sandipani Muni The glories of service to the spiritual master have been sung in all the scriptures—in both the Upanishads and the Puranas. The disciple who is indifferent to service to the spiritual master will never get the mercy of Krishna. The Bhagavatam recounts that even Krishna himself set the example of how to serve the spiritual master. We see in the Bhagavatam that the Supreme Lord Krishna himself set the example of service to the spiritual master. After Krishna had returned to Mathura and killed Kamsa, he was reunited with his parents, Vasudeva and Devaki. Since he and Balaram had spent their childhood in the cowherd community, they had not received an education befitting the princely life they were now to lead. Not o...

svacchaṁ svacchandam evāsty atimadhura-rasa-nirjharād ambu pātuṁ bhoktuṁ svādūni kāmaṁ sakala-taru-tale śīrṇa-parṇāni santi | kāmaṁ niḥśīta-vātaṁ vimala-giri-guhādy asti nirbhāti vastuṁ śrī-vṛndāraṇyam etat tad api yadi jihāsāmi hā hā hato’smi || The waters flowing from the springs are pure and very sweet tasting and one can drink them to one’s heart’s content; one can eat all one desires of the delicious dry leaves that fall from each and every tree. One can take up residence in the spotless caves of the mountains where cool winds freely blow. Vrindavan is like this, so should I ever wish to leave it, Alas alas! I would be ruined. (1.16) Commentary It is hard not to read this last verse without being provoked into deep reflection about the changing times. It is clear that Prabodhananda is an extremely renounced sadhu. Again and again he expresses a pleasure in the life of renunciation and austerity. Living in caves? Dry leaves? Not so appealing to us today. Bu...

So what do I mean "keeping faith with Kheturi"? The primary significance I take out of the above account is in its implications for initiation. Kheturi, as Chaitanya Vaishnavism's first major council, was an exercise in what is called, in religious-historical terms, the routinization of charisma. In short, it was a major development in the organization of the Chaitanya Vaishnava “church.” It is common for people to characterize this kind of institutionalization as a murder of the religious spirit. It’s what we could call the "St. Paul ruined Jesus" school of thought. Ramakanta Chakravarti, like Hitesranjan Sanyal and many other leftist Bengalis, see Kheturi and the establishment of the Goswami scriptures as a historical disaster because it reaffirmed Brahminical social dominance and its values instead of furthering the emancipation of the lower classes that had been started off by Nityananda Prabhu with his egalitarian ethos. Thus it was the victory...

Part I Part II Part III Part IV In the accounts of the lives of the three second-generation saints, Shrinivas Acharya, Narottam Das and Shyamananda, we are informed right away that this was the situation: Shrinivas, especially, is described wandering from one holy site to another, hoping to get the association of one or the other of Mahaprabhu’s companions, and each time missing the opportunity by a few days or months. Though most of these near-misses were no doubt exaggerated, authors like Narahari Chakravarti and Nityananda Das are simply trying to tell us that Mahaprabhu’s associates were quickly disappearing, and that this was a terrible disappointment to him and everyone else. In their search for leadership and guidance, they eventually turned to Braj where Rupa, Sanatan and the other Goswamis had been diligently establishing a disciplined theology. According to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Mahaprabhu instructed Rupa and Sanatan to write scriptures on philosophy and sad-ācār...