Jagat

[This was lying around and should have been on-line somewhere. Footnote references were stripped and will have to be added. Also the numbering of references appears to not match with the numbers of the critical edition, which was completed after the writing of the introduction. Babaji has agreed to publish this full translation from Jiva Institute in the near future. Then we will revise this intro a bit.] Traditionally, there are said to be 108 upaniṣads. This is the number found in the Muktikopaniṣad , but there are numerous other lists and compilations of Upaniṣads, all of which have different contents. In his massive verse index, Upaniṣad-vākya-mahā-kośa , Sadhale has drawn on 223 different extant texts that call themselves by this name. The most important of these works, which have been commented on by Śaṅkara and other Vedāntists and are considered to be the basis of the Vedānta-sūtra of Bādarāyaṇa, are the eleven earliest texts that are connected to Vedic śākhās and carry thei...

śrīmad-vṛndāṭavi mama hṛdi sphorayātma-svarūpam atyāścarya-prakṛti paramānanda-vidyā-rahasyam| pūrṇa-brahmāmṛtam api hriyā vābhidhātuṁ na neti brūte yatropaniṣada ihātratyā vārtā kutastyā || O Vrindavan! Land of wondrous nature! Reveal your true essence to my heart, with all its esoteric secrets, the spells that lead to supreme bliss.   The Upanishads themselves are too shy to describe the full nectar of Brahman, and so say, “but not this, not this!” So what hope have we to tell who or what you are? Commentary As Prabodhananda embarks on the journey -- a lifelong commitment to glorifying Vrindavan until his dying day -- he continues to reflects on the nature of his task. How can a mere mortal limited by time and space, bodily consciousness and conditioning, enter into this inconceivable transcendental realm of God's own abode? The only recourse is to beg for the Dham's mercy itself. As Prabodhananda wrote in one of the concluding verses of the  Sudh...