Jagat

Gadadhar's writing style makes editing the spellings and so on difficult. I have decided to change my policy and just leave the Bengali words in the text without diacritics or italics. This policy began when I was halfway through this document, so please forgive the inconsistencies. When the book is published we will try to make things consistent. Sorry for the inconvenience. For other articles in this series, click here . People interested in communication with the author can write to gadadhar_das000@yahoo.co.in Chapter 25 Vishnupriya and Jahnava Devi’s Rāsa līlā Although the Rāsa līlā sankirtan that happens at midday in Vishnupriya’s gupta Vrindaban abode was previously described, in this chapter we will tell something about Her nocturnal Rāsa līlā . This spectacular event and the other madhura pastimes which precede and follow it all take place on a hidden island in the Ganga known as Gauranga sthali. In this chapter also the svārasikī story that we were foll...

Gadadhar Pran speaking with Vaishnava Pada Dasji, wirthy discipe of Radha Kund Mahanta Ananta Das Babaji.. After a long hiatus, we are continuing with this great insightful series from Sri Gadadhar Pran Das, who is sharing this very personal document about his long relation with rāgānugā bhakti that began with his initiation by Srila Lalita Prasad Thakur, the son and direct disciple of Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakur. For other articles in this series, click here . People interested in communication with the author can write to  gadadhar_das000@yahoo.co.in Chapter 24 A Few Words about Rāgānugā Bhakti Sadhana How can we attain the privilege to serve in Sri Gauranga and Sri Krishna’s nitya līlā ? In this chapter we will discuss the sādhana which leads to this supreme goal in Gaudiya Vaishnava dharma. To help understand the process, the svārasikī līlā that was presented in the last two chapters will be analysed in context with our Vraja Goswamis’ teachings. So ...

svātmeśvaryā mamādya praṇaya-rasa-mahā-mādhurī-sāra-mūrtyā ko'pi śyāmaḥ kiśoraḥ kanaka-vara-rucā śrī-kiśoryā kayāpi | krīḍaty ānanda-sārāntima-parama-camatkāra-sarvasva-mūrtir nityānaṅgottaraṅgair yad adhi bhaja tad evādya vṛndāvanaṁ bhoḥ || O my mind! Take shelter today of this land of Vrindavan, where some ineffable dark youth, the wonderful treasure of supreme transcendental bliss, has taken form to play in waves of eternal transcendental amorous love with some ineffable budding young goddess, glowing golden, personifying the essence of the great sweetness that arises from the flavors of confident affection, the mistress of his heart. It is almost impossible to understand the vision of Vrindavan without faith in the absolute perfection of love. We distill our experience in this world, which is fragmented and adulterated with the flaws and deficiencies of the conditioned state, and find therein something transcendent and powerful that giv...

Crossposted from Vrindavan Today For Braj Rasikas, Mukti is a bitter pill tiktībhūtā vimuktir viṣama-nirayavad bhāti sarvendriyārthaiḥ sarve bhogā bhavanti prabala-garala-vahny-udbhaṭa-jvāla-kalpāḥ | kīṭa-prāyāḥ samasta-pravara-sura-gaṇāḥ siddhayaś cendra-jāla prāyāḥ saṁsvādya vṛndāvana-rasika-rasaṁ mādyate me’dya hṛdyam || Now that I have tasted the delights of association with the rasikas of Vrindavan, my heart is intoxicated with delight, so much so that liberation seems bitter to me, as much as the sufferings of hell, and the pleasures experienced through sense objects seem like the fiery suffering that comes of swallowing a powerful poison; the greatest of the gods seem like nothing more than worms or insects, and the mystic perfections of the yogis seem like nothing better than magic tricks. (1.66) Commentary The glories of the Vrindavan mood and the rasikas who taste it are perhaps the most important theme of VMA. The idea of the horror of liberation ...

In an earlier article we discussed briefly how the three divisions of sādhāraṇī, samañjasā and samarthā corresponded to actual human relationships, along the axis of kāma to prema , in accordance with Rupa Goswami’s definitions. Indeed, they do constitute a bit of a mystery where the lila is concerned, since Kubjā is described as having lust for Krishna, a lust that is differentiated from that of the gopis, whose love has become undifferentiated from their sensual desire for him. Therefore it was stated that  sādhāraṇī rati's limit where the higher sthāyi-bhāvas are concerned is prema, the first rung on that ladder. ādyā premāntimāṁ tatrānurāgāntāṁ samañjasā | ratir bhāvāntimāṁ sīmāṁ samarthaiva prapadyate || The first ( sādhāraṇī ) only reaches as far as prema (i.e., the sthāyi-bhāva of that name), while samañjasā goes as far as anurāga . Only samarthā reaches the absolute limits of mahā-bhāva . (UN 14.232) This verse makes it clear that there are limits to what can be ac...