Jagat

Some days definitely have more substance than others. Several unpublished and published stuff today. One on Corona from last year, where I more or less cemented my position on the great pandemic panic. Then there is a nice excerpt from  Prīti Sandarbha on sthāyi-bhāvas , a subject that has many posts on this blog. Then there is another reflection on karma, again based on the Gurukula abuses. And finally a short reflection on love. I could have split this up, but I just threw it all into one post. Memories from May 23

This is the final portion of the introduction to Prīti Sandarbha. This can be recognized by the final words being the same as those with which Sri Jiva Goswami started ( atha prīti-sandarbho lekhyaḥ ). " Now the treatise on love of God ( Prī ti Sandarbha ) is to be written."  Today's reading is a bit longer and I went through it a bit quickly so not enough focus is there on the six characteristics that are in the title. It might not be so easy to see, but a step-by-step argument has been building, beginning with puruṣa-prayojanaṁ tāvat sukha-prāptir duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca | śrī-bhagavat-prītau tu sukhatvaṁ duḥkha-nivartakatvaṁ cātyantikam iti | The purpose of human life is the attainment of happiness and the elimination of pain . However, only with love forBhagavān is the attainment of happiness and freedom from suffering absolute . This is the pratijñā , i.e., the proposition that is to be proved, primarily in this introduction, but in the entire Prīti Sand...

Muraliswara das said... I'm trying to understand your conception, Jagadānanda Ji, but I'm afraid that I fail to do it. As far as I understand you make essentially one simple point: human love IS Love Divine. Let me quote from your writings: "You should understand that the love that exists between you and your wife is the very same feeling as that which exists between Radha and Krishna." Or, as you've said in this article, "What it does mean is that the love that you feel for the child is the same qualitatively though not quantitatively as that cosmic vātsalya-bhāva exemplified and symbolized by Yashoda." How is it possible? I'm neither theologian nor intellectual but I've heard something about Krishna-prema from certain Vaishnavas, and I heard from them one simple thing: human love is kāma , Love Divine is prema and kāma is a PERVERTED REFLECTION of prema , and kāma and prema although looking similar are opposite in nature, they are ...