Jagat

From Vrindavan Today . Yesterday, devotees gathered at the Sudama Kutir in Vamshi Vat to honor the memory of Sudama Das Baba. It has been eleven years since Sudama Dasji entered the eternal Vrindavan, but his impact on the sadhu community is still being felt. Bhagavan Das and Sutikshna Das, his disciples and grand-disciple who succeeded him as Mahants of the ashram, lit the lamp and garlanded the murti of their guru that graces his samadhi shrine. This was followed by speaker after speaker who remembered his commitment to service, to the sadhus, to Mother Cow and to humanity at large. Sudama Das, it was said, embodied the mantra from the Ramananandi tradition that all repeat constantly: bhakta bhakti bhagavanta guru catura nāma vapu eka inake pada vandana kiye nāsaiṁ vighna aneka These four – devotion, the devotee, the Supreme Lord, and the Guru – are one in name and form. By worshiping them, all impediments will be destroyed. Since he founded the Sudama Kutir nearly 9...

Bhajana Rahasya 8.5: The spiritual identity of this perfected devotee This is described by Prabodhananda Saraswati in the Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi (53)— dukūlaṁ bibhrāṇam atha kuca-taṭe kañcuka-paṭaṁ prasādaṁ svāminyāḥ sva-kara-tala-dattaṁ praṇayataḥ sthitāṁ nityaṁ pārśve vividha-paricaryaika-caturāṁ kiśorīm ātmānaṁ caṭula-parakīyāṁ nu kalaye When will I see myself as an adolescent girl, excited by the mood of being married to someone else, expert in all varieties of personal service, standing beside the Divine Couple, wearing a dress and blouse formerly worn by my own mistress Radharani and affectionately given me by Her personally. Extended translation: How sweet it is to think "I am Radha's maidservant!" How tender and delicious is the remembrance of one's siddha svarupa! Srimad Jīva Goswami said in Bhakti Sandarbha (304), "Even if one does not perform any other spiritual practice, one can attain perfection simply by having the attitude that ‘I ...

Rupa Goswami quotes the following prayer by Sanatan Goswami, which is a verse indicating fixed hope ( āśā-bandha ) in the mind of a devotee who has attained the state of bhāva . na premā śravaṇādi-bhaktir api vā yogo’thavā vaiṣṇavo jñānaṁ vā śubha-karma vā kiyad aho saj-jātir apy asti vā hīnārthādhika-sādhake tvayi tathāpy acchedya-mūlā satī he gopī-jana-vallabha vyathayate hā hā mad-āśaiva mām O my Lord, I have no love for You, nor am I attached to devotional service in practice, such as chanting and hearing. I do not practice the disciplines of Vaishnava yoga; I have no knowledge or pious activities. I cannot even claim to be well-born. Despite my lack of any qualification, O beloved of the gopis, my sacred hope in You is so deep that it will not be uprooted, because You fulfill the desires of the least qualified, giving them even more than they ask. Alas, alas! This hope of mine is causing me pain . (BRS 1.3.35) Comment by Jiva Goswami: In this verse, both direct an...

Many of Vrindavan’s scholars and sants gathered at the Bhava Sadhana Ashram in Gaura Nagar in order to offer homage to Prabhudatta Brahmachari in a special Guru Puja celebration. Haribol Baba recalled the role that Brahmachariji played in the anti-cow slaughter movement. As a result of his leadership, those devoted to Gomata were united in their efforts to end the mistreatment of cows. Many others remembered the contributions of Prabhudatt Brahmachari to the cause of Hindu nationalism. The following account of Prabhudatt Brahmachari’s life is taken from several sources, but primarily from G. Kamesh’s Athato blog . Prabhudatt Brahmachari was born in 1885 to a poor Brahmin family in a village in Aligarh district. He took a deep interest in Sanskrit studies early in his life and left home to study in various Gurukula including ones in Mathura and Vrindavan, finally ending up in Varanasi where Swami Karpatri Maharaj was one of his co-students. It was when still a young student that...

One attains Krishna through love Love for Krishna is auspicious for all conditioned souls, for through such love, they will attain Him. Krishna says this to the gopis— mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ Whoever engages in My devotional service attains immortality, i.e., liberation or eternal felicity. You are especially blessed on account of the deep love you have for Me, by which you will surely attain Me. That is most auspicious. This love forcefully attracts Me and makes Me come quickly to your sides . (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.82.44) Expanded translation: Expecting that the gopis will say, “O eloquent one! You are blaming the Supreme Lord for our separation, but everyone knows that You are none other than the Lord Himself. We also know it,” Krishna answers, “Yes, indeed. It is true. I am none other than the Supreme Lord. Even so, as the Supreme Lord, I am subservient to the affection that you, My devotees, have f...

Bhajana Rahasya 7.21: The gopis only wish for Krishna to return home to Vrindavan On meeting Krishna in Kurukshetra, Radha’s only prayer is that He return to Vraja— āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ O lotus-naveled Krishna! Brahma and other great yogis like him, who have unfathomable wisdom, meditate constantly on Your lotus feet in their hearts, for such meditation is said to be the best means for conditioned souls to climb out of the dark well of material existence. May those feet always manifest in our minds, for we are attached to our householder lives and families. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam10.82.48) Expanded translation: O lord of My life! Kindly hear My submission. Vrindavan is My home, and if I cannot have Your company there, I will not be able to survive. O Krishna! For the materialistic person, the mind that accepts and rejects sense objects is cons...

Yesterday was Prabodhananda Saraswati’s tirobhava tithi. Jagannath and Tamal Prabhu organized a meeting of Vaishnavas at the samadhi in Kalidaha. I went at 5 when it was to begin and found several sannyasis from the Gaudiya Math, Gopananda Bon Maharaj and Bhaktivedanta Madhusudan Maharaj were sitting on in front of the samadhi temple. Prawal and I went to visit Siddha Jagadish Das Baba’s samadhi, which is just next door. We met Prem Das Shastri there and exchanged a few words. Amazingly enough, there has only been a celebration here for two years now. The ashram is a poor babaji ashram, and I suspect that there was no celebration of Prabodhananda's tithi, sampradaya-wide, for many, many years. Last year, for the first time, Jagannath Poddar and Tamal Krishna Brahmachari of Imli Tala decided that Prabodhananda Saraswati was too important a figure in the history of Vrindavan that a meeting to discuss his contribution was a necessity. The place is itself small and has been bro...

Swami B. A. Ashram: Here is what Prabhupada wrote to me: "Now, we have by Krsna's Grace built up something significant in the shape of this ISKCON and we are all one family. Sometimes there may be disagreement and quarrel but we should not go away. These inebrieties can be adjusted by the cooperative spirit, tolerance and maturity so I request you to kindly remain in the association of our devotees and work together. The test of our actual dedication and sincerity to serve the Spiritual Master will be in this mutual cooperative spirit to push on this Movement and not make factions and deviate." ---- Today, a devotee of Prabhupada to whom I had said that I was a disciple of Prabhupada, played for me Prabhupada's words which he had isolated on my behalf, which said, "A disciple is one who accepts the Spiritual Master's discipline." His purpose was to let me know that he did not accept my claim. My first answer was, "Who are you to judge my re...

When the Holy Name blossoms, the Lord’s beautiful form, which amazes even the Lord Himself, begins to exercise its enchanting power on the devotee. Uddhava describes the wondrous power of the Lord’s beauty to Vidura: yan martya-līlaupayikaṁ sva-yoga- māyā-balaṁ darśayatā gṛhītam vismāpanaṁ svasya ca saubhaga-rddheḥ paraṁ padaṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇāṅgam To demonstrate the power of His internal potency, Yogamaya, Krishna took this body, which is perfectly suited to His human pastimes. It is so beautiful that it astonishes even Krishna Himself. It is the supreme achievement of opulent beauty, the ornament that beautifies its own ornaments. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.2.12) Expanded translation: Of all Lord Krishna’s transcendental activities, His earthly pastimes in the human form are the most excellent, for this is His actual, eternal identity. In this form He dresses as a cowherd boy, plays the flute, blossoms with ever fresh youthfulness and dances expertly. His activities resemble t...

Ah, this chapter five. So Bhaktivinoda Thakur has very expertly taken us through the first four chapters and now we are at ruchi. So this is the stage where one starts thinking about the siddha deha. But first one follows in the footsteps of the gopis by hearing their mood and being affected by their words. I have been through BR before many times, but going through it fairly rapidly from beginning to end like this is revealing the overall path of bhajan very nicely. Bhaktivinoda Thakur did an excellent job, I must say. I should add that Satyanarayan Dasji started me on a program of daily chanting these verses from the Bhagavatam (i.e. the gopis response to Krishna's testing of their love when he sent them back to their husbands and families. I did a recording of it when we first started, but I think now that I have these verses memorized, i can meditate on them better and also sing them with more feeling than I did then. I am thinking of recording it again. The Bhagavatam is r...

Lord Krishna is the only enjoyer. The living entity is constitutionally the object of the Lord’s enjoyment. Therefore, as one worships the Lord more profoundly, he begins to feel a strong desire for the service of Srimati Radharani. This means that he begins to develop the mood of a gopi. Here is how the gopis pleaded with Krishna after He told them to return home— tan naḥ prasīda vṛjinārdana te’ṅghri-mūlaṁ prāptā visṛjya vasatīs tvad-upāsanāśāḥ tvat-sundara-smita- nirīkṣaṇa-tīvra-kāma- taptātmanāṁ puruṣa-bhūṣaṇa dehi dāsyam Therefore, O vanquisher of all distress, please be merciful to us. We have abandoned our families and homes to come here in the hope of serving Your lotus feet. O jewel among men, our hearts are burning with intense desires aroused by Your beautiful smiling glances, so please allow us to serve You. (10.29.38) Expanded translation: We have abandoned our homes and families and come to You, seeking Your service, just like Narayan’s devotees who renounce...

Bhajana-rahasya 5.6: With the manifestation of bhava, a fixed service attitude is natural Vritrasura spoke the following prayer— ahaṁ hare tava pādaika-mūla- dāsānudāso bhavitāsmi bhūyaḥ manaḥ smaretāsu-pater guṇāṁs te gṛṇīta vāk karma karotu kāyaḥ O Lord, when shall I once again become the most humble servant of the servants of Your lotus feet? My mind will remember Your virtues, O master of my life, my power of speech will be used to glorify You, and my body will always be engaged in doing Your work. (Srimad Bhagavatam 6.11.24) Expanded translation: When Vritrasura saw that Indra was not throwing his thunderbolt at him, he thought, why should I speak to this Indra whom I see externally. Why should I not surrender myself to my Lord? The Lord then appeared to him in his meditation and Vritrasura began to speak this prayer: “When shall I once again become the most obedient servant of those who have taken exclusive shelter of Your lotus feet? Tell me please, how long will ...

tad astu me nātha sa bhūri-bhāgo bhave’tra vānyatra tu vā tiraścām yenāham eko’pi bhavaj-janānāṁ bhūtvā niṣeve tava pāda-pallavam O my Lord, please bestow this great fortune on me, that I may live amongst Your intimate devotees and serve Your lotus feet, either here in this life as Brahma or somewhere else in a different body, even if it be that of some lowly creature like that of a bird or beast. (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.30) Expanded translation: Lord Brahma prays for service to Krishna, knowing that such service can only come through His mercy: O Lord! O fulfiller of all desires! It seems to everyone that I am very fortunate, for I have attained the supreme position in this universe as its creator. Even so, I do not consider this to be my greatest good fortune. Though I am Your oldest son in this life, it does not matter in which species I am born, as long as I can have the chance to most perfectly serve any one of Your devotees, for it is through service to them that I ...

The third chapter of the Bhajana Rahasya is based on the tṛṇād api sunīcena verse. To elaborate on this verse, Bhaktivinode Thakur depends on Mukunda-mālā and Stotra-ratna , two hymns from the Sri Vaishnava tradition predating Ramanuja. Bhaktivinoda had translated many of these verses in his Gīta-mālā and he reuses those same translations here. In view of the discussions of karma related to child abuse and so on, these verses may cause a bit of discomfort. Actually to think oneself a sinner, a fallen creature -- this goes against the militant humanism of our "enlightened" period of human civilization. Certainly, one of the principal criticisms against cults is that they force-feed teachings that are meant to vitiate a person's self-esteem and thus make him more malleable by the "authorities." In a traditional society, where the leaders themselves would have been trained in humility, and where they bowed down to sages who were completely disinterested ...

This verse gets bandied about a lot. I noticed something in Jiva's commentary that helps clarify the meaning. śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā aikāntikī harer bhaktir utpātayaiva kalpate Exclusive devotion to Lord Hari which ignores the regulative principles outlined in the Sruti, Smriti, Puranas and Pancharatra scriptures will simply cause a disturbance. ( Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.101) Extended translation : Since the path taken by the great authorities has been canonized in the revealed scriptures, it is a flaw to ignore the edicts found in these texts. Vaishnavas should seek out the scriptures or sections of the scriptures that fit their level of qualification and inclination. If someone out of deliberate faithlessness refuses to accept the scriptural directives, then even if they make a show of exclusive devotion, it will cause a disturbance. If one does not follow these injunctions out of ignorance or laziness, then the same degree of criticism does...

I am going through the Bhajan Rahasya for the nth time. I did the first version of the translation in 2002. I have been finalizing it for publication, which will be done by Gopinath Gaudiya Math. The Bhajan Rahasya has an important place for me in my own spiritual life and as I start reading it again, I can remember back to the powerful effect it had on me way back when I first read it, before there were any translations. This would have been 1979. It was one of the principal influences that led me to a closer relation with Bhaktivinoda Thakur. I think that the following verses in Bhajana Rahasya were amongst those that captured my imagination. Up until this point near the end of the second chapter, it was more or less standard fodder, but this part suddenly made the desire for ekānta bhajana awaken in me. prabhāte cārdha-rātre ce madhyāhne diva-saṅkṣaye kīrtayanti hariṁ ye vai na teṣām anya-sādhanam The single-minded devotee who chants the Holy Names of the Lord in the ...

My FB friend PamHo wrote a highly critical article of Bhakti Vikas Swami which he posted to Facebook: Martyr or Mother? I have been thinking a little about the issues raised by Bhakti Vikas Swami in his book about women and the role of women in ISKCON, though not having read the book I haven't gone into any great depth. I do know him by reputation and from some articles I have read. I see him as the conservative pole of current ISKCON and Hridayananda Maharaj being at the other extreme, with the GBC navigating the middle. I am not particularly supportive of either of those individuals nor their course, nor do I have any skin in the game of ISKCON's future direction. I find the issue of women's roles, etc., really something that cannot be subjected to a purely traditional scriptural rule of law. My position is that in the larger society, in the current context, women should be free to develop as individuals without being hampered by limitations imposed by male masters. ...

kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiś ca bhajantam īśam śuśrūṣayā bhajana-vijñam ananyam anya- nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam īpsita-saṅga-labdhyā One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krishna. One should offer his humble obeisances to the one who has undergone spiritual initiation [ dīkṣā ] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity. And if one encounters a pure devotee who is advanced in undeviating devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others, one should associate with and faithfully serve him, recognizing him to be the ideal spiritual companion. Bhaktivinode Thakur's translation in Bhajana-rahasya : If you hear someone sincerely chanting the Holy Name, then you should offer him respects in your mind, again and again. If he has joined a devotional disciplic line ( sampradāya ) through initiation and is engaged in worshiping Krishna, then you should respectfully fall down and take th...