Three validations

The amazing Ed Bryant (Advaita Prabhu Das) just received here at Jiva the final proofs for his new book, "Yoga in the Krishna Bhakti Tradition" to be published by the same company that did his Yoga Sutra, Macmillan. He has promised to give me a few excerpts for Vrindavan Today, so look for them in the coming days.

For all my friends in the AHYMSIN tradition, I will just say that Swami Veda Bharati wanted me to do something like this, research yoga in the Bhagavata Purana. He even had Ram Charit photocopy and paste all the relevant verses from BhP so that he could have it as a ready reference. And I even wanted to do it, and if I hadn't committed to Vrindavan  and the Sandarbhas project, I may have gotten around to it.

Swamiji was planning projects that he knew he could never ever finish to his final day.

Anyway, his desire has been fulfilled by a reputable scholar and, I may say, a great admirer of Swamiji's work. He relied on it heavily for his own Yoga Sutra work and considered it to be the ultimate standard on the Yoga Sutra available in English.

The yoga-related excerpts from Bhagavata Purana have now been translated and are included in Dr. Bryant's new book.

Edwin has done a lot to promote yoga to the bhaktas and bhakti to the yogis. So I only wish that he could have met Swamiji, as I am sure it would have been love at first sight.

Advaita Prabhu may have done this seva that could have been mine, but I think he envies me the years I was able to spend in close association with Swamiji.

Jai Radhe.

Today I actually became quite inspired.

First by Dr. Demian Martins, who has such a determination to serve Gaudiya literature by tracking down Baladeva Vidyabhushan's manuscripts. I have even said he may be Baladeva's reincarnation. He is the one who is pushing for the Vrindavan Research Institute to become more open and helpful.

Together we went to see Paramadvaiti Maharaj, who also inspired me. He is tireless and determined to see Vrindavan cleaned up and improved in whatever way possible -- but with the right kind of vision, perhaps a vision that comes from his Germanness, but one that nevertheless will not be easy to oppose -- green, clean and human. He just doesn't give up. Once he gets his teeth into a project, he just keeps it going and going, and going. He has his disciples and he gives them these jobs.

His overall vision is a very ecological one. He is the eco-bhakti guru.

Both Bhakta Demian and Maharaj inspired me to do my best to get Vrindavan Today clicking on all cylinders again. Both represent two arms of VT -- the devotional-historical-cultural aspect and the eco-bhakti aspect.

The third inspiration I got was from Ed Bryant, who is now writing another book, this time on yoga in the Gita. He is basically doing another translation of the Gita which he will orient towards a "bhakti - yoga" understanding. Understanding bhakti AS a yoga. I am proud that he is using the Grantha Mandir edition of the Gita with four commentaries, for which he was very appreciative. This has been wonderful confirmation that my work has served the purpose for which it was intended and how can I not find joy in that? So of course I asked him to proofread the text to the extent that he can.

So in a way, three aspects of my life were validated today:

* as a servant of the Vaishnava shastras,
* as servant of the Dham with Vrindavan Today,
* and as a servant to the scholarly Vaishnavas with the Grantha Mandir.

I have become determined to somehow or another find people who will help me in my service.

By the way, Demian Maritns signed up as a member of the World Vaishnava Association, another of Paramadvaiti Maharaj's projects, got a certificate and everything, and is now a member of the WVA team for collecting and publishing previously unknown Gaudiya literature.

Another postscript, Paramadvaiti Maharaj did meet Swami Veda Bharati ji during the Haridwar Kumbha.