Karttik vrata begins: Upcoming Jiva Tirtha courses


Ooof! I wanted to write something about Karttik and how it is starting. Since I got to Vrindavan I have been kind of holed up in Bhakti Sandarbha land. But I must say that I have been doing a little bhakti as well (he insisted).

Well, that is actually one thing I really like about Braja Bhajan. It is that you can lie around and do pretty much nothing and still not feel you have to feel guilty because after all you are in Braj, where just lying around doing nothing is bhakti. Can't really do that anywhere else, you know. Well, there is always residue guilt for someone like me.

I was talking with Madhavendra Puri on Ekadasi and discussing what we were doing for Karttik. Neither of us had ambitious plans, just kind of "I am going to get more into what I am already into."

But I do feel that the old guilts need to be tended to. So I am truly getting serious about completing some 99%-complete projects that have been awaiting finishing touches for eternities. I am feeling the publish or perish perfidy. If not true death, then the poisons of unfulfilled promises will kill me the slow death of shame... Alas!!

The other thing coming up is the Jiva Tirtha course which starts in a couple of days. We have twelve confirmed full-time students this year, six of them are Sanskrit beginners.

So if there is anyone living in or around Vrindavan for the next six months, this might be a good opportunity to join our company and get a start with Sanskrit. 

Go on, fulfill a long-cherished desire...

Remember: My days are numbered for this kind of thing. I ain't going to do this forever.

Weekdays at 8 a.m.

There is no cost for attendees, except for materials.

ALSO

In the afternoons at 5.30 I will be holding a reading class in Brihad Bhagavatamritam.

Anyone who has a rudimentary knowledge of Sanskrit will be able to participate without difficulty. Attendees should have a copy of the Brihad Bhagavatamrita with Sanatan Goswami's commentary. These should be available in Devanagari at Khnadelwal's or at Rupa-Sanatan Gaudiya Math, OR you can get it in Bengali script in Radha Kund. I am looking forward to finally getting the fruit of having students who can follow such a course and that makes me very happy.

Anyway, from the bhakti side of things, I will be doing a little more direct activity with my Thakur. At least by offering an arati and kirtan on a regular daily basis. Once a day, in the evening. I will follow a regular kirtan program including the Damodarashtakam for the entire month.

OK, so it seems I am doing the vrata thing. I am not very good at vratas, but I don't think I am being overly ambitious. And of course it is never a good idea to be too public with one's plans.

Since coming to Vrindavan, my schedule has been extremely erratic. But when I really decided that I had to get serious about the Bhakti Sandarbha I just put that work at the center of everything. I try not to let the inevitable tamas get too strong, but when I have to settle in and get something done, then I often become more of a hermit and neglectful of almost everything else.

Chanting japa and doing kirtan are of course as necessary for me as eating, but to add to that I will be regularly reading Radha Rasa Sucha Nidhi, the last verses of which are about Vrindavan. I am reciting the verses and then reading from the commentaries by Ananta Dasji and maybe I will look at some others. For the moment though, I am just trying to relish Pandit Baba's insights into the spirit of Prabodhananda Saraswati and the Goswamis.

So that is about as ambitious as I am going to get. The trick is to keep it simple and make it just more of the same what you are already doing, just trying to push it forward a little more.

So I am off to do all that right now. Good night. Jai Sri Radhe.

Comments

Parikshit said…
Babaji, I'm as well a student of you who receives education through these blogs. Resonates a bit with an Eklavya kind of thing.
Thursday, 10 October, 2019
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Mind! Meditate on Radha's Breasts

Image
Flickr As I go through the dāna-līlā episode of Chandi Das's Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtana , there are many songs in which Krishna describes Radha's beauty, and a regular feature of that includes descriptions of her breasts. In fact, breasts are a subject that is prominent in all Sanskrit poetry, and is even standard in prayers to goddesses. There does not seem to have been any inhibition in talking about breasts in the ancient Indian culture, even though I dare say, there is more of one in the modern society, in spite of Bollywood. There is, however, an apparent restriction in talking about genitals, male or female, in the so-called erotic poetry of India--Sanskrit or vernacular--even when lovemaking etc., is described. Such descriptions would automatically fall into some other genre. In Radha and Krishna descriptions, I cannot recall ever seeing or hearing a passage that mentioned genitals or overt sexual activity. It is nearly always spoken of somewhat euphemistically. I remember
Read more

Swami Vishwananda's Bhakti Marga and Parampara

Image
It has been a little strange here at Jiva these past few days. Swami Vishwananda is here with his troupe of disciples, of whom there are a goodly number, perhaps 80 or so. When I arrived in Vrindavan already a couple of weeks back, almost the first thing I noticed at the corner of Mathura Road and the Parikrama Marg was a big billboard with Swami Vishwananda’s charming smile and glowing tilak staring charismatically out at the world and announcing that he would be giving darshan on March 8 at the Jiva Institute. Below him, in a smaller frame was Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji, who besides being his host will be speaking on the Bhāgavatam at the darshan event. This is not the first time that Vishwananda and his group have been at Jiva. Satyanarayana Dasaji calls Vishwananda a friend, and indeed the relations between the two are very cordial. Vishwananda's group is mostly young and enthusiastic, predominantly European (German and points east), who are very enthusiastic about
Read more

Erotic sculptures on Jagannath temple

Image
This was written on the basis of Sundarananda Vidyavinode's Sri Kshetra and intended for a devotee audience, as it was done on a commission by disciples of Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj. It has never been published. I decided to put this on line since there was a discussion on Facebook on the subject and I thought I would revisit what I wrote here nearly twenty years ago. This is from chapter ten on temple renovations. Please note that I have removed the images that I had found of some of the sculptures. I have been blocked from posting links to this blog on Facebook for some infringement of its "community standards". The only thing I can think of on this blog that might have offended some prudish person in cyberspace is this. I do not have much hope for redemption as it has been over six months since my ban is "under review" and there has been no sign of action. Needless to say, I find this heavy-handed action on the part of Facebook dangerously authoritar
Read more