tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post3128857587386496091..comments2024-03-26T13:06:41.178-04:00Comments on Jagat: Back in VrindavanJagadananda Dashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05887720845815026518noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-28444770518669148132015-07-09T11:10:09.629-04:002015-07-09T11:10:09.629-04:00Jagadananda Das, I was also travelling and then my...Jagadananda Das, I was also travelling and then my computer went down so I haven't seen your response. It's my personal opinion that the centuries of occupation by the Mulsims and then British destroyed much of the body-positive nature of Indian spirituality. Talk about oppressive and repressive cultures; it's a miracle India survived at all. The point I want to make in this context is that even the Krishna bhakti tradition has wavered far from what I percieve as the essence of the world and body-positive vision.<br /><br />There's no better example than our ol' friends at ISKCON. Presented with a deity who portrays a love of family, friends, nature and romance, they figured out a way to cull feelings out of relationships and castigate any appreciation of the natural world. As for sex, well, Prabhupada could arise from the dead and drop three of his regulative principals but he'd still be afraid of sex.<br /><br />Due to their fear, they misunderstand the koshas as prisons rather than vehicles. The koshas are not with Maya's jail cells (what sick mind could perceive life in this way?), they are vehicles for conveying love. As such, all relationship, and all forms of relationships, have the potential for divine expression. Of course, there's a huge gulf between the mad rush of orgasmic impulse felt by the ordinary pashu, and the rolling frolic of the erotic spontaneity of the pashupati. So we nurutre the qualities of the latter, weeding out the former. We don't throw the baby out with the bathwater because unless we appreciate the divine erotic, there's no baby anyway.Prem Prakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-80688805382789484432015-07-01T04:03:48.304-04:002015-07-01T04:03:48.304-04:00One may also wish to gain a nodding acquaintance o...One may also wish to gain a nodding acquaintance of 'Matsyodari-yoga' on pages 228 - 229 of D. G. White's 'The Alchemical Body':<br /><br />https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6HEnefQRLb4C&lpg=PA233&ots=VVKdXeFYj2&dq=matsyodari+yoga&pg=PA228&hl=en#v=onepage&q=matsyodari%20yoga&f=trueAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-140050758334630722015-07-01T03:37:08.698-04:002015-07-01T03:37:08.698-04:00Ādeśa – Dear Jagadananda Das,
David Gordon Whit...Ādeśa – Dear Jagadananda Das, <br /><br />David Gordon White's paper entitled 'Ashes to Nectar' has a piece of interesting information regarding the 'Mahavedha' (the great penetration) from the Amaraughaprabodha which is relative to your comment: <br /><br />"Even if we accept that sexuality itself is something that is to eventually be given up -- which is logical considering bodily aging and death -- it is still something that needs to be acknowledged and purified or dovetailed with one's spiritual life if one wishes to truly rise above it."<br /><br />See page 20:<br /><br />https://www.academia.edu/11618491/Ashes_to_Nectar_Death_and_Regereration_among_the_Rasa_Siddhas_and_Nath_Siddhas<br /><br />Kind regards,<br /><br />M.N.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-2857195180670862112015-06-30T07:56:41.046-04:002015-06-30T07:56:41.046-04:00Sorry I got back to this so late, Prem, I have bee...Sorry I got back to this so late, Prem, I have been having a lot of internet troubles. I also have been staying in the ashram and working on Krishna Sandarbha, etc., as much as possible and avoiding the streets. Even after two weeks I haven't been for darshan to any of the temples...<br /><br />My point is exactly what you say. Sexuality is actually for spiritual pleasure. This is the exact point I have been trying to make since the beginning of this blog. But in this article I was only trying to say that the reproduction role helps us to understand the sacred character of the sex organs, the sex act, and the sexual fluids. <br /><br />Most people think that the pleasure of the sexual act lies in the emission of sexual fluids. This is primarily a male issue, since ejaculation is the biological imperative of the sex act. <br /><br />Seminal retention is necessary for spiritualizing the sex act. First of all because it eliminates the "phalAbhisandhi", i.e., the fruitive "payoff" that seems to be the logic of the sex act itself. This means that rajas cedes to sattva.<br /><br />This can be done primarily by turning the sex act into one of meditation and devotion. When one internalizes the sexual act and makes it one of subtle communion with one's partner, then one also internalizes and spreads the pleasurable feelings throughout the bodily system instead of localizing it in the genitals alone. <br /><br />All the shastras say that pleasure is the purushartha. It is wrong to say that sex IS the purushartha (although kama is one of the purusharthas), but when sex is incorporated into the culture of love, as it should be, and combined with bhakti and yoga practice and discipline, it can become an integral and effective part of one's sadhana.<br /><br />Even if we accept that sexuality itself is something that is to eventually be given up -- which is logical considering bodily aging and death -- it is still something that needs to be acknowledged and purified or dovetailed with one's spiritual life if one wishes to truly rise above it.<br /><br />Jai Radhe.<br /><br /><br />Jagadananda Dashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05887720845815026518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-65753686497231065002015-06-28T09:06:22.212-04:002015-06-28T09:06:22.212-04:00
Dear Jagadananda Das,
Thank you for quoting vers...<br />Dear Jagadananda Das,<br /><br />Thank you for quoting verse 265 of the Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi attributed to the school of Hita Harivaṃśa Gosvāmī.<br /><br />May all the blooms of Vrindavann receive the Song of the Bee:<br /><br />āsām aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaḿ syāḿ<br /><br />vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām<br /><br />yā dustyajaḿ sva-janam ārya-pathaḿ ca hitvā<br /><br />bhejur mukunda-padavīḿ śrutibhir vimṛgyām<br /><br /><br />Source: http://vedabase.net/sb/10/47/61/<br /><br />Kind regards,<br /><br />M. N.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31351038.post-29509477356162799612015-06-22T13:09:39.786-04:002015-06-22T13:09:39.786-04:00I'm almost tempted to post this anomomously be...I'm almost tempted to post this anomomously because it is so heretical. But, anyway, here goes. This isn't so much an opinion as a platform for provocative (in the positive sense) discussion. Because I trust Jagadnanda dass so much, this is about the only place I can think this idea is worth exploring. <br /><br />What if it turns out that those of us blinded by the gunas, especially sattva guna, fail to see the actual nature of sexuality? What if it turns out that sex is primarilly for pleasure and reproduction is actually the by-product? <br /><br />I know, I know all the scriptures and acharyas say otherwise. But if what I am proposing is even close to the Truth, certainly it wouldn't be the first time that conventional teachers and texts were meant for the masses and not for the esoterisists. <br />Maybe the problem is that we are not skilled enough in the ways of love and pleasure to recognize why Nature is so enticing. Prem Prakashnoreply@blogger.com