Jagat

I have been intermittently posting verses from Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta and commenting on them. The following verse touches on some of the points that I am trying to make. Indeed, living in Vrindavan here at this time in my life (I am 68), I am taking the teachings of Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta as my guiding principle for Braja-vāsa-sādhanā , which I consider to be the "end-game" of all Vaishnava spiritual practice. Due to the famous problems we have had with  Vrindavan Today , the archive seems to have been lost, unfortunately. We are starting to repost, but at a very slow rate.. I reposted this on June 17, 2018, out of sequence, so am reposting it again here in the proper order..  vṛndāṭavī sahaja-vīta-samasta-doṣā doṣākarān api guṇākaratāṁ nayantī | poṣāya me sakala-dharma-bahiṣkṛtasya śoṣāya dustara-mahāgha-cayasya bhūyāt || Vrindavan is naturally free of all flaws; it transforms those who are reservoirs of faults  into reservoirs of virtue.  May ...

Since the English calendar and Bengali calendar coincide fairly closely, our annual festival in Birnagar is coming to a close on the same day as last year. As a result, as I opened my computer after taking the feast marking the final day of the week-long celebration, with the tumult of the villagers being served maha-prasad in the background, I was greeted with this “Facebook memory” from last year. Interesting post-festival kind of lull, feeling the post-vibes and finding them interesting. Gave class on Bhakti Sandarbha to a few experienced members of the Bhaktivinoda Goshthi family, a bit outside their habitual range, but very nice nevertheless. It is going to be interesting to reconcile all the different worlds I have my feet in. I say this because I am speaking principally to my English-speaking friends, but you ALL belong to a very different world from that of the particular Bengali subgroup known as the Bhaktivinoda Goshthi. It might possibly be one of those East is East and...

This is a cross post from Vrindavan Today , with a few revisions. One of the subjects I have been thinking a great deal about is identity and globalization. My identity in Vrindavan is that of a Vaishnava sādhaka living in the Dham. This identity has to fight against the demands of the ever-increasingly dominant modern, globalized culture. Now there are two kinds of people living in Braj. The first are true blood Brijbasis, some going back many generations. Though there are many of these, the religious elites, the Gosais, are at the top of the hierarchy. But the traditions hold that all these Brijbasis are namasya , because they are most directly serving the Vrindavan lila. Times are changing, but they have been learning the game known as "Braj" for many generations. And many of them are now in the process of learning how to "be Braj in the world." Collectively also, the battle is on for an identity for Vrindavan. Brijbasis are not immune to external influ...

Cross posted from Vrindavan Today . While in Barsana recently, I was standing in the Ladli temple on the outside terrace portion and someone appeared to have fainted. An elderly Brijbasi Gosai, with a bushy white moustache, a colorful turban and yellow silk dhoti, a stick in his hand, was walking toward me. For some reason I was impelled to say something stupid and started to speak, but my Hindi tongue was tied and could not express, "We must all pass by that." At the Brajvasi's insistence I repeated myself again without success and ended up stuttering out the words andham tamah,  "the darkness of ignorance." Which I knew the instant they came out of my mouth that they did not fit at all what I really wanted to say, pointless as it was. The Gusai responded vehemently in a tone of chastisement, but even singing a Brijbhasha song, glorifying Braj Dham as sat-cit-ananda , and how nothing that happens here can ever be andham tamah . I stood there with my h...

I have been watching a lot of strange videos over the past few days. A rather abrupt and inexplicable detour from the few days of more intense bhajan in the association of Bengali Babajis in Barsana. While in Barsana, I was standing in the Ladli temple on the outside terrace portion and someone appeared to have fainted. An elderly Brijbasi Gosai, with a bushy white moustache, a colorful turban and yellow silk dhoti, a stick in his hand, was walking toward me. For some reason I was impelled to say something stupid and started to speak, but my Hindi tongue was tied and could not express, "We must all pass by that." At the Brajvasi's insistence I repeated myself again without success and ended up stuttering out the words andham tamah . Which I knew the instant they came out of my mouth that they did not fit at all what I really wanted to say, pointless as it was. The Gusai responded vehemently in a tone of chastisement, but even singing a Brijbhasha song, glorifying B...