Jagat

Anuccheda 190 Definition of a Neophyte Devotee अथ भगवद्धर्माचरणरूपेण कायिकेन किञ्चिन् मानसेन च लिङ्गेन कनिष्ठं लक्षयति (भा. ११.२.४७)— अर्चायामेव हरये पूजां यः श्रद्धयेहते। न तद्भक्तेषु चान्येषु स भक्तः प्राकृतः स्मृतः॥ Now the sage Havi defines the neophyte devotee in terms of his outward behavior in regard to the service of Bhagavān, and to a partial extent, in terms of his psychological disposition: One who faithfully worships Bhagavān Hari only in the form of the deity, but does not render service to Bhagavān’s devotees or to other living beings is a neophyte devotee. (SB 11.2.47) अर्चायां प्रतिमायामेव, न तद्भक्तेषु, अन्येषु च सुतरां न, भगवत्प्रेमाभावद्भक्तमाहात्म्यज्ञानाभावात् सर्वादरलक्षणभक्तगुणानुदयाच्च। स प्राकृतः प्रकृतिः प्रारम्भोऽधुनैव प्रारब्धभक्तिरित्यर्थः। इयं च श्रद्धा न शास्त्रार्थावधारणजाता। This verse states that the neophyte devotee worships Bhagavān only in the form of the deity. He does not perceive Bhagavān’s presence in His devotees and conse...

Rathayatra in Vrindavan, July 6, 2019. P.C. Jagannath Poddar śrī-vṛndākhyam ananya-bhakti-rasadaṁ govinda-pādāmbuja- dvandve manda-dhiyo vidanti nahi tad vāsaṁ ca nāśāsate | sāndrānanda-rasāmbudhir niravadhir yatrāvirasti dhruvaṁ no majjanti kubuddhayo bata samudvignāḥ suduḥkhair api || People of feeble intelligence do not know that Vrindavan gives a taste for exclusive devotion to Govinda’s lotus feet, and so they do not aspire to live there. Those of distorted intelligence even though disturbed by great suffering do not immerse themselves in Vrindavan, where the ocean of the essence of intense joy appears constantly and in permanence. (1.51) Commentary It has already been stated that faith is the basis of the devotional life. In spiritual life, intelligence is faith. Intelligence means the ability to discriminate and to make decisions for action on that basis. In the Gītā, Krishna gives a discourse on intelligence that is the basis for the entire yogic wo...

śaṁ sarveṣām aprayāsena dātrī dvitraikānti-prema-mātraika-pātrī | ānandātmāśeṣa-sattvā nidhātrī śrī-vṛndāṭavy astu me’ndhasya dhātrī | The Vrindavan forest easily gives joy to everyone she is the sole object of love for just a few exclusive devotees; she is the soul of joy and the resting place for all living beings. May she be like a nourishing mother to me, a blind child. (1.26) Commentary One of the themes that is recurring in the VMA is Prabodhananda’s insistence that the joys of devotion to the Divine Couple are easily obtained in Vrindavan, even effortlessly. Rupa Goswami in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.60-64) clearly states that every human being is eligible ( adhikārin ) for bhakti. This is doubly true in Vrindavan, for there is spiritual benefit for every living being there, even without making any supplementary effort. Bhakti enters by osmosis, as it were. And yet, at the same the Dham, like bhakti itself, is very demanding, for only by exclusive devotio...

vedāntāḥ pratipādayanti mukhato no cet tataḥ kiṁ mama manyante bata śāstra-garta-patitā dustarkiṇaḥ kiṁ tataḥ | no ced bhāgavatānubhūti-padavīṁ yātās tataḥ kiṁ mama svātmā vajra-sahasra-viddha iva na spandeta vṛndāvanāt || If the Upanishads do not openly establish Vrindavan’s glories,       then what difference does that make to me? And if the bad faith debaters, fallen into the pit of the scriptures        do not accept them, what is that to me? And even if those who have directly realized Bhagavan Narayan        do not accept those glories, what is that to me? Their words may strike my soul as a thousand thunderbolts,        but I will not move an inch from Vrindavan. (1.6) Commentary O Bhaktas! Just wrap Prabodhananda’s language around you like a protective garment. Slip into it like a comfortable cloak. Listen to him come back to those familiar turns of phrase and poetic tropes, that niṣṭ...

rādhā-kṛṣṇa-rahasya-dāsya-rasa eveṣṭaḥ pumartho mama tyaktvā sarvam ahaṁ kadāpi niyataṁ vatsyāmi vṛndāvane | itthaṁ syād api vāci yasya paramāsaktasya gehādike- nāsaktāv api saktatā-parihṛtau taṁ pāti vṛndāṭavī || 1.94|| "The ultimate goal I desire in my life is to relish the taste of Radha and Krishna's most confidential service. When will I ever give up everything and go to live permanently in Vrindavan?"   If such a hope should even appear in the speech of one addicted to the affairs of household life, Vrindavan will save such a person by giving them detachment.

Jiva Goswami spends several sections of the Bhakti Sandarbha (152-159) explaining that bhakti is free of the material qualities. In this discussion, he also mentions the Holy Dham and so I wish to discuss the nirguṇa nature of the Dham here. When I started Vrindavan Today , I was imbued with a nostalgia for the Braj-Vrindavan of yore, which looked lost under the influence of India’s economic development. At the same time, we have an apparently insurmountable dogma: The Holy Dham is not within the material qualities of nature. So we have to understand what that means. What does it mean that bhakti is not within the guṇas  when everything in this world, according to the Gita and Sankhya philosophy, is just the interplay of these qualities? How can something, like Vrindavan, which is clearly being influenced by the Maya saṁskāras that surround it, the saṁskāras of saṁsāra , be considered transcendental to the guṇas ? The relevant verse here is the following from the El...

This article was first sent on the short-lived Garuda  list serve run by Rocana Dasa, most probably in 1997. It was available on line on the Wise Wisdoms site for a while, but was taken down. On rereading, I find it still relevant. Reason and scriptural interpretation We are human beings endowed with reason, with which we try to make sense of our experiences in life and learn from them. In Krishna consciousness we have been indoctrinated to mistrust reason and even our direct experience to the benefit of authority-based learning. The argument is, of course, cogent: You cannot invent your own language, and there is no point in reinventing the wheel, and if we wish to see far, it is advisable to stand on the shoulders of giants. But even when standing on the shoulder of a giant, it is with our own eyes that we see and with our own brains that we process the sensory or extrasensory information our eyes give us. Thus, where scripture is concerned, we state the following: C...

Subal  Das-Steve Bohlert Steve Bohlert , otherwise known as Subal Das Goswami, is a friend and a senior Godbrother, having taking initiation from Lalita Prasad Thakur several years before I did. Since his life trajectory and mine have some interesting parallels, I feel a great affinity and friendship for him. Some time ago he sent me a book that he has written,  Universalist Radha Krishnaism: A Spirituality of Liberty, Truth and Love , published by Sky River Press . My intention was to review the book then, but for whatever reason, I have been amiss in so doing, which is more than just a minor oversight. This book is sufficiently important that its wide dissemination amongst devotees is a desideratum. Indeed, with the book Subal sent an ebullient review written by former ISKCON public relations officer and author, Nori Muster , which shows that it can answer at least some of the doubts and fulfill the desires of erstwhile devotees who are seeking to use their religi...