Jagat

kadācit śrī-rādhā-caraṇa-kamala-dvandva-patitaṁ kadācit śrī-rādhā-mukha-kamala-mādhvī-rasa-pibam | kadācit śrī-rādhā-kuca-kamala-koṣa-dvaya-rataṁ viloke taṁ kṛṣṇa-bhramaram adhi vṛndāvanam aham ||1.96|| Sometimes buzzing around Sri Radha's lotus feet, sometimes drinking the nectar honey of Radha's lotus mouth, sometimes trapped in the lotus flower cup of Radha's breasts, when will I see this black bumblebee cavort in Vrindavan? Commentary Yesterday I felt a bit of fear as I posted such an intimate pastime of Radha and Krishna. At the same time I had recently been heavily criticized for speaking to unqualified persons about the fragrance of Radha's body, as in the first verse of Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi . yasyāḥ kadāpi vasanāñcala-khelanottha- dhanyātidhanya-pavanena kṛtārtha-mānī | yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano'pi tasyā namo'stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe'pi || I bow down to even the direction in which Vrishabhanu Nandini is prese...

One of the most exotic and exuberant streams flowing from the spring of Sri Chaitanya and his followers is that of the Bauls, who are broadly classifiable as Sahajiyas and thus treated as a heterodox or apasampradaya sect by the mainstream followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. At various times over the past century, the Bauls have sprung into prominence in Bengal and further afield, without ever really penetrating the public consciousness. They remain, as Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta classified them, an "obscure religious cult." This despite the support they received from no less a figure than Rabindranath Tagore, whom Dasgupta even calls "the greatest of the Bauls of Bengal." [ Obscure Religious Cults , 187). In recent times, prominent members of the tradition such as Purna Das, Kisan Das, and Paban Das Baul have attracted some public attention, primarily as folk singers in the world music and fusion genres, rather than as a specific religious school. Some scholarly...

Watercolor by  Anjali Tripathi   The next section of SKK is the Vaṁśī-khaṇḍa ; it is the second to last in the book, comparatively long with a total of 42 songs. It does not appear that any pages (169-189) from this section were lost. The plot is not particularly complex, but stands out for having some of the most powerful songs in the entire work. The principal subject of the chapter is the effect of Krishna’s flute on Radha and it ends with her theft of the flute, with the attendant consequences. Krishna's flute is, of course, one of the symbols most closely associated with his iconography, and has a great deal of significance, which helps to account for its resilience. For Rupa Goswami, it is one of the four special characteristics of Krishna that separate him from all other forms of the Vishnu-complex of deities. sarvādbhuta-camatkāra- līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ | atulya-madhura-prema-maṇḍita-priya-maṇḍalaḥ ||41|| trijagan-mānasākarṣi-muralī-kala-kūjitaḥ | asam...

Let us continue our exploration of the Gopāla-vijaya . One of the novel details in the GPVJ version of the Krishna story is the gopis' worship of Kamadeva. This fits into the pūrva-rāga stage, i.e., prior to Radha and Krishna's first meeting. Gopis worship other gods The gopis are often pictured worshiping other gods. This is, first of all, the Katyayani Puja, which is a powerful addition to the Krishna cycle found in the Bhagavatam and derived originally from Alwar sources. But, in general, as I may already have mentioned, Devakinandan and the Gaudiyas separate the married gopis from the unmarried, and Radha is said to not have been present amongst the Katyayani-worshiping gopis. Nevertheless, there are some parallels between Katyayani Puja and Madana Puja, as we shall see below. The Goswamis seem to consistently depict Radha and her sakhis as worshipers of Surya, while Chandravali and her sakhis worship a form of the Goddess Durga or Chandi. Radha's relationship ...

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 ...

Today I hit on a meditation that was very powerful and looks very promising. The way they do meditation here is to sit with proper back support (these are really the first people I hae seen who make a big deal out of it, finally!) have simple abdominal breathing in and out in an even rhythm and one is advised to chant the mantras as one can. At first I was chanting Harinam on my beads, but I found that I was not getting the full benefit of the breathing. Then I switched to the Gopāla Mantra, and that was better. Today, I switched to Gopāla Mantra on the inward breath and Kāma Gāyatrī on the outward breath and found that it was full of possibilities and very powerful. You breathe in with a small Mūla-bandha (contracting the sphincter and muscles and the base of the genitals), then visualize the mantra climbing up the spine with the inward breath. oṁ śrīṁ klīṁ at the first chakra, kṛṣṇāya at the second, govindāya at the third (navel), gopī at the heart (appropriately), jan...