Jagat

So, I have finally been able to retrieve my mind from its incessant detours and brought it squarely back into Jiva Goswami’s mind and the Bhāgavata-purāṇa . I am working on Bhakti-sandarbha now. And I am thinking about this verse, which Jiva Goswami is going to use as the first cornerstone of that book, in the first of nearly 400 anucchedas or sections, each centered around a single important verse from the Bhāgavata-purāṇa . The central verse of the first anuccheda (11.2.37) is important and worthy of extended reflection, and thus somewhat difficult to translate. This is my job: to edit Satyanarayana Dasaji’s translation and process it through my understanding to most perfectly illustrate Jiva Goswami’s thought process. I don’t pretend to understand better than Satyanarayana Dasaji -- I consider him my Sandarbhas guru and that is the way I do this work. But we are both serving Jiva Goswami, and as a servant of the servant of Jiva Goswami, I try to present my understanding of ...

I was reflecting again on the idea of abbreviated works, like the four-verse Gita or Bhagavatam. We have also found a four-verse Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and a five-verse essential G ī ta-govinda . Now here we present the essential four verses of the Sandarbhas. As we would expect, since the Sandarbhas deal with the subjects of sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana , Jiva Goswami summarizes each of the divisions of the  Sandarbhas with a verse at the conclusion of each. So the  Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha , which concludes the section on sambandha has one verse that tells us what Jiva's final word in sambandha-tattva . Similarly, Bhakti-sandarbha concludes with a verse that similarly summarizes the abhidheya and Prīti-sandarbha the prayojana . The first verse, however, comes at the very beginning of Tattva-sandarbha and though it mentions prema , and bhakti, its main emphasis is again on sambandha-tattva . So the summary looks like this: Tattva-sandarbha ( sambandha-tattva ...

I am too split in various directions still. At my age, it is disconcerting to see me entering into the last phase of life with so many things unfinished. I have perhaps been too ambitious and now find myself in the unfortunate position of having bitten off so much more than I can chew that much of what I have done is inevitably going to remain incomplete. (1) Swami Veda Bharati's Yoga Sutra  Currently I am in Rishikesh working on the Yoga Sutra for Swami Veda Bharati. Comment: Swamiji is 82 and in poor health, going through period crises related to his heart condition. Yesterday after evening meditation he called me into his room and told me that he was not certain that he would be able to live to complete the Yoga Sutra project. In many ways I am indebted to Swamiji personally and I have given him my word that I will help him to finish his magnum opus, the four volume series of Yoga Sutra with reference to 22 commentaries and his own experience of the oral traditions...

I am racing along trying to do a quick first edit of the translation and commentary to Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha . My thought for the day: I would say that by any objective measure, the six Sandarbhas are a chef d'oeuvre. It is said dhanaṁjaye hāṭaka-samparīkṣā mahāraṇe śastrabhṛtāṁ parīkṣā| vipatti-kāle gṛhiṇī-parīkṣā vidyāvatāṁ bhāgavate parīkṣā|| One tests gold in the fire, the wielder of weapons in battle, the wife in times of difficulty, but the test of the learned is in their mastery of the Bhagavatam. What a book the Bhāgavatam is, and what mastery to make sense of it all! First he argues, boldly, that this is the ultimate authority. Then he says, Now this is what the Bhagavatam says. There are many, many things in the Bhagavatam, but what is the consistent and fundamental teaching, and how do we deal with apparent contradictions? And how can you defend your position? When you chop up the Bhāgavatam in this way, distilling the important elements, rejecting those port...

My attention span seems to last approximately three minutes since GN left. But slowly my center is returning. The warm weather is back and the baking heat is to my liking. I like walking outside to the corner store barefoot, in just a babaji sarong. Like many men, I use work as an escape from life. I have actually countless escapes from life. I am a real fire gazer. But that is the true grace of being alone, is that you can seek out a fire in which to gaze and find the Glory of God therein. Of late I have been working on Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha and, for the past few days, Tattva-sandarbha . We are hustling to complete the Jiva Institute editions. Satya Narayan Dasji has now found a generous donor who is willing to subsidize the entire project, so a new, revised and updated edition of the Tattva-sandarbha will be published along with Bhagavat-sandarbha , which is the first of the books that I helped with.  Paramātma-sandarbha is currently in the able hands of the third member of ...