Jagat

vṛndāvaneśaika-pada-spṛho’pi mahattamānāṁ śruta-bhāṣito’pi | vidann api svārtha-vighāti sarvaṁ hā dhik na vṛndāvanam āśrayāmi || Alas! How shameful! Although I yearn exclusively for the feet of Vrindavan's Lord and Lady, although I have heard the speeches spoken by the greatest saints, and although I know that everything in this world is an obstacle to my attaining the ultimate good, I still do not take shelter of Sri Vrindavan Dham. (1.99) Commentary Prabodhananda Saraswatipada is now once again talking about the adhikāra for residing in Vrindavan. These are more important than the vairāgya spoken of earlier, even though the spirit of renunciation is present here too. He does this through this dainya-bodhikā vijñapti , or a statement expressing humility and utter dependence on the mercy of the Lord. And that is the point of the verse: despite having all qualifications, without grace of the Dham herself, Vrindavan- vāsa is not possible. And yet, ...

These thoughts are based on conversations I had in 2017, after I had posted on my response to Srila Narayan Maharaj's statements related to Bhaktivinoda Thakur's  Sva-likhita-jivani (SLJ), which it would be advisable to read before going on here. I am currently doing a bit of work on SLJ and the Thakur's frank description of his conversion to Chaitanya Vaishnavism is particularly important to us, who are also converts. I have heard that Swami Tripurari Maharaj coined the sobriquet "the first European convert to Vaishnavism" since the Thakur passed through a thorough indoctrination into Western thinking before being exposed to the Chaitanya Charitamrita and Bhagavata Purana when already in his 30's. His English-medium education, which a strong element of Unitarian Universalism through the association of Reverend Charles Dall , was not monolithic. In fact, it reflected the contemporary debates in Europe and America about scriptural literalism and the natur...

In an earlier article we discussed briefly how the three divisions of sādhāraṇī, samañjasā and samarthā corresponded to actual human relationships, along the axis of kāma to prema , in accordance with Rupa Goswami’s definitions. Indeed, they do constitute a bit of a mystery where the lila is concerned, since Kubjā is described as having lust for Krishna, a lust that is differentiated from that of the gopis, whose love has become undifferentiated from their sensual desire for him. Therefore it was stated that  sādhāraṇī rati's limit where the higher sthāyi-bhāvas are concerned is prema, the first rung on that ladder. ādyā premāntimāṁ tatrānurāgāntāṁ samañjasā | ratir bhāvāntimāṁ sīmāṁ samarthaiva prapadyate || The first ( sādhāraṇī ) only reaches as far as prema (i.e., the sthāyi-bhāva of that name), while samañjasā goes as far as anurāga . Only samarthā reaches the absolute limits of mahā-bhāva . (UN 14.232) This verse makes it clear that there are limits to what can be ac...

A look back on the Rishikesh classes As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been in Rishikesh the past two weeks, teaching a dwindling number of students an impromptu course that I spontaneously entitled, "Bhakti, rasa and psychology." There are three subjects in one which, when taken together, form the basis of my philosophy, but it was a pretty big chunk to get across in ten classes, especially to an audience that for the most part was not conversant with any of them. It is said that a good teacher is one who can explain a complex subject matter simply, and I am working towards that goal. As always, my primary objective was to try to integrate the three subjects as best I could, in short, to come to a better understanding of the subject matter and put it into words; and, if it could be communicated to others, so much the better. Some parts of the course naturally worked better than others. Many of these subjects are well represented on this blog, though not in a ...