Jagat

It was on this day in 2015 that Swami Veda Bharati left his body in Rishikesh. I was in Vrindavan at the time but left the same day to be there for the jala-samādhi and I stayed for several weeks until the mourning period was over. Someone also sent me a photo of the Nitai Pada Kamala, which evoked memories from 1976 or thereabouts. This date was also Guru Purnima in 2011, and my remarks inspired a long thread with plenty of comments. Facebook memories.  July 14 2020 Chapter 28 of Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur by Gadadhar Pran Das is now available. There is only one more chapter, which will be appearing soon. Then what happens? Probably a final edit and then publication. How that will be organized I do not know, but it seems that GP Prabhu has finally got a few disciples who are faithful and will help get it done. Which I think is at least in part due to the publication on line on my blog. I was checking yesterday. Some chapters have had only a couple of hundred ...

An old baba looked at my hand and told me I would not die in Vrindavan. Perhaps a relevant post from five years ago in view of my present circumstances. Of course I do the best I can and all the advice is respected as relevant. Krishna is indeed everywhere, just sometimes more apparent than others,

kasyāpi divya-rati-manmatha-koṭi-rūpa- dhāma-dvayasya kanakāsita-ratna-bhāsam| atyadbhutair madana-keli-vilāsa-vṛndair vṛndāvanaṁ madhurimāmbudhi-magnam īkṣe || I see Vrindavan, filled with the gold and black jewel light of some Divine Couple, a duo of effulgent entities that is more beautiful than ten million RatiKama pairs. This Vrindavan has been immersed in the ocean of sweetness that is their most amazing loving dalliances. (1.20) Commentary We have been exploring the theme of the bhauma and nitya Vrindavan Dhams, which is really the underlying problem that the Vrindavan Today website seeks to address. Just as there are prakaṭa and aprakaṭa līlās of Radha and Krishna, the Dham also has its prakaṭa and aprakaṭa līlā . Prabodhanada Saraswati here is saying that he sees the nitya Vrindavan, and indeed, there is no point in looking at the Dham as merely another material place in the world. All religions have their sacred places, which are characterized b...

The Parikrama Marg in Vrindavan in 1974. Photo by Vishakha Dasi from Back to Godhead . The comments I write on these verses are based on the inspiration and mood of the moment. Here I myself slip from Prabodhananda's world to that of the present time. In fact, I believe that is part of the exercise that Prabodhananda is very definitely leading us on. This is being discussed here under the rubric of the bhauma Vrindavan, as it appears to us now in its current worldly manifestation, the lila that the Dham is having and that we, in contact with the Dham, are having. Lila means the story. A story begins with a vision, a revelation if you will, and then proceeds as the battle to give real shape to that revelation is undertaken. Rasa is success in achieving that vision. Underlying all visions is that of love, the cherished fantasy of "true love." This is what lies in the nitya-Vrindavan's innermost sanctum sanctorum. vāpī-kūpa-taḍāga-koṭibhir aho divyāmṛtābhir yuta...