Jagat

The immediate subsequent subject after surrender is service or surrender to the Guru. Anuccheda 237 Guru-sevā is the Key to Success तदेवं शरणापत्तिर्विवृता। अस्याश्च पूर्वत्वं, तां विना तदीयत्वासिद्धेः। We have thus described the path of surrender. One must first come to the point of surrender, for without it cannot attain the sense of belonging to Bhagavān. तत्र यद्यपि शरणापत्त्यैव सर्वं सिध्यति, शरणं तं प्रपन्ना ये ध्यानयोगविवर्जिताः। ते वै मृत्युमतिक्रम्य यान्ति तद्वैष्णवं पदम्॥  (ग.पु. १.२२७.३६) इति गारुडात्, It is true that all perfection comes simply through surrender, as stated in the Garuḍa Purāṇa: Those who have forsaken the paths of meditation and yoga and taken refuge of You transcend death and attain the supreme abode. (GP 1.227.36) तथापि वैशिष्ट्यलिप्सुः शक्तश्चेत् ततो भगवच्छास्त्रोपदेष्टॄणां भगवन्मन्त्रोपदेष्टॄणां वा श्रीगुरुचरणानां नित्यमेव विशेषतः सेवां कुर्यात्। तत्प्रसादो हि स्वस्वनानाप्रतीकारदुस्त्यजानर्थहानौ परमभगवत्प्रसादसिद्...

This is the continuation of Part I . The author is Bhakti Promode Puri. I translated it 15 years ago. There is a sequel of stories about guruseva from Mahabharata, which I will post tomorrow. Satyakama takes care of Gautama's cows Gautama had a herd of cattle, many of which were weak and sickly. He selected four hundred of those that were in the poorest health and gave them to Satyakama, saying, “My child, please take care of these cows.” Satyakama took the herd Gautama had given him and said, “Master, I shall not return home until these four hundred head have increased and become a thousand.” After saying these words with his hands folded, Satyakama paid his obeisance to his guru and left with the cows. He then began to feed them with the best grains, grasses and water that he could. He took them through woods that were safe from wild beasts, absenting himself from his guru’s ashram for several years. Gradually, the cattle regained their health and started to reprod...

A number of years ago I was translating for Mandala Publishing, translating the Bengali articles of Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj. One of the last projects was for a book on Guru-tattva, which has never been published for various reasons. At any rate, the following is a chapter from that unpublished book. Since Guru-tattva seems to be a theme here. There are a couple of other chapters that I might publish here. This article is a bit long (4500 words), so I have divided into two parts. Part II will be posted tomorrow. Service to the Guru: Jabala Satyakama gets knowledge of Brahman The Chāndogya Upanishad tells the story of how a young boy named Satyakama attained knowledge of Brahman. According to Shripad Shankaracharya, who has written the principal commentary to the Chāndogya Upanishad, “The purpose of this story is to teach that faith ( śraddhā ) and penance ( tapas ) are the two principal elements in the worship of Brahman.” Indeed, it is about faith in the guru ...

  niṣkiñcanān kṛṣṇa-rase nimagnān mahā-nirīhān jana-saṅga-bhītān | vṛndāvanasthān vasanāśanādyair yaḥ sevate’sau vaśayet tad-īśau || One who serves those who live in Vrindavan       who are without possessions,       who are immersed in Krishna rasa,       who are desireless       and fearful of the company of materialists,              giving them food, clothing and other gifts, brings the Master and Mistress of the Dham              under his control.  Commentary In the previous verse , Prabodhananda spoke of serving any resident of the Dham and facilitating residence for anyone at any level of spiritual achievement or even sincerity. Here, the Vaishnava resident of the Dham who is a s ā dhaka is given particular importance. In the previous verse it was simply stated that one would attain rati or bhāva for Krishna, the/lover...

I am pleased to say that on Guru Purnima, I finally completed the Yoga Tarangini project and handed camera ready copy to Swami Veda Bharati to be sent for publication. Jai Guru. I have been told that the book will be printed as a combined AHYMSIN and Motilal Banarsidass production. All this commuting back and forth from Vrindavan to RIshikesh has been very revealing. And I can tell you, of the two I am definitely a Vrindavan person. There is just a little bit of yogi lurking in there that still cries out for attention, but my impression is that the clock is running out on that. What is yoga has pretty much been assimilated and we move on in the direction of primarily bhakti, as always. On returning to Vrindavan, I have been rushing around trying to get the Vrindavan Today project working again, and I have been singing , a lot. kathā gānaṁ nṛtyaṁ gamanam api . Yoga Tarangini was a great project. Swami Veda asked me to do it, he hired me. I took it seriously and tried hard to do a ...

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 ...