Jagat

Another article from Gadadhar Pran Das Thakur, the foremost defender and promoter of Gauranga Mahaprabhu's nāgara-bhāva upāsanā in the English-speaking world to this day. In this article, he illustrates the authenticity of Gaura-kāntā bhāva on the authority of Advaita Acharya's Stavarāja, which glorifies Gauranga's every limb and the mood underlying it. There could be no higher authority than Advaita Acharya. Gadadhar concludes by defending the legitimacy of Gaura-nāgara bhāva in Ṭhākur Bhaktivinoda's line, that of Rāmacandra Goswami and Vamshivadanananda Thakur. 

Gadadhar Pran Prabhu's new painting of Gauranga with Vishnupriya and Laxmipriya available for purchase. Please contact {gadadhar_das000@yahoo.co.in} if interested.

Those who have been following Sri Gadadhar Pran Prabhu's posts on this blog will recall the short series on kāntā-bhāva . I am sure that he and his followers will be quite happy to see Jiva Goswami's full-throated support here in Bhakti Sandarbha. N.B. E-books are now available from jiva.org, as are the other first four Sandarbhas . Also anyone interested in taking Sanskrit with me or participating in the continuing Jiva Tirtha course (Oct. 2020) can register here .  320.2 Projecting Lustful Feelings Upon Bhagavān is Not a Transgression अथ कामुकत्वाद्यारोपणाद्यधरपानादिरूपस्तत्र व्यवहारोऽपि नातिक्रमहेतुः। यतो "लोकवत्तु लीलाकैवल्यम्" (वे.सू. २.१.३३) इति न्यायेन लीला तत्र स्वभावत एव सिद्धा। We will now consider the second possibility. [See 320.1 ] Even such behavior as projecting lustful feelings upon Bhagavān and kissing Him, etc., is not a transgression of the codes of conduct, because it is said: “Bhagavān's pastimes exactly resemble those of h...

Although Krishna can be worshiped in any one of the five divine rasas of shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya or madhura, our Gaurasundar’s main focus is in madhura rasa. Hence a majority of his followers adopt this mood to worship Krishna. This verse by Rupa Goswami supports this trend: anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇ ayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ Let’s always behold Sri Sachinandan’s beautiful golden form in the core of our heart. For he advents in Kaliyuga to offer the people his most personal bhakti treasure, the highest form of madhura rasa. (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Adi 1.4) We have already seen that a number of madhura bhakti paths are available in Thakur Bhaktivinoda’s guru parampara. And in the upcoming chapter a few more will be discovered, but for the moment it will be helpful to analyse what we have presented so far. The first four chapter...

I left Birnagar yesterday, a day early, because of worries that on Wednesday there will be a disruptive widespread politically motivated strike. This is an unpleasant feature of life in India. The other day I made a quick visit to see Gadadhar before leaving. On my return to Birnagar, I had a bit of an argument with Harigopal Dasji, since he and Gadadhar don't see eye-to-eye on many issues. As a matter of fact, it is quite clear that Gadadhar is a complete outlier. Nobody, not the Radha Kund guardians of Gaudiya Vaishnava orthodoxy, what to speak of the Gaudiya Math and ISKCON, and not even our own goṣṭhī leave any wiggle room on what is acceptable -- mañjarī bhāva in Golok Vrindavan is the only permissible goal, and kāntā-bhāva ( here and here ) and Gaura-nāgara bhāva are considered apasampradāyas , and no distinction is made between them and the Sahajiyās or Bauls.. Poor Gadadhar Pran is mad for Gaura in Nabadwip lila, the Gaura that was seen by the Nabadwip Nagari...

Gadadhar Pran has written this essay in two parts, the second being more confidential than the first. For the sake of this blog, I have split the first part into two, and will post the other part tomorrow. Please be sure to read the Praveshika . Kāntā-bhāva Bhajana by Gadādhara Prāṇa Dās (Part I) yuvatīnāṁ yathā yūni yūnāṁ ca yuvatau yathā | mano'bhiramate tadvan mano'bhiramatāṁ tvayi || Hey Bhagavān! I pray that as pretty girls and handsome boys are naturally attracted to each other, may I always be attracted to You. (Sri Rupa Goswami, ( Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.153, Padma Purāṇa 6.128.258) Who isn't romantically inclined? After all, during youth, when one's body becomes developed and glamorous -- wouldn't it be natural for him or her to desire to fall in love? For this basic instinct is found in every human being. But what often happens then? Let's briefly analyze the matter. When a boy and a girl first fall in love, don't so many eu...

A praveśikā is an introduction, in this case an introduction to an article that I will publish tomorrow by Gadadhar Pran Das called Kāntā-bhāva bhajana . As many of you may know, my Godbrother Gadadhar Pran Das is a longtime sādhaka of the rāgānugā mārga , who has written numerous books on various aspects of this rāgānugā bhajana . He has lived for over 35 years continuously in Gadai Gauranga Kunj, serving his Gaura-Gadadhar deities and practicing svārasikī līlā-smaraṇa . In this essay, he will discuss in a forthright manner the sambhogecchātmikā branch of kāmānugā bhakti practice. Although most Gaudiya rāgānugā sādhakas today emphasize mañjarī-bhāva to almost absolute exclusivity, even going so far as to blaspheme the kāntā mood, anyone who studies the principal descriptions of madhura-rasa as found in texts like Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi will immediately recognize that they deal primarily with the kāntā. In fact, it was not until the 20th century that Kunj...