Jagat

To review our discussion so far, Bhaktivinoda Thakur has outlined five stages of sadhana in the matter of cultivating our siddha manjari svarupa with the ekādaśa-bhāva , which we receive from our diksha guru. The first three stages of śravaṇa, varaṇa and smaraṇa-daśā have already been examined briefly in chapters two and three . Now in this chapter we will discuss the culminating stages of  āpana-  and  sampatti-daśā: āpana-sādhane smṛti yabe haye vratī | acire āpana-daśā haya śuddha ati ||82|| nija śuddha-bhāvera ye nirantara smṛti | tāhe dūra haya śīghra jaḍa-baddha-mati ||83|| As one becomes purified by performing līlā-smaraṇa on a daily basis, āpana-daśā will come in the course of time. For the constant meditation on one's siddha gopi svarupa seva [coupled with nama japa] will cleanse all of one's material contamination. ( Harināma-cintāmaṇi 15.82-83) Bhaktivinoda Thakur comments: "Those who cannot concentrate internally, who desire profit, name and fa...

In a previous posting , I used the expression “The Other came to me as Woman” twice. I think it is important to discuss what I meant here in connection with the question of strī-saṅga . Generally speaking, it would not be an understatement that, for the sādhaka , the world is a fearful thing. As for the Buddha, whose four noble truths begin with the word “misery,” the perception is that birth, old age, disease and death haunt us and incessantly reduce all our efforts in this world to mere vanity. Thus, nearly every religion starts with some kind of movement away from the world and harbors persistent monastic movements where other-worldly values are given preeminence. Rather than calling this a movement away , it may be more correct to call it a movement within. Nevertheless, though on this stage preoccupation with the perishable is seen as a waste of time, with a change in spiritual perceptions, the position of the external world is eventually raised again. Mystics who find uni...