Jagat

Gadadhar Pran Das has sent me a couple more chapters of Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur  to share with you all. Jai Radhe! Jai Gaura!  We have found that some devotees don’t believe in this  sādhana , and take it to be mental concoction. So before beginning this chapter’s story, let us examine Rupa Goswami’s guidelines for those who hanker to take up  rāga-mārga bhajana . Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur 28 :  Sri Gopinath’s Sevā Pālā As we were reading in Chapters 26 and 27 about Gaura and Gadadhar’s madhura lilas that unfold in Their bhāvāḍhya and rasātmikā moods, now in the next two chapters (28 and 29) it will be similarly rewarding to investigate how the bhaktas’ sevā unfolds in two ways also: in the ānugatyamayī and in the pratyakṣa moods. The first step is the ānugatyamayī sevā , when one serves the Lord following after their guru, guru-varga and Mahaprabhu’s nitya-siddha bhaktas . In the next stage, however, which...

In this chapter of Gadadhar Pran's presentation of his own unique bhajan path as it was inspired by his relation with Bhaktivinoda Thakur and the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition to which he belonged. This follows on the three chapters describing Vishnupriya's tattva and pastimes with Mahaprabhu. Gadadhar participates in his prana Gora's pastimes in various different svarupas and prakoshthas. His approach may seem different to many people, but as he has argued in earlier chapters of this essay, these are moods that have deep roots in the sampradaya. Srimati Vishnupriya's glories (1) Srimati Vishnupriya's glories (2) Srimati Vishnupriya's glories (3) N.B. When saying a svārasikī adventure, we mean a līlā meditation that follows the path of our yearning.  See Chapter 3 of this series . As we have been discussing Vishnupriya and Gauranga's madhura pastimes in the last three chapters, a desire is awakening to personally serve Priyaji. And an i...

After describing the  bhāva-bhakta , Prabodhananda Saraswati suddenly has an inspiration, a  sphūrti  of his  siddha-svarūpa , as if glorifying such devotees bestows such grace.  Of the eleven aspects of the siddha identity, one is to be the protected servant of one of the senior sakhis. What pleasure it is to get such an order from the sakhis!

Svārasikī sthiti = *One’s eternal place in the līlā . Previous posts in this series. 1: Guru Nishtha 2: Raganuga Sadhana following Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Manjari Parampara 3: Svarasiki Bhajan 4: Attaining Siddhi 5: Learning about Siddha Krishnadas Baba's Gutika 6: The Gutika's Contents 7: Bhaktivinoda’s nistha to the Vamsivadana Guru Parampara Before we start to worship Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s guru paramparā in Golok Nabadwip, I would like to say a few words about how I desire to live there. Chapter 6 has described Golok Nabadwip Dham to some extent. In this chapter we will include more details. In the system of siddha-praṇāli and ekādaśa-bhāva that we have observed in a number of bonafide guru paramparās, hardly does anyone have much to say about our svārasikī sthiti in Golok Nabadwip. Though when I was learning the Guṭikā from Madan Mohan Baba, he told me, “Think of yourself as a sādhaka dās who carries out menial sevā , and who lives in...

Concerning the five stages of sadhana that come along with our receiving ekādaśa-bhāva from the guru, we have already discussed the first two in the last chapter, namely śravaṇa-daśā and varaṇa-daśā . We will now discuss the third stage, which is called smaraṇa-daśā . Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur also terms this practice svarasiki bhajan. In the last chapter of Harināma-cintāmaṇi , he advises nija siddha ekādaśa bhāve vratī haye | smaribe sudṛḍha-citte nija-bhāva-caye ||79|| smaraṇe vicāra eka āche ta sundara | āpanera yogya-smṛti kara nirantara ||80|| āpanera ayogya smaraṇa yadi haya | bahu yuga sādhile-o siddhi kabhu naya ||81|| While taking up a vrata to fix your mind on lila smarana with the eleven items of your siddha gopi svarupa there is a beautiful consideration: You only need to perform the kind of smarana that you enjoy doing because if you try to meditate on the instances in the lila or the kinds of sevā that you don’t prefer, siddhi can never be attained. ( Harin...