Jagat

Durvasa Muni's ashram, about two kilometers across from Vishram Ghat in Mathura. (P.C. Pure Bhakti ) Oh mind! My brother! Here you have come with a little hope to this raremost Vrindavan forest, which is such a supreme essence of the ocean of Krishna’s blissful rasa, such a form of variations of the ujjvala-rasa that even those who have gone through all the topmost Upanishads have not had even the slightest glimpse of it, and yet you constantly wander around in externals, driven by the witch of petty aspirations. (1.49) kṛṣṇānanda-rasāmbudheḥ parataraṁ sāraṁ vicitrojjvalā- kāraṁ pāra-gatair api śruti-śiro-vṛndasya nekṣyaṁ manāk | śrī-vṛndā-vipinaṁ sudurlabhataraṁ pratyāśam āsādya bhoḥ kṣudrāśā-kupiśācikā-vaśa-gato bambhramyase kiṁ bahiḥ || Commentary Prabodhananda has already mentioned the Upanishads in 1.12 and 1.22 . Here he speaks of the śruti-śiraḥ , which is a reference to Gopāla-tāpanī , as indicated in Gautamīya-tantra . The ujjvala-rasa is t...

Radha & Krishna dancing in the moonlight. (A painting on the wall in New Vraja Dhama ISKCON Hungary.) cirād upaniṣad-girām ativicārya tātparyakaṁ na labdhum iha śakyate yad anu mādhurīm apy aho | tam apy anubhaven mahā-rasa-nidhiṁ yad-āvāsatas tad eva paramaṁ mama sphuratu dhāma vṛndāvanam|| May this supreme abode of Vrindavan always manifest in my mind. Though its sweet perfection cannot be conceived even after studying the teachings of the Upanishads for a long, long time, one can intuit it as a great ocean of rasa just by living here. (1.22) Commentary The relation of madhura-rasa-bhakti to the Upanishadic and Vedantic tradition is one that is discussed often among the followers of the Bhāgavata. The Taittiriya Upanishad says raso vai saḥ, yaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati : “Rasa is verily That Supreme Truth. One who attains it becomes joyful.” Though there are many important philosophical statements in the Upanishads, some of which are taken to be mahā-vākyas ,...

Care for Cows Vrindavan brahmānandam avāpya tīvra-tapasā samyak prasādyeśvaraṁ gorūpāḥ sakalā ihopaniṣadaḥ kṛṣṇe ramante vraje | vṛndāraṇya-tṛṇaṁ tu divya-rasadaṁ nityaṁ carantyo’niśaṁ rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādāmbujottama-rasā svādena pūrṇāḥ sthitāḥ || Even after attaining the bliss of oneness with Brahman, the Upanishads continued to perform great austerities to perfectly please the Supreme Lord so that they could take birth as cows in Vrindavan. Now they take pleasure here in the pastures, grazing on the juicy grasses of the Vrindavan forest, feeling total satisfaction at relishing the taste of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna’s divine lotus feet. (1.12) Commentary Lord Brahma and Uddhava both prayed to take birth even as shrubs or blades of grass so that they could receive the dust of Krishna and his associates’ feet. In the Veṇugīta, the gopis say that the birds are great sages, either chanting Vedic hymns in glorification of the Lord or keeping silence as they relish the sounds of th...

Cross posted from Vrindavan Today . Also discussed previously here . sevā vṛndāvana-stha-sthira-cara-nikareṣv astu me hanta ke vā devā brahmādayaḥ syus tata uru-mahitā vallabhā ye vrajendoḥ | ete hy advaita-saccidghana-vapuṣo dūra-dūrātidūra sphūrjan-māhātmya-vṛndā bṛhad-upaniṣad-ānandajānanda-kandāḥ || May I always render service to the creatures of Vrindavan, moving or still. Ah! What are the great gods like Brahma to me? Those who are dear to the Moon of Braj are far greater in glory than they! Every one of them has a non-dual body of condensed spiritual being and consciousness, and their wonders have burst forth to the far, far corners of the universe! They are the root of the joy born of the joy spoken of in the great Upanishads.  Commentary Prabodhananda here reminds us of the proper attitude to have while living in Vrindavan. We will see that this awareness of the divine character of all the residents of the Dham, including even the various nonh...

The other day in my Gopala Champu class, I said the following: "We can't understand the love of God without knowing love in this world. It has to reflect reality. You won't find love of God through failure of love in this world." This comment did not pass unnoticed and one of the students asked Babaji for clarification. He said he disagreed and the student asked us if we were willing to debate the issue. Since we have been doing Nyāya and Babaji is something of an aficionado, he presented his point of view as a logical syllogism, making that the center of debate rather than my original statement, which made the discussion a little untidy. I was not prepared to answer his argument directly, but many in the audience were disappointed by the radical bifurcation of kāma and prema . At one point Babaji says that desire is not in the soul. Frankly, I think that there is a bit of confusion in the sampradāya due to the Hindu world-view arising from Mayavada and Y...

sevā vṛndāvana-stha-/ sthira-cara-nikareṣv astu me hanta ke vā devā brahmādayaḥ syus / tata uru-mahitā vallabhā ye vrajendoḥ | ete hy advaita-sac-cid-/ ghana-vapuṣo dūra-dūrātidūra- sphūrjan-māhātmya-vṛndā / bṛhad-upaniṣad-ānandajānanda-kandāḥ || May I always render service to the creatures of Vrindavan, moving or still. Ah! What are great gods like Brahma to me? Those dear to the Moon of Braj are far greater in glory than they! All have non-dual bodies of condensed spiritual being and consciousness and their wonders have burst forth to the far, far corners of the universe! They are the roots of the joy born of the joy of the great Upanishads. ( Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta 1.61) The words bṛhad-upaniṣad-ānandajānanda-kandāḥ are probably a reference to Bṛhad-āranyaka Upanishad 3.9.28(7), where Shankara goes into a prolonged discussion of the word ānanda and how it means Brahman. Prabodhananda is here saying that the joy spoken of in the "Brihad Upanishad" is thus Br...

Most people who are atheists are arguing against a specific concept or definition of God. They are pretty much all arguing straw men. Here are some examples: They are arguing against religion, like Christopher Hitchens. "The Catholics exterminated the Cathars. Muslims forcibly converted their conquered enemies." Or against stupid traditions that have been part of religion. "Religions have always been misogynistic." They are arguing against specific beliefs. "If God is good, then why is there evil in the world?" They are arguing against a particular concept of God. "If God is all pervading, why do you think of him in human terms, which is obvious projection?" They are responding to poorly constructed defenses of theism. "Why should there be a cause of all causes, when infinite regression makes as much sense?" And, of course, a real favorite: The concept of faith itself. Belief in revelation, etc. Basically, they are all mi...

I have been distracted with other things, especially Gopala Tapani, but now I have branched off into the  Vṛndāvana-rasa-tattva-samīkṣā , also by Bhagiratha Jha. I enjoy this stuff tremendously. It seems a great shame that I am not able to make my living at it. Bhagiratha is steeped in the Upanishads and Vedanta, so he is the perfect source of understanding for these foundations of Gopāla-tāpanī . But in the Vṛndāvana-rasa-tattva-samīkṣā , he concentrates more on topics of rasa, citing the customary sources in that area, like Bharata Muni. Nevertheless, he continues to emphasize the Upanishadic basis of things. This book begins at the same place the Prīti-sandarbha does: with the famous Chāndogya passage (7.22ff) that inquires into happiness. The prayojana , or goal of life and all our activities, is to find happiness. Anyone who gives another reason is being disingenuous. The debate lies in where one can find it. In free Western societies, it was decided a few centuries ago...