A golden age?

Letter to Pandit Satyanārāyan Das about Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Panditji, Radhe Radhe

I have heard the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa is one of the worst interpolated Purāṇas and I find it important to know which parts are interpolated exactly. The Kṛṣṇa Janma Khaṇḍa contains some shocking vulgar eroticism and even meat hangs out to dry in Nandagrām when Uddhava enters the village. Then there is the following 12 verses which are often quoted to prove predictions of a 10,000 year golden era in Kali, which is mentioned nowhere at all in any of the other ācāryas’ books. These are the verses. Do they (especially verse 59) really speak of a golden age? Are these verses genuine?

Satya Nārāyan Panditji replied-

I cannot say which parts are interpolated but surely there are interpolations. My reasoning is that Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī quotes many verses from Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa and they are not to be found in the available editions. Moreover, what is available he does not quote although if they were available in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa he would have definitely quoted them because they could be so useful to his work. He also mentions the story of Śukadeva's birth, in which it is said that he did not want to come out of the womb, and took birth only on Krsna's assurance that His Māyā will not trouble him. This is supposed to be in Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa but is not seen in the available editions. Some research should be done what is interpolated. 
In Bhaviṣya Purāṇa there are also descriptions about Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Guru Nanak, Kabir etc. I remember one story of a meeting between Mahāprabhu and Bhaṭṭaji Dīkṣit, the author of Siddhānta Kaumudī (I may be wrong about the name but that is what I remember. I read Bhaviṣya Purāṇa more than 20 years ago). Now Bhaṭṭajī existed even after Jīva Gosvāmī, so how he could have met Mahāprabhu? I remember when I read it I lost all faith in these stories. There is a verse in Bhaviṣya Purāṇa which says that in Kali-yuga ravi-vāsara (Sanskrit name for Sunday) will be called Sunday. That is quite a far out prediction. 
I will go through the verses below. Predicted in Brahma-vaivarta Purana 4.129 -

Text 49:

bhāgīrathy uvāca

he nātha ramaṇa śreṣṭha

yāsi golokam uttamam

asmākam kā gatiś cātra

bhaviṣyati kalau yuge

"Ganges said: O protector, Supreme enjoyer, on your departure for the perfect abode, Goloka, thereafter what will be my situation in the age of Kali?"

Text 50

srī-bhagavān uvāca

kaleḥ pañca sahasrāni

varṣāni tiṣṭha bhū-tale

pāpāni pāpino yāni

tubhyaṁ dāsyanti snānataḥ

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: On the earth 5,000 years of Kali will be sinful and sinners will deposit their sins in you by bathing."

SND: “The translation is bit wrong: Lord is asking Ganga to stay on earth for 5000 years of Kali, in which period sinner will deposit their sins in Ganga by bathing.”

Text 51

man-mantropāsaka sparśād

bhasmībhūtāni tat-kṣaṇāt

bhaviṣyanti darśanācca

snānād eva hi jāhnavi

"Thereafter by the sight and touch of those who worship Me by My mantra, all those sins will be burnt."

SND: “There is no "thereafter" in the verse.”

Text 52

harer nāmni yatraiva

purānāni bhavanti hi

tatra gatvā sāvadhānam

ābhiḥ sārddhaṁ ca śroṣyasi

"There will be chanting of the name of Hari and reading of the [Bhāgavata] Purāṇa. Reaching such a place, attentively hear."

Text 53:

purāṇa śravaṇāc caiva

harer nāmānukīrtanāt

bhasmībhūtāni pāpāni

brahma-hatyādikāni ca

"Sinful reactions including the killing of a brāhmaṇa can be nullified be hearing the Purāṇa and chanting of the names of Hari in the manner of devotees."

SND: There is nothing special about Kali here. This is applicable in all yugas. "In the manner of devotees" is the translator's addition.

Text 54:

bhasmībhūtāni tānyeva

vaiṣṇavāliṅganena ca

tṛṇāni śuṣka kāṣṭhāni

dahanti pāvako yathā

"Just as dry grass is burnt by fire, by the embrace of Vaiṣṇavas all sins are burnt."

SND: Again there is nothing specific about Kali here.

Text 55:

tathāpi vaisnavā loke

pāpāni pāpinām api

pṛthivyāṁ yāni tīrthāni

puṇyānyapi ca jāhnavi

"O Ganges, the whole planet will become a pilgrimage sight by the presence of Vaiṣṇavas, even though it had been sinful"

Text 56:

Mad bhaktānāṁ śarīreṣu

santi pūteṣu santatam

mad bhakta pāda rajasā

sadyaḥ pūtā vasundharā

"In the body of My devotees remains eternally [the purifier]. Mother Earth becomes pure by the dust of the feet of My devotees."

SND: Again, nothing specific about Kali here.

Text 57:

sadyaḥ pūtāni tīrthāni

sadyaḥ pūtaṁ jagat tathā

man mantropāsakā viprā

ye mad ucchiṣṭa bhojinah

"It will be the same in the case of pilgrimage sites and the whole world. Those intelligent worshipers of My mantra who partake My remnants will purify everything."

SND: “There is no future tense here. It is general description applicable in all times. No prediction is made here. Vipra does not mean intelligent people, although granted that they may be intelligent

Text 58

mām eva nityaṁ dhyāyante

te mat prāṇādhikāḥ priyāḥ

tad upasparśa mātrena

pūto vāyuś ca pāvakaḥ

"They are more dear to Me than My life, who everyday meditate only on Me. The air and fire become pure simply even by their indirect touch."

Text 59:

kaler daśa-sahasrāni

mad bhaktāḥ santi bhū-tale

eka varṇā bhaviṣyanti

mad bhakteṣu gateṣu ca

"For 10,000 years of Kali such devotees of Mine will fill the whole planet. After the departure of My devotees there will be only one varna [outcaste]."

SND: “It does not say "fill the whole planet". It simply says: For 10,000 years of Kali My devotees will exist on earth. How many devotees? Well, 3 or more. In Sanskrit plural means that. Out of 10,000 years, five thousand have already passed. So even if we take this verse to be true only 5000 years remain and not 10000 years. Call it Golden age or diamond age, the verse makes no such mention. So this idea of 10000 years of golden age is not supported by this verse. Such a prediction is wrong by 50%, and there is no mentioning of a Golden age. One could argue that after 10,000 years of Kali there will be one varna, which you can say is the śūdra varṇa, and you can consider that as iron age and in comparison to that the present age is Golden. So Golden is indirectly mentioned. Even then how to account for 5,000 years? Is there more than one varna at present? There should be as per the verse. But we do not see that. What varna has to do with bhakti? Why are they contrasted? It makes no sense. The verse should have said that after 10000 years there will no devotees or people will be atheistic. What if that one varna will be a brāhmaṇa varṇa? Now everything is being done by machines and computers. People can stay peacefully, have knowledge (internet is everywhere), meditate (yoga is spreading all around). Looks like more brahmanical.

Text 60:

mad bhakta śūnyā prthivi

kali grastā bhaviṣyati

etasminn antare tatra

kṛṣṇa dehād vinirgataḥ

"Devoid of My devotees, the earth will be shackled by Kali. Saying this, Kṛṣṇa departed."

SND: "Kṛṣṇa departed from the body" that is what the verse says. It does not say "he departed". This statement itself puts a question mark on the validity of the previous verses. The author is considering Kṛṣṇa's body as material.”

Dāmu and the time machine

Dāmodar-
Advaitaji, please forgive me for a stupid question. I want to ask if the creation of a time machine is possible from the Vedic point of view?

Advaitadās-
No. It is not a stupid question. Time travel is not possible. One can go to swarga and then come back after a moment and then find 1000s of years have passed, that is all. One cannot go back and forward in time - that is a science fiction adventure only.

Dāmodar-

Like with Mucukunda. Why is it not possible?

Advaitadās-

Time is final and irreversible, so is history. Everything only happens once. You see on Startrek that they fear 'history will be changed' if they travel in time. That shows.

Dāmodar Das

In the spiritual world there is no kāla (time)?

Advaitadās

na ca kāla vikrama (Śrīmad Bhāgavat 2.9.10). Jīva Goswāmī comments on this that time is there, but it does not cause decay - yatrāsau ṣaḍ bhāva vikāra hetuḥ kāla vikrama eva na pravartate tatra teṣām abhāvaḥ. “The six transformations like birth, growth, decay, death etc. are not there.”

Dāmodar Das

Why Bhagavan created the material world with its miseries?

Advaitadās

There is no beginning to this - it was never ultimately created - prakṛtim puruṣam caiva viddhy anādi ubhau (Bhagavad-Gītā 13.21). There is no beginning to prakṛti.

Dāmodar Das

Why it exists? Why Kṛṣṇa wants to see us suffering adhidaivika, adhibhautika, adhyātmika miseries?

Advaitadās

Please, I have given you the answer already. Why ask again? He did not create this. He does not want to see us suffering. The material world was never created, nor were we or Him – see Bhagavad Gītā 2.12, na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsam na tvaṁ neme – ‘Never did I not exist, nor you nor all these kings’ and 13.21 (see above).”

Dāmodar Das

“But we were created by the Lord in some moment.”

Advaitadās

“No, never.”

Dāmodar Das

jīvasyānyasya sargena nare muktim upāgate

acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā

brahmana saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgataḥ

sṛjyante ca mahā kalpe tad-vidhāscāpare janaḥ

This is from the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Pūrāṇa in the purport to Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.87.30 – “when one jīva becomes liberated, Bhagavān creates another.”

Advaitadās

“There can be no contradiction with Bhagavad Gītā, which is Śruti and the highest pramāṇa. jīva, kāla, prakṛti, bhagavān, karma and avidyā - all are without beginning. karma and avidyā may end, others are also ananta or endless. These verses you quoted explain that liberated souls are replaced with the stock of sleeping souls. These souls exist within Mahā-Viṣṇu.”

Dāmodar Das

“When I thought about reasons of existence of material world, I thought that here, and only here Bhagavān can manifest his Karunika nature, in the spiritual world there is no one to save, but here, in material world, His heart can melt from compassion towards us. So when he wants to fight, like with Hiranyakaśipu, the only eligible place for such a fight is the material world. I remember from Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta, that in spiritual world there are no demons with whom He can fulfill His desire to fight.”

Advaitadās

“No, that is not right. He fights demons also in the spiritual sky. It is both in Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta and in Bhakti Sandarbha. One of my first blogs was about that. But on the karuṇā-point you are right.”

Dāmodar Das

“Also I thought that in the Spiritual World Kṛṣṇa always in the age of yauvana, He is never born there, but all Vrajavāsis know that he was born from the womb of Yaśodā, so the material world is a place where Kṛṣṇa is actually born. Kṛṣṇa lifts Govardhan only in the material world? He has done it at the age of 6 (?). But in Spiritual world he is 16.”

Advaitadās
“Not too many questions at once. All Kṛṣṇa’s līlās are eternal, including the birth-līlā.”

Dāmodar Das

“So the material world is a place where Kṛṣṇa can play līlās which cannot be played in the Spiritual world?”

Advaitadās

“Kṛṣṇa’s līlās never begin and they never end. In paravyoma Kṛṣṇa has all ages up to 16, eternally. Kṛṣṇa can save conditioned souls only here - any other līlā he can do anywhere.”

Dāmodar Das

“So there is a loka in Spiritual sky where Kṛṣṇa is eternally Bāla Gopāla?”

Advaitadās

“paravyoma is one loka and yet innumerable lokas. loka means world, not location. Bāl Gopāl is also eternally manifest in the paravyoma. It is said in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta that Kṛṣṇa goes over and over again to Mathurā to kill Kaṁsa. All of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are eternal. Sanātan Goswāmī explains in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta (2.6.357):

tatratyās te tu tāṁ sarvām apūrvāṁ manyante sadā
śrī-kṛṣṇa-parama-premakālakūṭa-vimohitāḥ

"But the residents of Vraja, completely bewildered by the kālakūṭa poison of their supreme love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, never think that any of these events has ever occurred before." (sarvām api apūrvāṁ pūrvam ajātām iyaiva manyante - ṭīkā)

Dāmodar Das

“There are a lot dimensions? This is difficult to grasp with the material mind.”

Advaitadās

“It is impossible to conceive. Vaikuṇṭha means ‘no contraction’. acintya khalu ye bhāvāḥ na tams tarkena yojayet  “One cannot argue on inconceivable matters.”

Dāmodar Das

“But in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta is given a size of the equator of Vaikuṇṭha - billions of kilometers .”

Advaitadās

“Yes, in the Purāṇas too. But that is for glorifying and visualizing the paravyoma only. How can innumerable persons fit in a few billion km? Innumerable persons need unlimited space. In some Purāṇas it is said that paravyoma is just a few thousand miles away – don’t take that literally.”

Humility, wanting to be cheated, Goswāmīs rob, who attains Vaikuṇṭha?

Dāmodar:
Advaitaji, what kind of relationship should we have towards other religions? The "harer nāma" verse means that others, who do not chant harinām, they are at a lower level. But I do not want to think that I am better than others because I chant harinām...

Advaita Das:
Śrīman Mahāprabhu said: uttam hoiyā āpnāke māne tṛṇādhom “The Vaiṣṇava is the greatest but he thinks himself lower than a blade of grass.” It is not that I am the greatest because I am the greatest - I am the greatest because Guru and Gauranga are the greatest. They have mercifully taken me into their realm. Their greatness rubs off on me too. mādhurya sindhum adhi yasya bhaven nipātas tat kevalaṁ madhurimānam urīkaroti “Whatever falls into the ocean of sweetness becomes sweet too”

Dāmodara-
But most people, they accept different kinds of false Gurus. What does it mean? That they have lack of saṁskāras? They want to be deluded?

Advaitadās-
It is all destiny - adhikāra bheda. Nobody wants to be cheated.

Another bhakta -
radhe radhe!
Recently I have read one of the boards about Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism where one mātājī has written a very offensive thing, I quote, "The 6 Gosvāmīs used to rob people in order to earn money for book writing".  I've asked her to show me the source of this statement in Caitanya Caritāmṛta or Caitanya Bhāgavat.  But she said that this information she has heard from some ISKCON devotee, and she can't give any source.  So what can you say about this statement? What are the roots of this statement? I realize that this is total bullshit, but I have a very anxious mind and things like that disturb me very much.

Advaita Das
There is no evidence for such a scandalous slander. In 35 years śāstra-study this is the first time I hear  such an outrage. The Goswāmīs did not need money for book writing - there were not even books then. The printing press was brought by the British in the 19th century only.

Bhakta: is it true that everyone who leaves the body in Vraja will attain the spiritual world?

Advaitadas: There are such statements in the Purāṇas, yes, but these same Purāṇas also say that Vaikuṇṭha can be a temporary destination for those who performed pious acts. This refers to Śvetadvīpa, an outpost of Vaikuṇṭha in the top of the material universes. Furthermore, Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmīpāda has stated in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (1.2.56) that of the four types of Vaikuṇṭha-liberation one is called sukhaiśvaryottarā, which means the predominant desire (uttarā) for the happiness and powers which are natural to the spiritual world. This explains how it is that simply by leaving the body somewhere, even if one is not a pure devotee, which could be the case with many Vraja-residents, one can attain Vaikuṇṭha.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined?

Bhakta: “You said that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined but just Kṛṣṇa accepting the mood and complexion of Rādhā. But in Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 8.282 it is said that Rāmānanda Rāya saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as rasarāja-mahābhāva dui eka rūpa, Rādha and Kṛṣṇa in one form.”

Advaitadās – ‘Look at the context. Earlier, Rāmānanda Rāya saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as follows: (verses 268-270)

pahile dekhilun tomāra sannyāsī-svarūpa

ebe tomā dekhi mui śyāma-gopa-rūpa

tomāra sammukhe dekhi kāncana-pancālikā

tāra gaura-kāntye tomāra sarva anga ḍhākā

tāhāte prakata dekhon sa-vaṁśī vadana

“First I saw You as a sannyāsī, but now I see You as a Śyāma cowherd boy. Facing You I see a golden doll, which covers Your whole body with a golden luster. In that I see manifest Kṛṣṇa playing His flute. “

After Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu playfully denied His own godhood, Rāmānanda Rāya repeats (verse 279):

rādhikāra bhāva-kānti kori angīkāra

nija rasa āsvādite koriyācho avatāra

“You have accepted Rādhā’s feelings and complexion, and have descended to relish Your own rasa.”

Finally, after ‘seeing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined’ Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu repeats again: (verses 287-288)

gaura aṅga nahe mora----rādhāṅga-sparśana

gopendra-suta vinā teho na sparśe anya-jana

tāra bhāve bhavita kori' ātma-mana

tabe nija-mādhurya kori āsvādana

“My body is not golden. It is touched by Rādhā’s body. She will not touch anyone but that prince of cowherds, my heart and mind think in Her way. Thus I relish the flavors of Her sweetness.”

Gaur vs Kṛṣṇa-līlā practise is like biting an apple - the peel is Gaur-sādhana (bite by just offering vandana), and the flesh is Rādhā- Kṛṣṇa-līlā.

Tainted through sanga

Śrī Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda comments on Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi 1.21:

“Because the upapati (adulterer)’s actions are depicted in plays and poems, one may develop a taste for them as if the upapati had worthy conduct. 

tathā tat-tac-ceṣṭitasya kāvya-nāṭya-gatatvena upādeyatayā svādane yad adharma-kṛtaḥ sthānaṁ sūcakasyāpi tad bhavet iti nyāyāc carvaṇa-daśāyāṁ sabhyānām api tādrūpyāpatteś ca vidharma-sparśāt  

Even persons of good conduct, absorbed in such depictions, may fall into identification with such a person and becomes tinged with irreligion, in the manner of yad adharma-kṛtaḥ sthānaṁ sūcakasyāpi tad bhavet: the person who points out the sinner attains the same place as the sinner. (SB 1.17.22) “

On my website madangopal.com, in the file ‘Wisdoms’, I had quoted a mundane philosopher saying that if one gets obsessed with thoughts of an enemy one assumes that enemy’s very qualities. That quote has been replaced with this one now, as mundane philosophers are non-Vedic and subject to the four defects. In this way all material on my site will follow śāstra. The ugly white spaces in that file were also removed, and I renamed it ‘Vedic Wisdoms’.

Alternative readings of Rādhārasa Sudhānidhi 9 and 59

I translated Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi verse 59 as follows, following the Bengali translation of Pandit Anantadās ji Mahārāj –

“When will I joyfully serve the best ladylove, Śrī Rādhikā, and the best of lovers, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Whose cheeks became moistened with sweat drops of fatigue from Their incomparible dancing during the wonderful enchanting Rāsa-festival, which is full of laughter, by massaging Their feet and nicely fanning Them?”

Pandit Anantadās ji Mahārāj says in the end of his purport – ‘lālana’ śabdera artha sneha-pūrbok pālanā -  “The word lālana means affectionately rearing or maintaining. The kinkarī loses herself while massaging these lotus-feet after spending so much time hankering for the sweetness of the rasa of massaging.” Pandit Anantadās ji Mahārāj seems to translate lālana as lālasā, hankering, but lālana means only ‘fondling’ according to the dictionaries. Haridās Śāstri’s translation follows that of Puri Dās Mahārāj, who says the word-before-last, vījanam or fanning should be jīvanam or life. Then the meaning is very clear and very sweet too. Originally I translated pada as ‘position’ and lālana as ‘desiring’ in my word-for-word translation. That is, according to Puridās Mahārāja, Haridās Śāstrījī, and common logic, wrong. Of course we speak of poetry here so anything is possible. So according to Puridās Mahārāja and Haridās Śāstrī, now followed by me too, the last line of this verse should be – “I make my life lovely by worshiping them by fondling their feet”. In this verse there is no ‘fanning’ because vījanam or fanning, reads jīvanam, my life, instead.

Puri Dās Mahārāja was a very meticulous scholar with a great reputation who did thorough research in all genuine libraries. His conclusion is considered highly reliable. He published almost all of the Goswāmīs granthas with Sanskrit-to-Bengali word-for-word translations.

So my new translation of the verse runs as follows –

“When will I joyfully worship the best ladylove and the king of connoisseurs, whose cheeks are moist with sweat drops of fatigue from Their excellent dancing in the Rāsa-festival of enjoyment, which is captivating, astonishing and full of laughter, making my life lovely by fondling Their feet?”

There is a dispute too on Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi’s verse 9. The word mahatām is sometimes translated as ‘great things’, like the four human goals of life, or as ‘great persons’, which is the reading followed by Sādhu Bābā, who personally wrote this śloka to me on a postcard, and by Haridās Śāstrījī. Puridās Mahārāj here gives the same reading as Ananta dāsjī.

I wrote this paragraph in my translation of Ananta Dās jī’s edition –

Another reading of this verse can be: "O Mind, beware of random association with the residents of Vraja! It is as difficult to associate with devotees in a purely Kṛṣṇa conscious way, without falling into frivolous and mundane talks, as it is to control the mind!"  Many great saints have therefore preferred a life of solitude in Vraja over a life full of social engagements there. In this way they could easily catch that divine jewel named Rādhā, Who redeems Her surrendered devotees with the nectar stream of Her good feelings.”

Speaking of avoiding association even of the saints, or nirjon bhajan, the verse in Rūpa Goswāmī’s Upadeśāmṛta, sanga tyāgo, can meaning different things on different levels. On the first level it means ‘giving up bad company, material attachments, women etc.’ but on a higher level it also means ‘giving up all company and just contemplate in solitude’, the uttam bhajan.

Finally, I mistranslated the word rañjita in Vraja Vilāsa Stava’s verse 68 as rakṣita. Rañjita means ‘pleased’ and rakṣita means ‘protected’. The flowing translation of that verse remains unaffected by this.

Images of Sītānāth's utsav 2013

A bit late this year, images of Adwaita Prabhu's festival in Sādhu Bābā's āshram, Navadwīp, February 17, 2013

My Guru-sister Yugal Di

Cooking in the ashram

Iswar Dās with Kumkam dā and wife

Kumkum Dā in āshram

Satīnāth Dā during the utsav

Kīrtan in the new kīrtan-hall

Yugal Di with Madangopāl's bhog

Tulsī Dī near the kīrtan hall

Tapan Dā after bestowing dīkṣā upon Dāmodar