Śiva Caturdaśī, prāṇa pratiṣṭha, respect and Sevā Kuñja

Due to difference of opinion most people did Śiva Pūjā and the vigil yesterday, so today it really peaceful at Gopeśvara Mahādeva Mandir. At the gate I buy a basket with a garland, roses, Bael-leaves, incense and some other items to offer. I am out within 5 minutes.

In a private darśan I ask Satya-nārāyan Dāsjī whether Kṛṣṇa will not be there in the deity because of corrupt management of its temple or organization, due to lack of prāṇa pratiṣṭha or lack of bhakti. He says prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā is just a show conducted for social acceptance of a temple. Kṛṣṇa is anyway everywhere, so why not in a non-installed deity? Kṛṣṇa is manifest in the deity according to the bhakti of the individual who comes for His darshan.

I ask him about the dilemma of having to respect older devotees who may be deeply flawed. He says it is hazardous to criticise elders in public (internet) for one will make many enemies, but in private one should certainly speak the truth about such a senior devotee, because it is one's duty to warn innocent would-be followers against him. About Upadeśāmṛta verse 6 he says that one should not dishonor a devotee because of faulty character but also not associate with him/her, just as one would die after drinking the Yamunā-water in its current polluted state, but must certainly respect her from a distance.

During the class he confirms that one cannot just get darśan of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa by hiding oneself in Sevā-kunja. This is a myth, hearsay. All the neighbors can look in from the first floor and they don't go blind or mad. I tell him I was living in such a first-floor adjacent room and I never saw anything (and mad I was already before that anyway!)

Women and social life

My Dutch friend Vāsu Ghoṣa tells me that women cannot live without social life. Men can. I remember the līlā of the sacrifice of Dakṣa. Satī was so eager to go there and socialize that she defied the prohibition of her husband Śiva and went there anyway. It cost her her life and that of her father.... (I do know there are some women who are less socially inclined but they are exceptions)

More satsanga with Satya-nārāyan Dās

Today, during his Bhāgavata pāṭha, Satya Nārāyan Prabhu discussed Viśvanātha Cakravartī's ṭīkā on Ś.B. 1.9.26, where he says: kintu vairāgyaṁ cet sadaiva bhikṣavo bhaveyus tadā rāgas ced gṛhastha eva sadeti "A vairāgi should be vairāgī throughout life and a gṛhastha should be a gṛhastha throughout life if that is their true propensity." If vairāgya isn't there at age 50 one has either not properly followed gṛhastha dharma or one is simply not inclined towards vairāgya."

When I ask Satyanārāyan about the Haribhakti-vilāsa verse amārgastho sanmārgo vā gurur eva janārdanaḥ ("Whether on the path or off it, the Guru is always God"), he says that if the Guru is not on the path he cannot bestow siddhi, just as blind faith in a counterfeit medicine will not cure your disease. He reminds me of the verse I quoted earlier -

guror apy avaliptasya kāryākāryam ajānataḥ
utpatha pratipannasya parityāgo vidhīyate

"If the Guru is arrogant, does not know right from wrong and is devious he is to be fully rejected".

I ask him about the muktānām api siddhānām verse (S.B 6.14.5) , if that means that those who merged into brahman can really proceed to bhakti. He says muktānām refers to jīvanmuktas (those liberated in this body), not to atyantika muktas, fully liberated souls. Kṛṣṇa may take a soul out of brahman, because individuality is eternal, even in brahma-līna. A drop of water remains a drop, also when it is part of an ocean.

Edited December 16, 2008

Brought by the Lord

I ask Satya-nārāyan Dāsjī about the theory that the spiritual body is waiting for us in the spiritual sky. He confirms it, like paintings on someone's wall that come alive somehow. He says it should be in Prīti Sandarbha. He shows me the Bhāgavata-verse 1.6.28, which starts with the word prayujyamāna, which means, according to Śrīdhara Swāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī, that it is bhagavata nīyamāna, brought by the Lord. And then, from where is it brought? From the spiritual sky, of course. So it is a fact. Jīva Gosvāmī says it happens at once, just as sitting and eating take place at the same time. Satya-nārāyan Dāsjī says this may be the only verse in the Bhāgavata that clearly describes the siddha deha.

Ugrasena revisited

I ask Satya-nārāyan Dās about the bodyguards-of-Ugrasena-question. He tells me that it is not offensive to think it is an exaggaration (unless one does so in an arrogant or defiant way of course), but it is also great to believe it. An upalakṣaṇa (ulterior, non-literal meaning) is often mentioned in the ṭīkās. For instance, in the story of Brahmā giving up his body during the time of Creation because he was polluted by an assault by demons, Jīva Gosvāmī comments that he actually gave up his state of mind, not his body. One is supposed to know sāhitya (the science of literature) before studying the Bhāgavata, but nowadays most Pāṭhakas even don't know it, what to speak of the audience? Remember that the Bhāgavata is at once captured in the heart, sadyo hṛdyavaruddhyate, but only by kṛtibhiḥ, the saints, and suśrūṣubhiḥ, the submissive. He says Bhāgavata-pāṭh is often just an amusement for the public. There are 3 vṛttis (literary angles) mentioned in sāhitya śāstra, mukhya vṛtti (the main meaning), gauna vṛtti (the secondary meaning) and vyañjana vṛtti, poetic suggestion, under which this Ugrasena-question falls. All 3 vṛttis apply to the Bhāgavata. He says it is not good to be too gullible, nor to be too critical. The tīkākāras (commentators) did not mention each atiśayokti (exaggaration) because they presume everyone knows sāhitya darśan. For example, the hump of Ariṣṭāsura is described as reaching to the sky, but most probably this was not the case, though through Kṛṣṇa's acintya śakti it is possible. He also reminds me that this is all aiśvarya - the Brajavāsīs are unable and unwilling to perceive all this so the issue is not a major one for a rāgānugā bhakta.

Edited Jan.1.2007, 11.10 CET Edited Oct.4, 2007 13.34 CET

Antyeṣṭi

Bhāgavat Nivāsa ceiling

My mother's ashes in Yamunā

Indian diary, vol. XVIII, part 1 - vasanta 2006

Before breakfast I strew my mother's ashes into the Yamunā from the bridge between Keśī Ghāṭ and Vaṁśīvaṭ. I take two photos (see bottom pic). On the way to Keśī Ghāṭ I feel a bit the presence of my mother; we used to sit on rikshaws in Vṛndāvana often before, and this was her last ride. At Bihārijī a pujārī gives me mākhān-miśri, Kṛṣṇa's favorite. Then I go to the adjacent Advaita-vat with its magical Banyan tree where Advaita Prabhu did His bhajan, to write this blog.

At MVT I have lunch with Premanidhi, the German devotee who first brought me to Vṛndāvana. He tells me the Vaiṣṇava is himself an institution and for him to join an institution would mean inevitable compromise. A Guru should also not seek śiṣyas, but the śiṣya should seek the Guru.

After darśan of Bhāgavat Nivas (see top picture) I go to Satya-nārāyan who explains me that saṅga-siddha bhakti is things like a cold shower, celibacy, compassion etc.; not really internal items of bhakti. That is why SB 11.3.23 is quoted in Bhakti Sandarbha in connection with Sanga-siddha Bhakti.

Satya-nārāyan Ji gives Bhāgavata pāṭha in the basement of the Jiva Institute. He says ku-vera means an ugly body. The arrows prevented Bhisma from dying on the floor just as the devatas' feet don't touch the ground. They were shot in his front, not in the back as you see so often in the pictures. Jaimini, Patanjali, Gautama and all the others came to hear the Bhāgavata, though they had their own siddhāntas established; that means the Bhāgavata has the highest siddhānta.

Edited January 8, 2012

The advent of Śrī Advaita Ācārya

As Lord Sadāśiva, the transcendental deity from Vaikuṇṭha who is the fountainhead of all the forms of Śiva within the innumerable mundane universes saw the wicked age of Kali, or quarrel, destroying all godly qualities in man, He became filled with compassion. After many deliberations with goddess Yogamāyā He sat down on the shore of the Causal Ocean, where Lord Mahaviṣṇu lies in mystic slumber. That great, ever-joyful yogi sat down on a yoga-āsana and began to practice yoga there. After 700 years of penance the Universal Lord Mahāviṣṇu appeared to Him. Five-headed Śiva then offered many kinds of indescribable praises to Mahāviṣṇu, who replied: "My dear Sadāśiva! Why are You trying to please Me by performing such difficult austerities? You and I are one! We differ only in body!" Sadāśiva replied: "My dear Lord, unless You empower Me to save suffering mankind, how can I do it?" Then Mahāviṣṇu embraced Sadāśiva and thus They assumed one captivating, radiant golden form in which They would appear, roaring out 'kṛṣṇa! kṛṣṇa!'
Then a most amazing divine voice resounded in the sky, proclaiming: "Listen, O Mahāviṣṇu! First descend in the womb of Lābhā-devī in this form— later I will personally descend in Nadiya. You will then find Me in the abode of Śacī and Jagannātha. Balarāma and all the other devotees will also all take birth there to redeem the conditioned souls." Hearing this, Mahāviṣṇu became one with Siva and together they entered the womb of Lābhā-devī in Śāntipura.

2006 Sītānāth Utsava

Kṛṣṇā Di

Kīrtan in the pandal

Golok and Rākhā Dā

Thanks to Prāngovinda for the hottest photos of Sītānāth's Utsava - the annual festival to commemmorate Advaita Prabhu's birthday in Sādhu Bābā's āśram, Prāchīn Māyāpur, Navadvīp! Glory to digital photography! Sītānātha's Utsav comes (almost) live into your living-room!

Sādhu Bābā on Vedic Utopia

Returning to the discussion of meat-eating and other practices in the Vedic civilization, I have this entry in my Indian diary, early November, 1984 – "Shortly after the assassination of Indira Gandhi I ask Bābā how it is possible that such a person can rule a holy land like India for so long." Bābā pointedly replied: āge-o kaṁsa-ṭaṁsa chilo to? “In the ancient days there were demoniac rulers like Kaṁsa too, weren’t there?” This is significant in relation to the utopian ideas that many, especially western, devotees, have of the ancient Vedic civilization. Its principles were perfect, but human beings are not and never were.

This anecdote is added to the biography of Sādhu Bābā (linktab Nikunja Gopal Gosvami, page 43) at www.madangopal.com

Vasanta pancamī

Yesterday, February 2, was Vasanta Pancamī. On that day the deities are dressed in yellow, the color of spring (in some temples the deities are in yellow throughout spring). In temples where the evening ārati song is Jayadeva's Śrita-kamala, the song is changed into Lalita Labanga Latā, also from Jayadeva's Gīta Govinda. In temples where other songs or just the mahā-mantra is sung, devotees commence singing a special vasanta-tune for them. In Sādhu Bābā's āśram this continues until Advaita Prabhu's Dola Saptamī, which is one week after Gaur Purnima, a total of 47 days. Spring celebrations culminate into the colorful Holi festival, which takes place around Gaura Pūrṇimā.