3 february 2008
Today's Ekādaśī and to break out of the daily drag I decide not to cook at noon but to go on bike-parikramā of Girrāja instead. Internet connections prove to be better at noon too, I discover on the way. Though its both sunday (a day off in Delhi) and Ekādaśī (a puṇya tithi) it's not too crowded around Girrāja. I haven't been all around the mount for maybe a year, and its sad to see huge bungalow parks have been built at both Anyor (Vasundhara) and Jātipurā. Much of the building is being done by the Tirtha Vikas Trust from Delhi. Their role is somewhat ambiguous - on the one hand they do good work - by supporting Sudevi's goshalla, building a fence around Girrāja to protect it against tresspassers and building sitting places all around the parikramā - but they are also responsible for a lot of the unnecessary building, at the expense of Girrāja's natural beauty. Girrāja remains a magical place, still. Even a bike parikramā with Nike shoes on gives a celestial outcome in the mind.
4 february 2008
Another nice iṣṭagoṣṭhī with Dhanurdhara Swāmi (I spoke with him earlier in Vṛndāvana, last year). He asks me to speak on the kuṇḍa līlā for 5 minutes (it is 11 a.m, when Rādhā Kṛṣṇa meet at the Kund), and it becomes 15 minutes instead. I explain that Puṣpa-cayan līlā takes place at Rādhākund, not at Kusum Sarovara - They already left Kusum Sarovar in chapter 7 of Govinda Līlāmṛta and Puṣpa-cayan līlā is in chapter 9. They wouldn't go back to Kusum Sarovar after already arriving at Rādhākuṇḍa. Swāmijī asks where it is taking place at Rādhākund. I say Kṛṣṇa is not a machine - there are plenty of places for flower-gardens still in between the 8 sakhīs' kuñjas. I remind Swāmijī we sit with our backs to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's prasādam-hall at the Padma Mandir.
Swāmijī tells me of the last days of his Godbrother Swarūp Dāmodara Swāmī, who passed away absorbed in the mood of the sakhīs. It is written on his samādhi in Rādhākund's Gopāl Mandir.
In the afternoon I walk to Mukherāi, the village of Śrī Rādhikā's grandmother Mukharā. Unlike Vṛndāvana and Rādhākuṇḍa, this village has barely changed in the 20-odd years I haven't seen it - straw huts, heaps of cow-dung paddies and fields full of mustard flowers. Only the Bājanī Śilā (resounding stone) has moved from an open courtyard into a temple building, called Giridhareśvara.
Picked up from a Bhagavat Saptāha by Vaiṣṇava Pada Dasji -
4th canto - Earth is called Pṛthivī because she is the daughter of Pṛthu Mahārāja.
Kāla-kanyā, the daughter of time, is Jarā, a female word indicating old age.
The black man churned from the thighs of Vena is not an African negro, but a Niṣāda, a tribal Indian.
Arci committed Sati for Pṛthu (as Mādrī did for Paṇḍu)
Canto 6 - antare vairāgya bāhya koro loka vyavahāra is meant for gṛhasthas, not for tyāgīs. For tyāgīs the motto is "dress like a renunciant and act like a renunciant".
A materially qualified non devotee is like a naked man wearing a beautiful turban (vastra-hīna alaṅkāra) - looking ridiculous.
Today's Ekādaśī and to break out of the daily drag I decide not to cook at noon but to go on bike-parikramā of Girrāja instead. Internet connections prove to be better at noon too, I discover on the way. Though its both sunday (a day off in Delhi) and Ekādaśī (a puṇya tithi) it's not too crowded around Girrāja. I haven't been all around the mount for maybe a year, and its sad to see huge bungalow parks have been built at both Anyor (Vasundhara) and Jātipurā. Much of the building is being done by the Tirtha Vikas Trust from Delhi. Their role is somewhat ambiguous - on the one hand they do good work - by supporting Sudevi's goshalla, building a fence around Girrāja to protect it against tresspassers and building sitting places all around the parikramā - but they are also responsible for a lot of the unnecessary building, at the expense of Girrāja's natural beauty. Girrāja remains a magical place, still. Even a bike parikramā with Nike shoes on gives a celestial outcome in the mind.
4 february 2008
Another nice iṣṭagoṣṭhī with Dhanurdhara Swāmi (I spoke with him earlier in Vṛndāvana, last year). He asks me to speak on the kuṇḍa līlā for 5 minutes (it is 11 a.m, when Rādhā Kṛṣṇa meet at the Kund), and it becomes 15 minutes instead. I explain that Puṣpa-cayan līlā takes place at Rādhākund, not at Kusum Sarovara - They already left Kusum Sarovar in chapter 7 of Govinda Līlāmṛta and Puṣpa-cayan līlā is in chapter 9. They wouldn't go back to Kusum Sarovar after already arriving at Rādhākuṇḍa. Swāmijī asks where it is taking place at Rādhākund. I say Kṛṣṇa is not a machine - there are plenty of places for flower-gardens still in between the 8 sakhīs' kuñjas. I remind Swāmijī we sit with our backs to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's prasādam-hall at the Padma Mandir.
Swāmijī tells me of the last days of his Godbrother Swarūp Dāmodara Swāmī, who passed away absorbed in the mood of the sakhīs. It is written on his samādhi in Rādhākund's Gopāl Mandir.
In the afternoon I walk to Mukherāi, the village of Śrī Rādhikā's grandmother Mukharā. Unlike Vṛndāvana and Rādhākuṇḍa, this village has barely changed in the 20-odd years I haven't seen it - straw huts, heaps of cow-dung paddies and fields full of mustard flowers. Only the Bājanī Śilā (resounding stone) has moved from an open courtyard into a temple building, called Giridhareśvara.
Picked up from a Bhagavat Saptāha by Vaiṣṇava Pada Dasji -
4th canto - Earth is called Pṛthivī because she is the daughter of Pṛthu Mahārāja.
Kāla-kanyā, the daughter of time, is Jarā, a female word indicating old age.
The black man churned from the thighs of Vena is not an African negro, but a Niṣāda, a tribal Indian.
Arci committed Sati for Pṛthu (as Mādrī did for Paṇḍu)
Canto 6 - antare vairāgya bāhya koro loka vyavahāra is meant for gṛhasthas, not for tyāgīs. For tyāgīs the motto is "dress like a renunciant and act like a renunciant".
A materially qualified non devotee is like a naked man wearing a beautiful turban (vastra-hīna alaṅkāra) - looking ridiculous.
To the anon referring to Dhanurdhara Swami as a 'notorious child abuser' (comment rejected):
ReplyDeleteDhanurdhara Swami doing wrong things 27 years ago does not disqualify him from bhakti forever,
especially since he elaborately apologized. The jiva is constitutionally eternally Krishna's servant -
jiver swarup hoy krishner nitya-das. Have you been celibate, a teetotaller and vegetarian for the 27 years since, like DD Swami? You tell us nothing about yourself, not even your name - what right do you have to accuse others as long as we don't know your record? Let us look at the future, not the past - I believe Dhanurdhar Swami has potential for raganuga bhakti.