Phone sanga (13)

Bhakta: "I am trying to preach celibacy by giving the example of the mañjarīs, who are eternal brahmacāriṇīs."

Advaitadas: "These things should never be confused - the sexual experience with Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual sky can never ever be compared in any way with the mundane experience down here. It can be discussed only with those who are able to understand its spiritual nature. Unfortunately such persons are extremely rare. śraddhānvito'nuśṛṇuyed atha varṇayed yaḥ (SB 10.33.39) Both the person who narrates and who listens must have that faith, insight that it is spiritual. Externally it looks the same and that may cause confusion. It's not just that in the spiritual sky everything is selfless, just the whole experience is different. That high experience automatically leads to hṛd rogaṁ kāmam āśu apahinoti acirena, quick cessation of material lust. That is just a side effect. To say one needs to be completely pure to start this practise is nonsensical. It is like putting the cart in front of the horse. It is like saying: "Don't take the medicine unless you are cured." But it is true that it is not for everyone. If you take too heavy doses of medicine you can kill yourself. Some qualification is required. So cheap sahajiyas who think they can just enjoy themselves and at the same time think of this will find themselves baffled. There must be a positive endeavor to elevate oneself above sensuality. Some base of purity must be there to start this sādhana with."

Bhakta: "Returning to the question of why  Kṛṣṇa enjoys with billions of other gopīs while only Rādhā can really please Him?"

Advaitadas: "There are innumerable devotees who have the sthāyi bhāva of sambhoga rasa and  Kṛṣṇa has to reciprocate with that - ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajāmyaham. There is a huge miskconception there that the more one surrenders the higher the rasa (relationship) with  Kṛṣṇa will be. That is nonsense. You can only reach the spiritual sky with 100% surrender. More than 100% does not exist, and less than that will simply not bring you there. The Lord's associates in Vaikuṇṭha are as surrendered as Rādhikā's mañjarīs at Rādhākund. There is only a difference in taste."

Bhakta: "What about the controversy of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas being a branch of the Madhva-Sampradāya?"

Advaitadas: "Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa made that link because the Vaiṣṇava-society in Vṛndāvana refused to give us the service of Rūpa Gosvāmī's Rādhā Govinda unless we showed that we belong to any of the four sampradāyas. Actually there are many differences between the Madhvaites and us. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa himself has listed some of them in his Tattva Sandarbha-comments:

1. Only a (born) brāhmana-devotee is eligible for liberation.
2. The demigods are foremost among devotees.
3. Brahmā attains sāyujya-mukti (merging in Brahman).
4. Lakṣmī-devī is included among the jīvas.
5. Perfection is attained through Varṇāśram (it would leave all of us non-Hindus without a chance of attaining Kṛṣṇa in this lifetime)
6. Viṣṇu is the origin of  Kṛṣṇa.
7. The Madhvaites practise vidhi, we practise rāga mārga.
8. the Madhvaites don't worship Rādhā,
9. the Madhvaites are sheer dvaita-vādīs (pure dualists) while we have acintya bhedābheda, to name but a few differences.
Then there is the Caitanya-tree description in the Ādi līlā of Caitanya Caritāmṛta (ch. 9-12) - why wouldn't Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāja instead have said that Caitanyaism is just a branch of the Madhva-tree instead of speaking of an independent Caitanya-tree?"

Bhakta: "It is said that Lokanāth Gosvāmī was a disciple of Caitanya Mahāprabhu."

Advaitadas: "That is nonsense. This is not written anywhere in śāstra. Rather, in Advaita Prakāśa it is said that he was the disciple of Advaita Prabhu. It is universally accepted that Mahāprabhu gave dīkṣā to no one. śikṣā-wise he has verbally instructed Rūpa and Sanātan Goswāmī and has also innerly inspired them while they composed their scriptures - hṛdi yasya preranayā. In a sense we are all Mahāprabhu's disciples, but in terms of establishing the philosophy it were Rūpa, Sanātan and Raghunātha Dās Goswāmīs."


Bhakta: "Kṛṣṇa sleeps with Anaṅga Mañjarī, who is Nityānanda's wife Jāhnavā?"

Advaitadas: "You cannot just switch the identities back and forth between Gaura līlā and Kṛṣṇa līlā like that. Anaṅga Mañjarī is Anaṅga Mañjarī and Jāhnavā is Jāhnavā, and they eternally remain parallel personalities like that, since Gaur-līlā is also eternal. To mix and merge the identities will create absurd rasābhāsa. In our family Viśākhā is identified with Advaita, who would then sleep with  Kṛṣṇa, etc."

Bhakta: "What about Candrāvalī? Kṛṣṇa actually never sleeps with her?"

Advaitadas: "These persons are real and the fear of them is real, too. That is what matters. Fear of  Abhimanyu and Jaṭilā is real, too. It's all in the mind, but the mind is very very real. She may well occasionally sleep with Kṛṣṇa, there is lots of material on that in Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi. This takes place in endless parallel universes in the spiritual sky. It is all happening at the same time, and we have our own concerns and focus. On the sādhaka-level, there may be so many things in the Goswāmīs' books we don't practise because Gurudeva did not give it to us."

Bhakta: "There is a new book out, 'Uddhava Gīta', containing Viśvanātha Cakravartī's comments on the 11th canto, translated by Bhūmipati Dās. There are many quotes there from Viśvanātha that we did fall down from the spiritual world."

Advaitadas: "The translation of 11.11.22 is adulterated - text has been added by Bhūmipati. He says:
"Such a revival of one's dormant love for God dispels all traces of illusion....Ultimately, such rendering of devotional service enables one to go back home, back to Godhead."
Nowhere in the Sanskrit text of Viśvanātha's comment on that verse are these phrases to be found at all. Rather, Viśvanātha speaks of mad-bhakteh prāptiḥ, 'Attaining My devotion.' That's all."

Bhakta: "What about 11.13.37? Bhūmipati writes here: "one who is highly elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, having understood Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the actual reality, never again surrenders to the illusory identification with the material body"

Advaitadas: "That does not indicate fall at all, rather the opposite. The controversy surrounding 11.14.25, with the gold, has already been solved by Satya-nārāyan Prabhu in his book 'From Vaikuṇṭha not even the leaves fall'.

Bhakta: "What are the meanings of the names of Kṛṣṇa's cows?"

Advaitadas: I could find the following ones:
Gaṅgā – Ganges River
Godāvari – Godavari River
Śabali – spotted cow
Yamunā, Kālindī - Yamunā river
Narmadā – Narmadā river
Dhavalā - white cow
Dhūmrā – smoke colored cow
Tuṅgī – prominent, turmeric cow
Bhramarī – bee-colored cow
Haṁsī – swan like cow
Kamalā - lotus like cow
Rambhā – banana
Campā – golden flower
Kariṇi – female elephant
Hariṇi – golden or yellow jasmine
Padmā - lotus cow
Raṅgiṇī – playful cow
Kañja-gandhā – lotus scent
Cāmarī – chowrie or plume
Khañjanī - wagtail
Kajjalākṣī – cow with eyes with eyeliner
Ṣaṇḍā – bestower of welfare.
Sarali – simple cow
Kāli – black cow
Marālī – swan-like cow
Pālī - protectress
Piṣaṅgī – a kind of deer
Vaṁśīpriyā – dear to the flute
Śyāmā - black cow
Kuraṅgī – kind of deer
Kapilā – Brown cow
Induprabhā - moonlight
Śonā – red cow
Triveṇī – three-branched river
Piṅgā - reddish brown cow

Bhakta: "Many other names are left unexplained too in current English translations - like Yāvat and Barṣānā."

Advaitadas: "In Vraja Rīti Cintāmaṇi Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that Yāvat is the place where  Kṛṣṇa decorates Rādhikā's feet with Yāvak (lac). Barṣānā means 'belonging to Vṛṣabhānu' because it is his village."