Bhakta: "It is described in śāstra that the gopīs take paraphernalia for their services from the pumpkins growing in the desire trees. But that most over time produce a huge amount of paraphernalia!"
Advaitadas: "To my understanding it is eternally recycled into the pumpkins, or so to say, there is no yesterday or tomorrow in the spiritual sky - everything is an eternal now. The pumpkins never grew, the desire trees were never sown etc. Creation is the mode of passion, destruction the mode of ignorance and maintenance the mode of goodness. The spiritual sky is viśuddha sattva, pure goodness, there is only maintenance there, no creation or destruction. Where the paraphernalia go after usage, where the food goes after consumption, these questions are not answered - I suppose we are too conditioned into our narrow causal thinking for that."
Bhakta: "If there is no past, then Kṛṣṇa does not go home and there is no sequence in the līlā either, even if it is an eternal daily repetition of the same schedule of pastimes."
Advaitadas: "There seems to be a sequence in the transcendental pastimes, but actually each movement Kṛṣṇa or His associates make, each word they say, is eternal. Compare it to a cartoon movie, like Tom and Jerry. Countless Toms and Jerries are being drawn and shown very quickly in front of the camera so it appears that Tom and Jerry are moving, but actually they are all just so many static images. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's every move and word, both in the spiritual sky and in the manifest pastimes on earth, is eternal and separately dhyeya (to be meditated upon) and āsvādya (relishable). When Sādhu Bābā initiated me into my meditation on Rādhārāṇī's devotional service he told me that even a single word or name is an endlessly deep ocean of meditation that is endlessly relishable, provided ruci (taste) is there for it. I believe this point is made by Sanātan Goswāmī in his Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta - while Kṛṣṇa is killing Pūtanā somewhere, in some other universe He is kicking over the cart, killing Kaṁsa etc, and since there are innumerable universes every lila is going on somewhere at this very moment."
Bhakta: "I heard that it is not sure how much is the exact distance of a yojana. It must be more than 8 miles because modern astronomy shows that the distances given in the Purāṇas to certain planets, including Goloka, are really peanuts compared to their figures, even within this one universe, let alone beyond it. There must be a yojana-measurement for yogis and devatās instead - they were, after all, Śukadeva's audience when he spoke the Bhāgavat."
Advaitadas: "Yes that must be. And on top of that, is there any measurement to travel to Goloka? Aren't Goloka and Vaikuṇṭha really worlds and spheres rather than concrete planets with a concrete location? (See my blog of July 23, 2007) It is not exactly located on the third turn on the left, you know! You travel there with the vehicle of surrender, not with a rocket or so. As for the moonwalk-controversy, hardliners say the whole thing was a hoax and they just shot some footage in the desert in Arizona or New Mexico and sold that to the public as the moonwalk, but I don't believe that. I do think they went to what they perceive as the moon, but that may be just a gross reflection or counterpart of a more subtle, astral realm we know as Candra-loka, a realm which is only attainable through sacrifice, merit etc. and which may be at the same location as the place where Armstrong and Aldridge went."
Bhakta: "Nowadays they make cosmic measurements of light and distance by sending some type of ultraviolet beams to a reflecting panel on the moon - even a layman can do it. So they must have been there to put that panel there."
Bhakta: "I heard that during times of separation from Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī wears red instead of blue garments and the mañjarīs wear white."
Advaitadas: "I have never read that in any of the ācāryas' granthas nor have I even heard of such a thing until now and I have practised this for nearly 27 years......."
Bhakta: "Are all nine practises of devotional service, as described by Prahlād Mahārāj in the Bhāgavat, applicable to mañjarī bhāva sādhana?"
Advaitadas: "Absolutely. Hearing about mañjarī-service, chanting about them, remembering them, circumambulating Rādhākuṇḍa or Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī's samādhi, worshipping the deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, vandanam....."
Bhakta: 'Vandanam sounds really reverential to me."
Advaitadas: "No no, it means recital of stotrams like Vilāpa-Kusumāñjali, Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, Utkalikā Vallari or Stavāvalī."
Bhakta: "What about the last three?"
Advaitadas: "dāsyam is the bottom line of all rasas, and is very much present in mañjarī bhāva, which is dāsī-bhāva, the mood of the maidservant. Sakhyam is also there, as mañjarīs are a kind of sakhī. Rādhikā confides in them more than even in her own girlfriends. And finally ātma nivedanam, that you can see in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali verse 96 - tavaivāsmi tavaivāsmi - 'Rādhe! I am yours! I am yours!'
Advaitadas: "To my understanding it is eternally recycled into the pumpkins, or so to say, there is no yesterday or tomorrow in the spiritual sky - everything is an eternal now. The pumpkins never grew, the desire trees were never sown etc. Creation is the mode of passion, destruction the mode of ignorance and maintenance the mode of goodness. The spiritual sky is viśuddha sattva, pure goodness, there is only maintenance there, no creation or destruction. Where the paraphernalia go after usage, where the food goes after consumption, these questions are not answered - I suppose we are too conditioned into our narrow causal thinking for that."
Bhakta: "If there is no past, then Kṛṣṇa does not go home and there is no sequence in the līlā either, even if it is an eternal daily repetition of the same schedule of pastimes."
Advaitadas: "There seems to be a sequence in the transcendental pastimes, but actually each movement Kṛṣṇa or His associates make, each word they say, is eternal. Compare it to a cartoon movie, like Tom and Jerry. Countless Toms and Jerries are being drawn and shown very quickly in front of the camera so it appears that Tom and Jerry are moving, but actually they are all just so many static images. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's every move and word, both in the spiritual sky and in the manifest pastimes on earth, is eternal and separately dhyeya (to be meditated upon) and āsvādya (relishable). When Sādhu Bābā initiated me into my meditation on Rādhārāṇī's devotional service he told me that even a single word or name is an endlessly deep ocean of meditation that is endlessly relishable, provided ruci (taste) is there for it. I believe this point is made by Sanātan Goswāmī in his Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta - while Kṛṣṇa is killing Pūtanā somewhere, in some other universe He is kicking over the cart, killing Kaṁsa etc, and since there are innumerable universes every lila is going on somewhere at this very moment."
Bhakta: "I heard that it is not sure how much is the exact distance of a yojana. It must be more than 8 miles because modern astronomy shows that the distances given in the Purāṇas to certain planets, including Goloka, are really peanuts compared to their figures, even within this one universe, let alone beyond it. There must be a yojana-measurement for yogis and devatās instead - they were, after all, Śukadeva's audience when he spoke the Bhāgavat."
Advaitadas: "Yes that must be. And on top of that, is there any measurement to travel to Goloka? Aren't Goloka and Vaikuṇṭha really worlds and spheres rather than concrete planets with a concrete location? (See my blog of July 23, 2007) It is not exactly located on the third turn on the left, you know! You travel there with the vehicle of surrender, not with a rocket or so. As for the moonwalk-controversy, hardliners say the whole thing was a hoax and they just shot some footage in the desert in Arizona or New Mexico and sold that to the public as the moonwalk, but I don't believe that. I do think they went to what they perceive as the moon, but that may be just a gross reflection or counterpart of a more subtle, astral realm we know as Candra-loka, a realm which is only attainable through sacrifice, merit etc. and which may be at the same location as the place where Armstrong and Aldridge went."
Bhakta: "Nowadays they make cosmic measurements of light and distance by sending some type of ultraviolet beams to a reflecting panel on the moon - even a layman can do it. So they must have been there to put that panel there."
Bhakta: "I heard that during times of separation from Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī wears red instead of blue garments and the mañjarīs wear white."
Advaitadas: "I have never read that in any of the ācāryas' granthas nor have I even heard of such a thing until now and I have practised this for nearly 27 years......."
Bhakta: "Are all nine practises of devotional service, as described by Prahlād Mahārāj in the Bhāgavat, applicable to mañjarī bhāva sādhana?"
Advaitadas: "Absolutely. Hearing about mañjarī-service, chanting about them, remembering them, circumambulating Rādhākuṇḍa or Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī's samādhi, worshipping the deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, vandanam....."
Bhakta: 'Vandanam sounds really reverential to me."
Advaitadas: "No no, it means recital of stotrams like Vilāpa-Kusumāñjali, Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, Utkalikā Vallari or Stavāvalī."
Bhakta: "What about the last three?"
Advaitadas: "dāsyam is the bottom line of all rasas, and is very much present in mañjarī bhāva, which is dāsī-bhāva, the mood of the maidservant. Sakhyam is also there, as mañjarīs are a kind of sakhī. Rādhikā confides in them more than even in her own girlfriends. And finally ātma nivedanam, that you can see in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali verse 96 - tavaivāsmi tavaivāsmi - 'Rādhe! I am yours! I am yours!'
On Jagat's trail again....
ReplyDeleteIn his blog of april 18, hopefully Jagat has now found the final point in which to misinterpret and thus insult Srila Rupa Goswamipada - sadharani karana. In Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (2.5.101) Rupa Goswami and Visvanatha Cakravarti teach that one can be so absorbed in the pastimes of the Lord that one may imitate these pastimes, but that does not mean that like a sahajiya, one has sex with a married woman thinking she is Radha, as Jagat loves to preach (and practise). If that were the meaning of this verse, then of course Rupa Gosvami, Jiva Goswami and Visvanatha Cakravarti, who
practised what they preached, would have had sex with other mens wives in Vrindavan, but they did not, quite on the contrary, they were highly renounced. What Jagat conveniently hushes up is that in the only tika that the acaryas give on the issue, sadharani karana is not explained as a devotee imitating Krishna, but as a contemporary devotee (arvacina bhakta) imitating the ancient devotee (pracina bhakta), the example given being Hanuman - atas tadrsi ratir eva pracina bhaktanam api bhavaih saharvacina bhaktanam bhavan sadharanam anayati (Jiva Goswami and Visvanatha Cakravarti tika 2.5.102)
Plus, the verse (101) says alaukikya, it is transcendental, not mundane.
Re the moonwalk - another reason where there can not have possibly been a hoax on moon-travel is that not only the USA, but also the USSR made trips to the moon [be it unmanned or just flybys]. If there is a hoax it would not only involve a life-long gagging order on 1000s of NASA-employees, but also a conspiracy between two arch-enemies, the USA and the USSR to fool the public globally. I am sure that even the most paranoid conspiracy theorist would not dream of such a plot.
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