Dāmodar
Dās
*
“I remember that I wrote in a blog that living in the dhāma can be compared with strong medicine and if you are not
living there without blessings and guidance, it can kill spiritual life. In the
dhāma there are really advanced
devotees so if you offend them, consequences can be severe. Like these widows. They
could be bhāvika bhaktas.”
Advaita
Dās
The dhāma has great powers. There is nāmāparādha, sevāparādha and vaiṣṇavāparādha, but not dhāmāparādha. There are many Vaiṣṇavas
in the dhāma, especially in Rādhākuṇḍa,
a small village where everyone knows everyone. Offending them may have caused
all those spectacular dropouts by western Vaisnavas from there. You can commit vaiṣṇavāparādha on each street corner.”
*
It is
said in Jaiva-dharma that Dhyānacandra taught internal worship and Raghunāth
dās Goswāmi taught external worship and some preachers now say they are two
separable paths, of which one group of Vaiṣṇavas (so-called ‘goṣṭhyānandīs’) only practice the
external and the other (so-called ‘bhajanānandīs’)
only the internal side, but this not so. Both Dhyānacandra and Raghunāth dās
Goswāmī practiced and preached both side by side. sevā sādhaka rūpeṇa siddha rūpena cātra hi (Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu
1.2.295) – cātra indicates that both
are practiced side by side. Rejecting the internal practice for mere external
practice, as some have proposed, will never lead to svarūpa siddhi. Besides, if one group of Vaisnavas (so-called ‘bhajanānandīs’) is practicing only the
internal side, then what are they doing with their external bodies? Are they
not hearing, chanting, going on parikramā
and cooking or so?
The six
Goswāmīs had a heart (kṛṣṇotkīrtana gāna
nartana parau) and a brain (nānā
śāstra vicāranaika nipuṇau). All of this is useless without humility, but
they had that too – cātyanta dīnau ca yau.
*
In
his ṭīkā to Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.113
Mukunda Goswami, the disciple of Kṛṣṇadās Kaviraja, says that the qualification
of a Guru must be that he is jāta rati,
he has developed bhāva bhakti. Śiṣya karaṇaṁ
tu jāta ratīnām eva vihitatvāc ca. I did not include this in my blog on sādhana bhakti-chapter of Bhakti Rasāmṛta
Sindhu because that blog was about Bhānu Swāmi’s edition of Bhakti Rasāmṛta
Sindhu which does not include the ṭīkā
of Mukunda Gosvāmī. It is odd that the two main commentators on Bhakti Rasāmṛta
Sindhu, Jīva Gosvāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda, did not make this point.
*
Sādhu Bābā told me that during times of intense sexual contemplation or
when one is unable to observe celibacy one should temporarily suspend
meditation on and study of Radha-Kṛṣṇa's rahaḥ
līlā or intimate pastimes. This does not mean one should start thinking of
oneself as a monkey in Hanumān's army or a servant of Lord Nārāyan. If this is
done one does not really have mañjarī bhāva
as sthāyi rati. It would be a mere
mental concoction. Instead one can continue the aspiration for mañjarī svarūpa and the study of aṣṭakāliya līlā, skipping the intimate
pastimes only. Meditating on how Svāminī sees Kṛṣṇa coming and going with his
cows, how She cooks for him and how She suffers separation from him can just go
on as normal. One should not throw away the baby with the bathing water. Once
purity of thought and action are restored one can resume all meditations. A
popular suggestion is also to temporarily shift one’s focus to Gaura- līlā. This
is also all right, because it is non-erotic, attractive, magnanimous and most importantly,
very instructive. Each story has a deep morale.
*
Advaitaji, who started changing names of his disciples? Traditionally,
as I understand, this is usually done when people take veśa, sannyāsa, not for mantra
dīkṣā. It is only a minor point, probably not to be labeled as deviation,
but still interesting. I thought mostly westerners get a name change?
Advaitadās -
"Changing names is one item of 'panca
rātrika dīkṣā', along with yajna, tāpa
etc. - this is mentioned in Prameya Ratnavalī (8.2). Mahāprabhu also changed
the Muslim names of Rūpa and Sanātan. It is a bit hard to think of Kṛṣṇa if
your Guru lets you keep the name George. Ajāmila was liberated by accidentally
saying Nārāyan instead of Pappoo. If a Guru does not change a disciple’s name
at time of dīkṣā he is not at fault
though, especially if the disciple already has a name of the Lord, gotten from
parents or a previous Guru."
That 'dhāmāparādha is not in any śāstra' needs to be modified a bit. It should be 'not in any Gauḍīya śāstra' as I just heard it is mentioned in Nārāyan Bhaṭṭa's Braja Bhakti Vilāsa'.
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