Phone Sanga (20)

Bhakta: "Is there anything in śāstra about how Vaiṣṇavas should greet each other?"

Advaitadas: "No. Neither haribol nor Jay Rādhe are mentioned in Gaura līlā śāstras. It is open, though most devotees say Rādhe Rādhe or Jay Rādhe."

Bhakta: "Returning to the topic of Dimock, he is not considered a devotee because he had not associated with Vaiṣṇavas...."

Advaitadas: "No I didn't say that. Surely he associated with Vaiṣṇavas, but your parents have also associated with you for the 30 years you have been a devotee and they never became devotees themselves. Although sādhu sanga works wonders, it does not automatically convert everybody."

Bhakta: 'He may not be initiated but he may still be a devotee. Some people may be initiated but do not have so much devotion. How can you tell?"

Advaitadas: "I have already shown from śāstra (in the previous blog) that a Vaiṣṇava is someone who is initiated and actively engaged in Lord Viṣṇu's worship, and that all others are non-devotees. It is true that many initiated devotees have become non-devotional, but at one point in their life they had so much devotion that they took dīkṣā, which is an act of surrender - dīkṣā kāle bhakta kore ātma samarpan (CC Antya 4). One of the persons who comes to Kṛṣṇa is the curious (B.Gita 7.16, jijñāsu). That is typically a westerner, who doesn't know anything about Vedic religion. They go very deeply into this, studying all the śāstras, but when their curiosity is satisfied they leave. Others are distressed (ārta) because of some broken love affair, and take to celibacy, but when their heartache is over they leave too. In the process they may have taken initiation and are thus marked devotees. Some surrender was there. There is a difference between an initiated and non-initiated devotee. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says: kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta "Mentally honour those who say Kṛṣṇa" (non-initiated bystanders and sympathisers), dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiḥ "but when there is dīkṣā you must offer full obeisances." (Upadeśāmṛta) That is the difference between the sympathising bystander and someone who took dīkṣā.  In India an initiated devotee is called āśrita, a person who took shelter. All glories to them (dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiḥ)!"

Bhakta: "In the previous phone sanga you mentioned the hyperboles and figurative statements in the Bhāgavata. Where can we read about it?"

Advaitadas: "Unfortunately at this stage there is not much about this in English yet, but look at this in Jīva Gosvami's Bhagavat Sandarbha (109):

yathā ca siṁho devadatta ity atra gauṇyā vṛttyā śaurya-guṇa-yukte devadatte siṁha-śabdaḥ pravartate. yathā ca gaṇgāyāṁ ghoṣa ity atra-lakṣaṇayā vṛttyā gaṇgā-śabdas tasminn ity asambandhe taṭe pravartate 

"siṁho devadatta (lion Devadatta) does not mean that he literally is a lion, but that he is (a human being) endowed with the quality of (lion-like) heroism. Similarly, though 'gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ' literally means 'a village in the Ganga' it of course means 'a village on the bank of the Ganges'.

Bhakta: "Is there an injunction that one must chant one's 64 rounds in the morning?"

Advaitadas: "No. nāmnāmakāri bahudha nija sarva śaktis tatrārpita niyamita smaraṇe na kāla "All divine energy is there in the name and there is no rule on the time for chanting it. Some devotees have early morning or late night shifts and they cannot chant in the morning, so they have no choice but to chant on other times. The morning is good because the mind and body are fresh and so the mode of goodness reigns. The name is always great, though, also in the evening because then it dispels the predominant mode of ignorance (fatigue)."

Bhakta: "I was surprised that in Nikuñja Keli Virudāvali, Viśvanāth Cakravartī is praising Kṛṣṇa only, while, as a mañjarī, he should be just into Rādhārāṇī."

Advaitadas: "All ācāryas, even those who were fervently into mañjarī bhāva, like Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī and Viśvanāth Cakravartī, have done their fair share of praising Kṛṣṇa as well. Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī also wrote Madan-gopāl Stotram, Gopal-rāja Stotram, Vraja Vilāsa Stava, Prayers to Mt. Govardhan etc. etc. No ācārya has written exclusively about Smt. Rādhārāṇī."

Bhakta: "We have discussed before that sthāyi-bhāva cannot be changed, yet in Caitanya Caritāmṛta we see that even Satyabhāmā covets the fortune of the gopīs."

Advaitadas: "The women of Mathurā praise the gopīs in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.44.14-16, and the queens of Dvaraka do so too in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.83.43. The fact that they know about the gopīs' glories does not mean that they actually can enter into gopī-bhāva, however. Look at Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.16.36, where it is described that Lakṣmī could never attain Kṛṣṇa's feet, even after eternal penance! nāyaṁ sriyo'nga u nitanta rateḥ prasādaḥ (Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.47.60) If ever a person is seen to graduate from aiśvarya to mādhurya, from vaidhi to rāga, then it must be understood that the latter, not the former, was his sthāyi-bhāva. For instance, in his ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.83.43, Viśvanāth Cakravartī says that the 8 principal queens could not be swayed from their (Dwārakā-) feelings towards Kṛṣṇa, but secondary queens were later kidnapped by Kṛṣṇa and taken to Gokula."

Bhakta: In Nikuñja Keli Virudāvali, (29) it is said that Kṛṣṇa bites Rādhā's lips and then drinks the nectar and sprinkles it on Her. Is that blood?"

Advaitadas: "Hahaha, no - Kṛṣṇa is not a vampire. That is horrid, and horror in relation to Kṛṣṇa is rejected as jugupsa rati, the secondary rasa of disgust. saptamyās tu rater vasāt (Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 2.5.41) - Jugupsa does not apply to Kṛṣṇa, most specially within madhura rasa. Otherwise, biting is a common item of Vedic lovemaking (see Kāma-sūtra). In retrospect these things like sprinkling are not mentioned in the Sanskrit of Nikuñja Keli Virudāvali 29. I must have taken this interpretation from the Bengali translation."

Bhakta: "Speaking of jugupsa, do the gopīs have hair under their armpits?"

Advaitadas: "It looks bad, and I have never read of a mañjarī service of shaving Rādhā's armpits."

Bhakta: "One Vaiṣṇava organization claims that Vaikuṇṭha will ultimately be folded and everyone will ultimately get into mañjarī bhāva."

Advaitadas: "That would be wholly contrary to the principle of sthāyi-bhāva. Besides, there is not a shred of evidence for that theory. Vaikuṇṭha is eternal and eternal means eternal. sthāyi-bhāva means permanent emotion, and permanent means permanent. Can you imagine, not only countless jīvas would transfer to Goloka, but Lord Nārāyan would cease to exist altogether? That is crazy. When Jīva Gosvāmī speaks of the eternality of the spiritual sky in Prīti Sandarbha (10) he specifically quotes a verse from Śrīmad Bhāgavat (3.15.14) that describes Vaikuṇṭha. vaikuṇṭhasya bhagavato jyotir-aṁśa-bhūtā vaikuṇṭha-loka-śobhā-rūpā yā anantā mūrtayas tatra vartante.

Bhakta: "But everybody will want the highest thing..."

Advaitadas: "That is subjective. Everyone thinks they have the highest relationship with God anyway and is satisfied with that. With such logic the cowherd boys and Nanda-Yaśodā would also go extinct, or what? You must understand things with śāstra (scripture) and yukti (common sense) and such theories have neither. Also the idea that there will be no Kalki avatāra after Mahāprabhu's yuga is nowhere in śāstra, like Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta, and not even in the Caitanya-śāstras."

Bhakta: "(In connection with this) I read that Śrīmad Bhāgavat is not written for this kalpa."

Advaitadas: "That is absurd. The Śrīmad Bhāgavat we are reading is meant for people of this Kali-yuga, not for another yuga - kalau naṣṭa dṛśam eṣā purāṇārko'dhunodita (Śrīmad Bhāgavat 1.3.43). Can you imagine we are reading a Śrīmad Bhāgavat for the wrong kalpa?"

Bhakta: "But other Purāṇas are spoken for or in other kalpas."

Advaitadas: "Let it be. śāstraṁ bhāgavataṁ pramāṇam amalam - śrī caitanya mahāprabhor matam idam - Mahāprabhu has said that the Śrīmad Bhāgavat is the spotless authority."

Nitya līlā in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta

In the second of a series of re-publications of my old, now offline MSN-spaces madangopal-blog, the one from April 26, 2005, called "Nitya lila in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta":

In Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta 2.6.14 it is clearly said that Gopakumāra got to Śrī Goloka (śrī golokaṁ taṁ cirād āśālambanaṁ prāpto), and there he went to the Mathurā-segment (tasmin śrī mathurā rūpe gatvā madhupurīm aham, verse 15), where Kaṁsa had deposed of Ugrasena (nigṛhya pitaraṁ svayam, verse 16). Verse 20 is also very interesting – it describes how all the customs in Goloka are just like those in India (etasya bhū bhārata-varṣakiyar yāvarta deśasya nirūpya rītim), though it is unattainable even by the pārṣadas of Kṛṣṇa (or Viṣṇu perhaps?). Anyway, while reading this, I remembered that in Govinda Līlāmṛta, which is Goloka nitya līlā, in verse 6.83 Kṛṣṇa says :

am arya vasudevena dūto'tra prahitaḥ prage;
guptam prasthāpitas cauraḥ kaṁsena kānane gavām

"Yes, revered Madhumangala! My father has secretly heard from Vasudeva's messenger that Kaṁsa will send his hoods to Vṛndāvana to steal our cows!”
So Kaṁsa is a part of the scene in Goloka too…..

Though some say one should not make a historical and literary sequence between the different Gosvāmīs books, I can't help noticing that so many of the nitya līlā descriptions can be found in chapter 6 of the 2nd canto of Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta - Kṛṣṇa's goṣṭha-yātrā, His returning home, the many ingredients of His meal, how mother Yaśodā thinks that the kajjal, pān and scratch marks on Kṛṣṇa's body are caused by His playing outside with His friends in the day (instead of by His līlā with the gopīs at midday), how Kṛṣṇa goes out to the meadows and persuades His parents not to follow Him, how Kṛṣṇa takes a glimpse of Rādhā, reclines and most remarkably - how gopīs like Rādhā, Candrāvalī and Lalitā fan Him, offer pān and water, sing for Him and speak with Him - while He reclines at Nanda-Yaśodā's home! It is a hint at svakīya vāda - not that I am a svakīya defender, but its interesting ammunition for them.

In verses 206-208 Sanātan Gosvāmī states that Droṇa and Dharā merge with the nitya siddha pārṣadas Nanda and Yaśodā, as Jīva Gosvāmī has later done in his ṭīkā on the Bhāgavata canto 10 chapter 8.

In verse 243 Sanātan Gosvāmī describes how Kṛṣṇa, after defeating the Kāliya snake, takes the gopīs along to dance the Rāsa on the snake's hoods while all the Vrajavāsīs watch (another svakīya hint?). After defeating Keśī and Ariṣṭa, Kṛṣṇa uses Keśī as a riding-horse and Ariṣṭa as a bull pulling a bullock-cart! In Goloka, too, He leaves Vraja for Mathurā, but as He rides out He jumps from Akrūra's chariot to console the weeping gopīs by taking them each into a different kuñja to enjoy with them. Balarāma, on Akrūra's request, then seeks Him out. Seeing Kṛṣṇa surrounded by the gopīs, Balarām keeps a polite distance and Akrūra starts loudly weeping about how Kaṁsa is daily tormenting Vasudeva and Devakī, making it clear to Kṛṣṇa that He cannot let them down like this."

Phone sanga (19)

Bhakta: "Could the statement vaṁśī priya sakhī  in Brahma Saṁhitā be considered figurative?"

Advaitadas: "Symbolism is not māyāvāda, because even the staunchest anti-Māyāvādī, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī, has given symbolical interpretations of Kṛṣṇa līlā and the Bhāgavata itself openly preaches symbolism here and there. Viśvanātha says that the six sons of Devakī that were killed by Kaṁsa are the six faults lust, anger and greed etc. that need to be killed before one can see Kṛṣṇa. When the gopīs call Kṛṣṇa's flute 'a dead piece of wood' that is certainly figurative, because there is no dead matter in the spiritual sky, which is manifested by the svarūpa śakti's sandhinī śakti in toto. There once was a poor brahmin who got angry with Kṛṣṇa about his poverty and out of protest scrapped the word 'vahāmyahaṁ' from Bhagavad Gītā 9.22, where Kṛṣṇa promises to carry all His devotees' needs. Kṛṣṇa then came to his door disguised as a boy, carrying his needs on his head and the brahmin asked him in astonishment: "Oh dear boy, you have a scratch over your face - who has done this to you?" "You did" the boy said. "No that is impossible because I never saw you before." The boy replied, "I am My word and you scrapped My word." So first believe, then see, not first see and then believe."

Bhakta: (Returning to the point of bhajan being selfish, unlike preaching)

Advaitadas: "To think that doing bhajan is selfish is superimposing social morality and a material conception of what is the self on absolute surrender to the Objective Absolute. bhajataṁ prīti pūrvakam - "They do My bhajan with love" (Gītā 10.10)

Bhakta: "Earlier (May 12) you quoted Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī saying:

rādheti nāma nava sundara sīdhu mugdha

kṛṣṇeti nāma madhurādbhuta gāḍha dugdha

"Rādhā, that name is like fresh sweet nectar and Kṛṣṇa, that name is like sweet astonishing condensed milk." which seems to be about Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa nāma both and yet you say that the mahā mantra is all about Kṛṣṇa."

Advaitadas: "Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī is writing on different levels - bāhyāveśa and antarāveśa - internal and external level. The mahā-mantra vyākhyā, if indeed it is his, is on the internal level of mañjarī bhāva, and the rādheti verse is on external level. It is actually a verse of discipline, in the mood of Manaḥ Śikṣā, chastising his tongue, that it should taste the nectar of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's names instead of palatable dishes. It does not refer to the hare kṛṣṇa mahā mantra. Rādhā-nāma is also regularly chanted by Vaiṣṇavas as they customarily address each other with Rādhe Rādhe."

Bhakta: "You said the mañjarīs have no husbands in your lineage, but Narottama Dās Thākur sings yāvaṭe āmāra kobe, e pāṇi grahaṇa hobe, "When will I be married in Yāvat?" (Prarthana - 30)

Advaitadas: "This is optional. Most Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhakas get a husband in siddha praṇālī but we in the Advaita Parivāra don't. Check the daily life of a mañjarī - where on earth would she even have a split second time for a husband? This statement of Narottama also needs to be seen in the proper philosophical context - everything is eternal in the spiritual world - there is no birth, death, old age and disease and there is also no marriage. Even those Vaiṣṇavas who do have a husband don't have any mentioning of him in their līlā smaraṇa manuals."

Bhakta: "There is a commentary on Caitanya Caritāmṛta by Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī?"

Advaitadas: "No. That commentator's name is Rādhā-Govinda Nāth, a gṛhastha. Unfortunately his commentary is also less than perfect. He made some errors too, though I wouldn't dismiss it as useless. (See blogs of October 23 and 25, 2005 and November 1, 2005). Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī is another person - though in Advaita Prabhu's lineage, he was controversial because he took red cloth sannyāsa, perhaps thinking it was all right for him as he was a brahmin. Sādhu Bābā was also a brahmin however, and though he never officially took sannyāsa (as far as this is official in our sampradāya anyway) he wore white. In retrospect Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī made some controversial comments on Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta too, like saying that one can ascend to Vaikuṇṭha without a Guru (aguru, verse 4.36). I spontaneously translated his comments 20 years ago without any deep preparation, but in retrospect I am not happy with everything he wrote. There are not many authorities that I trust blindly, only the 6 Gosvāmīs really. Unfortunately I have learned to read the more recent ācāryas' works cautiously. I don't reject any of them out of hand either, all of them have taught brilliant things but they are also shrouded in controversy. Each of their teachings have to be tested according to śāstra and conscience."

Bhakta: "What about Prof. Dimock's commentary? He quotes Rādhā-govinda Nāth a lot in it."

Advaitadas: "It may be of high intellectual quality but a non-devotee, which he essentially is, can never understand the mystical intricacies of bhakti - bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvan yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (Gītā 18.55) "You can only know Me in truth by bhakti." bhajataṁ prīti pūrvakaṁ dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ (Gītā 10.10) "I give divine intelligence to those who worship Me with love." We are not scientists, but devotees. śāstra is not just read to gain knowledge but also to imbibe the bhakti of the authors and commentators. It's a type of sādhu saṅga."

Bhakta: "How do you judge if someone is not a devotee?"

Advaitadas: "Haribhakti Vilāsa (1.55) says:

gṛhīta-viṣṇu-dīkṣāko viṣṇu-pūjā-paro naraḥ

vaiṣṇavo’bhihito’bhijñair itaro’smād avaiṣṇavaḥ

"The wise call someone who has taken initiation in Viṣṇu mantra and is actively engaged in serving Viṣṇu a Vaiṣṇava. All others are non-Vaiṣṇavas."

Bhakta: "It is said in Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi Kiraṇa that the colour of the sweethearts dresses is fixed. If variety is the spice of life why they always dress the same?"

Advaitadas: "We're not talking of mundane textile here - these are transcendental items of the svarūpa śakti of sandhinī. In the Bhāgavata (12.11.10-23) the apparel of Kṛṣṇa is symbolically interpreted, which proves that they are not just external mundane coverings that are changed according to fashion-trends, like in this profane world. The dress Śrī Guru gives at siddha praṇālī too is also not just textile, since according to Jīva Gosvāmī (Prīti Sandarbha 10) the spiritual body is eternally resident in the spiritual sky. There is only ever-increasing ecstasy there, it is never boring, on the contrary."

Correction [Dāmodar's lips]

In my translation of Ananta Dās Bābājī's comments on Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī's 'Rādhikā's 108 names', verse nr.40, I translated this Bhāgavata-verse:

gopyaḥ kim ācarad ayaṁ kuśalaṁ sma veṇur

dāmodarādhara sudhām api gopikānām

bhuṅkte svayaṁ yad avaśiṣṭa rasaṁ hradinyo

hṛṣyat tvaco'śru mumucus taravo yathāryāḥ

"O gopīs! What virtuous acts has this flute performed, that it can always drink the nectar from Dāmodara's flute, that is coveted by the gopīs?"

The word "flute" is wrong of course, and should be 'lips'. Apologies for the mistake.

Death and the body

The fact that we are not these bodies does not mean one should treat life and the body casually. The Bhāgavata (10.1.48) says:

mṛtyur buddhimatāpohyo

yāvad buddhi-balodayam

yady asau na nivarteta

nāparādho 'sti dehinaḥ

"As long as he has intelligence and bodily strength, an intelligent person must try to avoid death. But if death cannot be avoided in spite of one's endeavors, the embodied soul facing death commits no offense."

In this regard Sādhu Bābā used to quote Kumāra Sambhava: śarīram ādyaṁ khalu dharma sādhanam - "The body is surely the primary cause of religious practise (sādhana)."

Gopal Chandra Ghosh (1939-2008)

Today the Sampradaya Sun reported the passing away of Sripad Gopal Chandra Ghosh, a disciple of Sri Advaita Das Babaji of Govardhan.

Gopal Ghoshji was in charge of the Vrindavan Research Institute, just next to Kṛṣṇa Balarām Mandir in Vrindāvan, for many years and tirelessly informed all Vaiṣṇavas about the pūrva puruṣas of their lineage, as he did with me too. In late February/early March 2004 he spoke for more than an hour in Bengali on Sādhu Bābā, Ānanda Gopāl Gosvāmī Dādu and Sādhu Bābā's brothers on a recorder I borrowed from my friend Acyutānanda, recordings I later transcribed and included in the hagiographies of Sādhu Bābā and Ānanda Gopāl Gosvāmī on www.madangopal.com. He was very sharp and immediately understood all the hints I gave him during the interview, in the bud. The picture here on this blog is how he looked and where he sat when he gave me the interview.

Gopal Ghosh lived near Brahma Kuṇḍa in northern Vṛndāvana, but unfortunately I never went to his house to enjoy his hospitality. We thus lost another member of a generation of Vaiṣṇavas that is heading more and more towards extinction. His contribution is fondly remembered.

Phone Sanga 18 - naimittika līlās

Bhakta : "In Prema Samput it is said that Kṛṣṇa came from heaven, dressed as a Devi, to see Rādhā. Are there heavenly planets in the spiritual sky?"

Advaitadas: "Yes, it is described in Padma Purāṇa (6th canto) quoted in Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī's Bhakti Sandarbha 285 and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta 295 -

nityāḥ sarve pare dhāmni ye cānye ca divaukasaḥ.

te vai prākṛta-loke’sminn anityās tridasheshvarāḥ

"All these demigods are eternally there in the supreme abode too. In the material world they are temporary rulers of the three worlds."

Also in Govinda Līlāmṛta (19: 38-44) the demigods come down to praise Kṛṣṇa as He returns home from cowherding, to the amusement of the cowherd boys."

Bhakta: "And they are in some kind of dāsya rasa?"

Advaitadas: "Obviously. na yatra māyā kim utāpare harer anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāḥ (SB 2.9.10) The Bhāgavat says that in Vaikuṇṭha, which is free from māyā, Lord Hari is worshipped by demigods and demons. The demons in the spiritual sky are described in Bhakti Sandarbha and Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta and the demigods in the above quotations."

This is a good opportunity to repost one of the blogs of my lost MSN-spaces site. This one is from May 7, 2005:

Demons in the spiritual sky
Continuing the discussion on demons in the spiritual sky, I found this text in Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī's Bhakti Sandarbha 28:

yatas tasya prākaṭya samaye līlās tat parikarāṣ ca ye prādurbhūvus tādṛṣāṣ cāprakaṭam api nityaṁ tadīye dhāmni sankhyātītā eva vartante. asurās tu na tatra cetanāḥ kintu yantramaya tat pratimā nibhā jneyāṁ (bhag. 10.14.61) "evaṁ vihāraiḥ" ityādau "nilāyanaiḥ setubandhair markaṭa plavanādibhiḥ" itivat tallīlānāṁ nānā prakāśaiḥ kautukenānukriyamāṇatvāt bhagavat sandarbhādau hi tathā sa nyāyaṁ darśitāsti.

"Just as Kṛṣṇa performs His lilas in the prakat līlā with His associates, so He performs innumerable pastimes in the aprakat līlā (in Goloka) with innumerable associates. The demons there have no consciousness though. They are like mechanical statues of demons. These demon statues are being imitated in various childlike pastimes as they are revealed in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.14.61: 'Balarām and Kṛṣṇa played hide and seek, made bridges, jumped around like monkeys and performed other child like plays in Vraja." Such has been rationally shown in Bhagavat Sandarbha and other scriptures."

Bhakta: "In Camatkāra Candrikā Kṛṣṇa plays Vidyāvalī, who comes from Benares, a māyāvādī city. Are there also  māyāvādīs in the spiritual world?"

Advaitadas: "Hahaha yes but they are pure devotees of  Kṛṣṇa still. Of course we must remember that Vidyāvalī was actually Kṛṣṇa and was just a big hoax, he/she of course never came from Kāśī, but if that would nourish Kṛṣṇa's pastimes there could be  māyāvādī sages there as well. prāyo batāmba vihaga munayo vane'smin (SB 10.21.14) "The birds in Vṛndāvana are like great munis." Viśvanātha comments on this verse that the muni-like birds of Vṛndāvana have given up all other talks (vigatānya vācaḥ) including that of brahmānanda. Actual  māyāvādīs of course merge with Brahman and have no access to eternal Vṛndāvan."

Bhakta: "Then later in Camatkāra Candrikā, Lalitā says: "Can a dead body ever engage in work?" They have dead bodies there?"

Advaitadas: "There is no birth death old age or disease there, no, but for the nourishment of nara-līlā, or Kṛṣṇa's human-like pastimes, conceptions of these things do exist. They are afraid of death like everybody else, but death never comes to them, and they are afraid of Kaṁsa too, but he will eternally be harmless and far away in Mathurā."

Bhakta: "Are there any more of such books with these naimittika (occasional) pastimes of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa?"

Advaitadas: "Yes, apart from the dramas of Rūpa Gosvāmī (Vidagdha Mādhava, Lalita Mādhava, Dānakeli Kaumudī) there is also a nice Bengali booklet called Saṅkalpa Kalpalatikā by Lakṣmī Nārāyan Bhaṭṭācārya. It is about the childhood experiences of the mañjarīs. Such naimittika līlā books can be seen as run-ups to the nitya līlā."

Bhakta: "Ananta Dās Bābājī has said that simply by seeing Smt.Rādhārāṇī one gets prema even without performing any sādhana. Is that depending on (being free from) offences? So upon seeing the deity....."

Advaitadas: "First of all, that statement does not come directly from Bābājī, but from Śrī Sanātan Gosvāmī (Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta 2.5.233, sā rādhikā bhagavatī kvacid īkṣyate cet premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ). It also does not speak of the deity, but of a direct darśan, premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ - Prema will be experienced in very own person. The idea is that, since prema is indescribable (śakyeta ced gaditum eṣa tayā tadaiva śrūyeta tattvam iha ced bhavati sva śaktiḥ), the only way to understand it is by directly seeing Bhagavati Rādhikā Herself. This is a highly mystical statement."

Nauka Vilāsa

I translated one more song about Nauka Vilāsa, Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's boating pastime:


মানস গঙ্গার জল, ঘন ঘন কলকল,
দু'কুল বহিয়া যায় ঢেউ
গগনে উঠিল মেঘ, পবনে বাঢিল বেগ,
তরণী রাখিতে নারে কেউ

MĀNASA GAṄGĀRA JALA,    GHANA GHANA KALAKALA,

DU'KULA BAHIYĀ YĀY ḌHEU

GAGANE UṬHILO MEGHA,   PABANE BĀḌHILA BEGA,

TARAṆĪ RĀKHITE NĀRE KEU

The water of Manasa Ganga is turbulent and wild, blasting against both its banks. Clouds have arisen in the sky and the wind blows fiercely – no one can save this boat!”


দেখ সখি নবীন কাণ্ডারী শ্যাম রায়
কখন না জানে কান, বাহিবার সন্ধান, জানিয়া চড়িলুং কেনে নায়

DEKHO SAKHI NABĪNA KĀṆḌĀRĪ ŚYĀMA RĀY

KOKHONO NĀ JĀNE KĀNA, BĀHIBĀRA SANDHĀNA, 

JĀNIYĀ CAḌILUṀ KENE NĀY

“Behold sakhi, this young boatman Syama! He never learned how to navigate a boat – why did I board this boat despite knowing this?


নাইয়ার নাহিক ভয়, হাসিয়া কথাটি কয়, কুটিল নয়ানে চাহে মোরে
ভয়েতে কাঁপিছে দে, এ জ্বালা সহিবে কে, কাণ্ডারী ধরিয়া করে কোরে

NĀIYĀRA NĀHIKA BHOY,   HĀSIYĀ KATHĀṬI KOY,

KUṬIL NAYĀNE CĀHE MORE

BHAYETE KĀṀPICHE DE, E JWĀLĀ SOHIBE KE, 

KĀṆḌĀRĪ DHORIYĀ KORE KORE

“Fearlessly this boatman is speaking and laughing and glancing at me wantonly. My body shakes with fear – who can tolerate such a scorching experience? This boatman keeps me in his embrace!


অকাজে দিবস গেল, নৌকা পার নাহি হইল, পরাণ হইল পরমাদ
জ্ঞানদাস কহে সখি, থির হইয়া থাক দেখি, এখন না ভাবিহ বিষাদ

AKĀJE DIBASA GELO,    NAUKĀ PĀRA NĀHI HOILO, 

PARĀṆA HOILO PARAMĀDA

JÑĀNADĀSA KOHE SAKHI,     THIRA HOIYĀ THĀKO DEKHI,

EKHONO NĀ BHĀBIHA BIṢĀDA

The day has passed fruitlessly, the boat did not cross the Mānasa Gaṅgā and my mind has become very upset and confused!” Jñāna Dās says “Sakhi, stay calm and look. Don’t be sad now.”


This, along with all my other work on nauka vilāsa, has been posted on my website too, go to linktab Literature, then to Devotional Song Translations, then to the last linktab 'Nauka Vilasa'.

Phone sanga (17)

Bhakta: "Returning to the Rādhe Rādhe greeting, when Mahāprabhu and His associates cleansed the Guṇḍicā Temple, they were saying "Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!" with everything they did."

Advaitadas: "Yes that is fine, there is nothing wrong with that. It is not written anywhere in the Gosvāmīs books that we must greet each other with Rādhe Rādhe or Hare Kṛṣṇa for that matter. Shaving the heads or growing long hair, this is not settled in śāstras, nor is the custom of Vaiṣṇavas to live in three holy places - Purī, Navadvīp and Braja. The Gosvāmīs simply say Braja, they never mention Purī or Navadvīp. Not that there is anything wrong in living in these places. śāstra is mute about a lot of issues."

Bhakta: "On the other hand sometimes you hear endless Rādhe Rādhe kīrtans."

Advaitadas: Śrīla Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī said:

rādheti nāma nava sundara sīdhu mugdha

kṛṣṇeti nāma madhurādbhuta gāḍha dugdha

"Rādhā, that name is like fresh sweet nectar and Kṛṣṇa, that name is like sweet astonishing condensed milk." Narottam Dās Ṭhākur sings:

jaya rādhe jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya jaya rādhe kṛṣṇa,

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa jaya jaya rādhe.

Both Rādha nāma and Kṛṣṇa nāma are there. There are many glorifications of Rādhā nāma kīrtan in Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi. Sādhu Bābā told me all the goodies from that book: One morning he came out of his kuṭir and told us: "Just clapping your hands and saying Rādhe Rādhe accomplishes your whole bhajan." I later found that in Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi (144) - rādhā nāmaiva kāryaṁ hyanudina militaṁ sādhanādhīśa koṭis tyajya. Anyway, that is one level. When you are preaching to people on the street and introduce them to harinām kīrtan it is better to wait with Rādhā nāma, lest outsiders misunderstand. Sanātan Gosvāmī says that harinām saṅkīrtan is for your own benefit and for that of others. You can think of that sublime explanation of Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī wherever you chant."

Bhakta: "Rādhā is called sakhī praṇayitā vaśā, She is controlled by the love of Her sakhīs. Can you give some example?"

Advaitadas: "After She has enjoyed with Kṛṣṇa at Rādhākuṇḍa She feels sorry that Her girlfriends are alone in their kuñjas so She urges Kṛṣṇa to go to them, and He expands Himself eight-fold to go to each of them."

Bhakta: "In the previous sanga you said that eating prasād is service - does that mean we should not relish the taste of the prasād?"

Advaitadas: "No. In Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Antya 16.106-149) it is elaborately described how Śrīman Mahāprabhu relished the taste of prasād. He said that although the ingredients were material, the taste and fragrance had become divine due to having been touched by Kṛṣṇa's lips. Much of it can be read in the purport of Vilāpa Kusumāñjali's verse 49, which deals with the same subject. All devotional service is relishable anyway. Dāruk cursed his ecstasy while he fanned Kṛṣṇa only because it obstructed his service, but relish of bhakti is not condemned at all - the very name of Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu says so - 'the ocean of nectar of the taste of devotion." Regarding food, please see my blog of June 6, 2006. Actually, it is even disrespectful not to relish prasād. It needs to be relished with devotional greed, however, not material greed."

Bhakta: "In aṣṭakāliya līlā it is described how Mother Yaśodā wishes Rādhikā to get married to Kṛṣṇa (and even sends presents along with Her to Jaṭilā for that purpose), but how is that possible since Rādhikā is already married to Abhimanyu?"

Advaitadas: "Love is blind. She knows that, but still she is hoping against hope. Wishful thinking. When your child is totally dumb out of love you hope he/she will go to college, though practically that is totally impossible."

Bhakta: "Kṛṣṇa initiates the gopīs into Kāma Gāyatrī. Did He actually become their Guru then?"

Advaitadas: "This is a poetic metaphor. Initiating in Kāma-gayatrī generally means that you are creating lusty desires in the opposite sex. Apart from that, since the spiritual sky is timeless, nobody has ever really taken dīkṣā from anybody."

Bhakta: "There are also accounts of either the sakhīs or the mañjarīs bathing Rādharāṇī. I thought the sakhīs were excluded from that?"

Advaitadas: "There are different angles. The aṣṭakāliya līlā which describes the sakhīs bathing Rādharāṇī,  is more generic and objective, while the typical mañjarī bhāva paddhatīs like Vilāpa Kusumāñjali, are really specialised and focused on mañjarī bhāva."

Dīkṣā

Bhakta:
"Well, I was just wondering about all this dīkṣā-issue... You see, there are many weird fellas with "real" initiation, and there are apparently many sincere devotees who do not have "real" initiation... Yes, I know that the śāstras say that one has to have dīkṣā, still, is that really what counts? Putting aside principles for a while, and looking at hard facts, one may get puzzled a bit. What is your opinion based on what you have experienced during your life in bhakti-yoga?"

(This question has become more significant now after some high profile defections)

Advaitadas:
"Dear Bhakta, it is the mentality that counts, not the ritual. dīkṣā is an act of self surrender – dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kore ātma-samarpana. [C.C. Antya 4] “At the time of initiation the devotee surrenders him/herself.” No ritual will purify the heart, only bhakti does. However, let us keep it on the safe side and both take dīkṣā [in the proper line] AND surrender. Consider the verdict of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī (Upadeśāmṛta) - kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta - 'Mentally honour those who just say ‘Kṛṣṇa [without dīkṣā]', then after that: dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiḥ - 'Bow down to those who do have dīkṣā.' So you see that Rūpa Gosvāmī does distinguish between the non-initiated and the initiated, considering the latter to be more worthy of worship. However, finally he says; suśrūṣubhi bhajana vijñam ananyam anya nindādi śūnya - 'Real service, though, must be rendered to those who are expert in bhajan and do not criticise others.' dīkṣā alone does not make the saint, but it is imperative still…."

This is what Tapan Dā, my Guru brother, told me by phone in Vṛndāvana, on dīkṣā, on October 19, 2007:

"(For us) There is no need for prāṇa pratiṣṭhā (ritual installation) of deities – dīkṣā automatically grants adhikāra (qualification) for deity worship."
Haribhakti Vilāsa (2.3-4) says:

dvijānām anupetānāṁ sva-karmādhyayanādiṣu
yathādhikāro nāstīha syāc copanayanād anu
tathātrādīkṣitānāṁ tu mantra devārcanādiṣu
nādhikāro 'sty ataḥ kuryād ātmānaṁ ṣiva saṁstutam

“Just as brāhmaṇas have no right to study the Vedas or perform their rites without having undergone the sacred thread ceremony, similarly those who are not initiated into the mantra of their devatā have no right to engage in their arcanā.”
(Verse added by the editor)

Phone sanga (16)

Advaitadas: "Rādhe Rādhe!"

Bhakta: "Someone said that this is not a correct way of greeting. If Rādhā is in separation from Kṛṣṇa you should say Hare Kṛṣṇa, because that address contains both Rādhā (Hare) and Kṛṣṇa."

Advaitadas: "That "Hare" refers to Rādhā is a minority view. The majority of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas identify themselves as Rādhā's maidservants and will see the whole Hare Kṛṣṇa Mantra as referring to Kṛṣṇa. Hare is vocative for both Hari and Harā. That hare stands for hari is the highest view of the mahā mantra, given by Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī. The mahā mantra is only meant to please Rādhā, not Kṛṣṇa.  This would actually confirm what that devotee claimed, but 'Rādhe Rādhe' is said to the fellow-devotee, not to Smt. Rādhārāṇī Herself. One also often says 'Jay Rādhe!' which is the same. Victory to Rādhā, our mistress! It is confirming we are devotees of Rādhārāṇī, though in some cases it is an effort to get Kṛṣṇa's mercy through Rādhā."

Bhakta: "To glorify a devotee before the deities can be both an offense or just an activity to please Kṛṣṇa, it depends on the intention of the speaker. So I thought to say Kṛṣṇa's name as a greeting with intention to please Rādhā can be also good, and maybe that is more pleasing to her, to hear the name of her beloved than to hear her own name."

Advaitadas: "haha yes so we can continue vice-versa-ing ad infinitum! There is nothing wrong with hare Kṛṣṇa or haribol, it is not forbidden or apasiddhānta, but

1. My Guru always said rādhe rādhe! or jay rādhe, and
2. Whoever I have associated with in my 12 years in Vraja - shopkeepers, dry scholars, jñānīs, yogis and karmīs, South Indians, Bengalis and Vrajavasis - there is a consensus about the use of Rādhe Rādhe. Nobody but Iskcon or perhaps Gauḍīya Math says haribol or hare Kṛṣṇa."

Bhakta: "There is also another mantra -

rādhe kṛṣṇa rādhe kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa rādhe rādhe
rādhe śyām rādhe śyām śyām śyām rādhe rādhe

- it is said that this is higher than Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra."

Advaitadas:
"1. This mantra was never given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He gave us -

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare.

It is there in Caitanya Bhāgavata and in the Haribhakti Vilāsa.

2. Just because the names rādhe kṛṣṇa and rādhe śyām are in that mantra does not make it higher at all. The mañjarī bhāva conception of Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī, wherein the whole mantra is chanted for Rādhā and every word means Kṛṣṇa, is the highest.

3. rādhe kṛṣṇa rādhe kṛṣṇa or a rādhe kṛṣṇa interpretation of the mahā mantra, in which hare means Harā or Rādhā, indicates sama sneha, equal love for Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, which is inferior to rādhā snehādhikā, preference for Rādhā. Narottama Dās Thākur says in Prema Bhakti Candrikā (51): sama snehā, visama snehā, nā koriho dui lehā - kohi mātra adhika snehā-gaṇa "Equal affection for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa or more affection for Kṛṣṇa than for Śrī Rādhā - do not become attached to that. I will just speak about preference for Śrī Rādhā!" It is not that we reject Kṛṣṇa, though. rādhā snehādhikā of course ultimately returns to Kṛṣṇa because to please Śrī Rādhā automatically pleases Kṛṣṇa. mañjarī bhāva-worshippers are ultimately also yugalopāsakas - worshippers of the complete Divine Couple."

Bhakta: "Returning to our discussion last time about eating and digesting food in the spiritual world, in his commentary on Brahma Saṁhitā 5.29 (cintāmaṇi prakara sadmasu kalpavṛksa....) Bhaktivinode says that the whole spiritual world is fashioned of Cintamaṇi gems. It serves as the structural material of the residence of the Supreme Lord." That is not like the atoms that make up this world, that can be transformed into food and that again into stool."

Advaitadas: "Non-moving entities in the spiritual world are said to be eternal associates of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta (2.4.139-140) - it includes trees, shoots and insects, I am not sure about edibles like fruits, but it would be mind-boggling to me that we would actually be eating pure devotees and passing them out like stool. The text of Brahma Samhitā's Cintāmaṇi-verse clearly says sadmasu, the buildings are made of Cintāmaṇi, not that every atom is made of it. The purport of Bhaktivinode is open to interpretation. He writes: tan madhye sādhāraṇa cintāmaṇi apekṣā golokera bhagavad āvāsa gaṭhana sāmagrī rūpa cintāmaṇi adhikatara durllabha o upādeya "The abode(s) of the Lord in Goloka are made of ingredients more rare than the ordinary Cintāmaṇi-gems." The word āvāsa or abode in this Bengali sentence can be either plural or singular, but the plural is already used in the original text, so it is clear that only the buildings and not the whole (Goloka-) abode are made of Cintāmaṇi gems." The translator of the Bhaktivinoda purports writes: "The divine potency has fashioned the transcendental world from the transcendental element of Cintāmaṇi." This is not the correct translation."

Bhakta: "In Kuśakratha's translation of Jīva Gosvāmī's commentary on Brahma Saṁhitā 5.30 it speaks about the abode of Cintāmaṇi."

Advaitadas: "That is also not correct. Jīva Gosvāmī writes: tad evaṁ cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadma-mayīṁ..... golokhākhya-vilakṣaṇa-pīṭha-gatāṁ līlām uktvā  "Brahmā speaks of the pastimes in the extraordinary seat called Goloka, which is filled with Cintāmaṇi-buildings." If there is an invasion of monkeys in Rādhākuṇḍa, the Bengalis cry out (the place is) 'bānar-moy', filled with monkeys (moy) not that Radhakund has become a monkey, it just has become filled with monkeys. Generally it is better to wait till the right translation comes out than to jump into errant translations."

Bhakta: "Why would it please Kṛṣṇa if a gopī rejects Him?"

Advaitadas: "There is a greater joy of conquest and of accomplishment for a male lover if a woman resists, rather than if she gives in at once. So the gopīs serve Kṛṣṇa by resisting Him. There are limits, however. If a woman is too hard to get it is also not pleasing Kṛṣṇa. Smt. Rādhārāṇī sings:

kāntā kṛṣṇe kore roṣa, kṛṣṇa pāy santoṣa,

sukha pāy tāḍana bhartsane,

yathā-yogya kore mān, kṛṣṇa tāte sukh pān,

chāḍe mān alpa sādhane

(CC Antya 20.54)

 "If a gopi is angry with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is pleased with Her chastisement. Her anger has the right proportions, so that it pleases Kṛṣṇa and Her anger is won over with little endeavour."

sei nārī jīye kene, kṛṣṇa marma nāhi jāne,

tabu kṛṣṇe kore gārha roṣa.

nija sukhe māne lābha, poruk tār śire bāj,

kṛṣṇera mātra cāhiye santosh (55)

"Why would that woman, who does not know Kṛṣṇa's heart, survive, if she remains angry with Him just for her own sake? She only thinks of her own pleasure! Let a thunderbolt fall on her head! We just want Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction!"

The demons are there for Kṛṣṇa to fight, to give Him the pleasure of challenge. He doesn't know for sure if He will win, otherwise there is no joy of conquest. So it is also with His conquest of the gopīs. If a mañjarī kicks Him out of the kuñja He is back at square one. He has to start all over again trying to win over Rādhārāṇī. She is vāma madhyā, or moderately left-wing, which means just that - not easy to win over, but not impossible to win over either. That is most pleasing to Kṛṣṇa."

Bhakta: "So that increases the mood of separation too then."

Advaitadas: "Yes yes. There are four types of separation - māna, pūrva rāga, pravāsa and prema-vaicittya. So māna (anger, conflict, breakup, refusal) is one of them."

Bhakta: "In aṣṭakāliya līlā it is described how the mañjarīs laugh and joke about the signs of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's love-making, yet it is also said that they are humble servants. That is not so humble."

Advaitadas: "No, no - humble servant means in maryādā (social status) they are inferior to the sakhīs. Yet they are able to kick Kṛṣṇa out of the kuñja. The sakhīs are older and are able to have an intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, for this reason their external status is superior. But for us, as devotees, the relish is greater as a mañjarī. Humble position does not mean humble attitude. They have a very big mouth to Kṛṣṇa and He relishes that."

Veṇu Gīta

Book review
Venu Gita by Shivaram Swami.

It seems to me this book serves as many political purposes as it does devotional purposes. I suspect this to be an attempt by the author to compose a 'bonafide' rasik book, with the stamp of GBC approval on it, to prevent devotees from leaving Iskcon to search for a rasika guru or go and read rasika books elsewhere. The author's own, admittedly tasty, writing, is interspersed with quotations from my translations, often verbatim copy-paste, though I am probably not considered 'bonafide' by the author and his associates. This type of practise has already occurred before with some of my work being 'borrowed' by persons who openly profess that anyone who is not a member of their organization is 'bogus'. It is very much to be seen whether this type of subtstitutes are going to keep people from buying 'outside translations', since only fragments of the Gosvāmīs' līlā-granthas are being quoted here. Indeed, it may even increase curiosity after the full picture, though I suppose the author's faithful followers will be satisfied with his presentation. Whether such satisfaction is lobha or not is to be questioned.

My translations of Govinda Līlāmṛta (ch.5) and Utkalikā Vallari (2 and 4) are copied and pasted into chapter 1, which is ended by the author claiming that "It is simply a matter of reviving one's lost constitutional relationship." though there is no scriptural evidence of us having a lost constitutional relationship. The author is regularly quoting his Guru inside the text to assure his readers that it is really not 'sahajīya' of him to speak about Kṛṣṇa's flute playing and the gopīs' reactions to it.

Chapter one includes the claim "By offering a ghee lamp to Rādhā-kuṇḍa, the performer will see the universe during his bath.." which, even if it is anywhere in śāstra, is really not the boon which is to be coveted by worshipers of the Kuṇḍa. The prahelī (verbatim) and Prema Vaicittya līlās (in his own words) are being quoted without bothering about any sequence of time or season. Most of the text, perhaps 85%, is a patchwork of all kinds of things the author has picked up here and there, very little is his own writing.

In chapter 2 the author starts a narration of some fictitious satsaṅga in Māyāpur between some devotees, alledgedly disciples of Bhaktivinode, very much in the style of Bhaktivinode's Jaiva Dharma. There seems to be absolutely no line or sequence in the book, everything passes the review, of which I wonder if that is bonafide for a prose text. I could find no serious cases of rasābhāsa or viruddha siddhānta.

The author's quotation of the reversed Rāsa līlā from Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta in chapter 4 is in his own words, not copy/pasted from yours truly.

In chapter 5 he takes over Ānanda Gopāl Gosvāmī's narration (in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali 80) of how the mañjarīs call Kṛṣṇa a fool because of associating with cows and cowherds. Later that same chapter Swāmījī, once, adopts Kṛṣṇadās Bābājī's format of describing how Mahāprabhu relishes the līlā with his associates, in this case how He snaps out of the madhyāhna līlā. In what seems to be his personal write-up the author places Rādhikā in Barsānā, perhaps not realizing that Barsānā is the abode of Her parents, where She grew up, not the place (Yāvat) where She resides when She has pastimes with Kṛṣṇa.

In chapter 7 the author summarizes Mādhava Mahotsava - it is as if he wants to cram all the Gosvāmīs' books into one 'bona fide' book, making all other books superfluous.

Later he quotes my translation of the prayers of the devas in Govinda Līlāmṛta 19.38-45 almost verbatim, just changing a few syllables here and there.

Chapter Eight contains, predictably, a summary of the Pearl Story of Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī.
It also contains a story I did not hear before, of Kṛṣṇa squirting milk into the gopīs' faces while milking the cows at Ter Kadamb and sending a cow gallopping unto them. Perhaps I missed something or this is the author's own composition.

Chapter Nine contains the śuka-śāri pralāpa from Govinda Līlāmṛta and a hitherto not narrated odd pow-wow held by Mukharā, Paurṇamāsī and the gopīs about the wicked Jaṭilā. Then follows a quick succession of Dāna Līlā, Niśānta Līlā and Gaura līlā, finally culminating in Svapna Vilāsa - it is almost dazzling.

The author seems to be attracted to Rāma-līlā too, because almost each chapter carries some narration about Sītā-Rām in it.

Chapter Ten includes the story from Gopāl Tāpanī Upaniṣad, how the gopīs approached Durvāsā Muni, and flows seamlessly into the boating līlā (in context of crossing the Yamunā), which again even includes the gopīs stealing Kṛṣṇa's flute.

Chapter Eleven starts with a fictituous story of one Raghunāth Dās brahmacārī approaching his Guru Govinda Vidyāratna and interviewing him about Kṛṣṇa's maugdhya in Viśvanāth Cakravartī's Rāga vartma Candrikā. The author quotes some nice ṭīkās here of Jīva Gosvāmī to the Veṇu-Gīta. On Raghunāth's request Vidyāratna, who turns out to be different from Vidyābhūṣaṇa, then predicts the appearance of the author's Guru, who will open 108 temples travelling in metal vimānas (airplanes) and write a new commentary on the śāstras.

The author shows great love for Girirāja, as he writes a lot about him. In chapter 14 he narrates the Dāna Keli Cintāmaṇi story in brief.

Towards the end he comes with the morning recollection of Śyāmalā and Rādhikā and in chapter 15 he quotes Ānanda Gopāl Gosvāmī and Ananta Dās Bābājī verbatim ("Everybody says 'Give, give!' only Rādhikā says 'Take take!' etc).

The book was completed in July 1998, when my books were not yet published but were available in xerox format, and obviously had floated into the author's office somehow.

I suppose the ultimate verdict on this book should be made by a real sāhitya nipuṇa, someone expert in Vedic literature. Perhaps it is all according to the rules, perhaps the rules simply don't count for English 'sāhitya'.

Phone Sanga (15)

Bhakta: "In Brahma Saṁhitā (5.35) it is said that all the universes are situated in Kṛṣṇa's body. I didn't realize that was in His personal form."

Advaitadas: "Yes that is correct. He has a limited form of a 16-year old cowherd boy and yet that form contains all there is. Mother Yaśodā saw the whole universe in Kṛṣṇa's mouth, what to speak of His body?"

Bhakta: "Did she also see the spiritual world in there?"

Advaitadas: "No that is not mentioned either in the Bhāgavat (10.8.37-39) or in the ṭīkās, but in his ṭīkā of Bhagavad Gītā 10.8, where Kṛṣṇa says 'I am the source of everything', Viśvanātha comments: ahaṁ sarvasya prākṛtāprākṛta-vastu-mātrasya prabhavaḥ utpatti-prādurbhāvayor hetuḥ "I am the source of all things, whether they be material or spiritual." He showed Golok, paravyoma, to the Vrajabāsīs in chapter 28 of the 10th Canto. I think it is also significant that Kṛṣṇa showed the universe in His child-body, too, just to demonstrate that size does not matter. Like He deliberately did it when He displayed a toddler's form. Śukadeva described how mother Yaśodā vainly tried to tie up toddler Kṛṣṇa:

na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam

pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo'jagacca yah

"In Kṛṣṇa there is no outside, no inside, no front and no rear. He exists before and after, inside and outside the universe. Indeed, He IS the universe." (SB 10.9.13)

Why was mother Yaśodā's rope always too short, while Kṛṣṇa was so 'small'? Verse 14 (dāmnā babandha prākṛtaṁ yathā) makes clear verse 13 is not about Kṛṣṇa's energies but about His personal form. paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi puruṣam (Brahma Saṁhitā 5.35) - 'Govinda is present in every atom." That means in His personal form. This verdict of śāstra must be accepted, the only other recourse is anumāna, mentally trying to conceive of it, or pratyakṣa, just staring with your eyes at Kṛṣṇa's child-form and wondering how it will fit in. It won't work."

Bhakta: "Some say that Brahma Saṁhitā was written by Mahāprabhu Himself."

Advaitadas: "Hahaha, in the end it would not matter at all. Mahāprabhu is Bhagavān Himself and therefore the book would become only more prāmāṇika (authoritative) - who is a bigger authority - Brahmā or his chief Nārāyan (Mahāprabhu)?"

Bhakta: "Why, after all the līlā of the 10th canto, there is again more philosophy in the 11th and 12th cantos? Why not just end the book at the 10th canto?"

Advaitadas: "Though the 10th canto is said to be the smiling face of Kṛṣṇa, above the face there is also the hair and the crown/hat/cap. The face is the most attractive part of the body (uttamāṅga). Men and women fall in love because of the woman/man's face, the rest is secondary. So also with Kṛṣṇa. But more importantly, there is a certain historical sequence as well. The 9th canto, introducing the solar and lunar dynasties, is clearly an historical introduction to the 10th canto and at the end of the 10th canto everyone was still around. Kṛṣṇa and the Yadu dynasty only disappear in the 11th canto. Perhaps the authors considered 90 chapters enough for the 10th canto and they completed the story of Kṛṣṇa at the end of the 11th canto (31 chapters). Otherwise the story would have lasted for 121 chapters. But it is never clear to me why books are divided into Cantos or chapters the way they are.....Speaking of philosophy, the 10th canto also contributes the lion's share of the Bhāgavata's main philosophical statements."

Bhakta: "How the temporary energy of Kṛṣṇa can be Kṛṣṇa?"

Advaitadas: "Satya-nārāyan Prabhu compared the material energy with hair and nails - as long as they are connected to the body (and the soul), they live and grow, as soon as they are cut off they die. Similarly the material energy originates from Kṛṣṇa but is dead due to being separated from Him (bhinna prakṛtiḥ, Bhagavad Gītā 7.4)."

Bhakta: "After Arjuna saw the universal form (Bhagavad Gītā, ch.11) he prayed to Kṛṣṇa to show His human form again, so He showed him first His 4-armed and then His 2-armed form (Bhagavad Gītā 11.50, Viśvanātha ṭīkā)"

Advaitadas: divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogam aiśvaram (B.Gītā 11.8): Kṛṣṇa said 'I will give you divine eyes, so behold My spiritual majesty." For the rasikas this is actually a step back, though at first sight it looks like Kṛṣṇa gave Arjuna specs to have a closer look at Him. Actually, Arjuna's initial vision of Kṛṣṇa with 2 arms was already the highest. divya here means aiśvarya, not mādhurya."

Bhakta: "Is it distasteful to compare the mañjarīs' celibacy with the celibacy of a brahmacārī in this world?"

Advaitadas: "No it is not distasteful, but it is off the point still, because our celibacy here is a sādhana while the mañjarīs' celibacy is a part of their sthāyi bhāva. They don't struggle in any way. Just as Kṛṣṇa's spiritual sex can never be compared to material sex (as the sahajīyas do), the mañjarīs' spiritual celibacy can not be compared to our brahmacārīs' struggle on this plane. Reversely, there are a number of people who project their own lusty desires upon Kṛṣṇa and His līlā and get into this type of mundane lusty sahajīya- or Gaura-nagari Bhava. That is not real gopī bhāva. They may know so much śāstra and meditate so deeply but it is misdirected and perverted."

Bhakta: "The Śāstra says pañcaśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet ("A person over 50 years of age should go to the forest")"

Advaitadas: "That text is not mentioned in the Gosvāmīs' books, as far as I know. Advaita Ācārya married at 50 and his biographer Īśān Nāgar married at 70 even. Varṇāśram dharma is not only not an essential Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhana, it is also relative, depending on the individual adhikāra. In his comment on the Bhāgavata 1.9.26, Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes that a naturally attached person should never renounce (because he will make the whole monk-community suffer with his attachments) and a naturally renounced person should never marry (because his wife and children will be unhappy since he doesn't care about them). Both verse 1.9.26 itself (yathāśramaṁ vairāgya rāgopādhibhyām) and that comment make a clear subdivision of āśram dharma according to rāga (attachment) and vairāgya (detachment). We are not machines that can be switched on or off on one's 50th birthday. You can see in each devotee community there are weak and strong devotees - some always come for mangal ārati some never come, some come sometimes. It is always like that. See also my blog of February 22, 2006."

Bhakta: "SB 10.1.30 calls Devakī the svasu, or sister, of Kaṁsa, whereas actually she was his niece. Kaṁsa was the son of Ugrasena and Devakī the daughter of Devaka."

Advaitadas: "Yes Devaka was the younger brother of Ugrasena, and thus Devakī is Kaṁsa's niece. Somehow that was seen as 'sister' by Vyāsa."

Bhakta: "You eat a mango in the spiritual world, so then the ingredients become spiritual blood etc. (during the digestive process). The mango was composed of different souls."

Advaitadas: "I don't believe we will be eating nitya siddha souls there and passing them out as stool again. To my understanding eating a mango and passing it out again up there is a transformation of the sandhinī śakti (Kṛṣṇa's spiritual environmental potency)."

Phone sanga - 14

Advaitadas: "Śaṅkarācārya is accepted by many as a closet Vaiṣṇava, though he was publicly the topmost jñānī. He ended his famous sermon 'Moha Mudgar' with the verse 'bhaja govindam bhaja govindam bhaja govindam nanu mūḍha mate."

Bhakta: "Some devotees say that that Govinda refers to his Guru, not to Kṛṣṇa."

Advaitadas: "No that cannot be. Just three verses earlier he prayed 'pāhi murāre', "Oh Murāri, save me!" - is his Guru then also named Murāri? This is from Sādhu Bābā's publication of Moha Mudgar. In another version there is even more bhakti: sakṛd api murāri samarcā "Worship Murāri at least once!" and dhyeyaṁ śrī-pati rūpam ajasram "Meditate on the abundant form of Viṣṇu" - Śaṅkarācārya was a closet Vaiṣṇava."

Bhakta: "Jaiva Dharma is interpreted sometimes to support and sometimes to reject fall-vāda."

Advaitadas: "I suppose it would depend on the translator. Speaking of translations, returning to the translation of Uddhava Gīta we discussed last time, slogans like "reviving your dormant love" are just added by the translators as an automatism, as a result of many years of being taught like that. Actually these ideas are not there at all in śāstra. 'Dormant love' in Sanskrit would be 'supta prema' - in 30 years of deep study I have never seen that anywhere in śāstra or in the ācāryas' writings, and 'back to godhead' would be 'bhagavataṁ pratyāgamana' which is also nowhere in śāstra. Similarly, the word udoy in the verse nitya siddha kṛṣṇa prem does not mean 'awakening' - it means 'arising'. Just like Māyāpur Candrodoy Mandir - the rising moon of Māyāpur. That is different from awakening, much less re-awakening. re means punaḥ in Sanskrit/Bengali, which is also nowhere in the verses which are supposed to indicate fall-vāda/dormant-vāda. Like the domino effect, dormant-vāda falls along like a domino with fall-vāda. Dormant-vāda and fall-vāda are twin brothers."

Bhakta: "Bhaktisiddhānta says Jesus and Muhammad are śakty āveśa avatāras."

Advaitadas: "With due respect, the śakty āveśa avatāras are mentioned in the first canto of the Bhāgavat and the Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta and Jesus and Muhammad are not mentioned there."

Bhakta: "They could have been closet-Vaiṣṇavas?"

Advaitadas: "Personally I do not believe that preachers keep a substantial amount of knowledge hidden from their audience, and I absolutely disbelieve that they had any knowledge of Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa."

Bhakta: "Yes, but avatāras are described to be like waves in the ocean in the first canto. Only the most prominent ones are described."

Advaitadas: "There are 2 billion Christians and 1 billion Muslims. I dont think that is small-time."

Bhakta: "kṛṣṇa śakti vinā ihār nahe pravartana" - Without Kṛṣṇa's power you can not promulgate this."

Advaitadas: "That is certainly true. But that often applies to quantity, not to contents."

Bhakta: "During japa one needs to keep the back straight. In the long term that will be uncomfortable."

Advaitadas: "Comfort during meditation is imperative. If you feel uncomfortable you will fix your mind on your suffering and not on Kṛṣṇa. One can keep the back straight while leaning against the wall, too. The knees need to be folded in padmāsana, unless one has a handicap. The heels can dig into a soft mattress or pillow, that is all right. One should also have slept enough, otherwise one will struggle for hours against sleep, as in organizations that force their members to rise before they have had enough sleep. It is a long struggle that destroys the meditation. na cāti svapna-śilasya jāgrato naiva ca "You can not practise yoga if you sleep too much or too little" (Gita - 6.16) Indians are used to sit on the floor, they have a certain callosity on the ankles that we don't have, so for westerners it is better to sit on a soft thick cushion. Japa takes time to master - abhyāsena ca kaunteya vairāgyena ca gṛhyate (Gītā 6.35) "

Bhakta: (Returning to the question whether the body attained in the prakat līlā after attaining prem is material or spiritual).

Advaitadas: "You see, this is a bhāva deha, a body made of spiritual emotions. This is when you have become your body, not like now when you are not this body. These feelings from prema to mahā-bhāva cannot be housed by a material body. We discussed that in the previous phone saṅga. To my knowledge this is a medium stage bhāva deha and when you finally arrive in Goloka you have a mahā-bhāva deha. At least that is what makes sense to me."

Bhakta: "When you die you become a ghost, but others say you first go to Yamarāja for trial."

Advaitadas: "There is no contradiction. Chota Haridās was presumed to have become a ghost too, so that is general knowledge. The trial by Yamarāja may take just a flash-moment, especially since time in hell goes much slower than on earth. When you open an e-mail attachment it is being scanned for viruses in a fraction of a second, so the trial by Yamarāja may quickly precede the ghost 'incarnation'. It is said that punishment in hell is suffered in a subtle body (yātanā śarīra), that may be similar to a ghost body, so the shift from hell to a ghost body should be easy enough. In general I want to say that I believe hell-threats in śāstra are greatly exaggerated. There are also threats of eternal damnation there, though that is contrary to justice, common sense and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava siddhānta, because there is eventually an end to bad karma. Hyperboles are being used to scare the general public into submission. Many threats are there of going to hell as long as the sun and moon are in the sky, often for minor offences, and then reckoning the fact that time goes much slower in hell than on earth - go figure. They have to be taken with a pinch - er, a spoon of salt."

Bhakta: "It could be literal, but the punishment would be neutralized by the reactions to good activities performed by the same person."

Advaitadas: "I don't think so. There are many people who are really very very bad, with little to make up for their punishment. Besides, there is no evidence for this idea in śāstra."

Bhakta: "In Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta (17.14) Yaśodā is called a bluish doll."

Advaitadas: "The pictures of mother Yaśodā are wrong. In Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Gaṇoddeśa Dīpikā (1.28) Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes her as śyāmala-dyuti, having Kṛṣṇa's Śyāma-complexion. Most, if not all pictures show her with a golden complexion. That is wrong."

Bhakta: In Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta 17.24 the word ākhyāna (name) should be added to the five sense objects related to the cakes."

Advaitadas: "Indeed. the correct translation should be: “Their five senses (noses, tongues, skins, ears and eyes) merged into the ocean of the nectarean fragrance, softness, taste, names and forms of these cakes.” ākhyānaḥ sīdhukeli prabhṛti saṁjña “(The joy of) hearing the word ‘sīdhu-keli’. (Added to the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta correction sheet on http://www.madangopal.com/ - "Literature")

Bhakta: "How is Kṛṣṇa's hair bound to the sides of His head in Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta 17.22?"

Advaitadas: "The Bengali translation says in jaṭās, matted locks. That is a bit strange, especially for a temporary arrangement."

Bhakta: In Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta 16.24 it says "Kṛṣṇa passes through Barsānā or Yāvat, according to the season..."

Advaitadas: "Married girls in India spend a lot of time with their parents too, they can stay there for weeks on end, in certain times of the year. So Rādhikā sometimes lives in Barsānā and Kṛṣṇa adjusts His route back to Nandagrām accordingly. See also Vilāpa Kusumāñjali 88."

Spiritual evolution theory

Today I exchanged e-mails with my friend Kṛṣṇadas about the spiritual evolution theory -

Dear Kṛṣṇadās, Rādhe Rādhe
"This whole story that Buddha rejected Hinduism to put an end to animal sacrifices, Shankar established māyāvāda to substitute Buddha's voidism and pave the way for Caitanya's bhakti movement, where does this originate? Does it come from Bhaktivinoda or is it also somewhere in Jīva or Baladeva's writings? And what do you think of the whole idea? Jay Rādhe! Advaitadas

*

Dear Advaita, the theory that Buddha rejected Hinduism to put an end to animal sacrifices and that Shankar established māyāvāda to substitute Buddha's voidism is there in the Purāṇas, though not exactly spelled in this way. There is something in Agni Purāṇa and Skandha Purana. Jīva Goswāmī quotes some verses in the Sandarbhas that Shankara is Shiva himself who descended on Viṣṇu's order to mislead wicked people. Sankara is called pracchanna-bauddha in those verses. I am sure you know all this. I have never seen any statement in Purāṇas or anywhere else that Śankara would pave the way for Caitanya's bhakti-movement. There is a direct mention of Caitanya Mahāprabhu in a version of Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, but that is definitely a post-Caitanya text written probably in the 18th century. I personally doubt that Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa would be the father of the theory. Maybe it was Bhaktivinode, I don't have a clue. I personally am not very much in favor of such theories, though admittedly one can observe a certain development. Caitanya could not have appeared at the time when the anti-Vedic Buddhism was on its peak, His message would be hardly accepted. Only when people accepted the Vedic authority and Rāmānuja and Madhva, and in a way even Sankara, paved the way, Caitanya could start preaching His own philosophy.
Radhe, Radhe,kd

Question on smaranam

On Vilasakunja a devotee asked how Kṛṣṇa, who is transcendental, can enter into the mind, which is one of the 3 subtle material elements. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in his Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu: ataḥ śrī kṛṣṇa nāmādi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ : “The name etc. (this includes the form) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa cannot be grasped by the senses.” sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuratyadaḥ  “But it is automatically revealed on the tongue etc. (the other senses) of those who are inclined towards (His) service.”

In his ṭīkā Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī mentions Bharat, the deer, and Gajendra, the elephant, who were not impeded by their animal bodies to utter the name of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa, though transcendental, descends into the mind through mantra and nāma-practise. Perhaps meditating on a really beautiful deity or picture could help, but ultimately Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you what He really looks like in sphurti, or transcendental visions.

In Bhakti Sandarbha 275 Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says ‘nāma-kīrtanāparityāgena smaraṇaṁ kuryāt – “Smaranam should be done without giving up nāma kīrtana” and in the next paragraph (276): nāma smaraṇaṁ tu śuddhāntaḥkaraṇatām apekṣate “But nāma smaraṇam (let alone rūpa- or līla-smarana) is dependent on a pure heart”. Hence the link Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī makes here between smaraṇam and kīrtanam - kīrtanam means instant purification, which creates qualification for smaraṇam.

In his Sāraṅga Raṅgadā-ṭīkā to Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta (3), Śrīla Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāja Gosvāmī says, rāgānugā mārge anutpanna rati sādhaka bhaktair api svepsita siddha dehaṁ manasi parikalpya - 'On the rāgānugā-path even a sādhaka bhakta who has no rati yet can think of his own desired siddha deha." This is clearly non-revealed vision. Then he continues: jāta ratīnāṁ tu svayam eva tad deha sphūrteḥ. “When rati arises, then that body will be automatically revealed."

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has proven from the Padma Purāṇa that one who always serves Lord Hari mentally has direct association with He who is otherwise not perceived with (material) words and mind:

mānasenopacāreṇa paricarya hariṁ sadā

pare vāṅ manasāgamyam taṁ sākṣāt pratipedire

Meditating on tangible godheads, like Gurudeva, Rādhākund, Girirāja and Vṛndāvan also serves as a gateway to seeing Kṛṣṇa face to face. At any rate, smaranam is not a cheap thing. It takes a bit of a 'miracle of revelation'...

More on Advaita Prakāśa

This is part of an e-mail discussion with a submissive inquirer on the Advaita Prakāśa and the Advaita Vaṁśa.

Bhakta: "In Caitanya Bhāgavata and Caitanya Caritāmṛta if it is stated that Acyutānanda was just 5 years old when Mahāprabhu took sannyasa then how is it possible to question its authority? For this in refutation you have said...........”Therefore Caitanya Bhāgavata's statement that Acyutānanda was a 5-year old boy, dusty and naked, after Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa, must be a mere sign of love, as a loving parent treats even his grown up children as if they were still breast-milk-drinking toddlers. This is told by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī is it not, then why Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī  or Vṛndāvan Dāsa Thākur have used "five years old" instead of that they might have used some other numbers, how they can say so precisely?

Advaitadas: "Bengali poetry and vernacular has its style, just as Sanskrit, German etc. have. So 5-years old is a standard simile for someone really cute. I was working in Iskcon Gurukula in Nepal in 1980 and the Bengali teacher called the boys 5 years old, though they were 11-12 actually. So that is called śailī, or linguistic style. It is also important to keep in mind that there are many poetic hyperboles of glorification used in śāstra. They are not all literal truths. "

Bhakta: "Advaita Prakāśa has been mentioned in one breath with booklets on Gaur Nāgarī Bhāva as bogus."

Advaitadas: Advaita Prakāśa is different - it does not promote any type of controversial sādhana. It is a biography only. It is not just 40-50 years older than Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī  has taken many stories over from it to put in his Caitanya Caritāmṛta, that is my point - if it is bogus, why would Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī  take stories from them, like the story of Mādhavendra Puri, to put in his Caitanya Caritāmṛta?"

Bhakta: "Ok I agree with it, but is there any strong evidence to show that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī  has taken the stories from Advaita prakāśa? Kindly answer........"

Advaitadas: "The stories of Mādhavendra Puri (ch. 5), Haridās Thākur delivering the prostitute (ch. 9), Mahāprabhu coming to Advaita Prabhu’s house after taking sannyāsa (ch. 16), meeting Rūpa and Sanātana in Rāmakeli (ch. 16), making the animals in Jharikhaṇḍa forest chant (ch. 16), meeting Rūpa Gosvāmī in Prayāga (ch. 17), the dog of Śivānanda Sena (ch. 18), the banishment of Chota Haridās (ch. 18), Rūpa Gosvāmī reading his dramas to the Lord (ch. 19), Sanātan Gosvāmī coming to Puri with the sores (ch. 19) and the passing away of Haridās Thākura (ch. 19) are the same, though the Advaita Prakāśa versions are admittedly much more concise. Advaita Prakāśa is 40 years older than Caitanya Caritāmṛta,  so that is clear, isn't it? (This is added to the Giri Swami refutation on http://www.madangopal.com/)

Bhakta: "But some people says there were two Īśāna Nāgaras at that time and the one was the Servant of Jagannatha Miśra and disciple of Advaita prabhu but another was different and also it is unsure that who has written this Advaita prakāśa, what you say about this? Kindly answer.........."

Advaitadas: "I don’t know of any other Īśāna Nagara than the disciple of Advaita Prabhu. He narrates of his personal relationship with Advaita Prabhu and Sītā Devī in chapters 18 (twice) and 21 of Advaita Prakāśa. In Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna, which lists all the parṣads of Mahāprabhu, there is just one Iśāna Nāgara mentioned:

শ্রীঅদ্বৈতপ্রভুর শাখা, ব্রাহ্মণবংশে ১৪১৪ শকে জন্ম । আদি নিবাস - শ্রীহট্ট জেলার লাউড় পরগণান্তর্গত নবগ্রাম । পাঁচ বত্সর বয়ঃক্রমকালে ইঁহার বিধবা মাতা ইশানকে লইয়া শ্রীঅদ্বৈতপ্রভুর গৃহে আশ্রয় লন । ঈশানের শিক্ষা ব্যবস্থা শ্রীঅদ্বৈত প্রভুই করেন । অদ্বৈতপত্নী সীতাদেবীর আজ্ঞায় ৭০ বত্সর বয়ঃ ক্রমকালে ইনি সংসারী হইয়া বিবাহ করিয়াছিলেন । ঈশান অতীব তেজস্বী ছিলেন । এক দিবস মহাপ্রভুর পদধৌত করিবার জন্য অগ্রসর হইলে - মহাপ্রভু ঈশানের উপবীত দেখিয়া তাঁহাকে ব্রাহ্মণ জানিয়া নিষেধ করিলে ঈশান তদ্দণ্ডেই উপবীত ছিঁড়িয় ফেলিলেন .....ঈশান নাগর ১৪৯০ শকে শ্রীলাউড়ধামে 'অদ্বৈতপ্রকাশ' গ্রন্থ রচনা করেন - 'চৌদ্দশত নবতি শকাব্দ পরিমাণে । লীলাগ্রন্থ সাঙ্গ কইনু শ্রীলাউড় ধামে" ।

“A member of Śrī Advaita Prabhu’s branch, born in a Brahmin family in 1414 Śaka (1492). His ancestral home was Lāuḍa, Navagrāma in the district of Śrī Haṭṭa (the same ancestral home as Advaita Prabhu’s). His widowed mother took shelter of Śrī Advaita Prabhu’s home when he was 5 years old, where he was educated by Advaita Prabhu Himself. On Sītā-devī’s order he married at the age of 70. He was very powerful. One day he came forward to wash Mahāprabhu’s lotus-feet, but when Mahāprabhu saw his Brahmin-thread he did not want accept service from him. Īśāna then punished his Brahmin-thread by breaking it. Īśāna Nāgara composed the book ‘Advaita Prakāśa’ in 1490 Śaka (1568) in Lāuḍa Dhāma – caudda-śata navati śakābda parimāṇe; līlā-grantha sāṅga kainu śrī lāuḍa dhāme.

The Īśāna who served Jagannāth Miśra was not surnamed Nāgara. He was just named Īśāna and did not write any books to my knowledge.

Bhakta: "Advaita dāsji, is there any Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scripture like Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Caitanya Bhāgavata etc. which supports Vaṁśa Paramparās like Nityānanda and Advaita? Kindly explain........."

Advaitadas: "No this is not in Caitanya Caritāmṛta or Caitanya Bhāgavata, because these books are solely about Mahāprabhu and do not diverge into the separate lives of Advaita and Nityānanda."

(Added to to the essay "In defense of the Advaita Vaṁśa" pages 4, 19,20 and 21, under linktab 'Articles' on http://www.madangopal.com/)

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."

Corrections of the Grantha Ratna Pañcakam

Two corrections to my publication "Grantha Ratna Pañcakam ":

Bhakta: In your publication ‘Grantha Ratna Pañcakam’ by Viśvanātha Cakravartī, on page 58 (Camatkāra Candrikā, ‘Meeting in a doctor’s dress’) you translated:


“She told Vidyāvali: "Vidyāvale! My daughter-in-law will personally you!”
Is the word ‘decorate’ missing here or what? I also have a hard time to understand the next sentence: “I swear you, don't say that you will not accept them.” (what?) Be quiet!!, after which (after what?) Śrī Rādhikā personally decorated Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who was disguised as Vidyāvali."

Bhakta:

yo mām sakhīnām purato'pi naiva sasāka sambhoktum ayam priyo me

ṣvaṣrvānanāndus ca samaksam eva mām nirvivādam samabhuṇkta bādham (92)

vāmyam ca kartum mama nāvakāṣo 'bhūvam param kevala daksinaiva

kim tvadya vāṇchā januso'pyapūri taccarvitam bhuktam aho muhur yat (93)

Advaita: "It is true. the missing word is 'decorate'. I replaced 'them' with 'these ornaments'. After 'be quiet' the quotation marks must be closed."

Bhakta: "I swear you, don't say that you will not accept them - I would put [the ornaments]"

Advaita: “After which” should be totally taken out. “be quiet” is the end of one sentence - a new sentence should start: "After Jaṭilā gave that order, Śrī Rādhikā personally decorated....."

The correct text of that paragraph should then be:

"She told Vidyāvalī: "Vidyāvale! My daughter-in-law will personally decorate you! I swear you, don't say that you will not accept these ornaments. Be quiet!!” After Jaṭilā gave that order, Śrī Rādhikā personally decorated Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who was disguised as Vidyāvalī.”


Bhakta: And on page 118, Prem Samput verse 135-137, Kṛṣṇa says: "Through My flute I cannot have have My desires fulfilled." There is two times the word 'have'. It should be just once."