Anything wrong with Public Harinām Saṅkīrtan?

This is a recent debate on Facebook with an opponent of public harinama [slightly edited for discretion and diplomatic correctness]

Advaita Das - Met a two-man harinam party in Utrecht so I put a dhoti on and joined them. Broke the place down the three of us.

RPD - Harinam is not ment for the publik

Advaita Das - RPD - Śrīmad Bhāgavat, Śrīman Caitanya Mahāprabhu and all the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas would beg to disagree with that.

RPD - We should follow what the Lord says,and not what he does.If Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his eternal associates dance on the street, this is their lila and should not be imitated. It was all started by the Gaudya Math headed by Bhaktisiddhanta who screwed up the real culture about was Bhakti is all about. Bevor that nobody danced artificially without bhava in front of the publik. Yes dancing is there in front of your personal deity but only if you have love for the Lord. This Harinam in publik which we have seen from Isckon and Gaudya Math is all about to make advertisment to make more followers and to use them for making money. This is there main motive, it has nothing to do with Bhakti.

Advaita Das - RP, Harinām Sankīrtan is prescribed in Sanātan Goswāmī's Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta (2.3.167-8) and in the ṭīkā of verse 168 the assurance is given that public saṅkīrtan will be fully protected). It was done by Narottam Dās Thākur, by Rādhā-raman caran Dās, Vijaya Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī, and the bābājīs too. Any devotional aṅga can be performed for lābh pūjā pratiṣṭhā (profit, adoration and distinction), including solitary bhajan, go seva, printing books etc. I have done harināma saṅkīrtan for 32 years and never got paid for it, nor did any of my friends. You show a very negative attitude towards innocent Vaiṣṇavas, I am sorry for you.

RPD It has nothing to to with a negative attitude, its all about education in scriptures, for the gaudyas the ulimate authority are the scriptures,from the 6 Gosvamis from Vrindavan. There is nothing mentioned in there writings about dancing in front materialistic people.How to you know about Narottama dasa Th. dancing have you seen it? Anybody can say anyhting, the guidance are the scriptures and not some uneducated babajis. And even if sombody dances in front of the publik, than only because out of pure Love (Prema) and he has no control over it, its spontaneous, you are on this level??? If you are on this level you have my blessings, otherwise just be humble and serve your Guru.

Advaita Das -"There is nothing mentioned in there writings about dancing in front materialistic people."

Advaitadas: kṛṣṇotkīrtana gāna nartana parau - the 6 Goswāmīs loudly chanted, sang and danced - in front of their own deities? How will you redeem 'materialistic people' unless you chant to them?

"otherwise just be humble and serve your Guru."

Advaitadas: It is a serious allegation that anyone who does harināma on the street is not humble. I admit that there is a challenge to the ego about posturing on the street with a musical instrument, but what if Guru orders one to do harināma? You said serve your Guru, what should I do then?

RPD - The way how to perform bhakti is mentioned in the bhakti sandharba by jiva gosvami, and other śāstras don't qoute prayers to establish siddhanta. Unless you know sanskritt you have no acsess to gaudia literature. If you want the Truth ...educate yourself.

Advaita Das - Allright then RP, how about this one then? This is from the Bhagavat (10.34.17), topmost śāstra according to Jīva Goswāmī - yan nāma gṛhṇann akhilān śrotṛn ātmānam eva ca sadyaḥ punāti - 'Whose name, when uttered, instantly purifies those who hear it as well as oneself." Those who hear it are only people in your living room perhaps?

"Unless you know sanskritt you have no acsess to gaudia literature"

Advaitadas: Which means that all translations, including that of your Guru, are useless? Why then all the book translations?

"If Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his eternall associates dances on the street,this is there lila and should not be immitated."

Advaitadas: Any evidence for that in śāstra?

RPD I am not quoting the books of my Guru. Unless you have not studied Sanskritt you cant't speak on Siddhanta,you can only qoute from this baba or that baba or this book and that book, but in reality you have no acess to the Gosvami Literature because you are not qualified, be humble and admitt it. Have you studiet Sanskritt , Chandan Vyakaran etc properly, I don't think so otherwise you would not talk like this.

re your qoute from bhagavad sandharba : it doesen't mean you go on the street and dance artifically and make a show and immitate a perfect siddha. Find out from your Guru, if I tell you the evidence you will not accept it anyway.This is the end of the topic.Conclusion: Ask your Guru about this discussion if you have on and accept his advice.

Advaita Das: And more from śāstra - yāre dekhe tāre koho kṛṣṇa upadeśa -  'Whoever you see tell him about Kṛṣṇa'
and : pṛthivīte āche yoto nagarādi grām sarvatra pracāra hobe more nāma - 'IN ALL TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE WORLD MY NAME WILL BE PREACHED" ...How's that done ? cupi cupi you think?

RPD Right, but it doesen't mean you go on the road and jump like monkey and artifically chant the holy name without Bhava.you just quote without understanding the inner meaning. You have not even answered my questions??? HAVE YOU ATTAINED PURE LOVE OF THE LORD???ARE YOU KNOW SANSKRITT??

Advaita Das “Unless you have not studied Sanskritt you cant't speak on Siddhanta,you can only qoute from this baba or that baba or this book and that book"

Any śāstra says that enlightenment requires Sanskrit knowledge? Quote it then. It would mean the spiritual world would be a lonely place because only a handful know Sanskrit.

"but in reality you have no acsess to the Gosvami Literature because you are not qualified"

Which means you sit in my heart and gauge my realizations.

"be humble "

Ask any reader of this debate about YOUR attitude here....

"dance artifically and make a show and immitate a perfect siddha.

Why is the dancing artificial and why only siddhas are allowed to dance? Where is this in the Goswāmīs' books?

"If I tell you the evidence you will not accept it anyway"

So far you have been very short of evidence, just very rich in beliefs.

"Ask your Guru about this discussion if you have on and accept his advice."

A bit hard if he entered samādhi 24 years ago. But he told me indeed there is a great risk of ego-tripping while preaching. He never forbade me harinām sankīrtan in public,

"HAVE YOU ATTAINED PURE LOVE OF THE LORD???ARE YOU KNOW SANSKRITT??"

Are the two linked in any way? If I had these accomplishments - prema and sanskrit - would I be modest by saying 'yes'?

RPD I guess not,otherwise your statments are just Parrot talk .You teach a parrot... one.. two.. three.. and only this he will repeat.I have to repeat it again and again study properly. You have to know for yourself.You have to be honest. Well follow your Guru and everything will be allwright, go on with dancing,chanting and be happy

Advaita Das RPD, you come crashing in here with a bold claim that public harināma is wrong, then you claim Kṛṣṇa is only available through Sanskrit but despite all intellectual boasting you provide not even one syllable of evidence, though you had plenty of opportunity to provide it.

RPD: Jiva Goswami has given a definition of sankirtana, bahubhir militva yat kirtanam tad eva sankirtanam: "When pure devotees coming together to chant the holy name. Well if your interpretation of this statement is going on the street, than do it and chant do it if it makes you happy.

Advaitadas: Not only it makes me happy - śrotṛn ātmānam eva ca - the audience as well.

RPD: The reason why pure Bhakti is so rare, not because its not available...because nobody wants it.

Advaitadas - Now here I finally agree with you. manuṣyānām sahasreṣu....

RPD: Why you put a Dhoti on,to chant the Name ??? ,what your Dhoti has to do with the Name ??? you think if you remain in your city cloth and than chant ,the name has no effect??? What kind of understanding you have? Its a Show of Devotion. And then.... Broke the place down the three of us,...what does this means maybe your chanting was so fanatic that bystanders run way ,looks like and than you wonder whats wrong with this guys. Anyway i don't blame you, because if you want to get knowledge get out of your comfort zone and study properly, what Bhakti is all about.

Advaitadas: RP, a dhoti is a sacred garment which incites sacred sentiments. Garments do make a difference. A chastely covered lady incites other feelings than a half naked prostitute, huh? In Caitanya Caritāmṛta it is mentioned that Mahārāja Pratāparudra took a Vaiṣṇava dress to serve Śrīman Mahāprabhu in Aitota Garden. Furthermore, Vaiṣṇavas need to be recognized by appearance too. I know your Guru does not wear pants either. I acknowledge that there is a risk of posturing in a show of devotion in this way but that risk has to be taken. As far as what Bhakti is all about, yuga dharma is Harināma and it is the only way - harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam.

Last exchange added October 5, 2010 at Radhakund Dham. text added to 2nd refutation 30 january 2013

Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī 2010

RĀDHE RĀDHE.....

Rāgiṇī Ṭauḍi - Tāla Eka tāla

E TORA BĀLIKĀ, CĀNDERA KALIKĀ,
DEKHIYĀ JUḌĀYA ĀṄKHI
HENO MONE LORE, SADĀI HṚDAYE,
PASARĀ KORIYĀ RĀKHI

"This your little girl is like a moon-bud that pleases our eyes. Thus we can always keep Her in the heart as our wealth."

ŚUNO VṚṢABHĀNU PRIYE!
KI HENO KORIYĀ, KOLETE REKHECHO,
E HENO SOṆĀRA JHIYE  (Dhru)

(refrain) "Listen, O beloved of King Vṛṣabhānu (Kīrtidā)! What have you done to be able to keep such a golden girl on your lap?"

TAḌITA JINIYĀ, VADANA SUNDARA,
MUKHE HĀSI ĀCHE ĀDHĀ.
GAṆAKE YE NĀMA, SE NĀMA RĀKHUK,
ĀMARĀ RĀKHILĀM RĀDHĀ

"Her face defeats the beauty of the lightning and She smiles slightly. May the astrologers give Her any name they like - we will call Her Rādhā!"

SVARŪPA LAKṢAṆA, ATI VILAKṢAṆA,
TULANĀ DIBO VĀ KIYE.
MAHĀ-PURUṢERA, PREYASĪ HOIBE,
SAṀRIBĀ YADI JĪYE

"Her signs of Her character are most amazing. With what can I compare them? She will become the beloved of a great man. You will remember it if you live to see the day.

DUHITĀ BOLIYĀ, DUKHA NĀ BHĀVIHO,
IHOṄ UDDHĀRIBE VAṀŚA
JNĀNA DĀSA KOHE, ŚUNECHI KAMALĀ,
IHĀRA AṀŚERA AṀŚA

"Don't be unhappy that it is a daughter, for She will redeem your whole dynasty!" Jñāna dāsa says: "I have heard that Kamalā (Lakṣmī) is a particle of Her fragment only!"

Śrīmad Bhāgavat Canto Four, part 1

This the first of two blogs about the fourth Canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavata, primarily centered around the commentaries by Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda.

SB 4.4.3 tato viniḥsvasya sati vihāya tam sokena rosena ca dūyatā hṛdā pitror agāt straiṇa vimūḍha dhīr gṛhāt..  "Sati sighed deeply out of sorrow and anger and left her husband Śiva's home to join her father's party, her female mind bewildered..."

This verse does not say that women are less intelligent. Śrīdhara Swāmī and Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comment on it- tyāge hetuḥ—straiṇyaṁ strī-svabhāvas tena mūḍhā dhīr yasyāṁ sā - 'Sati left Shiva because her intelligence was deluded by her female nature'. So the intelligence is there, it is just suspended by strong feminine emotions. Wherever śāstra speaks negatively of women it is meant to discourage aspirant spiritualists to regard them as objects of enjoyment. Some, however, even reject śāstra on the women issue as the Bhāgavat says [9.20.21] that women are mere leather bags for carrying the embryo. They claim it may be interpolated or mistranslated - that interpolation must have been done a long time ago then, because Śrīdhara Swāmī commented upon this verse some 1,000 years ago, saying exactly that: bhastrā carma-pātraṁ tadvan mātā ādhāra-mātram 'Bhastra means a leather container, in this way the mother is the mere vessel'. This is not demeaning to women at all, as it is just a simple biological fact. It does not contradict the conclusion of 4.4.3. The fact that King Dusyanta was also called upon to take his responsibility (bharasva, and māvamaṁsthāḥ śakuntalām) proves the Bhāgavat is not misogynyc.

Satī's apparel is said to be 'of royal ladies' and is just like Śrī Rādhikā's (ŚB 4.4.5): "A śārikā (Myna-bird), ball, mirror, ambuja (lotus, perhaps in the hand), a white umbrella, vyajana (fan) and srak (flower-garland)."

Śiva's complexion is said to be white, but in ŚB 4.6.36 it is described as aṅgena sandhyābhra rucā, "Red like an evening cloud".

SB 4.4.12. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda writes a long ṭīkā here- ye tu phalgūṁs tucchān api guṇān bahulīkariṣṇavo bahulīkaraṇa-śīlāḥ kim uta phalgūn doṣāṁs tu naiva paśyanti yathā śītārtatvād eva madīya-vastram apaharann api śastra-pāṇitve’pi dayālutvād eva na hinasti tad ayaṁ dhanya ity evaṁ te mahattamāḥ - "The greatest saints are those who magnify the smallest virtues in men and do not see even the greatest faults in them. If someone mugs him, he will think: "Oh he is suffering from the cold, that is why he takes away my coat. Though he carries a gun he does not even fire it at me! See how kind he is!"

This reminds me of an anecdote from Sādhu Bābā's life. In December, 1983, someone stole Madangopal's ornaments from the temple in broad daylight, but Sādhu Bābā refused to report to the police, though his followers urged him to do so. Instead he said "His (the thief's) need is greater than mine." He trusted that Madangopāl would provide him with other ornaments for His service and would prevent any future theft too, as He said in Bhagavad Gītā (9.22) yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmyaham 'I provide My devotee what He needs (new ornaments) and protect what He has (prevent further theft)."

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda then describes the most unsaintly person -
tathaiva ye tucchān api doṣān bahulīkariṣṇavo guṇān naiva gṛhṇanti yathā virakto’yaṁ vanam apahāya yad gṛhastha-gṛheṣu vasati tat pracura-dhanaā corayitu-kāma ity evaṁ te asādhutamāḥ - "The most unsaintly person magnifies the faults in anyone he meets and does not see any virtues in others. Just like, "Just see this renunciant! He gives up the forest to live in the house of a householder, just to leach upon his great wealth!" etc. ye tu guṇābhāve’pi pareṣāṁ guṇān eva paśyanti yathā jagaty asmin ke’pi duṣṭā na santi sarva eva sādhava ity evaṁ te mahattamāḥ - "Whoever sees only good things in others, though they are actually bereft of virtues, like: 'In this world there is not a single bad person - everyone is a saint, this person is the mahattama."

This is an ideal but it would not be possible to survive in this savage world if one were really practising such a totally saintly attitude. Great saints like Jesus and Haridās Thākur had themselves executed like lambs, but they also vocally criticised hypocrites, and a great saint like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira had himself deprived of his kingdom a few times over by Duryodhana and was forbearing to the extreme, but finally, when Duryodhana refused to even give him five villages, he declared war on him. If one were really totally without criticism or defensive mechanism one would not survive long in this world. Of course Yudhiṣṭhira's war was one of right against wrong etc., but it does mean that a saint has some defensive instinct too.

4.8.34  mudaṁ labdhum icchet natvasūyām anukrośaṁ kṛpāṁ natvavajñāṁ maitrīṁ na tu sparddhaḥ. One should be glad at someone’s superiority, not envious, one should bestow mercy on the novice and not disregard him/her, and one should be friendly with an equal and not compete with him/her.

4.12.17-18 Dhruva adjusted to the yogi society he lived in but the result of his breathing exercises is described in verse 18:

bhaktiṁ harau bhagavati pravahann ajasram

ānanda-bāṣpa-kalayā muhur ardyamānaḥ

viklidyamāna-hṛdayaḥ pulakācitāngo

nātmānam asmarad asāv iti mukta-lingaḥ

'Endless streams of ecstatic tears poured from his eyes out of devotion for Lord Hari, his body was studded with goosebumps and his heart was molten. He forgot even himself and was thus liberated." The desire to attain prema was clearly in the heart therefore the result was accordingly - as a result of prāṇāyām he got prema. This reminds me that Sādhu Bābā, himself a great yogi, also told me that if prāṇāyām will be used favorably for bhakti, it will yield the proper result. Dhruva followed the yuga-dharma of his Satya-yuga. The Bhāgavat says (12.3.51) kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ - "the yuga-dharma of Satya Yuga is meditation on Viṣṇu." Although prāṇāyām will work in Kali-yuga too and harināma will work in Satya-yuga too, in Kali people are lazy and stupid - manda sumanda-matayo, so harināma is certainly the easiest way of enlightenment. Even so, in Kali-yuga people run around with their bead-bags, shouting their heads off during a practise called japa, which is supposed to mean 'muttering'. That is due to the crazy Kali-yuga mind - cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham - The mind is impetuous, crazy, powerful and firm. I am not telling anyone to start blocking their nostrils now, but it IS glorified and recommended as a pre-japa practise in Haribhakti Vilāsa, that should be noted. Dhruva's goal was clearly stated here as Bhagavān (bhaktiṁ harau bhagavati), not Param Atma - it was not yoga per se.

4.12.21 Dhruva forgot the sequence of worship, going straight to worshipping the Lord, skipping over the worship of His associates. He did not correct his mistake by worshipping the associates afterwards anyway. Sometimes it is not possible to correct a forgotten item of worship. It reminds me of Sādhu Bābā, who, when he was so merciful to give this wretch dīkṣā, gave me mantra right away and then remembered he had forgotten to give me harināma. In his case he did correct the mistake by giving me harināma afterwards anyway.

SB 4.12.50 Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comments: "My salary for lecturing is that devotees hear my lecture on Kṛṣṇa kathā. The pāṭhak should of course not lecture with the deliberate aim to make profit and do it as a business. However, a Paṇḍit also has to pay the rent and fill his belly, so it is befitting that the audience comes forward with dakṣiṇā and gifts, like sweets, fruits etc., as signs of bhakti and appreciation for all the time he spent enlightening them and to provide his yoga-kṣema. Normally this happens after the last path of a series (of a week or a month) is given.- rikta pāṇir na paśyeta rājānāṁ bhiṣajaṁ guruṁ (Hari Bhakti Vilāsa 4/343 from Smṛti Mahārṇava) "One should not see kings, a doctor or a Guru with empty hands."

SB 4.17.20 praharanti na vai strīṣu kṛtāghasvapi - 'Do not beat women, even if they have done wrong'. Even though Bhūmi Devī spoke this in personal self-defence, the ācāryas did not comment on this that one can nevertheless beat women. Śrī Jīva comments: jantavaḥ sādhāraṇa-jantu-tulyā mūḍhā api manuṣyā 'This is an edict for all, also common men and fools." Of course, Pṛthu did chastise Bhūmi devi, but not because she was a woman. He says in verse 26: pumān yoṣid uta klība ātma-sambhāvano’dhamaḥ bhūteṣu niranukrośo nṛpāṇāṁ tad-vadho’vadhaḥ - "To kill the proud and demoniac, whether they be man, woman or eunuch, is not killing at all." The emphasis is here on the vile and cruel, not on singling out a certain gender for systematic abuse, just because of the gender. See my blog of January 14, 2008.

SB 4.18.3-5 To benefit all human society, not only in this life but in the next, the great seers and sages have prescribed various methods conducive to the prosperity of the people in general. One who follows the principles and instructions enjoined by the great sages of the past can utilize these instructions for practical purposes. Such a person can very easily enjoy life and pleasures. A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts. Śrīdhara Swāmī comments on verse 5: avidvān vidvān apīti vā  'That fool may be uneducated or even educated' since speculation is not the monopoly of the ignorant. intellectuals do it too.

SB 4.19.12 This verse is sometimes quoted by those who oppose Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas wearing saffron cloth, but, though I do agree we should not wear saffron, honestly speaking this verse does not appear in such a context at all. Besides, Indra is described in verse 14 as wearing dreadlocks (jaṭilaṁ) and being covered with ashes (bhasmācchannaṁ). It does say in verses 24-25, though that:

tad-gṛhīta-visṛṣṭeṣu pākhaṇḍeṣu matir nṛṇām dharma ity upadharmeṣu nagna-rakta-paṭādiṣu prāyeṇa sajjate bhrāntyā peśaleṣu ca vāgmiṣu

"(Foolish, unfortunate) people are attracted to heretics due to them being naked (nagnā jaināḥ, Viśvanātha says, the naked saints are Jains) , raktapaṭā, being dressed in red (bauddhāḥ or Buddhists according to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda)  or being eloquent sweet talkers (peśaleṣu ca vāgmiṣu)."
This confirms how people are fooled by the so-called sadhus' external features rather than what comes out of their mouths or how sincere they are. Especially orange clothes seem to make a person instantly worshipable as a pure devotee, regardless of the person's actual quality.

SB 4.20.14 This is the famous verse which says that the king will get 1/6 of the pious merit of his subjects if he protects them. But otherwise (anyathā) the subjects take away (all) his good karma if he fails to protect them (arakṣitā) but does levy taxes on them (kara-hāro). He must then eat (bhuṅkte) their sins (agham). So it does not say that the king is 100% responsible for the activities of his subjects, rather it is a warning against corruption by politicians, who have the duty to provide services in exchange for the taxes they receive from their subjects. If the politician promises mountains of gold to the voters but ends up stealing mountains of their tax money either by stashing them on his own Swiss bank-accounts or by misappropriating the money by funding immoral activities, he will be liable. No population is entirely controllable so it is unrealistic to expect the rulers of huge nations like China and India with more than a billion citizens each to be liable for each action taken by its billion people - the individual soul is personally responsible but the rulers must surely teach and uphold the morality of the local religion.

Mother Śāradā on faults

This summer I had the following exchange with some friends at Facebook:

Bhakta:
"I tell you one thing my child -- if you want peace, do not find fault with others. Rather, see your own faults. Learn to make the world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own."
...
(From Śrī Śāradā Devī's last words, spoken before passing away on July 20, 1920)

Advaita Das:
"I like especially the first half of this teaching."

Bhakta:
"I like the first bit the best as well. As for the rest, if all jīvas are nitya kṛṣṇa dās, then all jīvas are "ātmiya-svajan." (Bengali for 'relatives', AD) Isn't it?

Advaita Das
"If you point one finger at another, you point three fingers at yourself. Whenever you criticize someone, if you practice some ruthless introspection, you will be shocked to find you have done the same thing at some time in the past or are even doing it at present as well. At least that is my experience. That brings peace. Just shut up and do bhajan."

Bhakta:
YES! Exactly. I always have a list of grand excuses for why I've done something grandly stupid, while if someone else makes a tiny mistake I am ready to write him or her off as a phony. Gurudev also said, "mānuṣer prati kaṭākṣa na janmāy, nirabe bhajan korā-i niyam!" (Do not cast glances at anyone. Just shut up and do bhajan!)

Advaita Das
"Just see - I unconsciously quoted your Gurudeva. Making grand excuses at least shows some acknowledgement of faults, whereas I am so low I don't even recognize the faults in myself that I see in others."

Bhakta 2:
"I heard that when you criticise, you build a bridge and the faults come trotting over it to you ... me, that is."

Bhakta:
"I came to Vraj with no awareness of any of my faults, but from day 1 Rādhārāṇī started making all the biggest, crunchiest and nastiest things about me public knowledge, until I could no longer convince myself that I am anything but fallen. Good thing Nitai Chāṅd loves fallen people. Still I know there are tons of anarthas left over that I haven't noticed yet. By your kṛpā maybe one day I will."

Advaitadas:

As (Rādhākuṇḍa's late Kṛṣṇa Dās) Madrasi Baba often told me - gaurer āmār sob bhālo , ami eka-mātra mando o choto "Everyone is Gaur's and they are all good, only I am bad and low" āmi śata doṣer doṣī - I have 100 faults, āmi sahasra doṣer doṣī - I have 1000 faults, āmi koṭi doṣer doṣī - I have 10,000.000 faults" eto guṇe guṇī āmi sob somoy sakaler doṣa-ṭā-i dekhi, kintu āmāke sakaler guṇ-ṭā-ke khujte beḍābe, tabe tā'hole se-o ei adhamer madhye ye guṇ dekhite pābe ekatra ubhoy bose ki korile bhālo hoy sob somoy cintā korā jāy. "Because of these shortcomings I always try to find some faults in others, although in reality I do possess them myself in a concentrated way. Rather I should always try to find the good qualities in others. If I adopt such a behaviour they will maybe detect some good qualities in me although I don't have any, and in this way we may then find a place to sit together and converse gently. It should always be done like this."

The Mother said: "-- If you want peace, do not find fault with others."

Kṛṣṇa says ; nirmamo nirahaṅkāra sa śāntim ādhigacchati - "He who is without possessiveness or false ego, attains peace." (Bhagavad Gītā 2.71)

Jhulan Ekādaśī

Giridhārī on the Jhulan, on Jhulan Ekādaśī, Friday 20 august 2010

pāpa puruṣa

An inquiry on the sin in the grains on Ekādaśī to Dr. Satya-nārāyan Dās.

Prabhuji Rādhe Rādhe
I have a question about the pāpa puruṣa: It is said to enter the grains on Ekādaśī-day, yet śāstra also says that children younger than 8 and elders older than 80 are exempt from fasting from grains, what to speak of non-Vaiṣṇavas. Does the pāpa puruṣa not pervade their grains then? How should we picture this pāpa puruṣa?"

Satya-nārāyana Das
"pāpa means improper action, that which will harm oneself and the society i.e. which will create moral imbalance. Actions depend upon the state of mind. Mind is most influenced by food. The moon, besides being the presiding deity of mind, is also the king of vanaspati (foodstuff). It is understood that the quality of food changes with time. Āyurveda is very explicit about it. Time is calculated by the movements of the luminaries. On Ekādaśī grains are not salubrious for the mind so they should be avoided . This fact is told in the story form for a common person. In case of child or old person also the pāpa-puruṣa is there but probably the outcome of not eating would be worse than that of eating, so choose the least of bad effects. "
(August 6, 2010)

Māyā, Rāmānuja, Sītājī, China, Guru-tyāga and Vahan tattva

Bhakta: "Since Durgā-devī is Vaiṣṇavī and she is a servant of Kṛṣṇa, māyā is allright."

Advaitadas: "If serving Māyā is serving Kṛṣṇa then alcohol, meat and prostitution is also devotional service? Mahāprabhu says - kṛṣṇa sūrya sama - māyā hoy andhakāra - Kṛṣṇa is the sun and Māyā is darkness. yāhā kṛṣṇa tāhā nāhi māyār adhikāra - Where there is Kṛṣṇa, māyā has no rights."

* * *

Bhakta: "Some say Rāmānujācārya loudly chanted the secret dīkṣā-mantra and whoever heard it became his disciple. Please comment."

Advaitadas: "It is often used by some institutions to justify their extreme missionary zeal. Whether the story is true or not,

1. We are not Rāmānujaites but Gauḍīyas. We have our own doctrine, leaders and role-models.
2. śāstra is śāstra, and we must follow it. We cannot and should not imitate the great ones, being only small ourselves. naitat samācarej jātu.
3. The confidentiality and personal nature of the dīkṣā-process will be destroyed if we all acted like that."

* * *

Recently a Facebook-friend expressed reservations about the abandonment of Sītā by Rāma, saying that this is not a God she could support. My response was:

"When you begin to criticize Lord Rāma in this way you have clearly not understood Rāma-līlā. Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Madhya 9.188-196) clearly says materialists cannot even see Sītājī, let alone touch Her. Rāvan kidnapped only a māyā- [false] Sītā. The punishment of Sītā by Rāma seems very harsh, but 3 things you must remember -

1. Although this is of course a līlā of the Lord and His eternal energy, in this līlā Sitaji was not totally innocent - She disobeyed Lakṣman by stepping out of the protective circle he had drawn for Her and She made Vaiṣṇava-aparādha to him too by claiming he did not want to leave the circle to answer to the call for help by the bogus-Rām named Marīca, because he was attracted to Her, his own sister in law.
2. Sītā is the Supreme Lord's inseparable śakti, so the abandoned Sītā must also have been a material māyā-Sītā.
3. Mahāprabhu was also very stern by rejecting Choṭa Haridās, driving him to suicide, to make a certain point very clear - vairāgīs do not dally with women. Similarly, Rāma made clear to the women of the world not to disobey their husbands or falsely accuse their brothers in law.
Bhakti means we are judged by God and not that we judge God or pick and choose what decisions of Him we will accept and what we don't. That is not surrender.

* * *

Although Viṣṇudāsa glosses the word cīna in Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi 10.40 as 'very soft', Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda say: cīnasya tan nāma deśodbhavasya. "China is a country of that name". It is interesting that there is some knowledge of foreign countries in the writings of the previous ācāryas. That word cīna is translated as Chinese also by some in Vilāpa Kusumāñjali verse 22 - pānīyaṁ cīna-vastraiḥ etc., though, to preserve the mādhurya I think it better to gloss it as 'very soft'.

* * *

In his ṭīkā of Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.45.32, Ācārya Vaṁśīdhara quotes the Mahābhārat -

vidyāṁ śrutvā ye guruṁ nādriyante
pratyāsannā manasā karmaṇā ca
teṣāṁ pāpaṁ bhrūṇa-hatyā viśiṣṭaṁ
tebhyo nānyaḥ pāpa-kṛc cāsti loke

'A person who hears knowledge from the Guru and does not respect him or awaits on him with his mind and actions, is as sinful as an abortionist. No one in the world is as sinful as him."

This verse shows that the sin of abortion (bhrūṇa-hatyā) was already committed so many thousands of years ago, and it also shows a clear condemnation of guru-tyāgīs.

* * *

Finally, I had this interesting exchange with Dr. Satya-Nārāyan Dās about vahana tattva (the Lord's vehicles) -

Advaita Das 02 august -
"Prabhuji, Rādhe Rādhe. Every God has a vahana - Viṣṇu has Garuḍa, Brahmā the Marāla swan, Shiva the bull Nandī, Kāmadeva has a parrot, Ganesh a mouse, but Kṛṣṇa, Rām and Mahāprabhu do not have a vehicle. Is there a significance in this? Perhaps this shows their humanity?"

Satyanarayana Dasa 02 august -
"Rāma has Hanumān, and Kṛṣṇa has Garuḍa. But because their līlā is a human līlā they do not use them unless to show their aiśvarya side, like when Kṛṣṇa went to fight with Bhaumāsura and then went to heaven to return the ear-rings. So you are right "this shows their humanity".

bhūṣaṇa āyudha nityatā

Earlier this month I had this conversation with Dr. Satya-nārāyan Dās about the apparel of the Lord:

Rādhe Rādhe Prabhuji
I have a question again on the eternal apparel of the Lord –

1. In the Purāṇas it is said that Lakṣmī did tapasya [penance] to attain Kṛṣṇa in Vraja, but the Lord told her it was not possible, but instead she could get a place on his chest as the Śrīvatsa-mark. But the Śrīvatsa is an eternal ornament of the Lord, so how could there be an historical moment that Śrīvatsa was added to the Lord Kṛṣṇa’s chest? Is this verse an interpolation or just a glorification of the madhurya of Vraja?
2. Speaking of Śrīvatsa, why does Kṛṣṇa have the Śrīvatsa in Vraja at all? It does not seem to match with the madhurya of His Vraja svarupa.

Satyanarayana Dasa replied:
"Are bhai, mādhurya is founded on aiśvarya, it is not devoid of it. otherwise Kṛṣṇa would be like any other guy on the block. Mādhurya subjugates aiśvarya. That is the point. Therefore, sometimes the gopis are described as Lakṣmīs - lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama- to show that aiśvarya of Vraja is much superior even to Vaikuṇṭha. There is also a story of Krsna getting the Cakra [from Paraśūrām, Ad]. This has nothing to do with Historical moment. It is a matter of being vyakta [manifest, Ad] and avyakta [unmanifest, Ad] for the sake of pastime - to make it look more human-like, otherwise He always has everything."

Advaitadas-
"Yes, I agree. But what about the Lord getting the Kaustubha-gem and Lakṣmī during the Samudra Manthan (the churning of the Milk Ocean as described in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 8th canto, Ad.) then? There is no mādhurya in the samudra manthan līlā. Some say the Lord getting all these items during Samudra Manthan has all adhyātmika [symbolic] meanings? Is that so?

Satya-nārāyan Das -
"If there is no mādhurya ,there is aiśvarya. It is His līlā. Otherwise do you think that Kaustabha and Lakṣmī actually came from the ocean? Read Śrīmad Bhāgavat 6.8.32-33. It says that bhūṣaṇa āyudha (ornaments and weapons, Ad.) etc are the Lord's own Potency, sva-māyayā. As He is eternal, so is His potency. Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.3.9 says that Kṛṣṇa was born with them, and then they became unmanifest. This shows that bhūṣaṇa etc can manifest and unmanifest as per līlā but they are ever with the Lord. How then can His svarūpa-śakti be separated from Him?

(note: Jīva Gosvāmī in his ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavat 6.8.32-33 refers to Maharāj Ambarīṣa's prayers to the Sudarśan Cakra in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 9.5.3-11, where all the attributes of Bhagavān are ascribed to it. Jīva Gosvāmī also refers to Śrīmad Bhāgavat 3.28.28, where the Lord's gem is compared to the living entities, something that can obviously not be replaced by a leather jacket, Santa Claus outfit or a mobile phone as some deluded persons think nowadays. The Śrīmad Bhagavat [12.11.10] also states that the Lord carries the pure consciousness of the jīva, His own particle, in the form of the Kaustubha gem, and it is the diffusive splendour of the latter which the Lord actually wears on His [right] breast as Śrīvatsa.)

Śārikā - Gracula religiosa, turdus or Mynah bird?

I did a Google-pictures and Sanskrita-Wiki-dictionary search on the Śārikā-bird, which is usually translated as 'female parrot', but I have seen it also translated sometimes as 'Mynah-bird'. This is what came up for Gracula Religiosa, Mynah and Turdus. The first two [top row] are identical, but the turdus [bottom row] is different, it is a type of robin. It seems most likely to be the Gracula Religiosa and the Mynah:

Śrīmad Bhāgavat, Canto 3, part 2

Completing a quotation of my favorite commentaries on the 3rd Canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavat-

3.16.5 Neither the Gita Press- nor the BBT-translation is complete - Bhānu Swāmi's is the only correct one -

"When the servant commits a sin using the name of his master [yan nāmāni ca gṛhnati] the master gets criticised and his fame destroyed, just as white spot on the skin gets one condemned as a leper."

Viśvanātha Cakravartī has the most interesting ṭīkā, as usual: "But how can the Supreme Lord commit an offence? Even if You do who could punish You? How can You restrict Yourself? There can be no punishment - infamy alone would be the punishment. The fame of a master is destroyed by the activities of a servant who performs sinful activities in the name of the master, just as white leprosy destroys the skin. People who see a white spot on someone's skin say: "This person has leprosy".

SB 3.16.34 The residents of Satyaloka 'cried out of disappointment' when Jaya and Vijaya fell from Vaikuṇṭha. It shows that there is no fall from Vaikuṇṭha, because if that were so, the residents of Satyaloka would be accustomed to it and not even bother about yet another one becoming envious of Kṛṣṇa and coming down, wanting to imitate Him. The Sanskrit text says hāhākāra, which is generally a cry of astonishment, not necessarily disappointment."

SB 3.23.47 Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments - pumān puṁso'dhike śukre strī bhavatyadhike striyāḥ - when the man produces more genital fluid the child will be male, if the woman produces more genital fluid the child will be female. tāṁ striyaṁ bhāvayann iti ādhāna-kāle strī-dhyānena stry-apatyaṁ syād - "Thinking of a woman during impregnation creates a female child." śāstra says women are nine or eight times lustier than men, but adhika kāma probably means 'greater sexual capacities than men'. That is why prostitution is usually done by women - they can do it over and over again, but a man is sexually exhausted after one single time sex, at most two times, a day.

SB 3.25.32-33 - Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda quotes from Viṣṇu Rahasya -

utsargān mala-mūtrādeś citta-svāsthyaṁ yathā bhavet.

ataḥ pāyur upasthaś ca tad-ārādhana-sādhanam

"Just as [because] the consciousness gets healthy by passing stool and urine, the anus and genitals are instruments of worship."

SB 3.25.21 - ajāta śatrava - The saint's enemies are never born. This does not mean a saint has no enemies - look at how many enemies great saints like Haridās Thākur and Mahārāj Yudhiṣṭhira had. Both Śrīdhara Swāmī and Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda say that 'sādhu bhūṣaṇa' means they respect the sādhus. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda adds to that that they think of the sādhus dearly like ornaments.

SB 3.25.25 - From Sādhu Saṅga comes an attraction to the Lord within the mind, when one associates with the sādhus in an excellent way there will be Hari-kathā, if the companionship is not so excellent there will be only bhajan kriyā, but not kathā. From the excellent association anartha nivṛtti arises and niṣṭhā [fixation] in such kathā. Then comes genuine knowledge (samvido) of My prowess (mama vīrya). When taste (ruci) arises it will be a tonic for the heart and ears (hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanā). Attachment (āsakti) for the Lord then opens the door to liberation (apavarga vartmani), and gradually from śraddhā and āsakti there will be rati (bhāva) and bhakti (prema). In this way Viśvanātha creates a parallel between Rūpa Goswāmī's ādau-śraddhā sequence and the sequence in this famous Bhāgavat-verse.

SB 3.25.38 Is another nail in the coffin of the fall-vādīs: The residents of Vaikuṇṭha do not lose anything enjoyable. Viśvanātha confirms this: tasmin mal-loke mat-parās tad vāsino lokāḥ kadācid api na nankṣyanti bhogya-hīnā na bhavanti. He later quotes the commentary on Viṣṇu Sahasra Nāma: param utkṛṣṭam ayanaṁ sthānaṁ punar āvṛtti-śaṅkā-rahitam 'In that Supreme Abode there is no fear of returning"

SB 3.26.61 Though the head is popularly believed to be the abode of the mind, Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments on this verse - hṛdaya eva mana ādy-antaḥkaraṇa-catuṣṭayasyādhiṣṭhānam - "The heart is surely the abode of the fourfold subtle body [mind, intelligence, ego, citta], including the mind."

SB 3.29.10 - Viśvanātha comments that karma miśra bhaktas who perform horse sacrifices get sālokya mukti, jñāna miśra bhakti, where bhakti predominates results into śānta rasa and jñāna miśra bhakti wherein jñāna dominates results in sāyujya mukti. In India many poor people become sādhus to get a better material life and in the west many people join Hare Kṛṣṇa because they have some sexual hangup or some drugs-hangover. But they cannot approach Kṛṣṇa without having any bhakti at all. Despite their ulterior motives there IS bhakti too. See Bhagavad Gītā 7.16 - four types of PIOUS people come to Me. When the glass is half empty it is half full too, after all. You have all these big singers in India like Anup Jalota and Hari Om Sharan - they became very rich as singers, but they are not only in it for the money still. Without bhakti you cannot do these things. Of the four types of mukti only sāmīpya is somewhat devotional because they want to be near the Lord. See blog of December 3, 2008.

3.29.15 — nātihiṁsreṇa ati hiṁsā rahitenetyati śabdena bhagavan mandira mārjjana lepana tad arthān nādi vividha naivedya sādhanādiṣvati durvāra durlakṣya sūkṣma jīva hiṁsana śāka mūla phalādi troṭanādāvapi na kṣatir iti jñāpitaṁ. ‘Not being too violent` means that there is no harm if some violence is done to small insignificant creatures while picking roots, fruits and vegetables for the food offerings in the temple.

SB 3.31.35 Worse than associating with a woman is associating with a womanizer. When a woman is beautiful but chaste she poses no threat to the sādhaka, but even if there are no attractive women around, if the sādhaka associates with a debauch who constantly speaks about acquiring women, that is a much greater impetus to fall-down than association with a woman herself, especially a chaste and pious lady. Even if the debauch does not speak about women, his mere presence can be contaminating due to his mentality spilling over into your mind. In his ṭīkā Madhvācārya quotes the Varāha Purana:

sat-puṁsu ca tathā strīṣu na saṅgo doṣam āvadet

'There is no fault if saintly men and saintly women [innocently] associate with each other."

SB 3.31.40 — yā ca puruṣaṁ viraktaṁ jñātvā svīya niṣkāmatāṁ vyañjayanyī śuśrūṣādi miṣeṇa upayāti sāpi anartha-kāriṇītyāha yopayātīti. atra tṛṇācchādita kūpasya mayi janaḥ patatviti bhāvanābhāvāt kasyacit pārśve'pyanāgamāt sarvatrodāsīnā vā bhakti jñāna vairāgyādimatī vā unmādād acetanā nidrāṇā vā mṛtāpi vā strī sarvarthaiva dūre parityājyā iti vyañjitam
 "Women are a kind of illusion created by God, and it is very difficult to be released from the grip of this illusion. Hence a person who desires his own welfare should not associate with women. A woman may approach a man only for the sake of rendering service to him, thinking him to be very renounced, and he may consider himself to be very renounced also, but still he should consider her to be his wholesale destruction — he should consider women to be death personified, like a well covered over by grass. Even if a woman is devoted, full of spiritual knowledge, renounced, in a swoon due to hysteria, sleeping, or even dead, still he should not come near her — he should always stay far away from her."

SB 3.33.6 Jīva Goswāmī says in his ṭīkā on the famous verse that says that even a dog-eater can instantly perform fire sacrifices by even casually remembering Bhagavān, that tatra yogyatāyāṁ labdhārambho bhavatīty arthaḥ. tad-anantara-janmany eva dvijatvaṁ prāpya tad-ādy-adhikārī syād -
"This describes the beginning of qualification, but he is eligible to become a brahmin only in the next life"

Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda seems to disagree: soma-yāga-kartā brāhmaṇa iva pūjyo bhavatīti durjāty-ārambhaka-prārabdha-pāpa-nāśo vyañjitaḥ  "He becomes worshipable like a brahmin who performs Soma-sacrifices, it indicates the destruction of his prārabdha karma that caused his bad birth."

He does not literally or practically say that dog-eaters can perform sacrifices but they become worshipable like them (brāhmaṇa iva pūjyo) as Śrīdhara Swāmī says too by the way. In other words, where Jīva Goswāmī is practical Viśvanātha is more emotional and follows the line of glorification in the original verse, stressing the glories of bhakti. There is never any contradiction between the ācāryas, at most a different stressing of viewpoint (dṛṣṭikoṇa).

Destruction of prārabdha karma does not mean you get a new material body. When you enter the initiation-arena with one eye or with one leg, it is not that after dīkṣā suddenly you now have two eyes or two legs. The body remains the same, even though sins have been destroyed through dīkṣā or a sādhana process. Similarly one does not become a brahmin without first taking birth as one. The fact that brahmins are needed in the west to perform weddings and funerals, does not warrant making brahmins artificially out of mlecchas - the scriptural rule cannot be made subservient to practical demands. The same with Guru-successors - many famous Gurus go without a great successor - it simply did not happen for one reason or the other. The time was not ripe for a spiritually mature successor when the Guru's physical body expired. So organisations who need initiators as part of their preaching and on-the-job-training programmes go ahead and appoint unqualified dīkṣā Gurus anyway, for practical purposes, of course with disastrous results. Sometimes one just has to wait for a successor to mature and sometimes also a lineage just stops at a certain ācārya.

In the next verse, 3.33.7, Viśvanātha continues to follow the glorifying hyperboles of the śloka in his ṭīkā, saying: ataeva sa śvapaco garīyān atiśayena gurur bhavatīty anyān api nāmātmaka-mantram upadeṣṭuṁ yogyatāṁ dhatte iti bhāvaḥ - 'What to speak of a full pronunciation, if the dog-eater even hold the holy name on the tip of the tongue he becomes qualified to be a dīkṣā-guru." If this were to be taken literally, then any prostitute or pimp in a brothel called Porno-rama would be qualified to give dīkṣā (the name Rama is there)?

Śrīmad Bhāgavat, Canto 3, part 1

This is the first of a series of blogs on some of my favorite commentaries on Śrīmad Bhāgavat, primarily the 3rd and 4th canto. The commentaries are by Śrīpāda Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda, unless mentioned otherwise-

2.9.32 Lord Nārāyan tells Brahmā: "By My grace, you shall have true knowledge about Me, as to how great I am, what is My essential character, in how many forms I manifest Myself, what virtues I possess and what My activities are. "

Viśvanātha Cakravartī's ṭīkā says: "Knowledge which is beyond the senses and which is true should appear to some degree to theists who are pure and have faith. Vijñāna refers to the realization of that entity beyond the senses, direct vision of My svarūpa as it is. This can not occur without prema- and sādhana-bhakti, knowing the Lord gives His blessing for that purpose. ..... By a gradual increase of sādhana- and prema-bhakti, that are special features of the Lord's mercy-potency, one gradually realizes the Lord's sweetness more and more. It is indicated here that 'eventually you will realize the most rare and sweet form of Mine as Kṛṣṇa in Vraja-bhūmi.' This (rūpa-guṇa-karmaka) naturally defeats the notion of any type of indistinct abstract realization like Brahman."

Brahmā is the greatest intellectual in the universe and he still needed the Lord's blessings for understanding things. That shows once more that mundane brain-salads alone do not lead to spiritual realization or understanding.

3.6.23-24 The moon-god entered the heart of the giant form of the universe - the moon-god presides over the mind, which indicates that the mind is in the heart. Vijayadhvaja Tīrtha comments - hṛdaya mano vāsa-sthāna 'The heart is the abode of the mind'. Viśvanātha also comments on SB 3.26.61 hṛdaya eva mana ādy-antaḥ-karaṇa-catuṣṭayasyādhiṣṭhānam - "The whole fourfold subtle body, including the mind, is situated in the heart."

3.7.9 Viśvanātha Cakravartī shows here one should not theorize about the reason why we are in the material world, like for being 'envious of Kṛṣṇa' or even 'to learn how to love God' etc - anādyavidyā saṅgavaśāt jīvena sva jñānānandaṁ vismṛtya dehābhimāna prāptaṁ deha dharmaṁ durbhagatvādikañca prāpya yadi kliśyate tarhi kasmai doṣo deya iti  "Because of association with beginningless ignorance the jīva has forgotten his blissful and conscious nature and has developed a false ego in the material body. He suffers due to acquiring bodily characteristics and misfortune, therefore no one is to be blamed."

3.7.10 — More of the same here - tatra bhagavataḥ pṛṣṭha sthitayā anādyavidyayā tamaḥ svarūpayā anādi vaimukhya rūpa bhagavat pṛṣṭha-sthānāṁ jīvānāṁ jñānam yallupyate tasya na vastutvam kāraṇam nāpi prayojanaṁ kim apy asti "Ignorance, which is beginningless, is situated on the Lord's back. She covers the knowledge of the jīvas who are situated on the Lord's back and are non devotees. Their non devotion is anādi. There is no real reason or purpose for their knowledge being covered."

3.7.16 - And yet more - "O learned Maitreya! You have accurately explained how the external energy, whose actions which are without purpose and without cause is under the shelter of the Supreme Lord, and you have explained how the jīva's bondage, which is without purpose and without cause, is under the shelter of the Lord's māyā. Except for that māyā, then is no other cause for the universe. ....The bondage of the jīva by ignorance, and the resulting misfortune of losing knowledge (ātma-māyāyanam), is under the shelter of māyā. This is also without a goal and without a cause."

3.7.20 — kiṁ ca seyaṁ mahat sevaivāti durllabhetyāha alpa tapasā iti lokarītyoktir mahat sevāyāṁ tat kṛpaika labhyatvena tapaḥ phalatvābhāvāt vaikuṇṭhasya vartmabhūteṣu tad bhakteṣu nityaṁ sādhana sādhyāvasthāyāṁ. “That the service of great souls is very rarely attained by those of scant penance is a popular saying (loka-rīti-ukti), for the service of the saints is attainable by their grace alone, it is achieved by the devotees (Vaikuṇṭha-vartma) without the fruit of penance as the eternal practise and goal.”

3.9.11 — te sādhaka-bhaktāḥ sva sva bhāvānurūpaṁ yad yad dhiyā bhāvayanti tat tad eva vapus teṣāṁ siddha dehaṁ praṇayase prakarṣeṇa tān prāpayasi aho te sva bhakta pāravaśyam iti bhāvaḥ 
"Whatever the sādhaka bhaktas meditate on, according to their own feelings, the Lord will make them a siddha deha accordingly, which they will attain. Aho! This is how the Lord is subdued by His devotees!" The words sva sva bhāvānurūpa make it clear that the siddha deha is not a diktat from the Lord above, but something which spontaneously develops in the heart of the sādhaka / sādhikā.

3.9.12 - bhaktena sarva-bhūteṣv eva dayā kāryaiva tad api na sarva-muktir draṣṭavyā. nahi sarvatraivoptāny api bījāny uṣara-kṣārādi-bhūmiṣv api prarohantīti - "The devotee should be merciful upon everyone, and yet we do not see everyone getting liberated. (The clue is: ) Seeds can be sown everywhere, but still they will not sprout on saline or barren ground."

3.9.21 Brahmā prays to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu when He wakes up: he mat-prabho kṛpā-pārāvāra jāgṛhi jāgṛhi kiṅkaro’haṁ maṅgalārātrikaṁ karavāṇīti bhāvaḥ "O Lord, ocean of mercy, wake up wake up I am your servant, and then performs maṅgala ārati." This is a very cosmic maṅgala ārati because this Lord has been sleeping for an entire kalpa. Mahaviṣṇu's maṅgal ārati is mādhurya on a cosmic līlā projected by Viśvanātha here.

There is anyway some mādhurya in these cosmic pastimes in śayan ekādaśī, pārśvaikādaśī and utthānaikādaśī. On Śayan Ekādaśī the cosmic Puruṣa goes to sleep, on Pārśva Ekādaśī He turns over on his other side after 2 months, and then, on Utthāna Ekādaśī He rises again after 4 months of rest. In the beginning of the cyclic creation the Lord also 'felt alone' in SB 3.5.24 - there Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda compares Lord Nārāyan in that situation with a gṛhastha without wife - asantam iva mene gṛhinīṁ vinā gṛhastha

3.14.16-21 and surrounding verses do not mean that sex affliction can be solved in marriage; Kasyapa's flattering words to Diti are not meant literally as objective siddhānta. Viśvanātha comments on verse 17: kaśyapasya bahu-vāg-vilāsa-racanā sāyaṁ-kāla-yāpanārthaṁ eveti jñeyam - "Kaśyapa used many playful words to keep Diti occupied until the inauspicious twilight time was over". He comments on verse 16: "Vidura was strong in dharma, but Kaśyapa was not. Kaśyapa did not glance at Diti or scold her in anger. If he would have done so her affliction of lust would have disappeared out of fear. Being dizzy with lust she could not tolerate any conciliatory words. Her lust simply increased."

The ṭīkā of verse 20 confirms what i said in my blog of June 6 : durgo’tra viṣaya-bhoga eva. tatra daivāt patitān brahmacaryādīn eva bhraṁśantīti, na tu gṛhasthān, teṣāṁ bhoga-viśeṣasya śāstra-vihitatvena - "The fortress is sense enjoyment. If a brahmacārī falls into it, it ruins him, but not the gṛhastha because his enjoyment is according to śāstra." This is repeated in the next śloka's ṭīkā too - tad evaṁ striyam āśrityaiva gṛhastha eva sukhena viṣayam api bhuṅkte narake’pi na patati, na tu virakta. The ṭīkā of verse 21 says Kaśyapa is joking with Diti - by speaking of himself in plural case and of Diti in singular case Kaśyapa indicates he is joking with her. None of this means that sex desire is solved by marriage.

3.15.19  tarhi tad eva tapo vayam ito bhārata-bhūmiṁ gatvā ācarāma iti teṣāṁ mano’nulāpo dhvanyate. tataś ca vaikuṇṭha-vāsino’pi bhārata-bhūmau janma vāñchantīti vaikuṇṭhād api bhārata-bhūmer utkarṣo’nudhvanyate. ‘Then let us go to India to do penance` this is how they think to themselves. So it is indicated here that even the residents of Vaikuṇṭha desire birth in India and that India is even more excellent than Vaikuṇṭha."

3.15.20 "The ladies of Vaikuṇṭha do not incite lusty desires with their feminine features"
- Śrī Jiva Goswami comments on this verse: rajo nādadhuḥ kintu tāsām api parama-bhaktatvād bhakty-uddīpanam eva jātam ity arthaḥ 'Even they [the women of Vaikuṇṭha] incite devotion [not lust] due to their being the topmost devotees." Just like, if you meet a great devotee in the material world, you get bhakti. yeṣāṁ saṁsmaraṇāt puṁsaḥ - "even the remembrance of a great soul", sadya śudhyanti vai gṛha - "instantly purifies your abode". So though these great souls (parama bhaktatvāt) may appear as beautiful and attractive ladies, their sight is simply purifying, not lust-inciting, for the equally great male devotees of Vaikuṇṭha.

The prostitute that came to seduce Haridās Ṭhākur was converted by him, after which she shaved her head, gave up her beautiful dresses and ornaments, and began to chant day and night before the Tulasī-tree. This caused even the great mahāntas came to come and be purified by having her darśana (divine audience). Devotee-wives can very much enthuse their devotee-husbands in bhakti, because they have a heart. The Sanskrit word bhakti is female gender and the word jñāna is male, not by accident - the man's ratio and the woman's heart should complement each other and create a balance. The lame supporting the blind. So here the ladies of Vaikuṇṭha make themselves pretty for Kṛṣṇa. Even in the sādhaka world, down here, often ladies, and even men, dress themselves in their best outfits when they visit the temple, to please the Lord's eyes with their looks. It is not just that we should enjoy the sight of the deity, but it should be vice versa too.

3.15.24 — hā hanta bhārata bhūmau kadā nṛ-januṣo bhūtvā vayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ bhajantaḥ kṣaṇa mātreṇaiva vaikuṇṭhaṁ prāpnuyāmeti — "Alas! When can we take human birth in India, so that we can attain Vaikuṇṭha by worshipping Kṛṣṇa for only a moment?"

Verses 3.14.16-21 paragraph edited June 26, 2010, verse 3.15.20 added February 8, 2011

Guru-nectar in Kaṭha Upaniṣad and Viśva-sāra Tantra

Some nice Guru-verses were added to (pages 8/9 and 15 of) my anthology 'The glories of the (one) Guru' on my website.


uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata kṣurasya dhārā nisitā duratyaya durgaṁ pathas tat kavayo vadanti

“Get up! Wake up! Seek the guidance of an illumined teacher and realize the Self. Sharp like a razor's edge, the sages say, is the path, difficult to traverse. “ (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14)

gu-kāraś cāndhakāraḥ syāt 
ru-kāra tan nirodhakah
andhakāra nirodhitvāt 
gurur ityabhidhīyate.

'The syllable Gu indicates darkness (nescience) and Ru indicates removal of darkness (nescience). One who removes darkness - ignorance - is called Guru.”

gu-kāraś cāndhakāraḥ syāt
ru-kāras teja ucyate,
ajñāna nāśakam brahma 
gurur eva na saṁśayaḥ

(Viśva-sāra-tantra)

"The syllable 'Gu' signifies darkness-ignorance and 'Ru' signifies light. Therefore, it is undoubtedly true that self-effulgent Para-brahma, whose light removes darkness-ignorance, is Guru.”

More on the fall issue and some other questions

MORE ON THE FALL ISSUE-

Bhakta: "What about the mad elephant offence? It is said to destroy the devotional creeper completely."

Advaitadas: "There are many so called ex devotees who hate us, they left us 30 years ago or so, and if you read their blogs and their forum-posts they cannot stop speaking about us, be it negatively, after such a very long time. That is not just because Kṛṣṇa-consciousness is such a deep experience psychologically [rising at 4, cold shower, kirtan etc.] but also because it is a profoundly spiritual truth and bliss. nehābhikrama nāśo'sti pratyavāyo na vidyate [BG 2.40] - There is no loss and diminution on this path. When Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāja speaks of uprooting the creeper of devotion through Vaiṣṇava aparādha he speaks of future devotional service, not of the past because that stands forever."

Bhakta: "You say we did not fall from the spiritual world, but even Śrī Caitanya says 'patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau' I have fallen in the material ocean'.

Advaitadas: "Devotional humility is one thing, philosophical truths another one. Secondly, 'fallen' does not mean we fell down from the spiritual world - for example, in caste-Hinduism outcastes are called adhama or patita, fallen, but it is not that they were brahmins before, like Rupa and Sanatana, who fell from their brahmin caste by eating Muslim-food, no, they were born fallen. It is not that the fallen souls were one time up there and then became fallen. There is no time factor to being fallen in this case. All this is covered [counteracted] by the statement anādi bahirmukha in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta - our disinclination towards God is beginningless."

Bhakta: 'I have heard that the spiritual sky is only available through prema, but I read in your blog of September 19, 2009 that there are other motives too."

Advaitadas: 'Look at Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (1.2.55-57) :

atra tyājyatayaivokta muktih panca vidhāpi cet |
sālokyādis tathāpy atra bhaktyā nātivirudhyate ||55||

"Though all the five forms of mukti have been stated here as to be discarded (by a pure devotee), yet the first four, sālokya-sāṛṣṭi-sāmīpya and sārūpya are not altogether incompatible with Bhakti."

sukhaiśvaryottarā seyaṁ prema-sevottarety api |
sālokyādir dvidhā tatra nādyā sevā-juṣaṁ matā ||56||

"Sālokya-sāṛṣṭi-sāmīpya and sarūpya muktis are of two kinds: firstly, as grandeur-and-pleasure-giving to the individual, i.e. mukti in which the individual desires his personal pleasures from the grandeur and wealth, and secondly mukti in which Prema-sevā dominates, i.e. in which the dominant desire is to serve the Lord for His delight. But the first of these two aspects of mukti is not welcome to those who are devoted to the service of the Lord, i.e. they do not seek personal pleasures from the grandeur and wealth of the first four forms of mukti."

kintu premaika-mādhurya-juṣa ekāntino harau |
naivāngīkurvate jātu muktiṁ panca-vidhām api ||

"But devotees solely attached to the Lord who relish the sweetness of prema never accept the five types of liberation at all (even premottara)."

This is also stated in SB 3.29.13 and 9.4.67. This also shows that all the śāstrik verses of someone returning from Vaikuṇṭha after enjoying there does not indicate fall because pure devotion has never been there and it is typical for enjoying the kingdom of God without God. Apart from this, such statements refer to temporarily attaining the Vaikuṇṭha within the mahat tattva. (See the end of my blog of September 19, 2009) These persons do not become envious of Kṛṣṇa and do not come down here to imitate Him at all."

Some other questions -

Bhakta: 'Why nitya siddhas like the Pāṇḍavas have to suffer?"

Advaitadas: Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī gives a definition of the siddha in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu: avijñātākhila kleśa sadā kṛṣṇāśrita kriyā - "A siddha does not know any suffering- he is always under Kṛṣṇa's shelter."

The Pāṇḍavas and the narrators of their adventures teach us things through their suffering - the virtue of forbearance, the saving grace of God, the ultimate victory of truth, etc."

Bhakta: "Does marriage solve a sādhaka's sexual problems?"

Advaitadas: "Sexual indulgence in the gṛhastha āśram does not free one from sex desire, only offenseless harināma and Guru-krpā do so. Marriage is an emergency case, to keep a devotee from falling into deeper sin of unmarried sex. Śrī Narottam sings - gṛhe va bonete thāko sadā haribolo ḍāko "Whether in the woods [renounced] or at home, always chant the name of Hari!"

Nityānanda Ādi Guru, bhajan at home, astrology and dormant love

Kusum Sarovar in 1865, photo by W. Henry Baker

Bhakta: Caitanya Caritāmṛta [Adi 1.9] says that Advaita Prabhu [as Mahaviṣṇu] emanates from Nityānanda Prabhu -

māyā-bhartājāṇḍa-sańghāśrayāńgaḥ
śete sākṣāt kāraṇāmbhodhi-madhye
yasyaikāḿśaḥ śrī-pumān ādi-devas
taḿ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaḿ prapadye

"I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, whose partial representation called Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean, is the original puruṣa, the master of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all the universes."

Should not the family of Nityānanda get precedence then in giving dīkṣā?"

Advaitadas: "Advaita Prabhu took disciples before Śrīman Mahāprabhu even appeared in this world. What should He have done after Nityānanda's family starting accepting śiṣyas - send his disciples over there and 'resign' as a Guru or so? The sequence of cosmic creation is not the same as the historical sequence of Gaura-līlā."

Bhakta: "But then there is the Vyāsa Pūjā-description of Lord Nityānanda in Caitanya Bhāgavata (Madhya 5) - does that not prove that Nityānanda is the ādi Guru?"

Advaitadas: "This needs to be seen in context. Nityānanda was of course Mahāprabhu's right hand, yet it is also well known that Vṛndāvan Dās Ṭhākur, who wrote this Caitanya Bhāgavat, was highly biased in favor of Nitāi Cāṅd. He calls Mahāprabhu āmār prabhur prabhu - the master of my master (Nityānanda). This bias is not a dūṣaṇa (pollution), but a bhūṣaṇa (ornament). 

There is no official theology in our Sampradāya, either in the Sanskrit scriptures of the Goswāmīs, or in the Bengali caritas of Mahāprabhu, including the Vyāsa-pūjā story, that Nityānanda is the Ādi Guru."

Bhakta: "Is it really easier to do sādhana in an ashram than at home?"

Advaitadas: "It depends on the sincerity and strength of the sādhaka. Compare it with a schoolboy - if he makes his homework in the school-library he will not get distracted, but if he makes his homework at home he will have his broadband connection, his mp3s, TV and his brothers and sisters and so to distract him. He will make his homework at home as well, but not as easily as in the school library. Of course if the boy has no interest in distractions anyway he can make his homework at home just as well. Similarly if a sādhaka is strong or just fed up with material life anyway, he can do sādhana at home just as well."

Bhakta: "What value does astrology have for a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava?"

Advaitadas: "The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas are the 6 Goswamis - they have written large volumes on rules and philosophy, as the Sandarbhas, Haribhakti Vilāsa and Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu. Nonetheless none of these huge works mention anything about jyotiṣa, so it is safe to assume it need not be consulted or heeded by a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava."

Bhakta: "You said that love of God is not dormant within the heart but is a potential only. Can you illustrate that with an example?"

Advaitadas: "First of all we must examine śāstra on this dormant love theory - in Sanskrit 'dormant love' means 'supta prema' or 'nidrita prema' - such words are not found anywhere in śāstra.
As for an example - a child who is born with a high IQ can only exploit it if he gets a good education and good grades. Or a little girl has the potential of motherly love within her though she is too young to have children of her own. Hence she plays with dolls. Later she will be a real mother. That is potential. Some girls and women will never have children but they still have the potential of being a mother. Similarly, a spirit soul needs to receive the mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa (guru-kṛṣṇa prasāde pāy bhakti latā bīja) and to perform an offenseless sādhana to achieve prema. Having just a field without sowing in it and irrigating it will not yield crops. The crops are not dormant in the soil - they need to be sown there first. That is Guru Kṛpā. Jīva Goswāmī writes in Bhakti Sandarbha that a soul needs to cry out for Kṛṣṇa. That is the beginning of devotional service and Guru Kṛpā." (See also my blog of August 18, 2007)

Some important corrections to Govinda Līlāmṛta

Govindaji Temple in Vrindavan in 1865. Photo by Samuel Bourne

I have been going through the translation work of my friend Haricaraṇa recently and this helped me to correct my own humble bid at translating śāstra a bit. These are some of the main improvements I made in my Govinda Līlāmṛta translation-

6.24 Original version: "Looking all around Him, Kṛṣṇa became glad and agitated by thirst from seeing the ripe grapefruits, pomegranates, Bael fruits and oranges, imagining them to be the beautiful breasts on Śrī Rādhikā's body."

6.24 Corrected version: "Looking all around Him, Kṛṣṇa became glad and agitated by thirst from seeing the ripe grapefruits, pomegranates, Bael fruits and oranges. Imagining them to be the beautiful breasts on Śrī Rādhikā's body, He wondered if Her body was all-pervading!" (vibhūtvaṁ saśaṅke)

6.43 Original version: Kṛṣṇa considered the six martial arts of conquering the great kingdom of Rādhā's bodily association (making allies, scattering the enemy, surrounding the city, performing battle, making peace and riding out against the enemy), consulting experts like Vṛndā, Dhaniṣṭhā, Subala and Madhumaṅgala.

6.43 Corrected version: Kṛṣṇa considered the six strategies of conquering the great kingdom of Rādhā's bodily association (making allies, scattering the enemy, marching, halting, division and annexing), consulting experts like Vṛndā, Dhaniṣṭhā, Subala and Madhumaṅgala.

6.69 Original version: "Today Candrāvalī will hold a festival for Durgā's worship and she has sent me here to invite Rādhā!

6.69 Corrected version: "Today Candrāvalī will hold the concluding festival for Durgā's worship and she has sent me here to invite Rādhā! (udyapa = concluding)

6.72 Original version: Having come there, She was entrusted with all the responsibilities for the festival's execution, along with all of Her girlfriends.

6.72 Corrected version: Having come there, She was humbly entrusted with all the responsibilities for the festival's execution, along with all of Her girlfriends. (vinayaiḥ = humbly.)

7.119 Original translation: All this can be seen in its real form (svarūpa) by those who are favorable to these pastimes and by practising devotees, but others see it as just a material place.

7.119 Corrected translation: All this can be seen in its real form (svarūpa) by those who are favorable to these pastimes (nitya siddhas) and by practising devotees (who have developed bhāva bhakti), but others see it as just a material place.

This new translation is based on the commentary of Vṛndāvana Cakravartī – līlānukūleṣu ye teṣu nitya-siddheṣu janeṣu tathā sādhaka-bhaktānām utpanna bhāveṣu citteṣu svarūpataḥ.
Yadunandan Thākur (who was manifest before Vṛndāvan Cakravartī) glossed 'favorable' also as 'parikara-gaṇa' (Kṛṣṇa's eternal associates). It shows that ‘favorable to the pastimes’ does not refer to your regular hippie visiting Rādhākuṇḍa from Poonah, saying Rādhe Rādhe while smoking a bīḍi on the bank of the kuṇḍa. It refers to nitya siddhas no less, and the sādhaka bhaktas mentioned in the verse, are on the bhāva bhakti stage, which makes sense, since all ācāryas have taught that on the stage of bhāva bhakti things become revealed. These corrections, along with a number of minor adjustments, are added to the digital correction sheet on my website.