Jagadananda Das

30/10/2023

https://posts-cdn.kueez.net/RvLmQmdFev1WSZQw/image-7ek6EUuHoKvi4xPt.jpg

30/07/2023

As promised:

Time: 16H30 (4.30 PM) EST (North America eastern time) Saturday July 29, 2023.Live on Zoom at 8688347588. If a password is requested it is Sanskrit_1This cla...

13/07/2023

Radhe Radhe

This is a blog dedicated to the concept of prema-prayojana. I want to explore the meaning of this simple motto, which states that Divine Love is the goal of life.

03/07/2023

The second half of the introductory Sanskrit course will begin tomorrow on Zoom with Jagat.
8688347588 Password: Sanskrit_1
7.30 a.m. Eastern Time (Montreal Canada, NY USA)

19/04/2023

Jai Sri Radhe. I have not been posting here for some time, but I think I have a purpose for it now.

A certain interest has arisen in some of my Sahajiya ideas, and indeed I am interested in them myself. So I thought I would just use this site to link to articles that in one way or another directly link to the kinds of issues that form what I have not thought about giving a name, but seems to have already been dubbed "Sahajiyaism" through my own shock-jock tendencies.

At any rate, there are hundreds of such articles on my blog, but I think the best thing to do might be to just link to them in chronological order, and I can take the time to do a little cleaning up if things are not nicely explained.

At one point I tried to summarize my ideas succinctly and I put them up as "pages" on the blog. I think we can start with those.

This is a blog dedicated to the concept of prema-prayojana. I want to explore the meaning of this simple motto, which states that Divine Love is the goal of life.

27/12/2021

I was actually working on this verse from Prīti Sandarbha 147:

वत्सान् मुञ्चन् क्वचिदसमये क्रोशसञ्जातहासः
स्तेयं स्वाद्वत्त्यथ दधिपयः कल्पितैः स्तेययोगैः ।
मर्कान् भोक्ष्यन् विभजति स चेन् नात्ति भाण्डं भिनत्ति
द्रव्यालाभे स गृहकुपितो यात्युपक्रोश्य तोकान् ॥

This is the gopis complaining to Yashoda about Krishna's behavior. They appear to be angry, but their conversation is meant to show their love for Krishna and their desire to enjoy exchanging their love with Yashoda:

He releases the calves untimely and if scolded He laughs at us. He drinks our tasty curds and milk stolen through various stealing techniques invented by Him. He distributes them to monkeys and if they do not eat them, He smashes our pots. If He gets nothing in the house, He gets angry and leaves after making our babies cry. (SB 10.8.29)

I will summarize the commentaries. In the Prīti Sandarbha, the subject under discussion is Krishna's qualities as uddīpanas of love. JG started by citing 84 qualities of Krishna using the verses by Bhumi in the First Canto (16) as a base. But then he says that Krishna often shows contrary qualities that go against these rather noble characteristics that are there described, and he goes through them one by one. Not all, I don't think, but many.
So now the subject here is sthairya and its contrarian cāpalya. Krishna's aiśvarya features sthairya, but in the madhura lila he behaves in ways that often contradict those, such as the activities described in this verse.

The commentaries have had a field day with this one, the best points of which are summarized by Vishwanath. Here is Vaishnava Toshani:

तत्र प्रथमोपद्रवमाहुः—वत्सान् मुञ्चन् बहुत्वं स्वेषां वैयाग्र्यविशेषबोधकम् ।
They recount the first of his outrages. "He releases the calves." Here the use of the plural (calves) indicates the extent of their agitation.
ननु प्रत्युत वत्सपलायमानत्वं खल्विदं को नु दोषः ?

Yashoda: "What's wrong with letting the calves go free?"

तत्राहुः—असमये दोहनकाले ।

The gopis: "He does it at an inconvenient time, i.e. when it is time for milking.

Babaji's comment: As a naughty child Krishna would go to the neighboring houses and cause trouble. In India, cows are milked manually in the morning and evening. The suckling calves are kept separate from their mothers so that they do not drink all their milk during the day. But Kṛṣṇa would sneak into the cowsheds of the neighboring gopīs and release the calves just when the cowherds were milking, which would distract the mother cows and make milking impossible.

ननु, बालकेनाज्ञानतः खल्विदं कृतम्, कथमनुशोचथ ? प्रतिगृहं विद्यमाना बहवो लोका रुन्धीरन् ?

Yashoda: He is just a child and he just doesn't know better. But there are so many people in your houses who can catch the runaway calves, aren't there?

तत्राहुः—क्वचित् कृत्यान्तरव्यग्रतया यदा ते रोद्धुं न शक्नुवन्ति तदैवेत्यर्थः ।

The gopis answer: He does it just when everyone is busy and are unable to catch them.

एवं चेत् तर्हि कथं न भीषयध्वे ?

Y: "So why don't you frighten him?"

तत्राहुः--क्रोशे सम्यग् जातहासः । अक्रोशनार्थम् इति परममोहनतोक्ता ।

"At our anger he gives a loud laugh!" [Here JG says that there is a missing अ due to the vowel sandhi rule so it should be akrośa not krośa. "He laughs because he sees we don't get angry" this shows how the gopis are enchanted by Krishna's behavior and his charm.

बत किमर्थं वत्सान् मुञ्चन् ?

Yashoda: "Why does he release the calves then?"

तत्र हसन्त्यः सानुकरणम् आहुः—दधिपयोऽत्ति इति । तदर्थम् एव गृहजनान् इतस्ततो धावयितुं वत्सान् मुञ्चतीत्यर्थः ।

They laugh in the way that Krishna laughs at them and say, "He eats the curds and milk." He releases the calves so that everyone has to leave the house and run after them this way and that."

"अहो कठिनाः ! तर्हि कथं स्वयम् एव पूर्वं न दत्थ ?" इति ।

Yashoda: "Oh you hard-hearted women! He is hungry, so why don't you give him something to eat before he causes all this trouble?"

अत्र सस्मितभ्रूविलासेन शनैरिवाहुः—स्तेयम् एवात्ति, न तु दत्तम् । अस्मद्दत्तम् अपि तादृशं न भुङ्क्ते इति भावः ।

To this the gopis slowly answer smiling and moving their eyebrows in amusement: "He eats only stolen things, not that which is given." The idea is that he does not have the same appetite for the things we give.

"अपि का वो हानिः, यतः ततः पतितभाण्डस्य गोरसमात्रस्यात्यल्पप्रमाणपाने ?"

Y: "So what's the problem ? He only drinks a small amount of milk that is contained in the pot that falls."

तत्राहुः—गृहस्वाम्याद्यर्थं पर्यन्तस्थापितं स्वाद्वेवात्ति, तत्रापि अथ कार्त्स्न्येनैवात्ति ।

The gopis: "He eats the tasty things that we have set aside for our husbands and children. And he eats it all." (The word atha is meant to indicate that he eats it in its entirety.)

"अहो परमचतुराणां वो गोरसम् असावशिक्षितचातुर्यश्चोरयेद् इति न सम्भावयामः ।"

Y: "Well I cannot believe that this innocent child could steal your milk when you are intelligent and know how to keep it secure."

तत्राहुः—कल्पितैः पूर्वमदृष्टाश्रुतैरधुना स्वबुद्ध्यैव रचितैः स्तेयोपायैः ।

They answer: "He has invented all these ways of stealing that we have never before seen or heard, using only his own intelligence."

"अये ! युष्मत्पितृपितामहादीनां पुण्यफलमेवेदं यदयं परमकृपणानाम् अदत्तम् अपि भूङ्क्ते, तर्हि कथम् इव पश्चाद् अपि नानुमोदध्वे ?"

Y: "Ayayay! It is the great pious merit of your fathers and forefathers that today Krishna comes and enjoys the things that you won't give him, miserly as you are. So why don't you approve and relish his good deed?"

तत्राहुः—मर्कान् इति । वरं सखिगणान्वितः स्वयमत्तु, अहो भोक्ष्यन् स्वभोजनात् पूर्वमेव मर्कटान् सर्वान् प्रति विभज्य ददाति । किं च, तेषां वनात् फलादि-तृप्तत्वेन यद्येकोऽपि नात्ति, तर्हि स्वयमपि नात्ति, भाण्डं च भिनत्ति इत्यर्थः ।

They answer: "The monkeys. We wouldn't mind so much if it was just he and his friends who ate everything, but before he even starts eating himself he wants to feed the monkeys and he shares everything with them. And what is more, if any of the monkeys already have their bellies full from eating fruits and so on in the forest and don't want to eat, then he himself refuses to eat and just breaks the pots."

एतत् तु पूर्वं तासां द्वारागतवानरवृन्दाय नवनीतं दातुं निजोपदेशस्याकरणकोपेनेति लक्ष्यते ।

This indicates furthermore that he was angry at the gopis because he instructed them to feed the freshly churned butter to the monkeys who were gathered at the doorway and they refused to do it.

यद् वा, स परमदुलालः कदाचित् त्वया यत् तेन बहुभोजितस्त्वेतत् स्वयं नात्ति, तर्हि भाण्डं भिनत्ति तद्दोषमारोप्येति शेषः ।

Or, "Your child is so spoiled and you have fed him so much that he doesn't eat and breaks the pot, blaming it (or us) for his lack of hunger."

ननु, "कथम् एव ज्ञानेऽपि भाण्डानि न गोपायथ ? तस्माद् यूयम् एव तथा क्रीडयन्त्यो मम बालकं चपलीकृतवत्यः ।" इति ।

Y: "Well you know all this so why don't you hide the pots? It is your fault because you tease him in this way and get him all excited."

अत्राहुः—द्रव्य- इति । "स" इति परोक्षनिर्देशो दर्शनेऽप्यदर्शनं सूचयन्ति । सम्प्रति सौम्यप्रकृतिदर्शनादन्यत्वं वा

They answer: "If he doesn't find anything..." They say "he" as though he were not present, though at the present moment they are seeing him. Or it is because the sweet little face they see before them is someone different from the naughty boy they are describing.

सर्वं गृहस्थितजनं प्रत्यपि कुपितः सन् तोकान् तोकानि बालापत्यान्यपि रोदयित्वा याति द्रवति । तानि च राधाचन्द्रावल्यादीनि तल्लघुभ्रातादीनि च ज्ञेयानि ।

"Not finding anything to steal, he gets angry with all the members of the household and leaves after making the little ones, i.e. the babies cry." It should be known that the babies referred to here are the younger brothers of Radha and Chandravali, etc.

सगृहशब्देनैव वा गृहस्थितजना उच्यन्ते ॥२९॥

Another way of reading सगृह- is as स-गृह- (instead of स गृह-) which would mean those residing in the house. [basically the same]

27/12/2021

हस्त-त्याग-मये नव्ये संस्तव्ये गति-शिक्षणे ।
पुत्रे स्खलति सा जीयान् मातुः पुत्रस्य च त्वरा ॥५९॥

When Krishna was learning to walk, his mother would release his hand and then cheer him on as he took a few steps. Then when he started to fall she would come quickly to catch him. All glories to Mother Yashoda's haste in doing so!! (Gopāla-campu 6.59)

Yashoda praised Krishna's effort when he let go of her helping hand while learning to walk. All glories to both her and her son's haste when he fell.

द्वित्र-क्रमं गतः कृष्णश्चलितः स्खलने रुदन् ।
पुत्र पुत्रेति चुम्बन्तीमम्बामालोकयन् मुहुः ॥
किञ्चिद् दूरं यदानञ्च स्वक-तेजः-प्रपञ्चकः ।
स्थिरीभूय प्रसू-वक्त्रं स-स्मितं स व्यलोकत ॥
दूरं मातुर्यदा याति तदासौ मन्थरायते ।
समीपं तु यदा तर्हि स्मयमानो द्रुतायते ॥

After Krishna had taken two or three steps, he would fall and begin to cry, looking fixedly at his mother as she kissed him and repeated, "My child, my child!"

When he had managed to walk a little way, Krishna would stand still, showing off his great achievement, staring at his mother's face with a big smile.

As Krishna walked further away from his mother, he would begin to slow down. But as he came closer to her, he would break into a smile and quicken his pace.

एतदपूर्ववर्णनं शिशुकृष्णस्य गतिशिक्षणम् । यदा स पद्भ्यां चलितुं इच्छति, तस्य माता यशोदा तत्पाणिं त्यजति यथा स निरालम्बनो भूत्वा स्वतन्त्रभावेन स्वशक्त्या अटेत् । द्वित्रिपादान् तीर्त्वा प्रस्खलिष्यन्तं दृष्ट्वा तं धर्तुं सत्वरं धावति । संभ्रान्तः शिशुकः च तस्या उत्सङ्गं प्राप्तुं तथैव त्वरयति । अहं तयोः परस्परालिङ्गनाय जवाय पुनः पुनः जयजयकारं ददामि ।

13/12/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6xC9UnLUj8

Watch Live telecast Of Kashi Vishwanath Lokarpan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji From Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 13 December 2021Click to subscribe : https:/...

12/12/2021

After more than two months of absence from Vrindavan, I get some consolation from listening to Rajendra Dasji, Premananda Baba, Binode Bihari Baba, Suman Bhattacharyaji's kirtan and Hit Ambarishji.

Malook Pithacharya Rajendra Dasji says in one of his many many lectures that Krishna never leaves Vrindavan, but we hear that Meera Bai and others had darshan of Krishna elsewhere. So how is that possible? It would be offensive to their devotion to deny that Krishna appeared to them. The way to understand it is that they first made Vrindavan appear where they were.

Similarly, it is not possible for everyone to go to Vrindavan, so make Vrindavan manifest where you are and Krishna will manifest there.

I remember hearing that Prabhupada used to sit alone in his room in New York, surrounding himself in a dark room with only a candle lighting up the reminders of Vrindavan in separation from the Holy Dham.

Live Day 2 // Shri Bhaktmaal Katha at Mumbai, Kandivali

05/11/2021

https://soundcloud.com/jagadananda-das-168494194/uddhava-gita?si=574b85d3e2a04343accfd1d518cebf1f

Canto 10, chapter 47, verses 58-65. Uddhava glorifies the gopis.

12/10/2021

If you wish to ameliorate your Sanskrit knowledge, why not join the Bhakti Ratna course starting this Monday? Besides getting access to Babaji’s learned courses, you will also be able to participate in a 6-month basic Sanskrit intensive that I am offering. We will also have the Sanskrit reading course, Gita with Sridhara's commentary.

===

I am actually quite pumped up about the Bhakti Ratna course this year. Who knows how long I will be able to keep it up, but I actually get more pleasure from it each year, because of the students. This year in particular, I had several serious students who stuck it out to the bitter end.

That gave me the opportunity to improve the course and develop it further.

Teaching is also learning. Every class is a test for me also, as to what extent I can transmit my tiny understanding of this magnificent language to those who have less but want more. Part of the job is thus to make the student want more.

Because most of my students are sadhaka of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, I try to make them understand the importance and relevance of Sanskrit for them, as well as giving them a taste of the unique rasa in this language.

In that vein I wrote the following to a friend:

I know that you are on to more complex things these days, but you may enjoy it as an activity for the next six months. I am sure it will be profitable to you in the long run.

Nowadays, most proper siddhanta can be had from translation. Uttamashloka did a pretty fantastic job of gathering information about raganuga bhakti from a variety of translated sources. A great percentage of the Goswamis' works have been translated quite competently and we can certainly expect more of that in the future.

So, in terms of the Vaishnava theology, having a mental operating system in English or Spanish is not necessarily a problem.

Nevertheless, there are deeper, cultural matters that are like a substratum for the theology, which is something that is felt as well as intellectualized.

This is not to say that the various Gaudiya Vaishnava practices, which include a great deal of Bengal and India in them, are entirely without an influence on the substratum of our waking consciousness.

But I say to my students that language is an operating system for the conscious awareness. The Sanskrit language is the substratum of all Indianness.

We may ask, Is Indianness a necessity for becoming a pure devotee?

That depends to a great extent on how you conceive of a pure devotee.

See on my blog: ...2018/03/braja-vasa-sadhana-for-foreigners.html
[URLs to my blog are still being blocked by FB.]

If you say, Our goal is to have a Braj identity. Is Sanskrit really necessary for that?

Well, look at it this way, if the final instruction of Rupa Goswami is to live in Braj and follow and anuragi devotee, he is talking about following him. This is part of that.

Learning Sanskrit means to enter into the minds of Rupa Goswami, Raghunath and Jiva, to feel their hearts pounding in each syllable. Sound and meaning, shabda and artha dancing together like a loving couple.

piyūṣa-sāra-śiśirān api candra-pādān
dhīrān maranda-madhurāṁś ca madhoḥ samīrān /
vāñchanti ke bhuvi tathāmṛta-sindhu-pūrān
śrī-rūpa-pāda-kavitā-surasaṁ nipīya //1//

After having drunk just once
the delicious juice of Rūpa Gosvāmī's poetry,
who on this earth desires the rays of the moon,
said to bring the dewy essence of ambrosia?
And who would wish
for the sweet, dulcet breezes of spring
or the waves of the ocean
of the nectar of immortality?

paśyanti ke sura-bali-ramaṇīyatāṁ tāṁ
mandākinī-vikaca-kāñcana-padma-lakṣmīm /
sampūrṇa-śārada-sudhākara-maṇḍalaṁ vā
śrī-rūpa-pāda-kavitā-surasaṁ nipīya //2//

Alter having drunk just once
the delicious juice of Rūpa Gosvāmī's poetry,
who would look upon the beauty
of the garden of the gods,
or upon the beauty of blooming golden lotus flowers
in the Ganges of the heavens,
or upon the disc of the full moon of autumn?

ke vā rasāla-mukuleṣv ali-jhaṅkṛtāni
śṛṇvanti kinnara-vadhū-kala-kaṇṭhi-nādān /
kuñjeṣu mañju-kala-kokila-kūjitaṁ vā
śrī-rūpa-pāda-kavitā-surasaṁ nipīya //3//

And of those who have drunk just once
the delicious juice of Rūpa Gosvāmī's poetry,
who would still listen to the sweet buzzing
of the bees as they taste the mango flowers,
or to the song of the wives of the heavenly choir,
or the sweet song of the koil in the forests?

(Govardhana Bhaṭṭa)

Do you think the same effect can be had in translation?

When you want something intensely, you do whatever is necessary to achieve it. You start by wanting a little, then you want more and more. You want to enter deeper and deeper. For a highly intelligent man committed to bhakti like you, you should be giving this your full attention. It is basic to all higher understanding of the Vaishnava universe.

You are still young. The older you get, the harder it will become. You are engaged in preaching, all for the good, but why not deepen your qualification, deepen your sadhana?

Don't be fifty and say, "I wish I had...."

Siddhanta Saraswati would surely have approved. A "math" is a place of education. Our languages, beginning with Sanskrit, are basic to our sampradaya's understanding of sadhana and to the culture of the identity in Braj.

Jai Sri Radhe.

Our new course will start on October 18th. The class schedule as per Indian Standard time from Monday through Friday is as follows: 4:30...   Read More

09/10/2021

Radhe Radhe.

While I am here in North America, for an indefinite time, I would like to share Vrindavan rasa and the secrets of prema-bhakti that I have discovered in over 50 years of study and practice, 25 years of which have been spent in India in the association of many great masters, all of whom I have loved and served, beginning with

*Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder and acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, who brought Krishna bhakti to the world outside India;

*Sri Lalita Prasad Thakur, the son and directly initiated and confidential disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur;

*Srila Ananta Das Babaji Maharaj, longtime Mahant of Raghunath Das's Gaddi at Radha Kund and Gaudya Vaishnava scholar par excellence;

*Swami Veda Bharati, disciple of Swami Ram, and founder of AHYMSIN and Swami Ram Sadhak Gram at Rishikesh, teacher of Yoga-sutra and the practice of meditation in the Himalayan tradition;

*Srila Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji Maharaj, founder and acharya of the Jiva Institute, a true disciple of Haridas Shastri Navatirtha, and unparalleled scholar of the Gaudiya Vaishnava canon in English.

Besides this experience, I also have degrees in comparative religion (BA, McGill, 1988) and Sanskrit literature (PhD, London-SOAS, 1992).

For the time being, I will be giving Sanskrit classes and Bhagavad Gita for Sanskrit students on Zoom as a part of the Bhakti Ratna courses at the Jiva Institute.

These classes have tentatively been scheduled for 4.30 and 5.30 pm (IST) respectively, which translates to 6 am and 7 am EST.

Knowledge of the Devanagari alphabet is required for the first class, completing the beginners' class is the requirement for the second.

There is still time to register with the Jiva Institute if you wish to follow either of these courses. All who are registered will be able to access the recordings of these classes, but I like and encourage people to experience it live.

But, of course, there is so much more that I could do while I am here, so get in touch if you are interested.

Radhe Radhe.

Jai Sri Radhe Shyam.

Our new course will start on October 18th. The class schedule as per Indian Standard time from Monday through Friday is as follows: 3:30...   Read More