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raga

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Everything posted by raga

  1. Greetings J - - the best analysis of that age-old stanza I've heard thus far, thank you very much.
  2. Hari-bhakti-vilasa gives a good outline of nitya-karma to be observed, and I have a good bunch of related notes, too. Much of it is, however, only relevant after diksha from a sat-guru.
  3. There are some foods specifically forbidden in the scriptures on account of their being tainted with rajas and tamas. The following notes, a work in progress, may be of interest: http://wiki.gaudiyakutir.com/Forbidden_foods
  4. Here are some notes that may prove useful, though it's still a work in progress: http://wiki.gaudiyakutir.com/Ekadasi-vrata
  5. Why has everyone started spelling his name "Goswami Maharaja"?
  6. raga

    Words

    Oh - wow. You have your direction there, then!
  7. raga

    Words

    Srabana (zravaNa) means "hearing", generally hearing of God in a religious context; this is the first of the nine famous practices of bhakti. Shrna (zaraNa) means "surrender", assuming I guessed the original word correctly.
  8. Haven't had the time to compile yet - I'll start a new thread whenever I get around to that.
  9. Gaudiyas see "Rama" as referring to Radha-Ramana Krishna. Therefore, there is no flaw in associating Hare with Rama. Both hari and harā become hare in the vocative case. Regardless of the original meaning of hare, I do not see why the Gaudiya interpretation of harā would not be justified.
  10. A lot of the time this talk you hear is something someone heard from someone, and again from someone, and god only knows how distorted the "facts" get in the end. The person you mention must be Pitambara Das. He is doing a wild one-man show and is undoubtedly shunned by any and all other Gaudiyas who come to hear of his ideas and practices, every babaji included.
  11. Do you know any such unscrupulous rascals?
  12. Can you please quote what Jiva Gosvami says on siddha-pranali? I didn't notice him mentioned anywhere. Sridhar Maharaja doesn't seem to say anything about siddha-pranali there. The basic concept of siddha-pranali is discussed for example in Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Harinama-cintamani, chapter 15 entitled "bhajan-pranali", dealing with the guru's describing the disciple's svarupa among other themes.
  13. Thank you for the benefit of doubt, I appreciate it. Oh whiz, your post sounded like a commercial! I did post a public apology last February for whatever wrongs I may have done in the years past, you can read it here.
  14. Sishir - give me a day or two, I'll pull my notes together. -- You must have been rather badly out of the loop the last couple of years to say something like that.
  15. It's not just Hari-bhakti-vilasa as far as diksa is concerned. Bhakti-sandarbha, if anything, is a definitive work on the practice of bhakti, and the commentaries of our acaryas on the Bhagavata echo the same, and so forth.
  16. To quote myself from the previous post: I would need to know that before I can say anything educated on this. "The tradition" as I use it largely means "tradition that follows the Gosvamis". The famous Kheturi meeting, attended by the prominent Gaudiya branches in Navadvipa, was pivotal in establishing the doctrines established in the writings of the Gosvamis as the theological back-bone of the tradition. I don't know if there were any followers of Mahaprabhu from South India attending, it isn't mentioned in any narrations describing the event.
  17. I'm quite sure he didn't, but he told the Gosvamis to write books that would describe how the tradition would go on after him -- you can read about that in Caitanya-caritamrita towards the end of Madhya-lila.
  18. http://www.stevebohlert.com/ A Prabhupada-disciple who got siddha-pranali from Lalita Prasad Thakur.
  19. Puru and I exchanged some PMs over this, and he didn't feel inclined to discuss this much further in a public forum. While I am also not too inclined to enter into extended debates over these three points, I do feel that it is in the best interest of everyone if the object of this boycott is identified. Puru did not have names at hand, though he said he'd get back to me if he got around to clarifying this with Srila Narayana Maharaja. In the meantime, I'll want to at least clear the innocent and note that those whom I know do not to two of those three points, and the one is not their own view, but a view centuries old. I am adapting from what I wrote to him in a private message. -- As you know, I am rather familiar with the scenario at Radha-kunda and the ideas people have. You may also know that there is no unified school called "Radha-kunda babajis" as such, and that there is a good diversity of views among the people there. The three points you have presented are: 1. Gaudiya Vaisnavas are not connected with the Madhva-sampradaya. 2. Prabodhananda and Prakasananda are the same person. 3. Jiva Gosvami is a svakiya-vadi. Commenting on those: 1. Many guru-pranali documents, including mine, feature the verses from Baladeva's Prameya-ratnavali that delineate the succession from Madhva downwards. 2. This is presented in Sri Ananta Das Babaji's preface to his edition of Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi. The idea itself is not exclusive to Radha-kunda babajis -- it dates to at least as early as the early 1700's and Anandi's commentary on Prabodhananda's Caitanya-candramrita. 3. I doubt that you will find a single pandit at Radha-kunda who will agree on this. As for the idea being specific to Radha-kunda and not Govardhana, I am also somewhat familiar with the tradition of babajis at Govardhana, and I can assure you that the differences between the views of the two are rather minimal, and indeed the "prominent" disagreements over the last half a century or so seem to have been over the specifics of calendar calculations. -- I hope this clears the situation at least as far as Ananta Das Babaji, who is the only author from Radha-kunda whose works have been published in English in any substantial scale, is concerned.
  20. Thank you for responding to this. There are two passages in Caitanya-bhagavata that speak of Mahaprabhu's descending again to this world, or that may be read to mean that. (hena-mate Ara Ache dui avatAra - 2.26.11 / Aro dui janma ei saGkIrtanArambhe - 2.26.46). Of that, there are diverging interpretations. There is also precedent for this. Prema-vilasa of Nityananda Das, Jahnava's disciple, notes that Srinivasa, Narottama and Syamananda were the new comings of Caitanya, Nityananda and Advaita respectively. Advaita-prakasa speaks of Raghunandana Gosvami, grand-son of Advaita Prabhu, as a new descent of Caitanya's - this is said to be Mahaprabhu's own benediction to Advaita. Then, regardless of how much we may disagree on the view of Jagadbandhu's followers over his being an avatara of Gauranga, it is not justified to call them mayavadis on account of that. They do not, to the best of my understanding, present any monistic conclusions or present Jagadbandhu as an avatar of nirakara-brahma. Did you read the page I referred everyone to? I would be interested to hear something specific on those traditions, how did they evolve and where they are today. I am not that familiar with rural traditions in Bangladesh. There are a great many traditions out there, and not all of them are necessarily very orthodox in their praxis. Regardless of from whom diksa is to be received, the undisputable conclusion of Hari-bhakti-vilasa and Bhakti-sandarbha is that diksa-mantras must be received, and as much is said (and quoted) in Swami Bhaktivedanta's works. Harinama is certainly also an initiation, but let us be clear over the fact that the term "diksa" indicates the reception of an actual diksa-mantra, characterized by mantra-bija, a name of god in the dative case and the end-incantation. If you wish, I'll be happy to present to you the actual passages from the writings of the Gosvamis where all of this is explained.
  21. The critique sometimes heard is an unfortunate by-product of doctrinal differences. What's seen online in this regard is largely the outcome of people who once were associated with ISKCON and ended up having a bad experience. Sadly, many of them just can't let go of this past "trauma" and keep ruining both their own spiritual lives as well as those of the others by obsessing over critique of others. I like to think I have largely grown over that. I sincerely hope that I have, anyway. I heartily agree with you here. Anyone who thinks that Swami Bhaktivedanta's contribution for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's cause was anything short of wonderful surely has a circuit missing. I cannot claim to know what each and every trad. Gaudiya in India, those who don't share a history with IGM, think, but what I know from my experiences with some of them is that while there is certainly awareness of differences, it has not stopped them from thinking fondly of what Swamiji accomplished. And I would also like to see the same fondness extended to Baba Premananda Bharati, who by all counts probably has just as many differences with the mainstream Gaudiya lineages of Vraja that I follow as Swami Bhaktivedanta does.
  22. Ok - I understand you there. I'm sure Rasbihari Lal & Sons carry it. Braja Gopal's LoiBazaar.Com is, however, a site that has nothing to do with them.
  23. The opening question was, "Why haven't they preached in the West?" I answered that in my first post in this thread. On your question above: Off the top of my head, at least the following have visited West in recent decades: Prema-gopala Gosvami, Purusottama Gosvami, Srivatsa Gosvami, Venu-gopala Gosvami, Madrasi Krishna Das Babaji, Sri Krishna Das Gosvami, Satya-narayana Das Babaji. I'm not quite sure I follow your idea on intellectualism and snobbery. Could you please explain what you mean and what that's based on, and also give an idea on what's your exposure to TGV and what's your idea of "the process" that is very technical?
  24. Yes, he's got two works - Saints of Vraja and Saints of Bengal. The latter was out of print for a long time, but I believe it's available again. It's an excellent title, just like the former. LoiBazaar used to have it, but it seems to be sold out. Ah - seems to be available at Nitai's Bookstore - and $1 cheaper if you go through Abebooks.Com.
  25. Myrla, that's all fine - but please see how this speech from Srila Narayana Maharaja is being employed. Regardless of original intent, this very speech has often been employed to bash a particular Babaji Guru (most notably, Sri Ananta Das Babaji). Therefore I asked Puru for clarification on whom the points he mentions refer to. One's guru's comments on a sensitive issue need to be cited responsibly and with a clear understanding of their intent.
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