Eligability for Raganuga Bhakti

[Gita_dasi 0]

You all seem to know much more sastras than I. Yet having happened accross this post from 3 years ago w/ a search engine, I must repeat something, however little it may be, that I have gleaned from my gurujana.

 

>The siddha-deha does not just come falling out of the sky,

 

Actually, an appropriate comparison to comprehend how a baddha-jiva obtains their spiritual form is just that!! At the time of a particular astrological arrangement known as Svati Nakshatra(when this analogy was conceived, Svati Nakshatra's effects were commonly known to even nondevotees; today devotees may know or not know, beleive or not beleive as they choose), if rain should fall out of that sky onto onto different entities, certain valuable substances are produced. If the rain falls onto a banana tree, camphor is produced; the hoof of a cow, then a gold-colored substance called go-lochan is produced; the head of a snake, a jewel; onto an elephant, an elephant pearl; the occean, very precious pearls in the oysters in that ocean. Where exactly does the pearl come from, the sky, or the ocean? Neither. Some potential is there by nature within the ocean, the sun heats it up, and at the appropriate time, the sweet, now salt-free moisture in the sky becomes condensed, and is distributed freely, back over the ocean where the pearls then develop. Does this special rainfall ever produce a pearl by showering on a banana tree? Or camphor on the hood of the serpent? Never. An individual's sva-bhava is fixed.

 

 

[Gita_dasi 0]

 

>"Whatever you think of during your sadhana, you will attain in your siddhi-body. Those are the ways of raga marga."(Prema-bhakti-candrika, 57)

sadhane ye dhana cai, siddha dehe taha pai,

pakkapakka matra se vicara

 

I don't doubt Pbc, but perhaps the translation is a little simplistic. What if I decide to meditate on the pastimes of Nityanada breaking dandas; riding on mad bulls, yelling "I'm Sancara! I'm Sancara!" or "Bring me wine! Bring me wine!" w/ myself serving him as Avadutta Priya? Does this necessarily mean that I will ever attain the siddha-body of Jahnava-devi, or even her servant for that matter? What if my attraction to him is based on something mundane? For instance; I like really far out people who go against social convention. I won't even realize that it's only a product of material conditioning (good thing I have no-nonsense guru-jana guiding me!), because my anarthas are so deep. Perhaps I'm even watering these anarthas by my raganuga bhajan?

 

[Pankaja_Dasa 1]

 

Then see if you come to the level of Raga.

 

Don't try to run, when you can't even walk.

 

Thats all your getting from me, haribol!

[Gita_dasi 0]

Jijaji continues:

>is also confirmed in Bhagavad Gita, 8.6:

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajanty ante kalevaram

tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tad bhavabhavitah

>"Whatever one contemplates throughout life is what one attains when one leaves the body."

 

>In the Srimad Bhagavata (7.1.27) it is said:

kitah pesaskrtaruddhah kudyayam tam anusmaran

samrambhabhayayogena vindate tatsvarupatam

>"The caterpillar imprisoned by a wasp in (its nest on) a wall, and constantly thinking of the latter through intense hate and fear, attains the form of the wasp."

 

These two references are certainly true in this material world, and are excellent proof of the law of karma. But when choosing an analogy from the phenominal world we have to check carefully it's validity as a comparison to the transcendental realm. There will always be some defect, but the previous acharyas have used analogies appropriate to the circumstance, w/ the least defects. We certainly don't want to be like Kamsa, and think of the Lord in hate and fear!

 

>Sri Jiva Gosvami says in his Bhakti-sandarbha (283) on initiation: divyam jñanam hyatra srimati mantre bhagavatsvarupajñanam tena bhagavata sambandhavisesa-jñanam ca

>"Initiation bestows on the disciple not only the mantra, that is God's very form, but also knowledge about his specific relation with Him."

A kernal of corn receives everything it needs to become a corn stalk from the sun, moon, rain, and nutrients in the soil, yet it's potential is fixed by nature. Does it ever become a pumpkin or even a stalk of wheat? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Guest guest]

I used corn and pumkins, because they are more familar to most of us than a banyan tree, but a corn kernal is too distict even in its seed form to be used as a good example. Many other seeds look very similar to each other, even though they contain their own unique DNA code. One of these seeds never becomes another type of vegetation, even though they appear to be blank slates as seeds. Nature's elements gradully bring out an individual color, fragrance, and taste to the roots, fruit, and/or flower contained within, if given the right conditions.

[Gita_dasi 0]

 

>Modern Gaudiya Math acaryas desperately try to escape from the above scriptural evidence by saying: "yes, but nowadays nobody is qualified for siddha-pranali anymore."

 

This statement, if it was said, was spoken according to kala-desa-patra. It is not that if amongst a certain group of devotees at a certain time, noone is qualified that none of them will be qualified in the future. Gradually hladini sakti mixed w/ samvit sakti descends by Her own sweet will, drop by drop unto the heart of the sincere soul who is firmly situated in sandini. One will gradually start realizing all these things, and then they may go to guru for some indirect confirmation.

 

>saksadvrajajana-visesayaiva mahyam srigurucaranair madabhista-visesa-siddhyartham upadistam bhavayami

 

>"I meditate on the specific form of one of Krsna's associates in Vraja, which my Sri Guru-carana has instructed me in, so that I can attain my specifically desired siddhi." We must assume that this means a little more than the self esteem of: "I am a 20-year old book distributor for Krsna on a parking lot," however devotional this may be.

 

Yes, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and other acharyas have said that while distributing books we should be thinking that we are trying to recruit sevaks for Srimate Radhika. They also say to start w/ nama, then rupa, guna, and finally lila.

 

>In the S.B. (10.33.39) one hears that the senses do not become sexually agitated by hearing or reading of the Rasa-lila, but rather that they become freed from lust:

 

Krsna is so very kind that he has given you one instrument, call it a sahajiyaometer if you will, by which you can gauge how much you are actually in the

proper lust-free consciousness as you listen to these pastimes.