Tag: Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism

Subject and object

The way to find the real ‘world’ is not merely to measure and observe what is outside us, but to discover our own inner ground.

Thomas Merton , Choosing to Love the World

One of the greatest obstacle to our flourishing in spiritual life is our attachment to the opposition between subject and object.  

This mental pair is as old as Western thought. Its heavy burden places a screen between us and our understanding of the simple unity of the world, the same unity that is the foundation of Bhakti. 

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What is bhāvollāsa‑rati?

Bhakti is the name of a spiritual path that stands apart from all others. Rather than simply offering a new teaching to replace an old one, it invites us into an entirely new way of understanding and experiencing spirituality.

When Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in 1486, Vedic philosophy had become entangled inits own infinity. Though the scriptures consistently affirm that the Divine is composed of infinite being, consciousness and bliss, the seeker’s actual experience remained limited—confined to the information they could access and comprehend through writings and teachings of the brāhmaṇa class. We were finite beings tragically attracted to infinite life. Divine perfection was promised, but only through in impersonal books, lifeless rituals, and the teaching of others finite beings. 

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Invitation to love

O Lord of the universe! I do not want wealth, followers or vain companions, a beautiful woman or the enjoyment of beautiful poetry! All I want is causeless devotion unto You, birth after birth!

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 4

Witnesses tell us that as a young man, Lord Caitanya—then known by his childhood name, Vishvambhara—was devoted to Vedic learning. Even at this young age, he distinguished himself as a brilliant scholar.

But around the age of 22 a new chapter came. He travelled from his birthplace in Navadvīpa to Gayā, where he met and took initiation from Īśvara Purī. When he returned to his hometown shortly afterward, he was transformed. His new life became centred around one activity: inspiring devotees by leading harināma-saṅkīrtana—the devotional chanting of the name of God. 

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From desire, to love

The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kāma [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].

Caitanya Caṛitāmṛta Ādi-Līla 4.165

If, as we learn, prema—the perfect love of God—is the highest form of being, the ultimate goal, and the very meaning of our lives, how are we to understand the impure, everyday desires we so often feel?

In addition to the many gifts and virtues inherited from the Abrahamic religions, traditions of spiritual life have long carried the burden of asceticism—the practice of renouncing worldly pleasures. The assumed nobility of austerities such as fasting, celibacy, vows of poverty, and solitude runs deep in Western religious practice, and finds its own distinct forms in Eastern traditions as well.

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Neither wished for nor glorified

The holy name of Lord Hari should always be chanted in great humility. One
should think oneself to be lower than a blade of grass, one should be as tolerant as
a tree, one must offer all honour to others and one should never expect any honour
for oneself.

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 3

The third verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam describes and instructs that we should be ‘always chanting Hari’ (kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ). This chanting is to be performed with three key qualities: humility (sunīcena), tolerance (sahiṣṇunā), and selflessness (amāninā). 

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prema-vaicittya: Who is love for?

Although He stands before Me, smiling like the moon, my heart trembles as if lost in storm. O sakhī! I see Him with these eyes, yet feel Him miles away. His voice, sweet as flute-song, echoes—but I doubt it’s real. What cruel trick of love is this, Where presence feels like absence? 

Rūpa Gosvāmī, Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi

Who do I feel love for when I am alone? Why are my feelings strongest when there is no one there to love. Why do emotions—sometimes heavy, sometimes light—rush through my heart? Where are they going? Where do they come from? Do they arise from another heart? Will they reach another heart? Will my love be felt? Or will this storm of emotions that steals my peace of mind be lost to the world like water poured out in the desert?

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What is unnatojjvala-rasa?

In this Kali-yuga, may the son of Śacī always manifest within the cave of your heart. Out of His compassion, He has descended to offer that which was never bestowed before, the most exalted, radiant mellow of conjugal love [unnatojjvala-rasāṁ], the beauty of His own devotion. He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, now illuminated by the effulgence of golden brilliance.

Rūpa Gosvāmī’s early play Vidagdha Mādhava (The Artful Lord Kṛṣṇa) opens with an unforgettable invocation of Kṛṣṇa. The author expresses to his reader the wish that Kṛṣṇa may shine forth in the heart of everyone. And as if to make that experience possible, he explains in just a few words the purpose of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance among us.

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Life is given

Being takes the form of giving.

We are most fully in existence, most fully present, most fully ourselves, most authentic, pure and real, when we are giving. This is perhaps why we experience life as most meaningful, purposeful, and worthwhile when we are kind and generous with each other. 

Nothing true or lasting about what we are, concerns what we have, what we had or might some day have. To ‘have’ means to be formed by what we at some earlier time did not have. It is to be determined by something we have acquired, which by something we in some future moment will no longer have, either because we consume it, lose it, destroy it, or simply because it withers away.  

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