Vrindaban Went to visit Bhaktividya
Dhanurdhara Swami November 26th, 2000
Vrindaban
Went to visit Bhaktividya Purna Maharaja to consult him about my personal puja for Giriraja. Maharaja has been staying in Vrindaban for the last several months. It was a very informative and pleasant visit and I very much enjoyed Maharaja’s association.
From Jaiva Dharma, on the position of the arca-vigraha (installed deities):
“The Lord’s transcendental form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss is first revealed in the pure consciousness of the jiva and then reflected in the mind. The external form of the Deity is fashioned according to this transcendental form revealed in the mind, and by the power of bhakti-yoga, the sac-cid-ananda form of the Lord then manifests in the Deity. When the devotee takes darsana of the Deity, that Deity unites with the transcendental form of the Lord which the devotee sees in his heart.”
I wonder if my journals give the misimpression that my world is just pure excitement without struggle. I fear that, especially since my general psychology is on the optimistic side and the journal is the world through my eyes. To some extent, I do tend to look for the positive in life. But I think the tone of the journals also reflect the fact that they have been started at a particular time in my life?a time of rest and introspection after a very tough stretch of five years where so many struggles were thrown my way.
I think the journals also reflect the fact that Vrindaban is a very dynamic place and Vrindaban in Kartik is even more intense?externally as well as internally. I have taken many people to Vrindaban for the first time for pilgrimage and most will tell you that their two weeks in dhama seemed like a lifetime of experiences.
Another factor in the tone of the journal is that many senior Vaishnavas from all over India, and the world, congregate in Vrindaban in Kartik, and I do have the fortune of the acquaintance of many of them. That certainly makes life dynamic. There is also a connection between one’s internal world and one’s external world. If one focuses for some time on his internal purification then certainly the world around him transforms in a unique way to nurture that purification and to teach certain lessons.
One’s vision is not only what happens around him, but also how one sees it. When one enters a period of deep study and then reflects carefully on what he reads, his vision radically changes. That vision naturally has some relevance to other sincere seekers.
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