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New Ekachakra Dham Not much

May 16th, 2001

New Ekachakra Dham

Not much time for journal work as I am exploring the feasibility of writing a new book summarizing Bhakti-sandarbha. I am confident that properly presenting this knowledge will very much help devotees in their practice of devotional service. Sri Jiva Goswami himself explains:

?For that purpose (as ignorance is the cause of bondage) the very merciful Lord (parama karunikam) teaches (upadisati) scriptures (sastram).?

In other words, scriptures teach about God and therefore by hearing them properly one’s attention is redirected toward the Absolute Truth and the cause of
one’s bondage is destroyed. It is essential for spiritual life, and therefore, Srla Prabhupada stressed that books are the basis.

So far this week I’ve been productive. Today I finished Jiva Goswami’s analysis of a verse from the Eleventh Canto describing how fear caused by duality arises from forgetfulness of our relationship with Krishna. I tried to explain this relationship between duality and fear:

“What is duality and why does it cause fear? The duality referred to here is the illusion of seeing something separate from God. It is not, however, the philosophy of advaitavada where all duality, or distinction, is illusion. In the Bhagavat philosophy the Absolute Truth manifests inconceivable energies that are invested with potency and distinction, although they are still non-dual (advayam), non-different from God, as they are His energies and have no existence outside of Him.

“Fear is caused by uncertainty of the future. We are uncertain of the future when our present existence has features of impermanence. For example, because the body is temporary and we identify the body as the self, we are threatened or fearful of non-existence, death.

?Duality, therefore, causes fear because when one sees the world as separate from God?despite the fact that nothing is ultimately separate from God?one is in illusion. Illusion has no permanence or stability and thus one always lives in uncertainty and fear. In contrast when one worship God and sees the world as His energy, one is embracing what is real, or eternal, and his world is stable, certain, and thus free from fear.?

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