Waves of Devotion

Dhanurdhara Swami October 3rd, 2022

It’s still a mess! Construction on my place in Govardhan was just finished two days ago. Groups of people are already arriving. I’m just not settled here yet. If there is one thing that is certain. I have less the illusion of control here than anyplace else. How can that not be? Śrī Radha is the queen of Vrindavan!

Why do I come here?

I come here for one reason only. My service here is to help pilgrims enter the holy place. The experience of Krishna, the deep faith that comes when God touches your heart is more profound in Vrindavan than any place else.

But my main service is to have that experience myself. You must have something before you can give it. And that experience comes in association with the saintly.

If I think about it, however, I mostly come to Vrindavan not because I am qualified to mine the jewels of devotion here—jewels not just buried here, but present in every speck of dust and every flower that blooms—but because there are devotees that stay and visit here that are qualified to do so. They have entered the holy land in a mood of service and can thus scratch beyond its external covering to strongly feel a deep and very real connection to Krishna. I hanker for their audience.

I think most of us can admit that we are not pious. We just have to look at our birth and the many unwholesome influences we had growing up through our teens. There is one reason only we are here—the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He created our piety by giving us a mission of service and sacrifice and thus the lens to enter and see the land of selflessness.

I therefore begin my stay here by the audience of those souls who have given their life to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I visited Kadamba Kanana Swami yesterday evening. I was told I could visit him after he returns at 4:30 PM. I not sure from where he was returning from, but he was leading a parikrama for most of the day. When I opened the door, I was quite shocked. Instead of visiting an energy depleted dying man, I met an energetic and effulgent person sitting upright with full energy eagerly waiting for my visit. How can a person with a hundred tumors in one’s lungs, and that is just the number in one organ, still be alive let alone be firing on all cylinders? His realizations were simple, but deep, because they were said with realization and conviction. In other words, he meant it: “I am ready to go or stay. It is all in the hands Krishna. Why should I care?”

I spent two evenings with Jayadvaita Swami. A devotee thinks of others before oneself. He is here for Kadamba Kanana Swami. He will be with him to the end. His vision of life and service is always very succinctly and clearly expressed. It was honor to hear his thoughts.

I was invited for lunch with Bhurijan Prabhu. Among other things we talked about how to go deeper in vraja-bhakti following in the footsteps of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He stressed two things: deep understanding of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and service to His mission. The jewels of realizations were flowing. I leave his room a wealthier person.

I have been here a few days, but now I have some hope of being able to truly enter this most sacred of holy lands. I leave this morning for Govardhan parikrama. Vrindavan becomes alive through the smiles of the saints, sādhus, and simple vraja–vāsīs I meet along the way whose humble smiles radiate their inner contentment. Home at last!

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Dhanurdhara Swami September 26th, 2022

I want to explain through a visual example the concept of material bondage and how the process of bhakti frees one from it:

Before sharing that visual, it is necessary to first explain the goal of bhakti and the obstacle to attaining it.

The objective of bhakti is prīti or love, experiencing the energy of devotion that is shared between two people in a natural loving relationship, specifically, in this case, the soul’s relationship with God. In other words, just as any two people in a natural relationship have an inherent loving feeling towards each other, for example a mother and child or even a cow and its calf, similarly we have a spontaneous natural loving feeling towards God. The goal of the path of devotion is to awaken that feeling in us, which is the highest happiness and the goal of life.

The main obstacle to awakening such love is the false ego, the desire to be the enjoyer, accrue control for that purpose, and as a result to ultimately bask in the sense that, “I am superior to others.” Although this cloud of egoism is insignificant compared to the infinite power of God’s love, it can still cover us from an experience of our relationship with Krishna, just as a small umbrella can block one from the all-powerful rays of the sun.

The visual of our bondage is therefore the soul completely encircled by the cloud of ignorance preventing the all-powerful sun of Krishna’s love from touching our hearts.

Devoid of the warmth of God’s love that awakens our relationship with Him, which is our true purpose and existential happiness, we have remained dissatisfied in life since time immemorial until coming to what should have been an obvious point—that both the fulfillment of our selfish desires and the authority of our own opinions have been useless in achieving happiness, and we should therefore seek for something better. That acknowledgment of and search for an authority higher than our own faulty convictions is called humility, which creates a small opening in the cloud of the false ego that has engulfed our soul. God, seeing a clear pathway to our soul, answers our prayers by sending us sādhu-saṅga, a guide who can teach us how to further widen the path to our soul by removing the false ego, deepening our humility and helping us feel the rays of God’s love and our relationship with Him. Most importantly, by hearing from such souls about Sri Krishna we become attracted to Him and dedicated to fully serving Him, which is utter humility, the complete antithesis of the false ego and pure love itself.

We stand now in this world as unfortunate souls covered to one degree or another by the cloud of material consciousness and suffering from our disconnection from Krishna and therefore from our true selves as His devotee. We are now also fortunate souls, for we are humble seekers, those who have opened a clearing in those clouds of ignorance giving us the opportunity to experience God’s love. May we all continue to take shelter of the Vaiṣṇavas, mine the depths of our humility, and bask in the soothing light of Krishna’s love and our relationship with Him!

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Dhanurdhara Swami September 19th, 2022

Kudos to Karma (Yoga)[1]

A Nor’easter slams your town and dumps a ton of snow, and your basement floods. You are knee-deep in ice water, draining it out. It dawns on you how deep a hole this will put in your pocket—thousands of hard-earned dollars. It sounds like hell. What would you be thinking at the time? I was impressed with my friend’s reaction.

“You know, initially I was disturbed, but then I thought of my studies of the Gītā and how to apply it: I have family, so it is my duty to fix the house, and my duty ultimately means what God wants me to do. So instead of being frustrated, I was grateful to do my duty and serve God.”

My friend is a philosophy professor and studied the Bhagavad-gītā with me over twenty years ago. It has remained the foundation of his life. I was impressed with his realization. Instead of the normal “kvetching” when things go wrong, he shifted his thoughts to the glory of connecting our “worldly” life to God’s will through dharma, which is, simply put, doing what God wants from us in any situation. Overcoming selfishness and seeing God’s will is the foundation of any spiritual path. As we continued to discuss, he opined how karma-yoga, the essence of the Gītā, was often too minimized in a devotee’s life. “After all,” he said, “Krishna asked Arjuna to fight.”

As we continued our discussion, my friend shared with me some of his ideas on karma-yoga, based on his study of the Gītā, and on how he applies those teachings personally to his own life as a family man working in the world. I found his realizations insightful, and especially relevant to most people who, like him, work and live in the world. I don’t have to tell my audience how difficult it is to re-orient one’s consciousness to the soul in today’s world, a world that often forces us to adopt the mode of being the controller just to survive. A summary of our discussion:

1. Basic Foundation of karma-yoga
   1. Karma-yoga is based on what the Gītā calls buddhi-yoga, which is the practice of conceptual re-adjustment, changing our thinking from material to spiritual.
   2. Two aspects of conceptual re-adjustment:
      1. To transform one’s motivation from selfishness to the desire for purification/liberation and especially to the service of God.
      2. A conscious effort to re-conceive of oneself as the pure soul, and not the body that is enmeshed in various material designations or identifications.Although one must act within material designation to perform dharma—“I am a mother, a father, a husband, a wife, a guru, a leader, and so on”—one still tries to remember in a deep way that one is playing a role, so to speak.)
2. The Components of karma-yoga
   1. One should try to live according to dharma, since dharma (doing your duties properly) is the basis for karma-yoga.
   2. While performing one’s dharma (work, family responsibilities, chores, etc.) one should try to be conscious that one’s dharma is service to God and do it conscientiously in that spirit.Ramanuja often remarks that the laws of religion are God’s commands. As such, performing one’s duty is obeying God’s law and can be done lovingly and gratefully.
   3. Serving others—whether family members, co-workers, or members of one’s community or society—can be infused by the consciousness that they are in fact parts of God, and one can (and should) respect and love them as such.
   4. One should try to constantly remember we are the self and as such are a) not constituted of prakṛti (matter), and b) completely dependent on God for everything we do, down to the smallest bodily movements.Ramanuja further notes that, as the world is ensouled by the paramātmā, the world is the body of God and should be seen in that way.)
3. Daily Mindfulness of the Above
   1. Some kind of early morning prayer, study, and contemplation time to provide focus and alignment for the day.
   2. Centering prayer at various parts of the day, including reading select verses from scripture and reciting key prayers and/or mantras to help one be mindful along the lines mentioned in the last section.This is hard to do unless one designates certain times to take a break from work to do this for ten or fifteen minutes, at least once a day.
4. Other supportive practices
   1. Regular retreats to concentrate, focus, and absorb one in devotion.
   2. Following a liturgical calendar, in this case, the Vaishnava calendar, in a serious way.[2] This means looking at the year in a spiritually and reformative way rather than seeing one’s week and month in terms of family and social obligations. By following such a calendar dutifully, one’s faith is renewed and the year and consciousness is geared toward devotional transformation. For us, it means observing Ekadasi, the appearance and disappearance of saints, holy days like Jhulana-yātrā,[3] and special months like Kartik and Sravana (and so on).

On the path of bhakti we have a rich spiritual tradition to transform our consciousness, including deep practices of devotion and a commitment to a spiritual mission that is our primary spiritual focus. People often ask how to juxtapose that spiritual tradition practically within their modern day-to-day life in the home and workplace. Srila Prabhupada was very concerned about that and often recommended a lifestyle based on developing spiritual communities more conducive to spiritual life. Nonetheless, by family circumstance and present economic situations, most people and adherents to the bhakti tradition still remain in modern-day work and family situations, which are not inherently born to support spirituality. They ask what to do to help spiritualize their situations. I thus am offering kudos to karma (yoga).

[1] Original published on April 2, 2018.

[2] A liturgical calendar is a calendar of the communal or public worship of a spiritual tradition based on its beliefs and customs.

[3] Jhulana-yātrā commemorates the pastime of Radha and Krishna swinging in the summer months. In the temples of Radha and Krishna a beautiful swing is decorated, and the deities of Radha and Krishna are placed in it in the evening. For five days the devotees are invited to visit the temple and swing the deities. It is a good example of a liturgical activity listed in a Vaishnava calendar that helps one look at one’s year in a spiritual way.

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Dhanurdhara Swami September 12th, 2022

Is Honesty the Best Policy?

Of course. Without integrity—matching one’s words and actions with one’s values—how can one make advancement on any spiritual path? And outright lying is a terrible sin:

“There is nothing more sinful than untruthfulness. Because of this, mother earth once said, ‘I can bear any heavy thing except a person who is a liar.’” (Bhag. 8.20.4)

So yes, honesty is the best policy, but not always. Commentators on the Yoga-sūtras make it clear that as all other yamas (regulations) are subservient to ahimsa, truth must never result in violence, which means not only avoiding the obvious, such as telling a killer where his victim is, but avoiding any kind of truth that harms any creature anytime and anywhere. It is sometimes a fine line gauging when truthfulness should be tempered with the pre-eminence of ahimsa. In my opinion, the challenges of balancing the two is best illustrated in the character of Krishna’s father, Vasudeva.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are introduced to Vasudeva’s diplomacy in a very difficult situation. Kaṁsa, Vasudeva’s very powerful demonic brother-in-law, held his wife’s hair in his left hand while holding a sword over her throat with his right hand. Kaṁsa was ready to kill her after finding out by an ākāśa-vāṇī (an unembodied voice) that her eighth child would be his death. Kaṁsa was much more physically powerful than Vasudeva, so he had to resort to various forms of diplomacy to try to save his wife, beginning with sama, flattery. Although Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the speaker of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, had accurately described Kaṁsa—the man who was willing to kill a woman, who is his sister, on the day of her wedding—as the most sinful, envious person, who was the dirt of his dynasty, Vasudeva, externally smiling, addressed that same Kaṁsa as the shining light of his dynasty who great heroes praised. He didn’t believe a word of what he said. Obviously, honesty is not always the best policy, especially when trying to save your wife from death. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the principle:

“Sometimes one must act duplicitously in a dangerous position, as Vasudeva did to save his wife. The material world is complicated, and to execute one’s duties, one cannot avoid adopting such diplomacy.” (Bhag. 10.1.53, Purport)

Vasudeva eventually saved his wife, at least for the moment, by promising to hand over his children as soon as they were born. Due to Vasudeva’s reputation and how strongly the paramount importance of truthfulness was impressed in their society-at-large by the nature of their culture, it wasn’t surprising that Kaṁsa believed that such a man of character as Vasudeva would never deviate from his words. In fact, Vasudeva indeed handed over his children. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes his worry in not doing so and thus breaking his promise:

“Vasudeva was very much disturbed by fear of becoming a liar by breaking his promise. Thus with great pain he delivered his first born son […] into the hand of Kaṁsa […] What is painful for saintly persons who strictly adhere to the truth?” (Bhag. 10.0.57-58)

Keeping his word was not the only reason Vasudeva handed over his children to Kaṁsa.[1] In fact, when Sri Krishna, the eighth child Krishna was born, he didn’t hand Krishna over to Kaṁsa as promised, but instead snuck Krishna out of the prison where he and his wife had been incarcerated to bring Him to Vrindavan under the shelter of Yaśodā and Nanda. What is significant, however, is that even in such a situation where truthfulness did not serve ahimsa, the thought of breaking his word and promise stilled weighed on Vasudeva.

So, is honesty the best policy? What do we learn from the example of Vasudeva in this regard? Although honesty is not always the best policy, to lie in the name of a higher principle is never taken cheaply. Deep impressions of truthfulness are essential for the development of a spiritual life, and if they are not strongly impressed on one it is too easy to rationalize away the many inconvenient responsibilities one must execute to uplift one in spiritual life. So, in that sense, with very rare exceptions, it is very healthy in this world of dishonesty to strongly embrace honesty as the best policy!

[1] Vasudeva knew that his eighth child was Krishna so he was also interested as his devotional service to expediate the appearance of Krishna. He had no choice but to turn over his children.

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Dhanurdhara Swami September 5th, 2022

The phrase struck me. I was talking with Bhūrijana Prabhu after the passing of Śrīla Bhakti-caru Swami. We began to reflect on the fact that practically all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples have just turned near seventy when this decade began, if not before, and that it was evident that as the decade proceeds, the number of our god-siblings that leave us will exponentially increase. We shared some pain at the thought. As our discussion ended his parting comment struck me: “It will be a decade of tears.”

Honestly, I never felt this deep sense of upcoming loss before. Maybe it comes with age, or maybe as I mature in spiritual life my heart is softening. I am not sure. What is certain, however, is that as one is advancing in Krishna consciousness, those who sincerely represent that should be valued more and more. It’s śāstra:

“Śrī Caitanya asked, ‘Of all kinds of distress, what is the most painful?’

Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya replied, ‘Apart from separation from the devotee, I know of no unbearable distress.’” (Cc. Madhya-līlā 8.248)

True friends and well-wishers should be missed when they pass from this world. They add so much to the development and comfort of one’s life. When they are dedicated Vaiṣṇavas they add even more. They nourish the soul. Their loss to the world and our lives is incalculable.

I remember over twenty years ago before The Bhakti Center was secured, we used to host programs in 26 Second Avenue. You can imagine how packed it was when Śrīla Radhanath Swami visited and gave class. I invited one young Jewish lady from Brooklyn to the program whom I had been guiding for the past year. She was a budding professional comedian who even appeared several times as a guest panelist on the very popular television improvisational comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway with Drew Carey.[1] I had introduced her a few months back to Mahārāja, so she was very anxious to see him again, but at the end of the class Mahārāja was mobbed in the front of the room. She was also by nature a very self-conscious person, so she hid towards the back in a little corner where the wall suddenly veered off to the right. When Mahārāja finished giving audience, however, and began walking towards the door, he noticed her to his right. He slowly walked towards her to greet her. She immediately broke down in tears but managed to sob, “I am so fallen, but I feel such relief that people like you are traveling around the globe helping others!” Later Mahārāja shared with me how much he appreciated her sentiment of humble appreciation for devotees. We should also.

We may not be attracted to every senior Vaiṣṇava we meet. Some have even failed to live up to the standards we expect and disappoint us, or it may just be that we just fail to see the inspired spiritual and dedicated side of an advanced Vaiṣṇava because they are not like-minded with us. This young lady, hardly a practitioner, however, got it right. There is something very special about sincere devotees who have given their whole life to God whether we are like-minded with them or not. It will certainly a sad day when any of them leave us.

Even more tragic is the loss of those people who are not just more dedicated than us, but those whom we deeply relate with and who have affection for us. If we have such people in our lives, whether as friends or mentors, we should consider ourselves very fortunate. When they leave a part of our life will be missing. I do have such people in my life. Sadly, their time with us is in a sense numbered, and as these next ten years go on, more and more of them will sadly leave us.

It is an unfortunate phenomenon that often we most appreciate the important people in our lives after they have left us. Let us all now think of the blessings we have and are receiving from those dedicated devotees who have given their lives to uplift others for decades and who have personally touched our hearts. Let this next decade therefore not just be a decade of tears but an epoch of increased appreciation of and service to those who have carried the mission of His Divine Grace into our lives.

“Then Śrī Caitanya asked, ‘Out of all auspicious and beneficial activities, which is the best for the living entity?’

Rāmānanda Rāya replied, ‘The only auspicious activity is association with the devotees of Krishna.’’ (Cc. Madhya-līlā 8.251)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F_(American_TV_series)

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Dhanurdhara Swami August 29th, 2022

I knew Champak’s work had something so do with leadership seminars at GP Strategies,[1] but until the Cali retreat last week, I didn’t know the specifics of what she did and taught. We finally had time to discuss that in more detail. I was particularly interested in a seminar that she devised and taught called Leading with Emotional Intelligence and its relevance to the path of bhakti.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to make heathy choices based on accurately identifying, understanding, and managing your feelings and the feelings of others, an ability based on being self-aware.[2] Obviously, if we are not aware of our emotions and don’t have some sense of their cause, we inevitably will act upon them without awareness of whether they are justified or beneficial. You see all the time well-intentioned people having no idea how what they think, say, and do impacts others. The result is often disastrous. The statistical studies Champak shared with me from Harvard Business Review showed how prevalent this unawareness is. Ninety-five percent of people think they are self-aware, but less than fifteen percent are.

I think we can see how pervasive this lack of emotional intelligence is by just observing the present polarized political climate where it seems too many people become trapped in an ideological tribe, left and right, and embrace ill-thought-out views with little awareness of how what they believe, feel and do has more to do with the make-up and root of their psychology than the facts at hand.

But what about those on the path of bhakti? To what extent are they naturally self-aware of their emotional make-up and how that affects their opinions and decisions?

Of course, as one’s consciousness becomes purified on any legitimate spiritual path, one becomes increasingly equipped with knowledge (jñāna) and detachment (vairāgya) and thus more aware of and less driven by their emotions. While these tools are helpful on the path of devotion, they are not devotion in itself. Bhakti is independent and thus there is not an absolute correlation between devotion and emotional intelligence or any other material quality. Therefore, one in any condition of life can be enthused and proceed with the path of devotion whatever their psychological make-up, while those with little or no devotion can be evolved in the mode of goodness and possess a high EQ.

This doesn’t discount, however, the value of emotional intelligence on the path of bhakti, both in terms of one’s own personal development and in terms of sharing the path of devotion with others. For example, if one is not self-aware of how one is driven by their nature and the cause of that nature, and that includes bhaktas, one will inadvertently be driven by those emotions. Then, as defenders of the faith, they may criticize others in the name of devotion while, in fact, they may just be slaves to their anger and envy caused by the experiences of their upbringing. It is therefore healthy to reflect on what we are doing and the emotions behind it, if for no other reason than to avoid unnecessary offenses driven by a lower self, for the more we are aware of our emotions the more control we have over them.

Developing our emotional intelligence seems also essential in sharing bhakti with others. How can we develop the ability to speak and relate in a way that others can hear, unless we are in tune with the way we project ourselves to others and understand the psychology and language of our audience? Often devotees, even relatively advanced on the path of bhakti, are not successful in communicating the path of devotion, at least not as much as they should be, because they lack sufficiently enough EQ to be aware of how they are projecting themselves to others in the name of devotion.

Can we develop emotional intelligence? Certainly. The process of devotion itself, although not focused on unraveling one’s psychology, by purifying one’s mind and elevating one gradually to the mode goodness naturally helps one to become more pensive and self-aware. I look back on my own early days on the path of bhakti and shudder at how much of what I was thinking and doing in the name of bhakti was informed by my psychological make-up and upbringing and not, as I thought, purely on the teachings of our tradition. I perceive and trust that after years of practicing bhakti my self-awareness is substantially better than it was, and I hope others who knew me see that also. Indeed, the path of devotion can certainly heighten our emotional intelligence.

I am writing this for myself and others because I realize that besides cultivating devotion, our effort to understand basic wisdom from good sources can surely be the impetus for profound change. And that is why when speaking to Champak, I was eager to hear for my own edification and to share with others how she developed her seminar Leading with Emotional Intelligence.

“From good thoughts come good actions, from good action comes good habits, from good habits come good character, and from good character comes the right destination.”—Unknown

[1] https://www.gpstrategies.com

[2] Champak’s course was based on Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. Discussing with her I found so much interesting information on the subject that is beyond the scope of the post. For example, self-awareness is demarcated into four divisions: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and social management with very perceptive markers of awareness in each category.

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Dhanurdhara Swami August 22nd, 2022

It is my conviction that a sincere person will find the theology of Krishna very beautiful and thought provoking whether they are among the faithful or not. One example of this is balarama-tattva—the science of Balarama, who is the elder brother of Krishna. To understand Lord Balarama, however, you must first understand a fundamental principle of divinity: That God must be enjoying.

What is the sense of being the supreme controller if your powers do not result in a state of unbounded bliss? The Taittirīya Upaniṣad thus describes the Absolute Reality as raso vai saḥ—the “Supreme Reservoir of Pleasure”. Śrīla Prabhupāda illustrated this point with a charming story about a godbrother name Sadānanda das.

Sadānanda was a German intellectual who visited India first in the early 1930s. He visited many temples of India and saw the figures of the different “gods” of India, from the goddess Durgā riding a lion and holding her ten weapons including a mace and a triśūla, to Lord Śiva covered with snakes and ashes. When he saw Govinda (Krishna), however, with his three-fold bending form blowing His flute, he had an epiphany—Krishna must be God, because God must be enjoying! When Śrīla Prabhupāda narrated this story, he laughed and commented: “You never see Krishna in the spiritual world wearing a construction helmet and smoking a cigarette.”

But what is a reasonable conception of that enjoyment? I wrote about that previously in a piece called “Sri Krishna: A Reasonable Conception of Divinity”.

1. All of us are seeking pleasure, and our greatest pleasure is found in pure, unmotivated love.
2. If pure love is our guiding and universal principle, then why should it not be part of its source, the Ultimate Reality?
3. As pure love entails a mutual exchange, then the one harmonious truth must have a type of discrimination within. There must be personality, beauty, and other qualities to enhance the flow of love.
4. This flow of love is known as śakti or energy, and like all energy it is devoted to bringing pleasure to its source.
5. Thus the Vaiṣṇava conception of reality is divine līlā, a drama that stages the perfect expression of love, and exchange of devotion between the source of all energies, Sri Krishna, and the supreme śakti, Sri Radha.

So, what does this all have to do with Lord Balarama?

As Krishna is fully immersed in the pleasure of rasa, a drama that brings love to its height, to enjoy that work, someone must execute all the affairs of existence and knowledge. That’s Balarama, Krishna’s first expansion who takes up that task eternally so that Krishna never has to leave His ecstatic pastimes in Vrindavan. Wouldn’t many of us, if we had the potency, manifest ourselves in a different form, a job expansion so to speak, so that we could stay at home and enjoy leisurely?

Balarama-tattva is therefore, in a sense, simple. Lord Balarama to serve Krishna manifests the spiritual and material worlds and all of God’s incarnations. He even manifests guru-tattva, the principle of knowledge that flows through pure souls who know and represent that Absolute Truth to those persons who repose faith in their knowledge and devotion. On the most intimate level of service, he also assists Krishna in His pastimes in all five rasas.[1]

In other words, Lord Balarama is the full manifestation of God, the servitor Godhead, who assists Krishna in all matters of existence, knowledge, and even relationship.

What should be clear here is what I am not trying to do—to prove this conception of the Absolute for there is no logical reason for God to be the way He is outside of His own will. What I have tried to do, however, is to demonstrate how delightful and reasonable this theology is, and specifically in the case of balarama-tattva—that God is enjoying and fully duplicates Himself, except for color and function,[2] for the pleasure of rasa without distraction!

[1]As Krishna’s older brother, he serves Krishna with affection in a protective mood like a parent (vātsalya-rasa). The older brother can also be a bosom friend (sakhya-rasa) or take the humble mood of servant (dāsya-rasa) of his brother. Balarama also serves in neutrality (śānta-rasa) as he manifests all of Krishna’s paraphernalia, even His bed, house, and shoes, and finally even in the conjugal rasa (śṛṅgāra-rasa) as Anaṅga-mañjarī, Sri Radha’s youngest sister.

[2] Lord Balarama is a full manifestation of Lord Krishna. The only difference is that Krishna is dark and Balarama is white, and that Balarama’s function is one of service.

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Dhanurdhara Swami August 20th, 2022

The Significance of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Last Written Words

Unfortunately, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s infirmity had visibly taken its toll on him. Day and night, he lay prone on his bed, and with whatever energy he could muster left in his body, he tried to rest comfortably and focus on the kirtan that softly played non-stop in his room. It is beyond comprehension that anyone in such a condition could gather the energy and mental acuity to continue dictating a profound commentary on such deep textual work as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But he did. During hours through the day, he would listened attentively to his Sanskrit pandit read the various commentaries on a particular verse, assimilate them within his mind, and then with great effort bring his voice to a whisper into a dictaphone held to the side of his mouth, which is about as loud as he could struggle to be audible. Despite the condition in which these purports were written, I am convinced they are among his best. When going over those commentaries again recently, what particularly struck me was the significance of his last written words. They seemed to sum up in many ways the spiritual practice he was leaving the world:

Seeing the Lord before him, Brahma began to offer prayers with great humility, respect and attention. (Purport, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.64)

Spiritual practice means concentration or attention. On the path of bhakti, that practice is kirtan or prayers, which to be done feelingly must be chanted from a platform of humility and with respect (offenselessly).

Am I reading too much into this? Anyway, in classical hermeneutics, and in writing in general, what is said last is always significant. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that his books were dictated in his heart by Krishna. If that is a fact, Krishna certainly dictated a perfect legacy to his teachings. Can there be anything more significant in our practice than prayers or kirtan done with great humility, respect, and attention?

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Dhanurdhara Swami August 15th, 2022

The Devotional and the Diabolical [1]

My conversations with Peter are always illuminating. Peter serves his church as an author, lecturer, and retreat facilitator. He was briefly passing through New York at the end of a lecture tour, and we met at Divya’s Kitchen for lunch. I don’t remember how we got there, but somehow our discussion became about the Devil. I was fascinated with Peter’s explanation of the word’s Latin derivative:

“The Greek term diabolos is the root for the English word devil. When we speak of ‘diabolical behavior,’ we typically mean actions that are pure evil. The Greek term is from a compound: dia means to scatter (it’s where the term diaspora comes from), and bolos (from the verb ballo) means to throw an object. Together they connote someone taking a vessel and throwing it against a wall so it shatters and scatters into a million pieces. That’s what the Devil does in Judeo-Christian tradition. He kills and destroys (John 10:10). That’s what the world does on a more subtle level. It takes our attention, energy, and affections and scatters them in a million different directions, so we are never quite present, put together, or focused.”

I found the concept fascinating, especially the last point: our challenges in spiritual life are devilish, breaking our focus and concentration away from God and selfishly scattering it in different directions. Peter continued by explaining that the term perfection, or wholeness, is derived from another word. Again I appreciated how he illustrated concepts by the root derivatives of a common word.

“On the contrary, shalom (peace, wholeness) can mean literally ‘nothing missing, nothing broken.’ It’s our state when we turn to God. He puts us back together, collects the broken pieces, making the broken beautiful like the stunning art of mending in Japanese lacquerware called kintsugi. It’s when skilled artisans take a broken vessel and meticulously restore it. Rather than hide the cracks and imperfections, they fill them with powdered gold.”

His explanation of how achieving completeness and peace is becoming whole by turning to God also struck a chord. Finally, he continued his line of thought by describing why an English word was chosen to describe the opening prayer for the Christian Mass:

“In the Mass, the opening prayer is called The Collect. The idea is that worship collects, gathers our heart and mind back so we can give God ‘one-pointed attention.’ ”

As we were discussing these topics, it was natural for me to think of verses in my own tradition that, not surprisingly, define the same concepts in a similar way. The first verse that came to mind was Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.2.37[2] where the great sage Kavi describes that all fear and duality (bhayaṁ dvitīya) arises from turning away from God (īśād apetasya) and thus an intelligent person worships God fully with devotion (ataḥ budha ābhajet taṁ bhaktyā bhaktya). Interestingly, this verse is quoted by Śrī Jīva at the beginning of the Bhakti-sandarbha, where he defines the practice of devotion as reversing the cause of ignorance, which is turning away from God, by worshipping Him or turning toward Him.

The next verse that came to my mind that describes this dichotomy was Bhagavad-gītā 2.41.[3] Sri Krishna contrasts one fixed in devotional service, one single-pointed in his attention toward God (vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha), with one who is not, whose mind is thus many branched (bahu-śākhā) or scattered.[4]

I very much enjoyed my time with Peter and hearing the perspective he shared from his tradition, which inspired me in my own. If we are here in this world, by definition our consciousness has been shattered and disconnected from our true self and we have falling prey to the “diabolical,” so to speak. Those who are intelligent must therefore seriously take up a devotional practice. By turning our attention to Krishna, we can then become once again peaceful, whole. Shalom!

[1] This is a reprint, originally published April 9, 2018. I think it is the second reprint in the last month or so. I prefer original posts, although old ones do seem fresh even to me. The problem is that in the last year I have substantially increased my chanting, and if I don’t finish an article by the weekend, or if something comes up, I don’t have the time to finish it. I am determined to keep on producing original posts, so I am seeing how to adjust my schedule.

[2] “Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.”

[3] “Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.”

[4] In his commentary to this verse, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti offers the bhakti perspective to this concept by explaining that this one-pointed attention in spiritual life means to take the order of one’s spiritual master as one’s life and soul. Srila Prabhupada credits this specific point in Visvanatha’s commentary of 2.41 for inspiring him to fully take up his spiritual master’s order for him to preach Krishna consciousness in the Western countries.

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Dhanurdhara Swami August 8th, 2022

Should a Vaiṣṇava be concerned with their reputation? Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, the lineage’s foremost authority on prema, doesn’t seem to think so:

“O Mind! How can the highest and purest prema ever touch my heart while desire for prestige dances there like a shameless dog-eating outcaste woman?” (Manaḥ-śikṣā, v. 7)

On the other hand, however, there are references that seem to say the opposite:

“Whenever there was anything that might touch or taint the character of the Lord, Dāmodara Paṇḍita would immediately point it out, not even considering the exalted position of the Lord.”[1] (Cc. Madhya-līlā 12.25, Purport)

So, is reputation something that a Vaiṣṇava shuns, or is it something they should be concerned with? Well, first one must be clear what reputation is.

Reputation is a society’s belief or opinion of one’s character, competence, and productivity. A good reputation is therefore arguably one’s most valuable commodity because the widespread belief of one’s good qualities invokes trust, which is an essential element in attaining one’s goals.

It is therefore not wrong for a spiritual person to be concerned with their reputation to the extent that it facilitates the execution of their dharma or responsibilities, whether those responsibilities are within their service, business, management or educational occupation, or even related to the development of a meaningful relationship within their ashram as a student, family member, or renunciate. However, to seek reputation simply to enhance prestige ultimately to enjoy and control the world is shunned, for it simply increases the ego and mires one in the bodily concept of life.

Reputation is especially important for one in authority, especially as a teacher or guide. Faith is the precursor of knowledge. A marred reputation by careless behavior or failure to sufficiently revise one’s own field of study or competence impedes trust in one and therefore one’s ability to educate or enlighten others by one’s precept and example.

For these reasons, even if we sincerely do not seek prestige, our reputation is still important. We should note, however, that it is not to be obtained cheaply, but it is something generally earned after years of hard work developing competency, living up to one’s principles, and proving one’s trust in relationships.

A special challenge, therefore, is to not fall prey to the allure of artificially increasing one’s reputation. It is just too easy today to game the reputation system through the internet to claim undeserved moral virtue by joining or leading the bandwagon online against something or someone without doing the hard work of being genuinely productive and caring. Certainly, we should be compassionate and fight for justice, but if our motive is not pure and we haven’t unrooted the “evil” in ourselves, which seems too often the case, such reputation will mostly be among people like ourself and not real or lasting.

So, should a Vaiṣṇava care about his reputation? The simple answer: a Vaiṣṇava should never seek respect and should offer all respect to others, but should also, as a representative of guru and Krishna, certainly be concerned with being respectable.

And those are my thoughts “On Reputation”.

[1] Although Dāmodara Paṇḍita’s criticism of his guru was considered impudent, his concern was valid.

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