I present a simple rule to live by for bhaktas.
Suppose you ask someone a question about bhakti. If the answer is,
“X said this to Y.
Because X said it, it has to be true. “,
then you should be on your guard.
Evidence in bhakti is not what someone said to someone, but what is explained in scripture. So one must provide scriptural evidence. Furthermore, for the Caitanya tradition, one must support what one says by citing one of these acharyas for it to be acceptable:
Śrī Jīva Goswami
Śrī Rūpa Goswami
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī
If the proposition cannot be supported in this way, it does not pass the smell test.
Categories: Opinion
This is a complete paradigm shift from modern GV institutions. It takes mental speculation off the table. No, your realization is not as good as sastra, unless you are Vyasa himself, Sukadev Goswami, Sad Goswamis. We have to keep bringing it back to this: what does sastra say?
Indeed. Even the Sad Goswamis did not put their ‘realizations’ in their books. When one reads the Sandarbhas, it is clear that Sri Jiva has little else to say other than performing an analysis of sastra and arriving at conclusions. I know because I look through them frequently for Sri Jiva-quotes to add to this website. He just isnt interested in writing anything else. No show-off, no manipulation of his audience emotionally, no criticizing of so called ‘non-devotees’ – nothing at all.