ŚRĪ ŚIKṢĀṢṬAKAM
We present Śrī Babaji’s translation of the famous eight instructions by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
T. Krsna dasa
I am interested in Chaitanya Vaishnavism. This site is inspired by the teachings of Sri Satyanarayana dasa Babaji, scholar and practitioner.
How pratyakṣa is given by śabda
Frequently one comes across the concept that Kṛṣṇa’s names are Kṛṣṇa Himself. The reason this is a difficult concept is that śabda or a word, in our experience, at best gives parokṣa jñāna or knowledge that is obstructed from the seer or subject’s perception in some way. If […]
Śrī Jīva Goswami explains kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
Śrī Jīva Goswami presents what he calls a paribhāsā sūtra of the Bhāgavata in Anuccheda 28 of Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha. He states that this sūtra, like a great heroic emperor (महावीरराज) overrules hundreds of opposing statements, assimilating them into itself. The emperor statement are the words kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayaṁ […]
Harināmāmṛta vyākaraṇam
Sanskrit is a complex language that can take years to master. Instruction in Sanskrit typically involves a lot of memorization. Memorizing forms of the various nouns and verbs etc. can take years, and even after all this effort, the language seems impenetrable. More than any inherent impenetrability of […]
Confronting unethical behaviors under the guise of bhakti
I occasionally come across individuals who joined what they thought was an authentic bhakti sect, but end up experiencing coercion by motivated individuals. Such people are emotionally manipulated and trapped in inauthentic sects and find themselves powerless to leave for fear of isolation and slander. Generally, people who […]
Veṇu Gītā (The Song of the Flute)
This song is sung by the young gopīs in a state called pūrva-rāga—they were immersed in love for Kṛṣṇa, but had not yet met Him directly. In this state, their desire to meet Him personally was very intense because they had only heard about Him and seen Him […]
Shedding light on Bhagavān’s activities
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti’s commentary on the 10th canto is invaluable in understanding Krṣṇa līlā. We have already seen in a couple of posts how he teaches the significance of the Dāmodara līlā. Here we discuss a verse that in his opinion functions as a paribhāṣā sūtra of Krṣṇa […]
Does Haribhakti-vilāsa state that the guru takes the disciples’ karma?
Some days ago, I wrote this article, explaining that the guru cannot take anyone’s karma. To this, a reader quoted the following verse which comes at the beginning of the Haribhakti-vilāsa written by Śrī Gopāla Bhatta Goswami and commented on by Śrī Sanātana Goswami. sāra-saṅgrahe’pi—sad-guruḥ svāśritaṁ śiṣyaṁ varṣam […]
Śrī Kṛṣṇa does not act like an actor in His līlās
Some explain Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s līlās as follows. Śrī Kṛṣṇa simply acts in His līlās like in a play. He also wrote the script of the play – so the whole līlā is just an act supervised by Him. Śrī Viśvanātha does not agree with such explanations, as we […]
Why Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is afraid of His mother Yaśodā
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān as we have seen repeatedly on this website. The Bhāgavata states that fear personified fears Him. He is the Supreme, and yet, He is depicted as afraid of His mother Yaśodā, when she picks up a stick and runs after Him to catch Him, […]
pīta: the color of Śrī Caitanya
As we saw in a previous post, Śrī Viśvanātha does considerable work in trying to establish the need for an explanation for the pīta or yellow colored avatāra mentioned by Gargācārya in the tenth canto of the Bhāgavata, and the discrepancy with the color śyāma mentioned in the […]
Śrī Brahmā’s Prayers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa
The prayers of Lord Brahmā to Śrī Kṛṣṇa appear in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam SB 10.14.1–16. After giving a summary of prominent avatāras in the third chapter of the First Canto, Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī declares that Kṛṣṇa is Svayaṁ Bhagavān. Brahmā confirms this in his famous prayers. We present […]