The Bhagavad-gītā has been variously explained by different commentators as teaching karma, jnāña or bhakti yoga. Some non-Hindus interpret it in their own way to justify their own acts. In their view, the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to justify ‘holy war’. Others criticize it for advocating violence. How can […]
As we examined in a previous article, the concept of mithyā in Advaita-vāda must be properly understood and represented. As a reminder, mithyā means sat-asat-bhinnam or “neither sat nor asat” Water seen in a mirage is neither sat nor asat. It is not asat like a son of […]
The word apauruṣeya is bandied about a lot, but few understand what it really means.
A nyāya is a logical argument that is used to establish one’s point. Śrī Jīva Goswami and Śrī Visvanatha make copious use of nyāyas to support their conclusions. Being the main tool for argument and refutation, it is important to be able to construct nyāyas without defects. Many […]
There are many sentences in śāstra which at first sight seem impossible. For example, śāstra contains the common example of a swan that can separate milk from water. Is this literally true? There is no mechanism in the swan’s beak to separate milk from water; also milk itself […]
According to Hindu tradition, time is divided into four yugas named Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali. The span of these yugas is extremely long. For example, Kali is 432,000 years long, Dvāpara goes for 864,000 years. Tretā is 1,296,000 years while Satya is 1,728,000 years long. Many interpret […]
Is dropping out of society in the name of bhakti a good thing?
“So you want to be a Hindu again, is it?” – sneered one person when I announced that I was leaving a modern Caitanya sect. I looked the person steadily in the eye, and responded, “I was born a Hindu and never stopped being one”. Most Hindus do […]
Definitions of viśeṣaṇa, upādhi and upalakṣaṇa.
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 […]
A curious notion in the minds of many in some modern sects of Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism is that they are in the material world because they envy Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The explanation proffered is that one’s desire to be the center of attention reflects an intrinsic desire to take God’s […]
We have seen the definition of pure or uttamā bhakti elsewhere. Many practitioners tend to mix pure bhakti with other methods like karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and dhyāna-yoga which gives rise to varieties of mixed bhakti. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s commentary on the Gītā explains the various mixtures at various places, […]
The Krishna Bhakti site 