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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Comments on this website address me with the honorific ‘Prabhu’. I do not like this address.
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
There is no direct evidence in the scriptures that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Bhagavān Himself. What direct evidence exists is from sources like the dubious Caitanya Upaniṣad. This book is likely a modern invention because none of the six Goswamis cited it anywhere. Later writers like Śrī Viśvanātha […]
The Sandarbhas are *the* siddhānta, and the litmus test for any claims in the Caitanya tradition.
A surprisingly common misconception among modern adherents of Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism is that the guru ‘takes’ one’s karma. At the time of initiation, the guru is imagined to take on all karma of the disciple, akin to how Jesus takes the sins of his followers. From thereon, the guru […]
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