The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is divided into 12 books, called skandhas, and contains 335 chapters. It is a dialogue between Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī, the teacher, and the sages, headed by Śaunaka Ṛṣi. The dialogue took place in the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, India. In the […]
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 […]
It is very common to come across triumphant pronouncements in some modern Vaiṣṇava sects of how their gurus have refuted Advaita-vāda comprehensively. Yet a closer examination reveals that these sects do not have a clear understanding of even basic concepts of Advaita-vāda. More often than not, these sects […]
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 not 400,000 species of humans!
We examine the notoriously misinterpreted Bhāgavata 4.28.53 verse in this article.
An FAQ regarding the jīva’s svarūpa
I present a simple rule to live by for bhaktas
We examine Śrī Jīva’s classification of the two types of jīvas.
Maharajji answers questions in Śrī Guru Darśanam, pp. 249-250 Question: What are the qualifications for someone to do this līlā-smaraṇam? Answer: The qualification for smaraṇam is that one should be free from the identification with the body and the senses. If one identifies with these things and does līlā-smaraṇam, […]
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 […]