Part two of Srila Sridhara Maharaja explaining the significance of Vasanta-pancami.

The Appearance of Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami

Then, the fourth personality is Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami. He was born nearly five hundred years ago in Krishnapur village, Hooghly District. He came in the Kayastha caste. His father, Hiranya Majumdar, was a very rich man. His father had one brother, Govardhana, but Raghunatha was the only child. His father and uncle were state landowners. At that time, they collected 20 lakhs (2,000,000) rupees in taxes. Twelve lakhs was to be paid to the king, and their net income was 8 lakhs.

Raghunatha heard about Mahaprabhu after his sannyasa. Hiranya and Govardhana had association with Advaita Acarya, and they used to make an annual contribution to all the superior Sanskrit scholars and their schools, in Bengal, of the time.

When Mahaprabhu went back to Sri Advaita Acarya’s house after his sannyasa, Raghunatha Dasa came and saw him, and became mad with love of Krishna. His heart was completely melted by Mahaprabhu’s beauty and charming personality, his devotion and his teachings of devotion for Krishna. Mahaprabhu himself was also aware of this. Raghunatha would not leave Mahaprabhu, but the Lord told him, ”Go home. Don’t be over-enthusiastic; control yourself. Keep your divine love for Krishna within your heart, and don’t express it outwardly. Don’t advertise it. Very soon the time will come when Krishna will guide you. He will make a way for you. Don’t allow any external show but keep it within your heart.”

sthira hanya ghare yao, na hao batula
krame krame paya loka bhava-sindhu-kula

“Compose yourself and go home – don’t be a madman. One reaches the shore of the material ocean gradually.”

Then, he later came into the association of Nityananda Prabhu in Panihati. Nityananda Prabhu said to him, “Give a feast here for my followers. You are the son of a rich man, so manage to give a feast here for my followers.”

Raghunatha did so, and Nityananda Prabhu was very satisfied. He also blessed him, saying, “Very soon your bright day will come.” And he addressed his devotees, “See this young boy—he has immense wealth; in abundance he has everything required for a young man’s enjoyment, but he does not care for it. Krishna’s grace has come down into his heart, so he does not care for anything of this world; but he’s mad to leave his home of material grandeur and become a street beggar. He has become mad for Krishna. Just see this high ideal—devotion, attraction. Love of Krishna has made him mad. He is very, very fortunate. This royal dignity and prosperity cannot please him.”

Anyway, he returned home. But one day Hiranya and the others noticed that he no longer entered the inner section of the house. He began to stay in the outer section only. His father and other guardians thought that his condition had become very grave, so ten men were engaged to keep guard that he may not leave.

One day in the early morning before sunrise, the family guru, Yadunandana Acarya, suddenly entered the house. Finding Raghunatha in the outer section of the house, he met him and requested him, “I am going out for some important business, but there is no one to worship my deity. So please ask one brahmana disciple in my name to serve the deity for a day or two during my absence.” As Yadunandana Acarya left, Raghunatha went with him. The guards saw him going with the family guru, so they did not interfere. On the way, Raghunatha requested the guru, “You may go ahead with your business, and I shall request the gentleman to do the worship in your absence.”

The guru left. Raghunatha took advantage of the situation. Perhaps he requested that man to do the service, but he started off in the direction away from Puri. He knew that as soon as they realized at home that he wasn’t returning, they would send men to search for him on the way to Puri. So for the whole day he walked in the opposite direction. In the evening he stopped at a cowherdsman’s house, took a little milk from him and passed the night in the cowshed. Then in the morning he started for Puri.

When his guardians found that Raghunatha had not returned home, they heard from the guards that he had gone with the family guru. They went to the guru’s house, but Raghunatha was not to be found. Then they thought that he must have left for Puri, and they sent ten men to that side. They returned without finding him. In this way, Raghunatha cleverly managed to escape. For twelve days he walked to Puri, taking food here and there for only three of those days. On the other days no food was necessary. He was helped by divine love, surcharged.

He had already heard that Mahaprabhu was at the Gambhira, the Kasi Misra Bhavan. He went there, and in the courtyard fell flat in obeisance unto Mahaprabhu. Mukunda Datta announced to the Lord, “Raghunatha has come.” Mahaprabhu said, “Yes, look after him. He has come with great difficulty, walking and walking without food. Take care of him for a few days. Then, he will manage for himself.”

That was the direction of Mahaprabhu. For a few days Raghunatha took prasadam there. After that he began to beg at the gate of the Jagannatha Temple. The parents now thought it was impossible to bring him back, and they did not make any further attempt. But they sent some money with one brahmana and two servants, instructing them to hire a house and offer Raghunatha a place to stay, and see that their son may not die without food. They tried their best, but Raghunatha continued to subsist on alms. Over a period of two years, Raghunatha invited Mahaprabhu to take prasadam at that house, and the Lord did so for his satisfaction. After that, Raghunatha left that idea, thinking, “This is only to produce some name and fame for me. Mahaprabhu is not pleased with such prasadam.”

Svarupa Damodara was the dearmost attendant of Mahaprabhu, and a very good scholar as well. Raghunatha was also a scholar; we find that later he left the world beautiful poetry in Sanskrit. Mahaprabhu gave Raghunatha over to the charge of Svarupa Damodara, saying, “I request Svarupa Damodara to take your charge, and he will advise you what will be necessary for your devotional life.”

But suddenly one day, Raghunatha approached Mahaprabhu: “Why have you managed to take me out of my house, and what is my best benefit? If you please tell me in your own words, my heart will be satisfied.”

Mahaprabhu said, ”I have given you over to the charge of Svarupa Damodara. He is more qualified than even myself. Still, if you want to hear something directly from me, then I say in brief:

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hanya krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

“Don’t indulge in worldly talk, don’t hear worldly talk. Try your best to avoid mundane matters. Don’t eat delicious dishes, but take whatever ordinary food may come of its own accord; and don’t dress luxuriously. Always try to take the name of Krishna with the attitude of giving respect to others, without expecting respect from anyone. Be humble, but never aspire after respectful dealings from others. In this way, try to take the name of Krishna constantly. And within, try to serve Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in Vrindavana. Mentally, be in Vrindavana rendering service to Sri Sri Radha-Krishna lila.”

Mahaprabhu told Raghunatha that this was the essence of His advice to him. Then, He again took Raghunatha’s hand and offered it to the hand of Svarupa Damodara. He said, “I am giving you to the charge of Svarupa Damodara. He is the best spiritual teacher. He will take care of you.”

After Raghunatha’s arrival in Puri, Mahaprabhu stayed there continuously for sixteen years. After that, Mahaprabhu departed from the world. Raghunatha left Puri and went to Vrindavana, thinking, “I have what is to be had; now I only want to see Vrindavana dhama once, and then I shall leave this body by jumping from the highest peak of Govardhana.” With this idea he went to Vrindavana, but there he came into contact with Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami; he found the beginning of a new life. He thought, “What is this? Mahaprabhu has not departed. He is living in them.”

Mahaprabhu delegated Rupa and Sanatana with the power to preserve the devotional current they had received from him, and to present it in a new light. They were asked to prove by drawing upon different scriptures that Mahaprabhu’s teachings are the very gist and purpose of all the scriptures. As is stated in Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah: “The attempt of every revealed scripture is to show me as the highest center. I am the Absolute.” So Mahaprabhu said, “Krishna is the Absolute. With the help of the different Scriptures and historical reference—by all means possible—try to prove that Krishna is svayam-bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that Vraja lila, Vrindavana lila, is the highest achievement.”

The two brothers had already begun that work when Raghunatha came into their association, and he found, “Oh! Mahaprabhu is here.” He abandoned the idea of leaving this world, and joined Rupa and Sanatana as their disciple. Mahaprabhu had already ordered Sanatana Goswami, ”My followers are very poor and helpless. You’ll have to look after them whenever they come to Vrindavana. You’ll have to be the caretaker of all my disciples that come to Vrindavana.” So Raghunatha came to Sanatana Goswami, and Sanatana took care of him. Raghunatha was so self-forgetful that one day as he was sitting on the banks of Radha kunda and taking the name, a tiger came just beside him to drink water, but Raghunatha paid no attention. Suddenly, Sanatana Goswami came upon the scene. He was astonished. Up until then Raghunatha had lived under the shade of a tree, but Sanatana said, ”Please construct a hut to live in. Don’t disregard my request; I entreat you to do this.” Then from that time he managed to construct a small dwelling and stay there. His abnegation, vairagya, was incomparable. Sanatana, Rupa, and all the Goswamis’ indifference to worldly enjoyment was extreme, but Raghunatha’s abnegation surpassed all.

When he was in Puri, sometimes he would beg prasadam at the gate of the Jagannatha Temple, and sometimes he would take prasadam at a chatram or free kitchen where rich men distribute prasadam for beggars. But then he thought, “I am taking what is due to others’ karma.”

The unsold Jagannatha prasadam is given to the cows of Jagannatha Puri. But when it becomes so stale that it emits a bad odor, even the cows cannot eat it. So now Raghunatha would wash that Prasadam with sufficient water, and adding a little salt he would eat that. Mahaprabhu heard about this, and one day when Raghunatha was taking that prasadam Mahaprabhu approached and suddenly took some and ate it. He said, “Oh! I have tasted many times the prasadam of Jagannatha, but such sweet prasadam I have never taken anywhere!”

So, what is the taste in prasadam? It is not mundane. Raghunatha had such intense faith in Prasadam that he lived on apparently rotten things with a little salt, and he was the son of a family of kingly opulence. So much indifference was in him. And in his last days in Vrindavana, he would pass each day taking only a pot of ghol , buttermilk. This is not possible for a man of flesh and blood. Great souls like the Goswamis are really personalities come down from the other world, and so it was possible for them to show the ideal of abnegation. It is not possible for ordinary humans of flesh and blood to observe such a degree of abnegation without dying. But the Goswamis created the standard and ideal by such vairagya. At the same time, Raghunatha studied Rupa Goswami’s presentation of the highest type of rasa or devotional Sentiment: madhura-rasa. By our association with this day and by our humble attempt to discuss all these matters, we may be benefited in the achievement of our goal. This is the day of the advent of such great personalities.

Departure of Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura

Today is also the day that Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura departed from this world. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura appeared about 180 years after the Advent of Sri Gaurangadeva. He composed a commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam and many other books to help the devotees coming later in the sampradaya . He was such a great acarya. In his own special way, he has dealt elaborately with many spiritual matters, giving the proper approach. He was the scriptural dispensation of Sri Rupa-Sanatana, etc. By his grace, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana composed the Gaudiya Vaishnava commentary on Vedanta-sutra, Sri Govinda-bhasya . From such great masters there is much to be read.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti was born in a brahmana family in Devagram of Murshidabad district. He was a great scholar of Sanskrit. He came in the line of Sri Narottama Thakura and gave us extensive scriptural writings to help us very precisely and elaborately to know about the pastimes of Mahaprabhu and Radha-Krishna, Vrindavana, Navadvipa, and the guru-parampara . The Gurvastakam we chant daily was written by him, as well as many other important works. Srila Rupa Goswami wrote Sri-Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, or The Nectarean Ocean of Devotional Joy, and Srila Visvanatha wrote Sri-Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-bindu, or a drop of that ocean. And from Sri Rupa’s Sri-Ujjvala-nilamani, The Brilliant Jewel of the Supernatural World, or Krishna in madhura-rasa, he gave Ujjvala-nilamani-kirana, or a ray of that jewel. In this way, he has given volumes of books and poems. As Sri Rupa Goswami gave the astakaliya-lila of Krishna, or twenty-four hour service engagement with Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti has similarly given in Caitanya-lila twenty-four hour engagement in the service of Sriman Mahaprabhu. So he has done great service to the sampradaya and profusely bestowed his mercy upon us.

Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi

By Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva-Goswami

In the following excerpt from Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion: Volume Two Srila Sridhara Maharaja begins to speak about some of the numerous events that make Vasanta-pancami an especially holy day.

The Appearance of Srimata Vishnupriya Devi

Today is the Holy Day of Vasanta-pancami, the fifth day of the light fortnight of the moon, month of Magha, when Krishna is worshiped with the new flowers of spring. On this day, the holy advent of Srimati Vishnupriya Devi occurred. Her father was Sri Sanatana Misra of Navadvipa, who was a brahmana and great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Srimati Vishnupriya Devi is the eternal consort of Sri Gaurasundara in his feature of Gaura-Narayana, and according to Sri-Gauraganoddesadipika, she is directly Satyabhama in Krishna’s Dvaraka lila.

She was the second wife of Sriman Mahaprabhu in the householder period of his pastimes. From childhood, she was devout in the divine service of the Lord. Kasinatha Pandita was the intermediary in her marriage to Mahaprabhu. She was the ideal of divine self-surrender at the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu. When she was only fourteen, Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, and after that she lived the rest of her life in penance. From early morning she would chant the holy name the whole day, and for every mahamantra that she chanted, she would put one grain of rice into a clay pot. After chanting her quota, she would take that rice and cook it and offer it to the Lord. That was all she would take for her subsistence, so gradually she became emaciated. She passed her days in this way.

Her brother was her guardian after Saci-devi departed, and ultimately she had a murti of Mahaprabhu, and she would worship him in that form. And since the time of Vishnupriya, that worship is being continued up to the present in the temple here in Navadvipa known as ’Mahaprabhura Badi’ (the home of Mahaprabhu). So this day of the year is connected with her holy memory, and we may achieve her grace if we honor this time in her name, discussing her pastimes. She will be propitiated and Sri Caitanyadeva will also be pleased with us, giving us a step forward in our transcendental march towards him.

The Appearance of Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi

Today is also the appearance day of Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi. He is considered to be Vrishabhanu-raja of Varsana, Vrindavana, the father of Srimati Radharani. Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi was born in a brahmana family at Chattagram, and he bore the title “Vidyanidhi” on account of his scholarship. Apparently he was a man of luxurious habits. In those days, people who could afford it would have a house in Navadvipa on the banks of the holy Ganges river; they would from time to time visit Navadvipa to regularly bathe in the Ganges and remain for some time in this Holy Place, and then return to their homes to continue their livelihood. So, Pundarika Vidyanidhi also had a house in Navadvipa.

Here, in Gaura-lila, Gadadhara Pandita was the representation of Srimati Radharani herself. At that time, Gadadhara Pandita was a young boy. He was younger than Mahaprabhu. Mukunda Datta was a follower and admirer of Mahaprabhu Sri Caitanyadeva, and he also came from Chattagram, the village of Pundarika Vidyanidhi. He knew Pundarika Vidyanidhi to be a man of higher religious type, that is, a Bhagavata type or Krishna bhakta. But outwardly Pundarika Vidyanidhi lived a life of luxury. He was a well-to-do man, a general zamindar (state landowner). Mukunda Datta naturally knew him when he came to Navadvipa, since he hailed from the same place. Mukunda Datta went to Gadadhara Pandita and asked him, “Would you like to have the darsana of a Vaishnava?”

From childhood Gadadhara Pandita was very fond of Vaishnavas and Krishna nama. He had much fondness for Nimai Pandita when the Lord returned from Gaya. Previously he was very much afraid of Nimai Pandit, because whenever they met, Nimai Pandit would always tackle him with some apparent quarrel about etymology or something of that nature. So, after returning from Gaya, when Sri Caitanyadeva expressed his devotional aspect, he said one day, “Gadadhara, from your very childhood you are a devotee of Krishna, and my days have been wasted discussing grammar and mundane literature. But you, Gadadhara, my friend, your life is very successful. You have fulfillment of life. From the beginning you are fond of Krishna nama.” So, from the beginning Gadadhara Pandita’s heart was towards Krishna. Therefore when Mukunda Datta asked him, “Would you like to see a Vaishnava who has come from afar?” the reply came, “Yes, yes, I shall go; take me there.”

So Mukunda Datta took Gadadhara Pandit to Pundarika Vidyanidhi. And what kind of Vaishnava was Pundarika Vidyanidhi? He was sitting on a luxurious bedstead, smoking a very ornate and valuable pipe. His head was adorned with beautiful oiled curly locks, and many valuable pastes were anointed on his body. Two attendants fanned him on either side. Gadadhara Pandit thought, “Mukunda has brought me to this luxury loving man sitting on the bedstead and smoking? What type of Vaishnava has he brought me to see?” He was disappointed at heart, and Mukunda could guess it. Mukunda Datta was a very good singer, and in a very sweet tone he sang this sloka of Bhagavatam :

aho baki yam stana-kala-kutam
jighamsayapayayad apy asadhvi
lebhe gatim dhatry ucitam tato ‘nyam
kam va dayalum saranam vrajema

This sloka was chanted by Mukunda in a very sweet tone, and this created a wonderful effect in Pundarika Vidyanidhi. The Bhagavatam says, “Who else but Krishna should we approach? Who can be so kind, so gracious? There is limitless grace in him. Why? Baki, Putana, came to kill him in a treacherous way, taking the garb of dhatri, a motherly garb. In this way she came to try and kill him; yet Krishna gave her a position as a nursemaid in his group of assisting mothers. So gracious is the Lord. Who else can we approach for our good?”

This is the meaning of the verse. “She painted deadly poison on her breast, and came to suckle the boy Krishna. So treacherous was her action. In the garb of motherly affection she tried to murder the boy, and she was given such a high position as an attendant of his mother. She was elevated to the motherly group. Such grace, such mercy he showed, without considering or passing judgment on the worth of that action. So other than that kind-hearted and gracious Krishna, where else should we go for shelter?”

This entered the heart of Pundarika Vidyanidhi and began to vibrate, and produced such force that he was stunned; then shivering began, and madly gesticulating, he began to pull his hair and tear his silken dress, kicking over the tobacco and pipe. His rich bedding and dress were ruined, and he began to roll on the ground and cry, kam va dayalum saranam vrajema: “In whom shall we take shelter other than Him?” Then Gadadhara Pandita thought, “Oh, I have committed a great offense in my mind, thinking that he was not a Vaishnava, because of his fashionable dress and style. Really, how great a Vaishnava he is—what a wonderful effect the memory of Krishna caused in him!”

Then Gadadhara Pandit revealed his mind: “Mukunda, I have committed an offense against this great Vaishnava. What will be my fate? When I first saw him, I shunned him; I committed an offense. I think that if I take mantra from him, become his disciple, then he may forgive all my offenses. There is no other way to be absolved from this Vaishnava aparadha. I shall have to inform my Lord Gauracandra, Nimai Pandit, about this.” So they left the place of Pundarika Vidyanidhi, and Gadadhara went to take Nimai Pandit’s permission to become the disciple of Pundarika Vidyanidhi.

Before anyone knew that Pundarika had come from Chattagram to Navadvipa, and even before Mahaprabhu had met him, Mahaprabhu was seen to suddenly cry, “Bap Pundarik! Bap Pundarik! ” In the mood of Srimati Radharani, Nimai was taking his name. Bap means father. So he was calling, “Father, Pundarika! Father, Pundarika!” Nimai Pandit was chanting like this, in the mood of Radharani.

When Gadadhara made his proposal to Mahaprabhu, the Lord immediately replied, “Yes, very good proposal. Go and accept him at once.” Gadadhara Pandita represents Radharani in Gaura-lila, and Pundarika is Radharani’s father in Krishna lila: the guru is like the father, and the disciple is like the child. So Mahaprabhu at once approved and Gadadhara took initiation from Pundarika Vidyanidhi. He was none other than Vrishabhanuraja, and Gadadhara was the incarnation of Radharani in Gaura-lila.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi would not take a bath in the Ganges because he could not tolerate that his feet would touch the holy Ganges river. Before daybreak, he would go to the Ganges and take some of the water on his head. He did not go to the Ganges by day, because he could not tolerate to see persons who would dive into the water or spit there and contaminate the pure, holy water by misusing it. Before worship, prayer, etc., the general pandita section may bathe in the Ganges and fast to purify their bodies of sin. But Pundarika Vidyanidhi would rather drink some Ganges water prior to his daily worship and duties, thereby teaching us the proper worshipful respect due to the Ganga.

In Puri, his dearmost friend and associate was Sri Svarupa Damodara. When he went to Puri, he felt some pain in his heart that the priestly servants of Jagannatha dressed the Lord in starched cloth, which is generally considered impure. When cloth is manufactured by hand loom, the thread is soaked in boiled rice water which acts as a paste to hold it firm in the loom. That cloth is considered impure, and must first be rinsed in water before offering it to the Deity. But in Puri, that was not the practice. They directly used starched cloth for dressing Lord Jagannatha, and Pundarika Vidyanidhi could not accommodate this.

That night, he dreamt that both Jagannatha and Balarama came to him and dealt slaps to his cheeks, saying, “You have come here to point out the defects in my servitors? What is this?!”

They both began to slap him, and the dream was so intense that when he rose in the morning he found that both his cheeks were inflamed. He expressed to his most intimate friend, Svarupa Damodara: “My dear friend, Svarupa Damodara, such is my position. I had this objectionable feeling in my heart towards these servitors, so Jagannatha and Balarama have punished me in this way. See the swelling on both cheeks!”

Such was the nature of Pundarika Vidyanidhi. In essence, we are told that he is the father of Srimati Radharani, incarnated here as Pundarika Vidyanidhi. A slight holy association of this day, his appearance day, will help us a great deal in our advancement of spiritual life.

The Appearance of Sri Raghunandana Thakura

Thirdly, this is also the birthday of Raghunandana Thakura. He was born in a place named Srikhanda, near Katwa, in a Kaviraja family, a lineage of Ayurvedic doctors. Raghunandana was the son of Mukunda Kaviraja, who was such a notable doctor that even kings called for him for treatment. Raghunandana was a bachelor his whole life. His figure was extraordinarily beautiful, and he was very fond of dancing. From the beginning he was, of course, a natural devotee.

The family of Mukunda Thakura worshiped their ancestral Deity at home. Once, when Raghunandana was a growing boy, who had perhaps only recently received the sacred thread and admission to worship, his father asked him, “I’m going out and won’t return in time. You please worship the deity and feed him—offer bhogam for his food.”

When he was away, Raghunandana’s mother cooked many items and brought them to the temple, and asked Raghunandana to offer them to the deity. Generally the doors are kept closed during worship, so behind the closed doors Raghunandana offered and prayed to the Lord , ”Please take these dishes I am offering you—please eat.” But the Sri Murti did not answer or come forward to eat. Raghunandana began to cry. ”My father will rebuke me! He has requested me to feed you, and you are not eating. I’ll be punished. You have to take this food!” The sincere boy began to cry in such a way that Krishna had to eat. Raghunandana was satisfied, and came out from the deity room. His mother came to remove the prasadam.

“What is this? All the plates are empty!”
Raghunandana replied, ”You asked me to feed the deity. He has taken.”
His mother said angrily, ”You, boy, you have eaten it! The deity doesn’t eat. We offer, everything remains, and afterwards we take the prasadam . You wicked boy, you have turned out to be such a rogue, you have eaten everything.”
“No, no, I did not eat, the deity ate everything.”
“This is impossible, you foolish boy! Do you want to make a fool of me? This can never happen!”
He began to cry, ”No, I’m speaking the truth.”
“Alright, let your father come, and I shall ask him to punish you.”
Mukunda returned, and Raghunandana’s mother complained, ”Your boy has grown to be such a rogue! He says the deity has eaten.”
Raghunandana also petitioned his father, ”Yes, the deity has eaten. He would not take in the beginning, but I began to cry, and then he ate.”
“Is this true?”
“Yes, it is true my father, I am not lying.”
“Can you show me?”
“I shall try.”

So he was given another chance to worship, and from a hidden place his father could see that the Deity had actually taken the food.

Such a devotee was Raghunandana Thakura. When he danced in sankirtana, it was such a charming scene that even Mahaprabhu was attracted. During the Jagannatha Ratha-yatra seven special groups would chant and dance, and in the party from Srikhanda we find that Raghunandana was the dancer. So today is the day connected with the memory of Sri Raghunandana Thakura, who is considered to be Pradyumna avatara . Many more incidents occur in his pastime; I have only touched on them. It is also said that near the banks of the lake Madhu-puskarini there is a Jambu tree, and according to his wish two Kadamba flowers bloom on that tree every day for the worship of his deity. Many miracles are found in his pastimes.

Mantralogy is a New York-based collective owned by Saci-suta, Keli-lalita, Gauravani, and Rasa-acharya. They strive to stimulate the kirtana scene by promoting the bhakti lifestyle alongside their professionally produced albums and their clothing line. They are probably best-known for their releases of Gauravani and As Kindred Spirits’ Ten Million Moons and The Mayapuris Mridanga, but that’s only a small part of what they have come out with and many new releases are on their way.

I got intrigued by their approach to sharing the teachings and lifestyle of bhakti because it brings out so clearly the never-ending tension between conserving and renewing, caution and risk-taking, dynamism and stagnation. This tension seems to be especially heightened in relation to ancient spiritual traditions that have to answer to the challenges of the constantly changing  modern times: how to re-present the basic elements of the path to better affect people’s lives without re-presenting one off the path altogether? Often the line between renegade and reformer is a fine one. Here I offered Gauravani and Mantralogy a chance to draw the lines themselves instead of having others do it for them.

Gurunistha dasa: What was the reason for forming Mantralogy and what is your mission statement? What are you trying to accomplish?

Gauravani: In a very simple way, Mantralogy is meant to support and grow the subculture surrounding mantra music, sacred music. Saci-suta and Keli-lalita had started Equal Vision Records originally as a Krishna Core record label doing hardcore music. That was primarily devotees teaching bhakti through punk rock music. Over time their record label has become more mainstream, but their passion for bhakti and for music that transmits bhakti and shares bhakti in a relevant way has not changed. And so when we all met we had the opportunity to talk about some more ideas and the idea came up to do this creative company that was built around the idea of creating, sustaining, and supporting the subculture of mantra music.

Gurunistha: It says on your website that you “seek to combine the edgy punk rock attitude with the ancient uplifting philosophies and culture of conscious living and music.” How do you harmonize the two seemingly opposing influences? What is similar about punk rock and kirtana?

Gauravani: Actually they are extremely similar, because they both have an element of revolution. And the ultimate revolution was the revolution that was brought into the streets of India 500 years ago by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the revolution of consciousness, the first statement of which was that “I am not this body.” It is so revolutionary. Because so many great people throughout time have created revolutions with a simple idea, like we are all equal in the eyes of God, or that race should not separate the rights of an individual, but an even more revolutionary statement is that not only is there no difference between black and white, but you are actually not even that body. That body is just a vehicle, an experience for your soul. That is an even greater revolutionary statement. So art, music, poetry has always been the backbone of revolution. Right now the world is experiencing a revolution: in the way we eat, people are eating organic food, food grown locally; in the way we dress, organic cotton, sustainable fabrics; our politics, we are trying to be more kind; energy policy, moving away from things like nuclear energy to more sustainable kinds of energy like wind, solar . . . Even the way we worship. We are trying not to just be spiritualists in a church or in a temple but to be spiritual in our lives, in the way we deal with our children, the way we deal with our spouses, our community; it’s a revolution. I mean, that’s what the 60s were all about, a convergence of all these seemingly disparate influences, country music and folk music, gospel and blues, philosophy and youth energy and politics, it was all coming together around this idea of a revolution of equality. But this revolution is even more important than the revolution of the 60s because this is a revolution of consciousness. This revolution that we are all experiencing now is going to come together like a real tsunami of consciousness.

Gurunistha: So you believe it’s actually going to be a worldwide movement?

Gauravani: It’s already happening. The only thing is that people like us, revolutionaries like us, need to see and facilitate the connections. Someone asked me at Yoga Journal about mantra music and how I define it and I said, “I consider Christian rock a form of mantra music.” Because what is Christian rock? Young people they want to worship Christ in a way that they can understand. They don’t want to be living in their parents’ or some ancient version of Christianity; they want relevant Christianity. So it is all the same, whether it’s kirtana from India, or whether it’s Christian rock, or it’s gospel music, or native traditions it is all the same. It’s a revolution in making spirituality real and relevant, right here, right now.

Has it become the mainstream? No. Okay, but arguably, this world is a place where people are facilitating their own desires, so it will always be a place where anything that is against that is an outsider philosophy, against the norm. So I agree with that, I suppose, but that is not our mood at Mantralogy. Our mood is, just like within 18 days the Pandavas had completely destroyed all the demonic forces and the whole world was handed to them, and said: here you go, now do something wonderful with it, so our mission is, tomorrow morning everything is going to change, it’s all right around the corner, its coming. (laughter) And if we live our whole lives like that and ultimately we look across the room at each other and we are old guys playing our drums and singing our songs, that’s okay too. But at least it will be a revolution of consciousness. Even if it doesn’t manifest externally, the most important thing is that we are able to really make it manifest inside our hearts.

Gurunistha: Mantralogy has been the trailblazer of making Gaudiya kirtana more appealing and marketable to the masses. And it seems like you’ve been really successful in making it available for non-devotees and devotees alike. But apparently some devotees have felt that it’s too commercial. I was interested to hear what their accusations were and how you deal with that kind of a thing?

Gauravani: How do you answer a question like this? (laughter) Here is what it comes down to: there are often two extremes to any idea, that is the way of the world that; that is the way of the accepting and rejecting of the mind. There is one side and there is another side. So people like me and most of the crew at Mantralogy, our idea is to be in the mood of the munificence of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which is that the fruits grow and they fall and if people take them they take them, you do what you can. You’re not worried about the problems but more trying to make the opportunity available.

I guess there are so many things that people could criticize about what we do. They could say that we are all allowing for there to be money in exchange for kirtana. They could say that we are chanting with people who are not pure. We are supporting and encouraging people who don’t have a strong spiritual practice, or they could say that someone like me, I’m a musician, what qualification do I have to chant the holy name? I have no taste, I have no deep understanding, I have no experience. I just have a little bit of love for other musicians and chanters, I like doing it, and I like to share it with people. So there are a lot of things to criticize and I’ve come to the conclusion that probably many of the criticisms are true. So that’s not the problem, the problem is not that they are not true. The problem is, what do you do with these things that people have highlighted?

My sense is that each of us, according to our nature, has some service to render in the world, and that rather than looking at our difficulties, looking at things that we don’t like with each other, what we should try and do is choose those few things that we really appreciate about each other and fan the flames. I’ve had criticism from some people who don’t know me; I’ve had criticism from some very close friends. But I’ve also had encouragement from both of those groups. To be very honest with you, it took me this last year through a dark time, where I was really questioning everything, questioning myself, questioning what I was doing, and questioning if I was creating some offense or difficulty for other bhaktas. And by the Lord’s sweet grace I have come through that. And now I’m not questioning so much because in the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna says how it ‘s better you do your duty improperly than you do some one else’s perfectly.

I’m sure I will learn, I am sure all of us at Mantralogy will look back 10 years, 15 years from now and say, “Boy, if we’d only known we would have done so many things differently!” But now we are just excited, we are happy to be doing this. We are grateful and we are moving forward.

Gurunistha: There seems to be a strong need for unity and non-sectarianism among the younger devotee crowd and they really seem to respond well to what you guys are doing. But it seems like a lot of them have this idea that the solution to the controversies and differences among the devotee community is to emphasize kirtana and de-emphasize philosophy. Because there’s a lot of room for differences and fights in philosophy and debate. What do you see as the solution to the problems within the Gaudiya community.

Gauravani: I would answer this question differently depending on who I am speaking to. The culture of the Vedas is a culture of respect, so even great sages who would disagree with each other would first hear each other out completely, and would do that in a cycle endlessly until some resolution was achieved. One would hear the other one out completely and then ask, “Have you finished? Okay, now let me address it.” Then the next sage would address, address, address and then ask, “Have you finished?” “I’ve said everything.” “Okay, now my turn”. They would go back and forth like this. If there is no resolution then lets break as friends and next time we come together we will again begin a discussion from this place. That letter that I just read I think addresses a little bit of the mood that sometimes in our eagerness and enthusiasm to do something we forget that the point is the people you are involved with. The point is, it’s supposed to be a practical opportunity to apply and learn the spiritual principles. If we get so caught up in the thing that we forget to build up the relationships then we’ve made the mistake.

And I think for our Vaishnava community, and frankly for the world–I really don’t see a difference between the two, which is an answer to the previous question–the fighting that goes on in the world, the fighting that goes on in all the different communities or families or relationships comes down to this idea that sometimes when someone disagrees with us we feel like it is our job to shame them. We do it in our politics; we do it in our interpersonal relationships. Disagreement can result in separation, but it shouldn’t necessarily result in shaming. Neither party should be shamed. There should be a sense of worthiness, that even though we disagree I respect you and I value your perspective and I give you encouragement and respect, even though I disagree. I think we in ourselves need to start by trying to cultivate a sense of worthiness, that we are children of God, that we are Krishna’s loved and cherished people. He loves us and he has seen us do things that we can not even imagine: terrible things, but still he loves us. So we should say okay I get it I am worthy. I need to act in a way that shows that I am worthy of God’s love. That is the key thing. We need to move away from this culture of shaming one another. If someone shows a weakness, vulnerability actually it is a great opportunity to express love and encouragement.

Gurunistha: Do you feel like there is more of trying to shame other people in religious circles? It seems like that sometimes.

Gauravani: It’s a good question. I think it can be seen like that. I don’t think so, but I think because religious organizations tend to have a shared set of rules and scriptures, that it’s easier to checklist whether someone is on or off. So it seems like there is more of a culture there. But I think people will find ways to shame each other. (laughter) Politics is full of it, there is so much mud slinging, it is just one person trying to shame the other guy so much that people won’t vote for him. It comes from the same place that terrorism comes from: deep fear, deep anger, and deep shame. That is why kirtana is the only thing that can defeat terrorism. Because kirtana wakes up your soul and you begin to use your voice, the voice of your soul, and you begin to hear yourself sing, singing these beautiful words and you hear yourself doing this worthy and beautiful thing, appreciated by those around you. It begins to grow a culture of appreciation and encouragement on a spiritual level, because in kirtana, whether someone can sing our not everyone is encouraged to chant. Everybody’s doing something, learning to play an instrument and embracing each other while they dance. We’ve all seen it, even people who don’t get along they dance right next to one-another, through kirtana those things fade.

Gurunistha: That brings me back to the original question. It does seem like you feel kirtana itself is sufficient to bring people together but what about the philosophical side? How much needs to be known about the philosophy behind kirtana? How effective is it if you don’t have a clear idea of what it’s about?

Gauravani: That is an important question. If you’re asking me, is it important to also take time to listen and hear and read and associate with people who are more knowledgeable than yourself to try to understand in a deeper way, yes absolutely. But my sense is also that chanting the holy name is like one of those little things that

the kids get, you put the little thing in water and it turns into a giant dinosaur! (Laughter) It’s all in there, you put it in water and it expands. So if you don’t take care of it properly you could probably ruin it, but basically the name is all you need. That is my understanding. There are so many different pieces. Like in the analogy of the seed, you have the sun, and you have the weather, and you have the rain, and certain temperature and a type of soil . . . But those things can’t be quantified, basically the name is golokera prema dhana…It’s this touchstone, the name Itself. I really believe it. Especially with the way Mahaprabhu did it in sankirtana. The name brings two devotees together and when you have two devotees together you have a sanga. That means you have association and loving service, and with loving service, you then have an opportunity to cleanse the heart and become humble through that service. This is all just through the natural experience of kirtana. Then through a humble heart you begin to have a deeper spiritual understanding to hear the name more properly. So it all comes but it comes from kirtana, sanga kirtana I think is the magic thing, the name is powerful, yes, it’s all in the name but sankirtan, that is the main thing, that is how I see it. This is why so many young devotees stress sankirtana over japa. This is a bit of a contentious issue, because many young people do japa, obviously everyone values japa as a personal connection to Krishna, but many young people are more attracted to kirtana than to japa. And people have criticized before, certain hard-line devotees, they say, “You’re just in kirtana so the guys can look at the girls and the girls can look at the guys; You’re just in kirtana to show off your mrdanga playing . . .” or whatever. But the point is, many people don’t think that these young kids could be at the mall, or they could be going on a date to the movies with the same girl they are in kirtana with, but instead they are in kirtana. So we just try to encourage. “You want to see this girl? Take her to the 24-hour kirtana at New Vrindavan, Agnideva prabhu will be there! Come, bring your girlfriend and sit with her for 24 hours of non-stop Harinam! (Laughter)

Gurunistha: That is a strong point, that if you guys didn’t do it the way you do it a lot of the kids would never go to the temple, they would never show up. It’s not attractive to them.

Gauravani: I think our job as representatives of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is to distribute the fruit. So if someone doesn’t want to take the fruit – you just do your best, you try to give it in a way that they will appreciate what it is. So we just try. Everyone has their own capacity, and there are people out there conversing with scholars in a language I don’t understand, and there are people who are immersed in puja, there are so many unlimited aspects of this beautiful, beautiful life and this world of bhakti and seva. So the main thing I think is that we should all appreciate each other and the different ways that we’re doing it, and help each other and care for each other, and if we see someone going into a place of difficulty we should reach out a hand, with a sense that they are worthy, not to create shame.

Gurunistha: Historically speaking it seems like there is like a moment of breach happening right now in the movement. The young Gaudiyas are breaking out of the old mold and the die-hard old school bhaktas resist that, but it seems like they can’t stop it.

Gauravani: The way I see it, whether it is two people or two hundred people working together, you have to be like minded, you have to work with people you can work with. I see that actually, there are many older devotees who are trying to see how to begin to train and synergize with the younger devotees. That is the key thing I think, there are many people who are harmonic, resonant and we should work together. I was just speaking with Agnideva prabhu about helping him record his next album. I have a certain energy and creative enthusiasm and a certain technique and he has the same thing from his experience, and he is wiser than me, more experienced than me, so together we’ll be able to do something better than either one of us could do by ourselves. So that is the future. The future is people from not even Gaudiya traditions saying, “Oh, you want to do this and we want to do this. Let’s work together. You have a beautiful center and you want to learn Gita and we can teach Gita, let’s work together. Vegetarian cooking, we can serve you in some way; chanting, everyone working together. The way I see the mission of Mahaprabhu’s movement is, not to say “Oh, these guys have a nice thing we’ve got to have one of those. They have nice dancers, we need to have nice dancers!” I don’t see it like that. I see these guys are amazing at dance, lets try to find a way to introduce Krishna consciousness into their presentation in a way that will give them something better than what they had before and allow them to use all their expertise in a way that we never could to bring this message to everyone. I know Prabhupada used to say that he was building a society of brahmanas, and this is my humble understanding: a brahmana is a teacher, a facilitator. So rather than to take over society, our mission should be to find any place in society where we can serve with knowledge in a humble and heartfelt way and those people will very soon see that this is that touchstone, that transcendental gem that can transform all these wonderful qualities that they had and bring it to the next level. We’re not trying to stop people from doing what they are doing. We’re trying to transform what they are doing into something even better than what they originally imagined. So our mission as “brahmanas”–, you know I’m not even first initiated so I can’t say that. But our mission of attempting to be brahmanas is to see ourselves as facilitators and guides and to help people do what they do better. It’s and offering.

Gurunistha: The New York kirtana scene seems to be pretty active and growing.

I was particularly interested in how the New York City kirtana scene has evolved during the time that you have been part of it and what part have you guys played in its growth?

Gauravani: It’s growing all over the whole world. We were just in Australia. It’s booming in Australia, its booming in Trinidad, its booming everywhere. It’s growing. But in New York an interesting thing happened, sometimes people criticize me or Mantralogy for trying to be business-minded. The truth is actually  that we’ve been creating an encouragement to anyone who wants to take up kirtana to start chanting. So I notice that more and more regular people are starting practicing chanting, learning harmonium, learning drum and chanting. So that is one contribution we’ve made: to encourage people that you don’t need to be a musician, you can just be a regular old Joe or Lisa and chant, and learn, and enjoy. So that is something that I have seen really booming, growing fast. I like that a lot. The other thing I’ve seen a change in is we really try our best to introduce people to Caitanya Mahaprabhu in a way that helps them understand how vital he is to really getting deep into chanting. We’ve introduced people to the Siksastakam, we’ve introduced people to the story of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and to that deep crying and calling aspect of chanting which is not there so much in some of the light, just fun kirtanas. We are really encouraging people to go deep. That is also something people really resonate with.

Gurunistha: Is that something that’s absent in the rest of the kirtana scene?  Is it more like a big party otherwise?

Gauravani: I think it is a nice opportunity for people to get together. So I think people see it as a replacement for this group singing and chanting which has existed in all cultures of the world, which has just evaporated in western culture. Gathering together to make music is such a vital part of any community, which is gone. So people have used kirtana to replace that, but I think it is just a divine trick of Krishna, of God, to use that to reintroduce chanting. Because of course chanting in not just community music, chanting is reciting these super powerful sounds. So now we’re getting the chance to reintroduce the idea of really, really going deep and crying and calling as part of that experience. The other thing that we have done in New York especially is that we have really tried to encourage everyone to get together from different communities. We are trying not to have it be just Gaudiya chanters, Hare Krishna’s only. We are trying to say oh, you’re from here and you’re from here, lets all do this together. We’ll support you and you’ll support us and we will create a community around chanting.

Gurunistha: That seems to be something that helps other groups appreciate Gaudiyas more.

Gauravani: Sankirtana is our game man, we know all about bringing everyone together and chanting. But the Gaudiyas have a lot to learn from everyone else too. It’s nice, we can learn how to take care of our bodies a little better. We come from this ascetic tradition so we could take care of the body a little better to keep the kirtana going longer. Eating healthy, these things we can learn from all the beautiful yogis and how to do seva, how to keep things as they say in India very “pukka”, keeping things very nice and high class and having everything just right so it attracts the mind as well as the soul. There is so much sharing going on.

I should say that my Guru Maharaja is putting a lot of energy into this center on the Lower Eastside called the Bhakti center. They have a café now and they are doing nice vegan and vegetarian Prasad. We host a lot of the kirtans there, there are yoga classes. So it is a nice place where people from various traditions can come together and just get a very laid back but straight forward Vaisnava experience without so much of the usual associations of a temple or ashram.

Gurunistha: What do you see as the future of kirtan in general and that of Mantralogy?

Gauravani: You are the future of kirtan. I mean that. It was a joke, but I do mean that. Well let’s see what Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu have in mind.

Gurunistha: You don’t have any five-year-plans or anything like that?

Gauravani: Actually, I am here in New York for a series of meetings. We are always getting together to rethink this: how are we doing this, how are we doing that; How do we do this right. It’s hard since I am speaking on behalf of a team of people but I’m just one of the team of people. So from my perspective this is how I see it: the grassroots movement of kirtana should really be encouraged to grow. I really want to focus the next five years on putting energy into events like the 24hour kirtana, which are just really about getting together and really chanting and putting our hearts into it, and encouraging others to learn instruments and grow, grow, grow. More people, more opportunities, grow the grassroots side of it. The other thing we will be focusing on is really trying to create the kind of elements that give a subculture life: cool clothing, cool music. Things that people can bring into their “normal” life as a connection to this alter ego that they have, with the ultimate idea of unifying it all under one [persona], “This is who I am. I love kirtana!” So creating clothes that are cool to wear around when your going out or when your with your friends. Also teaching people how to play the instruments and sing the songs and creating good music, cool music they can listen to anytime; creating events that they are excited to go to and they want to bring their friends to and invite other people; create a subculture that will sustain the growth of this – that’s my focus . . .

That, and not pissing anyone else off.

Gurunistha: That’s a tough one!

The three young men—perhaps eighteen years old—huddled closely, speaking in whispers as they gestured towards the life-sized diorama. One shook his head while stifling a laugh amidst a playful, but hushed debate. The boys were gathered in front of a model of samsara, depicting the movement of the individual soul through a growing, maturing, and aging human body. Readying a rusty Bhagavad-Gita sloka and rustling up a bit of boldness, I inserted myself into the conversation and pointed decisively towards the figure that I thought best corresponded with the young men’s relative youth. I then, with a self-deprecating roll of the eyes, gestured to the more mature figure that might represent me.

Although I had done little more than extend a finger in the direction of some resin statues, I suddenly had a rapt audience. Not insignificantly, I was also a Caucasian westerner who had traveled all over these young people’s country of India, and who seemed (to the group’s collective amazement) to also know something of the philosophy underlying the fairly crude tableau that served as a backdrop for our meeting.

One of the men asked, “You have this [philosophy] in the USA?” I replied, with a hint of pride, that not only did we have the philosophy, but for several decades we have also had – in nearly every major city – deity forms that are only beginning to manifest in this particular region of India.

Not one to dominate a conversation, I asked my new acquaintances about their ambitions, schooling, and hometown. And not to my surprise, this group wanted just about everything that, at least on some level, characterized my life back in the U.S. Indeed, what eighteen-year-old in India is not excited by the economic developments in that country, new prospects for mobility of all kinds, and the demise of some of the most stringent socio-religious norms?

When I was younger, I might have cautioned this same group: “You won’t know what India is losing in its pursuit of ‘progress’ until it’s gone. Trust me. I’m an American. The west is a hellish place.” For various reasons, I did not conclude my interactions with this small but impressionable audience by issuing a grim prophesy. Rather, I wished them the best and took my leave with folded hands and a smile.

As I made my way onto the grounds of the architecturally staggering Radha-Krishna temple, I contemplated why I didn’t use my impromptu “authority” to decisively win those boys over on philosophical grounds. Did I lack faith? Has the intensity of my personal convictions waned? The group spoke reasonable English. I could have dropped the philosophical hammer and practically ensured that my new charges left the temple complex with no fewer than ten books and several meters of tulasi beads between them.

The more I reflected on that meeting, however, the less I worried about what I’d said (or didn’t say). I instead thought about the profound differences between the diffusion of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy in the West and its diffusion in countries that are striving—in nearly every way—to become like the West in terms of standard of living, sophistication, and social character. That latter group of countries, although often imbued with a cultural richness, traditional set of values, and general moral turpitude long ago forfeited by the West, also embrace some ideas and beliefs that will not endure the tide of Western influence. That tide will dislodge things both good and much less good, as new and often well-reasoned information about history, psychology, and biology crashes into worldviews based on more ancient means of knowing.

In the meantime, however, outreach efforts by Gaudiya groups across the planet appear to have flourished in places that have not yet been exposed to the full face of powerful alternative views from academic disciplines and social movements. Such positions are not so easily brushed aside with a casual wave of the hand and a simple retort. But for the moment, even with little in the way of actual realization or expertise on my part, I probably had enough philosophical firepower in the holster (made credible by my unusual appearance among Indians) to leave a long-lasting, if not transformative impression.  Something about doing so, however, felt disingenuous. I moved on.

I haggled for an auto rickshaw outside the temple complex. As luck would have it, I negotiated a ride with a young driver who gave me a break on the price, perhaps in exchange for my (somewhat feigned) appreciation of his auto’s sound system and dance-club interior lighting. The pulse of deep bass from the vehicle was like the restless heartbeat of the young man in the driver’s seat. Although performing a humble job, he seemed to be looking to the future with optimism, rather than to the past with reverence.

Tearing through the city on three wheels, I realized how long it had been since I’d actually shared something direct about Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy with a complete stranger, what to speak of with teenagers who, in America, constitute one of the more challenging demographics. I thought about what it would take to effectively share that deceptively simple point, “kaumaram yauvanam jara,” with worldly, educated, and reason-demanding people. Could I do it? Would I sound genuine and relatable? Do I possess the vocabulary? The answer, I’m afraid, was an emphatic “No.”

Yet moments before, perhaps I could have convinced my small congregation of the fallacy of the entire scientific paradigm and compellingly put forward the precise formula for skirting the influence of Kali Yuga. (All with one hand bound securely in my bead bag, no less!)

The issue began to take shape as my rickshaw wove through traditional obstacles like cows, careened past new threats like passenger cars, and negotiated new nuisances like pedestrians engrossed by their mobile phones. To share Gaudiya Vaishnavism in a way that will resonate with a world that is reaping the fruits (some ripe, some spoiled) of reason and science necessitates an understanding of the essential spirituality that serves as the tradition’s basis. It necessitates the development of a language and supporting realization that allows one to talk to (and sympathetically hear from) his or her own contemporaries. It requires that one come to terms with the worldview of the present, and from there to discern a point of entry. This is much more difficult than conquering three eighteen-year-olds with one’s relative worldliness and seniority, or charming them with a few carefully chosen barbs flung at the west.

As the towering temple receded into the distance, I recognized that I had not yet reached the threshold of realization required for sharing something important to me in a way that will matter and make sense to those in my immediate world. And I didn’t want to put forward anything less to those three young men at the temple. They (and I) will ultimately need to develop a firm, yet flexible faith that can deal with—rather than flatly deny—the intellectual and other challenges that arise as science- and reason-driven perspectives come to dominate.

In light of that almost inevitable dominance, I chose (and choose) to focus on Gaudiya Vaishnavism’s capacity to effectively respond to, accommodate, and even embrace new information and change. The application, potential appeal, and transformative power of the tradition are not tied to any place, to any time, or to any phase in any culture’s trajectory. Rather it is a participatory tradition, the relevance and essence of which is perpetuated in the hearts of the true sadhus and acaryas who inherit, process, and—after some time—share something very old, anew. I recognize, too, that I need to become an active agent in that process of realization and renewal, rather than someone who mechanically passes on a few foreign words, to a few foreign people.

The following first appeared on Religion Dispatches. Read more and sign up for their free newsletter here.

Interview by Beatrice Marovich

Before I knew anything much at all about theology, I knew about creationism—theology’s old anti-evolutionary fracas. I knew, in other words, that in the worst case, theology and science were at war. In the best case, I assumed, they had a rather awkward relationship—something like bad first date. And then I read Catherine Keller’s Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming(Routledge, 2003).

What occurred was nothing short of a paradigm shift. What Keller was up to was beyond me—in the very best way. She wasn’t doing apologetics (defending theology from its outside objectors). Instead, she was pulling playfully from the feisty texts of her tradition (in this case, the first book of Genesis, the creation story) in order to cast an evocative, spirited, poetic web over the cosmos that scientific research was revealing to us. I realized that there was no one else I’d trust as much to help me wade into this ancient discipline—theology. Here, Keller speaks with me about her forthcoming book.

BEM: Let’s start simple. The book you’re currently working on is called Cloud of the Impossible: Theological Entanglements. Perhaps the first question I should ask is: What is a “cloud of the impossible”?

CK: Well, it’s a metaphor that just engulfed me and wouldn’t let me go. I tried to work with other names. But it wouldn’t go away, this little cloud.

It comes from Nicholas of Cusa, who’s a theologian of the 15th century. It’s a phrase that he uses in his book calledThe Vision of God. When he talks about the cloud of the impossible he’s talking about the cloud that, at a certain point in your spiritual journey, you just can’t avoid if you want to evolve. The cloud that you simply can’t not enter, if you’re not going to settle for clichés and incoherencies, or repressed questions, in your spirituality.

So this cloud that you have to face… what is it? Well, for him, it’s a point of dire contradiction. It’s when two different things that you believe come into conflict and contradict each other.

What does the cloud of the impossible have to do with God?

Cusa says that we have to face the contradictions that the cloud confronts us with. The fundamental contradiction that haunts him throughout all of his work—and attracts him as well—is that we are utterly finite creatures who don’t have the capacity to grasp the infinite, which is God. So it’s a contradiction between finitude and the infinite.

But the contradictions, for me, can also be the contradictions between our life calling and a relationship to a loved one, or the contradiction between our ecological awareness and our economic practice. In his cloud meditation Cusa suggests that these contradictions (which seem to be utterly resistant to our reason, which strike us as utterly impossible to resolve) suck us deeper into the cloud. We’re drawn ever deeper, until we hit a wall. We come to an awareness of a wall that seems to be woven of these intractable, irreconcilable opposites.

But Cusa describes this as the wall of the coincidence of opposites: coincidentia oppositorum. It’s the very realization that these opposites are interwoven that points to something else, a sort of third way. It’s a struggle to get there. There’s a kind of logic of “either-or” that has to be overcome. But then a gate opens and, at least for a moment, one is in paradise. This moment never lasts. But, for Cusa, the experience of the divine is precisely that: coming smack up against this contradiction and then, if we hang in there, the opening.

Is this the impossible?

That’s the impossible transmuting into possibility itself. It’s the possibility within the impossible.

Your book is also going to cover a kind of correlate phenomenon of impossibility in the world of physics?

I’ve been fascinated with a kind of quantum apophasis. What we face in this field is a kind of fundamental contradiction between relativity theory (which is classical) and quantum physics, which “unsays” the laws of classical physics. I think this contradiction is its own cloud.

Brian Greene, a physicist at Columbia opens The Fabric of the Universe with a dramatic image of physics being under a dark cloud, which is this basic contradiction. So a lot of physicists are looking for the coincidentia oppositorum between these not entirely reconciled sets of laws. But the contradiction itself isn’t something that I, as a theologian, am looking to solve. I’m more interested in a phenomenon that comes out of this cloud, out of what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”—quantum entanglement.

In classical physics, nothing can happen faster than the speed of light because no signal can propagate faster than the speed of light. But what was showing its ghostly face in quantum entanglement is a kind of influence that seems to be instantaneous and seems to take place between two connected particles, no matter how far away they are. So, rather than become more and more indifferent to one another the further away they are, these particles will forever respond to each other instantaneously as though you are effecting both of them in the same way, at the same moment.

They’re entangled?

Right. It looks like, from a certain point of view, nothing is separate from anything at all. As the novelist Jeanette Winterson puts it, in her book Gut Symmetries: our separateness is a sham.

But what is a theological entanglement?

My book [laughs]. It’s a way of understanding our sometimes spooky, sometimes trustworthy, relationships… theologically.

Theological entanglement is a way of reflecting on our relationships—all of our relationships, at once, together. When we do this, we get to such an impossibly infinite place that, I think, we resort to God language. The metaphors of the divine, of a love that permeates all things instantaneously, an embrace that holds everything everywhere in its mindfulness, a spirit (even a holy ghost) that has the character of spooky action at a distance is a metaphor by which can gather our very mysterious interdependencies (as creatures) on each other.

We are constituted, in every moment, by our relations. Some of them we compose, but they comprise the conditions in which we are composed. Theological entanglement is a form of what’s called “relational theology.” Entanglement is meant to give a more physical, and spooky edge to our interconnectedness. This isn’t just about the apophasis of an infinite God, but about the element of unknowability in all of us—as creatures made in the image of the unknowable. It looks, even from the vantage point of quantum indeterminacy, that every creature has an element of the unknowable or unpredictable to it. For every electron, you’re unable to measure (simultaneously) its location and its momentum.

What do you think your readings in quantum physics have done for your theology?

My study of physics strengthens my faith, because it exposes the depth of the mystery of what theologians call the incarnation. There is a way in which various branches of science, in a kind of postmodern vein (the corners of scientific fields where reductionism has not obtained for decades) the mystery of our interdependence is actually fleshed out with a kind of precision that I think theologians should be aware of. The universe that is showing itself in various fields, (not just quantum physics, but the fractals of chaos theory, for example) is a universe far more appealing to theology than was the universe of the past 300 to 400 years—made up of bits of dead, impenetrable matter, interacting predictably in a mega-machine.

The more you get into these cutting edges of science, the more the mysterious materializes. It turns out, even, that what we call “matter” is ultimately a kind of myth. You can’t really say this, as a theologian. It sounds like you’re trying to turn the actual world into some kind of illusion. That’s not what I’m talking about. Rather, I’m saying that what we call matter is something much more mysterious, subtle, apparently interconnecting faster than the speed of light, just pulsing in its inter-linked processes with the unknown. I think all of us have a lot to learn there. Clearly the scientists are not going to be, for the most part, reflecting on the possible meanings of their own science. That’s not what they’re trained for. This is why transdisciplinary work is so crucial.

Should we be afraid to reflect, theologically, on the meaning of scientific data, or the findings that come out of scientific research?

We should be careful. We should do a lot of reading before we jump to conclusions. But I think that’s true for any form of responsible thinking. There’s a lot of great, accessible material out there today, however. So I don’t think there’s any real reason to be afraid. To cite Cusa: the problem is not our ignorance. That’s unavoidable. But if we realize the shape of our ignorance, then we can learn a lot more.

And we don’t have to be afraid that we can’t know it all. We can’t all be physicists. I’m always very knowing of my own ignorance of the natural sciences. So I’m grateful for how much is being communicated across disciplinary boundaries. And I hope that this can, increasingly, go both ways. Perhaps, now, as the planet heats up and cooperation—not just between disciplines, but populations—becomes more and more a matter of life and death, there will be more interest in transdisciplinary conversations.

Perhaps theologians, pastors, spiritual leaders, people who are spiritually attuned to irreligious forms of creativity, will find some new ways to communicate about these things. But if science is left out of the mix, we will always be off in lala land. We need the incarnational practice of taking into account the most precise knowledge we can find, in the face of the mystery of our embodied existence.

As a theologian, what do you think is left out of the mix if God, or the divine, isn’t entangled with other forms of knowledge?

I think if God-talk simply drops out of sophisticated discourse and is just replaced by a wide range of philosophical, spiritual, poetical metaphors that avoid the Abrahamisms of the past, what’s left behind is simply our consciousness of who we are. That is, if we shift into atheism in the name of being in the know, we’re actually shifting into an unknowing ignorance.

We’ve been comprised by these traditions, massively. So to think that we can simply repudiate them by dismissing their more vulgar and clichéd forms is to do violence to what the prophetic and poetic strands of atheism always were: a more spiritually and affectively alive sense of life.

It’s possible to avoid God-talk for long stretches of time. Any canny Christian can do that, in order to make friends and influence people. Or just to get relief from bad clichés. But, at a certain point, one has to face up to the profundity and brilliance of the conceptual work that was done in the Western world for more than 1500 years, when it was dominated by the discipline of theology.

But we don’t want to reduce post-Christian criticisms of Christian idolatries to mere anti-faith, either. It wouldn’t do justice to the depths of the agnostic and atheist traditions which are, themselves, deeply prophetic traditions. Still, I think it’s important to stay mindful of God-tropes. Being mindful of these metaphors doesn’t necessarily cause us to believe in them. But we might find that the whole language of belief falls short of what’s meant by faith, anyhow—faith has never been a matter of little bits of knowledge parading as certainty.

“YES YOU CAN!! A torso like a lion! Shoulders like an elephant! Thighs like tree trunks! You too can be on your way to not only spiritual realization but chiseled pecs and rock-hard abs in only three hours a day!” Messages of this nature are commonplace, and I find myself thinking them sometimes. But if you’re like me, you may be asking yourself: why do I need rock-hard abs? Why don’t I just spend three hours a day on my spiritual practice? That’s a spiritually beneficial (if uncomfortable) question to ponder. I’ll spare you the paltry reasons why my days of three hour sadhana are few and far between. But given the rarity of such days, I figure that while I may not exactly need chiseled pecs, it is in my interest to cultivate a long and healthy life, because at the rate I’m going spiritually, I’m going to need it!

As long as the realization that we are transcendent spirit souls is only an occasional insight or simply an ideal to strive towards, it’s in our interest to maintain a well-functioning mind and body. Longevity obviously means we have more time to pursue a spiritual life, but there are other important implications to cultivating a sound mind and body. When we’re healthy we have fewer impediments to doing service or simply sitting down to chant. We’re more confident in our ability to adapt and overcome obstacles and we’re more dependable if we’re not routinely incapacitated. Another implication to being strong and healthy is that we’re in a better position to give freely and, as harsh as it may sound, we’re less of a burden on others.

This is not to say we need a willful and controlling attitude to life. Obviously, no one can ever entirely avoid poor health. Illness, along with caring and being cared for by others is an expression of our karma—one that can naturally have a positive dimension to be entered with dignity and gratitude. We can be grateful for all the opportunities of our precious human life. Just as steady sadhana or recognizing opportunities to apply a spiritual perspective are activities worthy of cultivation, learning to take care of the temporary vehicle of our body is worth our effort as well. I’d like to share a few of the tools I’ve discovered that require far less than three hours a day.

For a few years I rode busses and trains to work and during that time I developed the habit of chanting during my commute. It wasn’t long until simply hearing the surge of a diesel bus engine or feeling the shift of gravity in an accelerating train would start my mind chanting the mantra as automatically as the hydraulic commuter doors closing. Later I carried this practice to riding my bicycle. Something about the rhythmic symmetry of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, seems naturally suited to the two feet circling in their orbits (but I’ll just leave my impression at that rather than risking offense to Hari-nama by speculating interpretations). I don’t know the pertinent psychology or neuroscience, but we can understand from experience that habits, including the habit of chanting mantra, can be trained in accordance to times, places, and activities. We can habituate the mind to chant in the car, in the shower, while doing laundry, the dishes, whatever, or wherever. We can also dedicate particular times for chanting, such as first thing in the morning. I think we can apply this principle quite creatively, but for now, let’s apply it to exercise.

In our age of rising health care costs and increased understanding of the factors that contribute to illness and disease, the media is awash with discussion about healthy living. This includes information about diet, exercise, stress reduction, anger and grief management, and many other topics. Of these, physical activity is perhaps the most important. Regular physical activity helps control appetite and maintain stable body weight; it builds strength and muscle tone; it improves flexibility, balance and coordination; it reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers; it relieves stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia and fatigue, as well as increasing energy, focus and stamina. Health authorities agree that any kind of physical movement is good and the more the better. To experience noticeable benefits, the American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity such as walking, playing, or exercising each day.

I prefer to exercise at a gym, partly to take advantage of the principle of time and place we just considered, and also because I find it easier to stay motivated when I exercise with others. It’s sort of a mundane parallel to how associating with Krishna’s devotees helps motivate and vitalize our spiritual life.

Exercise should always begin with gradually warming up the body. As I begin my warm up, I bring awareness to my body and breath. I take the opportunity to focus my mind by meditating on the panca-tattva:

Jaya Sri-Krsna-Caitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri-Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi-Gaura-bhakta-vrnda

I meditate primarily on Sri Nityananda avadhuta because he wouldn’t mind my gym and because he is non-different from Balarama. Although Krishna’s big brother, Balarama is the strongest and most athletic of all Krishna’s friends, and could be a subject of meditation himself, at this time I’m mostly interested in asking Nityananda Prabhu to help me remember the mantra and to use my workout as an opportunity to make spiritual advancement. I know that during my workout I could be distracted by remembering things from my day; I could be fascinated by the beautiful bodies of the people around me; I could become annoyed by others in various ways or by things in the room like disordered equipment or bad music that’s playing; I could at some point feel demoralized or self-critical; and I will almost certainly experience fatigue and physical discomfort. None of this is unlike life in general, but I am asking to dedicate this “contained experience” of life, my time at the gym, as “spiritualized” exercise. I ask Nityananda Prabhu to help me remain focused on Hari-nama through all of this, to maintain a generous space of kindness and equanimity towards others, and to reveal to me anything he may think fitting while I am there. I also ask him to notice those around me and uplift the entire atmosphere as he sees fit.

Throughout my “spiritualized” workout, whatever it may be on a given day, even if it’s just a short bike ride, I strive to hold my awareness on three things: the actual movement my body is doing, my breath, and the Hari-nama maha-mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

I have not found it possible to actually think about all three in the same moment, but I allow my mind to move among them so there is a sense of continuity. In this way, even though I allow the mind to do different things, I attempt to avoid the offence of inattentive chanting. If my attention strays too long from these three, I simply bring it back; and I say simply because the effect of physical exertion actually makes it easier. I have found that as the body works against resistance and fatigue, the mind tends to center on the here and now. Since Hari-nama is already present in the awareness (provided it was invited there at the beginning of the workout as I suggested), it is readily remembered. For me, hearing the mantra in my head is easy while biking, walking, running, climbing stairs and the like, but it’s nearly impossible during weight training, sit-ups, stretching, and things that require concentration and/or maximum exertion. But just as we use the breath to create flow during an activity (exhale on the exertion and inhale on the return), we can use the breath to connect an activity (the “set”) to the rest period between sets. In the exhausted moment at the end of the set the mind is more or less blank. There you will find Hari-nama Prabhu waiting for you to join him.

If we wish the deepest possible experience from chanting the Hari-nama maha-mantra, it’s best that we get to know the deepest devotees we can find and understand. At some point we will likely be initiated into the chanting by one such devotee, at which time we are formally situated within a guru-student relationship. A guru gives personal advice on how best to chant. If Hari-nama is the medicine for the pain and suffering of life, then the guru is the doctor. We should always follow our doctor’s orders on how to take the remedy. It will be obvious to anyone in this kind of relationship that any of the techniques I have suggested here should be ignored if they contradict his or her instructions. It should also be obvious that these methods cannot replace kirtana and mantra-japa. If you’re not sure, ask your doctor.

Making a place in our life for regular exercise can easily improve our mental and physical health. It can also provide those of us with an interest in chanting Krishna’s names with an opportunity for allowing our environment to help us. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself says, Hari-nama can be remembered anytime and anywhere.¹ Through pushing the body and allowing ourselves discomfort, we are reminded that our experience of life is itself a little uncomfortable, and therefore something as simple as “feeling the burn” during physical exertion gives us added impetus to return to Hari-nama. And when we are done, the body feels relaxed; the mind, clear and focused. In fact, once back home, it’s a perfect time to grab the beads –after cleaning up.

1. See verse 2 of the Siksastakam: Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis / tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah // So many names you’ve manifested, and in them invested all your power. There is no hour, no rule to recall them.

When he was going to America, on the journey he expressed his feeling to play with Krishna in sakhya-rasa: kata bane chutachuti bane khai lutaputi sei din kabe habe mor, “Running and frolicking in the many forests of Vraja, I will roll on the ground in spiritual ecstasy. O when will that day be mine?” This was his “Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krishna.” When he was passing through the Atlantic, he gave vent to feelings that may be the salient points in his Vraja lila. It struck me like that, Vrindavana sakhya-rasa.

When he departed from this consciousness of worldly preaching propaganda, then he is there. It is clearly expressed in these sayings there in the Atlantic. He discovered the unmanifest (aprakata) pastimes in Vrindavana, and in Vrindavana he established Krishna-Balarama and Gaura-Nitai. That is indicative of sakhya-rasa. From this we can conclude that he is in sakhya-rasa, and he has entered into those pastimes. This is my understanding about his present position. He has expressed himself, his eternal position, the acme of his aspiration. In Vrindavana he has established Balarama and Krishna and Nitai-Gaura, and he is saying like that, Nitai-Gaura are Krishna and Balarama. It’s almost clear that he comes from that group. And now he’s again there. Hare Krishna.

He expressed his own position in eternal lila in his poem. I conjecture like that. Hare Krishna! In his diary in Bengali he wrote, “Today I cooked some bati-caccari. It was quite delicious. So I ate something. Today I expressed my inner feelings to my friend and wrote a poem about that.”

And that friend came to his aid. He was so earnest in his prayer to Krishna that he might be able to discharge the duty that had been given to him by his Guru Mahåråja that Krishna came down to help him, his friend helped him in this propaganda work. So saktyavesa-avatara. I take him; I cannot but take him to be so.

Addressing Krishna he wrote, “You are my eternal friend. Forgetting you, I have come to this world and I have been suffering the kicking of Maya, the goddess of misconception. If you come to help me in this campaign, then after finishing this I can again join you. When I shall be united with you again. I shall wander along with you the whole day in keeping the cows in the forest. Running this side and that side in the jungle, in the forest. And then, lutaputi, to fall on the ground in different shows of play. I aspire after that day. I have got this good chance to serve my Gurudeva. For that reason my heartfelt appeal to You is that You please come to help me. I am Your eternal servitor; therefore, so much aspiration I have got for You. You, no other, are my only resort.”

So after performing this service, he aspires after a life in the cow-keeping lila of Krishna, and he is appreciating that sort of friendly service of Krishna very much from the core of his heart, his aspiration after finishing his worldly preaching campaign.

I take it that Nityananda Prabhu has given some special recognition to the section of the suvarna-vanik community from which Swami Maharaja has come. He has special grace for that particular section and the preaching about Gauranga, and this is mentioned in the scriptures. The suvarna-vanik are the most favorite section of Nityananda Prabhu. It is mentioned in the sastra, Caitanya-bhagavata. I thought that Nityananda Prabhu is also in charge of preaching about Mahaprabhu’s glory. So I took it that Nityananda Prabhu must have awakened some special dedication in him in his last days which helped him to inundate with such an inconceivable magnitude, the whole of the world.

To date, much of the glorification of Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami within the international Gaudiya Vaishnava community has, out of necessity, centered around his long and loving relationship with his dear Godbrother, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This relationship certainly warrants limitless praise, but unfortunately such glorification has for the most part been necessary to counteract widespread ignorance and propaganda as to the character of Srila Sridhara Maharaja, his relationship with Srila Prabhupada, and his historical role in the lives of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples; essentially, it has consisted primarily of an effort to justify his place in the hearts of thousands who have found great inspiration and solace in his words and personality. It certainly behooves all members of the international Gaudiya community to be well acquainted with these matters, but it is also important for us to know Srila Sridhara Maharaja as he stands alone, fully illustrious in his own right.

Srila Sridhara Maharaja was born in 1895 in Hapaniya, West Bengal. Although his family was one of highly respected brahmanas, his paternal lineage, in his own words, “hated the followers of Caitanyadeva.” Throughout his childhood he showed signs of his spiritual inclination as well as his exceptional intelligence and spotless character. In recorded lectures he endearingly recounts how initially he was drawn to the sacrificing nature and “model pastimes” of Ramachandra more so than to Krishna of Vrindavana, who was, as he put it, “a liar and girl-hunter.” In a similar vein, as a child and into adulthood, Srila Sridhara Maharaja had never told a lie, laying the foundation for his distinct ability to palatably convey the truth throughout his life. His general tendencies toward simplicity, honesty, and practicality came to be some of his trademark characteristics within the Gaudiya Matha, where he was widely respected for his “strong common sense and disinterested nature.”¹

His godbrothers’ respect for him was unmistakeable. It was common for others to approach him for clarification of philosophical points raised by Srila Saraswati Thakura during his discourses. His perspective was so valued that later, during the splintering of the Gaudiya Matha after Bhaktisiddhanta’s departure, the two factions approached Srila Sridhara Maharaja for his opinion as to how to proceed, although he had personally already withdrawn from participation in the situation. Moving forward, as the Gaudiya Matha eventually settled into a number of individual mathas (some of which were quite antagonistic to each other) most of the acaryas from these groups still held Srila Sridhara Maharaja in high regard, celebrating his Vyasa-puja and visiting his matha, often seeking his valued counsel. When these godbrother acaryas would approach him, they would characteristically pay their respects to him from the road outside his matha before entering its gates. Prior to ever leaving India, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wanted to organize an entire mission with Srila Sridhara Maharaja as the presiding acarya.

History also shows that Bhaktisiddhanta displayed strong affection for Srila Sidhara Maharaja, declaring him to be a “sastric genius,” and stating that in the person of Srila Sridhara Maharaja he felt confident that he had at least one person to carry on his mission who could never be converted. Further, it was Sridhara Maharaja who was first requested to travel to the West to spread Mahaprabhu’s teachings, although Bhaktisiddhanta acquiesced to the humble desire of Sridhara Maharaja to stay there, in the company of his Guru Maharaja, if at all possible. Also considered widely significant was Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s adamant desire that Sridhara Maharaja, nobody else, sing “Sri Rupa Manjari Pada” to him near the time of his passing. His godbrothers thus declared that by this act, Bhaktisiddhanta had given him entrance into the camp of Rupa Manjari. All of these snippets barely scratch the surface of the prominent and distinct position Srila Sridhara Maharaja held in the hearts of his Guru Maharaja and godbrothers.

Quite a few books have been printed and made widely available based on the recorded discourses that Srila Sridhara Maharaja gave in the latter years of his life. Somewhat less well-known are his substantial written contributions to the sampradaya. An accomplished Sanskritist, he composed the beautiful “Prema Dhama Deva Stotram,” a poetic seventy-two verse biography of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Hearing Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s glorification of Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his “Srimad Bhaktivinoda-viraha-dasakam,” presented with such beauty and precision in an expression of genuine separation, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta commented that it was as if Bhaktivinoda himself had come in the person of Sridhara Maharaja and composed these verses. Later, his verses in glorification of Bhaktisiddhanta, “Sri Prabhupada Padma Stavaka,” came to be sung every day in every Gaudiya Matha center (a tradition that still continues), and Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada expressed his desire for this practice to be taken up in his centers as well. Sridhara Maharaja composed a number of other deep Sanskrit prayers as well.

Other contributions include the compilation of Sri Prappana Jivanamrta, included within which are many original verses of his own composition. Characteristic of his deep reflections, Srila Sridhara Maharaja saw and extracted prema-bhakti and Srimati Radharani from within the pages of Srimad Bhagavad-gita and presented them in his translation and commentary. He also revealed a vision of the Gayatri mantra that takes it to the very heart of divinity. Both of these insights were unique and hugely significant literary additions to the Gaudiya sampradaya. These are but some of the offerings that have been made available to us by this recent luminary.

To simply list the many devotional accomplishments of Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami is in itself perhaps impossible, but more difficult is to put into words the comfort and hope one feels having a connection to such a harmonizing, generous, and well-wishing preceptor. It truly transcends words. As a grand-disciple, the affectionate prodding of Srila Sridhara Maharaja is palpable to me. His timeless and essential words push me to change but reassure me that he sees me for my potential. He is that affectionate grandfather who charms me into wanting the difficult and painful experience of spiritual growth. As he would say, Mahaprabhu judges not on the basis of one’s past, nor one’s present, nor even one’s future, but on their ideal, for that ideal will someday come to pass. I feel such generous vision coming from Srila Sridhara Maharaja. But his grace and that of the entire guru-parampara would seem to extend even one step further, judging us on an ideal that they themselves are in the process of establishing within us, ever-refining our conception of our own highest good.

I set out in this glorification to venerate Srila Sridhara Maharaja in his own regard, unhinged from the pressure to justify such veneration to those who do not possess it. But I find myself unable to fully escape my lamentation for those people, for Srila Sridhara Maharaja himself wanted only that Mahaprabhu, Saraswati Thakura, and Srila Prabhupada be fully honored and progressively represented by the rise of Gaudiya Vaishnavism world-wide. But I know that this wish cannot fructify without coming to terms with the truths that he so beautifully represented. This is not to say one can only achieve perfection through him—for he would certainly condemn such an exclusive statement—but rather that the principle of guru is singular, although appearing plural, and that principle is Krishna. What Vaishnava does not run eagerly to see Krishna wherever he makes himself available? Krishna has availed himself to us in a big way in the person and teachings of Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami. May we reciprocate accordingly.

1. Disinterest in this context meaning detached

Excerpted from

akumara-brahmacari sarva-tirtha-darshi
parama-bhagavatottamah shrila-narottama-dasa

A brahmachari for his entire life, Narottama dasa visited all the places of pilgrimage. He was on the highest platform of devotional achievement.¹

Narottama dasa Thakura appeared in the village of Kheturi, about twelve miles from Rampur Bowaliya in the Gopalpur subdivision of Rajshahi district. This took place on the full moon day of the month of Magh sometime around the middle of the 15th century of the Shaka era.

Narottama was born on the Maghi Purnima. From that day on he thrived and grew like the waxing moon.²

Narottama’s father was Raja Krishnananda Datta, the zamindar of the Gopalpur area. His mother’s name was Narayani Devi. Raja Krishnananda had a younger brother named Purusottama Datta, who had a son named Santosha. In order to show that his associates can take birth in any caste, Krishna had Narottama take birth in a kayastha family.

From his early childhood, Narottama began to display symptoms of his future greatness. Everyone was amazed to see his great intelligence and his devotional demeanor. He was constantly absorbed in meditation on the wonderful qualities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Mahaprabhu and his associates appeared to him in his dreams.

As tears poured from his eyes, Narottama would offer prayers of surrender to Sri Krishna Caitanya, Nityananda, Advaita and the other associates of the Lord. Finally, the Lord and his associates appeared to him in a dream and consoled him with kind words.³

Mahaprabhu Leaves Prema Behind for Narottama

According to the Prema-vilasa, when Mahaprabhu passed through Kanair Natashala, as he was dancing ecstatically in kirtana, he began to call out the name Narottama. When Nityananda asked him why he was calling out this name, Mahaprabhu answered, “My Lord. You do not know your own glories. When we went to Jagannatha Puri, you shed tears out of divine love, day after day. I managed to capture your divine love and save it. Now I wish to keep it here by the Padmavati River for Narottama dasa.”

Mahaprabhu then went on to the Padmavati River to the place known as Kutubpur, where he bathed and sang and danced in ecstasy. He then called out to the river, “O Padmavati! Take my love and keep it here. When Narottama comes and bathes here, give it to him.”

The Padmavati inquired, “How will I recognize him?”

Mahaprabhu answered, “You will know it is Narottama, for when he enters your waters, you will overflow.”

The place where Mahaprabhu placed prema for Narottama’s sake was later given the name Prematali. When Narottama was twelve years old, he had a dream in which Nityananda Prabhu told him to bathe in the Padmavati and take the prema which had been stored there for him. He went the next day to the Padma and as soon as he put his foot in the water, the river started to overflow. The Padmavati then remembered Mahaprabhu’s words and gave Narottama the prema which she had been safeguarding for him.

Narottama Leaves Home

As soon as he experienced the ecstasies of prema, Narottama’s character, his appearance, everything about him changed. His parents noticed the transformation and did everything they could to bring him back to his normal state, but failed. Having drunk the wine of divine ecstasy, Narottama had become intoxicated and the bonds of family life could no longer hold him back.

Narottama began to wonder how he could escape from his material entanglements. Finally, one day when his father and uncle were away on official business, he practiced some deception on his mother and tricked his bodyguards so that he could leave his family for Vrindavana. It was the full-moon day of Kartika when this event took place.

According to others, Narottama waited to go to Vrindavan until after the death of his father when his cousin Santosha was given the responsibility for the zamindari. Even though he was the son of a rich zamindar, in his desire to unite with the Lord, he was ready to abandon the pleasures of the body in a moment. Day and night, he cried, walking barefoot, forgetting to eat and to drink until finally he would fall unconscious under a tree. One golden-skinned Brahmin came and offered him a cup of milk and said to him in a sweet voice, “O Narottama, drink this milk. Your cuts and bruises will go away. Take it easy.”

After saying this, the Brahmin vanished and the exhausted Narottama finally fell asleep. That night, he dreamt of Rupa and Sanatan Goswami. The two Goswamis placed their hands on his chest and fed him the milk that Mahaprabhu himself had brought him. All of Narottama’s fatigue disappeared.

Narottama is Initiated by Lokanatha Goswami

The Prema-vilasa also describes how Narottama took initiation from Lokanatha Goswami. Narottama was born on Maghi purnima, his renunciation took place on the Kartika purnima, and he was initiated by Lokanatha on the Shravan purnima.

Lokanatha Goswami is considered to be a personal associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Indeed, he was the first Gaudiya Vaishnava to be instructed by the Lord to go to Vrindavana, along with Bhugarbha Goswami. Lokanatha set the standard for worship in a spirit of renunciation while in the dhama. He was a viviktanandi Vaishnava, i.e., he took pleasure in worshiping the Lord in solitude. In this spirit, he had vowed not to take any disciples. Narottama dasa too made a vow: to take initiation from no one other than Lokanatha. Though he was the son of a raja, Narottama’s desire to receive Lokanatha’s mercy was so great that he went in the middle of every night to clean the place he used as a toilet. He would also leave fine earth and water for him to clean himself afterward. This is described as follows in the Prema-vilasa:

He went to the place where the Goswami performed his bodily functions and did a special job of cleaning it. He sifted the earth to make fine, clean earth with which Lokanatha could clean his hands. He did this as a regular service. He would hide the broom of coconut leaves in the earth and each night take them out to sweep the place, his heart filled with joy. He considered himself fortunate and his body worthwhile. He would hold the broom to his chest, repeating, “This is the power that will help me attain my Lord’s lotus feet.” As he said these words, he cried and torrents of tears washed over his chest.

Lokanatha was astonished to see that the place was daily being kept clean. He became curious to find out who it was and so, one evening, he went and hid in the jungle, chanting japa the entire night in wait for the anonymous benefactor. At midnight, he saw someone engaged in cleaning the place and asked him who he was. When he found out that Narottama, the son of a raja, was doing such a filthy task, he felt embarrassed and told him to desist. Narottama, however, immediately fell at Lokanatha’s feet began to cry. When Lokanatha saw Narottama’s humility and pain, his resolve softened and gave him initiation. Thus Narottama gave an outstanding example to the world of how one should behave in the service of one’s spiritual master.

At that moment, Narottama went there and with great enthusiasm, engaged in the necessary service to his guru. Lokanatha was pleased with his service and initiated him in the mantra, demonstrating the greatest mercy on Narottama. ((Bhakti-ratnakara 1.345-6))

Without caring for his youth or his physical beauty, he left home on the full moon day of the month of Kartika. After wandering through many pilgrimage places, he finally came to Vrindavan where he became Lokanatha Goswami’s disciple. On the auspicious day of Shravani purnima, Lokanatha initiated Narottama.

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1. Bhakti-ratnakara 1.256
2. Bhakti-ratnakara 1.281
3. Bhakti-ratnakara 1.285-6

No doubt most readers of The Harmonist are familiar with Bhagavad Gita, the famous and sublime conversation between the ancient warrior Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna. We learn through the unfolding dialog of the Gita that Krishna is the human manifestation of the Supreme God and the true friend of all beings. Krishna is the beneficiary of every kind of love that reveals the best in each of us. It is all the more striking then when Arjuna, while talking to God in the person of his intimate friend and overcome in a rapture of mystical vision (BG 11.24-31), unsettlingly describes him thus:

Having seen your mouths made frightening by many teeth and glowing like the fire of universal destruction, I have lost my sense of direction and find no comfort. . . . All the worlds rush into your mouths, just like moths swiftly entering a blazing fire to be destroyed.¹

In response to Arjuna’s dismay, Krishna speaks the famous line quoted in shock and awe by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer upon witnessing the fulfillment of his scientific work and invention, the first atomic bomb:

I am time, powerful destroyer of the world, who has come forth to annihilate everyone.²

While we usually take the apocalyptic image of flaming mouths to represent the principle of time, which spares no one, I’d like to suggest something more; that is, that the universe itself is all-consuming, that it spends itself. Further, that we humans are inextricably involved in this consumption and that without participating in it through ways of sacrifice, that is, through conscious consumption such as that described in Bhagavad Gita, we cannot avoid rushing into the mouths of unnecessary horror and waste of which Oppenheimer’s invention is one manifestation.

Parallel to the Gita in some ways are the ideas of a modern French writer named Georges Bataille (1897-1962), whose views are not only interesting but offer insight into the current predicament of the West and are charged with urgency in confronting the crisis of Modernity.

Bataille’s metaphysical conception is a kind of mystical materialism. For him, “matter” is the substratum of the universe; but it is a notion like the materia prima of Western mysticism or the Indian concept of prakrti: dynamic and ineffable nature. Unlike the scientific concept of matter, his matter can be intuited but not empirically quantified or rationally explained. It is infinite, infinitely abundant, and ever-expanding. The sun, he thinks, the center of our immediate universe, is the central metaphor for his idea of matter, the center of its “economy.” The sun is both the source of energy and also pure consumption; a blazing mass, it devours itself and hurls its energy in all directions, sustaining life everywhere.

Taking on endless forms, life, like the solar energy (or as the solar energy as Bataille might put it) fills every recess of space: every region, every geographical condition, the land and sea, even to the bacteria in our guts. As it expands in space, it also extends through time, for nature is continually killing off all living beings to make room for new ones. In a sense, death is part of the generous expenditure of nature. It is an overflow of nature. As living beings, we are both spenders and the spent. We are spenders only as long as we can absorb energy for our own growth, and after which, we are literally spent. It is awareness of the tension between the finite individual and infinite nature that constitutes the problem of the human. Bataille says:

I will begin with a basic fact: The living organism, in a situation determined by the play of energy on the surface of the globe, ordinarily receives more energy than is necessary for maintaining life; the excess energy  (wealth) can be used for the growth of a system (e.g. an organism); if the system can no longer grow, or if the excess cannot be completely absorbed in its growth, it must necessarily be lost without profit; it must be spent, willingly or not, gloriously or catastrophically.³

Bataille calls this excess “the accursed share,” for as suggested above, it is potentially problematic. According to Bataille, a society must find a way of draining off energy in excess of what it needs or risk being destabilized and destroyed by that very wealth. It may seem counterintuitive in our age of impending scarcity with predictions of economic collapse and dwindling resources how we could have “too much energy,” but our resource problems are ironically a result of our civilization’s strategy of dealing with its wealth.

Bataille’s book The Accursed Share details how various human societies spend energy, whether through elaborate gifting ceremonies, warrior culture, monasticism, or capitalist industry. Basic features of human collectivity including religion, art, war, and time spent doing nothing, but also celebrations, pageantry, spectacle, entertainment, sports, dancing and music, eroticism (vs. procreative sex), and many others including even human sacrifice and prolonged mourning all constitute a “useless” expenditure of wealth. Human endeavor falls into two classes: the productive, which is concerned with growth and maintaining the lives of individuals, and the consumptive, which dissipates the energy beyond what can be “used.” We are impelled, even against reason, to engage in “consumptive” activity not just because it’s fun but because it is one with the essential nature of existence of which we are inseparable.

Interestingly, Bataille shows how Modernity, the core value of which he takes to be capitalism (with it’s alienating individualism), is entirely rooted in productive values and language against pre-modern times and cultures, which were attentive to the values of consumption. Prior to Modernity, in later medieval times, the increase in European wealth was applied to religious culture: cathedral building, monasteries, pilgrimages, crusades, numerous holy days (time spent feasting and not working), and in general, time spent (again, not working) in acts of personal piety, attending daily mass and the like. After the Reformation, and especially after Calvin, the idea that religious observances would bring spiritual merit in the eyes of God lost traction for many Europeans, for as Luther preached, Salvation is obtained by grace alone and never by pious works. The reformers also preached that simple work was noble and that worldly prosperity could be taken as a sign that one was blessed by God, an indication in the predestined scheme of life that one was “elect” or chosen by God to be saved.⁴

Thus begins what later came to be called by German sociologist Max Weber, the Protestant Work Ethic, one of several motivating ideologies behind the rise of capitalism.⁵ Building on Weber’s theories, Bataille suggests that the Protestant reformers had unknowingly shifted the means of wealth expenditure from religious culture (and also games, singing and dancing, gambling, and eroticism, which leaders like Calvin sought to suppress with totalitarian zeal) into the means of production itself: more industry, business, restraint, frugality, fiscal discipline. Since then, Western civilization has been obsessed with the ever-increasing expansion of commerce, industry, and the control of nature to ensure the survival of the individual.

Equally notable is the explosion of violence that the Reformation unleashed (much to the shocked horror of the early reformers), costing the lives of millions in over a century of religiously justified warfare and persecutions. Even beyond the 17^th century we must note the untold misery and death later inflicted by Europeans through colonization, slavery, and genocide throughout the world to support the West’s productive values.

We begin as spenders and end being spent. But as Bataille demonstrates, there are many ways to engage in the sacrificial economy of nature. Knowing this, we are left with a choice between conscious sacrifice and blind waste as monstrous as the atomic bomb. He says:

We can ignore or forget the fact that the ground we live on is little other than a field of multiple destructions. Our ignorance has only this incontestable effect: It causes us to undergo what we could bring about in our own way, if we understood.⁶

We must seek out pure acts of expenditure that have no benefit to our immediate survival, which undermine our sense of individuality, which go against pragmatically oriented reason; we must learn to give freely and understand actual sacrifice in the midst of life or have it imposed on us as we rush past teeth of fear into the flaming mouth of destruction. We are already impelled to do so as this is what connects us to the nature of life itself. On this topic the Gita has much to say. In fact, Bhagavad Gita can be read as a solution to Bataille’s problem of the accursed share, and moreover one that takes us well beyond his concept of mystical materialism to an intimate knowledge of the enjoyer of all sacrifice himself, as our own friend.

1. Swami Tripurari, The Bhagavad Gita It’s Feeling and Philosophy (Mandala, 2001). Verses 11.25, 11.29
2. Ibid., BG 11.32
3. Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share Vol. 1 (1967). Trans. Robert Hurley (Zone, 1991). p. 21
4. Will Durant, The Reformation, A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564 (Simon and Schuster, 1957)
5. Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905). Trans. Talcott Parsons (Charles Scribner, 1958)
6. Bataille, The Accursed Share Vol. 1. P. 17