Steve Bohlert appeared again on Common Threads, November 20 & 27, to discuss his new book. It can be heard world-wide as a podcast.

Common Threads is a program heard weekly on Grand Rapids, Michigan NPR affiliate, WGVU-FM. It is hosted by Interfaith Dialogue Association President, Fred Stella. Steve Bohlert, author of Universalist Radha-Krishnaism was the guest speaker Sundays February 7th and 14th, 2010 and November 20th and 27th, 2011.

In this world of sound bite journalism and confrontational hit and run radio, Common Threads is a welcome relief.  Guests come from virtually every point on the spectrum of spirituality & religion. In the past dozen years they’ve had Tibetan Buddhist lamas, Catholic priests, Hindu monks, Jewish Kabbalah teachers, Evangelical pastors and many, many more share the microphone.

The format is quite simple. In the tradition of such NPR programs as Fresh Air or Speaking of Faith, they invite guests to share informal conversation with host, Fred Stella. There is almost no editing in this process.

You can download and listen to shows as podcasts here:

November 20, 2011

November 27, 2011

February 7, 2010

February 14, 2010

Or, you can download podcasts of previous shows by logging on to http://www.wgvu.org. On the top panel, click on “Radio/News.” Once there, see “Common Threads” in left column. If you want to listen after the show has aired click the left side. That will take you to the archives.

About the host: Fred Stella has been involved with Interfaith Dialogue Association for over 15 years, and has held the office of president for 12 years. He has lectured internationally on inter-religious matters.  Mr. Stella brings over 3 decades of broadcast experience to Common Threads.

Review of Steve Bohlert’s Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

There are books which are the result of a life-long engagement with a subject. They impress us by the depth of experience and the profundity of thought. Steve Bohlert’s Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is such a book. It is an outcome of the author’s thirty-five year long spiritual quest. The book is a personal account of his spiritual practice and journey which started as a leading disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (his diksa-name is Subal das Goswami), continued with initiation into the practice of raganuga bhakti by Lalita Prasad, a deep study of Christian theology and the work as a pastor, and culminated in developing the concept of Universalist Radha-Krishnaism.

Steve Bohlert’s book touches upon the most important problems of being a devotee of Radha-Krishna in the twenty-first century. The cult of Radha-Krishna originated in medieval India. But now we live in the twenty-first century, in a world in which one cannot ignore the cultural and scientific developments of the West (and of the whole world, of course) if one cares for one’s intellectual honesty. Steve Bohlert’s parama guru, Bhaktivinode Thakur, recognized the challenge Western world presented to Indian culture. He was ready to accept the Western critical scholarship and science, abandoned the literalist interpretation of Indian mythology, and developed his own approach to Indian scriptures in general and Gaudiya Vaishnava texts in particular. ‘Progress is the law of nature and there must be corrections and developments with the progress of time’, says Bhaktivinode in The Bhagavat, Its Philosophy, Ethics and Theology. Bohlert notices that Bhaktivinode understood that revelation is not completed, that it is ever-evolving, and finds a similar idea, called process theology, in contemporary Christianity, and argues that the follower of Chaitanya can benefit from it.

Western philosophers have dwelt upon issues which ancient and medieval Indian thinkers did not pursue to the same extant and in the same manner. One of such issues is epistemology. The achievements of Western epistemology have tremendous importance for our understanding of Gaudiya Vaishnava texts. From present perspective one cannot interpret them literally, although the tradition does. It is therefore evident that sastra must attain a different epistemic value. However, a symbolic interpretation, which is a possible alternative left, represents a threat to its infallibility and authority. Bohlert writes: ‘The scripture writers wrote to the best of their knowledge and ability at the time. We do not think they tried to deceive anyone—however, if we find discrepancies in their words, we can use scientific and philosophical methods to understand why such things occurred.’ (p. 110) Sastra, he mentions elsewhere, ‘contains a great mine of spiritual wisdom developed over millennia by a highly spiritual civilization. Yet does this make it all objectively real? No, it does not. Does it contain a wealth of relevant spiritual insights? Yes, it does.’ (p. 69)

The question then is how to deal with Gaudiya texts after their deconstruction. Bohlert suggests developing a “second naïveté,” which is a term proposed by French philosopher Paul Ricœur, but in the book it is attributed to Marvin Chaney, his professor at  the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. The idea of second naïveté sounds appealing, but unfortunately does not solve the most important problem of ontology. As Bohlert acknowledges, ‘[t]he existence of God cannot be conclusively proved or disproved […] it comes down to faith […] (p. 76). The epistemological crisis leaves us no other option than faith. Or in other words, one has to make a choice. Bohlert even speaks of ‘the chosen path’ (p. 73). In the glossary, he mentions Pascal’s Wager, i.e. the argument that even if the existence of God could not be proved, one should wager as though God exists, because the benefits of believing in Got outweigh the possible loss. Bohlert, however, does not elaborate on the idea anywhere in the book. What significance can Pascal’s Wager have for devotees of Radha-Krishna? The goal of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is to attain uttama bhakti, which is defined by Rupa Goswami in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (1.1.11) as anyAbhilASita-zUnyam jJAna-karmAdy-anAvRtam anukUlyena kRSNAnuzIlanam, i.e. bhakti should be devoid of all desire other than to serve Krishna. One is supposed to give up all other desires including the desire for liberation (mukti). So there is nothing to get from bhakti. If this is the case, is there any use of Pascal’s Wager? Apparently not. But Bohlert seems to suggest an answer to the question why worship Radha-Krishna. Through the book he propagates raganuga bhakti, or natural devotion, as he calls it, which does not depend on scriptural injunctions but on raga, hankering. Raga itself appears in the heart of the devotee by the mercy of God or an anuragi devotee. As Katha Upanishad (1.2.23) says: yam eSaiva vRNute tena lAbhyaH, ‘He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained.’ There is apparently nothing we can do. Should this be the way out of the crisis? With this question, however, I have gone further than Bohlert himself argues.

Bohlert addresses many other important questions: renunciation and enjoyment; the dialogue between science and religion (for example, the acceptance of evolution theory); and the practice of raganuga bhakti, which would be more suited for the people of the twenty-first century (for example, he imagines Radha-Krishna as twenty years old cowherd girl and boy, participating in the village community life at day and enjoying in a forest love cottage at night). Bohlert elaborates on these and other issues with varying degree of consistency and depth. Some issues are left unexplained or only suggested. Some are controversial. But, be it as it may, throughout the book one can feel the power of his experience and intuition. It is a sincere, courageous and thought-provoking account of a spiritual journey.

KRISHNA DASA: a Western-educated intellectual and an initiate in Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya trying to understand God, the world, one’s own existence, and their mutual relationships. From his brahmajijnasa, a blog dedicated to the understanding of the ground reality.

My intention was to review the book then, but for whatever reason, I have been amiss in so doing, which is more than just a minor oversight. This book is sufficiently important that its wide dissemination amongst devotees is a desideratum. Indeed, with the book Subal sent an ebullient review written by former ISKCON public relations officer and author, Nori Muster, which shows that it can answer at least some of the doubts and fulfill the desires of erstwhile devotees who are seeking to use their religious experiences to grow after becoming dissatisfied with their ISKCON experience. Another review has also been posted more recently by Scottsdale Arizona religious studies professor Michael Valle on Facebook.

Subal has an interesting history… and the Krishna Consciousness Movement has been around long enough for most of us early birds to have had interesting histories by now. One of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s earliest disciples who broke open several regions for ISKCON, Subal also spent three years in India, during which time he encountered Srila Lalita Prasad Thakur and was initiated into the raganuga-bhakti path.

Though he continued in ISKCON for a while thereafter, he eventually left and went to the prestigious Graduate Theological Union (GTU)in Berkeley, California, where he picked up a Master of Divinity degree. This led to ordination in the United Church of Christ, a liberal denomination in the Reformed tradition.

Eventually, Subal’s Vaishnavism sprang back to the fore in his consciousness and he became convinced that it was necessary to attempt to synthesize his experiences. In his book he mentions that his personal history as a Vaishnava has always been a part of his identity, and it was even welcomed and appreciated by his mentors and teachers at the GTU and in the liberal tradition where he became a pastor. Nevertheless, his studies and life in the liberal Christian milieu have enriched his understanding of spirituality, which he has now applied to the Gaudiya tradition. The ways he does so may not please everyone, but he certainly makes a valuable contribution to the discourse and his work will be, as Nori Muster puts it, like “a cooling breeze on a hot day” for many.

My own experience mirrors Subal’s in many ways. I spent a longer time in ISKCON than he, and more time in India studying and practicing the Gaudiya tradition into which Lalita Prasad Thakur had initiated me, though I also came into contact with the Gaudiya Sahajiya traditions during this nearly eleven-year period. But I also returned to a Western university setting with the intention of objectively studying my personal experiences and contextualizing it through critical methods of study. Nevertheless, my area of research at the Ph.D. level was rooted in the Sanskrit tradition rather than theology. Whereas Subal’s gestation period was spent in the Christian ministry, I eked out a living primarily as a translator and editor. Nevertheless, despite our completely separate paths, somewhat different orientation, linguistic and cultural commitments, we have an amazing amount of common ground, no doubt due to our similar backgrounds in Krishna bhakti and the sharing of certain universal liberal values.

Liberal Christian influences

I have often said to devotees that they have the tendency to criticize Christianity, usually using straw man arguments and rarely appealing to the best in progressive Christian thought, whether it is its social activism,  serious interaction with modern philosophical thought, deconstruction of mythology and the like. Like most fundamentalists, they feel that liberal Christianity is excessively rational and incompatible with true religious experience.

The fact is that experiential Christianity has been in contact with scientific and modern philosophical thought far longer than any other religious tradition, and though it sometimes seems that they have been playing defense, those of integrity recognize that the only moral approach is to accept Truth wherever it is found. They recognize that even as they bow to well-founded critiques of their own church’s history, myths and traditions, they can still find legitimacy in their own spiritual experience, and the meaning and moral force that it gives them. Thus, anyone who has struggled with such critiques, regardless of which tradition they swear allegiance to – Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim — can still learn something from Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Teilhard de Chardin, Niebuhr, and many others.

This is of course the basis of the universalism in “Universalist Radha-Krishnaism.” Devotion to the Divine Couple is only one religion amongst many, with things to teach as well as to learn to the worldwide community of faith. An arrogant sense of privilege in any religion will ultimately lead to rotting from within, no matter how much short term success it may claim. So Radha-Krishna devotion should be ecumenical, in the true spirit of interfaith dialogue and participation in the progressive evolution of human society as a whole.

The liberal approach is multifaceted, but it begins with a healthy relativism that has long been known in Hinduism, but is rejected by zealous sectarians or those who are politically motivated. Such people are the bane of progressive spirituality.

Subal has very correctly stated that Bhaktivinoda Thakur is a great inspiration to anyone who seeks to reform or move the Gaudiya tradition forward, and he cites many of the Thakur’s most famous passages supporting this idea. In particular, he adopts, as do I, the term “essence seeker” (sāra-grāhī) as by-word for this progressive approach and as a stance against the regressive literalism that is prevalent in ISKCON and much of the Hindu world.

Subal further equates the progressive theological position with “process theology,” which he says  forms a “fabulous combination” with Chaitanyaism (p.40). He was impressed by how his own church was constantly reforming itself and realized that this kind of dynamism needs to be applied to the movement started by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. As in Christianity, there is of course a strong resistance to such reform in the Krishna consciousness movement, as the Truth is seen as an unchanging complete whole that was given at one time by a historical Master, rather than one that is constantly revealing Itself through history.

In many of my own writings on my blog and elsewhere, I have tried to show how this has never been the case, that the traditions of India have undergone constant change through debate and interaction with each other. There is no reason to think that we, as modern Vaishnavas with a totally different experience of life, will not transform Vaishnavism — whether we intend to or not. ISKCON, in order to preserve its institutional integrity, is obliged to enforce loyalty to Srila Prabhupada’s doctrinal vision, which severely hampers its ability to maneuver. As is often the case, most of the original thinking will come from outside of ISKCON, and I think Subal’s contribution is an important and welcome one.

Second Naivete, Reenchantment

Some of the terms Subal borrows from liberal theology are very useful. One is “hermeneutical leap”, which is the leap of insight that comes when old beliefs are given apparently radical new interpretations that widen their scope and potential for meaning.

Another, taken from his Old Testament professor at GTU, Marvin Chaney, is “second naivete”, used to describe the renewed zest one feels for deconstructed historical, theological or mythological themes when they have been reinvigorated by a broader understanding. This indicates the richness of the renewed faith that comes when we accept the challenge of doubt in the dialectic of faith, rather than trying to crush it with false zealotry.

Disenchantment comes from the loss of a spiritual point of view due to an excess of rationalism. For many, this is dealt with by either a retreat into the shell of fundamentalism or hypocrisy when the challenges become too strong. For others it results in a crisis of faith that leads to total rejection of a specific faith or of any faith at all.

Those who accept the challenge of doubt and investigate religion and their own religious experiences as an objective phenomena in all their aspects—mythological, theological, philosophical, anthropological, psychological, sociological, etc.—often find that their faith takes on a new enlivened form, if their samskara (the faith based on the original religious experience) is strong enough. One then interacts with God through his symbolic manifestations with much the same innocence and love that he or she did when they were entirely new and presented themselves in all their original mystic splendor. In that state, he makes genuine further progress internally.

This is what the Bhagavata infers in 3.7.17 when it talks about going beyond intelligence. You cannot hide from reason and, if you try to suppress it, you run the risk of hypocrisy and all the ugliness it entails. Facing reason means undertaking a dark night of the soul, but the rewards are so much greater, because the nature of evolved faith is so much sweeter and satisfying than the struggle to remain true to received dogmas.

One of the problems I see in the whole “enlightenment” and rationalist discourse is that it is essentially a desacralizing movement. In my own experience, certain conditions of extreme innocence and rejection of so-called “rational” social order were necessary in order for me to even chant Hare Krishna and discover the sacred in the first place. Jiva Goswami talks about ruchi-pradhana and vichara-pradhana devotees, while making it very clear that [despite clearly being in the latter category himself] that those who can move directly into the path of sacred experience are more fortunate, for the vichara-pradhana devotee will only have to return there when his faith has been renewed. The trouble is that the genuine simplicity of a ruchi-pradhana devotee who never interacts with rational doubt is extremely rare.

In view of my own pilgrimage, I agree that by developing a more sophisticated understanding of religious experience, we make it possible to deepen it and communicate it to a wider audience. But an overly sophisticated attitude may also make it difficult to enter into direct communion with symbols like Radha-Krishna that are God’s way of revealing himself to us.

Christianity has the advantage in some ways of dealing with modernity and its sophisticated secular critiques of religion for a longer time than India. In many ways, India is still fighting the rearguard, trying to defend the literal word of God, however confused, hyperbolic and self-contradictory it may be. Bhaktivinoda Thakur clearly stated that the “word of God” is the words of inspired men, rishis or seers. It is sad that the progressive tendencies of Bhaktivinoda Thakur have been overrun by a regression to old-style fundamentalism.

I have pondered over the question of whether the narrow vision of the kanishtha adhikari serves some necessary function in the development of one’s devotional life. But the great problem of the kanishtha is that he has little understanding of what psychological changes and real difficulties there are in stepping up to the madhyama level. Because there are so many precious preconceived notions and cherished ideas that must be jettisoned, there is a great deal of fear that must be overcome.

The sad fact is that kanishthas are the kinds of religious people who start wars and pogroms. They are also the ones who are susceptible to the greatest hypocrisies because they do not face the existential challenges of doubt and so become empty internally while continuing to exploit the credibility of the neophytes they surround themselves with for personal gain.

One of those great fears is that of Mayavada. Subal has done a great service by introducing or naming the Vaishnava concept of deity as panentheism. For those who have not studied comparative religion, this term will mean nothing. But it really is the best English language term for Mahaprabhu’s achintya-bhedabheda, because while recognizing the personal nature of the God and our relationship with him, it gives full importance to his immanence and identity with us.

How this plays out in practical terms is of course something that I am deeply interested in, because it completely changes the nature of our sadhana.

Cultural Directions

One of the areas in which Subal is attempting to make headway is “establishing an indigenous Radha-Krishna devotional culture” (116). As stated above, I think it presents the broad outlines of the direction we want to go, and though culturally, just in the way of our spiritual development, we are in slightly different frames of mind, the grand strokes of his vision are fairly close to mine.

Both Subal and I are, let us say, deviants from the tradition. We have both consciously and willingly allowed ourselves to be influenced by thinkers outside the tradition, and this makes us suspect when we claim to defend it. I often find myself in the odd position of defending the tradition or even ISKCON while simultaneously seeming to be arguing against what so many identify as its core beliefs!

Now, where did Lalita Prasad Prabhu really stand on these issues? As far as I can see, most of his present-day disciples are so influenced by the Gaudiya Math, since the GM is the main publisher of Bhaktivinode Thakur’s books, and mostly don’t understand (who does or did?) Bhaktivinode Thakur’s innovative and modernizing tendencies. Since it seems that Bhaktivinode Thakur himself came into a second naiveté at a certain point in his life, he was able to drop his concerns with philosophy and modernism and concentrate on bhajan; thus to them he appears to be a traditionalist.

This is where everyone is wrong. Bhaktivinode was practicing, but not necessarily simply accepting things at face value. A century down the road from Bhaktivinode (his 100th disappearance day is in 2014), the kinds of secular criticisms of fundamentalism are so much stronger and the synthetic position which both defends against the excesses of literalism and pinpoints the essence of the spiritual search have become so much more sophisticated.

Natural Vaishnavism

Subal uses the word “natural Vaishnavism” or “natural devotion” to refer to rāgānugā bhakti. “Natural” is clearly a translation of the word sahaja, so we must inquire into the appropriateness of his usage of the term.

Bhaktivinode Thakur himself used the term with some frequency, but I question whether he intended it as a translation of rāgānugā bhakti or that he was following the long tradition of sahaja in Buddhism or Sant Mat or indeed in Vaishnava Sahajiyaism.

This word has such a long tradition in Indian thought, particularly in (a) Buddhism (Sahaja-yana) and (b) in the Sants like Kabir and Raidas, as well as in © post Chaitanya Vaishnava Sahajiyaism, that it seems almost aberrant that BVT would choose to use it. We need to go back and do a thorough study of his use of the word to see exactly how he meant it in every single instance. But it is clear to me at least that there is a convergence of these expressions.

Subal also takes this natural Vaishnavism to imply a position against renunciation, which he feels leads to ***. At the same time he advocates for enjoying the things of the world within reason and with detachment, just as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Raghunath Das during his householder life. Indeed, Subal asks whether God may not ask at the time of death whether we have “enjoyed enough”.

When describing the sadhana of Universalist Radha-Krishnaism, he frequently repeats that one is to follow in the footsteps of the residents of Vrindavan, Krishna’s eternal associates, as exemplars or ideal human beings.

Later in his book, Subal (influenced it seems by Dimock’s Place of the Hidden Moon) takes a more directly Vaishnava sahajiya position.

There are some articles by Joseph O’Connell rebutting Dimock, and both certainly bring out some of the historical uses of the term. But I think there is very little understanding. It is here that the crux of the matter comes. Sexuality. I am becoming more and more adamant that the rejection of or deep ambivalence about sexuality is not only the target of “sahaja”, but is also the fundamental problem that vitiates the Mayavada-permeated spirituality of India and thus its social life and individual personal development.

In many ways, Rajneesh (Osho) is much closer to my way of thinking–even as a non devotional thinker –than the devotees who reject woman and sexuality as the principal obstacles to their spiritual advancement. But, of course, for those in the ISKCON/Gaudiya Math tradition, the word sahaja (“natural”) implies some kind of antinomian, id-directed and thus immature sensuality. That is not the case; it is simply the redirection of the most powerful forces in the psyche towards spiritual culture and prema.

We use the symbolic vocabulary of Radha, Krishna, Vrindavan and the gopis, to train our minds and then through mantra come into harmony with our partners on a deep level of inwardness, so that the experience of love pervades our being and radiates outwards. Though the celibate lifestyle may mean the outward redirection of sexual energies into other kinds of service, as Freud so rightly pointed out, sublimation has its limits.

Not only that, I believe, but it is not what the Vaishnava tradition, with its overriding sensual nature, is about. We are NOT an ascetic tradition, at least not in its external flaunting of sannyas, celibacy, misogynistic world view, etc.

But the question here is, obviously, can we hold the above beliefs and still claim to be followers of Bhaktivinoda Thakur? Where did the Thakur stand on these matters? He clearly was not a Sahajiya in the traditional sense as found in the Bengali culture of his time. He was a Victorian and, let us face it, influenced by the British culture of that époque. I think that as an educated and sophisticated aristocrat of the period, he would have been repulsed by the uneducated and unsophisticated Sahajiyaism that was rampant in the underclasses of Bengal.

But it is clear that undergirding this uneducated and unsophisticated Sahajiyaism in practice, there is a very sophisticated and philosophical defensible system of understanding. Can we connect the Thakur’s understanding of sahaja to this “despicable” target of so much of his and Bhaktisiddhanta’s preaching?

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and his followers opposed rāgānugā-bhakti itself because they felt it would lead to the above kind of aberration. I favor rāgānugā, as it seems does Subal, precisely because it favors this reformation of sexuality. It is about transforming kama into prema. It is about reforming the id-controlled ego into a love-permeated ego. We need to reread Bhaktivinoda Thakur to see if he had any glimmers of this perception.

But, like Subal, I think that my conclusion is not based on what Bhaktivinoda Thakur did or did not believe, do or  practice, but what we have concluded is the right course and appropriate sadhana, which ultimately stands in consonance with the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition as presented by the Goswamis of Vrindavan. I have already defended that position on these pages [his blog] and will continue to do so in the future, with ever increasing commitment and conviction.

The last verse of the Rasa-lila says that by hearing these erotic pastimes of Krishna the sensual desires of the conditioned soul, the disease that vitiates human life, kama, is cured. How on earth is that supposed to happen? No one seems to have a clue. Everyone simply assumes it means that you become a celibate monk.

This “otherworldiness” or underlying assumption of the falseness of this world is the essence of Mayavada. And unless we recognize the dual nature of femininity and masculinity, learn that their unity is a potential dual-nondual miracle of spiritual felicity, we will always be misdirected into the anti-love concept of Mayavada.

So in a sense we may have a difficult time claiming direct adherence to Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s beliefs. We can only say as I think Subal does, that we have taken the ball he passed to us and are running with it. If this is where it takes us, through our sadhana and our long years of reflection, then we must not deny our inner inspiration, but embrace it and pursue its implications, and experiment with the practices, and learn through experience about its consequences, its limitations, its joys and sorrows.

Social Involvement

Besides these approaches to one’s own textual tradition, Subal takes another page from liberal Christianity an orientation to social involvement. If the world is real, as is a fundamental element of the Vaishnava doctrine, and if compassion is an essential characteristic of the devotee, then surely social involvement should be a part of the broad scope of a religious movement’s activities.

There is no doubt that Subal’s is an important brick in the wall of religious discourse about Vaishnavism. Many of the things that he says are those I have been saying repeatedly. His great contribution, of course, is that he has gone out on a limb and attempted to make a coherent and systematic presentation of Radha-Krishna according to his vision. This means of course that he has set himself up for criticism, but that kind of courage is what is needed to push the discourse further.

I really hope that all of the friends I have here, especially those who are disenchanted from the enchanted world of Krishna consciousness, but still have a lingering taste for something, they are not quite sure what, of the Krishna conscious experience (See Bhagavata 1.5.19), it will help get their juices flowing and their intelligence focused on what exactly it was or is that they are still holding on to. Or what, as I think Subal shows both from his personal life and intellectual evolution, what they need to hold on to.

by Jagadananda Das from his blog Jagat

I left Sunol in 1986 for Ashland, Oregon where I bought a house, edited a newsletter, and met my husband, Steve Bohlert. Our initial attraction was writing. He wanted input on his autobiography. But it was his deep spirituality I found most compelling. He shared romantic tales of Radha and Krishna’s “love sports” along India’s Yamuna River. His wasn’t book knowledge … he had lived it.

Steve became a Radha-Krishna devotee at twenty yearsof age. It was the sixties. He chanted at the Avalon Ballroom and Hippie Hill. Steve started eight temples. He preached in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Bombay. His guru encouraged him to raise funds, recruit disciples, and build temples. Steve yearned for less mundane work and a deeper spiritual connection. He lived in India for three years as an itinerant monk and gained firsthand experience of Radha-Krishna devotion. Steve lived in the holy city of Vrindaban. He was befriended by O.B.L. Kapoor PhD, a prominent devotee, professor, and author. Kapoor confirmed his realization of a higher level of devotional practice than taught by Steve’s guru, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Kapoor directed him to Lalita Prasad Thakur, the son and disciple of nineteenth century reformer and Westernizer of Chaitanyaism, Bhaktivinode Thakur.

In 1974, Steve was initiated into the esoteric practices of natural devotion. Steve left India for Honolulu. He acquired an estate for the Krishna Movement from the Ford Foundation. After being sent to Fiji to “build a temple,” he resigned because of his dissatisfaction with the direction of the movement. He left the renounced life and reentered American society on Maui.

When I met Steve he was a family man, and a printer. He was a leader in the progressive Ashland United Church of Christ (UCC) and continued to worship Radha-Krishna. A Methodist pastor remarked, “If Christ equals love and Krishna equals love then Christ equals Krishna.” We progressed from co-workers, friends and business associates, and after the split with his wife, to romance. One day I remarked, “Wouldn’t it be great to be a minister?” By association, I had become increasingly attracted to spiritual life. Steve returned with a file folder of seminary applications. With renewed vigor, he applied to seminary and was accepted. We married and moved to Berkeley.

In 1991, he graduated with a Master of Divinity and was ordained in the UCC. We moved to Iowa and learned the reality of being a Midwestern pastor. We addressed local justice issues, such as gay rights, homelessness, and de-stigmatizing the mentally ill. The church split, and we were asked to leave. Next came North Dakota with a less receptive congregation. After three years in suburban Grand Rapids, my husband lost his high paying job to find himself.

Steve started an independent ministry with an emphasis on Radha-Krishnaism. With Michigan’s declining economy, we moved to Hawaii, the Big Island’s rainy side to live in “voluntary simplicity.” Steve read “Hindu Encounter with Modernity,” a biography of his grand guru, Bhaktivinode Thakur, and discovered Thakur and he were on the same wave length. British educated, Thakur applied critical thought to the religion, as Steve was doing, with his seminary training. He blogged, refined his autobiography and developed his own theology. About a year ago I suggested he begin his reformed Radha-Krishna theology book.

He agreed and the result is the just released “Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: a Spirituality of Liberty, Truth, and Love.” In it, he redefines Radha-Krishna devotion enabling contemporary Western seekers to establish an eternal loving relationship with the Divine Couple. He presents esoteric Indian spiritual wisdom in plain English from a postmodern, Western perspective.

Philosophy of religion instructor Dr. M. Valle, of Scottsdale Community College (AZ) says, “Bohlert’s approach to spirituality merges Western and Eastern thought by de-emphasizing cultural trappings and literalism, while maintaining a passionate emotional bond with the Supreme Being.”

Nori Muster, author of “Betrayal of the Spirit” says, “As a life long seeker myself, open to both Eastern and Western religious ideas, I consider this book a portal to enlightenment. Bohlert leads the reader up a spiral staircase to the light, winding through the Christian and Hindu faiths as we ascend.”

‘Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: A Spirituality of Liberty, Truth, and Love’ by Steve Bohlert is available now at Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere. Or check out www.radha-krishnaism.org. Also, www.stevebohlert.com.

– Submitted by Jahnava / Geraldine Baldassarre, as appeared in Sunol News, November 2009 (click here to download PDF newspaper spread)

Dr. M. Valle, a chairman of philosophy of religion at Scottsdale Community College (AZ) reviews our book Universalist Radha-Krishnaism, A Spirituality of Liberty, Truth, and Love.

In this review, I will first summarize the ideas in the text, then I will evaluate them from my own perspective.

Context of the Project

In Hinduism, there is a highly influential and popular devotional orientation that focuses on Krishna and his lover Radha as the supreme form of God. This branch of Hinduism became exceptionally popular in India in the wake of the life of Chaitanya, who flourished around 1500 A.D. This form of Vaishnavism has become fairly well known in the West since the sixties; in fact, George Harrison of the Beatles converted to it. It has been characterized by a fairly uncompromising fundamentalism, by which I mean that it is essentially committed to the literal truth of the often fantastic mythology that is associated with Hinduism. Some examples that confront one early on include the idea that Krishna as a child held a massive hill above his head with his finger to protect people from Indra‘s hailstones, that Krishna lived with 16,000 wives simultaneously, that Krishna was conceived without a sex act, and so on.

Many people, often Westerners but not exclusively, have been deeply attracted to the theology that accompanies Vaishnavism. They are attracted to its rituals, aesthetics, mythology, language, music, enthusiasm, and optimism. It “speaks” to them, but they find so much emphasis on fundamentalism that they eventually abandon this path. They also discover that Indian norms and customs are so strongly fastened to the path that they feel culturally disconnected. Bohlert, by the way, caters to this target audience by foregoing the complicated and often tedious terminology that often attends such literature and instead opts for exclusively English terms at the most comprehensive level of complexity.

Steve Bohlert has been through all of this, and the depth of his experience shows. His credentials in this arena are beyond impressive. This book is a systematic attempt to offer a spiritual/religious system called “Universalist Radha-Krishnaism” (URK) that does the following things, among others: sketches the history of Chaitanya Vaishnavism (CV), interprets Vaishnava mythology in a non-literalist way, asserts and defends the fundamentals of the CV conception of divinity, sketches the relation of divinity to the universe, asserts the necessity of communication between science and religion, and offers practical advice on how to put the theology into daily practice. Bohlert’s approach is grounded in the work and practice of the well-respected theologian Bhaktivinoda Thakur, and of Bhaktivinoda’s son, Lalita Prasad Thakur.

Summary of URK

The basic metaphysical view of divinity of URK is as follows: Bohlert’s view is explicitly “panentheistic”, which means that God exists, is greater than the universe, and completely interpenetrates and includes the universe.

There is a hint of deism here, as when he writes that “[…] God-dess does not suspend [natural laws] to perform miracles […]” (25), but he views God as far more personal and accessible than deists typically do, as when he writes “God-dess remains intimately involved with creation and creatures, rather than the distant High God who sets creation in motion and now lets it work according to natural laws with no further involvement” (82). He asserts that God urges us to seek a loving relationship, so connection and contact are always available to creatures.

Along the lines of Plotinus, Bohlert states that the universe itself is an expression of God’s ever-expanding love, which is always seeking to love more and more. The universe is the means by which God accomplishes this desire. Bohlert also leans heavily on classical Platonic metaphysics, as when he writes, “The material universe exists as a temporary modification of the spiritual world” (103). His view also has a strong metaphysical idealist orientation (that incidentally reminds me of Berkeley’s idealism): “God-dess’ energy forms everything, and nothing exists separate from God-dess. Therefore, everything is ultimately spiritual” (104).

Bohlert sees God not as lacking any gender so much as being both genders fully, as when he writes, “God-dess exists as male and female counterparts […]” (25). This explains his use of “God-dess”, which emphasizes the two poles of divinity. These poles are personified as Radha the female and Krishna the male. All people participate more or less in one or the other, but we all need both to be complete. God is therefore “God-dess”, the “Divine Couple”, and “Radha-Krishna.” We therefore have a kind of a unity in diversity, which characterizes much of Indian thought. Bohlert prefers “both-and” thinking to either-or and neither-nor.

Bohlert also strongly endorses the classical Chaitanya view that God has three levels of manifestation. Each level is progressively higher and includes the previous. The first is Undifferentiated Oneness (Brahman), the next is Cosmic Consciousness (Paramatma), and the final is the Supreme Lord (the Divine Couple, Radha-Krishna).

Because God-dess doesn’t perform physical miracles, we cannot take scriptural stories and mythologies literally. They are symbols, metaphors, and allegories that point to higher realities. Bohlert believes in “progressive revelation”, which is the idea that God-dess never ceases to prompt new religious visions and imaginings in us as we continue to explore this creation.

Reincarnation is real for Bohlert, but he does not feel the need to speculate about its exact nature. The essential idea is that souls develop through cycles and steps to attain the direct presence of God-dess. The goal of URK, and Vaishnavism in general, is not to become “one” with the whole (as in the case of Advaita schools of Hinduism, or as in the case of Buddhism), but rather to enjoy a kind of individuality in which one experiences the bliss of service to the Divine Couple in their love play, which is ultimately indescribable but which can be approached through mythologies, especially those of the famous Hindu text called the Bhagavata Purana. However, Bohlert feels free to adapt these ancient stories in the light of modernity in order to make them more accessible to different cultures and generations. He does this by re-imagining certain elements of the pastime narratives in ways that remove them from the ossification that is caused by limiting them to certain times, places, and cultures.

URK is “universalist”, which is the idea that all legitimate religions can serve as vehicles for the advancement of the soul. Different people have different needs and so on, and God-dess makes Him/Herself accessible in a variety of different ways.

Bohlert advocates some traditional Vaishnava practices so that people can keep God-dess in mind at all times. These include chanting and visualization techniques. In Chapter Nine, he briefly summarizes the daily activities of Radha and Krishna so that the devotee can play a role in the Divine Play. Bohlert explicitly rejects the asceticism that often characterizes Radha-Krishna devotion. The world is good–it should be enjoyed without craving and attachment, while giving due consideration to those around us. He writes, “God-dess […] may ask us, at the time of death, why we did not enjoy life more” (25).

Personal Reflections

I have studied the world’s religions with a great deal of seriousness, and have experimented with many of them to one extent or other. I have a very deep history with atheism, and then was deeply affected by Christianity, Vaishnavist Hinduism, and the ancient European heathen religions now known as Asatru. There is no wonder that these systems of thought have persevered for so long and have meant so much to so many people–they all say powerful things and speak to powerful needs.

I have come to see a relationship with Divinity as essential in my life, and have found the narratives of the pastimes between Radha and Krishna to be the most powerful metaphor for the Divine love that is available in the world‘s religious literature. I understand that others may disagree and may find other metaphors more powerful, and that’s totally cool with me.

Steve Bohlert’s systematic theology is a much-needed attempt to fill a deep void in religious thought. I know that it will speak powerfully to many people who find this view of God to be compelling, but who, under the influence of modernity, cannot view mythology as literal descriptions of physical reality. His URK system also has the benefit of focus–too many progressively religious people (“spiritual–not religious”) follow what I would call the “smorgasbord” approach, which has the devotee tasting from every dish but lacking the focus to eat an entire plate. This approach then becomes an ill-defined sense of “feeling good about the universe”, but lacks many of the gifts that focused religion can bring. Bohlert’s system has a focus and specific rituals that have a pedigree in the world’s oldest religion.

Bohlert’s theology is a novel revisioning of venerable theistic traditions. Although he uses terminology, like “God-dess”, that might distract some, his theology is based in all kinds of classical theological and philosophical works. Most of his notions of the Divine are perfectly plausible to almost any religious tradition.

More controversial is his universalism, which is absent in most orthodox Christian and Islamic theology. The idea the God works through a variety of religions can be accepted in only a most attenuated form by a Christian or a Muslim, both of which will tend to believe that everlasting punishment attends those who willingly refuse the correct path. That’s fine with me, as long as everyone understands that some differences in religious thinking are essential and cannot be reconciled. He writes, “[…] no one with a particular spiritual belief should go to other countries and preach that what their teachers taught is superior to all other teachings” (115). Generally, Christians and Muslims will see things differently, and, in all fairness to Steve Bohlert, I think that his beliefs are certainly superior to a fairly wide range of dangerous religious beliefs in the world that I‘ve come across. Bohlert’s modesty is nevertheless admirable.

Bohlert, in a perfectly legitimate manner that is common with many other universalists, expects and hopes that a commitment to a progressive theology will bear fruit in a progressive political orientation. Oddly for me, I am as conservative politically as I am progressive theologically (which is why my brief flirtation with the Unitarian Universalist church didn‘t last long). In any case, for the overwhelming majority of those who would seek this book, this will not be a problem at all. Exhibiting love of God in one’s life should be a goal of anybody who takes God seriously, and I sincerely admire the author for his passion. I hope God will respect our noble intentions, even if we end up wrong!

This book is, within the context of devotees of Radha and Krishna, no mere curiosity. It is, in fact, a groundbreaking book. Many already in the movement will be attracted to this approach, and perhaps many who feel the tension between fundamentalism and modernity will find this book to be nothing short of a God-dess-send. I find that one of the greatest strengths of his approach is to elevate the truly religious and spiritual above the superstitious.

Bohlert offers a comprehensive theology in his book that combines classical Indian theology with modern philosophical developments. It will be interesting to see how his thought will progress from here. I eagerly anticipate those developments! This book is simply essential reading for anyone in its target audience.

There is a great deal in Bohlert’s work that I have not mentioned, so if you are interested in this project, you will benefit greatly from reading the entire book.

– Dr. Michael Valle

This book comes as a cooling breeze on a hot day. It offers a glimpse into an eternal world of love that actually surrounds us at all times. The perfect world that Plato detected, just beyond the veil, really does exist, yet we spin our webs of karma so tightly that we cease to acknowledge it. As you read this book, you hear the music of the spheres, like the rising choral, Ode to Joy, in Beethoven’s final symphony.

Universalist Radha-Krishnaism — A Spirituality of Liberty, Truth, and Love by Steve Bohlert reviewed by Nori Muster. Nori Muster, a positive thinking modern author of many life engaging books, essays and poetry. Her Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement, was accepted among many ex Hare Krishna devotees worldwide as a mind-opening narrative and has helped thousands of persons regain their individuality, sobriety and strength. Learning to Flow with the Tao is Nori’s own version of the ancient Taoist oracle, iChing. Pray for Peace Notebook: Direction in the Time of Change is an edited collection of Nori’s political writings, 2000 to 2009. Visit her website to read more and explore Nori’s wonderful world of positive possibilities.

Author Steve Bohlert dedicated his life to finding the source of the music, which led him to India, where he served and studied with enlightened masters; and it took him to San Francisco Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity from the Graduate Theological Union, and became an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ. He was raised in the Missouri Synod, christened and confirmed.

Bohlert’s life is a bridge between East and West, and a merging of his Christian Universalist beliefs with his strongly held bond with the eternal divinities Radha and Krishna. Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is a product of his studies, and outward manifestation of the bridge he first built within.

The time is right for a book such as Universalist Radha-Krishnaism. As Bohlert points out, “We live in a relativistic, pluralistic world open to truth in all forms.” (p. 5) There is no one way to hold faith, and many in our culture today are searching for truth. As a life long seeker myself, open to both Eastern and Western religious ideas, I consider this book a portal to enlightenment. Bohlert leads the reader up a spiral staircase to the light, winding through the Christian and Hindu faiths as we ascend.

Many of the concepts were already familiar to me, coming from Missouri Synod Lutheran roots, and having spent ten years in the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON). The Lutherans started out as reformers five hundreds years ago but became quite strict, and as Bohlert points out (p. 5), “most Radha-Krishna devotees are fundamentalist literalists.” It is ironic, but typical, since religious institutions tend to become entrenched in their belief systems, and closed down to change.

Hundreds of years ago, Radha-Krishna, the archetypal goddess and god of love, were little-known outside of India, and worshiped only within the Hindu faith. Eighteenth and nineteenth century archaeologists and scholars made us aware of Hindu gods, but prior to the twentieth century, nobody in the West had any actual experience of Radha and Krishna. Even today, god and goddess remain concealed behind a brick wall of fundamentalism, which most of us from a Judeo-Christian background are powerless to navigate. On one hand, we may sense truth there, but until Bohlert’s interpretation, there was no way to pierce the fundamentalist views and practices that keep these deities off limits. Even the Hare Krishna movement and similar groups may fail to offer a satisfying genuine experience.

One of the subjects Bohlert introduces, which is forbidden in the fundamentalist world of the Hindu sects, including ISKCON, is permission to meditate on Radha-Krishna’s eternal pastimes. ISKCON warns its followers that they will always remain neophytes who dare not dream of life in the eternal realm. This was tried in ISKCON in the mid-1970s, but the fifty or so members of the “Gopi-bhava Club,” as it was called, were scorned and drummed out as heretics. “Gopi” is the Sanskrit word for the cowgirls of Krishna’s world, and “bhava” means “mood, feelings, or emotional state,” so gopi-bhava is the mood of the gopis.

Toward the end of the book, Bohlert offers an outline of a typical day in Krishna’s world with the gopis and other eternal associates, and invites us to imagine how we might fit in. He said Krishna comes around a couple times a day to visit with you, find out how you’re doing, and discuss whatever is on your mind. Since reading the book a few days ago, I have imagined many things I would like to say to Krishna.

Bohlert was a member of ISKCON in the early days of the movement, 1967–1974, when he was starting temples around the world for the founding guru, Srila Prabhupada. Later, he served a one year stint in New Vrindaban (West Virginia), 1980–1981. However, like many of us, he had to leave the confines of the organization to continue his spiritual journey.

In Universalist Radha-Krishnaism, Bohlert speaks without the constraints of fundamentalism, re-imaging Radha-Krishna for the modern seeker. He cites the “evolution of thought” (p. 28) and the need to reinterpret religion in each new generation. Through his long education and practice, he learned that he can be part of the process of religious reform. This book is his way of moving the conversation forward, mingling two divergent religious traditions, and making the supreme Hindu god and goddess accessible to his readers. He dubs Radha-Krishna “God-dess,” which means god and goddess together.

Bohlert dismantles the fundamentalist notion that we come from original sin, that we were put in this material world as a punishment, that our flesh is evil, and that god is a menacing figure who sits in judgment. These fears played a part in the development of both Christian and Hindu theology, and may have helped to enforce discipline on people who lived in previous centuries. However, Bohlert argues in favor of universal love and freedom, which are common tenants of most new age religions. He writes that, “Like any good parents, Radha-Krishna want us to enjoy ourselves. This adds to their enjoyment.” (p. 25) He explains that worldly fun and spiritual devotion co-exist when we learn to live in harmony with god and goddess, nature, and all beings.

Besides citing references from his teachers in India and Berkeley, Bohlert’s opus draws on Plato, Martin Luther, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, the humanists, Jack Kerouac, and quantum physics. He shows how the truth runs through all these rivulets, from Plato’s Theory of Forms, to Carl Jung’s archetypal reality, and ties it all together in his vision of God-dess. He says, “We exist as parts or emanations of God-dess, and like a piece of a hologram or a fractal, we contain the image of the whole.” (p. 31).

One chapter discusses the life and teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533), a reformer in India and contemporary of Martin Luther (1483–1546). Chaitanya was said to embody Radha and Krishna as an incarnation (avatar), and he led a revitalization movement in India that paralleled the Renaissance taking place in Europe. Bohlert compares Chaitanya to Martin Luther for offering an alternative to fundamentalism, and to Jesus for breaking down caste and gender barriers. He also describes Chaitanya’s influence on the Moslem religion of his day in India. It was refreshing to me to gain new insights into Chaitanya, adding depth and detail to the introduction that ISKCON offered during the years I was a member. This is welcome, since Chaitanya does not belong to any one organization, or any one region of India. Bohlert’s book will spread Chaitanya’s teachings to a broader audience.

Bohlert mixes the worldly and next-world experiences, when he says that we have a duty here on Earth to enjoy this life. In Bohlert’s view, salvation is more than just for ourselves, in terms of wanting go to heaven when we die. He explains why our experience here is important, and offers spiritual reasons to stand up to the challenges of today. He says salvation “includes communal salvation, which involves healing the brokenness of society and individuals. Society as a whole cannot be healthy until all are healthy and whole just as the body cannot be healthy if certain parts are diseased.” (p. 42) The solution, he says, is “We need to see ourselves as part of God-dess’ extended family, as brothers and sisters in the human family, and as part of creation. Then we can solve our problems cooperatively.” (p. 47) He explains, “The more we learn to experience God-dess and consciously live in the material world responsibly, the more we spiritually evolve.” (p. 66) Put simply, “The more spiritual we become, the more we enjoy this life fully.” (p. 86)

The gift for reading the book is to go from hearing about god and goddess, to actually experiencing god and goddess. When we first pick the book to read it, we may feel like outsiders to a fundamentalist religion with few entrance doors. However, after a thorough and thoughtful read, we embody the relationship with god and goddess. The music of the spheres lights within ourselves. As Bohlert confirms, “This is living the myth.” Fundamentalist scholars from the various Hindu groups may give Bohlert grief for unleashing the mystic experience to his readers, but Bohlert has the credibility as a scholar, through his lifetime of preparation for writing this book, to make this leap for his generation. So never fear, anybody from any background may read the book and form an eternal bond with the denizens of the spiritual world. Bohlert asks the reader to throw off convention, and simply embrace the love emanating from Radha and Krishna. If more people read this book, the world will be a better place.

– Nori Muster

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