“O mind adore the effulgent form called Radha, who illumines all directions. I gaze upon her divine form, which is more brilliant than millions of lightening flashes and is engrossed in an ongoing celebration of erotic love. Her hair is decorated with jasmine flowers, and her exquisite red dress rivals the rising sun.”

“I praise Radha, the topmost embodiment of splendid divine amorous sports, youthful beauty, gracefulness, and sweetness. She’s the shinning jewel of beautiful women who means everything to Krishna.”     from “The Daily Meditation”

Puna Authors Speak

Saturday, March 20, 2–4 pm

Katalin Koda:  Reiki Master, Visionary Artist, Poet

Sacred Path of Reiki: Healing as a Spiritual Discipline unites traditional wisdom, dharma and Reiki healing.  Katalin teaches all levels of Reiki, Tarot, holds Sacred Feminine workshops and passes Munay Ki initiations.  She is initiated in Raku-kei, Shamballa Reiki, Tibetan Buddhism, shamanic practices and  Munay Ki.  Forthcoming is her book, Divine Feminine in Fall of 2010.

Erika Ginnis: Clairvoyant, Energy Healer, Spiritual Teacher, Sylvan High Priestess

Essential Mysteries: A User’s Guide for the 21 Century Mystic combines pagan & mystery teachings with New Thought, providing practical instruction for meditation and energy awareness for everyday life & is for seekers from any spiritual tradition. She offers lectures, workshops & classes in Meditation, Energetic Healing, Inner Journey work, Spiritual Leadership, and Personal Transformation.

Steve Bohlert (Subal Das): Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher, Rebel

Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: A Spirituality of Liberty, Truth & Love presents a rare, inspiring insight from a universalist worldview. Steve’s intimate knowledge of traditional Radha-Krishna devotion, as a Hindu monk, and Christian spirituality, as a UCC pastor, inspires seekers to embrace life and progress on the path to full, intimate God-dess realization. The book is philosophically invigorating and spiritually joyful.

Book signing, Puu Puu’s, lively discussion

Attendees socializing and buying books.

On the Big Island at Kalani Oceanside Retreat – Hale Aloha

On the Kalapana-Kapoho Rd / Red Rd between the 17 and 18 mile-markers 965‑7828

Co-sponsored by Big Island BookBuyers & Dr. Roy Lozano, Pahoa Chiropractic

After dinner, Jahnava and I drove down to the Kalapana coast and walked across massive lava flows from the 1980s which wiped out one of the greatest beaches in Hawai’i to an incredible new black sand beach with a blazing full moon glistening in a clear starry sky over the water. Incredible elemental vistas stretching out in front of us. It seemed like we were in a giant full surround theatre watching this awesome spectacle right in front of us and yet somehow removed–we on the land and the waves just there. This mighty ocean which this morning threatened to overflow its borders now kindly stayed within its limits. Young woman lithely running in the moonlit shallows. Fountains of lava shooting into the sky on the mountain behind us and flowing down toward the sea. How much more alive, elemental, and primal can it get. Aloha blessings.

“Whereas mainstream Hinduism tends toward puritanism and life-negating asceticism, the culture of the Vedic tribes of circa 1500 to 1000 B.C. was clearly life-affirmative and sex-positive. They loved music, dance, and gambling, were not at all averse to inebriation, and prayed for a hundred years life on Earth, many children, and plenty of cattle. As one Vedic hymn exhorts, “O men! Lift, lift up the penis, the bestower of satisfaction! Move it, dig deep for the acquisition of wealth [in the form of progeny]!” While some of the prayers have a symbolic content, many others are to be taken quite literally.

“The Tantric adepts have always claimed that their new teachings were really only a restatement of the old Vedic religion. This claim has never sat too well with the brahmins, the custodians of the Vedic heritage. It is true, however, that an examination of the ancient Vedas yields Tantra-like elements. In fact, the Vedas contain a rather elaborate sexual symbolism. (138)“

In the same way, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism mines the riches of the perennial wisdom from the past and presents them in a contemporary manner to create a life-affirming, sex-positive spiritual path for today. Sometimes the past holds the keys to the future. Just because certain views seem to have been around forever and dominate today’s thinking does not mean they are best, right, or useful. My primary approach to Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is to remove the detritus accumulated over the centuries and explain what remains in contemporary language to present a more workable, sustainable model for spiritual growth now and in the future.

In the Chaitanya Charitamrita (2.8.226–27 & s 52) Prabhu replies to Ramanand, “The mahabhagavata looks at animate and inanimate objects, and everywhere is the glowing of Sri Krishna. They look at animate and inanimate objects, but do not see those images; rather everywhere they see the blossoming of their own ista-deva. ‘He who sees his own god in all things of the earth, and sees all things as in his own Bhagavan, he is the greatest of bhagavatas (BP 11.1.45).’”

This profound statement comes right before Chaitanya reveals his true form as Radha-Krishna in one body, which Tony Stewart calls, “theologically, the climax of the book.”

Chaitanya, quoting the Bhagavat Puran, clearly offers a panentheistic view as the perspective of the great devotees of God-dess. This is clearly an incarnate theology that eliminates the duality of nature and spirit. It is later manifested by Ramanand in his service of two temple dancing girls as an enactment of his service to Radha.

Therefore, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism embraces life, nature, body, sex, and all the good things God-dess offers us seeing him-her glowing lovingly through them all. We live life fully on many different levels following God-dess’ lead. Enjoy freely.

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)