Jungle Dispatch



Institutionalizing Prema-bhakti

I was doing some web research today and came across this book excerpt by eminent Chaitanya Vaishnav scholar, Joseph T. O’Connell. He concisely and insightfully describes how Chaitanya’s devotional teachings and practices became institutionalized in a soft, symbolic, decentralized manner as opposed to the hard, centralized, coercive institutions later formed by Gaudiya Math and ISKCON. […]


Nature of the Absolute – Part 4

The blissful energy enables God-dess to enjoy bliss and infuses bliss into the hearts of loving devotees. The essence of the blissful energy is divine love. The fullest manifestation of divine love is Radha, the eternal consort or counter-whole of Krishna, the personal absolute. Just as Krishna possesses infinite divine energies in their highest perfection, […]


Nature of the Absolute – Part 3

Vedic metaphor suggests something like this: suppose an expansion of God-dess sleeps and dreams this world. God-dess’ dream creates a “reality” that goes on for billions of human years, measures billions of light years across, and seems so solid and captivating that some believe it is all that exists. Yet it is a dream, an […]


Nature of the Absolute – Part 2

We are finite, and God-dess is infinite. We cannot limit the infinite with mere human thought and words. We do not want to define a God that is too small and fits neatly in our box. God-dess’ inconceivable potency transcends the law of contradiction, blending contradictory ideas and qualities within him-herself paradoxically.  Since the Absolute […]


Nature of the Absolute – Part 1

Universalist Radha-Krishnaism offers a panentheistic theology. The personal Absolute enfolds even the formless, attributeless Absolute, which we call Undifferentiated Oneness. God-dess’ power to reconcile the irreconcilable reconciles our imperfect, contradictory ideas of qualified and unqualified Absolute in a higher synthesis.


An Environmental Perspective

Rather than God-dess giving humans dominion over other species and the environment, we are given stewardship of them–responsibility to care for them. In today’s urban environments we tend to loose our connection with nature, and materialistic capitalism dominates. One of the main underlying causes driving a multiplicity of problems is rapid population growth that takes […]


Universalist Radha-Krishnaism in Brief

Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is aimed at a well educated, open audience. It presents esoteric Vedic wisdom in plain, well-written English, avoiding technical Sanskrit terms.


Remembering Radha-Krishna Throughout the Day

Remembering Radha-Krishna Throughout the Day The following is intended to be meditated on daily while we imagine ourselves in our perfect spiritual identity as a character interacting in the play. It follows the basic plot outline given by Rupa Goswami in his Ashta-Kaliya-Leela-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram. We updated it for contemporary use, while trying to remain as faithful […]


A Queer Friendly Spirituality

I saw the DVD “Milk” last night–a poignant reminder of our not so distant past and the ongoing struggle for equal rights for all. I want to make it clear that Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is open to and affirming of queers of all types. I’ve always been an outsider myself. My struggle against the conservative elements […]


Spring Has Sprung in the Jungle!

What a long, cloudy, rainy winter it has been. Today, Jahnava and I took the vinyl windows off our yurt until fall. It’s 94 F inside with the ceiling fan going full and 78 outside. The sun is shinning brightly, the birds are singing, the wind blew the vog away and life is about as […]