Radha Krishna are the feminine-masculine poles of God-dess. When we see the two as one, we see the androgyny of God-dess and by reflection, of ourselves. Chaitanya is the embodiment of Radha Krishna and therefore, considered their incarnation. The introduction to the Chaitanya Charitamrita beautifully describes Krishna’s reasoning for incarnating as Chaitanya. He wanted to […]
I am not a strict follower of Bhaktivinode, or anyone else, in the sense of accepting his opinion as the final word on things. He lived in Victorian, British India and geared his teachings to the educated Bengalis and British whom he interacted with regularly. As government servants, he and Lalita Prasadji associated with all […]
While meditating on what gopis might be like today and how we might translate “gopi†so that it has meaning for contemporary Western devotees, I had an insight. “Gopi†is traditionally translated as “cowherd damsel, girl, woman or maiden.†They are Krishna’s lovers in the cowherd village of Vrindaban who serve Krishna in a mood […]
Let us assume that all the gods and goddesses, heavens and hells all exist within us. This would be consistent with the Upanishads, Jung, Campbell and others. Many of Chaitanya’s followers are said to have experienced Krishna within their hearts. Rather than an external, transcendental experience, perhaps we seek an inner, immanent experience of divinity. […]
God-dess refers to the Divine Couple, Radha Krishna, God and Goddess, energy and energetic, the ground of all being, the cause of all causes. God-dess is the basis of existence, the source of all life and love. God-dess is eternal. God-dess exists before the beginning of time and beyond time in eternity. Time and space […]
I am influenced by the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and other later developments which elevate Radha from a mere shakti of Krishna, to the Supreme Goddess. C. Mackenzie Brown discusses this in God As Mother: A Feminine Theology in India. There is also some good discussion of Radha in The Divine Consort: Radha and rthe Goddesses […]
I’m pretty much finished with the addition to my home that consumed much of my energy the past several months. I am taking some down time to shift gears from being an owner-builder to being a full-time theologian again. I am working with Neal Delmonico / Nitai Das and others on his forum, The Chaitanya […]
In my mind and experience, the basic beliefs of Chaitanya Vaishnavism are: Belief in God-dess as the Divine Couple, Radha Krishna. Radha is superior to Krishna in the sense of dominating him by her love which is what is really important and worship-able. Otherwise, they are co-equal God and Goddess, two halves of one whole, […]
In The G.O.D. Experiments, scientist Gary Swartz makes a good case for a guiding, organizing, designing principle/field/force that is active throughout the universe on all levels of existence. He sees this force as personal, with a sense of humor even. This goes along with God-dess being the Ground of All Being. Therefore, God-dess does not […]
I think way too much emphasis is placed on brahminical culture and lifestyle in Chaitanya Vaishnavism. When I was a young sannyasi in India, adopting brahminical standards made sense. Later, when I returned to the West and no longer had a support system for that, I gave it up with no regrets. It goes against […]