HAWAII The Big Island

Steve Bohlert Photographer

Aloha. I launched a new photography website to expose my work to a wider audience. It has my recent photos as well as a gallery of flora. I will add more galleries and photo descriptions as I am able. It is the product of a passionate love of photography and the Big Island, my home. Through these photos, I seek to share its beauty with the world. See my Recent Photos, Flora of Hawaii, and About Steve Bohlert.

Slowly go through “Blazing Saffire” and picture yourself in the various scenes. Where do you stand? What are you doing? How do you feel?

Daily meditate on the “Braj Meditation (Short)” and picture yourself in those scenes. As you have time during the day, meditate on what Radha-Krishna are doing at that time. Involve yourself as an active participant. How do you relate to the other characters? What is your role? By just providing the essentials, this short mediation allows free imagination.

When ready, move on to “Braj Meditation (Long)” and do the same thing. Be open to your inklings, intuitions, and desires. Picture how you would like to spend eternity interacting with these people. What is your role?

These things take time and should not be rushed. It’s best if you develope your spiritual identity from within based on natural impulses for relating to Radha-Krishna. Love cannot be bound. Here’s a quote from my autobiography that explains more about the process:

In his spiritual body, Lalita Prasad Thakur considered himself a girlfriend of Radha. He said the only way to attain this position is by the grace of someone already in that position. Traditionally, it’s a confidential circle entered by invitation only. He entered it by the good will of his father and teacher, Bhaktivinode Thakur, who entered it by the good will of his teacher, Bipin Bihari Goswami.

I pass this most confidential information on through my books. Although I don’t accept formal disciples, anyone who reads my books may accept me as their spiritual teacher and guide, receive my blessings, and my warm open invitation to all to become Radha-Krishna’s girlfriends. This entails an ever new bestowal of love and hope in our lives without becoming a slave to a guru. Thus I welcome everyone to participate in this greatest human good.

Radha and her eight girlfriends are fourteen and all married as was then customary in India. According to Vishwanath Chakravarti, after this life, perfected devotees go to the universe where Radha-Krishna now incarnate, and they are born as one of their associates before going to the spiritual Braj. This is problematic since everything we know of Radha-Krishna is mythological rather than historical as we currently understand these terms. We are dealing with archetypal beings rather than historical personalities.

For those who prefer to mediate on Radha-Krishna and friends in a traditional way, this chart is most helpful. Followers of Universalist Radha-Krishnaism are free to alter details as needed and adapt characters to contemporary aesthetic ideals. Rather than incarnating with Radha-Krishna in another material universe, perfected natural devotion practitioners go directly to the spiritual Braj at the time of death.

Click to open the attached pdf chart: Radha-Krishna & Friends

When Radha-Krishna devotion was introduced to the West, devotion to Krishna was emphasized and devotion to Radha discouraged–as was natural devotion. Therefore, practitioners may ask, “Is it proper to focus on Radha as the object of amorous devotion?” Quoting from my book and the Ujjval Nilamani, I show that Rupa Goswami described it, and followers of natural devotion may practice it today.

Excerpts from Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: The Way of Natural Devotion; A Practitioner’s Handbook by Steve Bohlert

Natural devotion uses method acting techniques in an intense form. Practitioners train to become their true selves in Radha-Krishna’s eternal play through total self-transformation for eternity. By playing a role in Radha-Krishna’s eternal play, devotees experience a small bit of God-dess’ mind as they become co-creators of that play by improvising and interacting freely as independent characters with other characters. They increase varieties of novel experiences that expand Radha-Krishna and their friends’ enjoyment.

Parts are available for all who care to prepare themselves to enact one. Practitioners create their own character according to their deepest inner longings. They train according to timeless, idealized realities that emanate from the collective unconscious that interpenetrates all existence.

This viable mystic process allows practitioners to experience an intimate relationship with Radha-Krishna in their aesthetic spiritual realm, the idealized reality of Braj. Rupa Goswami developed a technique to enter the idealized reality that depends upon the dramatic skill of assuming the role of a character in Radha-Krishna’s play. (137)

❡

They construct an identity as a character in Radha-Krishna’s play. This involves forming a loving relationship with significant other exemplary characters whom they model their character on–their role models. Rupa Manjari, Lalita Sakhi, Bishakha, and spiritual teachers are such role models. Practitioners mentally imitate their behavior and moods until it becomes natural to act like them in the meditative spiritual body. Devotees learn to become one of Radha’s girlfriends and feel at home in that reality. They internalize and improvise on the myths in a natural manner.

The original role models and myths have a distinct Indian flavor. However, being archetypal personalities, their essential nature transcends cultural boundaries and is capable of adapting to new cultural contexts. They enact their play on the stage devotees visualize in meditation. (138–9)

❡

They experience passionate feelings of love described in devotional literature by playing the part of a girlfriend of Radha-Krishna. They do not passively observe, but actively participate and vividly experience the whole milieu. Thus they make the world of Braj their own and act as spontaneously there as they do in this life. For Rupa and his followers, this is the only play worth performing.

Radha-Krishna symbolize passion as ultimate union with God-dess. Their realm of Braj is on the periphery, beyond social conventions, where their lovers freely associate with them according to natural inclinations …

Radha-Krishna’s pastimes are both like a dramatic play and a manifestation of God-dess’ unbounded playfulness that remains open to unlimited expansion. These pastimes provide an ideal model of perfect life that devotees seek to engage in eternally …

Although ultimate reality is one, each seeker perceives it differently. People each bring their particular gifts to the relationship and improvise adding unpredictable novel enjoyment for all players. (140–41)

❡

The identity they cultivate in Braj springs from their innate individual spirit and is a manifestation of their unique eternal relationship with God-dess.

Hearing stories of amorous relations between Radha-Krishna and their girlfriends inspires devotees to follow those girlfriends’ examples and become a girlfriend too. They particularly aspire to be special girlfriends of Radha and are not especially interested in a direct amorous relationship with Krishna. When devotees become part of Radha’s entourage, they share her supreme enjoyment …

While there are many kinds of girlfriends of Radha-Krishna, following in the line of Rupa Manjari (Rupa Goswami’s spiritual identity), natural devotees focus on becoming eternal girlfriends who are more exclusively attached to Radha than Krishna.

While they are traditionally ten to thirteen year old maidservants of Radha and her chief confidants, who are her expansions, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism practitioners envision them as eighteen to twenty years old and in the more egalitarian relationship of girlfriends. They play supporting characters to Radha’s starring role. They increase Radha’s pleasure, help unite her with Krishna, and enjoy their union vicariously through her …

Thus, they experience a state of simultaneous oneness and difference with Radha, know her heart, and understand her emotions from the subtlest hints. (142–3)

❡

A popular passage from the Padma Puran (83.7–8) tells practitioners to imagine themselves as a charming young Braj woman who looks delightful in the full bloom of youthful beauty, versed in the arts, and erotically pleasing to Radha-Krishna. (144)

❡

Traditional descriptions of the perfect body were worked out in the early seventeenth century and have remained fairly constant. Narottam Das was instrumental in developing this girlfriend role, and since his time (early to mid-seventeenth century) it dominated natural devotional practice. Few changes have been introduced since the time of Vishwanath Chakravartin in the early eighteenth century. Surely it is time for an update.

While the perfect body is primarily imagined internally, Rupa Goswami instructs practitioners to imitate the residents of Braj with both their inner perfect body and external practitioner’s body, however, he does not explain how. (BRS 1.2.295) Ramanand Rai set a high standard by bathing and dressing temple dancing girls as a performance of bathing and dressing Radha. (148)

❡

Devotees aspire to be girlfriends who assist Radha-Krishna’s love play. They love Radha more than Krishna and are charming beautiful young women eighteen to twenty years old. They please the Divine Couple under the guidance of a leading girlfriend like Lalita and derive great bliss by serving them intoxicating herbs and drinks, fanning them after the heat of love making, brushing and arranging their hair, decorating their bodies, massaging them, playing music, and dancing for their pleasure. Sometimes, Radha sends them to Krishna for his enjoyment, and sometimes they please her. Their goal is to maximize Radha-Krishna’s enjoyment by anticipating and indulging their every desire. This role allows the most intimate access to their love play, and it can be expanded to accommodate unlimited practitioners and varieties of experience …

When devotees love Radha more than they love Krishna, it becomes their primary relationship known as the relationship of the eternal girlfriend. (149)

❡

Radha-Krishna’s pastimes are infinite, and descriptions such as those found in the Bhagavat Puran or Govinda-lilamrita are purely illustrative and meant to serve as a guide to get practitioners going.  Once they get the hang of who they are and how they relate to Radha-Krishna, they leave the written text and enter the unscripted play as it spontaneously unfolds in novel unforeseen ways. This aspect of the unfolding play offers many opportunities to adapt it to the contemporary world stage upon which it now appears. (152)

Rupa Goswami wrote about the relationship of Radha and her girlfriends as follows:

Ujjval-Nilamani by Rupa Goswami, Chapter 8–Radha’s friends (sakhi-prakaranam):

The sakhis (girlfriends) may be divided into two groups: 1. those who desire to become nayikas (direct lovers of Krishna); and 2. those who do not desire to become nayikas, but simply desire the transcendental happiness of friendship with the sakhis . . .

A gopi (girl) to her friend: “Don’t repeatedly leave me on the pretext of going to pick flowers in Vrindavan-forest. I fear that you’ll suffer in someway when you’re alone in the forest. O beautiful-faced friend, I tell you the truth: I simply wish the happiness of your friendship. I have no desire to enjoy amorous pastimes with Krishna.”

Sakhis who are always satisfied by the friendship of other sakhis, and do not aspire to become nayikas, are called nitya-sakhis (eternal girlfriends). The nitya-sakhis may be divided into two types: 1. atyantiki laghu; and 2. apeksiki laghu.

One day Radha tried to arrange an amorous meeting between Krishna and her friend Mani-manjari. Mani-manjari declined the invitation, saying: “My friend Radha, I have no desire to taste the happiness you enjoy by touching the transcendental limbs of Krishna. I simply yearn to expertly engage in your service.” This Mani-manjari has no desire at any time for an amorous meeting with Krishna.

A gopi to Krishna: “My dear Govinda, I request that you please engage me in expertly arranging for your splendid transcendental amorous pastimes on the dancing stage of Radha. This service is the topmost treasure in the exalted kingdom of all the gopis’ hearts. My heart has no desire to personally taste the nectar of the touch of your transcendental body.”

❦

A gopi–messenger may meet Krishna in a secluded place. Although Krishna may appeal for her mercy, he may sometimes be refused and spurned.

A gopi–messenger to Krishna: “Krishna, now that I’ve met you in this secluded place, I can give you the message of my dear friend Radha. Krishna, why do you raise the fearful cupid’s bows of your eyebrows in this way? O Krishna, O moon of Vrindavan, if you neglect my friend and instead try to make advances upon me, I shall give up my life on the spot.”

❦

Priya-sakhyam snehadhika: The sakhi-snehadhika sahkhis love a specific gopi–friend slightly more than they love Krishna. The love of these sakhis is eternal. They always think, “I am the property of my friend.”

A sakhi-snehadhika gopi tries to dissuade Vrinda from arranging for Radha’s rendezvous with Krishna: “O Vrinda, don’t carry this message. O friend, tell Vraja’s prince Krishna not to come to this rendezvous. This monsoon night is filled with many dangerous poisonous snakes. Why should you not be afraid to go to the forest on Govardhan Hill tonight?”

Kunjabihari dasa, in his Manjari-svarupa-nirupana, said: “… the love for Sri Radha…can be called a new sthayi-bhava.” When love for Radha dominates all other emotions, it can evolve into a rasa, a new type of sthayi-bhava. Manjari sadhana is associated with this new rasa. Following Gopalguru, this rasa can be called the rasa of the female friend (sangita-rasa). The manjaris’ love for Radha is both natural and beginningless. There is no limit to the ways practitioners can serve. Who can predict the ways of rasa?

I’ve long said, “I live life as art.” I worked on this book for twenty-seven years. It’s a work of art too. I go over it repeatedly and keep adding a little color here, a little detail there, some nuance, a new light until it’s finished.

Over the years, it had a number of titles: An American Siddhartha (after Hermann Hesse’s book), Saffron, Full Circle, and now An Authentic Life. I was writing and looked up “authentic” in my computer dictionary. It said:

❧ Authentic: (in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life. (New Oxford American Dictionary)

That resonated as how I try to live my life. It also got me back in touch with my existentialist roots as I researched the idea. I came upon this quote that reinforces the other:

❧ Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very different from, and other than, itself. Authenticity is the degree to which one is true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character, despite these pressures. (Wikipedia)

As I make the next pass through the manuscript, I will use the theme of authenticity as a filter to tie the whole thing together. Whether dealing with my father, guru, family, society, or employers, the conflict boils down to who they want me to be versus who I am. I am true to myself, often at great personal cost. I take full responsibility for the choices I made, the life I live, and who I am. I am content and happy with the result.

As Mick said, “You can’t always get what you want, but you just might find you get what you need.” Aloha.

Aloha,

Steve

Click to order from Amazon.com

Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: The Way of Natural Devotion; A Practitioner’s Handbook

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXCERPT:

ABOUT THE BOOK

A REVIEW OF THE NEW EDITION

Steve Bohlert has dared to break the shackles of fundamentalism to deliver a much-needed re-visioning of an ancient religion of India, giving it new life for those of us in a multicultural 21st Century world. He has extracted the essence of Bengali Vaishnavism, and while staying true to its person-ality, has planted the seed back into the human body, so we may again receive the Original Blessing. I do not hesitate to call Steve Bohlert a prophet, not only as one gifted with spiritual insight, but also as one who foretells the future — of a path that must be something like he sees it or not be at all. That is, without such a re-birthing of Vaishnavism, its soul will never plant roots in the world at large. The orthodox will of course decry it and condemn him. “The dogs may bark, but the caravan will pass.” — Daniel Cooper Clark, longtime Radha-Krishna devotee

FROM REVIEWS OF THE FIRST EDITION:

Many Westerners are attracted to diverse aspects of Hinduism and, in particular, devotion to Radha-Krishna, but soon find themselves alienated by two factors: an inescapable emphasis on ‘Indian-ness’ and the uncompromising literalism of the movement as it has come to the West.  Steve 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 in this especially effective form of the Divine Couple, Radha-Krishna. — Dr. M. Valle, who teaches philosophy of religion

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. — Author Nori Muster

This book is sufficiently important that its wide dissemination amongst devotees is a desideratum.… old beliefs are given apparently radical new interpretations that widen their scope and potential for meaning.… Subal [Steve Bohlert] has done a great service by introducing or naming the Vaishnava concept of deity as panentheism.… I favor rāgānugā [natural devotion], as it seems does Subal, precisely because it … is about reforming the id-controlled ego into a love-permeated ego.… There is no doubt that Subal’s is an important brick in the wall of religious discourse … His great contribution … 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. — Jagadananda Das/Jan Brzezinski, translator and scholar.

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.

Another satellite internet provider came to my home Saturday. He also said there are too many tall trees to be able to get a clear signal. Again, my only option for high speed is dashed. Oh well, that’s the price for jungle living. I don’t think I’m missing much.

Meanwhile, I can light a fire in the wood-stove and work on my memoirs, which is now my main writing project. I”m reading a couple of memoir writing books as I prepare to revise and complete the manuscript I’ve been working on for over twenty-five years. This should keep me busy for a while. Aloha.

Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex

by James Ledbetter, editor in charge of Reuters.com. Yale University Press, 2011.

I grew up in a Republican family admiring Ike as a military leader and a president. People said “Everybody likes Ike.” After reading this book, now I know why. Raised in a Mennonite family, he became a distinguished top military leader, president of Columbia University, and then president of the U.S..  Still he was unprepared for what he encountered. What he called “the military-industrial complex” was already in place. It controlled much public policy independent of and often contrary to the wishes of the president/commander-in-chief.

At the end of his second term, he was disappointed at not being able to do more to set the country on the right track for world peace and human betterment. He gave a powerful farewell address warning the nation about “the military-industrial complex”, which today we may call the military-corporate-congressional complex that relies on a perpetual war economy. It created a garrison state and is bankrupting the country–funding the war machine at the cost of public services and individual freedoms.

Fifty years after Ike’s speech, this book is well worth reading to get a better understanding of what todays protests are about. I think Ike would be quite supportive of them. Get it at the public library or Amazon.com.