All glories to Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, my grand-guru, at whose lotus feet I cling. His songs, books and life are an inspiration to me. He began the process of Westernization of devotional yoga and love of Radha Krishna. He was a revolutionary pioneer, a bridge between East and West, a universalist, the Emerson of Bengal. […]
Why must we be bound by the past? I don’t believe the descriptions in scripture are literal. It’s all symbolic. You can’t contain God/Goddess in a book, statue, nature, mantra or anything else. They’re all symbols pointing to the Divine. In my searching, I have found no more attractive description of the spiritual world than […]
Regarding the leelas (pastimes), it all depends on wether you view them as the absolute literal truth of the one and only way the spiritual world can be described, or is it relative to the Indian context in which they were created. If RKs leelas are infinite and they can assume infinite forms, what is […]
The post-modern way is to look at scripture as writings of different persons at different times addressing their particular circumstances and needs. Disciplines such as source criticism, historical criticism, textual criticism, exegesis and hermenutics are employed in the study of scripture. Scriptures are considered to be relative to their intended audience and need to be […]
I am 22 pages into Sri Vrindavan Mahimamrita by Prabodhananda Sarasvati (it’s a 640 page book that I paid a good amount for), and I really can’t stand to go on reading it. It is the last and largest of several books I bought at the same time. It looked like it had a lot […]
OK. Here’s why I made the call to change some of the traditional writings that may or may not properly be called scriptures. What is a scripture anyhow? When I received ekadas bhav from Lalita Prasad Thakur, Babaji, he also taught me to remember the pastimes of Radha Krishna using Rupa Goswami’s Sri Sri Radha-Krishnayor […]
“Can you explain how we, in our present limited state of evolution and consciousness, can superimpose our ideas on Radha Krishna in regards to things like their age? Can you explain from the UCRK’s viewpoint how reinterpreting that in the scriptures can be justified. Many understand how teachings and worn out ideals of older scriptures […]
I am looking for some devotee scholars and poets who would like to collaborate with me to update the Radha Krishna devotional literature. The GV corpus was put together based on 16th century Indian aesthetic theory. What would it look like with 21st century, Western aesthetics? How can the philosophy be developed in such a […]
I view Chaitanya as a mystic, God possessed man who exhibited great love of God and affected the lives of many others. I also view him as an incarnation of Radha Krishna. I just love the opening chapters Chaitanya Charitamrita which describe the purpose of his incarnation. Persons say to me, “I can accept Chaitanya […]
“Would you please speak on how your ‘professional, pastor-teacher relationship with your students’ differs from the traditional Guru/disciple relationship as generally seen in IGM and other traditional paths of Sanatan dharma?†I see IGM like the Catholic Church and myself like Martin Luther calling for a protestant reformation. I am non-hierarchical and egalitarian. I am […]