Regarding faith, I want to make it abundantly clear that I separate faith from belief, as Bhaktivinode and Paul Tillich among others have done. I may change my beliefs or have no beliefs, but I still have faith as we all do. We all have faith in something, whether it is the nation, our shastras […]
No matter how sophisticated your idea of God, it is still trying to put God in a box and say, “Ah ha. Now I’ve got it.” As soon as you say, this is it, and worship your limited conception (whether it is more or less limited than others conceptions) and take the words of your […]
Some months ago I had an inspiration to study the Kama Sutra in relation to Radha-Krishna’s pastimes. I purchased Anne Hooper’s edition which “reinterprets and updates the ancient erotic texts…distilling 2,000 years of sexual knowledge into an exhilarating modern guide.†and compared that with The Complete Illustrated Kama Sutra edited by Lance Dane. Hooper left […]
I just finished re-reading Sri Madhava Mahotsava by Sri Jiva Gosvamipada, translated by Bhanu Swami. In the final section, The Union, Jiva says, “The Divine Couple Radha-Madhava, the personifications of beauty, the temple of youthfulness, the kindom of good qualities, the treasure house of all types of bliss, the essence of all sixty four arts, […]
I write about an ultimate or all-consuming concern or passion that takes over one’s life and leads to total, complete surrender of one’s entire being acting in accord with the object of faith. Faith is devoid of belief in and of itself. It is much deeper and probably an innate character of humanity. How can […]
I seek to find the essence of the myth and give it a Western makeover. I’m kind of doing that in my own mind, but to make a public presentation, I would like to collaborate with you and other learned, mature devotees who can reimagine this. They language of faith. I believe the kind of […]
I simply cannot believe that India is the one culture that has been so blessed that it is directly modeled on an exact revelation of the spiritual world without any cultural influence. Rather the stories are full of Indian cultural influences that existed before Radha Krishna were written about. I believe in revelation, including my […]
When we place our faith or ultimate concern/passion in something that is not ultimate, that is idolatry. This can take the form of nationalism, success, Jesusolatry, or taking the symbol to be the object itself, whether that is the myth, the sect, a particular concept. Remember, God-dess is beyond the limits of our language and […]
In the progressive, Protestant wing of the church, there is a strong effort to use inclusive God language which often takes the form of Mother, Father God. Yet this often leads to inadequate, cumbersome language. Actually there is no English word for God which is inclusive of male and female. So, I made one up. […]
I’m a bit of a follower of Paul Tillich, and in his Dynamics of Faith he describes faith as “ultimate concern” and a centered act that involves the whole person. He also says what it is not. It is not believing the unbelievable. Our beliefs may change over our lifetime as mine certainly have, yet […]