Monday, October 16, 2006

Mahāprabhu's own words

ekadā śrīvāsādi yoto bhaktagana
mahāprabhura guṇe gāya korena kīrtan

"One day Śrīvāsa and the other devotees sang the glories of Mahāprabhu in kīrtan"

śuni bhaktagaṇe kohe sakrodha vacane
kṛṣṇa nāma guṇa chāḍi ki koro kīrtan?

When Mahāprabhu heard it He angrily said: 'Why are you abandoning Kṛṣṇa kīrtan? What are you singing?

auddhatya korite hoilo sabākāra mana,
svatantra hoiya nāśābe bhuvana

"Everyone has become so arrogant! This independent behaviour will destroy the world!"

(Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya 1, 269-271)

āmā prati sneha yadi thāke sabākāra
kṛṣṇa nāma vinā nā gāibe āra

"If you all really love Me, then sing of nothing but Kṛṣṇa!"

(Caitanya Bhāgavata)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Continued debate on Gaura Nitya Līlā

The ongoing discussion on Gaura-nitya lila et al:
Mādhava writes in Vilasa kunja 30 september 2006-

Mādhava: "The friction arises to a great extent from the fact that the Gosvāmīs themselves wrote very, very little of Mahāprabhu at all, what to speak of touching on the specifics of Gaura-upāsanā and līlā.

Advaitadas: "This provides food for thought. Shouldn't we follow suit and thus be real rūpānugīs? Their format should be followed: They offered obeisances to Gaura once in the invocations of their books and then spoke of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa all the way.

Mādhava: "ārati-songs for Gaura and so forth are also in practise in the line Advaitadas belongs to.

Advaitadas "That is precisely the Gosvāmīs`program - obeisances to Gaura once and then just Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Also our adhivāsa kīrtans are the same as in the other lines - Gaura all the way. But this is sādhana bhakti!

Mādhava: In general, there is evolution in mantras in the sampradāya - additional mantras are often learned from śikṣā-gurus and passed on to others.

Advaitadas: When you speak of evolution, isn't that like the `bold innovators` we have left other groups for? Can we call a line that `evolves` like that still a paramparā (succession)? Isn't succession meant to be unchanging?

Mādhava: On dīkṣā-mantras, the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa only mentions Kṛṣṇa-mantra and Kāma-gayatri, with passing mention of some Rāma- and Nṛsiṁha-mantras. Gaura goes undiscussed in the work (as does largely Rādhā), for it seems to be aimed at the broadest audience, not only Gaura's followers.

Advaitadas: This is untrue. In Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Madhya 24) Mahāprabhu gives elaborate instructions to Sanātan Goswāmī about the compilation of Hari-bhakti-vilāsa  It has a Gaura maṅgalācaran and is a distinct Gauḍīya Grantha. As Gaura mantra is not there and you admit the mantra`s been in use for just over a century, the conclusion is clear.

Mādhava: Curiously, Gaura-mantra is spoken of in Advaita-prakāśa, one of the very esteemed texts in the line of Advaitadās.

Advaitadas: "This I have already explained on Gaudiya Discussions and on my website www.madangopal.com: It was a procreative mantra meant only for Śacī-mātā and Jagannātha Miśra. Otherwise, it would have been received by us all nowadays, but it isn't.

Madhava: The existence of Gaura's nitya-līlā as an aprakaṭa-prakāśa is questioned. It has not been specifically addressed in any foundational works of the sampradāya, but there is no reason to assume it couldn't be there for those so willing.

Advaitadas: Can it be a spiritual reality without being mentioned in any authorised śāstra?