Gaudiya Touchstone | Issue 9 by Gaudiya Touchstone

www.gosai.com

Senior Editor

Swami B.G. Narasingha

Assistant Editors

Swami B.B. Vishnu Swami B.V. Giri Swami Srirupa Madhava

Science Editor

Swami B.B. Vishnu

Translators

Swami B.V. Giri Sanatana

Layout and Design

Rasikananda Gaura-Gopala

Art Department

Dominique Amendola

Photography

Rammohan Nila Newsom Swami B.V. Giri

Webmaster

Advaita Acharya

Contents 01 03 11

Editorial The Bhagavata

Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Who is Sri Gaura?

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

Sri Kusumanjali

Lord Sri Chaitanya and His Teachings

Vibhuti- Yoga

Self Manifest Deities

This Sankirtana is the Lila of Mahaprabhu

Dhameshvara

The Tattva of Pancha Tattva

Temples of Karnataka - Thondanur

Seva

101

Swami B.R. Sridhara A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Swami B.G. Narasingha Swami B.G. Narasingha Swami B.G. Narasingha Gosai Archives Swami B.V. Giri Rasikananda Dhiralalita

Consciousness & Quantum Mechanics Swami B.B. Vishnu

113

Boson or Bust? Higgs and His Godless Particle Dr. N.S. Rajaram

121

Is There a God or Is There Nothingness? Dr. Robert Lanza

127

Words of Wisdom

129

Culinary Magic Gaura Gopala

Editorial Welcome to the ninth edition of Gaudiya Touchstone commemorating Gaura Purnima, the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This issue begins with an article on the Srimad Bhagavatam by Bhaktivinoda Thakura entitled The Bhagavata, based upon a public lecture he gave in Dinajpur in 1869. Sri Gaura Ki Vastu? (Who is Sri Gaura?) written by Saraswati Thakura for the Bengali magazine Sajjana Toshani in 1918 has been translated for the first time into English and explains the true position of Sri Chaitanya as opposed to the imaginary Mahaprabhu concocted by the Mayavadis. Another Bengali work that has been translated for the first time into English is Sri Kusumanjali by Sridhara Maharaja, which glorifies the personality of his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Lord Sri Caitanya and His Teachings is an article from an early Back To Godhead magazine by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, which concisely explains the precepts of Mahaprabhu. What is a Deity and what is a lifeless statue? This question and many more are answered in the article, Self-manifest DeitiesÂ In This Sankirtana Movement is the Lila of Mahaprabhu, the magnanimous position of the Lord and His devotees is explained as well as the importance of participating in the sankirtana movement.

Our cover story about Dhamesvara gives the background to the oldest Deity of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which was originally worshipped by His consort Vishnupriya Devi and tells us why, at one point in history, the devotees had to hide the Deity. Swami Giri explains in detail the five members of the Panca-Tattva in The Tattva of Panca-Tattva, and in our regular feature,Temples of Karnataka, Rasikananda takes us to the temple of Thondanur and tells us the history of the Deities there. How can we perform our devotional service with the proper mentality? Dhira Lalitaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article Seva, gives us some hints how to improve our service to Guru and Krishna. We also have three very interesting science articles beginning with Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics by Swami Vishnu, followed by Bosun or bust? Higgs and His Godless Particle by Professor Rajaram and Is There a God or Is There Nothingness? by Dr. Robert Lanza. We also have our sagacious Words of Wisdom section as well as Culinary Magic where Gaura Gopala teaches us how to make a delicious quiche. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it for Issue 9. Happy reading and have a happy and auspicious Gaura Purnima festival! OM TAT SAT Swami Narasingha

- Bhaktivinoda Thakura

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

e love to read a book which we never read before. We are anxious to gather whatever information is contained in it and with such acquirement our curiosity stops. This mode of study prevails amongst a great number of readers, who are great men in their own estimation as well as in the estimation of those who are of their own stamp. In fact, most readers are mere repositories of facts and statements made by other people. But this is not study. The student is to read the facts with a view to create, and not with the object of fruitless retention. Students like satellites should reflect whatever light they receive from authors and not imprison the facts and thoughts just as the Magistrates imprison the convicts in the jail! Thought is progressive. The author’s thought must have progress in the reader in the shape of correction or development. He is the best critic, who can show the further development of an old thought; but a mere denouncer is the enemy of progress and consequently of Nature. . “Begin anew,” says the critic, because the old masonry does not answer at present. Let the old author be buried because his time is gone. These are shallow expressions. Progress certainly is the law of nature and there must be corrections and developments with the progress of time. Bur progress means going further or rising higher. Now, if we are to follow our foolish critic, we are to go back to our former terminus and make a new race, and when we have run half the race another critic of his stamp will cry out: “Begin anew, because the wrong road has been taken!” In this way our stupid critics will never allow us to go over the whole road and see what is in the other terminus. Thus the shallow critic and the fruitless reader are the two greatest enemies of progress. We must shun them. The true critic, on the other hand, advises us to preserve what we have already obtained, and to adjust our race from that point where we have arrived in the heat of our progress. He will never advise us to go back to the point whence we started, as he fully knows that in that case there will be a fruitless loss of our valuable time and labor. He will direct the adjustment of the angle of the race at the point where we are. This is also the characteristic of the useful student. He will read an old author and will find out his exact position in the progress of thought. He will never propose to burn the book on the ground that it contains thoughts which are useless. No thought is useless. Thoughts are means by which, we attain our objects. The reader who denounces a bad thought, does not know that a bad road is even capable of improvement and conversion into a good one. One thought is a road leading to another. Thus the reader

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

will find that one thought which is the object today will be the means of a further object tomorrow. Thoughts will necessarily continue to be an endless series of means and objects in the, progress of humanity. The great reformers will always assert that they have come out not to destroy the old law but to fulfill it. Valmiki, Vyasa, Plato, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu assert the fact either expressly or by their conduct.

The Bhagavata like all religious works and philosophical performances and writings of great men has suffered from the imprudent conduct of useless readers and stupid critics. The former have done so much injury to the work that they have surpassed the later in their evil consequence. Men of brilliant thoughts have passed by the work in quest of truth and philosophy, but the prejudice which. they imbibed from its useless readers and their conduct prevented them from making a candid investigation. Not to say of other people, the great genius of Raja Ram Mohan Roy the founder of the sect of Brahmoism, did not think it worth his while to study this ornament of the religious library. He crossed the gate of the Vedanta, as set up by the Mayavada construction of the designing Shankaracharya, the chosen enemy of the Jains, and chalked his way out to the unitarian form, of the Christian faith, converted into an Indian appearance. Ram Mohan Roy was an able man. He could not be satisfied with the theory of illusion contained in the Mayavada philosophy of Shankar. His heart was full of love

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

for Nature. He saw through the eye of his that he could not believe in his identity with God. He ran furiously from the bounds of Shankar to those of the Koran. There even he was not satisfied. He then studied the pre-eminently beautiful precepts and history of Jesus, first in the English translations and at last in the original Greek, and took shelter under the holy banners of the Jewish Reformer. But Ram Mohan Roy was also a patriot. He wanted to reform his country in the same way as he reformed himself. He knew it fully that truth does not belong exclusively to any individual man or to any nation or particular race. It belongs to God, and man, whether in the Poles or on the Equator, has a right to claim it as the property of his Father. On these grounds he claimed the truths inculcated by the Western Savior as also the property of himself and his countrymen and thus he established the Samaja of the Brahmos independently of what was in his own country in the beautiful Bhagavata. His noble deeds will certainly procure him a high position in the history of reformers. But then, to speak the truth, he would have done more if he had commenced his work of reformation from the point where the last reformer in India left it. It is not our business to go further, on this subject. Suffice it to say, that the Bhagavata did not attract the genius of Ram Mohan Roy. His thought, mighty though it was unfortunately branched like the Ranigunj line of the Railway, from the barren station of Shankaracharya, and did not attempt to be an extension from the Delhi Terminus of the great Bhagavata expounder of Nadia. We do not doubt that the progress of time will correct the error, and by a further extension the branch line will lose itself somewhere in the main line of progress. We expect these attempts in abler reformers of the followers of Ram Mohan Roy. The Bhagavata has suffered alike from shallow critics both Indian and outlandish. That book has been accursed and denounced by a great number of our young countrymen, who have scarcely read its contents and pondered over the philosophy on which it is founded. It is owing mostly to their imbibing an unfounded prejudice against it when they were in school. The Bhagavata, as a matter of course, has been held in derision by those teachers, who are generally of an inferior mind and intellect. This prejudice is not easily shaken when the student grows up unless he candidly studies the book and ruminates on the doctrines of Vaishnavism. We are ourselves aware of the fact. When we were in the college, reading the philosophical works of the West and exchanging thought with the thinkers of the day, we had a real hatred towards the Bhagavata. That great work looked like a repository of wicked and stupid ideas, scarcely adapted

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

to the nineteenth century, and we hated to hear any arguments in its favor. With us then a volume of Channing, Parker, Emerson or Newman had more weight than the whole lot of the Vaishnava works. Greedily we poured over the various commentations of the Holy Bible and of the labors of the Tattwa Bodhini Sabha, containing extracts from the Upanishads and the Vedanta, but no work of the Vaishnavas had any favor with us. But when we advanced in age and our religious sentiment received development, we turned out in a manner Unitarian in our belief and prayed as Jesus prayed in the Garden. Accidentally, we fell in with a work about the Great Chaitanya, and on reading it with some attention in order to settle the historical position of that Mighty Genius of Nadia, we had the opportunity of gathering His explanations of Bhagavata, given to the wrangling Vedantist of the Benares School. The accidental study created in us a love for all the works which we find about our Eastern Savior. We gathered with difficulties the famous karchas in Sanskrit, written by the disciples of Chaitanya. The explanations that we got of the Bhagavata from these sources, were of such a charming character that we procured a copy of the Bhagavata complete and studied its texts (difficult of course to those who are not trained up in philosophical thoughts) with the assistance of the famous commentaries of Sridhara Swami. From such study it is that we have at least gathered the real doctrines of the Vaishnavas. Oh! What a trouble to get rid of prejudices gathered in unripe years! As far as we can understand, no enemy of Vaishnavism will find any beauty in the Bhagavata. The true critic is a generous judge, void of prejudices and party spirit. One who is at heart the follower of Mohammed will certainly find the doctrines of the New Testament to be a forgery by the fallen angel. A Trinitarian Christian, on the other hand, will denounce the precepts of Mohammed as those of an ambitious reformer. The reason simply is, that the critic should be of. the same disposition of mind as that of the author, whose

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

merits he is required judge. Thoughts have different ways. One, who is trained up in the thoughts of the Unitarian Society or of the Vedanta of the Benares School, will scarcely find piety in the faith of Vaishnavas. An ignorant Vaishnava, on the other hand whose business it is to beg from door to door in the name of Nityananda will find no piety in the Christian. This is because, the Vaishnava does not think in the way in which the Christian thinks of his own religion. It may be, that both the Christian and the Vaisnava will utter the same sentiment, but they will never stop their fight with each other only because they have arrived at their common conclusion by different’ ways of though. Thus it is, that a great deal of ungenerousness enters, into the arguments of the pious Christians when they, pass their imperfect opinion on the religion of the Vaishnavas. Subjects of ’ philosophy and theology are like the peaks of large towering and inaccessible mountains standing in the midst of our planet inviting attention and investigation. Thinkers and men of deep speculation take their observations through the instruments of reason and consciousness. But they take different points when they carry on their work. These points are positions chalked out by the circumstances of their social and philosophical life, different as they are in the different parts of the world. Plato looked at the peak of the Spiritual question from the West and Vyasa made the observation from the East; so Confucius did it from further East, and Schlegel, Spinoza, Kant and Goethe from further West. These observations were made at different times and by different means, but the conclusion is all the same in as much as the object of observation was one and the same. They all hunted after the Great Spirit, the unconditioned Soul of the Universe. They could not but get an insight into it. Their words and expressions are different but their import is the same. They tried to find out the absolute religion and their labors were crowned with success, for God gives all that He has to His children if they want to have it. It requires a candid, generous, pious, and holy heart to feel the beauties of their conclusions. Party-spirit - that great enemy of ’ truth - will always baffle the attempt of the inquirer who tries to gather truth from religious work of their nations, and will make him believe that absolute truth is nowhere except in his old religious book. What better example could be adduced than the fact that the great philosopher of Benares will find no truth in the universal brother-hood of man and the common father-hood of God? The philosopher, thinking in his own way of thought, can never see the beauty of the Christian faith. The way, in which Christ thought of

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

his own father, was love absolute and so long as the philosopher will not adopt that way of thinking he will ever remain deprived of the absolute faith preached by the western Savior. In a similar manner the Christian needs adopt the way of thought which the Vedantist pursued before he can love the conclusions of the philosopher. The critic, therefore, should have a comprehensive, good, generous, candid, impartial and a sympathetic soul. What sort of a thing is the Bhagavata, asks the European gentleman newly arrived in India. His companion tells him with a serene look, that the Bhagavata is a book, which his Oriya bearer daily reads in the evening to a number of hearers. It contains a jargon of unintelligible and savage literature of those men who paint their noses with some sort of earth or sandal, and wear beads all over their bodies in order to procure salvation for themselves. Another of his companions, who has traveled a little in the interior, would immediately contradict him and say that the Bhagavata is a Sanskrit work claimed by a sect of men, the Goswamis, who give mantras, like the Popes of Italy, to the common people of Bengal, and pardon their sins on payment of gold enough to defray their social expenses. A third gentleman will repeat a third explanation. Young Bengalis, chained up in English thoughts and ideas, and wholly ignorant of the PreMohammedan history of his own country, will add one more explanation by saying that the Bhagavata is a book containing an account of the life of Krishna, who was an ambitious and an immoral man! This is all that he could gather from his grandmother while yet he did not go to school. Thus the great Bhagavata ever remains unknown to the foreigners, like the elephant of the six blind men who caught hold of the several parts of the body of the beast! But Truth is eternal and is never injured but for a while by ignorance.

- Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura (This article by Saraswati Thakura was originally written in Bengali in 1918 for the ‘Sajjanatoshani’ magazine, Volume 11, Issue 2.) The principal personality amongst Sri Gaudiya Vaishnava acharyas, Sri Sri Damodara-swarupa Goswami, has stated that Sri Chaitanyadeva is the Supreme Godhead (svayam-bhagavatavastu) full of six opulences. This Chaitanyadeva’s bodily effulgence is the impersonal Brahman and the indwelling Supersoul – who eternally remains manifest as the threefold Purushavataras, Karanarnavashayi, Garbhadakashayi, Kshirodakashayi that create the temporary universe and manifest the eternal Vaikuntha – is a partial manifestation of the opulence of Sri Chaitanyadeva. Sri Swarupa Goswami has also said that Sri Radhika is Krishna’s hladini potency, the transformation of His love (pranaya-vikara). Previously, Krishna and Radhika were one and accepting two forms, they displayed Their eternal pastimes in this material world. Presently, in gaura-lila, the two separate forms of Radha and Krishna have united. With the inner mood of Sri Radhika and decorated with Her external bodily lustre, the transcendental original Godhead (svayam-rupa) Vrajendrananadana, with the mood of taking refuge of divine love (ashraya-jatiya), has manifested His own eternal gaura-lila.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Sri Rupa Goswami has said that Sri Krishna-chandra has appeared in this material world accepting the name ‘Krishna Chaitanya’ in order to display His eternal form of Sri Gaura and to display the pastime of distributing krishna-prema. Pure devotees such as Srivasa have said that Sri Gauranga is the principal Narayana who is situated in Maha-Vaikuntha. Sri Vrindavana Dasa Thakura, Sri Lochana Dasa Thakura etc. have described Him as vishnu-tattva – Narayana Himself or as the Purushavataras etc. Intimate associates such as Sri Gadadhara have said that Sri Gaurhari is the very life and wealth of the residents of Vraja. Again, those devotees belonging to the school of devotion mixed with fruitive actions and speculative knowldege (karma-jnana mishra), such as Nabadasa, consider Him as non-different from the plenary portion of Narayana. The non-devotee schools of thought have not hesitated to refer to Sri Gauranga as a powerful religious preacher who was a human being. Those groups who are opposed to devotion slight Him in various ways, considering Him to be an ordinary man. Depending on one’s qualification in regards to taste and experience, one is able to perceive the characteritics of Sri Gauranga through that particular angle of vision, and in that way one defines Sri Gaura and serves Him in that mood. At present, the Mayavadis say that since Sri Gauranga is the Supreme Truth (para-tattva) then He can be seen wherever one wishes and one can say whatever one wishes about Him – there is no necessity of presenting any sectarian viewpoint, nor is there any necessity to create any kind of restrictions relating to Him. This means that a person taking liquor or ganja will consider Sri Gauranga as his intoxicant, a debauchee will consider Sri Gaura as the very ideal of debauchery, those householders attached to their homes will consider Gaura as a householder who was addicted to the pleasures of household life, a beggar will consider Gaura as as instrument for making money, politicians and social reformers will consider Gaura as a business opportunity, just as someone may use a shaligrama for cracking peanuts! Whatever one follows in order to obtain a result, the Mayavadi and the pseudo-devotee have no objection to it.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

But Sri Gauranga has shown the significance of His name as the most magnanimous ocean of mercy (maha-vadanaya daya-nidhi) in order to frustrate Mayavada. The Mayavadi and the devotee of Gaura are, by nature, completely different subjects. The Mayavadi is egotistical, selfish, devoid of any mood of spiritual surrender and is a beggar pleading for his own prestige. A devotee is not like that. Since the Mayavadi’s attributes are pride and prestige, a Mayavadi thinks that a devotee must have those characteristics also. The Mayavadi is an impersonalist, hence he does not accept the eternal individual existence of either the devotee or the Supreme Lord. He believes that whether it be Gaura or Krishna, the Lord’s personal existence is simply a creation by Maya, therefore when Maya is annihilated, then with the absence of Maya He eternally exists only as the impersonal Brahman. It is only through the Maya of Brahman that Bhagavan and the jivas etc. attain the materially conditioned state or the liberated state in the material realm. The spiritual Vaikuntha does not exist. Basically, the Mayavadi, under the influence of his own defects such as bhrama, pramada, vipralipsa and karanapatava, does not believe in the eternal name, qualities, form and pastimes of the Supreme Lord and His devotees. Those that consider pure devotion and devotional characteristics to be momentary and perishable, those who deem them to be temporary, and who regard the eternal devotees and Supreme Lord to be equal, illusory, mortal elements are known as Mayavadis. Those that come under the influence of Mayavada are the Bauls, Nedas, Sains, Darveshas, Chudadharis, Gauranga-nagaris, as well as those devotees of Gaura who believe in Theosophy, and the attached householders who consider by their cunning intelligence that service to ‘Grihi-Gauranga’ is a convenient opportunity to attain domestic bliss and fulfillment. Furthermore, they begin to quarrel with the devotees as to why such activities cannot be considered to be gaura-bhajana. But if someone amongst them, by good fortune, attains a little pure devotion arising from within, then they can easily leave aside the materialistic conceptions of the Mayavadis. The fundamental principle of Sri Gaura is eternal and His pastimes can only be understood by His own associates who have the necessary qualifications. Due to their defects of bhrama, pramada etc, it is the Mayavadi’s dharma to pervert those pastimes and to try and make them the subject for those who are overly attached to mundane family life.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

“ Maya resides only where there is no krishna-bhakti.” That jiva who, after taking shelter of Mayavada, calls himself a gaura-bhakta like the Bauls and Sain, and neglecting hari-bhajana, eats eggs, fish and meat and starts analysing chaitanya-tattva from the platform of his deluded intelligence, is eventually considered to be abominable from the spiritual standpoint and turns into an entangled householder and is known by the title of Baul etc. Similarly, if sections such as the Neda, Baul, Sain etc. leave aside their individual mental speculation and subtle misconceptions,

and take to the chanting of the holy name without offences, then their offences to the Vaishnavas can be nullified and they become eligible to enter into understanding gaura-tattva. Otherwise, in an efforts to carve an idol of Gauranga, they will mistake Him to be something else. Considering oneself independent and leaving the shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru and the Vaishnavas is certainly a path in the wrong direction. At the time when Krishna entered the arena of Kamsa, different onlookers observed the same Krishna in different moods, but the original form of Krishna (svayam-rupa) is only visible to the eternal devotees who are under the shelter of Gopijana-vallabha (the lover of the Gopis of Vrindavana), who is their only object of worship. The salvationists, nondevotees and Mayavadi’s endeavours for self-improvement are on the temporary platform, but the eternal endeavours of the devotee are exclusively executed as devotional service. Maya resides only where there is no krishna-bhakti. The very place where there is Maya, there will be pride. They think, “I understand so much”, “I am very expert in understanding things” etc. The false sattvika-bhava of the Mayavadi sampradaya is saturated by evil. With tears in their eyes, by sobbing, by the novel rhymes of the Sakhi-bhekis, and

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

by loudly shouting, they perform malicious bhajana. The worship of the form of Gaura created by their imagination is certainly not the same object that is worshipped by the devotees. The Mayavadi, with his mundane vision, installs Gauranga and considers Him to be made from mundane elements, and by declaring, “My Gauranga” etc. he preaches his own concocted philosophy in the name of Gauranga. The devotee community never accepts these various sections of Mayavadis within any ishtagoshti in any way, nor do the devotees give them their association in order to try and convince them. The unfortunate Mayavadi, being deprived of the association of devotees, fails to understand the words spoken by the devotees and considers the devotee to be a babbler like himself. But who is ultimately cheated by this? The devotee, by rejecting the bad association of the Mayavadi and by dint of serving Hari, has reached the highest position. The Mayavadi, along with a few more backwards materialists, thinks that he has preached gaura-bhakti (albeit mixed with Mayavada). In reality, it is like stealing iron from a blacksmith and they are simply creating an unsubstantial, materialistic, greedy sampradaya. Comparitively, if one follows the path shown by the Rupanugas and mentally leaves the association of uselesslyeas argumentative, atheistic Mayavadis, then hari-bhajana becomes easy. Krsna is one thing, Sri Gauranga is one thing. When one establishes Them through his imagination as something else other than they really are, one gets derailed and becomes a false devotee and a materialist. The supreme truth of Gaura has been established and written about by the Goswamis for those devotees who are their followers. Those Mayavadis that neglect their writings, spend their time creating their own imaginative philosophies and claim that it is the siddhanta of the Goswami shastras. They further create other abominable illusory concoctions such as ‘Grihi-Gauranga’ (Gauranga as a householder), ‘Nyasi Gauranga’ (Gauranga as a sannyasi) etc. and thus they attain no good result except for becoming afflicted by enviousness. The Mayavadis should certainly know that the supreme truth of Gaura is eternal, He is not an object belonging to the manifested world formed by Maya. Innumerable crores of Mayavadis with the weapons of their transient imaginations can try to attack Sri Gauranga, but they can never change His eternal form to gratify and please their own senses. That object which can be transformed never becomes the object of worship for the Rupanugas and it is never the Supreme Object that is Gaura. The consciousness of a

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

jiva, drowned by the filth of Mayavada, cannot pervert Gaura’s name, quality or activities in any way; but the Mayavadi who prides himself as being a follower of Gaura becomes a member of the Gauranga-nagari camp and his efforts are similar to those of Ravana capturing Maya-Sita. The transcendental subject matter of Gaura is something that can never be accepted by Mayavadis. But it also an eternal truth that Mayavadis will never be able to conceal Gaura and pure devotion. For the last four hundred years, Mayavadis have tried in various ways to force Gaura to enter their own illusory domains, and at the same time Sri Gaura Bhagavan is also sending His own pure devotees to the material world in order to frustrate the endeavours of the Mayavadis. There is an eternal struggle between the non-eternal Mayavadis and Gaura. The result of this war is the rise of pure krishna-prema in the uncontaminated land that is the heart of the jiva, or the swelling of Mayavada poison in the impure soil of the jiva’s cosnciousness. Instead we suggest that one should give up the mentality of a termite and with a sincere heart read the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu and the Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. In that way, one will realise the eternal purpose of life and one will understand who is Sri Gaura and who are His intimate associates. And if one rejects this, and declares that opportunistic grihavratadharma is actually trancendental gaura-bhakti, then the end result will be that the eternal pure devotees will renounce your association, considering you to be a Mayavadi who is merely deceiving his own self. Mayavadis continuously state that they cannot understand the words of pure devotees. They go against tradition and, mixing everything up, they establish that perceiving sweet and bitter, dishonesty and honesty, idleness and enthusiasm, getting beaten and getting sweets are all the same thing and this is the gaura-bhakti found in this sinful world. Only the mouth of a Mayavadi can make such ‘beautiful’ statements about gaura-bhakti! The Mayavadi wants to understand everything through his meagre material intelligence. He thinks that he will understand Gaura and gaura-bhakti through his enjoymentseeking material intelligence and then he will become a preacher of a materialistic religion. If one’s behaviour is not permeated with a serving temperament, one cannot preach. Your conduct shows a strong tendency towards exploiting maya and this tendency remains firmly within your heart, yet it is proclaimed that the great ship of devotion has already reached the port of your mouth!

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

“Initially I will not perform any bhajana. I’m not willing to leave the five places that Pariksit Maharaja told Kali to exert his influence over. The world considers me as a real Griha-Baul. They call me a devotee, they call me a philosopher and I am puffed up with the ego of a fame-seeking Mayavadi. In this world I am well-versed in the ritual of the grihamedhi-yajna (sacrifce to achieve home comforts)” – this is an unhealthy desire for one who wishes to be known as a devotee of Gaura. If one analyses this subject, then the investigator should not be prejudiced by Mayavadi ideas –rather, one must certainly have a service-inclination towards it. Just as a Kazi, because he belongs to a different religion, is incapable of deciding the dates of Hindu festivals due to his lack of knowledge in shastra, just as a barren woman is incapable of giving birth to a son, just as one cannot eat sweets with his eyes, similarly being under the influence of mundane faith and unknowingly accepting the essence of Mayavada, it is futile to try to understand spiritual subject matters concerning Gaura. Try to understand that your very existence is to be totally subservient to the Rupanugas, who are pure devotees of Gaura – then you will see that all the darkness and fog of illusion has vanished like a momentary storm and the eyes of divine love have blossomed. Rejecting this advice, one may go to heaven or to hell, but you will only learn enmity towards the Vaishnavas and will be cast far away from Sri Gauranga. Once one is fixed in understanding the nature of Gaura, then his heart will be touched by all these things and he will be inspired to know where the transcendental abode is and one can determine whose abode it is; one will believe the words of the pure devotees and understand what the atheistic Mayavadis say about Gaura. If one continues performing frivilous activities like the professional Grihi-Baul Sahajiyas, whimsically wandering here and there in this material world, then the pride and stone-heartedness that arises out of the material bodies of common men will shut the already closed eyes of the Mayavadi for a second time! ******

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

GLOSSARY Bauls – An apasampradaya that claim to be followers of Sri Chaitanya. They are minstrels that sing concocted songs about Krishna and mix Vaishnavism with Islam. There are two types of Baul – the Bairagi-Baul (renunciant) and the Grihi-Baul (householder). Bhrama, pramada, vipralipsa and karanapatava – The four human defects of making mistakes, being in illusion, cheating and having flawed senses. Chudadharis – A groups of so-called devotees who dress as Krishna and try to imitate His pastimes with the gopis. Darveshas – A cult that mixes Vaishnavism with Sufi mysticism. Gauranga-nagaris – A Bengali cult that reject the position of Lord Caitanya as the universal teacher, accepting Him as one the enjoyer of the company of women in Nadiya. Grihi-Baul – a Baul who is a householder. Grihi-Gauranga – The worship of Mahaprabhu as a grhastha by attached householders. Grihavrata-dharma – The selfish activities of attached householders. Nedas – A cult that mixes Vaishnavism with Buddhism and is ultimately impersonal. Sains – A so-called renunciant that follows no rules. Theosophy – A impersonal doctrine concocted by Madame Blavatsky in 1875. Sakhi-bhekis – An unauthorised cult whose male members dress up as gopis, hoping to attract the transcendental senses of Krishna. Sahajiya – A so-called follower of Lord Chaitanya who is imitates the high feelings of divine love felt by real devotees.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If one continues performing frivilous activities like the professional Grihi-Baul Sahajiyas, whimsically wandering here and there in this material world, then the pride and stone-heartedness that arises out of the material bodies of common men will shut the already closed eyes of the Mayavadi for a second time!â&#x20AC;? 20

Sri Kusumanjali (An Offering of Flowers)

- Swami B.R. Sridhara (The following Bengali poem was composed by Srila Sridhara Maharaja in glorification of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, and first published in the Dainik Nadiya Prakash newspaper on Sunday, 11th June, 1927)

(1) jakhan jakhan dharmera glani adharama-abhi udglana haya sadhu pavitrana, dushkriti vinasha dharama sthapane ei he udaya “Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear.” (2) (ei) shri gita kathita, bhagavati vani saphala kariya udita aji shri gauda gagane, aveshavatara vitariya nava kirana raji

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

These words, uttered by the Lord in Bhagavad-gita, have been fulfilled today. On the horizon of Gauda-desha an empowered avatara has appeared, distributing new rays of light everywhere. (3) mugdha jagata, chakita nayane bhatiche nirava bhakati he dekhe nai kabhu, shune nai kabhu bhakata vatsala erupa he The entire world is enchanted and awe-struck. Such devotional sentiments and lustre have rendered all speechless. One who is so compassionate to the devotees has never been seen nor heard of before. (4) ani puratana, sanatana dhana vitarana tar e nava chande kabe ke kareche, jivera lagiya kahara erupa parana kande Bringing that wealth which is ancient and eternal, that personality, who is like a new moon, distributes it to one and all. Who has ever given such benefit to the living entities? Whose heart has ever cried out in pity like this? (5) a-chandale diya, preme adhikara mahaprabhura maha-vadanya lila khauya para bhava, vahana kariya bhajana karana e kona khela Just as in Mahaprabhuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most magnanimous pastimes, he gives even the Chandalas the qualification to receive divine love. It is simply his

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

pastime to taste the highest ecstasy and carry that everywhere for the purpose of bhajana. (6) nitya yukta kare, yoga moksha sada ami e tadera vahana kari pratijna gitaya, dhareche akara kahara dayaya aha re mari â&#x20AC;&#x153;I provide for those who are eternally engaged on the path of yoga and liberation.â&#x20AC;? This promise in the Gita has now been taken shape. Who else is as merciful? I faint to think of it. (7) apane achari, sakala anga hate dhari sabe shikhache aja pashanda dalane, ajeya teja dhandhiya nayana karicha virajata He personally practices all the angas of bhakti and today he holds hands with all those that he teaches. He defeats the atheists with his invincible power, dazzling the eyes of all. (8) pache bhavishyate, tava anugate kona kale keha kare akramana (tai) kari akarshana, shakra astra-gana kariteche ebe saba nirasana Lest in future anyone attacks your surrendered servants at any time, you will attract all the mighty weapons of their enemies and render them ineffective.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

(9) adure se dina, nikhila bhuvana anjali purita kusuma kare kritanja hridaye, rajiva-charana karibe pujana bhakati bhave That day is not far off, when the entire world will offer you prayers with handfuls of flowers. With a grateful heart, they will fold their hands and offer worship to your lotus feet in a mood of devotion. (10) phalgu tyagi jara, sadhu bale tara jagate vidita chila tata dina rupa-anugata, se yukta vairagya tara dhvaja tumi karile ujjina For so long now the world has known only pseudo-renunciates and those that call themselves sadhus. But the followers of Sri Rupa have come to propound yukta-vairagya and you have come to fly their flag. (11) bhajana sopana, daiva-varnashrama shastra-vidhi mata sthapana karile smarta jada-vada, kari nirasana ati-martya tava lila prakashile You have come to establish daivi-varnashrama, which is a steppingstone towards bhajana, and the process of following the scriptural injunctions. Rejecting materialistic Smarta-vada, you manifest your supra-mundane pastimes. (12) bhoga yoga tyaga, adi yata patha mayara chalana kevala se saba

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

shuddha bhakati jivatmara vritti sthapile se mata projjhita kaitava The various paths of exploitation, the process of yoga, austerities etc. are all simply Mayaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tricks. Pure devotion is the occupational duty of the jivatma. Establishing this principle, you discard all sorts of deception. (13) shri-murti shri-nama, shri-grantha vyakhyana bhogera tandava e saba dvare vyepe chila desha, kari hunhunkare hanile vraja tahara shire In the name of deity worship, the holy name and scriptural explanations, everyone was engaged in a suicidal dance of material enjoyment. The country was in a total state of self-deception. But by your loud roaring, you struck its very head with a thunderbolt. (14) vyabhichara bhara, e dhara dhame kona loka hote asiyacha he sakali shodhiya, karicha nutana sakalei bhangiya gadicha he From which planet have you come from to appear in this degraded world, which is full of corruption and immorality? Purifying and correcting everything, you are making them anew. By breaking everything, you are rebuilding it again.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

(15) nahi jani kona, sukritira bale peyechi smarana u charanatale kamana ekhana, he dina sharana pada chada yena nahi kona kale I do not know by the power of what sukriti I am able to remember him and take shelter at his feet. O shelter of the poor, my only desire now is that I may never be separated from your lotus feet. (16) kshanerkera klesha, yatha kare nasha kata shuni tara yasha-gatha gana anadi kalera, ashru muchaiya ditecha jivera nityananda sthana He eradicates momentary tribulations and I hear so many songs singing his glories. By wiping away the tears accumulated from time immemorial, he is giving the living entities the position of eternal happiness. (17) ye dana ditecha, ki bujhiba mora avrita nayana avidyara bale mahima tomara, jane muktakula tava yasho-gana goloka-mandale How can we understand the charity that you are distributing, when our eyes are covered by the power of ignorance? Your glories are known by liberated souls and songs praising you are sung in the realm of Goloka.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

(18) devata-vanchita, o pada kamale renu rupe sthana mage e dasa yogyata vichare, se gunata nai tava ahaituki kripa matra asha This servant asks for the position of a speck of dust at your lotus feet, which are worshipped by the demigods. When I consider my eligibility, I find that I do not even have any qualities. My only hope is your causeless mercy. (19) ei bhiksha ara, shri charane magi purave vasana vishvasa mora sada nishkapate, guru-gaura-seva karya tahate thaki yena bhora This is what I beg and request at your holy feet, as it is my firm belief that my desire will be fulfilledÂ â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Â may I always remain absorbed in serving Sri Guru and Sri Gaura without duplicity. (20) sadachara yuta, brahmana pandita ghare janamiya chila abhimana eke dekhe haya, tulana na haya asaman-jamin bheda vidyamana I was proud of possessing proper behavior and being born in the home of a brahmana scholar. Now I see there is no comparison. They are different and exist poles apart from each other.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

(21) vaÂľsha vidya dhana, rupa abhimana kariya harana deha ei vara jivane marane, u charana vine nahi jane dasa ramendra-sundara Kindly bless me by removing my pride in having a noble birth, knowledge, wealth or beauty. In life or death, this servant, Ramendra-sundara knows nothing except your lotus feet.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

This is what I beg and request at your holy feet, as it is my firm belief that my desire will be fulfilled – may I always remain absorbed in serving Sri Guru and Sri Gaura without duplicity.

Lord Sri Chaitanya Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita is the record of immortal activities of the Lord. In the first part, 9th Chapter of the book, the welfare activities of the Lord are described in nutshell. According to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, everyone who is born in the holy land of Bharata-varsha, or India, must engage himself in the welfare activities for the human society. He says that one desirous of doing welfare activity must implant in his own life the real ideas of welfare. For without knowing the art of doing such welfare activities, nobody can do real welfare to the human society. Why He has stressed on the point of taking birth in the land of Bharata-varsha? Because Bharata-varsha is the land of real culture. The sages and rishis of India cultured very gravely the problem of life and all of them agreed in one point that no permanent welfare can be done so far the material body and mind is concerned. Lord Buddha renounced this material world to practice the means of attaining Nirvana or the ultimate annihilation of all distress. He preached the cult of non-violence. Sri Sankaracharya preached that this material world is non-reality and the spirit-soul is the

a Mahaprabhu & His Teachings - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Supreme Truth. He stressed on renunciation and culture of knowledge as the means to attain to the highest stage of realisation. None of them however preached that a material plan, under the guidance of modern scientific and experimental thought, can bring in real happiness to the human being. Both of them preached different patterns of ultimate voidness and stressed on the point of renunciation. In other words both of them stressed only on the point of uselessness of the material world. But none of them gave any positive information of the life in eternity. In the Bhagavad-gita the living entity has been described as the eternal or santanam. And actually we want from the very core of our heart an eternal life. We think so because actually we are eternal. We want eternal life not as an ideal but actually there is eternal life and eternal enjoyment without labour. In our present status of life everyone tries to labour hard for a bit of temporary happiness. And despite all their endeavor, nobody can be rid of the four principle distresses of material existence, namely the distress of repeated birth, the distress of repeated death, the distress of old

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

age and the distress of diseases. We can falsely claim advancement of scientific knowledge but with all we are unable to overcome all the above distresses by any welfare thought. The nirvana idea is an idea of suicide and the renunciation idea is an idea of negation only of the above mentioned distresses. The positive life and happiness is the real reality that we want. Without such positive knowledge, we are apt to utilise this present temporary life for all sorts of material happiness in terms of the philosophy of Charvaka. Charvaka did not believe in the eternity of life. He believed in Hedonism and therefore recommended an irresponsible life of eat, drink, merry and enjoy. He advised there is nothing after death. And Buddha and Shankara advised there is practically voidness after death. Voidness is another name of nothingness. People therefore took up the idea of nothingness after death and they clinged to everything of this present world. To save them from such hopelessness of voidness and nothing after death, the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has to be propagated all over the world. Lord Jesus Christ also promised the kingdom of heaven and the fatherhood of the Almighty God but nothing in detail. So also preached His Holiness Hazrat Mohammed. But none of these great prophets of the world preached the idea of a life of planning only for material enjoyment which is never to be perfected.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

According to Vedanta-sutras or Vedanta philosophy, Brahman or the Supreme Truth is by nature anandamaya or full transcendental bliss and happiness. And the living entities have been identified with the nature of the Supreme Truth. Apart from the controversies of dualism and monism of the Vaishnava and Mayavada schools of thought we can practically experience that every living entity is fond of a jolly or merry life and his only struggle for life is to attain to a perfect stage of happiness. But nobody finds that perfect stage of happiness in this material world because according to the experience of Brahma or the original father of the human race â&#x20AC;&#x201C; everybody in this material world has to work very hard for the ideal of happy life. Labour, anxiety and happy life all these go ill together. Happiness minus labour is the standard of happiness. This idea of happiness in the material world has created the classes of haves and haves-not. The haves class or the capitalist class have created an artificial way of happiness by material adjustment with the help of modern scientific thought but they have to maintain the status quo, which is always tottering, with the greatest caution. The haves not class or the labour class is trying to reach the status quo of so-called happy capitalist class and as a result of such perpetual struggle for attaining happiness without labour is going on in this material world. The labour class leader leaves the labour party when he is exalted to the position of an earldom. That is the practice in the material world. So everyone has to create his position of earldom from the position of serfdom and nobody is free from it in the interim period of labour between the positions of the earldom and that of serfdom. There are different grades of planets all over the universe. And in all the planets there are different grades of life. In the upper regions which are known as Bhuva-loka, Svaraga-loka, Jana-loka, Tapa-loka, Maha-loka and Brahma-loka situated above the planet called the earth or the Bhu-loka, life is comparatively good. But persons who have no information of such lokas are busy in the matter of adjusting things in the Bhu-loka or this earth. The recent adjustment of welfare activities have been started in this matter of Bhoodan Yajna which is a plan of adjustment between the classes of haves and the haves not. So there is also labour and struggle and therefore there is no chance of unhampered life in these got up happiness.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

After attaining Me, the great devotees do not any more take birth in this non-permanent abode of distress because by such attainment one attains perfection of the highest quality, But Oh Arjuna! Life even in the Brahmaloka is revolving. Oh the son of Kunti, by attainment of My abode one is freed from the cycle of birth and death.

The life in the other Lokas are better than the life in this loka. For example, the duration of life in the Svarga-loka is many, many times more than the duration of life on the earth. It is said that one day in the Svarga-loka is equivalent with the period of six months on the planet of earth. People live there for ten thousands years of such six monthly days and the standard of life is far superior than what we can enjoy in the very best life here. And the standard of life and existence period is still more higher and higher in the other planets mentioned above. In the Bhagavad-gita the standard of life and duration of existence in the Brahma-loka i.e. the highest planet in the universe is described. It is said there that the sum total of one thousand grand yugas is calculated to be twelve hours in the life of the people in the Brahma-loka. The sum total of one grand yuga is calculated to be 4300000 solar years. Multiply these years by 1000 and thus the 12 hours of Brahma-loka is equivalent to the solar years of this earth to the

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

extent of 430,00,00000 i.e. four hundred and thirty crores of solar years. That makes the day of 12 years and there is the night. The people in Brahma-loka live to such 100 years of life. And in proportion to this age, the standard of life also is higher than what we have got here. Can any plan maker bring in the type of Svarga-loka or Brahma-loka on this planet of earth? No it is never possible. In the Bhagavad-gita (8.15-16) therefore it is described as follows:mam upetya punar janma duhkhalayam shashvatam napnuvanti mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatĂ¤h a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rjuna mam upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate After attaining Me, the great devotees do not any more take birth in this non-permanent abode of distress because by such attainment one attains perfection of the highest quality, But Oh Arjuna! Life even in the Brahmaloka is revolving. Oh the son of Kunti, by attainment of My abode one is freed from the cycle of birth and death. Herein we get the information of a life where there is no struggle for existence i.e. where there is no labour, neither there is the distresses of birth, death, old age and diseases. This stage of life is called paramam samsiddhi or the highest quality. Buddhadeva and Sankaracharya propagated the distressful nature of the existence in the material world. Sripad Sankaracharya gave a little information of the nature of spiritual life in full cognizance. But Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu not only gave the spiritually cognizant life but its full varieties of spiritual bliss. Other Vaishnava acharya such as Sri Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Vishnuswami and Nimbarka also gave such spiritual existence but not to the limit of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Spiritual life, that exists beyond the reach of the highest planet of Brahma-loka is the highest attainable perfection. We get this information from Bhagavad-gita. And

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

this perfection is attained by the great devotees who have been described here as the Mahatmas. The mahatmas are only the unalloyed devotees and not the mental speculators or the hard labourers. The hard labourers or the karmis can reach utmost the Svarga-loka. The empiric philosophers can reach utmost the Brahma-loka. The highest Vedantist is Brahma himself and he lives in the Brahma-loka. The jnani, or the empiric philosophers, after many, many births when he is able to surrender unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, then there only he can attain to the highest perfection of life in the abode of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is all spirit, the life there is all-spiritual and the varieties all there are spiritual methods. None of them are comparable to the material varieties which are full of miseries, distress and are of the non-permanent nature, may be in the highest region of the Brahma-loka. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s welfare activities were concerned to take the people ‘Back to Godhead’ by the simple devotional activity of sankirtana. His method of welfare work is not only simple but also applicable universally. Sri Damodara Swarupa Goswami rightly appreciated the welfare activities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and described it as follows – heloddhulita-khedaya vishadaya pronmélad-amodaya shamyac-chastra-vivadaya rasadaya cittarpitonmadaya shashvad-bhakti-vinodaya sa-madaya madhurya-maryadaya sri-chaitanya daya-nidhe tava daya bhuyad amandodaya Oh my Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the ocean of mercy! Let it be so that my heart may give rise to such non-corrosive welfare activities which are freed from all varieties of diffidence, which are completely pure and stainless, which are full of transcendental bliss, which stop all varieties of arguments of the revealed scriptures which turn the heart into intense madness, which make the devotional activities favourably pleasing and which bring in the real sweetness of happiness. That is the picture of the welfare activities of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. People misunderstand Him because He did not open any hospital, because He did not canvass for the undertakers or because he did not labour for any so-called social welfare work.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

But in fact what He did, that include all varieties of social, political, humanitarian, altruistic, moral and spiritual work. So far social work is concerned, He gave everyone equal chance to rise to the highest order of life. Sri Haridasa Thakura was born in the family of a Mohammadan but Lord Sri Chaitanya gave him the highest position of a brahmana and was declared as the acharya of the transcendental Holy Name. He delivered Jagai and Madhai from the lowest stage of falldown and He turned to Vaishnavite cult Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and Prakashananda Saraswati the two great stalwarts of the Mayavada cult. He engaged the services of Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis in the culture of devotional science from their political activities as ministers of Nawab Hussain Shah. Therefore, He gave equal chances to all classes of people, namely, the politician, the scholars, the fallen, non-Hindu and the atheist, the women, the child, the cats and dogs, the beast of the jungle and who-else not. That is the universal application of the common cult and the standard of real welfare work. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never meant to elevate His own position. According to the revealed scriptures, He brought with Him His eternal associates and energies with Him to make a propaganda work for the welfare of all. He is not a static bhajananadi or the saint satisfied with his own devotion-but He was a dynamic force for the upliftment of all concerned. His associates Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Advaita Prabhu practically declared a non-violent peaceful war against the fruitive worker, so-called religionists, mundane welfare workers or the salvationists. There are different stages of stumbling blocks on the path of the highest salvation. The ideals of highest action is given above as from the reading of Bhagavad-gita. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu made progress easy to such perfection by His novel method of arts and music. He asked everybody to help in the propagation of His cult and He asked specially the citizens of India to help Him. India is now free to act in the cultural field. The people outside India are all really anxious to receive the message of peace and happiness from the land of India. Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda Swami, Sri Aurobindo etc. tried to give

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

By his work, thoughts and words, an intelligent man must perform actions which will be beneficial for all living entities in this life and the next. (Cc. Adi. 9.43) 39

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

the message in a mixture of material activities and therefore the same could not be assimilated. The message of peace and happiness in its pure form which delights the heart to the transcendental happiness is the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When one is able to study this message dispassionately, one is able to appreciate the Lord as the highest benefactor. His ideals of welfare work were meant for this life as well as for the life after death. This life is simply a preparatory stage for the next life. One who does not know this has no knowledge of practical life. This life will be finished today or tomorrow like the life of a cat or dog but before the death overtakes us, we must be prepared for the next stage. Sri Chaitanya makes this preparation to the highest perfection and if at all any welfare work has to be done, the standard must be taken from the revealed scriptures and as demonstrated by the Lord. praninam upakaraya yad eveha paratra ca karmana manasa vaca tad eva matiman bhajet By his work, thoughts and words, an intelligent man must perform actions which will be beneficial for all living entities in this life and the next. (Cc. Adi. 9.43) (First published in Back to Godhead, Volume 3, Part 4, April 20, 1956)

Vibhuti - Yoga

The Yoga of Divine Splendor

Excerpt from Chapter Ten of Bhagavad gita, with the Anuvrtti Commentary of Swami Narasingha

VERSE 8 aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate iti matva bhajante mam budha bhava-samanvitah I am the source of everything. All things emanate from Me. Understanding this, the wise who are endowed with love, worship Me with all their heart. VERSE 9 mac-chitta mad gata-prana bodhayantah parasparam kathayantash cha mam nityam tushyanti cha ramanti cha Those who are always thinking of Me, who have dedicated their lives to Me, enlighten each other and feel great satisfaction and joy by always speaking about Me. VERSE 10 tesham satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te To those who are constantly devoted to Me and worship Me with love, I continue to bestow upon them devotional inspiration by which they may come to Me. VERSE 11 tesham evanukampartham aham ajnana-jam tamah nashayamy-atma-bhavastho jnana-dipena bhasvata Out of compassion for them, I appear in their hearts and destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness that is born from ignorance.

Anuvritti Verses eight to eleven of this chapter are said to contain the ontological substance of Bhagavad-gita. Herein, Sri Krishna not only establishes Himself as the source of the material and spiritual worlds, and the origin of Brahman and Paramatma, but by the use of the word sarvasya, meaning all or everything, He also establishes Himself as the origin of Narayana in Vaikuntha (the Master of all potencies). In the pantheon of demigods we find that Brahma is master of Satyloka, Shiva is the master of Shivaloka, Indra the master of Indraloka, but nowhere do we find it said that anyone is master and origin of everyone and everything except Sri Krishna. The understanding that Krishna is sarvasya compels the wise to worship Krishna in love with all their hearts.

Krishna says, mac-chitta â&#x20AC;&#x201C; always think of Me, always meditate on Me; mad-gataprana â&#x20AC;&#x201C; dedicate your life to Me. In association with the wise engage in kathayanta, discussions about Me, enlivening and enlightening each other (bodhayanta). This is the proper way of meditation and engagement for the mind and senses. Discussing about Krishna is called krishna-katha, or shravana and kirtana â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hearing and chanting. This means to hear and chant Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and other such literature and to perform sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the maha-mantra: hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare This hearing and chanting of the name and activities of Krishna constitutes the topmost system of yoga. Krishna verifies in the Padma Purana that He resides wherever His name is chanted: naham tishthami vaikunthe yoginam hridayeshu va tat tat tishthami narada yatra gayatnti mad bhaktah I am not in Vaikuntha, nor in the hearts of the lesser yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities and chanting My name. (Padma Purana) Altogether, there are nine processes in bhakti-yoga to fully engage oneself in Krishna. Of these, hearing and chanting are the first and foremost: shravanam kirtanam vishnoh smaranam pada-sevanam archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam iti pumsarpita vishnau bhaktiti chen nava-lakshana Hearing and chanting the maha-mantra and about the activities of Vishnu or Krishna, remembering Him, serving His lotus feet, offering Him respectful worship, offering prayers to Him, becoming His servant, considering Him

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

as one’s dearest friend, and surrendering everything unto Him – these nine processes are accepted as bhakti-yoga, pure devotional engagement. (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.23) In verse ten we find the word priti-purvakam. Priti means love, but this love should not be confused with the love and affections of this material world which are shared between conditioned living beings. Priti is the state of pure affection wherein no tinge or expression of selfishness or mundane lust can be found. Such love is the requirement for worshiping Krishna and such love is the key to an eternal bond with Krishna. Those who have attained such love for Krishna by bhakti-yoga are continuously empowered by Him with the inspiration of pure devotion (buddhi-yoga), by which they may come to Him. Krishna dwells in the hearts of all living beings as the Paramatma, the Super Consciousness, and directs the wanderings of everyone. When one desires to know Krishna, to serve Krishna and to enter into an eternal relationship with Him, then out of compassion for them, Krishna personally manifests in their hearts and destroys with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance. It is said that Krishna is light and ignorance is darkness: krishna–surya-sama maya haya andhakara yahan krishna tahan nahi mayara adhikara Krishna is like the sun and maya (ignorance) is like the darkness. Wherever there is Krishna there can never be any darkness. (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhyalila 22.31) Wherever light appears darkness is vanquished. Thus, when Krishna personally appears in the heart of the bhakti-yogi, all darkness and despair vanish and one is supremely enlightened. This is the quintessence of Bhagavad-gita.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Question: I have heard that sometimes in India the deities of Ganesha physically drink milk when offered to them. Is this true? Answer: Yes. There were such rumors of Ganesha deities drinking milk; but what spirituality do we find there? None. You can add those rumors to the thousands of stories created by Hindus to excite the masses into reaffirming their faith in Hinduism. When these stories are let loose, then millions of Hindus crowd to the Ganesha temples and every Tom, Dick and Santosh claims that he or she saw the phenomena. Then everyone starts claiming that the photos of Ganesha in their homes are drinking milk. This is good business for the dairy industry but does not reflect any spiritual principle whatsoever. Rumor also has it that Ganesha drank beer, 7-UP and engine oil â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so you can see how such rumors get carried away. Then after a few months everything is forgotten and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back to Hinduism as usual. However, it is the opinion of some intelligent people here in India that the Ganesha milk phenomena was contrived to compete with some of the Christian evangelist propaganda. The incident certainly sounds like the claims of Christians showing the signs of stigmata on their hands and feet or like the weeping Madonna, etc. The Ganesha phenomena however would probably have been more convincing if he had eaten laddus and not simply drank a few drops of milk.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

My conclusion is that, as with the stigmata and the weeping Madonna, etc — the Ganesha ‘milk phenomena’ is also a hoax. Question: During my many travels in India I have visited certain temples where it is claimed that the Deity of Vishnu or Krishna was self-manifest. So my second question is, whether it is possible that God self-manifests His Deity form or is it always necessary that an acharya or representative of God be instrumental in establishing a Deity? Answer: When traveling in India and visiting holy places and ancient temples a ‘grain of salt’ is sometimes advised before blindly believing everything one hears, but it is a fact that since ancient times until quite recently the Supreme Personality of Godhead has indeed self-manifested His Deity form in many places in India. In every instance these self-manifested Deities can be believed as such when we see that great spiritual personalities such as Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and others worshipped these Deities. What great personalities accept, we take to be a reality. Otherwise simply believing at face value every story a priest, a panda or a brahmana tells can be misleading. Some of the ancient self-manifested Deities include Shaligrama in Gandaki, Ranganatha at Srirangam, Nara-Narayana in Badarinatha, Balaji in Tirupati, Narasimha-deva in Mangalagiri, Ahobilam and Nrisimhapalli, Jagannatha in Puri, Vitthala-Krishna in Pandharpur and others. In more recent times, self-manifested Deities include RadhaRamana in Vrndavana, Tota-Gopinatha in Puri and Kashisvara Pandita’s Mahaprabhu Deity, now in Jaipur. All these Deities mentioned above have been accepted by previous acharyas as selfmanifest and therefore the same can also be safely accepted today. An interesting point that I will attempt to make here is that all bona-fide Deities are actually self-manifest. It simply depends on how you define ‘selfmanifest’ and under what conditions the ‘self-manifestation’ takes place. That is to say that, the acharyas and those that are near and dear to Krishna and Vishnu are non-different from the Lord Himself. Therefore, if a bona-fide acharya or pure devotee installs the Deity we may also consider that it is self-manifest.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

acharyam mam vijaniyan navamanyeta karhichit na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva-devamayo guruh “One should know the acharya to be as good as Myself. One should never disrespect him. Never envy him or consider him to be a mundane man for he is the sum total of all the demigods.”(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.17.27) The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Subjective Reality or even more strongly put, Super-subjective Reality. The Deity (archa-vigraha) is the manifest form of Godhead that appears to accept service from His devotee or devotees. The potency of pure devotion attracts Krishna and He manifests Himself to accept His devotees service but the point still remains that ‘He manifested Himself,’ thus ‘self-manifest.’ If one is not a pure devotee or acting under the direct order of a pure devotee, then ones attempt to establish a Deity form of the Lord will amount to establishing a lifeless statue and nothing more. India has thousands of such statues.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Most of the principle Deities worshipped by Gaudiya Vaishnavas were either established by the direct family members of Lord Krishna or manifest by the pure devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Many of the main Deities in Vrindavana were established 4,500 years ago by Vajranabha the great grandson of Dwaraka Krishna. Vajranabha’s father was Aniruddha, son of Pradyumna, who was Krishna’s son. Under the direction of Vajranabha (then king of Mathura) the first Deities of Krishna were manifest in the Vraja such as Madanmohana, Govindaji, Gopala the lifter of Govardhana, Gopinatha, Dauji (Balarama), Harideva, Garuda-Govinda, Keshava, Gopeshvara Mahadeva (Shiva) and so forth. During the lila of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the first Deity of Mahaprabhu was established by Vishnupriya-devi after Mahaprabhu had accepted sannyasa. The first Deities of Gaura-Gadadhara were established at Champahati by Dvija-Vaninatha, the brother of Gadadhara Pandita and the first Deities of Gaura-Nitai were established by Gauridasa Pandita. For one who has heard the narration of what transpired at Gauridasa Pandita’s house on the day of the installation it is quite clear that these were ‘self-manifest’ Deities in the truest sense of the word (for details of this event please see Chapter Seven of Bhakti-ratnakara). During the time of Bhaktivinoda Thakura the Deity of Gaura-Vishnupriya was manifest at Yogapitha in Mayapura. Following Bhaktivinoda, Saraswati Thakura constructed the Adbhuta Mandira at Yogapitha and established Deities of Gaura-Radha-Madhava, Panchatattva, Lakshmi-Narasimha, Gaura-Gadadhara, Jagannatha Mishra, Shachi-mata and Nimai. Also the Deity of Kshetrapala Mahadeva was established at Yogapitha. Saraswati Thakura also established Deities of Guru-Gauranga-Gandharvika-Giridhari and the four sampradaya-acharyas at Sri Chaitanya Matha in Mayapura. Then in various Gaudiya Matha establishments throughout India, Saraswati Thakura established

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Deities such as Sri Sri Gaura-Vinoda-Madhava (in Puri), Sri Sri Gaura-Gopi-Gopinatha (in Alalanath), Sri Sri Gaura-Vinoda-Vilasa (in Naimisharanya), Sri Sri Gaura-VinodaRamana (in Cuttack), Sri Sri Gaura-Vinoda-Vaibhavananda (in Mumbai), Sri Sri Gaura-Vinoda-Vinoda (in Benares) and so forth. Saraswati Thakura established Deities to preside over the holy places and to establish in this world the highest conception of Gaudiya Vaisnavism — nay, the highest conception of theism ever to see the light of day — Sri Sri Gaura-Radha-Govinda. mahaprabhu sri-chaitanya, radha-krishna nahe anya rupanuga janera jivana “Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya is non-different from Sri Sri Radha-Krishna and is the very life of those Vaishnavas who follow Sri Rupa Goswami.” Srila Sridhara Maharaja explains: “Our Guru Maharaja (Bhaktisiddhanta) installed almost everywhere this Mahaprabhu and Radha-Govinda, meaning that Mahaprabhu is combined Radha-Govinda. Mahaprabhu means Radha-Govinda. Swarupa-damodara has given us a shloka about the ontological nature of Mahaprabhu: radha-krishna pranaya vikrtir hladini saktir asmad ekatmanav api bhuvi pura deha-bhedam gatau tau chaitanyakhyam prakatam adhuna tad-dvayam caikyam aptam radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krishna-svarupam ‘The loving affairs of Sri Radha and Krishna are transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Radha and Krishna are one in Their identity, They separated Themselves eternally. Now, these two transcendental identities have again united in the form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya. I offer my obeisances unto Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Sri Radha although He is Krishna Himself.’ (Chaitanya-caritamrta Adi. 1.5) “Guru Maharaja (Bhaktisiddhanta) wanted to show in this form of installation of the Deities, that the highest order of worship is here – that Mahaprabhu combined, who

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

is giving the rasa, and the Radha-Govinda with Their paraphernalia which They are tasting within Their own circle – that highest order of sweetness is being distributed by Mahaprabhu Himself in His lila. They are of the same level, layer, and the same dignity, and same highest position. To show, to represent this to the worldly intellect and devotion, Guru Maharaja has taken this method in the worship, in archana, as favorable for his preaching about Radha-Govinda in Vrindavana.” [Sridhara Maharaja, transcript: April 23, 1982] To this end Saraswati Thakura established many Deities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu standing by the side of Radha and Krishna — thus giving emphasis to this most high and exalted theistic conception. This above all is the essence of the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy. Since the time of Saraswati Thakura many of his disciples carried on the disciplic succession and established Deities in the holy dhama, throughout India and around the world. These Deities included Gaura-Nitai, Radha-Govinda, Pancha-Tattva, Sri Narasimhadeva, Jagannatha, Subhadra and Baladeva, Krishna-Balarama, GauraGadadhara, and particularly the Deities of Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga-GandharvikaGovindasundara, Gaura-Radha-Vinodananda, and Gaura-Radha-Vinodabihari —

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

thus retaining and spreading the Gaudiya concept of mahaprabhu sri chaitanya radhakrishna nahe anya. All these Deities and more were established by the bona-fide representatives of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. Our Guru Maharaja, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in keeping with the highest conception of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, also established Sri Sri Gaura-RadhaGovinda in Kolkata and Sri Sri Gaura-Radha-Madhava at Mayapura [the center of his preaching activities], but unfortunately after the disappearance of our Guru Maharaja some over-intelligent disciples, not understanding our Guruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions and being eager to occupy his position without authority, took the post of acharya. In so doing they displeased our Guru Maharaja and eventually lost sight of the proper conception of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Indeed, so many offences were committed during those dreadful years that the original Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, worshipped by our Guru Maharaja since his childhood, disappeared from the altar at Mayapura and a

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

short time later, the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Radha-Madhava also de-manifested! The details are too painful to recount here, but it is a fact that these things have happened. The saddest part of the story being, that those who are at present in charge of our Guru Maharajaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s institution have developed amnesia and are not willing to take the necessary steps to rectify the situation. The point of contention involving the history of the Deities at ISKCON Mayapura and what should be the proper Deity conception in the futuristic temple being planned at ISKCON Mayapura (the Planetarium) is indeed a sensitive issue. Since the original Deities at ISKCON Mayapura disappeared, other much larger deities have been placed there to right the wrong but the original Deity conception has been over-shadowed and all but forgotten. The fact is that the conception of the highest truth once visible in the original Deity arrangement of Mahaprabhu being the combined form of Radha and Krishna has been lost in the confusion. In private meetings this was brought to the attention of numerous senior ISKCON members, sannyasis, gurus and GBCs before last years GBC meetings, but to little or no avail. None of those approached had any argument or rebuttal to the above statements â&#x20AC;&#x201D; most simply had a hazy memory of what had happened and showed apathy towards doing anything to rectify the situation. In fact, one senior sannyasi commented that ISKCON was having too many land issue problems at Mayapura and that the leaders would not be willing to give attention to such a minor issue as the Deities. Unfortunately worrying about land ownership issues and neglecting the Deity is not the way to solve their problems. Try to rectify things at the center and all other maladjusted issues will automatically fall into place. That is Krishna consciousness. Serve the center and all else will be adjusted. The arrangements that Krishna manifests Himself and the arrangements that Krishna manifests through his pure devotees are non-different. One should give special care and attention to such matters, maintaining them for the benefit of future generations.

This Sankirtana Movement is the Lila of Mahaprabhu - Swami B.G. Narasingha

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

f you were to examine the list of personalities in the Chaitanya Sarasvata Parampara, our parampara, who would you find? Who is in the sankirtana movement? Who is Mahaprabhu? Who is Gadadhara; who are all these personalities? Then you would come to the Six Goswamis; who are they? Rupa, Sanatana, they are gopis (manjaris) who came down here in the form of Rupa and Sanatana. All the way from them to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and all the acharyas in our line, it is known who they are in the eternal lila of Krishna. This is true for all those up to the time of Bhaktisiddhanta. After that, it is not known who any of them are. You will find mentioned throughout books and various letters who is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. For instance, one devotee wrote to Srila Prabhupada, “Srila Bhaktisiddhanta is an ashta-sakhi.” Prabhupada wrote back, “These are very high topics, and they are not for general discussion, but as far as I know, my Guru Maharaja is not one of the ashta-sakhis. He is a manjari named Nayana-mani Manjari.” So up to that point, who they are in that eternal world, that has been revealed, but after that point it has not been revealed. What is clear is that the line of service that they bring down goes to a particular place. It does not go to Vaikuntha. If someone offered you the chance to go to Vaikuntha today, would you take it? Better say no, because Prabhupada is not there to greet you, he is not in Vaikuntha. Mahaprabhu is not there to greet you; Nityananda Prabhu and Achyutananda the sankirtana leader are not there to greet you in Vaikuntha. Maybe Advaita Acharya will be there, but He will look at you and say, “What are you doing here? Move on, move on!” There was recently a discussion, part of which pertained to whether Advaita Acharya can give vraja-bhava. There was a controversy among some devotees regarding this point. Someone was saying that Advaita Acharya could not give vraja-bhava because he is Sada-Shiva/Maha-Vishnu; he is Maha-Vishnu and Sada-Siva. Advaita Acharya not only brings Mahaprabhu down to this world, but he also delivers us to Nityananda Prabhu. Yes, he does not give a direct admittance to Vrindavana, but he gives introduction to Mahaprabhu by bringing Him to this world and delivering us to Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu takes us to Mahaprabhu. According to a devotee’s service mentality, he will be turned over to a particular leader of servitors. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami made it all the way to the lotus feet

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

of Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu said, “You will be with Svarupa Damodara; you will be under his care.” In the eternal world we will be under the care of different devotees of the Supreme Lord, according to our devotional aptitude, or devotional achievement. That achievement is just a feeling. It is just a feeling. In the end, Krishna consciousness is just about cultivating a feeling. All that you know in this world will vanish at the time of death; everything goes, and a feeling overwhelms us. Darkness comes, sound goes away, and there is a feeling. For those who are not God-conscious, that feeling is all about matter, all about anxiety. That feeling is fear, attachment, and all these mundane things. But for a devotee, that feeling is love, bhava, prema — feelings of love towards Krishna. Those feelings are similar to the feelings we have in this world. There are different types of love: love among friends, love of family, love of a lover; that is the worldly love, kama. The pure love of Krishna also has such flavor as friend, as a son, as a lover; different types of feelings are there, different types of love are there, according to one’s qualification. In that way, a particular devotee will enter into a particular group of servitors. So if you are offered liberation, even to Vaikuntha, do not take it. If you were offered brahma-jyoti, certainly you would not take that; you would reject that right away. Or mystic powers? No, we do not want mystic powers, we do not want impersonal liberation, and we do not want Vaikuntha liberation. We do not want that place; we must bow our heads and say, “No, we don’t want Vaikuntha.” We say, “I’ll wait for the time when the opportunity comes down that I will serve my Lord in Goloka or in Navadvipa.”

In the end, Krishna consciousness is just about cultivating a feeling.

Sometimes we forget Navadvipa; generally we think Goloka is everything, saying, “Oh, yes, also Navadvipa, this is nice;

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Navadvipa is also there.â&#x20AC;? But actually, Navadvipa is more wonderful than Goloka. Goloka Vrindavana is called madhu. It is sweet, but Navadvipa is sweetness with magnanimity. In Vrindavana the magnanimity is very less; one must be highly qualified there. It is very restricted; it is not open to just anyone and everyone. But in chaitanya-lila, in the eternal Navadvipa, there is madhurya, sweetness, and audarya, magnanimity. It is actually greater. Imagine that you have a cup full of nectar, and you have another cup overflowing with nectar. One cup full of nectar, that is krishna-lila. One cup full of nectar which is overflowing, that is caitanya-lila. We should give more importance to caitanyalila in our meditation, in our contemplation, in our thought. We should give more importance to caitanya-lila than we give to krishna-lila. It is not that we should neglect Krishna or Vrindavana, but we must understand that there is no entrance into Vrindavana without Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the renaissance period many kings built temples. Even the king of Burma built a Radha-Krishna temple near Gopeshvara Mahadeva, right next to Vrindakunja, near Bhutgali. But what does such a man know about krishna-bhakti? He does not know

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

very much, but it was part of a cultural renaissance. It came to a point that even the Sri Vaisnavas of South India had to build a big temple in Vrindavana, because if you were not represented in Vrindavana, you were nowhere, you were nobody. It is like if you are a film producer, then you will be represented at the Cannes Film Festival and you will be at the Sundance Film Festival, or you are nobody in the film world. Vrindavana became such a place. If you were not represented in Vrindavana, many people would consider what you were in spiritual life to be nothing. Representation in Vrindavana almost became a thing of prestige. But what does prestige have to do with spiritual life? Nothing. Only by the grace of the foot dust of Mahaprabhu and his followers can we enter into Vrindavana. Not just by buying land, not by getting a big throne, not by getting prestige and honor for ourselves. Mother Shachi used to wonder from time to time, she would wonder deeply what is the position of her Son. Advaita Acharya used to come to her house and offer obeisances to that Boy. Advaita Acharya was the most dignified Vaishnava scholar in all of Navadvipa-mandala, and he used to come and bow down in front of Mahaprabhu when he was a baby. In her mind this caused some trouble: “This is very bad for my son, this is not good. Such a high person bowing down to my Son -- this is very bad.” So throughout Mahaprabhu’s life she used to wonder in many ways why certain things were happening, why people were acting in certain ways, and she would sometimes wonder who He was. But Yogamaya would always cover her eventually, and then the beauty of her child or the youthful movements of her Son would just charm her. If we think about something often, then we may have dreams about it. Once Mother Shachi had a dream about Lord Nityananda and Mahaprabhu. The background of her dream was that after coming to Navadvipa and meeting with Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu announced, “I have just come from Vrindavana, but the thrones are empty; the Lord is not to be found in Vrindavana -- He has taken His birth in Navadvipa.” This assurance he gave to the devotees: that the Krishna from Vraja had become our Lord in Navadvipa, posing as a devotee. But He is non-different from the Krishna of Vraja, and therefore the Krishna of Vraja was gone from Vrindavana. Until

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Mahaprabhu went there, Krishna wen There were only a f

First Nityananda P Mother Shachi had and Nityananda Pr Come down, my L do you say? He is M replied, â&#x20AC;&#x153;No, your Them off the thron

It is like a circle; on and going. But we caitanya-lila, and h with krishna-lila we a madman.

You have read it in madly in love with slave? Because there Why? Because from where can it go? N are His energy, they

Service is not quite people hear the wo bad thing!â&#x20AC;? Yes, in of love -- nothing c love of the Suprem

There are actually th much favorable to k who are very attrac There are also those If one is drawn tow

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

there, Krishna was almost gone; that Krishna of Vraja was hidden. After Mahaprabhu’s visit nt back to Vrindavana. Then the temples and the Deities came back, and They manifested. few still visible, but when Mahaprabhu went there, so many more manifested.

Prabhu announced that Vrindavana was empty, “The Lord has come to Navadvipa.” Later, d the dream: she saw Krishna and Balarama on a throne in Vrindavana, then Mahaprabhu Prabhu came there. Nityananda Prabhu said, “You get off the throne; your time is over! Lord Gauranga is here; your time is over, come down!” And then Balarama said, “What My Brother, Krishna, Lord of Vrindavana; He will always be on this throne!” Nityananda time is over, come!” Then Nityananda Prabhu began to fight with Balarama and He pulled ne, saying, “This throne is meant for Gauranga in Kali-yuga; Gauranga is on the throne!”

nce it gets going, where is the starting point? Like a circle, it just keeps going, and going, e should move with the flow, and we should understand the importance of Navadvipa, how that will take us in a deeper connection with krishna-lila. And in a deeper connection e will find a deeper appreciation for caitanya-lila. It goes in a circle and in time, you become

The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. Prabhupada has said, “The purpose, the goal is to become Krishna.” Become mad -- are you ready to become a madman? Are you ready to become a e are no servants of God, there are only slaves of God. Even service is not profound enough. m service you can withdraw, saying, “I don’t like it; I will go back.” But if I own something, Nowhere, it is mine. I own it; it is my property. Similarly, Krishna owns the devotees; they y are His property.

e strong enough; the word servant is not strong enough to express the highest ideal. When ord slave, they generally think, “Oh my God, what is this gentleman saying? This is such a this world, slavery is the worst of things, but everything is just the opposite there. A slave could be finer, nothing could be sweeter, nothing is more rewarding than to be a slave in me Lord.

hree types of madmen in this Krishna consciousness movement. There are those who are very krishna-lila, very much drawn to Krishna, to krishna-lila, to Radha-Krishna. There are those cted to gaura-lila, to Gaura-Nitai, to Gaura-Gadadhara, the Pancha-Tattva, chaitanya-lila. e who are drawn to both. The destination of those souls is in accordance with their attraction. ward krishna-lila and can reach that perfection of love in this life, then he will rise to become

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

an eternal resident of Goloka. If one is more given to chaitanya-lila, then he may become an eternal resident of the Navadvipa section of Goloka. But if he is equally mad for both, as is the case with many devotees, then the soul will live in two places at once; he will be in two worlds at once. That place is nothing like this world; we say that this world is a reflection, but that is after we have stretched the imagination. There is practically nothing here like that; everything here is limited. Even when we say, “the infinite,” our concept of infinite is limited. Here, how many people can sit in a room? Twenty? Twenty-five? Thirty? Soon it will be full. If this room were in Goloka, then one hundred thousand cowherds could sit in this room together, with no pushing, no shoving, and no lack of space. Why? Because that space is infinite; it is infinite space. This is finite space, and therefore in a half-gallon jug you can only put sixty-four ounces; you cannot put one hundred ounces in a half-gallon jug, because that space is limited. But that much space in the spiritual world could hold all the oceans of the material world. Or by just pouring that jug you could fill up those oceans, many times over. Infinite is not just “very big,” it is infinite. It is more than “big.” We generally think of the infinite as just the biggest one, the biggest yet, and a little bigger than that, but big is not even a proper word. There are no limitations there. Sometimes we find in chaitanya-lila that people are not just one person from that spiritual world; they are three persons. Ramananda Raya is considered to be Arjuna, the Pandava, he is considered to be Vishakha in Radha-Krishna lila, and also he is considered to be a cowherd boy named Arjuna. Even when we say, “I am not this body,” when we say, “I am spirit-soul,” these are quite intellectual statements for us; the experience is waiting. The experience is mostly found on the other side, entering that world where nothing is material. We say that we are not this body, but we begin every day by waking up, which is a function of the body, and we do everything throughout the day in relation to this body. We even stop chanting Hare Krishna when we are tired; we honor prasada when we are hungry. Why do we not take it when we are not hungry? Actually, we are working with the theory that Krishna is God. We say, “theory,” but unlike modern theory, ours is based on experience. It is just that the bulk of that experience is waiting there. These days, many devotees are very given to krishna-lila, and they want always to talk about krishna-lila, and about the madhurya-lila within krishna-lila. Sometimes they criticize book distribution, sankirtana, even preaching. They criticize that in favor of

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

doing only bhajana. But these persons have overlooked something very, very important: that this sankirtana movement is the lila of Mahaprabhu. It is not something else that we are doing; it is the activity of Mahaprabhu. In other words, like in a pond, if you throw a pebble, a wave starts across the pond; it is just a ripple. After some time that ripple inevitably stops, but this sankirtana movement has not stopped. Since the day when Mahaprabhu inaugurated the sankirtana movement, that wave has not stopped. Sometimes Prabhupada would report, “He is dancing in that sankirtana, it is going on eternally also in Navadvipa.” I heard once from one of the oldest disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, “In the beginning, when nothing was here in Mayapura, we used to live with our guru. In the middle of the night, we would hear some kirtana, some sankirtana. We could hear the karatalas, the mridanga, the chanting. And Guru Maharaja used to say, ‘That is the eternal sankirtana of Mahaprabhu.’” The eternal pastimes of Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement are going on, and this sankirtana movement that we have joined is not some lesser thing. It is actually that very same wave that was started by Mahaprabhu. And He said, “This wave will go to every town and village of the world, for many, many, many centuries.” For ten thousand years it may go on; it may even exceed that also. It is said that this wave will reach the higher planetary systems. “Sankirtana-lila,” Prabhupada wrote, “is rasa-lila. Sankirtana movement is rasa-lila - it is non-different.” Sankirtana means service. Service: the pot washer is in the sankirtana movement, the bookkeeper is in the sankirtana movement, the book printer is in the sankirtana movement, and the Bhagavatam preacher is in the sankirtana movement. The college preacher, the mridanga player, the karatala player, those who take care of the children are also in the sankirtana movement. Prabhupada’s conception was, “There is no maya in the movement.” Everything is in the sankirtana movement. The meaning is this: If you want Krishna, then give yourself fully in cooperation to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Enter through the sankirtana movement. Entering in the sankirtana, we are immediately engaged in the Lord’s eternal pastimes. Here in this world we have so little qualification, but caitanya-lila is magnanimous. We are not fit for that, but when asked, “Will you accept this gift?” we say, “Yes!” We can enter into the Lord’s pastimes through sankirtana.

E V O

T S R

Y R O

Dhameshvara The First Deity of Mahaprabhu After the sannyasa-lila of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the devotees of the Lord felt great pangs of separation from Him. However, nobody felt greater loss than His wife Vishnupriya who was a mere 16 years old when He left. She stayed in the family house with Mother Shachi and never left except to take bath in the Ganga every day. When the devotees would come to see her, they would only take darshan of her feet and never her face. They never heard her voice. She remained in total seclusion constantly chanting the Holy Name. Either side of her she had two clay pots. One was empty, the other contained uncooked rice. After each round of japa, she placed one grain of rice into the empty pot. In the evening, whatever rice had been placed in the empty pot was cooked and offered to the Lord, or which she honoured only a tiny portion. This is all she would eat until she left the world aged 96.

Vishnupriya would daily worship Mahaprabhu’s wooden shoes and also a large neem-wood Deity of the Lord who is known as Dhameshvara Mahaprabhu (the Lord of the holy dhama). This is first Deity of Mahaprabhu ever to be established. This Deity is about 6 feet tall and His arms are outstretched in a mood of audarya (compassion), indicating that He is ready to accept all. After the disappearance of Vishnupriya, the worship of Dhameshvara was continued by her loyal servant, Vamshivadanananda Thakura who moved the Deity from Mayapura to Kuliya. Later, the seva of Mahaprabhu passed to Madhava, the son of Vishupriya’s brother, Yadavacharya. Madhava’s descendants continued the worship of Dhameshvara for about 100 years, but due to their impoverished condition, the Deity had no temple and no regular puja. He was passed around to each family to worship for a month. During the time of Maharaja Krishna Chandra (1710-1783), the Shakta brahmanas (worshippers of Goddess Durga) became prominent in Navadvipa and convinced the king to put an end to the worship of Dhameshvara. Srila Sridhara Maharaja explains this incident: Once, the smarta section filed a petition to Maharaja Krishna Chandra of Krishnanagara because there was a famine at that time. They claimed that the cause of this famine was that a man was being worshiped as God. That was the root of the problem. The smarta panditas gave their signature to such a petition. So when they heard the news that the worship of Mahaprabhu may be stopped or disturbed, the devotees built a provisional room underground and there they put the Sri Murti there with some sweetmeats, and they closed it.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Then a dream was given to one Totarama Dasa Babaji in Vrindavana – he was a good Sanskrit scholar. And another dream was given to the king of Manipur. He was a chief, giving some range to the British. He was also a Gaudiya Vaishnava in the disciplic line of Narottama Thakura. Both of them came here, to Navadvipa. Totarama Dasa Babaji went straight to the king and said, “The panditas of this locality say that Sri Chaitanyadeva is a man, not God – so manworshiping must be abolished, otherwise the people in general are suffering from famine and other natural catastrophes. Invite your scholars! I have come from Vrindavana to show that in many scriptures there is reference to the fact that Sri Caitanyadeva is not a man, but He is the Lord Himself. I want to

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

prove by quotations from the ancient scriptures. You call for your panditas that are opposing this fact.” So there was an assembly of the panditas in the Krishnanagara fort and Totarama Dasa Babaji proved with different quotations that nama-sankirtana is the yuga-dharma, and to preach the yuga-dharma, the incarnation of Bhagavan, comes down to establish it. It is mentioned in many places and he showed those references, and the panditas could not stand in front of him. And the Manipur Raja also came and saw Maharaja Krishna Chandra who was inferior in position to him and said, “I want some land here to lease from you.” By his approach Krishna Chandra was very much satisfied that a man of higher position has come to see him. He offered that,” Not lease – I shall make a free gift to you, as much land as you want to take. You please locate.” But the king of Manipur said, “No, no! I want to lease the land from you.” So the land was leased by Maharaja Krishna Chandra to the king of Manipur, and there he constructed a temple and installed Mahaprabhu and performed seva. After Totarama Dasa had defeated those Shakta panditas, then at that time Mahaprabhu’s sevaites again took the Deity from the underground room and began regular puja. So after that, the construction of the temple was finished here and the Manipur Raja ordered that, “The installation of Mahaprabhu must be done according to my dream.” But they reported that the original Mahaprabhu has already returned and regular worship is going on there. Then he gave the new Deity the name ‘Anu-Mahaprabhu’ –anupashchad (smaller). There was the main Mahaprabhu installed by Vishnupriya Devi and after that, the other Mahaprabhu was installed here. There are two temples of the Manipur people here, just at the front of Devananda Gaudiya Matha in Navadvipa. Two Deities – Anu-Mahaprabhu is on the north side, that is ancient. The Deity which is on the southern side was installed afterwards by a friend of the Maharaja. So this is the story.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Hardly anything is known about the life of Totarama Dasa Babaji, except that he was originally a brahmana from South India who had come to Navadvipa to study Nyaya when he was a young man. While residing in Navadvipa, he became a Gaudiya Vaishnava and moved to Vrindavana to perform bhajana. By the efforts of Totarama Dasa Babaji, the service of Dhameshvara became reestablished. There are even some manuscripts from 1785 that say that the land for the temple of Dhameshvara was given to the hand of Totarama Dasa Babaji and the temple was not obliged to pay any land taxes. How to Get There From the ghat in Mayapura, boats to Navadvipa leave every 10 minutes. From Navadvipa ghat, take a rickshaw to Poramatala Market. The temple of Dhameshvara is known locally in Navadvipa as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mahaprabhu Bariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and is near to Poramatala. From there, any local can point you in the right direction.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

The Tattva of Pancha Tattva - Swami B.V. Giri

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

In the shruti-shastra, we find the following verse – parasya shaktir vividhaiva shruyate The potencies of the Absolute are simultaneously different and nondifferent from Him. (Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.8) In the eternal lila of Mahaprabhu, the advaya-jnana-tattva (non-dual Absolute Truth) appears in five features known as the Pancha-Tattva. Although they are one and the same, nonetheless they exhibit fivefold differences according to their variegated pastimes and their relishing and distribution of the various devotional rasas. Thus, the five features of the Pancha-Tattva manifest as the bhakta-rupa (Sri Chaitanya), bhaktasvarupa (Sri Nityananda), bhaktavatara (Sri Advaita), bhakta-shakti (Gadadhara Pandita) and shuddha-bhakta (Srivasa Thakura). Amongst the Pancha-Tattva, the bhakta-rupa, bhakti-svarupa and bhaktavatara are the svayam, prakasha and amsha forms of vishnu-tattva. Mahaprabhu is svayam (the original Godhead), Nityananda is prakasha (the first expansion of the original Absolute) and Advaita is amsha (a partial avatara of the Absolute). This is confirmed by Kaviraja Goswami: advaita acharya – prabhu amsha avatara tanra pada-padme koti pranti amara Advaita Acharya is the Lord’s amsha-avatara. I offer millions of obeisances at His lotus feet. (Cc. Adi 1.39) nityananda-raya – prabhura svarupa-prakasha tanra pada-padma vando yanra muni dasa

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Nityananda Raya is the Lord’s svarupa-prakasha. I am His servant and I offer my obeisances at His lotus feet. (Cc. Adi 1.40) shri krishna chaitanya prabhu svayam-bhagavan tanhara padaravinde ananta pranama Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya is svayambhagavan. I offer unlimited obeisances unto His lotus feet. (Cc. Adi 1.42) Gadadhara and Srivasa, as the bhakti-shakti and shuddha-bhakta, take shelter of vishnu-tattva and are in the category of potencies, or shaktitattva. gadadhara panditadi – prabhura nija shakti tan sabara charane mora sahasra pranati Gadadhara Pandita and others are the Lord’s internal potency. I offer all of them thousands of obesiances at their feet. (Cc. Adi 1.41) All five features of the Pancha-Tattva can be divided into two divisions – aradhaka (worshippers) and aradhya (worshipped). Mahaprabhu is the sarvashreshtha-para-tattva (the topmost Absolute Truth), whereas Nityananda and Advaita are in the category of ishvara-tattva. All three personalities are worshipable by all other tattvas and are counted as aradhya. Gadadhara, representing the antaranga-bhakta (intimate devotee) and Srivasa, representing the shuddha-bhakta (general pure

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

devotee) are in the category of aradhaka. However, Nityananda and Advaita are the submissive facets of ishvara, whereas Mahaprabhu accepts the predominant aspect of Parameshvara. Thus, we find that the two aradhya-tattvas and the two aradhaka-tattvas offer service to Mahaprabhu. bhakta-avatara tanra acharya-gosai ei tina tattva sabe prabhu kari gai Advaita Acharya Gosai is bhakti-avatara. Thus we sing about these three tattvas (Sri Chaitanya, Nityananda and Advaita) who are all our Masters. (Cc. Adi. 7.13) eka mahaprabhu ara prabhu dui jana dui prabhu seve mahaprabhura charana One of Them is the maha-prabhu (Great Lord) and the other two are prabhus. The two prabhus serve the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu. (Cc. Adi. 7.14) ei tina tattva sarvaradhya kari mani chaturtha ye bhakta-tattva aradhaka jani These three tattvas are worshipable by all. The fourth principle of bhaktatattva (namely Gadadhara and Srivasa) should be understood to be in the position of worshipers. (Cc. Adi. 7.15) Amongst the five features of the Pancha-Tattva, we find three aspects that are potent (shaktiman) and two that are potencies (shakti). Srivasa Thakura represents the general devotee section from the marginal potency â&#x20AC;&#x201C; those pure devotees that are sharanagata-bhaktas (fully surrendered), who are anyabhilasha-shunya (without material desires) and have no care for karma, jnana, yoga etc. Kavi-karnapuraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika describes Srivasa as the avatara of Narada. In connection to Srivasa Thakura, Srila Kaviraja Goswami says: prabhura upanga â&#x20AC;&#x201C; srivasadi bhakta gana hasta-mukha-netra-anga chakrady-astra sama

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

The devotees, headed by Srivasa are considered to be non-different from the Lord’s hands, face, eyes and weapons. (Cc. Adi. 6.38) Srimad Gadadhara Pandita is the subordinate potency of Mahaprabhu, and indisputably His most intimate servitor. Just as Mahaprabhu is the predominating half of the Transcendental Entity, Gadadhara Pandita is the predominated half. In gaura-lila, Gadadhara engages in the service of Krishna under the shelter of madhura-rati, and those devotees who are attracted to Radha-Govinda’s madhurya-rasa-lila take shelter of Gadadhara and simultaneously become intimate associates of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. It has been explained by Srila Sridhara Deva Goswami that Gadadhara represents Radharani in the mood of magnanimity (audarya). However, ontologically he is Her bhava-murti (the form of Radharani’s mood). After Mahaprabhu has ‘plundered’ the rebellious spirit of Radharani, whatever remains is Gadadhara who maintains a passive and submissive mood, comparable to that of Rukmini. Advaita Acharya is non-different from Sada-Shiva and Maha-Vishnu and has been described as the jagat-karta (universal creator) by Kaviraja Goswami. As Maha-Vishnu (Karanabdhishayi), He is the foundation of the created cosmos (mukhya-karana). He further expands into Garbhodakashayi Vishnu and maintains every universe. Advaita exhibits dasya-rasa and sakhya-rasa amongst the transcendental mellows. Nityananda Prabhu, who is non-different from Baladeva in krishna-lila, represents the general principle of the akhanda-guru-tattva in the four primary rasas (i.e. shanta, dasya, sakhya and vatsalya). He is the first expansion (svayam-prakasha) of Godhead. Just as Balarama shows fraternal love towards Sri Krishna, Nityananda exhibits the same type of affection towards Gauranga. Chaitanya-charitamrita considers NityanandaBaladeva to be the efficient cause of the universe (nimitta-karana). Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Svayam-Bhagavan and the combined form of RadhaGovinda (radha-bhava dyuti-suvalitam naumi krishna-svarupam). In the form of Mahaprabhu, Krishna becomes ornamented with the bhava (mood) and kanthi (complexion) of Radharani. In the words of Srila Saraswati Thakura:

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Srimati Vrishabhanu-nandini is Krishna’s counter-whole, not His counterpart. Srimati Radhika’s external bodily effulgence has completely surrounded the beauty of Shyama; it has also covered His mind. Such is the intensity of Their embrace. They Both become inseparable. Sri Gaurasundara is not simply Radhika, nor is He simply Krishna – He is the intense embrace of Sri Radha and Sri Krishna, In Sri Chaitanya we find two specific characteristics of two different lilas combined – the madhurya of krishna-lila and the audarya of gaura-lila. Both Krishna and Mahaprabhu are avatari, the source of all other avataras, two phases of the highest ontological aspect of the Absolute Truth. In gaura-lila, the highest rasa that the Predominating Moiety Sri Krishna relishes with the predominated Moiety Sri Radha, is being widely distributed by Sri Chaitanya and the Pancha-Tattva. Much more could be said on these divine personalities, but we do not wish to increase the size of this article. At the beginning of Chaitanya-charitamrita it is said: vande gurun isha-bhaktan isham ishavatarakan tat prakashamsh cha tacchaktih krishna-chaitanya-samjnakam In this namaskara-shloka of the charitamrita, Kaviraja Goswami first offers his respects to the plurality of gurus (gurun), namely his vartma-pradarsaka guru, diksha-guru and shiksha-guru. He then offers respects to isha-bhakta referring to Srivasa and the other pure devotees, ishavatara referring to Advaita Prabhu, prakasha denoting Nityananda, shakti signifying Gadadhara Pandita and finally unto the Supreme Lord Himself, Sri Chaitanya. Thus, the author describes six tattvas. Along with the five aspects of the Pancha-Tattva, guru-tattva has also been included in this verse. In this regard Srila Saraswati Thakura has written the following: The specialty found in the six tattvas described in the verse vande gurun, and the five tattvas in the verse pancha-tattvatmakam, is the guru-tattva. Apart from Sri Krishna Chaitanya, any of the other four tattvas can be considered as guru-tattva. For example, Srila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura’s guru was Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Srila Yadunandana Acharya’s guru was Sri

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Advaita Prabhu, Sri Achyutananda Prabhuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guru was Sri Gadadhara Pandita Goswami Prabhu and the guru of all the general devotees was Srivasa Pandita. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the exclusive vishaya-vigraha of these four gurus and prabhus. Thus there is no difference between the five tattvas and the six tattvas. The guru-tattva is non-different from the undivided non-dual Krishna who is no different from the Pancha-Tattva. However, according to the standpoint of achintya-bhedabheda, He is simultaneously both different and non-different. (Letter, July 24th, 1930) Thus, we can understand that the non-dual Absolute Truth sometimes manifests as six tattvas and sometimes He manifests as five in terms of lila and rasa. purve gurv-adi chaya tattve kaila namaskara guru-tattva kahiyachi, ebe panchera vichara Previously I offered my obeisances and discussed the sixth tattva concerning the spiritual master etc. Having spoken about guru-tattva, I shall now explain five other tattvas. (Cc. Adi 7.3) pancha-tattva avatirna chaitanyera sange pancha-tattva lana karena sankirtana range These five tattvas descend in association with Sri Chaitanya. Thus the Pancha-Tattva perform sankirtana with great pleasure. (Cc. Adi 7.4) pancha-tattva â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Â eka-vastu nahi kichu bheda rasa asvadite tabu vividha vibheda The Pancha-Tattva are one spiritual substance and there is no difference between them. However, in order to relish rasa, there are varieties of differences also. (Cc. Adi 7.5)

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

pancha-tattvatmakam krishnam bhakta-rupa-svarupakam bhaktavataram bhaktakhyam namami bhakta-shaktikam I offer obeisances unto Sri Krishna, who appears in five features as a devotee (bhakta-rupa), expansion of a devotee (svarupa), incarnation of a devotee, (bhaktavatara) pure devotee (bhakta) and devotional energy (shakti). (Cc. Adi 7.6) svayam bhagavan krishna ekale ishvara advitiya nandatmaja rasika-shekhara Svayam-Bhagavan Krishna is the only Supreme Controller. He is one without a second, the son of Nanda and the emporium of rasa. (Cc. Adi 7.7) rasadi-vilasi vraja-lalana-nagara ara yata saba dekha tanra parikara He is the enjoyer in the rasa dance and the hero of the damsels of Vraja. All others should be seen simply as His associates. (Cc. Adi 7.8) sei krishna avatirna shri-krishna-chaitanya sei parikara-gana sange saba dhanya Sri Krishna advented Himself as Sri Krishna Chaitanya. His eternal associates, who are all equally auspicious, accompany Him. (Cc. Adi 7.9) ekale ishvara-tattva chaitanya-ishvara bhakta-bhavamaya tanra shuddha kalevara Lord Sri Chaitanya is the one Supreme Truth. He is filled with the ecstasy of a devotee and possesses a transcendental form, (Cc. Adi 7.10) Sri Chaitanya is the Supreme Consciousness amongst all conscious entities (nityo nityanam chetanas chetananam). However although His position is such and He is understood to be non-different from Vrajendra-nandana Sri Krishna, He displays

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

the mood of audarya and appears as His own devotee. Although Sri Krishna is the supremely independent ashraya-vigraha, in the form of Sri Chaitanya He manifests Himself as the vishaya-vigraha and relishes the mellows of a sadhaka absorbed in madhurya-rasa. krishna-madhuryera eka adbhuta svabhava apana asvadite krishna kare bhakta-bhava The conjugal rasa of Krishna is naturally so wonderful that Krishna Himself accepts the mood of a devotee in order to relish it. (Cc. Adi 7.11) ithe bhakta-bhava dhare chaitanya gosai bhakta-svarupa tanra nityananda-bhai Therefore, Chaitanya Gosai accepts the mood of a devotee and in the form of a devotee, accepts Nityananda as His brother. (Cc. Adi 7.12) The principle function of the Pancha-Tattva is to relish the divine mellows of krishnaprema and to magnanimously distribute it. Previously the rare treasure of prema was very difficult to achieve, but during the lila of Mahaprabhu, the Pancha-Tattva broke open the storehouse of prema and looted it. As they looted that wealth, the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s achintya-shakti (inconceivable potency) continued to fill that storehouse as they continuously distributed its contents to one and all. The rasa of prema began to flow at a tremendous rate and flooded the entire world. Thus, the seed of forgetfulness of the service of Krishna, the characteristic that binds the conditioned living entities, was destroyed. Only the Mayavadis, materialists, jnanis, offenders, proud scholars and atheists were deprived and remained in their depraved positions. In order to rectify this situation and exhibit His pastimes of magnanimity, Mahaprabhu accepted sannyasa in order to deliver such miscreants. In His

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

form as the Pancha-Tattva, the most merciful Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu granted the greatest type of auspiciousness to the world by distributing love for the Holy Name: ei pancha-tattva rupe sri krishna chaitanya krishna-nama-prema diya vishva kaila dhanya In His form as the Pancha-Tattva, Sri Krishna Chaitanya distributed love for the Holy Name of Krishna and for this the whole world was thankful. (Adi 1.163) This munificent lila of the Pancha-Tattva also manifests as the sixth tattva, Sri Guru, who delivers all the jivas of this world. Thus, the acharya is a manifestation of the great compassion of the Pancha-Tattva. By understanding the ontological position of the Pancha-Tattva and through the chanting of Their Names, we can become purified, and even from the lowest position prepare to participate in the sublime pastimes of Sri Krishna in Vrindavana. ha vishvambhara ha maha-rasamaya premaika-sampan-nidhe ha padma-suta ha dayaridra-hridaya bhrashtaika-bandhuttama ha siteshvara ha charachara-pate gauravatirna-kshama ha shrivasa-gadadhareshta-vishaya tvam me gatis tvam gatih O Vishvambhara, O You who are full of the highest rasa, O ocean of the great wealth of prema; O Nityananda, son of Padmavati, whose heart melts with mercy, greatest friend of the most fallen; O Advaita, Lord of Sita Thakurani, O Master of all animate and inanimate entities, who made Sri Gaura descend to this world; O Gadadhara, O Srivasa â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Â I worship You all. You are my refuge, You are my refuge. (Chaitanya-chandramrita 84)

Chaitanya Katha is a compendium of short workds and articles presenting the ontological position of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu including the Chaitanya Upanishad, with the commentary of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Available here - Also available in Kannada

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

bout 40 to 45 kilometers from Mysore is Thondanur, also known locally as ‘Kere Thonnur’. In the 11th Century, Sri Ramanujacharya took refuge here after fleeing from King Krimikanta. It is a beautiful town with a charming landscape. Of all the places that Ramanujacharya stayed in Karnataka, this is probably the most important one. From here, he propagated His visisthadvaita philosophy. There is also a huge lake called Moti Talab of which Ramanuja himself is the architect. The waters of this lake are known to have never dried up, even in the times of drought. The water here is clean and crystal clear. During the times of King Vishnu-vardhana and Ramanuja, this was a very popular place. Now however, it has lost its previous glory and fame, yet it’s beauty still remains the same. There are three main temples in this town – Nambi-Narayana, Yoga Narasimha and Paratha-Sarathi

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Nambi-Narayana The oldest of the three is the Nambi-Narayana temple. The architecture of the temple is similar to those of Belur, Halebidu or the Somanathapura temples, but it has less carvings compared to the more well known Hoysala temples. Here resides the beautiful Deity of Nambi-Narayana. Unfortunately, photography inside the temples has been strictly prohibited.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Sri Yoga Narasimha The Yoga-Narasimha temple is built on a small hillock and one has to climb up 25 to 30 steps in order to reach the temple. It has been renovated recently and looks fairly new. Within, there is a beautiful Deity of Yoga-Narasimha that was installed by Prahlada and is sitting in a yoga posture. Apart from this Deity, the other curious attraction here is the deity of Ramanujacharya who is in the form of Ananta-Shesha.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Partha-sarathi The Partha-sarathi temple is next to Nambi-Narayana. It is said that the Deity of Partha-sarathi was installed by Yudhisthira Maharaja in Dvapara Yuga. Before the Pandavas went to fight at Kurukshetra. Yudhisthira installed the Deity of Krishna as Partha-sarathi and worshiped him. Partha-sarathi is seated along with Sri Devi and Bhu Devi. On certain festival days, The utsava-murtis (processional Deities) are carried around the temple on a Hoysala style chariot.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

History of the Place. During the reign of the Jain king Vittidevaraya, his daughter suffered from severe health problems. The worried king tried his best to have her cured by the best physicians. When they all failed, he approached Jain monks for help, but they too failed to cure his daughter. The king, though he was a staunch Jain, became desperate and decided to seek help of Vaishnava scholars who had come from the east. The Vaishnava scholars were invited to the palace and were honored. Ramanujacharya, who was the leader of Vaishnava scholars, cured the King’s daughter just by his glance. The amazed king then became a devotee of Ramanujacharya and began to follow the school of Sri Vaishnava philosophy. The king was then renamed by Ramnujacharya as Visnu-vardhana. After the King accepted Sri Vaishnavism, the Jains became unhappy and decided to debate with Ramanuja in order to establish Jainism as supreme. The number of Jains who confronted him is unclear – some stories say 12,000 Jains came to debate while others say 1,000. When Ramanujacharya was confronted, the condition stipulated by the Jains was that he had to answer all their questions simultaneously to which he agreed. His condition was that he would do it behind a curtain to which the Jain monks agreed. After the Jain monks had finished asking all their questions, to their surprise Sri Ramanuja started answering all their questions simultaneously. When one of the Jain monks went to see how Sri Ramanuja was doing this, he was marveled when he saw that the acarya had taken the form of Ananta-Shesha and with his innumerable mouths, he was answering all their questions. Thus he defeated the Jains and they all accepted Sri Vaishnavism. Therefore, the deity of Ramanujacharya in the temple of Yoga-Narasimha is in the form of Ananta-Shesha. There are also few of Ramanujacharya’s belongings and clothes preserved in the temple. Thondanur has the prestige of being the first place in Karnataka from where Ramanuja propagated his Vaishnava doctrine and helped the growth of Sri Vaishnavism.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Until recently, these temples were almost abandoned, but now the temples are being taken care of and there has been more funding. One would have to only visit this beautiful place and witness the glorious charm it holds to the beholder.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Consciousness & Quantum Mechanics

Swami B.B. Vishnu

Everything we have ever learned is wrong! This is the claim of prominent stem-cell scientist Dr. Robert Lanza, the best-selling author of Biocentricism. Lanza states that scientists have always had it backwards in claiming that life comes from matter. Such bold claims are diametrically opposed to almost all previous scientific approaches. We must restart our theory of everything with a new paradigm, one where everything is based on consciousness. Lanza states that space and time are concepts of the mind and that death does not exist in the reality, that our entire being ends with “death,” and that, “Nothing in science can explain how consciousness arose from matter.” Lanza claims that the Big Bang cannot explain the greatest mystery in the universe: “Why is the universe exquisitely fine-tuned to support life?” Lets face it, our theories of the universe and physical world are antiquated and can never work until they fully account for life and consciousness as an integral part of such a theory.

‘According to Lanza, what we call space and time are forms of animal sense perception, rather than external physical objects. Lanza argues that biocentrism offers insight into several major puzzles of science, including Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the double-slit experiment, and the fine tuning of the forces, constants, and laws that shape the universe as we perceive it. According to Lanza, and co-author Bob Berman, “Biocentrism offers a more promising way to bring together all of physics, as scientists have been trying to do since Einstein’s unsuccessful attempts for a unified field theory eight decades ago.”1 Let us start with Lanza’s claim that consciousness is behind everything. After all, this is how mathematics or science professors might start your semester studies. We are told up front to believe that the area of a circle is pi R2 and that the energy equivalent of matter is equal to its mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light, the renowned formula: E = mc2. We accept such statements easily because of our faith in the source.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

SCIENCE’S STRUGGLE TO REPLICATE REALITY In the above example it is Einstein’s famous energy formula, whose theories almost everyone accepts at face value. Yet we find that Einstein himself had trouble accepting the so-called New Physics of Quantum Mechanics (QM). QM, while turning science upside down, accurately explains physical phenomena in ways never thought of previously and has held a prominent position in mainstream physics for almost a century. Yet, QM is somewhat of an enigma. Its abstract probabilistic predictions still fall short of a reliable consistent description of the reality around us and even sometimes produce contradictory predictions. QM, while accurately predicting interactions and behaviors on a nuclear level, has introduced many novel methods of observing this reality, such as treating particle movements in terms of probability wave movements. This part of QM theory was a primary source of Einsteins dislike of QM. In relating to such hazy probabilistic predictions he stated that, “God does not play dice.” Although disliking QM’s abstract unintuitive methodologies, Einstein and future scientists nevertheless accepted its more accurate than previously available descriptions of phenomenon. Quantum Mechanics has retained its stature as a major edifice of science ever since. Einstein furthered the strange unbelievable predictions of QM with the astounding conception of Quantum Entanglement (discussed later in this article), which seems to defy Einsteins very own theory of relativity. According to the current theories of physics there are four fundamental fields by which forces are transmitted between objects: Strong Interactions primarily within nuclei, Electromagnetic Interactions between electrically charged particles, short range Weak Interactions on some particles, responsible for some forms of radioactivity and the long range attractive Gravitational Interaction acting upon all particles.

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

A Unified Field Theory (a term coined by Einstein) or an all encompassing theory of fundamental particles and forces remains an open field with no conclusive uniform theory. It has not been possible to bring science under such a formal and consistent system. Even in the most prominent sciences there are disagreements and controversy. Yet, scientific theories are generally accepted as factual descriptions of reality because they mostly work and we don’t have anything better to work with. Yet, these (apparently) solid time tested theories are continuously changing — evolving and devolving — ultimately failing to describe reality accurately. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, in spite of mountains of archaeological and other scientific evidence contradicting and disproving this theory, has outlasted it all and is still accepted and taught around the world. Rationalists have fought the fundamentalists tooth and nail to keep the Intelligent Design conception from gaining an ounce of credibility. So, we are left with only the limp insufficient and un-credible theory of Darwin to account for the origins of the multitude of life forms. Isn’t it better to admit that we don’t know, rather than teaching untruths? Carl Sagan sagely expresses this, “The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and it has no place in the endeavor of science.” Although ever newer theories ‘may’ provide more and more accurate descriptions of our material world, they always seem to come up a little short and never quite explain it all. In fact information theory predicts just such limits to science. Kurt Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem proved that there are limitations on all but the most basic mathematical systems. Gregory Chaitlin of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

has taken this result further and shown with algorithmic information theory that mathematics has serious limitations and demonstrated that not only is there no structure to the foundation of mathematics, the foundation is in fact random.2 Stephen Hawking agrees that any attempt to formulate a Unified Theory of Forces will be incomplete — science can never give us a conclusive answer. The ancient Vedic literatures of India concur—all living entities have four inherent defects—bhrama, pramada, karanapatava, vipralipsa. We are subject to illusion, we make mistakes, we have a cheating propensity and we have imperfect senses. These defects are that which magicians take advantage of to trick us and indeed they work well for them. More importantly these defects or human imperfections limit everyones’ (including our most brilliant scientists’) capacity to arrive at the truth, no matter how sophisticated their techniques. They limit our scientific findings, which are little more than extensions of our own limited capacities, minds and senses — the microscope and telescope are merely extensions of the eye and our incredibly fast number crunching Cray computers are mere mechanical extensions of our minds. In science, ’seeing is believing,’ yet much is still invisible to our enhanced sense detection and many things we do see are just wrong. We are looking at this incorrectly. No amount of conceptualization by our defective mind and senses will lead to the ultimate truth. We must find a higher authority or uncorrupted evidence — that which is beyond these human defects, uncontaminated by prejudicial assumptions and selfish agendas which we all share. This needs to be explored further. In 1900 Lord Kelvin stated the prominent worldview at that time succinctly, “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurements.” This worldview was shattered five years later by Albert Einstein with his Theory of Special Relativity. F=ma (Force equals mass times acceleration), the classical certainty of physics, is not valid at the quantum level. In the 1920’s Erwin Schrodinger developed his wave equations, which along with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle provided much of the basis of Quantum Mechanics, a revolutionary new

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

theory providing an entirely different viewpoint of the nature of reality. The movements of particles are seen as probability amplitudes of waves propagating thru space; where observation of events define the very event itself. LET THERE BE CONSCIOUSNESS What this means is that Quantum Mechanics is saying that the conscious observer creates the reality, which is in essence what Lanza is stating, that consciousness is the root of everything. Such a radical approach seems needed to bypass the stagnation and present limitations of science. After all it was Einstein who stated that, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” We have to think outside of the box of our limited brain capacity and experience. Haven’t genius’s been ahead of their time, their theories far beyond the grasp of their peers? Copernicus barely escaped the inquisitions of the church, but the stalwart bearers of his incredible contributions to science and astronomy, Bruno and Galileo, where imprisoned, tortured and Bruno was burned at the stake for putting forth the heretical ideas of Copernicus: such as, the Sun doesn’t revolve around the earth and there are other equally important universes than ours. It seems that history has, in many instances, been unkind to some of our greatest thinkers and their uncluttered creativity. Continuing our present line of thinking, following in Lanza’s footsteps, it seems that the most logical way to create a theory of everything is to place consciousness at the root of everything else. Lanza’s Biocentric universal model is a much lauded step in this direction. This very thing is enunciated clearly throughout the Vedas. Such a fundamentally new paradigm is urgently needed and necessary — one which accounts for consciousness itself as an integral and essential element of reality. After

100

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

all, our most advanced sciences, such as QM, have determined that consciousness shares an integral part of reality. Quantum Mechanics shows that the observer of reality creates the reality they observe by their very act of observation. A truly scientific approach demands that the only theories that should not be considered viable are those that have no measurable consequences and no testable predictions. One may logically then question if we truly can measure or detect consciousness? Certainly consciousness is the symptom of life, the difference between a live and dead entity is consciousness itself. This subject of consciousness has become too important to be ignored. It requires extensive investigation and as we shall see consciousness fortunately now has a prominent place amongst many scientific inquiries. ARE YOU CONSCIOUS? Let us then ask, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what is consciousness?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Traditional science has repeatedly tried to break consciousness down to physical parameters interacting mechanically. Typically, the western concept has been that the mind is the self. Huxley believed that states of consciousness were caused by molecular changes in the brain and that the mind is a byproduct of these changes. Our Psychological states can be influenced by the chemical state of our brain. For example, alcohol and drugs affect us and our abilities are impaired by this intoxication. When particular portions of the brain are damaged or impaired our thinking and functioning are debilitated. We experience many modes of consciousness even within unconsciousness, for example dreaming, lucid dreaming, deep and dreamless sleep. Even when unconscious our senses are working, so a kick or loud noise may awaken us from our unconscious state. Thus it seems that we are our bodies and minds and we feel and identify ourselves as such. This personal identity is even taken so far that a dent in our car is often taken as if

101

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

our own body is damaged and we react as if we feel pain. This is due to our attachment and reliance on our car much like we rely on our body and its functions to support our life and its activities. Just as we are not our car, so we may not be our bodies. The experience of enjoyment cannot be reduced to a simple physical mechanism. Our consciousness and emotions are not quantifiable. They cannot be reduced to a mathematical equation nor truly replicated by a machine. The conclusion then is that consciousness is not measurable or detectable in the typical empirical manner normally demanded by science. Yet we cannot deny its existence, only that we have a hard time understanding where it resides and precisely what makes it work the way it does. A former colleague of mine once long ago defeated the then reigning world champion chess master (Bobby Fisher) by using the masters own defense against him but deviating slightly in the middle of the exhibition game, fooling the master. Computers can be programmed to do all of this except think outside of what they are precisely programmed to do (i.e., think outside of the box). Artificial intelligence is still artificial and can never challenge human consciousness in its breadth of capabilities and subtle nuances, emotions and keen discriminating perceptions. SCIENCEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S AGREEMENT WITH THE VEDIC PARADIGM An alternative approach in the usual scientific quest to understand reality, that of considering a conscious independent non-physical self (called atma in sanskrit) which monitors the various patterns of electrochemical events of our brain and translates them into a psychological experience is not entirely out of concert. As related previously, the well known double-slit experiment in Quantum physics reveals the interesting phenomena that the results are different when the experiment is observed than the results when it is not observed. In other words the observer creates the reality that they observe. A simple explanation of the double-slit experiment is that when scientists watch a particle pass through a multi-holed barrier, the particle acts like a bullet traveling through a single slit. When the particle is not watched,

102

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

however, the particle moves through the holes like a wave, where the portions of the wave produce an interference pattern. Scientist John Wheeler has stated regarding the double slit experiment, that in his opinion, no phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is observed. “Actually, quantum phenomena are neither waves nor particles but are intrinsically undefined until the moment they are measured. In a sense, the British philosopher Bishop Berkeley was right when he asserted two centuries ago ‘to be is to be perceived.’” 3 A rather intriguing result obtained from Wheeler’s experiments is the conclusion that time has nothing to do with Quantum Mechanics’ choices and that indeed the observation of the result causes the result.4 A more recent experiment by French physicists even more conclusively proved that the result is still determined by the cause (observed or not) even when the particle has already passed the point of observation— its cause.5 Physicist Roch stated that this result, “Really emphasizes the tension between quantum mechanics and relativity.” I.e., there is a large conflict—laws of physics are being broken here and no one knows how to fix them. It may also be argued that the observer in the QM double slit experiment may be a physical device and not a conscious device, therefore consciousness plays no role in QM. Yet we find the same results from the double slit experiment when conscious observers are thinking or not thinking about the double slit and in neither case directly observing the experiment. Thus consciousness, in addition to a nonphysical observing mechanism, does influence the result. This means that our choices create our reality. The behaviour of a particle is altered by a persons perception of it. A paper published in the peer reviewed journal Physics Essays6 describes how experiments were conducted with the double-slit optical system to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wave function. “The ratio of the interference pattern’s double slit spectral power to its single slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. The study found that factors associated with consciousness significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double slit interference pattern. ‘Observation not only disturbs what has to be measured, they produce it. We compel

103

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

the electron to assume a definite position. We ourselves produce the results of the measurement.’” In other words the observer creates the reality. This means that the New Physics is telling us that without consciousness we have no reality. This prediction of Quantum Mechanics derails our long held views of determinism and materialism. It tells us that the universe is conscious and is making choices— choices which create reality. An alternative worldview with consciousness at its root is the essence of the perspective presented by the Vedic literatures of India. THE VEDIC LITERATI The principle founders of Quantum Mechanics and Nobel Laureates Neils Bohr, Erwin Schroedinger and Werner Heisenberg were all avid believers in the philosophical and scientific presentation of the monumental ancient Vedic literatures of India and were profoundly influenced by its philosophy — a philosophy of consciousness. This Vedic view is a philosophy founded on the belief in the spiritual conscious self or atma as the life giving principle of all living entities as well as the belief that the atma at the time of death of the body it is associated with, travels to another body, i.e. the atma reincarnates in a new body when the old body can no longer support it. In the subsequesnt portions of the article we find strong repeatable evidences for the doctrine of reincarnation. Empirical evidence of the veracity of the Vedic Paradigm as well as consciousness and other non-material phenomenon is presented—experimental evidence uncovered in the militaries’ research of the major world powers is referenced. Results of these government’s mostly secret research projects are given for the many areas related to consciousness and other phenomenon not empirically obvious. Convincing evidence is presented—the results all point towards the necessity of including consciousness and other empirically invisible phenomenon within science. The duplicity predicted by such Quantum Mechanical paradoxes as Schroedinger’s Cat and simultaneously conflicting spin orientations is resolved by the concept of acintyabheda-bheda, simultaneously one and different—a page from the Vedic Paradigm.

104

Scientific, philosophical and Vedic concepts of how consciousness works, where it resides ansd what it is are unraveled and revealed, ultimatley leading to a profound conclusion. Due to the length of this article it is printed in its entirety here : Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics

References 1- Bob Berman and Robert Lanza, “The Biocentric Universe Theory”, Discover magazine (May 2009), 2- Gregory Chaitin,“A Century of Controversy Over the Foundations of Mathematics”, Complexity, Vol 5 Issue 5 (May /June 2000), pp. 12-21, 3- John Horgan, “Quantum Philosophy”, Scientific American (July 1992), pp. 94-104, 4- Ross Rhodes, “Wheeler’s Classic Delayed Choice Exeriment,” (If you find the hidden humor of quantum theory intriguing, then you might like to look into the brilliant “Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser!” Phys.Rev.Lett. 84 1-5 (2000): 5- Jean-François Roch and colleagues from École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, “Experimental Realization of Wheeler’s Delayed-Choice Gedanken Experiment”, Science, Vol. 315 no. 5814 (February 2007), pp. 966-968, 6- Dean Radin, Leena Michel, Karla Galdamez, Paul Wendland, Robert Rickenbach, and Arnaud Delorme, “Consciousness and the double-slit interference pattern: Six experiments”, Physics Essays, Vol 25 Issue 2 (June 2012),

105

AVAILABLE HERE

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

107

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

here is so much talk nowadays in doing what you want to do, and not what others might want you to do. The trend is to give lots of advice about following your interests and not get caught in what others might want for you. At a young age, I followed this â&#x20AC;&#x201C; joining Srila Prabhupada in my youth (despite my familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disapproval) and serving him directly for many years in his mission. But after getting married, the direction of my focus was family life, which was very distracting and not really what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Nature had forced its illusion upon me. However, even while performing my household duties, I never stopped practicing and aiming for the day when once again I could serve and surrender one hundred percent. I was never satisfied in my heart and I yearned for that day when I would again be engaged in direct service with the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I mentioned surrendering one hundred percent to Sri Guru and Gauranga. This is a complete service attitude. The meaning of serving guru is quite simple and, through serving guru, we serve Krishna. However, Srila Sridhara Maharaja tells us about the land of gurus, where we will be the servant there always, where we will go with such a service attitude that we will consider ourselves the servant of the servant. In that land, he says, there are only gurus, because that will be our vision. Our service attitude would be to serve everyone in this land of service. And we will see that every devotee in that land is greater than us, and serving them will give us full satisfaction. This is also the reason for our perseverance in serving in our own capacity at this very moment; at least the aspiration is there. There is an internal feeling of never-ending yearning to increase our service and it is our natural temperament, the very nature of our soul.

At present, even, the real meaning of seva in this kanistha stage, is to realize that all credit for our service goes to guru, it is not our own achievement. I was personally amazed, while serving Srila Prabhupada, painting for his books, which were distributed widely, to notice that I was not painting the illustrations myself, that it was not possible. Actually my guru was painting them all, because how could I have done anything since often I was not in the highest consciousness. And the artwork still came out satisfactorily under his direction. I was just an instrument that had come to his mission just to give some help.

108

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

The ego platform telling us that we are achieving something is soon deflated when we examine the state of our consciousness. We cannot serve proudly, only in the spirit of sharanagati, full surrender and humility. If Chaitanya Mahaprabhu needs us to spread His movement, such as we have seen with stalwart devotees, then we might be empowered to do so. If we are not called to help in this way, we can give a hand and help those most favorite devotees. Seva is everything in our spiritual life. We can study the scriptures and have some intellectual understanding, but without seva, merely by intellect, we cannot attain the real thing. Even japa has to be performed in a serving attitude for the benefit of just not us but also Chaitanya Mahaprabhuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sankirtana movement. The study of scriptures is important for eradicating our doubts, to connect us to the highest plane of consciousness. It is also a useful tool for preaching purposes. But as soon as our learning becomes a source of pride, we know we are in a dangerous position. The intellect cannot even approach atma, spirit. It may think that, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have got some understandingâ&#x20AC;?, but it is not possible to touch the soul that way, the mind is there as an effective barrier. On the other hand, service and good service attitude will save us from such a predicament. Guru will usually direct the disciple to a service adapted to his nature, so the disciple becomes satisfied performing his or her service. The very day we realize that we are surrounded with temporary mortal things, everything will vanish, and we will be free and ready for shuddha-bhakti. All this source of deception is misleading us into taking shelter of the wrong things and Maya means misconception. We are living in the midst of misconception and it would be impossible to develop discrimination without performing seva. Whatever conceptions we have about the environment, all are illusory ideas. It is not the proper conception of anything in the absolute sense; it is all relative and misleading. We are living under the influence of a relative world, selfishly, a vision that has been imposed on our environment, since we are always ensnared by Maya. Seva will gradually and naturally take us to the highest goal of life out of this illusory conception, in a descending process, without any intellectual feats on our part: without imagining some so called meditative relationship with Krishna as some sahajiya groups proclaim. It is good therefore to study the goal of our seva. What is it we want to serve? Where are we going? Srila Sridhara Maharaja says:

109

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

The positive meaning of liberation is not only to get out of the negative side, but the attainment in the positive life – selfdetermination! This is what he advocates strongly: do not just aim at getting out of Maya, but find your place in Krishna’s service. Again it is not done artificially, by imagining our relationship with Krishna. However, to study the scriptures in order to understand the relationships as described in Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya-charitamrita, by example, is very important as we progress in our service. If we understand the goal, we go in the right direction. If we are intend on going to a big city by crossing a large forest, we can climb the highest tree and orient ourselves by sighting our goal. But if we enter that forest without knowing where we are going, we can wander eternally and aimlessly. Similarly if we understand the goal of our service, with the help of guru, we can orient ourselves.

“

The positive meaning of liberation is not only to get out of the negative side, but the attainment in the positive life – self-determination!

“

110

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

“

Sri Krishna who is affectionate towards His devotees, sells Himself to a devotee who offers merely a tulasi leaf and a palmful of water. (Cc. Adi.3.104)

“

Why are we associating with a particular group of vaishnavas? Why did we take initiation into Srila Bhaktivinoda’s parivara and not with some Sri Vaisnavas by example? We are followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and He has come to give us the highest goal into the highest service – serving in Goloka-Vrindavana. It is mentioned in the Chaitanya-caritamrita that Krishna is only swayed by prema, not by an awe and reverence serving attitude. If we just offer Krishna a tulasi leaf and some Ganges water with love and devotion, He will give Himself to us in order to reciprocate. tulasi-dala-matrena jalasya culukena va vikrinite svam atmanam bhaktebhyo bhakta-vatsala Sri Krishna who is affectionate towards His devotees, sells Himself to a devotee who offers merely a tulasi leaf and a palmful of water.” (Cc. Adi.3.104)

111

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

But the fine line in the contract is not just the offering of tulasi and water, it is what the Lord relishes most: love and devotion. In order to develop that love Srila Sridhara Maharaja gives us a clue in what is the proper mentality: I must serve, I must offer myself to be utilized by Him, and not try to utilize Krishna in my own way to satisfy my lower purpose. Pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya: with the seva-vritti, I shall dedicate myself to Him, not that He will dedicate Himself to satisfy my lower animal purposes. So with this attitude I shall seek the plane of real knowledge and I must have standards from there, what is what, to have a proper estimation of the environment. Therefore follow your heart and join Chaitanya Mahaprabhuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s movement without reservation and serve the devotees. And you need to know where that seva is taking you or at least follow a pure Vaisnava who knows about the goal of life. We did not join the movement of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in order to serve our senses, but rather the senses of the Lord, and by doing so we will be more satisfied than any materialist can ever be. To pray to the Lord for a comfortable life is an absolute waste of time, either being under the spell of karma or under the protection of the Lord, everything will come according to the results of our past activities and the good will of the Lord. What is more important is to serve Krishna in a humble service attitude to the best of our ability in association with shuddha-bhaktas. The only impediment is our doubtful nature and identification with this world of illusion. The deeper we enter into devotional service, the more we understand where our duty lies.

112

BOSON OR BUST?

Higgs & His Godless Particle - Dr. N.S. Rajaram

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Discovery On July 4, 2012, scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva announced they had obtained data that suggested they had found evidence for the long sought after particle called the Higgs Boson. This was a search that had taken 5000 scientists more than ten years and cost over ten billion dollars making it the longest and most expensive particle hunt in history. (Two years ago when it was called the Big Bang experiment, the cost was said to be 14 billion dollars, but who is counting?) Considering the scale and cost of the effort some hyperbole is probably to be expected. It was immediately hailed by the science community worldwide, with Stephen Hawking calling for a Nobel Prize for Peter Higgs after whom the Higgs Boson and its associated Higgs Mechanism are named. (This is passing strange as we shall see in due course.) Archana Sharma, an Indian member of the LHC immediately claimed that it was a discovery comparable to Newton’s discovery of gravity, Einstein’s relativity theory and quantum theory. (Correction: Newton did not discover gravity, he gave a mathematical description of it. Gravity was there all along.) This is a bit extreme to put it mildly. To begin with, there was no discovery but possible support for the existence of a hypothetical particle postulated by Peter Higgs and others way back in 1964. It is not proper to compare something like this with major physical theories like relativity or quantum mechanics that changed our view of the world. The Higgs Boson, if proved to exist, at best fills a gap in what is known as the Standard Model used for describing the elementary particles (like proton, electron, etc) and the forces associated with them. The Higgs Boson is one of a class of elementary (or subatomic) particles called ‘bosons’ that are used to account for forces at the atomic level. They were named bosons by the English physicist Paul Dirac after the Indian theoretical physicist Satyendra Nath Bose

115

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

who first described the statistical behaviour for the special but important case of photons or light particles. This was generalized and extended to other cases by Einstein. This is now called Bose-Einstein statistics. Along with the Fermi-Dirac statistics obtained a couple of years later, it marks the transition from the ‘old’ quantum theory of Planck and Einstein to particle physics. (The work of Pauli, Schrödinger and Heisenberg similarly led to a ‘new’ quantum theory.) To understand what this means we need to go back a hundred years and see where physics then stood. At that time the reality of atoms was accepted by most (but not all) scientists. They also knew that Einstein’s special relativity connected matter and energy via the equation E = mc2, the most famous if not the most important equation in physics. Max Planck in 1900 had introduced the idea of the quantum of energy as a mathematical tool to resolve a paradox in radiation. Einstein in 1905 had extended it to light claiming that light particles, now called photons were a physical reality and not just a mathematical trick. Since light waves were already known, this meant there was a duality in nature, with light being both wave and particle, just as matter and energy are different forms of the same thing. In 1916, when Einstein completed his work on the general theory of relativity, Satyendra Nath Bose (born 1894) was a fresh graduate who had just been appointed a lecturer at the University of Calcutta. The excitement over the new physics, Einstein’s work in particular was so great that Bose taught himself both German and relativity theory which was not then part of the college science curriculum. Within a few years he had mastered both sufficiently to translate Einstein’s papers on special and general relativity from the original German into English, with some help from Meghnad Saha. It was an exciting time in physics brimming with new ideas and results in relativity, quantum physics and atomic physics. In 1921, Bose had moved to the newly established Dhaka University. He was already known as a talented young mathematician who had published several articles in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Society. So it is an error to describe him as a total unknown as many writers have tended to do. No matter, while going over Einstein’s work on quantum theory, Bose had a fundamental

116

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

idea. He saw that photons tended to move to the same states that were occupied by other photons. He worked out the mathematics and sent his paper to the Royal Society for publication. The Royal Society rejected his paper. These things happen all the time — there is no need to suppose any conspiracy. (In 1934, Nature had rejected Enrico Fermi’s paper on the neutrino later recognized as a landmark.) Undeterred, Bose sent the same paper to Einstein with a request to have it translated into German, for Germany was then the center of quantum physics. Einstein got it published with his own extensions. Bose (with Einstein) had described the statistical behavior of photons or light particles — the now famous Bose-Einstein statistics. It was only later, after the discovery of the Fermi-Dirac statistics that it was recognized that there are other particles with similar statistical properties (and spin) as the photon. Dirac coined the term ‘boson’ to describe them. The Fermi-Dirac statistics describes the behaviour of particles that can only occupy states that are not occupied by any other particle (unless they have opposite spin). They are called fermions (after Fermi). Fermions obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle while bosons do not. Also their spin values are different. Bosons have integer spins (0, 1, 2, …) while fermions have half integer spins (1/2, 3/2, 5/2, …). (The term ‘spin’ is unfortunate; it does not indicate rotation like a spinning top, but a dimension.)

Where does it leave physics? With some oversimplification it may be said that the identification of bosons and fermions as basic elementary (subatomic) particles was the beginning of modern particle physics. All observed elementary particles are either fermions or bosons. At the present state of knowledge in quantum physics, the boundary between bosons and fermions is somewhat blurred, but it can be said that bosons are force carriers while fermions are responsible for mass (matter). The next stage in the development of particle physics was the unification of three basic forces of nature — electromagnetism, weak force (radioactive decay) and strong force (nuclear force). Each is identified with a class of bosons. It is known that photons are the carriers of the electromagnetic field. W and Z bosons are the carriers of the weak force, while gluons are bosons that carry the strong force.

117

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

Where does the Higgs Boson — the so-called God Particle — fit into this picture? Uncomfortably between bosons and fermions; it is a boson but is also the medium that causes fermions to acquire mass from the Higgs Field through something called the Higgs Mechanism. This scenario was postulated by Peter Higgs along with six others in 1964. Higgs never claimed to be its sole originator. So where does Peter Higgs fit into the picture if a Nobel Prize is given as suggested by Hawking? Again uncomfortably with six others. So, if the Hadron data is confirmed to be from the Higgs Boson, it may suggest that the basics of the Higgs Mechanism are valid — that fermions acquire their mass from the Higgs Field mediated by the Higgs Boson. Paradoxically the Higgs Boson is very heavy but being a boson it has no mass. What does this mean? Nobody is sure. All measurements are indirect and there are many variables and other possible explanations. The Higgs Mechanism is probably the simplest, or as physicists like to say, the most parsimonious. But nature may not be so kind, God Particle notwithstanding. This, even if confirmed, does not complete the picture. We looked at only three forces leaving out the fourth and the most important — gravity. Gravity is the weakest and also the most important force in nature. Einstein showed that gravity is really the geometry of space (or space-time), while the quantum world seems to have no geometry, even though quantum physics is essentially a geometric theory based on concepts like Hilbert spaces and operators. Several workers (including this writer) believe that the many paradoxes that plague quantum physics like particles flying through double slits and non-locality and the like are the result of this mismatch — of imposing geometry on a space that has no geometry. To get back, we are far away from having a theory that includes gravity. Einstein laboured on such a theory for over forty years but failed. An elementary particle called the graviton (a boson if it exists) has been postulated for the purpose, but it is so small (or weak) that its discovery is beyond the capability of existing or currently foreseeable technology.

The Nobel tragedy In the aftermath of the Higgs Boson announcement, there was much hand-wringing in India that S.N. Bose who “discovered the boson” (which he didn’t) has been forgotten and his contribution ignored in the West. One prominent news channel screamed:

118

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

“The God Particle’s neglected namesake.” The absurdity of this will be clear to anyone who takes the trouble to look through a textbook on modern physics. Most of them probably learnt of him for the first time when the press reported the discovery of the Higgs Boson. Bose’s contribution was widely recognized in his time both in India and the West. It was the English physicist Paul Dirac who coined the term ‘boson’. The fact that Einstein himself took the trouble to translate and publish Bose’s article should lay to rest the charge that Bose was ignored. Bose did not get the Nobel Prize for his work. Should he have? It is hard to say. He lived and worked during a period when physics was in state of ferment with many spectacular discoveries that overshadowed his work. Not only Bose, but also George Gamow, Pascual Jordan and Samuel Goudsmit who all made important contributions failed to get it. Neither did J. Robert Oppenheimer or David Bohm later. Although politics probably played a part in the denial of the Prize to Jordan and Bohm, this could not have been the case with Bose. He was simply unlucky to be working when physics was making extraordinary progress with many stalwarts in action. In a leaner period (like the present) he would have stood a better chance. So it cannot be said that Bose was unjustly treated either in his own time or later. It is a different story, however, with another Indian scientist, E.C.G. Sudarshan, who, it can be argued is the world’s greatest theoretical physicist after Richard Feynman. He was cheated out of the Nobel Prize not once but twice — not just passed over but with others being rewarded for what was demonstrably his work.. If there is a tragic figure in modern physics it has to be George Sudarshan (born 1931) from Kerala. Sudarshan has been passed over for the Physics Nobel Prize on more than one occasion, leading to controversy in 2005 when several physicists wrote to the Swedish Academy, protesting that Sudarshan should have been awarded a share of the Prize for the Sudarshan diagonal representation (also known as Sudarshan-Glauber representation) in quantum optics, for which Roy J. Glauber won his share of the prize. Worse, Glauber is credited with the Glauber-Sudarshan P-representation, even though it was George Sudarshan who developed it first, with Glauber only adopting it later. A similar thing had happened before. In 2007, Sudarshan himself observed: “The 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded for my work, but I wasn’t the one to get

119

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

it. Each one of the discoveries that this Nobel was given for was work based on my research.” Sudarshan also commented on not being selected for the 1979 Nobel: “Steven Weinberg, Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam built on work I had done as a 26-year-old student.” All this is a matter of record that not disputed by any scientist. Sudarshan is 81 now and one hopes that the Nobel Committee will recognize its error and award him the long overdue Prize. At one time even his name was excluded from the famous representation now known as the Sudarshan-Glauber representation. This at least has been corrected, but it is small consolation for such a great injustice. My appeal to Indian fans is, instead of lamenting over Bose, let us do all we can to see that George Sudarshan gets his due — the Nobel. Such activism led to recognizing J.C. Bose as the true discoverer of the radio rather than Marconi. Finally, how about the Higgs Boson being the ‘God Particle’? Forget it. If God (or gods) does (or do) exist, and as omnipotent as believers hold, he should do better than stake his existence on such a messy and unstable particle as the Higgs Boson whose own existence is still in doubt.

Navaratna Srinivasa Rajaram is an Indian historian and author, holding a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from Indiana University. He has published papers on statistics in the 1970s and on artificial intelligence and robotics in the 1980s. He is notable for his scholarly publications with the Voice of India publishing house, focusing on the Indigenous Aryans controversy. He is also a member of Folks Magazine's Editorial Board since 2009.

120

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

he answer to such deep questions has traditionally been the province of religion, which excels at it. Every thinking person knows an insuperable mystery lies at the final square of the game board. So when we run out of explanations and causes that precede the previous cause, we say “God did it.” In all directions, the current scientific paradigm leads to insoluble enigmas, to ideas that are ultimately irrational. But since World Wars I and II there has been an unprecedented burst of discovery. Although still unbalanced by this sudden growth, our worldview will soon catch up with the facts, and the old physicochemical paradigm will be replaced with a new biologically-based one that can address some of the core questions asked in every religion. Growing up during this period, I encountered the opposition to such new ways of thinking. As a boy, I lay awake at night and imagined my life as a scientist, peering at wonders through a microscope. But the reality was far from this dream. My school was separated into three classes of opportunity -- A, B and C. I was placed in C-class, a repository for those destined for manual, trade labor. My best friend was in A-class -- why him and not me? It was a challenge, especially after an exchange with his mother. “Do you think I could become

123

a scientist?” I asked. “If I tried hard, could I be a doctor?” “Good gracious,” she responded, explaining that she’d never known anyone in the C class to became a doctor, but that I’d make an excellent carpenter or a plumber. The next day I decided to enter the science fair, which put me in direct competition with the A-class. My friend’s parents took him to museums and created an impressive display for his rocks. My project -- animals -- included souvenirs from my various excursions: insects, feathers, and bird eggs. It won me second place behind my friend’s project on rocks. Even in fifth grade I was convinced that life -- not material and rocks -− was the cornerstone of existence. It was a complete reversal of the natural scheme of things taught in our schoolbooks -- that is, atoms and physics at the base of the world, followed by chemistry, and then biology and life. Science fairs were a way to show up those who labeled me for my family’s circumstances. Once, after my sister was suspended, the principal told my mother that she wasn’t fit to be a parent. By trying earnestly, I tried to improve my situation. I applied myself to an ambitious attempt to alter the genetic makeup of white chickens and make them black. My biology teacher said it was impossible; my chemistry teacher was blunter, saying,

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

“Lanza, you’re going to hell.” Before the fair a friend predicted I’d win. “Ha-ha,” the whole class laughed. When I won, the principal had to congratulate my mother in front of the whole school. During my scientific career, I continued to encounter this kind of intolerance to new ideas. Can you clone a species using eggs from another? Can you generate stem cells without destroying embryos? Of course, scientists are no different from the rest of our species. We evolved in the forest roof to collect fruit and berries, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this skill set hasn’t served us well in understanding the nature of existence. We open our eyes, and things appear to be magically hovering “out there” in some invisible matrix. In the nineteenth century, scientists called it the “ether,” followed by the “spacetime” of Einstein, and then “string theory” with new dimensions blowing up in different realms. Indeed, unseen dimensions (up to a 100) are now envisioned everywhere, some curled up like soda straws at every point in space. When science tries to resolve its conflicts by adding and subtracting dimensions to the Universe like houses on a Monopoly board, we need to examine our dogmas. We believe an external world exists independent of the perceiving subject. Philosophers and physicists from Plato to Hawking have debated this idea. Niels Bohr, the great Nobel physicist, said, “Not so.” When we measure something, we’re forcing an undetermined, undefined world to assume an experimental value. We’re not “measuring” the world; we’re creating it. At the legendary debates, Einstein presented ingenious ideas supporting the idea of a “real world out there,” but Bohr shot them all down and gradually won over the physics community. But today most people still believe there’s a real world out there. This something-nothingness issue is ancient, and of course predates biocentrism, which explains why one view and not the other must be correct. Take the seemingly undeniable logic that your kitchen is always there, its contents assuming its familiar forms whether or not you’re in it. At night you leave for the bedroom. Of course the kitchen is still there, unseen, all through the night. Right? But consider: the refrigerator, stove and everything else are composed of a shimmering swarm of matter/ energy. Quantum theory, tells us not a single one of those particles actually exists in a

124

G a u d i y a To u c h s t o n e

definite place. Rather, like Bohr said, they merely exist as a range of probabilities that are unmanifest. In the presence of an observer -- that is, when you go back in to get a drink of water -− each one’s wave function collapses and it assumes an actual position, a physical reality. According to the “many-worlds” interpretation of quantum physics, there are an infinite number of universes -- known as the multiverse -- associated with each possible observation. Biocentrism extends this idea, suggesting that life has a non-linear dimensionality that encompasses the multiverse. Experiments show that measurements an observer makes can even influence events that have already happened in the past. Regardless of the choice you make, it’ll be you (the observer) who experience the outcomes and histories that result. Ideally, our concepts of nature and god should adapt to this evolving scientific knowledge. What happened before the Big Bang? Or if god made the world, then who made god? According to biocentrism, these are ultimately irrational questions, because space and time are simply tools of our understanding and don’t exist in any absolute sense. Before and after are relative concepts tied to us, which includes the totality of existence in the multiverse. Imagine what might be possible, especially if we’re able to recreate information systems to generate any consciousness-based reality fathomable. “One thing I have learned in a long life,” said Einstein, “(is) that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.” Science, like religion, must work with simple concepts the human mind can comprehend. But if biocentrism is right, nature has much bigger plans for us than just this or that life -- plans far beyond anything religion has ever projected to any god. And perhaps, if science is clever enough to see, it will realize that religion may not be too far off with its concrete imagery; and that relative to the supreme creator, we humans are much like the microorganisms we scrutinize under the microscope.

125

W W W. D E VAV I S I O N . O R G

of An Appointment With Death

127

Gaudiya Touchstone

nce, in ancient Persia, there was a wealthy merchant who lived in the city of Bagdad. One day, he sent his servant to the market to buy provisions. Soon after, the servant came running back into the merchant’s house, white and trembling. The merchant took hold of his servant’s hands, gave him a glass of water to calm his nerves and asked him what was the wrong. The servant replied, “Master, as I was in the marketplace I was jostled by someone in the crowd. When I turned around I saw it was Death who had jostled me. He gave me a threatening look and then beckoned me towards him with his finger! I have to leave! Please lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will ride to Samarra and there Death will not find me.” The merchant was more than happy to help his loyal servant and lent him his fastest horse. The servant mounted it, bid farewell to his master, dug his spurs in horse’s flanks and rode off as fast as he could. The merchant was curious and so he went to the marketplace and, lo and behold, in the middle of the crowd, he saw Death. The merchant was somewhat angry and boldly approaching the Grim Reaper, he asked, “Hey! Why did you scare my good servant by giving him a threatening look?” “That wasn’t a threatening look,” Death replied, “That was a look of surprise. I just wanted to ask him what he was doing in Bagdad because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra…” MORAL: Life’s greatest certainty is death and nobody can escape it.

128

Culinary Magic

Tomato

In this issue of Gau (pronounced as KEE perfect lunch or din

o & Bell Pepper Quiche

diya Touchstone, Gaura Gopala shows us how to make a delicious quiche ESH). Quiche is an open-faced pastry crust with a savoury filling. This is a nner main course.

Ingredients for pastry crust: 1/2 cup (125ml) melted butter 1 1/2 (375ml) wholewheat flour 4 tablespoons (60ml) cold water, or as required. (optional) 1/4 cup (60ml) grated parmesan cheese

Ingredients for filling: 4 tablespoons (60ml) sour cream (alternatively yogurt can be used as a substitute) 4 tablespoons (60ml) cream cheese (alternatively fresh curd kneaded into a paste and mixed with a pinch of salt works very well) 4 tablespoons (60ml) tomato paste 2 tablespoons (30ml) cornflour 1 teaspoon (5ml) salt 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) ground black pepper 1 1/2 cup (350ml) grated cheddar cheese (alternatively fresh curd kneaded into a paste and mixed with a pinch of salt) 1/2 teaspoon (2ml) dried basil 1/2 teaspoon (2ml) dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon (2ml) asafoetida powder 3 cups (700ml) bell peppers diced and lightly steamed 2 medium tomatoes sliced into rings or crescents

Preparing the pastry crust: Combine the butter and flour, rubbing well until it reaches a coarse meal consistency. Add the water and the parmesan cheese to the

131

mixture and mix to form a firm pastry. Only mix as much as necessary to get a smooth soft pastry dough. Do not knead the dough - over mixing can result in a stretchy dough. Lightly butter a 8” (20cm) pie tin in preparation for the pastry dough. Roll the pastry dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle slightly larger than your pie tin (11-12 inches / 28-30cm). Lift the crust from the surface by dusting your rolling pin with flour and gently rolling the pastry crust onto the rolling pin and then unrolling it on top of your pie tin pressing it into place and cutting off any excess with a pair of scissors. Alternatively your can press the mixture into your buttered pie tin with your hands, being careful that the crust mixture is evenly distributed. 2) Bake the quiche crust in a hot oven (200ºC / 390ºF) until light golden brown. Allow to cool. 3) Combine the sour cream, cream cheese, tomato paste, cornflour, salt, pepper, one cup of cheese (250ml), herbs and spices, and mix well. Mix in the bell peppers and spoon the mixture into the cooled quiche crust, smooth out, press the slices of tomato on top, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake in a preheated oven (200ºC / 390ºF) for about 20 minutes or until the filling is set or the top is golden. Allow 30 minutes to cool before cutting and serving.

132