Notes on "Bhakti Festival 2015" @ SchweibenAlp
Notes on "Bhakti Festival 2015" @ SchweibenAlp
--0. INTRODUCTION--
From the few „seminars” you attended, during the "Bhakti-Festival" (0) in SchweibenAlp (1), the following ones made a lasting impression:- „Siksastakam” (2) by Prema Prayojana prabhu (3).
- „Sri Manah-siksa” (4), by Sadhu Maharaj (5)
{1} Gaurange Bolite Pulaka Sarira (*)
{2} Radhe Jaya Jaya Madhava Jayite
{3} Ramani Siromani Vrsabhanu Nandini
{4} Radhe Bhajane Jadi Mati
{5} Dekhite Dekhite
{6} Vrndavane Viharator Iha Keli Kunje
(*) on which Sadhu Maharaj commented the following:
v.4&5:
one should have an intense longing for
-Rupa Goswami, the acharya for „abhidheya” (internal practice, praxis)
-& Raghunatha dasa Goswami.
I.e. one should have only one greed: how to develop
-„abhidheya" (praxis) and
-„prayojana” (ultimate necessity, goal of life: achievement of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead)
http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Abhidheya
http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Sambandha_means_relationship,_and_abhidheya_means_the_activities,_and_prayojana_means_the_ultimate_goal_of_life
REFERENCES
(0) http://www.spirituelle-ferien.org/
(1) http://www.schweibenalp.ch/index.php/en/
(2) http://www.harekrsna.de/Siksastaka/Siksastakam-E.htm
(3) https://www.facebook.com/prem.prayojan
(4) http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-a-magazines-mainmenu-63/bhakti-books/english/66-manah-siksa/file.html
(5) https://www.facebook.com/sadhumaharaja & http://www.premananda.ch/
{1} http://kksongs.org/songs/g/gaurangabolite.html
{2} http://kksongs.org/songs/r/radhejayajayamadhava.html
{3} http://kksongs.org/songs/r/ramanisiromani.html
{4} http://kksongs.org/songs/r/radhabhajanejadi.html
{5} http://kksongs.org/songs/d/dekhitedekhite.html
{6} http://kksongs.org/songs/v/vrndavaneviharatoriha.html
—1. SIKSASTAKAM—
TEXT: http://www.prabhupada-books.de/chaitanya/siksastakam_en.htmlLECTURES - video:
https://www.facebook.com/vrndavanavilasini.dasi/posts/395289350677081
LECTURES - audio:
http://sadhumaharaja.net/fileadmin/user_upload/mp3/lectures/2015/Bhakti%20Festival%20Schweibenalp%202015/Prem%20Prayojana/
(speaker: Prema Prayojana prabhu)
--> notes on lecture "Sri Siksastakam part 2" (03.08.15):
SIKSA
(as one of the 6 Vedanta subsidiaries) refers to the proper pronunciation, for the mantra to be effective, and for the Nama-Prabhu to descend into our heart.
TEXT1: „ceto-darpana-marjanam"…
- spoken by Chaitanya in „samadhi” trance, i.e. „samadhi basha”.
- Meaning: „clearing the mirror of the heart”
…refers to the first covering of the soul.
SBc3ch26v14 describes the 4 layers around the soul:
-manaḥ—the mind;
-buddhiḥ—intelligence;
-ahaṅkāraḥ—ego (identification of the body as self) ;
-cittam (or cetaH)—(pure) consciousness (as main attribute of the soul).
EVOLUTION
The unmanifested material energy („pradhAna”) becomes ready for creation („prakRti”, or „Durga”??) by the glance of Vishnu (or „Shiva" ??).
By agitation of time, the 3 "modes of material nature" (guna’s) (sattva/creation, rajas/preservation, and tamas/destruction), born from prakRti, get out-of-balance, which initiates the creation of _all_ material elements, (starting together as one „mahat-tattva”).
The very _first_ manifestation, from this single "mahat-tattva", is „CETAH”… which gets further degraded (i.e. additional layers) through the influence of raja & tama tunas (i.e. when we try to enjoy the external elements).
Result of this „degradation”:
instead of realizing you’re just the witness („sAkSi”), you (as „soul”) have become "mirrored” (darpaNa), because you started to identify with
-your „ego” („I am the doer”)
-and your gross physical substance („I am the senses”),
All these „tamasic” impressions darken your „cetaH” !
Nature of MIND (manas) is twofold:
-sankalpa: your mind making promise and/or determination to aspire for spiritual life
-vikalpa: your mind shifting away from above promise
Nature of INTELLIGENCE (buddhi)
It gives help to the senses & its material substances (dravya).
Its jurisdiction is only the gross/physical substances.
I.e. whoever tries to understand spiritual truth via „buddhi” (like the mayavadi & buddhists) will end up with „emptiness” („sunya”)
Its functions are: sleep / remembrance / forgetfulness? / fear / doubt.
Nature of pure CONSCIOUSNESS (CETAH/cittah)
…is fully defined in SBc3ch26v22:
svacchatvam—clarity;
avikāritvam—freedom from all distraction;
śāntatvam—serenity
The 3 guna’s (sattva, rajas, and tamas) are part of the MATERIAL energy, and are always present all 3 together
…contrary to the „vasudeva” state (called „visuddha sattva”), ref. SBc3ch26v21.
Nature of SOUND
Both material & spiritual sound is
-eternal,
-but temporarily descends/manifests itself in ether. (i.e. you don’t make this sound yourself ! )
The „spot” (sphurat jNAna) is the bursting-out of the meaning of this sound. Unfortunately, this meaning (of sound) does not enter our heart, because it gets intercepted by maya.
Addendum: 4 types of MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE
-paricita jNAna (paricintayan?) = knowledge in bits & pieces
-sankrIn jNAna (saṅkīrtayan?) = concentrated knowledge
-vikrAnta jNAna (vikrāntayaḥ?) = distorted (reception of) knowledge
-vikrAnta grastA jNAna (grastāyām?) = illusory knowledge (under the grip of illusion), i.e. intercepted by maya.
Whoever acts under the above-described material knowledge, will only _imitate_ the real bhakti.
REFERENCES
SBc3ch26:
http://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_3.26.14
http://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_3.26.21
http://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_3.26.22
sanskritdictionary:
http://sanskritdictionary.org/citta
ttp://sanskritdictionary.org/cittah
http://sanskritdictionary.org/cetah
http://sanskritdictionary.org/dravya
http://sanskritdictionary.org/grastayam
http://sanskritdictionary.org/mahat
http://sanskritdictionary.org/paricintayan
http://sanskritdictionary.org/pradhana
http://sanskritdictionary.org/prakrti
http://sanskritdictionary.org/sankirna
http://sanskritdictionary.org/sankirtayan
http://sanskritdictionary.org/sunya
http://sanskritdictionary.org/sphurat
http://sanskritdictionary.org/visuddha
http://sanskritdictionary.org/vikrantayah
—2. SRI MANAH-SIKSA—
http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-a-magazines-mainmenu-63/bhakti-books/english/66-manah-siksa/file.htmlVerse TWO
„O my dear mind, please do not perform either the routine religious activities resulting in piety (dharma) or the irreligious activities resulting in sin (adharma) as mentioned in the Śrutis or Vedas. Rather, you should render profuse loving service to Śrī Śrī Rādhā- Kṛṣṇa Yugala here in Vraja, for the Śrutis have ascertained Them to be the highest principle of supreme worship and the Supreme Absolute Truth. Always meditate on Śacīnandana Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is richly endowed with the complexion and sentiments of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, as non-different from Śrī Nanda-nandana. And always remember the spiritual master as most dear to Śrī Mukunda.”
-->Purport by Sadhu Maharaj:
Advance advice: respect your mind !
1. RELATIONSHIP
There are 3 types of (loving) relationship:
-bhakti: everyday devotion/relation/exchange/lover ACTION
-bhakti-rasa: bhakti when connected with your spiritual identity ("abhidheya") ; it keeps your conscious
-bhakti-rasa-sāra: the most inner essense of your soul (once you've found your "prayojana"), nitya lila... which is stopping all other attractions
Ref. http://bhaktabandhav.com/?s=bhakti-rasa-s%C4%81ra
Such relationship (i.e. your connection with God) is to be known in 2 steps:
-Nitai (guru)
-Gauranga (Radhe & Krsna)
But this relationship is getting blocked by
-dharma
-adharma: forgetting that I'm a soul & that I have a relation with God
...which proves the importance of sambandha-jnana: the knowledge of your true relationship with God
2. „Render profuse loving service to Śrī Śrī Rādhā- Kṛṣṇa”
… because it _is_ Radharani’s Krsna!
So learn from Radhika, because _she_ is giving prema, NOT Krsna (who’s receiving prema).
The simple manjari’s (as „shadow” of Radhika) are always living with, and are always thinking about, Radhika (i.e. they are not living with, or concerned about, Krsna):
-not to steal Krsna away from Radhika (i.e. which would mean "avoid Radhika”),
-but to make both Radha & Krsna happy!
Rupa-nuga’s are actually the followers of those manjari’s.
Even Krsna learned to play flute & dance, to please Radhika.
Other personalities:
-Shiva: participates in the rasa-lila dance as Gopesvara (dressed as gopi)… but both Hari & Hara know each other’s tricks. Shiva & Krsna can’t live without each other, they remain in each other’s heart.
-Hanuman is the ekadash rudra (i.e. another form of Shiva) is teaching bhakti.
There are 3 types of bhakti, each according to your own mood:
-Krsna
-Radha
-Swamini (even more intimate: Radha as mistress)
…and any of them is reachable only through love. This is a narrow road, which you have to walk yourself, on your own. This is a road from darkness („I don’t have this rasa”) to light („I _do_ have this rasa”).
By „knowing”, you
-come into a particular „mellow” (*),
-and then, you go on from there, continuously.
The question is:
which mellow (i.e. what kind of relationship) are you living?
Notice that Srila Prabhuada had nicely elaborated on this question, in his introduction of „Bhagavad-gita As It Is" (page4):
"He tells Arjuna that He is relating this supreme secret to him because he is His devotee and His friend. The purport of this is that Bhagavad-gītā is a treatise which is especially meant for the devotee of the Lord. There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely the jñānī, the yogī and the bhakta, or the impersonalist, the meditator and the devotee. Here the Lord clearly tells Arjuna that He is making him the first receiver of a new paramparā (disciplic succession) because the old succession was broken. It was the Lord's wish, therefore, to establish another paramparā in the same line of thought that was coming down from the sun-god to others, and it was His wish that His teaching be distributed anew by Arjuna. He wanted Arjuna to become the authority in understanding the Bhagavad-gītā. So we see that Bhagavad-gītā is instructed to Arjuna especially because Arjuna was a devotee of the Lord, a direct student of Kṛṣṇa, and His intimate friend. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is best understood by a person who has qualities similar to Arjuna's. That is to say he must be a devotee in a direct relationship with the Lord. As soon as one becomes a devotee of the Lord, he also has a direct relationship with the Lord. That is a very elaborate subject matter, but briefly it can be stated that a devotee is in a relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in one of five different ways:
Arjuna was in a relationship with the Lord as friend. Of course there is a gulf of difference between this friendship and the friendship found in the material world. This is transcendental friendship which cannot be had by everyone. Of course everyone has a particular relationship with the Lord, and that relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service. But in the present status of our life, we have not only forgotten the Supreme Lord, but we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord. Every living being, out of many, many billions and trillions of living beings, has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarūpa. By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa, and that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi-perfection of one's constitutional position. So Arjuna was a devotee, and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship."
- One may be a devotee in a passive state;
- One may be a devotee in an active state;
- One may be a devotee as a friend;
- One may be a devotee as a parent;
- One may be a devotee as a conjugal lover.
ADVICE on reading books like „Bhagavad-gita As It Is":
read max. 1 page/day :)
(*) Open question: Is this "mellow" similar to „stimmung”, used by Ulrich Libbrecht?
https://books.google.be/books?id=rmT3ZHGxJPgC&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=Ulrich+Libbrecht+stimmung&source=bl&ots=uo3zR-xbox&sig=1FwWK54RMomRro-gSG7s6kWqQlI&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0CEQQ6AEwB2oVChMIndST3KWkxwIVCVkaCh1SMQm8#v=onepage&q=Ulrich%20Libbrecht%20stimmung&f=false
Verse THREE
„My dear mind, please hear me. If you are eager to gain residence in Vraja on the platform of rāgātmikā-bhakti, and if you desire to obtain the direct service of the eternally youthful Divine Couple, Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then birth after birth always distinctly remember and bow down with great love to Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and his elder brother Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, and all other associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who are the recipients of His mercy."
-->Purport by Saddu Maharaj:
„rāgātmikā-bhakti”… with „rāga” meaning: attachment, to become in one tune/frequency, or one mellow/stimmung (in a sense of: "what you like, I like”)… through the connection with the power (where mellow comes from).
This mellow is important in your (direct & indirect) service.
Yugala-kishora” (the divine couple, Sri Sri Radha & Krsna, i.e. Radharani’s Krsna)
is NOT the same as „Vishan Shneha” (God/Krsna consciousness, without any consideration of Radha… which is not possible in Vrndavan)
The point is:
only lovers can teach you about (practical mellow of) love.
This is also a fact in christianity:
-Jesus (loving his father),
-mother Maria (loving her son),
-Maria Magdalena (loving her husband)
… while (on the other hand):
-what can father/God teach you about love?
-what can Krsna, as cowherd boy, teach you: cow herding ? stealing butter ?
Rupa Goswami
...is the acharya of „abidheha” (internal practise / praxis),
-with as starting point: "forget your physical/material body" (which is, in itself, the endpoint for „mayavadi”, i.e. the "impersonalist philosopher").
-From „abidheha”, you progress to rAga,
-Rrom rAga, you progress to rupa (nuga), where your body is no longer physical.
Ref. verse 3 of song Dekhite Dekhite:
http://kksongs.org/songs/d/dekhitedekhite.html
"I shall obtain my own eternal spiritual body, transcendental name, and specific type of beauty and dress for the pleasure of Krsna. And when, by the power of Sri Radha's causeless mercy, will I be allowed entrance into the pastimes of divine love of Krsna?”
As a human, you are given three times a birth/name/form/seva:
-by your parents
-by your guru
-by your nitya-siddha
http://vaniquotes.org/wiki/A_nitya-siddha_devotee_comes_from_Vaikuntha_upon_the_order_of_the_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead_and_shows_by_his_example_how_to_become_a_pure_devotee
—3. BHAKTI YOGA—
(speaker Sripad BV Siddhanti Maharaja)„Bhakti”
means engaging your senses for pleasing the senses of the Lord.
Three aspects are always there together:
-Bhagawan (accessible only via "suddha-nama", i.e. the "pure stage of chanting where Krsna fully reveals Himself")
-Bhakti
-Bhakta
Krsna’s topics & literature
benefit three persons: the questioner, the receiver (of the answer) and the listener.
There are two approaches for „bhakti yoga":
-either via "arcana": serving (deities) with paraphernalia
-or via "bhajan": serving within the mind, being totally absorbed
Bhakti, being "ananya” (one-pointed) & „sarvatra” (present everywhere),
implies „sadhana”… but with the qualities described in Siksastakam verse 3.
I.e. one should be
-in a humble state of mind,
-thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street;
-more tolerant than a tree
-devoid of all sense of false prestige,
-ready to offer all respect to others.
Final recommendation:
search for that bhakta/person who’s spiritually greedy !
--APPENDIX: SchweibenAlp Library--
Quotes from "Karma Yoga, the yoga of action", by Swami Vivekananda
http://sacred-texts.com/hin/kyog/index.htmChapter I. Karma In Its Effect On Character
All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind.
A fool may buy all the books in the world, and they will be in his library; but he will be able to read only those that he deserves to; and this deserving is produced by Karma.
Chapter II. Each Is Great In His Own Place
A fool can do heroic deeds when the approbation of society is upon him, but for a man to constantly do good without caring for the approbation of his fellow-men is indeed the highest sacrifice man can perform.
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