Topic: Siddhanta

One evening as we sat at Srila Puri Maharaja's lotus feet hearing about what it means to be a genuine Vaisnava, we were astounded when suddenly Srila Puri Maharaja said, "There is a wave of sahajiyaism coming to the Western world and you must preach against this misconception."

The contents of this webpage are in response to a group of young men claiming to be the followers of Sri Madhvacarya who recently challenged the siddhanta of the Gaudiya sampradaya. Many of their points simply stem from lack of knowledge of the Gaudiya siddhanta, whilst other arguments appear to stem more from the fundamental defects of conditioned souls, such as malice and envy.

Recently, we came across a discussion on the internet regarding sraddha - the importance of faith. Is it essential or only a necessity for the beginner? It is an area of siddhanta that is little understood by a vast majority of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas residing in western countries.

If all of you have been following his teachings for 25-30 years and you are not qualified, then why should I follow his teachings? It must mean that his teachings have no potency. That is what the ritviks are actually saying.

If immortality means 'no influence of mortality' what, then, is its positive conception? What will be the nature, movement, and progress of that which is immortal?

I stand before you as a teller. I am going to tell you now a few words more on the Vedanta and especially its ontological aspect, morphology being a former changeable part of the same. My telling craves a reciprocity of your listening to my sound through your aural reception. Sound is the main substratum of the Vedanta which deals with a subject unapproachable by our present crippled imperfect senses.

The transcendental wisdom of the ten maxim is being enumerated in ten verses - svatah siddho vedah haridayita-vedyhah prabhrtitah (the Vedic scriptures are the only source of all authoritative wisdom according to words mentioned therein, viz., 'asya maha to bhutasya nisvasitametat'[Rk Veda] etc.

Why does our consciousness come down to this plane? Why doesn't it have a higher conception of higher spiritual existence. Instead our attention is drawn to some material thing on the mundane plane. We think that some medicine, or some intoxication can help us.

The name must be of finite characteristic that can take away all that is undesirable in us. The name must have a spiritual conception not mere physical imitation, that can be produced only by the help of the lip and tongue. Krsna-nama, Hari-nama, Visnu, Narayana, all these are Vaikuntha-nama, it is necessary that They have spiritual existence, that is all in all. They must have spiritual depth, not imitation. Physical imitation is not the name proper.

In the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, the gayatri which the guru (bona fide spiritual master) gives to the sadhaka (devotee) at the time of diksa (initiation) is that of the Vedic diksa (upanayana) and also that of the Vaisnava pancaratrika-diksa.

Verses 8 - 11 are the four principal verses of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita. The ontological substance of the book is contained within these four essential verses, beginning aham sarvasya prabhavo - "Everything emanates from Me."

The Fountainhead of all eternal and temporal manifestations is confined in Sri Krsna alone. The non-absolute phases are emanations from a particular potency whose analytical distributions are known as gunas or qualities. In the factor of time, they are branched as past, present and future and their material representations have three characteristics viz. evolution, sustenance and dissolution.