Writings

The following is a letter written in response to an Iskcon GBC in relation to the recent Krishna Talk article 201, “Gaura-Radha-Madhava and the Temple of Misunderstanding”.

The main drift of this article is to recall to memory the establishing of the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura Radha-Madhava at Mayapura by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada during his manifest lila, and to draw attention to how the present institution of ISCON has unfortunately gone astray from the proper Gaudiya conception.

Srila Puri Maharaja's appearance in this world was in 1898. Then his disappearance was 102 years later at the end of Karttika while he was residing at Jagannatha Puri. Jagannatha Puri is known as 'Vipralambha-dhama,' the place where the Lord and His devotees feel intense separation.

So many instructions are there from Srila Prabhupada and amongst those, the paramount instruction is to preach vigorously. To become a pure devotee and to preach vigorously.

The idea of Mayavada has always been present since the decline of the Vedic age. It is born from the minds of those jivas who have been envious and desired to usurp the position of God. These jivas, having lost touch with the highest ideal of serving God as an individual part and parcel, have fallen into this man-made plane of thought. Unlike this idea, the Vedic literatures are eternal and apauruseya (descended to this world untouched by the faulty thought process of the human mind). Those unfortunate people who deviate from the teachings of the Vedas invariably fall away from their eternal position as a servant of God into lower planes of consciousness.

Recently an announcement was posted on "Dandavats.com" wherein the representative of ISKCON's Sri Sri Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavana [Shyamakrishna Das] informed all the devotees around the world that "Srila Prabhupada's Bhajan-kutir is now re-opened."

Question: We have heard that Bhaktivinoda Thakura instructed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta to establish the system of daiva-varnasrama. My question is, what is daiva-varnasrama? Is it something different from varnasrama as we generally know it? Answer: Yes, daiva-varnasrama is significantly different from what is generally conceived as varnasrama, the four social and spiritual orders of life designed to maintain human society.

Guest Article by N. S. Rajaram. The evidence of science now points to two basic conclusions: first, there was no Aryan invasion, and second, the Rigvedic people were already established in India no later than 4000 B.C.E.

I read a recent article on the internet by a leading ISKCON sannyasi/GBC/guru wherein he says, "We cannot even extend this family [ISKCON] to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. We cannot even take one step forward because the problem is if we put too much emphasis on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, then we will miss out on our focus. We will lose the focus on ISKCON." So my question is: Is there really a conflict between the interests [focus] of ISKCON and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta?

During my many travels in India I have visited certain temples where it is claimed that the Deity of Visnu or Krishna was self-manifest. So my question is, whether it is possible that God self-manifests His Deity form or is it always necessary that an acarya or representative of God be instrumental in establishing a Deity?

Preaching means fighting - fighting with illusion and misconception. Our weapons are philosophical arguments backed by sastra and the opinions of previous acaryas. Preaching means speaking the truth and the nature of truth is that it wants to be found and it wants to fight with ignorance and misconception.

There have been some recent discussions about techniques for meditation and controlling the mind while chanting japa [the Holy Name]. It is often said that we are doing mantra meditation, so I was wondering if our acaryas or the sastra have recommended any particular techniques that we can use while doing mantra meditation?