James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

ME, ME, ME, ME!

2011-08-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

Varna-ashram! We already have the ashrams going strong. The Brahmacharis, Grihastas, Vanaprasthas and Sanayasis are all nicely revolving in their own orbits… what we now need are the varnas! So, isn’t it about time we sat down and divided ourselves into the four varnas—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra?

Any takers?

Me, me, me, me!

Well, apart from Mort, the mouse lemur in the movie Madagascar who will volunteer for just about anything, most of us would think: yeah right, we need the varnas like we need a hole in the head! After all, not so long back, the varnas system was considered the most vile form of social evil, and tossed out on its ears. Indeed, it may even be said to be the mother of all social evils, and may well have triggered the reformation moment worldwide.

Classless society was then thought to be the answer—the bright light shining in the sky—and many a social and religious reformers made a ton of hay while it shone brightly. Classless society, classless religion… all humans are equal, can drink water from the same well, sit on the same bench etc., were demands rallies went to the streets with. Many a civil rights battle too has been fought on this front, and today equality, civil rights, and so on, are ideologies we hold close to our hearts. Add to that, secularism, democracy, democratically elected leaders, hand-picked from amongst the people (as if that was an assurance of good governance!)—all these fine ideologies set fire to our oppressed imagination—and soon, even became the law of this brave new world of ours.

Thus today, if you inadvertently utter the word ‘varna’ anywhere in ear-shot of any politically correct person, which, by the way, is every woman, then you might as well write your obituary and settle down in a nice cozy grave! Indeed, our women carry a sense of being previously exploited, and today pride themselves in being the equality police of the world. And, if she sees inequality anywhere, in any form—then God help us all!

But what’s in the term ‘varna’ that makes us and our women, hiss and spit like a cat who has seen an alien behind the kitchen drapes?

The main objection to the varna system is obviously the appalling sense of inequality it brings to the table. Now, I understand this fully. Really, I do. However, ask yourself this: is it really you reacting—or is it your modern-day conditioning?

It is, after all, a politically correct thing to do. And aren’t we all such suckers when it comes to parroting what the world considers fashionable. Besides, the objections themselves… have you ever noticed that these are very same objections reformers of yesteryears cleverly used to hoodwink us? In short, our towering sense of equality that seems so ingrained in us… may well be a borrowed political platform.

No?? Okay then, ask yourself another crucial question. Were the reformers right?

What these ruthless leaders actually did was to point out the minor flaws in an existing social system, paint them in the exaggerated hues of ‘exploitation’ and use them to incite the so-called disadvantaged groups. Done cunningly enough, it would not take long to get the dullards amongst these groups to agree. And before you knew it, the whole thing had snowballed into a people’s moment—and soon, the system in question was dismantled.

So, what exactly transpired here? It’s exploitation alright. But the person who is doing the exploiting is actually the social reformer. In short, it’s just a ‘you are being exploited; I’ll save your sorry ass’ scam. And, sadly, it is often built on the ashes of something truly magnificent that he has single-handedly burnt to the ground.

Not convinced yet? Hmm… here, let me to put it in a light you’ll readily see through.

Assume you are a factory worker and earning a decent wage. True, you are not the hub of the organization, but merely a humble cog—but a relatively happy one. One fine day a labor union leader comes by, holds meetings, convinces you and your coworkers that since you are doing the work, you should be the hub, get the lion’s share of the profits and what not. Now, you may nod your head in agreement, but still, you are wary; not fully convinced yet. But here again, the dullards, and miscreants would heartily agree and soon strikes are organized and the poor little factory is brought down on its knees. End result: exploited or not, you, who anyway had just cog-like propensities to begin with, and happy being just a cog—just lost a nice cozy job! The union leader went on to become a minister or something.

Oh, you think this is a worse-case scenario… and that it rarely happens? Hell no! Ninety-nine percent of the time this is exactly what happens. Why, today there are entire countries wherein such labor unions are operating, and there, no businesses big or small would ever come and start a factory. And what does that translate to? No more jobs for you and your children. Who, I ask, is getting exploited here? Answer: you, and no one else.

Social reformers too operate in this vile and veiled manner. They use a perceived weakness in a system and exploit it. Who gains? Certainly not you! You end up losing your job, remember? Now, I do not want to debate or belabor this point, but usually when you dismantle a system it will invariably result in chaos. It may result in your achieving your shortsighted goal, but then again, destruction of complex systems will undoubtedly result in losses at many other hidden and not so hidden fronts.

My point merely is this: the ‘equality’ you so vehemently support… may not always be right. What is more, you may not even agree with it. Indeed, like countless other workers who hate unions, you too may prefer to be a just cog in the wheel and earn a quiet living. All things considered, it is realistic, and you are relatively happy.

But forget all that. Aren’t some of us born into rich homes and others into poor? Isn’t that injustice right there? But are we doing anything about it? No! What can we do? Nothing! Can’t strike against God’s will, can we?

And again, isn’t there inequality by the truck-load in our reformed lives today? Managers get ten times the pay that workers get. Can we reform that? Can there ever be equality when pay-scales are different? No!

The point is, whether we like it or not, from birth itself we are inexorably stratified. There will always be someone at the top, someone at the bottom and someone in between. There will always be some level of inequality, regardless of what social or religious reformers have to say.

The varna system is not any different from the societal stratification that exists today. And all it says is: match the beast to its burden. Put the ass in front of the cart, the bulls to plough the field, and will somebody get that darn dog off the throne! And the funny part is: if you look carefully, you will see that some of us do indeed have the long ears of an ass, others are bullheaded, and still others have the pack-instinct of dogs. That’s apparently how the good Lord made us!

So who’s ready for the varnas?

Me, me, me, me!

Hey...! Will you let me finish!?!

But is streamlining livelihoods all there is to the varna classification? Actually no. But yes, it sure is about simplifying the whole process, automatizing it—and then relegating it into the background.

The real business is worshipping Krishna. Human life is actually earmarked for spiritual evolution. Thus, what we are really required to do is to organize ourselves, make a sea-faring ark for ourselves and boldly sail across the ocean of ignorance. And in that endeavor, if some of us have to perform different functions, functions we are actually born to do, then where is the difficulty?

And here is something that will truly gladden your heart! There is an inbuilt concession for rapid spiritual progress committed to each and every varna. Not all of us can be Brahmanas. It calls for too much rubbing and scrubbing; too much prayer and preaching. The good news is: the same level of austerity is not prescribed for the other varnas. And the best part is, you will accrue the very same spiritual benefit a brahmana does by performing your set varna duties that are less stringent! This verse in the Gita [3.35] even goes on to state that ‘it is better to do your varna’s prescribed duties imperfectly than do another varna’s duties perfectly.’

Really, if that isn’t hard selling, then I don’t know what is! Truly, that verse… I never could make sense of it before… but now I know it to be a 24-carat concession. The good Lord seems rather attached to his varna system and has thrown in this concession, possibly just to sweeten the deal! I mean, after all, there is a little bit of inequality in the system… and he obviously does not want it to addle your mind. But hey, as long as we can get to Vaikunta with less the effort, who really cares for a bit of inequality, right?

So who would like to be a part of the varna system?

Me, me, me, me!

Mort is it? I like your spirit, Mort. Say, how would you like to be a nice little err… Shudra??

FLAME DYNAMICS

2011-07-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)
If you need inspiration, the kind that would lift your soul, make it soar, make you get down on to your knees and even pray, then read Jesus’s teachings in the Bible. He is inspiring and continues to inspire thousand across the world.

I myself was inspired by his charisma, his confidence, and the sound logic of his teachings. I saw in him someone in whom I could place my trust. And to be very frank, after two minutes of exposure to him, I found myself asking ‘where do I sign up.’ In short, I was convinced that this man was genuine, knew what he was talking about, and that he was the right person to whom I could willingly entrust my soul, and expect to be safely guided back to the Kingdom of God.

In other words, as far as I am concerned, Jesus’s words still have the power, the spiritual potency. And indeed, his words have been working their magic, similarly inspiring people, for the past 2011 years. Every year a new crop of young students come of age, read his teachings, and boom—they are one hundred per cent inspired!

Now, seeing him work his magic, inspire people from all parts of the globe, you would think he is still alive and kicking. But here is the thing. This powerful acharya has been dead for 2011 years! He certainly is not sitting somewhere in south of France (hey, don’t look at me, ask Dan Brown!) in some vineyard sipping wine and giving telecast sermons! No. Been dead for two thousand and eleven years!

And yet he inspires people like nothing in this world can! Isn’t it wonderful? He is a super bright light that is still burning bright, and fortunately for everybody concerned, the reason why he is still going strong is that his followers dutifully set him on a pedestal to let everyone partake in his awe-inspiring light.

Now, I was inspired by Jesus when I was about 17 or so. And, it so happened that when I was about 19, I got similarly inspired by yet another spiritual master—an equally bright light. He too was a powerful speaker, writer, had awe-inspiring presence, supreme confidence, and sound logic to his spiritual instructions. In fact, his teachings even reflected the teaching of Jesus to an astonishing degree. Thus, as before, it did not take me long to ask, ‘where do I sign, and soon I was an initiated member of this brand new religion.

And as you might have guessed, this teacher’s name was: Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya 108 Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Fast-forward by 25 years.

First teacher’s teaching is still going strong, guiding, inspiring students just as powerfully as he did when he was alive and had started his ministry thanks wholly to his farsighted disciples, who clearly understand the sound logic in having a bright light as a guiding beacon.

As for the second bright light, this Prabhupada, why, his light has already dimmed considerably, and it is a shame! Indeed, it appears that his disciples did not heed his advice, or have never heard of keeping a bright light on a pedestal. Instead, they have covered his bright light with a bushel!

True, he still shines, but only just about and very feebly and that too in reflected manner. Give it a few more years… this once bright light would soon be no more.

And pray what have they given us instead of this 10000 watt bright light? A whole bunch of fire flies! And that too with the longevity of Mayflies!

Whose bright idea was this? Certainly this cannot have been Prabhupada's idea. He on the contrary, wrote all the books just to be able to be that bright light shining in the sky for as long as possible. Indeed, his whole focus was to chug away for ten thousand years via his books. Why do we even doubt that?

But they say we need a living representative. Why? Isn’t the only thing transmitted knowledge? Why are we even considering this lame argument, especially when it is used to retire a bright light like Prabhupada?

Even if a living representative is ritually required, this constituent of the initiation process cannot be bigger than the main component of gaining spiritual instruction and inspiration from a genuine spiritual bright light spiritual master. After all, if there is no inspiration there are going to be no disciples to ritualize. And that being the case, we could very well relegate or sub contract this secondary activity to regular priests, who will happily perform the ritual, as indeed is done in Christianity and elsewhere.

As such people are still coming in to Krishna consciousness wholly because of Prabhupada. Indeed, he is the one still initiating the spiritual journey in you. Two-bit pandas might argue that until the ritual is completed, initiation has not taken place. But, then again, pandas or priests have always been yanking our chain.

If still in doubt, judiciously apply a bit of Kabir’s pure logic here to bring out the truth of the matter. For instance Kabir says:

‘Kankar pathar jod ke, Masjid liye banay, Taa chadh mulla baang de, kya behra hua khudaey.

‘The priest builds a house of worship with gravel and rocks, on which he then climbs to calls out loud to God. Why, is God deaf?’ (the reference here is to the loud call of the Muslim priests)

Similarly, applying some good old-fashioned Kabir-logic you should ask, 'Why a living guru? Is there some sort of electricity flowing down through the gurus and that we need a living guru...so as to complete the circuit sort of thing? Of course there isn't.

Bottom line is, people are coming to Krishna consciousness solely by seeing Srila Prabhupada’s now considerably dimmed bright light. And once they reach there the fireflies conveniently take the scalp and think, oh we too are powerful acharyas. One should ask these fireflies to stand in the market place and get one disciple—just one—by the strength of his own kopin. This indeed is what it boils down to. Then we shall see.

Fortunately, Srila Prabhupada has with infinite wisdom played his game with great cunningness. He has ensured that his books are the basis, and that dear friends, makes him the spiritual master. Obviously! The man was no fool! He has seen it before. He knew well that disciples will betray before the cock crows in the morning after his demise.

To conclude, as I have demonstrated above, Christianity has happily come a good 2000 years on the Jagat Guru model. In this model, the main engine is the Jesus himself, his powerful personality, his charisma, his powerful teachings.

In exactly the same manner we should acknowledge Srila Prabhupada as the Jagat Guru, the initiating acharya, for the simple reason that he planned it as such and is indeed playing this role; come on, no one else can!

For certainly this job isn’t recommended for fireflies.

CARPE DIEM

2011-07-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

You doubtfully look at the spurious spare-part the dealer has just shown you and ask, ‘Chalega kya?’(will it work?) He’ll reassuringly reply, ‘hah, hah, chalega, chalega…’ (yes, yes, it will work) And if you still standing there mentally scratching you head (which, he can read… your mind silly) wondering whether to buy it or not, he might reassuringly add, ‘Chalega nahin saab… daudega, daudega!’ (It will not just work, it will run, run… much like the Duracell bunny)

You’re still not convinced, for the part in question has that appalling ‘stuck together with spit’ look about it that we Indians know so well—but hate with a vengeance. You’re are of course thinking of buying it to replace that finely crafted original that was made in some kind of an engineer’s heaven… and indeed has that ‘Made in Germany’ legend proudly laser etched on it. But kya kare (what to do), that darn thing has inexplicably died on you.

So while you’re standing there deliberating whether to put the lives of a plane load of people (did I forget to mention that the part in question is that crucial ‘left phalange’ that holds the plane’s right engine?) just to save a few Rupees—oh yes, it costs just one tenth of the original!—you just might slip into a reverie… and wonder…

…why is it that we Indians can’t get it right? Why are we so lax when it comes to delivering quality goods? Why do we have this ‘chalega’ or ‘will just about do’ maddeningly casual attitude towards all these heavenly material goods?

Of course, if you’re an NRI (Non Resident Indian) who has spent considerable time in the Promised Land (USA), then your level of exasperation with India's chalega attitude is bound to rival Spiderman’s heightened sense of sight and smell, not to mention his talent for climbing up the wall! Then, you’re more likely fuming with that righteous ‘first world citizen’ attitude, ‘Why can’t these 'dirty' third world Indians get it right?’ Some NRIs even come back to India just to show us how it is done! Most give up halfway and rush back screaming all the way to their adopted mother...land. Why, even a short ten-day trip abroad is enough to transfigure you, turn your head a ‘grudge’ 180 degrees, and Cinderella-ize you from a slum-girl to a proud princess of supreme intolerance.

Why are we so complacent about quality? Why are we reluctant to expend energy on this world and its activities? Why do we not think it worthwhile to lovingly polish those knobs or whatever until we can see the zit on our nose in it? Why indeed do we have this exasperating ‘chalega’ attitude?

But of course we all know the answer to this near existential question. Indeed, the astute English had figured it out a century back… and they, poor sods, had tried their best to beat it out of us!

It’s not that we are lazy. Nor is it that we do not know quality when we see it, or cannot produce it. The truth is, we just don’t believe in investing so much time and energy in this temporary world. Indeed, we are busy building castles in the Kingdom of God.

An apt example to give here is: if when travelling by a train, it stopped at a station en-route, you would certainly get down and stretch your legs; but would you go get busy in building a bungalow and engage in some other long term enterprise while there? No obviously, not. In a short time the whistle will blow and you will board and carry on with your journey.

In other words, the ‘chalega stance’ is a deliberate one that is solidly anchored by the philosophical understanding wherein you do minimum to get by and keep your focus on the main agenda, which is to finally get off this darn train once and for all. The philosophical ideology here may be succinctly stated as: ‘simple living high thinking.’

But this is not all that is there to it either. 'Sustainable living' requires you to make do with less that spot on quality. Where is the sense in cutting down a tall tree just to make one perfect toothpick? Conserve our limited resources; live life a little less extravagantly; make do with less; stop acting as if you are royalty; try not to carve your name on the surface of the globe; get on with your life—and die quietly for heaven’s sake!

In short, what we really have here are two diametrically opposite philosophical points of view. One urges you to live life conservatively and invest in securing your next life as well. The other urges you to live this live to the maximum and go out with a blast.

In the second ideology the understanding is: ‘Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero! Seize the day; put as little trust as possible in the future!’ Of course, it means: ‘fully utilize opportunities today (rather than tomorrow) for the future is uncertain.’ But strangely, it is now thought to mean: ‘have maximum fun today, for you only live once.’ Or, ‘have no regrets before the curtains come down.’ In fact the term 'carpe diem' has almost become synonymous to 'dangerous living' or a 'bohemian lifestyle,' so much so that most tattoo it on their person. Thus, you have 80-plus grandmas queuing up for bungee jumping and other adventure sports. Indeed, it has become fashionable to draw up a list of daring and decadent feats to perform before the buzzer goes off.

So, which is better? Spending one hundred percent of your life in material perfection and having a blast, or being conservative, spending just seventy percent on materialism and having a blast, and thirty percent on securing a better future afterlife?

As a corollary to the above question:

Which is better? To live in a machined-perfected world, where all things are finely crafted, gleaming and emitting discreet little beeps, or in an earthy, organic world embellished with imperfections, and enlivened by the discreet call of insects?

Which is better? To drive in a finely crafted race car or race on a thoroughbred with the wind tearing through your hair?

Which is better? To be a conservationist and leave no footprint on the planet, or strip mine it, make it barren the short while you are here?

Hey, don’t look at me for answers; I have none! True, I prefer the 70-30 equation, but you please go right ahead and pick up whichever one you feel is right for you, and… good luck with your chosen path.

But yes, next time you hear ‘chalega’ try not to think ‘oh what a lazy bum.’ Instead, step quietly back. For, he is not a lazy bum, but is actually a sage in disguise, and working hard at maintaining a certain aloofness from his environment. He believes that work binds... that too much attachment, too much involvement with anything on this planet is detrimental to spiritual health, for it binds you to this world, and brings you back to this world. And he does not want that, for he is focused on transmigrating to another, a far superior world. Besides, he is not willing to a giving a hundred percent at work, for he likes to reserve some energy for living his life, practicing his religion, going on his pilgrimage and so on.

In short, like you, he too is a philosopher and is indeed 'carpe diem-ing' away like there is no tomorrow. The only difference is, while you believe in making this world a better place with finely crafted goods, and immersing yourself in it with passion, infusing your very being with the aroma of this world, he, quite the contrary, having no illusions about this world, prefers to remain aloof, keeping his attachment to a minimum, maintaining a ‘chalega’ or ‘will just about do’ attitude—all, to be able to attain the escape velocity to transmigrate to a better world.

And oh, guess what: ‘Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero’ may sound all very Latin-y and bohemian, but really it is a stolen Vedic aphorism. The real version is: ‘athāto brahma jijñāsā.’ [Vedanta sutra 1.1.1] ‘Seize the day… trust not the future, for now—this life—is the time for spiritual realization!’ Indeed, the Vedic literatures open with this very instruction.

Now is the time for spiritual realization. It’s not the time for bungee jumping, or for smelling the roses, or polishing that knob until you can see the zit on your nose, or making a pit stop at every tiresome festival in Europe, or drinking yourself silly or fulfilling every stray desire your decadent mind can think off. Seize the day; seize the opportunity of human life… to free yourself, break away from the cycles of birth and death, and save yourself from untold miseries, for, another human life may not come by for a thousand years…

But hey, don’t let it stop you from making that jump! But do give it a thought… on your way down, down, down… and do consider adding lessons in self-realization to your list... before you hit the ground.

THE JAGAT GURU SYSTEM

2011-05-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

[Formerly titled: The Leverage Disciples]

Yesterday, while walking down the road with my wife Mohini, I heard a chant from across a boundary wall. My immediate thought was, ‘Oh good, some people are chanting the name of the Supreme Lord and making solid spiritual progress.’ Upon listening to it a little more carefully, I realized that they were actually singing praise of their guru. The devotees belonging to an all women sect, were faithfully stumbling through their guru’s fully unfurled name, which included a ‘baba,’ a ‘sant’ and few other appellations and nicely rounded off with the popular ‘namo namah.’ Still, I was willing to believe that this was merely the preamble to the main chant that got down to the real business of chanting the name of the Supreme Lord. But they did no such thing; instead, they contentedly droned on with the guru prayer till sun down. Their guru had fully eclipsed God; there was no salvation happening here. I felt saddened.

These so-called gurus who even encourage their disciples to call them ‘Bhagavan’ are responsible for this shift in focus from God to guru possibly using the ‘guru is as good as God’ argument. But gullible Hindus, who flutter to such gurus like flies to a fire, are equally to blame. Practically speaking, in India, no one cannot sit underneath a tree with a vacant gaze for a minute too long without fear of being mistaken… for a baba… with powers… and soon be overwhelmed with woes! ‘Baba… I need a good job, a wife… a washing machine!’ And, before we can say Katrina Kaif (Bollywood hottie, and possibly reason for your vacant gazed daydreaming!) hymns reserved for the Supreme Lord are sung in your praise, the chant of your name has reached an unbelievable crescendo, and devotees from as far away as Nagpur are streaming in to pay their obeisance!

Now I know the need to praise the guru and have heard the line ‘the guru is as good as God.’ And it even makes limited sense to me. After all, a real guru does lead us to God and unlimited happiness… so okay we ought to be very grateful. But, sometimes I wonder… is there really a need to go at it full blast, on a daily basis, extending up to perpetuity. And like I said, it doesn’t take long for someone amongst the fanatics to have a pseudo realization… and declare in a choked, conspiratorial whisper ‘actually you know what, guruji is… God, shhh, shhh… rejoice, rejoice!’ Once it has reached this frenzied, foaming in the mouth state, then is no way on earth we can correct this anomaly, put God back into the equation.

And guess what, before we know it, we too are jumping up there with the rest, with tears flowing down our eyes and what not. Why tears? It must be genuine then, eh? Yeah, right… well, actually no. Tears are tears; nothing to it. Most people cry for the most inane things and besides, like Krishna says, 'Hey you want to worship a deflated volley ball (like Tom Hank’s ‘Wilson’ in Cast Away) who am I to stop you! On the contrary, I will provide the devotional fervor for it or for anything or anyone else your silly, whimsical heart wants to worship—and throw in the tears for free!'

And really, did we sign up for all this guru worship? Hey, all we reluctantly signed up for was for a bit of God worship just so he’ll not smite us when we’re innocently standing at the bus stop! And even for God, we barely have the time, patience or inclination! But what of it, the minute we turn your head, the very same guru who had promised to take us to God, has stealthily crept in, and like the cat that has swallowed the canary, is sitting in place of God all ready to receive your worship and adulation! Do they get anything from accepting worship like for instance the demigods supposedly get? Why can’t they be content with a one-time guru dakshina, even if it be the thumb, for heaven’s sake?

Where does it say that Gurus are allowed to usurp the position of God and accept unlimited worship? Certainly, Krishna doesn’t say it. All he says in the Gita is, ‘evam prampara praptam…’ which translates to, ‘just make sure you get bona fide spiritual literature—by going to a bona fide guru, school. It’s an innocuous statement the kind we would hear from any concerned parent and the stress is on bona fide spiritual knowledge, and not on the guru or his parampara. For that matter, even Mahaprabhu took away the stress on gurus by declaring, ‘On my order, all of you become gurus!Indeed, he charged every Indian to become a guru, which by the way, would tote up to 1.21 billion gurus!

This indeed is the underlying truth. Spiritual knowledge alone is the key. Guru, parampara, etc., are merely vehicles to deliver this precious commodity. It’s the knowledge alone that cuts the knot of ignorance, not the guru or his mercy. It’s all like… like a box of Swiss chocolates. Chocolates are important, not the box. The box too is good, but entirely because of its association with the chocolate, and specifically for having delivered the chocolates intact. The tin box can only cut your mouth up, and not the knot of ignorance!

But yes, there was a time when the guru and parampara mattered and how! The thing is, formerly, this very sacred knowledge wasn’t freely distributed. It was, on the contrary, hoarded and very reluctantly revealed and that too to a select few. If we wanted in, we had to approach a guru, appease him, and if and when he was pleased, he would whisper the knowledge secretly into your ears. So, yes in that sense, your spiritual emancipation wholly depended on the guru and his mercy. In fact, if we serve him nicely, he may even teach us something extra. Like in Arjuna case for instance. Arjuna pleased his spiritual master Drona so much that he was favored and thus he became the finest archer. The less favored students were shooting all over the place! And worse, those who cheated and displeased him… had their thumbs cut off for their troubles! So definitely there was a time when guru and parampara held your spiritualism in the palm of their hands, and we had to put in a lot of elbow grease to get into that action!

But times have changed. Today this very secret and sacred knowledge is freely available.

Why this change in mindset? Is it to correct an imbalance perhaps; such as, not too many souls reaching Goloka? Do they need more grass in Goloka to fix the west-side lawn perhaps? Or, is it just the runaway enthusiasm of the acharyas? Whatever the reason, today, ignoring the Lord’s own instruction on the subject, far too many magnanimous gurus are revealing this sacred knowledge to all and sundry!

How has this development affected the traditional guru-disciple relationship?

Sadly, the sublime guru-disciple relationship will take a direct hit by this development and that, no doubt, is a shame. A living guru is so much more inspiring, especially as the learning is interactive and personalized. Indeed, it's only when we have such a ‘live’ relationship can we make solid progress in our spiritualism and sing ‘samsara-davanala-lidha-loka’ with such fervor!

But that’s not to say there aren’t equal if not more cases where a ‘book guru’ has inspired generations after generations. As the name implies, a book guru is one who has chosen to continue to inspire countless, with their powerful writings, long after they have gone by the medium of books. When mundane authors are able to inspire generations with their books, so why not gurus? It may be a little inconvenient and unconventional in the beginning, but certainly we can and should accept this change, and have no qualms about accepting a ‘book guru’as a full-fledged spiritual master.

Wouldn’t that mean the acharya who wrote that book is your siksha guru?

Actually, the term siksha guru is merely a stopgap solution to address this very same issue. For that matter, the term diksha guru, which is the ‘Jarasandha–half’ of the former, really has no meaning. Diksha means to initiate. But the question to ask here is, initiate with what? With the ritual? With the fire? With the banana in the fire? See, this ideology is has no leg to stand on! Therefore, it’s nothing more than clever word play. The truth is, only ingredient that matters here is knowledge. And that means siksha and it is with siksha alone you get diksha or ‘initiated into spiritual life.’ The fire, banana, etc., are merely rituals of on independent or intrinsic worth! Guru means siksha guru and that is that.

Unfortunately, it may be seen that a book guru is not given the weightage he deserves. And interestingly, the argument is here is essentially the same that applies to ebooks. The feel is missing, the crucial hand-holding is lacking and the instructions are generic rather that specific. A ‘living representative’ however dull and uninspiring, is somehow thought to weigh more! So, basically, this is just a question of getting used to. Technological advancement which is indeed the case here as well, is invariably greeted with resistance by old school adherents. This, plus the fact that we have gotten into the habit of blithely steal the intellectual property of an author, which is a crime by the way, ‘book gurus’ are seen as a free-for-all source to be exploited at will without pay or even a simple ‘thank you.’

And, exactly where can we find such a ‘book guru?’

Why, Srila Prabhupada course! Srila Prabhupada left us all the books we’ll ever need. Every question is answered. He has said everything that needs to be said ten or twenty times over. He has left no stone unturned, and practically speaking left nothing for us, his disciples, to say!

Now, if we consider the importance Srila Prabhupada gave to his book writing, and the distribution of the same, a very startling fact emerges. The fact is, he spent equal if not more time in this activity than in actually nurturing his disciples. So focused was he on this project that when he realized that he may not have time to finish the Srimad Bhagavatam, he skipped to the more important cantos and finished them first! And having accomplished his writing goals and excellently printed them, he urged, encouraged and literally forced us to reach his books to every home library shelf across the world!

Why were we engaged in tireless book distribution rather than in a more traditional form of sadhana bhakti?

The others gurus out there were making their disciples nicely chant, study scriptures, meditate, deity worship and what not. All we did was go out like regular karmi salesmen and women and sell books from street corners! What is more, often times, what little bit of sadhana was prescribed for us, was overridden by a hectic book distribution agenda! In short, it can almost be said that Srila Prabhupada benevolently engaged us, his poor ‘incidental disciples,’ who were handy and hanging about with long hair, to help him distribute his books. He expected us to reach Goloka by this seva, and I suppose, some of us will make it in.

Now whatever his reason for engaging us in this unconventional manner, one thing is certain; Srila Prabhupada didn’t have the agenda of taking a single onetime crop of ‘hippies turned devotees’ back to Goloka. No, no way. On the contrary, he ‘leveraged’ his disciples to reach out to millions more out there. ‘Leverage’ means, to use a small asset to gain something much bigger, like we would use rod as a lever to shift something very heavy. Srila Prabhupada used his disciples to reach out to potentially millions more via his books.

Today, we may strut around, imitating him, thinking, ‘Oh, Srila Prabhupada was our very own personal little guru, just another link in a long chain and nothing more and that in time we will be replacing him. But evidently he didn’t have such a ‘small-time’ agenda on his mind! He was thinking multiple crops, multiple harvests of devotees and that too for a long, long time to come! As he himself has admitted, ‘if I have a fault it’s that ‘I think very big’ and he was clearly setting the stage to harvest a universe full of living entities. To this end, it may be even said that he actually used us to do non-traditional sadhana such as to distribute books whether it rained, shined or the good Lord threw hailstones at us!

Why did he so exclusively focus on writing, printing and distributing books?

What he was doing was setting up a firm foundation for a future spiritual revolution that he envisaged. Meaning, he either expected his books to trigger a spiritual revolution or when it did occur his books would be there to serve as its basis or foundation.

But was there a need for it?

After all, wasn’t the parampara there in place specifically to disburse the knowledge through the ages? In short, wouldn’t it appear as if Srila Prabhupada was ‘competing’ with the parampara and usurping the role and workload of future acharyas by writing all these books?

Yes admittedly, it would appear counterproductive.

So, how should we interpret this?

See, here is the thing. Most new-age acharyas who are successful, are excited by the idea of reaching out to a wider audience beyond their lifetime tenure, using modern-technology such as books, audios, and videos. The thinking here is ‘why not use modern-day technology to reach out to many more people, especially when we’re making an deep impact and people are taking us seriously.’ True, this new-age thinking flies in the face of the age-old parampara system already set in place. But evidently, the parampara system’s numerous drawbacks are seen to be a hindrance here, and therefore overridden. For instance, in the parampara system, the next-in-line guru isn’t stellar or self-realized. Besides, there invariably is a power struggle and much associated loss. In short, the parampara system, because of the constant change of guard it prescribes, is cause for great loss. Books written, followings generated, and the lectures, and sometimes the very organization set up are lost and or wasted. Thus, most stellar gurus invariably try to break out of its restrictive shackles and establish themselves as ‘Jagat gurus’ by artificially extending their tenure by technological means.

So, what we have here are two different models. One, the age-old parampara system, and the two, let’s call it the ‘Jagat Guru’ system, wherein one stellar guru acts as a beacon for a longer period of time. And oh yes, both are bona fide, for, in both case the gurus concerned are of a bona fide sampradaya. In the Jagat guru system, a bona fide guru has merely extends his tenure beyond his lifespan by means of his vani or words all nicely documented by technology. Certainly there is nothing wrong with that and this artificial extension doesn’t make him less bona fide. And besides, like I said, it’s the knowledge alone that is imparted by a guru or a parampara. No other juices flow.

So both are bona fide. But which model did Srila Prabhupada want us to follow?

PARAMPARA SYSTEM
Frankly speaking, the only role the parampara serves is to keep the teachings uncontaminated from generation to generation. Meaning, it’s merely a form of ‘peer reviewing’ put in place to ensure that the knowledge is passed down is traceable to its bona fide sources and thus uncontaminated. And like I said, nothing but knowledge is transmitted herein. No clear stream of mercy or any other mystical juice flows down its channels.

This traditional system isn’t without pitfalls. Its main drawback is lackluster gurus or gurus who automatically or by default are elevated to the position of previous acharya. Often times, and especially when the previous acharya was stellar, charismatic and self-realized, the replacement guru will seem inadequate and not self-realized. In a world where charisma is everything, this automatic ascension of a lesser being to the vyas asana, will invariably kill the momentum or even the organization itself.

Now, the term ‘living guru’ is often used to support this system. But unfortunately, the term ‘living guru’ has no scriptural basis. All the Bhagavad-Gita sagely advice is, ‘just make sure you get bona fide spiritual information by going to a bona fide guru parampara.’ As already mentioned, the stress here is on bona fide knowledge, and isn’t a comment on the guru. In fact, the term ‘living guru’ is artfully extrapolated from the term 'parampara or disciplic succession' used herein. I say artfully extrapolated because in the term ‘parampara,’ the stress is wholly on peer-reviewed status of spiritual knowledge being transmitted. But yes, because the knowledge was orally transmitted at that time, by default and default alone, we would need a ‘living guru.’ But then again, oral transmission isn’t really a requirement here. It’s in fact nothing more than a limitation of the human-based system. If tomorrow a guru uses an audio tape or any other modern means to transmit his mantra or teachings, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

JAGAT GURU SYSTEM
The Jagat Guru System is a model where one stellar guru of a bona fide parampara reaches out using modern-day technology in the form of books, audios and videos tapes to disseminate spiritual knowledge beyond his lifespan tenure. As Jesus Christ succinctly puts it, ‘If you have a bright light, why hide it under a bushel? Better to keep it on a high pedestal and let it light the whole world.’ This ideology makes sense, especially since spiritualism per se has few takers, and a charismatic guru who can inspire many, almost becomes a prerequisite.

The main advantage in the Jagat Guru System is, we don’t have newbie gurus whose knowledge is only a few Bhagavad-Gita verses deep, no self-realization to speak of, no charisma to inspire, and are guaranteed to fall, and whose only aim in life is to hog all the worship. In this system the guru is stellar, self-realized and powerful and will always remain so. He will continue to inspire us and countless others for generations to come, just like Jesus continues to inspire people even 2000 years after his demise and may well carry on doing so for another 500 odd years or more.

There are drawbacks in this system too, the principle one being, in such an arrangement, the ‘preserved’ stellar guru cannot respond, and he’s invariably ‘stage-managed’ by the managers. This can lead to all kinds of organizational and spiritual troubles. But, then again, organizational troubles will be non-different from the ones existing in any large organization, so this isn’t of consequence. That leaves just the spiritual contaminations that invariably creep in.

Fortunately, Srila Prabhupada, possibly envisaging this, has provided exhaustive commentaries. Every subject under the sun is covered ten or twenty times over! So, unless we’re bent on destruction, we cannot go wrong in this department.

In short, with Srila Prabhupada-via-his-books, we can happily cruise for a good 10000 years or more without a hiccup. The advantage he has over a Jesus, who managed a 2000 year cruise is, all the books are written by him. We don’t need a Mathew, Mark, Luke, John or a frenzied Paul to lead or mislead us. What is more, the writings are extensive and provide answers to every query under the sun. So future priest-managers cannot ‘manage’ him and get him to say what they want to say. In short, instead of hiding this bright light called Srila Prabhupada under a bushel like we’re currently doing now, we ought to place him on a well-deserved pedestal, take this thing and run all the way to the year 102011!

Keeping these very points in mind, if we view Srila Prabhupada’s actions, one thing becomes amply clear. He wrote and distributed all this books because he clearly wanted to follow the Jagat Guru System. If anyone wants spiritual knowledge, all he has to do is read his books. And where are they available? Why, they’re there on books shelves in every home all across the world! Indeed, his books are benignly waiting there for any and everybody to open and be inspired and initiated into genuine, twenty-four carat spiritualism! I use the term ‘initiating’ because he’s initiating us into spiritual life with knowledge contained in his books. Since he put it there, wrote every word, we have no option other than to accept him as your spiritual master. I mean, we cannot very well steal spiritual knowledge from one person's books and worship yet another, can we? And, because his books are so complete, the need for us to accept any other guru is rendered redundant. This is why he emphasized ‘books are the basis!’

In fact, the second part of this enigmatic phrase ‘books are the basis’ is very likely ‘gurus are not!’ Meaning, ‘books are the basis’ obliquely hint at ‘gurus are not… important… and that they’re now redundant!’ His Divine Grace didn’t explicitly state this, for he didn’t want it to stimulate some counter move by leading disciples. Possibly, he intended this innocuous bit of information (that it’s all his books out there… and through them he continues to rule) to dawn on us after all the infighting was over, and we all are in a spent, less belligerent and less greedy mood.

With Srila Prabhupada’s books, we’re set to sail and across the ocean of nescience without further miss-adventure. And frankly the advantage of switching on a 1000 watt lamp, instead of a 10 watt cannot even be described in words! Any time we feel the need for a recharge, open Srila Prabhupada’s books and read a few pages. In fact, Prabhupada himself used to read his books and has said on numerous occasions, 'even I get spiritual realizations from these texts!' He has even said, 'I have not written these books, Krishna has dictated.'

So, who in his right mind would give up on this priceless source of inspiration and accept some lackluster, non-self-realized person in his stead? Why trade in for a ‘living guru’ who isn’t 1/10000th time as good as the original, who is still available to us—by his well-orchestrated master plan—through the medium of his countless books, audio tapes and videos, all of which have the power to inspire not just us, the first or second generation seekers, but many, many more generations far removed from his physical presence?

To conclude, forget all that last minute hashed and hushed up instructions and appointment letters. Srila Prabhupada with every cell in his body, by every utterance he made, unambiguously positioned himself as the transmitter of bona fide spiritual knowledge via his books for the next 10000 years. This is an irreversible and undeniable fact; this was his express desire. And this makes him the Jagat guru for this time span. All of us can huff at it and puff at it till we’re blue as Krishna in the face, but cannot deny or change this fact even by a hair’s breath.

Still not convinced? Then simply look at your hands… and see the callouses! How did they get there? By distributing books of course. Why did we do it? Because Srila Prabhupada asked us to. Why did he ask? Because he wanted to leverage us and reach out to countless more via his books. Why his books? Because, he personally wanted to speak through his books and orchestrate this spiritual revolution. Because, as he himself states, ‘Krishna dictated.’

In short, he reached millions more through us. Yes, that’s right, he reached millions more through us.

And, yet we are confused, and ask ‘was he the Jagat guru?’

FROM REEL TO REELING WORLD!

2011-04-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

It is like an ocean out there. The minute we swim beyond our depth, we feel the incredible pressure. I am not talking about hydrospheric pressure but of societal pressure, of peer pressure, of an inexplicable and diabolic pressure that seems to squeeze the life-air out of ourselves and make us fell small and worthless. Indeed, as you descend (or ascend, as the case maybe), bigger, smarter, slicker, fish flick by you and make you feel small, the no-frills fish that you probably very much are. So, you quickly slip back to your level and quietly swim on. But quiet is merely your external appearance… for your mind inside has just blown a fuse and is indeed quavering in a tumultuous turmoil. You previous contentment has gone right out of the window along with your pathetic definition of happiness and joy. You now have this besotted look and there is a deep ache within you, a yearning, a longing for it all. And what exactly is it that you so desperately want? You want to be a biggie like the ones you saw on your fleeting trip down… and if possible, oh Krsna, help me be a deep sea cruiser with all those luminous tentacles, with all those cool lights along the side (there is such a fish down there people; I am not making it up!)! This indeed is your burning, all-consuming ambition and feverish prayer!

Such then is life. You are at some prosaic level content with the teeny, tiniest most puddle of happiness to keep you going, and along come others to make you feel small, dull and dreary. And thus, you struggle a herculean struggle and try to be someone… someone whom others can look up to and… oh well, feel small, dull, and dreary.

This then is what most people are so knotted up in. And sadly, it traps even the best of us. There you are thinking you have become incredibly rich and powerful and are cruising along in an BMW 7 series and you see… a beggar, without a care in the world… and envy his carefree life (ah, you don’t believe…! But trust me, when you have the Income Tax department and CBI hot on your tail, a carefree beggar’s life will seem incredibly rosy to you!). Or, you are a society butterfly and in the thick of a glitzy glamorous life… tripping over champagne bottles and caviar… and suddenly you see a young thing, fresh out of the cocoon… and you want to kill somebody… you have this sudden realization of sorts, that want you really want is youth, youth, and more youth… that has long abandoned you! Or, you are a Hare Krsna thinking that you have become self-realized and Krsna, with a fat calf by his side, is anxiously waiting to welcome you in the spiritual world. Then you see rich man go by… and he seems so happy, so fortunate and women are fawning over him… Suddenly the spiritual world and all its unseen touch-stone paved streets seem like so much dust in your mouth!(Btw, Christians... if you are reading this, remember that fat calf by Krishna's side is not...err lunch as in the Prodigal son's parable; Krishna is God, it is true, but is a cowherd boy kind of a God, and that fat (not fattened, please) calf by his side is indeed his companion!)

This then is maya’s greatest racket. It keeps us all at deferent levels and constantly hankering for better positions. The goat thinks the field across is so much greener, the cow in that field thinks the goat has it all. Meanwhile, the goatherd is seeing dream of owning a motorbike and the cowherd across has his eyes set on becoming an office-boy where there are smartly dressed girls… but here he is, stinking to high heaven of cow dung, which some idiot has convinced him was really good stuff with ayurvedic properties or something!

But is it….? Is this maya?

Actually, it is not.

Meaning, desiring to cruise along is not maya. How can it be?? This is indeed the soul’s inherent desire. To want to preen, to be well appreciated, to be loved, desired and be gloated over. It is not maya. Even the concept of ocean, with its levels and fierce competition, is not maya. For, in the spiritual world too there is an ocean just like the one down here. If fact, this tacky ocean we see down here is the inverted reflection of that original! There too the playing field has different levels and you would be cruising along at different levels. And certainly there too there is competition, one-upmanship and ‘keeping up with the Jones’ all happily going on pretty much in the same way it goes on here.

What then is maya?

Maya merely means ‘reflection’ or ‘mirage’ and nothing more. So yes, the tacky reflection of the original ocean we have on planet earth is maya. Getting caught in this reflected playing field, expending one’s energy in it, trying to be someone in the reflected playing field, etc., is termed ‘being in maya.’ Yet, the concept of the ocean with its levels and the desire to compete is not maya as the same thing exists there as well.

Now Vaishnavas are so humble that we only hear of becoming a blade of grass up there, or at best be engaged in timidly dusting the silverwares in the palace somewhere. But the truth is: if there is grass, there has to be grasshoppers, if there are grasshoppers there better be birds (to eat them of course; what did you think?) and rivers and sky and men and women! If there is silverware to dust, there have to be… parties… and oh sweet Jesus, I mean Krsna, unlimited enjoyment! In short, real life is not dissimilar to what we have here, or in the heavenly planets, or in the spiritual world! Point is, better be packing those high-heels on your trip to the spiritual world!

So you would ask, what is the difference? Frankly, nothing much; both are relatively the same. Except that the Supreme Lord will be participating with you in the drama called life, if that is, you care for such a thing.

Allow me to illustrate it with an example.

Imagine then you are a two-bit player in the Mahabharata epic drama. Indeed, you are the assistant cook to Bhima when he served as the head cook at King Varata’s court during the thirteenth year, wherein the Pandavas were required to go incognito. Now this is a real role in the real playing field. Meaning, you are cruising as an assistant cook in the real playing field. The vegetables on your table are real, your tryst with the maid at the soup kitchen is real… in short everything you do in your somewhat insignificant dough-and-wood-smoked filled life would be real.

And, why is this role real? Because this is a pastime of the Supreme Lord and therefore it is a real playing field. What are you? You are an assistant cook. What are you doing? Like I said, pretty much the same things you would do if you were an assistant cook at royal court or anywhere today. The vegetables are not any sweeter, nor is the flour any whiter and certainly it is not jewel-encrusted bread that you would be baking! In short, nothing is so greatly different apart from the fact that you are a two-bit player in the lord’s pastime. To get a perspective on this, imagine you are a two-bit player in a movie where your favorite actor is playing the lead role. The excitement is in the camaraderie with your hero, the work itself, the late night crew parties, being on the same platform as your hero, bumping into him, exchanging pleasantries with him and so on is all that is extra.

Of course if you were, say, Arjuna, then immediately the whole thing begins to seem incredibly more exciting. I mean, there you are in the thick of battle, and the Lord is your charioteer (I mean how cool is that!) and in this case, you are nearly as big a player (if not bigger!) and living life to the hilt. And as for the Supreme Lord, he too is living life down here as a friend of the family and participating in all the ups and down of life exactly as an ordinary human being! In fact, so involved was he with the Pandavas that he extended his stay in Indraprasta, spending more time at Indraprasta than at Dwaraka!

In a similar manner, life as a gopi or a manjari, can be very racy. Indeed, life as a gopi… well, let’s not speculate too much on it… but be assured that an eternity will pass in a warm embrace and you will not even know it!

Which brings us to the idea called love. What exactly is it? Why is it so racy? Why is it so attractive? Why indeed does the world gladly stand on its head to get a taste of it? And for heaven’s sake, why is Supreme Lord so sold on it?

To even begin to understand it, one must I feel take a page from one’s own mundane love life. You are in love with a girl and the world seems an infinitely better place! The colors are brighter; every darn thing is swinging, and joyously celebrating your love! And if she goes away even for a second, then it seems like twelve years or more! Indeed, in her absence, the world seems empty! Suniya itam jagat sarvam! She is everything to you, and whether she embraces you or kicks you around, she is your worshipful deity! Okay, I know it is odious to compare mundane love with that one can establish with the supreme, but just to get a kick start in the latter, I really think it would help of borrow a page from the former. Thakur Bilvamangala who actually gave us all the concept of love of godhead was an incredible romantic in his former household life and I am sure his grasp on the subject of love of Godhead was keener because of it.

Before we move on, I have to tell you something which has been bugging me for quite some time. Chintamani, Bilvamangala’s girlfriend, was not really a prostitute. See, here is the thing. In Kerala, where this incident took place, brahminical men, excluding the first born, were not allowed to marry. Instead, they were encouraged to enter into a relationship with the lower caste Nair women. Such a relationship was called ‘sambandam’ and not surprisingly, that term literally translates to ‘relationship.’ Now, such sambandams were as legitimate as it can get. Children born in such union were taken care of by the mother’s family. It is thus that Kerala Nair families are matriarchal in structure and the freelance ‘husbands’ were nonentities, and had no say in family matters; free to wander off right after. For that matter, even the ladies were free to enter into multiple such relationships. Even so, we cannot classify them as prostitutes. That would indeed mean all of Kerala’s Nair women are prostitutes, which certainly is not the case.

This perhaps was the case with Thakur Bilvamangala, who indeed was a Kerala Brahmin from Trissur. His Chintamani was not really a street prostitute but was very likely the Nair women he maintained a ‘sambandam’ with, and as such, his legitimate consort who stands uniquely between the position of a girlfriend and wife and as such, possibly enshrines the goodness of both. I know all this because I am from Trissur and the Thakur is very much a part of the tradition down here. Clearly the story has been fantastically colored, for he is shown to scale walls using a serpent, mistaking the poor creature to be a rope, plunging into a river in a spate, and precariously hanging onto a log of wood, which actually was a corpse floating down the river, and finally landing at her door, with a raging fever. Where is the need for such overkill? Personally I think just stating that the man was infatuated is more than sufficient. We all know only too well the state of madness that infatuation brings in its wake!

Such then is the level of infatuation one needs to evolve for the Supreme!

As can be seen, love is a magic portion that puts a dazzle on everything; an eternity can indeed pass by and you will not know it! Now, I am not suggesting that this is the same as love of Godhead, but if for the sake of getting a perspective on this esoteric concept called love of Godhead, we borrow this mundane version, then yes, life in an intense loving relationship with the Supreme may be exactly what we are subconsciously hankering for! This then is the essential difference between this world and the spiritual plane.

Needless to add, one would have to factor in getting rid of old age disease and death as a major accomplishment to make it all seem worthwhile. The reason I say this is because we tend to think that life in the spiritual world is all gem-studded and life there would be wholly and truly ‘out of the world!’ This is somewhat like how the scientists imagine aliens to be. It always, something green and insect like. But why? What can they not conceive aliens as startlingly similar to human beings with may be a discernable level of superiority such as no death, disease or old age? Personally, I think it is very childish and immature, and I consider human beings as the topmost models. As it says in the Bible, ‘God made man in his own image.’ It means, stop speculating on a superior model. We are it and I implicitly believe that.

By the way, if you are expecting to drive that BMW or something similar to herd your cows in the spiritual world, then you are going to be somewhat disappointed. Goodies related fun is really transferred love. When you do not get the real thing, you tend to love the dog, the car, the sofa and want not. This is actually a perverted form of love. I for one am assured that in the presence of dazzling true love, our love for goodies will simply evaporate. Then again, quite a bit of that too will be there in abundance, but probably the styling would be old world?? What I am saying is, can you not get used to riding a horse or something?

Actually, there is some truth to this styling argument! Who knows, there may be a divine and a demoniac version in styling and way of life too! Urban may be considered demoniac and rural divine. No? Oh you think I am speculating?? Actually, I am not. Did you know for instance that the SB speaks of ‘bila svarga’ being even more glamorous that svarga itself? Apparently, heavens in the lower planetary systems are more glitzy than that of the demigods! By the same token, it may well be possibly that the glitz and glamour of this world too may be a shade better than that of heaven! It is bewildering, I know! In fact, even the demigods were bewildered by it and somewhat disillusioned! But let it not persuade us to stay back! After all, old age, disease and death cannot be wished away!

Speaking of death, it is conceivable that birth and death will continue to plague us even in the spiritual realm. After all, one does intend to participate in the Lord’s various leelas in the material world, and for that birth and death are mandatory. I mean, you can just pop out of the woodwork and startle the ladies, can you? In fact, this is plainly stated in the Bhagavad-Gita. Krishna says, ‘Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!’ [BG 4.5]

But rest assured, this time around it will be more like an adventure, and hopefully you would be spared the real miseries… unless of course you want to get into character and prefer real blood to the tomato ketchup they would be offering as an option to sissies. Bottom line is, live life king size alongside with the Supreme Lord. Assuredly full blown adventurous life in the spiritual world is where the real action is. And if burning up a few lives in austerities on planet earth is the ticket to gate crash into that grand party in the spiritual sky, then by God, count me in!

By the way, Krishna himself opted for the real deal and not the fake ketchupy stuff! He took quite a few arrows on his body in the Mahabharata war. Blood from multiple wounds decorated his body like so many flowers, it is said. May that vision of Krishna in that resplendent form, intently pushing those beautiful white steeds to their celestial limits—and Arjuna, the supreme archer—live forever in my heart.

SINGULARITY: YET ANOTHER 'TANTADANG' PROPHECY

2011-03-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

The last time they said it was when they developed DDT, the miracle pesticide. ‘Just give us a few more years, we will defeat death, overthrow God and paint the sky green!’ DDT was considered a miracle pesticide and in those days—1940s I think— people even went to the extent of regularly breathing in lethal doses of it, just to stay healthy, live longer maybe even get a shot at eternity! Fortunately or unfortunately, thalidomide happened and that burst that heady chemical bubble.

Fast-forward to the year 1996.This time it was the unprecedented euphoria over the internet and its unlimited e-commerce possibilities. E-gurus big and small heralded it as yet another ‘tantadang’ moment. So great was the excitement of this particular ‘tantadang’ moment that whole batches of B-school students dropped out to start… well startups, that would have a head-start and thereby steal businesses off the slow-on-the-uptake brick and mortar establishments. Fortunately or unfortunately, the dotcom bubble burst, the gurus got washed off their pedestals, and the Stanford kids all crawled back into their class rooms or day jobs.

What is ‘tantadang’?? Why, it is the theme music of every James Bond movie of course! It goes like ‘ta da ta daang… ta daang…’ and invariably preludes 007’s daring conquests. ‘Tantadang’ is how a kid I know says it and a ‘tantadang prophecy’ is when scientists go hyper with a ‘we got God by the short hair’ prediction.

Fast forward to 2011 and here they are back again with another effervescent tantadang prediction! And, this one is—as sure as there is a blue God in heaven—all set to snowball into the mother of all bubbles!

‘By 2045, we will have reached ‘technological Singularity!’ goes this ‘hot off the oven’ brave-new-world prediction.

Whoa… what the hell does it mean?? Should we be worrying about building bunkers or something? And why 2045? It seems awfully close!!

Well, we just might have to… build bunkers, I mean. For, according to the American computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, who Bill Gates describes as ‘the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence,’ by 2045, ‘the non-biological or artificial intelligence created will be one billion times more powerful than all human intelligence today.’ And when this threshold termed ‘Singularity’ is reached, man will cease to be man; he would have effectively evolved or transcended to a super-human-machine—a brand new specie—and become the latest link in the great evolutionary chain.

Now, because this specie is super-intelligent, modern-day thinkers such as Ray, Vernor Vinge, I.J. Good, etc., believe that, upon its dramatic and dreaded awakening, it is obviously going to take charge and initiate a through housecleaning. All the things we have been struggling to resolve can be expected to be resolved in jiffy. Curing incurable diseases, colonizing the universe… etc., will be accomplished in the blink of an eye.

All this good news is marred by just one bit of bad. These super-human-machines are definitely going to size us up with the critical eye and… they just might decide to …eliminate all of humankind! At the very least, the weak, the poor, the undesirables (including the Hare Krsnas!) who use up precious natural resources, crowd and burden the planet for no reason, may find themselves high up on the super-machine-man's 'throw out of the window' housecleaning list! Such is their fear and conviction of this happenstance that modern-day scientists have already initiated steps to ensure that this Frankenstein is kept on a leash or cage.

Ray Kurzweil calls this evolution by the way. Tadpoles (or whatever it is that preceded monkeys) to monkeys, monkeys to man, and now man to super-human-machine. Fed up with playing around with tails and other appendages for eons, evolution has gotten out of the body, entered the mind and then oozed out into its creation—the machines!

Admittedly, unlike the earlier premature shots at a technologically assisted nirvana, this time the effort is somewhat impressive. Exponential growth in three or four concurrent fields of technology is what has created this new burst of optimism. They are: computing power, nano-technology, genetic engineering, and the internet.

Computers have become faster, more powerful over the years. This one at least, we know all too well. Indeed, I still remember the first personal computer I lugged home was a 486, and by the time I plugged in this ponderous machine, it had gone obsolete on me! All the big boys had moved onto Pentiums. After laboring away and finally gaining admittance into the Pentium club, I was shocked to find out that everybody and his dog had switched to Pentium 1! Not much later, when I shopped for a Pentium 11, which I thought was incredibly clever of me… the salesperson froze me a disgusted look that made me felt like ‘Lot hibernating in the mountains of Edom with his daughters,’ and said he had only Pentium IIIs on offer. I had assumed that the universe was conspiring to make me feel like the worm I was, but what really was happening was that technological advancement in the field of computing power was growing exponentially.

I now have an AMD 64bit dual core and by the year 2014, computer chips with up to 1000 core would be available. All this exponential growth makes the above-mentioned euphoric claim believable. By that time the machine will have passed the Turing Test (when a computer is indistinguishable from human in response to a series of questions) and can think intelligently like a human.

Incidentally, our seemingly prodigious capacity to think is merely a product of the phenomenal capacity of the brain to compute very much like a computer does. The brain has about 100 million MIPS (Million computer Instructions Per Second) worth of processing power while recent super-computers only have a few million MIPS worth in processor speed. Soon however machines will be capable of racing ahead and even do ‘quantum thinking,’ which in simple terms is simultaneously thinking at multiple levels (we think linearly or algorithmically by the way; it only seems quantum, but it is not… though not all scientists agree) and then their so-called intelligence would be infinitely superior to ours.

The internet by then, and I mean no later than 2045, too would have advanced and we would be able to download information on just about any subject directly into our brain, and be virtually omniscient. Here again, the claim is believable, for, even as I write, I am able to download information with my IPhone and can indeed intelligently talk on just about any subject under the sun at a moment’s notice.

Same is the case with the other technologies mentioned. Today they have red-blood cell sized nano-robots or ‘nanobots’ as they are endearingly called, that can be introduced into the blood stream, identify cancer cells and destroy them. Come 2045, and these nanobots will be doing the work of white corpuscles more efficiently. Indeed, according to nano-technologists, white corpuscles are alarmingly slow and do a poor job of attacking foreign bodies! Nanobots will apparently do the same job in a trice and with their eyes closed!

And while this is happily going on, genetic engineers would have identified the ‘timer’ or telomerase gene, (the one which kicks in the planned obsolescence in our body, and runs our body aground, ages it and ultimately switches it off) disabled it for good, and allowed us to live indefinitely.

Ray is a genius, make no mistake, very savvy and articulate. And the best part is, he has factored in a kind of spiritualism too into this model, which he terms as ‘Singularity’ and hints at a synonymy with self-realization.

Two-bit armchair philosophers are terribly impressed by Ray and others like him and are already worrying about things like: will these super-man-machines become our masters? Will machines take over; eliminate man itself from the equation? Will the immortal super-man-machines colonize the cosmos and make God obsolete? Will we, on gaining immortality, lose our humanness? We are transient beings, and that is what makes us capable of love and sacrifice, joy and sorrow… it is death that makes life tastes sweet… what will happen if we become immortal?

But the question I ask is, what are we, the traditional spiritualists, with pathetically archaic ideologies, with scriptures that speak of mango trees the size of elephants, and a God who refuses to show himself, going to do about it?

All the above-mentioned scenarios are believable. And while they may not pan out exactly as giddily prophesized, the chances are that it will be difficult for us to deliver our seemingly simplistic ‘chant and be happy’ message and expect to find any takers. To be very frank, with the current scenario of science and technology, and now with this futuristic scenario being bandied about in forums on the internet, it is going to become increasingly difficult to preach to a well-informed person. It is going to be increasingly difficult to ‘frighten’ them with the ‘disease-old age-death’ argument. It is going to become increasingly difficult to use any of our other stock arguments. In short, if you encounter Ray Kurzweil or any of his disciples (just about anybody with a decent education) we really have no fire power left to hold their attention, much less gain their conviction.

What we need are arguments that make sense in today’s context. We need to dig deeper and hope to find a brahma-astra of an argument that can defeat this singularity business fair and square.

But do we have a brahma-astra argument somewhere buried beneath that elephant-sized mango?

Fortunately, we do. Here then are a few arguments we can use to hold our ground and perhaps even make headway with disciples of Ray:

First and foremost, let us understand exactly are they saying and how much of it is runaway and rabid optimism. Here then is what they are saying:

By the year 2045, they will have super intelligence. They will have become omniscient, disease free, and can live longer if not indefinitely. So, in a nutshell, what they are really saying is: they will have achieved a technologically assisted ‘sat, chit, ananda’ and obviously there is no God in their equation.

Which is absolutely great news!!!

I mean, how long have we waited to hear these words come from the dense crowd we have been preaching to? This is indeed our message, and we sure are glad that they have finally arrived at this goal all by themselves! So, first and foremost, we welcome them into the ‘nirvana club.’ Once that formality is taken care of, we take them aside and… basically sell them our version of nirvana by pointing out its infinitely more evolved ideologies.

So to begin with…

Tell them that… the material world is a machine; the body is a machine. Therefore, sooner or later, scientists will be able to make their Frankenstein. We entirely agree. The soul is after all is non-different from the Supreme; it too has creative capabilities. However, the scientist will never be as adept at it as the Supreme. Indeed, although the mice so tested with a tinkered age-reversal gene did show some signs of age reversal, it also disturbed a whole host of other settings. Bottom line is, scientists are tinkering with what may be considered a complex alien or God-technology. So the results are going to be makeshift at best. The whole thing can be likened to repairing, say a complex piece of equipment like the motherboard of a computer, with a piece of wire or something. I have seen it, done it, so I know it is temporary and tacky at best. It is much easier to... get a… replacement. And, that is exactly what we are saying! Go on, get a new body bro! Why bother trying to fix a used one? Or better still, opt for a body that is eternal! See? We are miles ahead in this game!

Then tell them that… we think that old age is a farce, a deception. The dye runs out of our hair follicles and that makes us look old. What is this if not deception? The flesh on our angelic bodies separates out into hideous lumps; skin wrinkles… but is this due to wear and tear? Hell no! How can it be? Old cells are constantly being replaced with new ones. Eight percent of cells in an old person’s body are actually new! In short, the wear and tear is simulated and not real. New cells are merely acting old. All these are artificial impositions… so sure, these setting can be tinkered with and maybe even stopped. In fact, there are planets where these annoying settings are not engineered into the body. In the heavenly planets for instance, although the lifespan is limited and there is death, embarrassing old age is thankfully absent.

After you have explained the aging processes, and what exactly we think of it, tell them about nava-youvana (eternal youth) which is another one of our fine concepts. I mean, who wants just eternity? We want nava-youvana or eternal youth with our eternity! Now, this is something the material scientists have not even dreamed of! Giving them this bit of ideology will go a long way in convincing them that ours is the more mature and superior nirvana ideology than their hare-brained-machine-assisted version.

Tell them that… the super-intelligent-machine-being whose actions are difficult to predict by human limited intelligence, might well surprise us by recognizing the religionists as being on the right path all along! Indeed, they may choose us as the only core group worth saving! The rest… the karmis… with their avarice, their hoarding, exploitative tendencies, and their ‘me-mine’ small mindedness may well be deemed worthless… and best terminated. Now, that will surely get their attention!

After you have sufficiently got their attention and interest, deliver this brahma-astra.

Begin by pointing out that not all scientists believe the claim that the mind’s (or brain’s) powers can be duplicated let alone conquered by computers in the near future. Indeed, this is the Achilles’ heel of the Technological Singularity ideology. Or rather, this is the deception point. This is a false claim and they know it, yet they are deliberately trying to make us believe that it can be done!

Having put them on the defensive by airing the doubt in their own camp… tell them that according to our beliefs, intelligence and the mind are not products of the brain and it certainly has nothing to do with the size of the brain. This will surely blow their minds! Tell them that we think that the mind and intelligence are two different forms of subtle energies and in fact, we 'plug' into them exactly as we plug into and download information from the Internet! We believe that both mind and intelligence exist independent of the brain, like an omniscient blanket over everything (think Akashic Records) and that these energies are directly controlled by the Supreme. Indeed, Krsna says, ‘Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight comprise my separated material energies. [BG: 7.4]

Actually, there is even enough scientific evidence to support the fact that mind and intelligence are not the products of the brain. For instance, single-celled organisms, bacterial colonies and such like are seen to act intelligently. A plant displays its intelligence by positioning itself to receive the sun’s rays. Scientists attribute these intelligent actions to chemical activities (for there is no brain here) but the reality is, these really are signs of intelligence and proof that intelligence is not the function of the brain. In short, scientific understanding of the mind and intelligence is faulty or incomplete. That being the case, there is no question of ever conquering or bettering these by some artificial means.

Frankly, if science were to harness the mind-intelligence’s unlimited powers, we would have singularity right now. Meaning, we do not need a machine to gain us nirvana—we already have one! However, in their infinite stupidity, scientists have excluded this wonderful and powerful machine called mind-intelligence from garnering knowledge for us. Indeed, by dictating that knowledge be gained only by experimental or empirical means, they have severely limited it to what can be brought in by the five feeble senses. The mind and the intelligence which are unlimitedly powerful, and can even get you a ticket into the inner most whorl of Goloka situated billions of kilometers away, are apparently of no use to them!!

THERE IS A FLOWER IN MY COSMOS!

2011-02-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

ISKCON pundits are worried that the alien religion (Krishna Consciousness) they have adopted is not ‘secular’ enough for their twenty-first century sensibilities. They are worried that it is not scientific enough to appeal to the urban audience who worships at the altar of science and technology. Thus, all and sundry are recommending that we tone down or tuck away the fundamentalist bytes and bizarre bits of the shastra before parading it all down the hallowed streets of the capital cities of the world.

‘Not scientific enough’ eh? Now, that is an interesting thought. Personally, I think the shastra had more science going for it than science itself has! Let us see if we can give it a quick makeover, fix its ‘flower in the navel’ image so that it will snugly fit into today’s glitzy techno-park.

The Vedic literatures use a number of ‘borrowed from nature’ metaphors such as ‘lotus or whorl of a lotus,’ ‘stem of a lotus,’ ‘mountains,’ ‘wheel of a chariot,’ etc., to describe cosmological concepts and it is perhaps this that gives it that not-so-scientific aura. But then again, even modern-day science uses such metaphors to describe various astrophysical elements. Some examples are: ‘Spiral’ galaxy, ‘Horse-head’ nebula, ‘Milky Way’ and ‘Wormhole.’ The fact is, when required to convey complex concepts, it is prudent to begin with simple metaphors. If you say a galaxy looks ‘like a flower’ you would have managed to convey about 80 % of the concept, and once the core concept is grasped, you throw in the stars, star clusters and interstellar clouds. Here for instance, it uses the ‘flower’ metaphor to depict the complex structure of a galaxy. In a like manner, science instead uses the term ‘spiral.’ In this particular case, the Vedic ‘flower’ is the better metaphor, for it conveys the galaxy’s filamentary and flower-like structure.

In the Vedas, apart from the above argument, it is quite likely that the metaphors used serve an additional purpose. Indeed, it is conceivable that they serve to enshrine the said concepts, make it easy to remember and more importantly, to orally transmit. This is somewhat like zip-filing it. Once it is zip-filed, it is then converted into poetic meter. Conceivably, if the information is not directly relevant for self-realization, it is further relegated into the background and kept at a very superficial level.

If and when you decode the metaphorically coded Vedic concepts, you will see that Vedic ideas are far more advanced than you originally thought and often times better than modern-day scientific ones.

Not convinced? Here is an example. The Vedic literatures have been crying hoarse for centuries that there are multiple universes out there. The real count is likened to ‘a sack full of mustard seeds.’ Science, after having sung about ‘one’ or ‘uni’-verse for decades, has finally coming around to the idea of multiple universes or layered or parallel universes. No doubt there was a time when people were embarrassed by this ‘sack’ concept, worried that it was too ‘hillbilly’ for their sensibilities. Now that science has endorsed it, I am sure they will gladly carry that ‘sack’ on their back!!

And oh, here is yet another interesting example. The big bang theory… would you believe this idea is present in the Vedic texts and that it was there long before science even came on the horizon? It like this: The core idea of the big bang is that the universe is ever-expanding. Scientists likened it to an explosion. Later they realized that ‘explosive’ is perhaps not the right word for it. ‘Explosion’ represents a volatile, random and rapid expansion, whereas the universe is actually expanding in a controlled fashion, in an orchestrated manner, which is best described as… wait for it… the ‘blooming of a flower!’ (Who is to say that the blooming measured here is not of the lotus in Lord Vishnu’s navel?)

Speaking of flowers… most heavenly bodies revolve in an elliptical orbit, sometimes travelling fast, sometimes slower, say scientists. What is more, if you factor in ‘precession of apsides’ as per Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, then the elliptical orbit will take the form of a ‘rose’ curve or a ‘flower!’ This too is mentioned in shastra. Yes, the moon is said to travel sometimes fast sometimes slow. Sometimes it come closer to the earth and sometimes it goes far away. So, it is really not Kepler’s law of planetary motion but the Vedic law of planetary motion, for it is plainly stated here, long before Kepler figured it out.

Now, scientists are forever revising their models. Today it is this, tomorrow exactly the opposite. To give an example, here is a query:

Is our solar system a geocentric one or a heliocentric one? Is the Earth at the center or is it the Sun?

Most people will probably not know the answer to that one. ‘Ours is a heliocentric solar system,’ you will all say, everything revolves around the Sun! Ha! ‘Even my eight-year old knows that,’ you would quip with the smugness of an indulgent parent. It is true… this fact is well known and as it is indeed one of science’s cornerstone victory in its battle over religion.

But is this ideology true? Is our solar system actually heliocentric?

No, it is not. Oh do not look so surprised! It is true! Ours is neither a heliocentric system nor is it a geocentric one. It is barycentric! This then is the current scientific flavor on offer. Apparently, the entire solar system, including the Sun, revolves around an imaginary axis that runs through the center of mass of a system. Since the sun is the heaviest and therefore closest to the imaginary central axis, it appears to be the axial center. In simple terms, imagine ten devotees circumambulating tulsi devi at mangala arti. Now, would you say that nine were circumambulating the tenth devotee who happened to be taking the tightest turns around tulsi devi? Of course not! The tenth devotee taking the tightest turns is exactly the position of the Sun. In other words, the Sun is just another circumambulator; it certainly is not the central axial object and ours is not a heliocentric system in the truest sense of the term.

Of course, it is not exactly what we religionist’s want to hear; we want our good old geocentric model back! But hey, we are in no hurry… willing to wait, knowing well that given another 20 odd years, scientists may well surprise us with, ‘hey you know what guys, that geocentric model we beat down a hundred years back… that probably is the real picture!’

Incidentally, the whole Bhu mandala or universe too revolves around a central axis. This too is acknowledged by modern-day scientists.

Imaginary axis…? Now, where have we heard that before….?

Mount Sumeru, the axis of the Bhu mandala… rings a bell? That is right… you heard it in the Vedas… as would have your forefathers all the way back to Adam, had they cared to read it. ‘Mountain (Sumeru), stem of a lotus (the one in Mahavishnu’s navel, silly!), axis of a chariot wheel’ etc., are all interchangeable concepts used to describe the tiered and axial structure of the Bhu Mandala or the universe we live in. Science too has finally come around to accepting this Vedic model. But as before, it has taken the slow train from ‘Nuts-and-bolts-ville’ to get to it.

This then is the real problem. While the scientists are busy tweaking their concepts, we are busy dying out here. What is more, we are dying having believed in sciences’ eventual victory over God. We are dying having stopped all religious activities and having cocked a snook at God! You might think, ‘oh, they have a right to tweak and we will stand by it; that is called progress dummy!’ But what if science, after a thousand years of research, comes back to us and say, ‘hey, you know what, there is a God out there after all…sorry folks… and oh, by the way, we think he is… hmm… blue in color!?’

It is not as if science has uncovered some kernel of truth that denies God. No they have not. On the contrary, they probably have long discovered that there is something out there beyond their science and understanding and are pulling out all the stops to actively deny it!

For instance, even as we speak, they are busy tweaking their big-bang theory. The problem with this sweet little theory was the raw materials—the basic building blocks that were needed to explode, to create the whole shebang. Personally, I think it’s that joke where God says, ‘get your own mud’ that crippled it! (http://www.getyourowndirt.com/) This threw them into a damage control hurdle and led to the eventual tweaking of the Big Bang theory. After much head scratching, they finally managed to get the mud out of the equation. The tweaked version says, ‘actually, you know what, it wasn’t an explosion but more of an implosion—from …err nothing!’ Here, ‘nothing’ means ‘no mud’ and therefore ‘no inconvenient God who created that mud!’ Just see how their diabolic minds work!

Therefore, the vaishnava is aggrieved and combative. He can see the deceptions, the promissory notes, the constant revises, recalls, reversals, the bragging, the vast array of gimmicky gadgets, all of which steal our intelligence and distract us from the real purpose of life, blind us to the appalling danger awaiting us at death. He is not attached to science and feels no solidarity with their burning desire to decipher matter and learn how to manipulate it. He has no desire to conquer new scientific frontiers and walk where no man has walked before.

On the contrary, in the backdrop of appalling suffering that awaits each and every one of us who ignores the real purpose of life… amidst the urgent need to take at least a few steps on the path of self-realization and thus save oneself from the greatest danger, he see science and its curiosities only as a hindrance. He sees it as unnecessary, ‘ugra karmic’ activities. He firmly believes the best service we can do for the people in general is to help them get out of the clutches of science, help them to see the deception of science, help them to see the colossal loss they would suffer if they get enticed by science’s gimmickry.

To conclude, while we get all suffused with a sense of well-being and accomplishment on hearing concepts such as ‘worm holes’ and ‘rose curves’ proffered by science, we usually baulk on hearing similar flower-sprouting tales from the Vedas. Without quite understanding the metaphoric codes that hide and enshrine shastric ideologies, we think they are all very childish and unreal. Our mindset, conditioning and learning is such that we cannot relate to the Vedic format of learning, or appreciate its need to codify it or keep material sciences at a superficial level. But the reality is, Vedic cosmology, if decoded, reveals itself to be very scientific in content.

Keep in mind, Vedic cosmological ideas in their ‘seed’ or coded form, are meant to be delivered literally or ‘as it is’ for they contain superficial information. Indeed, as Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, 'What need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.' [BG 10.42]

Remember, quite a bit of it is actually visible to the naked eye. Sages of the past too could very well see the planets, stars and general structure of the universe as we see now, and perceive that there is no flower, mountain, or chariot wheel lurking up there amidst the stars.

If however you seek to understand it from a scientific perspective, then you can always decode it, and then can promptly fall off your chair in awe at the science it reveals! Admittedly, there are snatches of it that seem unrealistic and bizarre. Even so, the average Joe Bhakta is advised not to pick up a random measure from these sacred texts, juxtapose it with its modern-day counterpart measure or model, just to show it as a discrepancy!

So, next time you see lotus flower painted in a garish pink right at heart of the Vedic model of the cosmos, know that to be science in a form and format that is beyond your limited understanding. Know also that this knowledge was compiled millions of years ago. So, for heaven’s sake shake off that urgent desire to summon in a two-bit scientist to beat some sense into the infallible and inscrutable Vedic Literatures!

WHY OH WHY DIDN'T I TAKE THE BLUE PILL?

2011-01-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

When push comes to shove, some of us tend to align with science and scientists rather than shastras and guru. Indeed, when presented with what seems like irrefutable scientific data, most will abandon ship and the captain and swim over to the science barge and waltz with the scientists!

The moon landing is one such an issue. So what if the acharya had taken a determined and clear-cut stance against this particular issue? Can he outshine the magic of science? Can he compete with gizmos and gadgets with their captivating capacitive touch screens? Can he outsmart bounced off lasers on the surface of the moon to measure its distance from the earth with an accuracy of an inch? Apparently not.

Those who rather have scientists oversee and ratify their religious beliefs, support their dual stance with various arguments. The bolder ones are now openly stating, ‘sometimes the shartras and guru are… plain wrong!’ The not so bold ones try to hurl the blame way back in the distant past, on to some obscure sage for having misinterpreted or miscalculated something. Still others think that perhaps we are comparing a two-dimensional astrological model with a three-dimensional astrophysical model and coming up with naught. And a rare few, the clairvoyant types, with a direct feed to the Akashic Records, think that perhaps we need to factor in a fourth dimension, or open a third eye or something to decipher the Vedic version. None of the above groups are willing to concede that perhaps it is science that has got it wrong.

Then there are the die-hard ‘maximalists’ who believe in the Vedas from cover to cover. These unwavering men and women have scant regard for scientists and their bag of tricks. Their belief in guru and shastras is total, so much so that the scientific minded amongst us gets affronted by their stony stance and accuse them of having ‘blind’ faith.

But ‘blind’ faith in guru and shastras is not really blind, rather, it is a conscious position taken after a thorough examination of all the available options. See, here is the thing. There are many Schools of Thought (SoT) out there with different opinions, ideas and interpretations. We pick one up (after due diligence of course) and generally stick with it because we believe in its teachings, have made the choice after due diligence, have the intellectual integrity to stand by our belief and so on.

Now, SoTs strongly discourage us from borrowing bits from other SoTs. This is largely done by laying extraordinary emphasis on sampradaya and parampara. Unlike most people think, disciplic succession is merely a system by which to protect the set teachings of a bona fide SoT from getting contaminated by external influence. Even Krishna supports this arrangement for he says, ‘evam parampara praptam.... go to a SoT that is careful about delivery, where the teachings are not whimsically spoiled by meddlers—and learn the truth.’

Now science, for all practical purposes, is a SoT. What is more, it is a school that is inimical towards religious ideologies. Thus, borrowing bits from science to shore up our SoT’s conclusion, with the naïve and whimsical hope that maybe we can make it, ‘seem more secular, scientific, user-friendly and what not, is contrary to the idea of sampradayic or paramparic teachings.

Take the moon landing issue for instance. Our religious texts do not support the idea. Based on that, in a rare show of inexplicable defiance, the acharya has gone out on a limb to explicitly state that the moon landing is a hoax. In short, as per our SoT’s ideology, the moon landing cannot have happened.

The modern-day science SoT however insists that they did go to the moon.

Now, upon seeing the vast array of glitzy gizmos and gadgetry around us and hearing everybody and his uncle waxing eloquently on the glories of science, we decide… maybe they did go to the moon after all.

What happens next?

Well, it’s like when Eve sank her teeth into that forbidden apple. Like she did, ‘we too will suddenly see our nakedness.’ Basically, we will be forced to reexamine our faith from out-of-the-box perspective—and maybe have second thoughts. This is not unusual. Often we forget exactly what led us up to believe in something and when forced to reexamining it afresh—we may have second thoughts. On rare occasions, it might even precipitate an existential crisis sort of a moment. It happens to the best of us. We cross forty, and suddenly we think OMG, what have we been doing with our lives!

In the religious context, this later-date reexamination made without the benefit of myriads of tiny toeholds of realization that originally helped us understand the ideology in the first place, may precipitate that ‘existential crisis sort of a moment.’ It could then snowball into an unstoppable unraveling of our Krishna Consciousness. We might think it is just one issue (referring to the moon landing) and that the damage can be contained… that our love for Krishna will endure and see us through.

It might. But the chances are equally great that our mind will not allow us this luxury. Indeed, once it has ‘tasted blood,’ it will fatalistically continue to ferret out other seemingly dubious religious ideologies to be similarly crosschecked with the science yardstick. Very soon, all the seemingly unscientific bits in the Vedas will be ‘jumping up like fish in the hot waters of your feverish mind,’ all similarly begging to be crosschecked. That bit about water of the Ganges being transported in a fleet of airplanes down the celestial corridor all the way to the moon… I seriously doubt if it will make the cut. Multiple-headed gods…I do not think so. Blue God with Kandarpa-koti-kamaniya being the Supreme… you decide.

In short, there is a strong likelihood that everything from Indra to Indragopa will come crashing down like a pack of cards. Why? Because, like I said before, this is a philosophical understanding; it is indeed a delicate and precariously balanced structure. It is all very real of course, and was originally built on tiny toeholds or glimpses of realizations. But there is no way it can stand up to a later-date rigorous reexamination, especially at a time when your convictions are old and your faith has somewhat faded.

So ideally, we should NOT borrow bits from here and there and wholly believe in our particular SoT’s ideology. Ideally, we should build a fence around it to protect it from external influence. Ideally we should have ‘blind’ faith in our SoT’s ideology and ignore ideologies from other SoTs including that from the science camp. Here ‘blind’ means locked and bolted down for protection. Not open for whimsical reexamination for the simple reason that we may be able to reinvest the energy, the conviction and faith we had invested in it earlier to get it right. Locked and bolted down because we are happy with the decision and now fear losing it.

But the problem with the science SoT is that most consider it to be God’s voice booming across the ether! There is far too much reverence for it.

Really is science as infallible as we think? Let us test its track record for intellectual integrity and see how sincere it is about faithfully presenting the truth.

We believe in God and in the soul. But does science believe in God, in the soul? The answer is ‘no.’ Science has an axe to grind with religion and is therefore consciously and deliberately lying to us on matters concerning the spirit. In short, while they may have intellectual integrity coming out of their ears in most other fields of study, when it comes to anything that is remotely spiritual, science immediately goes into a denial mode and begins to lie through its teeth. Since spirit is everywhere and intrinsically connected to matter, the level of science’s denial and deception is on a fairly large scale. To quantify this, let us assume that every fifth statement made by science is a deliberate lie.

There is more! Now, science has convinced us that everything in this world goes tick-tock tick-tock by some mechanical or chemical or physiological process. They have detailed explanations on how things work and happily ram all this down our throats in classrooms. They will tell us, ‘oh it is just silly oxygen mixing with hydrogen that gives us water, or, oh it is just silly gravity that is keeping the planets in their position…’ and so on. Even we, for heaven’s sake, are reduced to a bunch of chemical reactions doing their thing! Indeed, the whole spiel is delivered in such a patronizing manner that most kids think that scientists created the world!!

But is this the true picture? Heavens no! Far, far from it! The reality is, although at a superficial level everything does seem to work in the mechanistic fashion, after a certain depth, mechanistic reality gives way to mystical reality! The minute we dig in a little deep, we see spirit in effervescent action! In short, there is a diabolic amount of Matrix-like deception engineered by the Supreme Lord in the material world! It exists because Krishna wants us to think that we are the doers—and he goes to great lengths to hide his hand!

Now we cannot discern Krishna’s hand, but scientists regularly uncover the God-made deception. They are flummoxed and cannot explain why such and such a thing works in such and such manner and most of all are utterly bewildered by the runaway complexity of everything! In short, scientists stare at the face of God on a daily basis, and know him more intimately than the best of god-men!

But are they ever going to tell us about all these close encounters? Are they ever going to introduces us to our maker with whom they consort on a daily basis? Nooo! On the contrary, they are happy to extend it and blithely take credit for a lot of things! Thus, science is so adept at keeping a lid on God that if one were to audit science for sincerity and quantify it, one could very well say that every second statement they make is a deliberate lie.

Now, when deception is indeed their first, middle and last name, who is to say that the rest of what they say or do is true? Given that every second statement that science makes is a lie, how can we be sure of what they are saying about the moon? How can we be sure that they have not deliberately obscured a crucial fact?

Why then are we using this SoT’s ideology to weigh the Vedas? Why then are we using this SoT’s ideology to malign the acharya? What is the rationale in using a science that practices deception on such a large scale to measure anything? When Scientology or for that matter Christianity can accept the oddities in their respective religions without batting an eye lid, why are we feeling so compelled to iron out the kinks in ours?

Actually, it not just science. ISKCON pundits are worried about other social niceties as well. Is our alien religion good enough to be cat-walked on the high streets of Paris, New York? Is it secular enough to showoff to our Jew friends from the posh down-town synagogue? Apparently not! All and sundry are recommending that it (good old Vedas with its bizarre bits) be given a good scrub in the neck before being paraded on these hallowed streets!

Frankly, measuring everything with the scientific yardstick indicates that we have not yet fully given up our previous ‘way of life’ or dharma. It indicates that we have not yet fully surrendered to the dharma or way of life that Krishna supports and upholds. Indeed, if Krishna’s call to give up all religions required Arjuna to give up his dharma as a Kshatriya, one that is just marginally different from Krishna’s way, then surely Krishna is asking us to abandon our scientific mindset that is patently contrary and inimical to religious ideologies as well.

One last point. After many years of studying science’s myopic perspective and seeing its wholesale deception at close quarters, one begins to develop a healthy disrespect for it. And, if you were a guru with a vision, and intent on spreading God consciousness, you would soon have realized that the game that science plays is diabolic and demoniac. In short, pretty soon you gain the firm conviction and identify science as your enemy number one.

Previous acharyas had similarly identified number one enemies such as the impersonalists, the sahajiyas, caste Brahmins and so on and had declared war on them. Srila Prabhupada’s enemy number one was science and scientists. In fact, he had explicitly stated, ‘I have come to this world with a two-pronged mission: One, to establish Krishna as the Supreme Lord and two, to defeat the rascal scientists.’ The dictionary meaning of rascal is an unscrupulous, dishonest person; a scoundrel. He relentlessly attacked them so much so that there are some even amongst us who are upset by it!

So yes, if we want to be known as true followers Srila Prabhupada, then like it or not, we have to be willing—eager even—to be suspicious of science and its designs, with the heightened sensibilities of a conspiracy buff! Like the thief crucified by the right of Jesus had sympathized with the master and gained eternal life, we too should be taking this opportunity to declare our unconditional support and solidarity with the master—and win, win and win. Where is the sense in jeopardizing an eternity of happiness by whimsically, immaturely, aligning ourselves with something that the materialists salivate over?

To my mind, the only reason Srila Prabhupada took a conscious and defiant stance against the moon landing issue was because he could see that when push comes to shove—when science tantalizes us with what seems like irrefutable proof—most of us will swim away like mice from a sinking ship. By taking a deliberate and resolute stance on the moon landing issue—one that would separate the men from the mice—my beleaguered captain tried to teach us to be men of substance, willing even, to go down with the ship. Jai Hind!

RAGHAVA'S REINCARNATION MYTH

2011-01-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

Reincarnation is a subject the world needs to be taught in a hurry. However, using sensational ‘x’ reincarnated as ‘y,’ read-it-and-weep stories will only hurt us. (http://www.dandavats.com/?p=8892)

How so? We represent a religion; we are the experts. We cannot be seen as dabblers in ‘weird eastern ideologies,’ which is how this story would be bracketed. Our idea of reincarnation is extensive and elaborate. For us, reincarnation is a fine-tuned science. We don’t just ‘believe’ in reincarnation, we in fact, eat, sleep and drink reincarnation! If we inadvertently blur the boundaries between expert and dabbler and hawk the same fare as the dabblers do, we lose our credibility.

By blurring boundaries we compromise the Krishna Consciousness ideology as well.
How so? Now, Raghava prabhu (see: The Diary of Ratnavali Devi Dasi) was a sincere devotee who had fully surrendered to Krishna at a very young age. Although he missed his fire sacrifice, he was initiated and therefore a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He had given up all his worldly possessions, was chanting and doing wonderful seva. In short, when he passed away, he was fully Krishna Conscious. Here, by ‘conscious’ I mean a temporary state of mind. And, this can be achieved in a week’s time by being fully focused on any activity. For instance, when you drive a car for very long, chances are you will dream of driving one in your sleep. So, even if Raghava was not an advanced devotee, his consciousness at the time of passing away was 100% Krishna Conscious.

Furthermore, Raghava prabhu passed away on the battlefield, on his way from yet another intense book-distribution encounter. As we all know, book-distribution is an intensely purifying exercise. What can be more glorious than dying in the line of serving Krishna? Are not ordinary Kshatriyas who die on the battlefield guaranteed a ticket to heaven? Who is to say a Krishna Conscious warrior would not go to his choice of destination in a similar manner? After all, Krishna promises the world and beyond for mere surrender!

Even if he didn’t get in on the warrior ticket, the chances are high that Raghava remembered Krishna at the hour of death. And that’s all that is needed! Anta kale narayan smriti! On that stipulation alone he would have made it in!

It can also be argued that the desire and fire when one initially commits to Krishna Consciousness is magical when compared to the somewhat disillusioned trudge that a long life offers. I would even go so far as to say that we probably make 80% progress in our spiritual life during this cranked-up jumpstart and merely reel in the balance 20% during the rest of our lives. Besides, a longer life is no guarantee that we will reel in the balance 20%. Fraught as it is with the danger of disillusionment and drifting, the chances are that our spiritual balance may fall from the 80% we started with! In short, it can be argued that dying early when one is 100% surrendered and has achieved 80% spiritual growth, is perhaps a better time to go than later, assuming of course that the minimum spiritual growth required is set at 40% or so. Raghava prabhu could well have romped back to Godhead on this ticket alone! Also, anyone who takes the name of Krishna even once goes back to Krishna! We know that and this too needs to be factored in. Surely, Raghava did at least chant one round!

True, Srila Prabhupada himself commented that Raghava would need to come back. Yet that does not mean that the shastra based arguments given here are baseless or that he had not considered it. Srila Prabhupada had to consider other factors as well. Such as ceto-darpana-marjanam and that the ‘marjanam’ was obviously incomplete. After all, we are not Christians. We have not short-circuited the pathway to: ‘sign under where it says ‘we believe in Jesus’ and you are in.’ Godhead cannot be cheapened. This then is the verdict as per guru, shastra and sadhu.

If however we use the ‘crystal-ball’ to deliver the verdict, having set aside all our exalted knowledge on the subject of reincarnation, in an ‘let’s get back to our good old hippy days’ mood or I don’t know what, then we will be sending out the message that: Raghava prabhu chanted Hare Krishna, did seva, was 100% surrendered, was a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, and died gloriously on the battlefield serving Krishna—all in vain. For here he is, back to base—as a woman—and is now busy dumbing-down the exalted the Krishna Consciousness ideology to ‘some Eastern mish-mash ideology!’

Incidentally, the story of Raghava’s reincarnation narrated by Ratnavali Devi Dasi is full of holes. Regression therapies mentioned is rubbish and we can directly throw it right out of the window. What remains is, she apparently had developed a strong sense of déjà vu that she had been here (in this world) before. She then researched to find a likely candidate. She found Raghava and internalized his glorious life.

Then she dreamed.

Now we all know, in dreams, it is possible to see anything. At night, when the intelligence is switched off, not around to rein the mind, it, the mind, becomes a runaway morphing machine. The mind can then merge the head of a cat to a body of a kangaroo and this creature will tell you bedtime stories in the voice of your grandmother—and it will all seem terrifyingly real!

Even Sri Rama saw a golden deer—a creature that could not have existed—and ran after it to please his beloved Sita. May that Rama, his Sita and that golden deer, live forever in my heart.

NAVADWIP: THE ‘NEW ISLAND’ HYPOTHESIS

2011-01-25T21:13:00.000-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

Earlier I had written an article titled ‘Navadwip Notes’ in which I discussed the geographical reconstruction of Sridham Navadwip. I now have additional information on the subject and wish to present it here along with the material I had presented earlier.

As mentioned in my earlier article, I am an amateur landscape archaeologist of sorts, and have recently published a book identifying the real temple of Jerusalem, the one that Solomon built, in the mountains of Modern-day Syria. (Read my book, ‘The Bible Betrayed.’ http://www.thebiblebetrayed.com).

Being a devotee, I decided to apply my so-called expertise in unraveling the mystery concerning Navadwip Dham. One day, while lazily scanning the Dham with Google Earth, I noticed a clear island formation west of the Ganges opposite the current birth-place site. Zooming out a bit I was shocked to find that the whole area was terribly scarred by the virulently oscillating river. Trapped bit of river loops or oxbow lakes were everywhere. I could identify about a dozen or so of such lakes. (Use Google Earth to inspect Navadwip)

Let me explain. At times, when the soil is very sandy or loose, a river tends to undulate into tight loops. Over time, some of these loops break off and gets hemmed in by land when the river short-circuits the loops and eventually migrates away. This action eventually creates the classical formation called ‘oxbow lake’ for it shape is similar to the inverted ‘u’ shaped European yoke used to harness an ox to the plough.

Now, there is a stage that may be said to be one step before the oxbow lake formation. This is when the river has short-circuits the loop but has yet to migrate away. The formation that distinctly stands out at this stage is that of an island trapped within the loop and the river new bed.

The short-circuiting of the loop is a relatively fast development and can literally happen overnight. I mean, you can actually wake one morning to the cries of “dada, the river has broken though; we are now living on an island!” Such being the case, it is quite conceivable that the newly formed island would be dubbed ‘new island’ for want of an immediately available consensus name. In Bengali that would of course be… ‘Navadwip.’ ‘Nava’ means ‘new’ and ‘dwip’ means ‘island.’ Incidentally, ‘oxbow lakes’ and such newly formed ‘river islands’ are seen the world over where ever the river tends to tightly loop.

Now I know very well the ‘nava’ means ‘nine’ and ‘the nine processes of bhakti yoga represented by each of the island’ theology that goes with it. This ideology was first proposed by Narahari and the same was later adopted by Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Unfortunately, a cluster of nine islands, while not improbable, would be difficult to accommodate in this tight region. There is no mention of nine islands in the biographies of Mahaprabhu either. Furthermore, somehow the landscape with its innumerable ‘oxbow lake’ and ‘new island’ formation (see earlier picture) the more accurate rendering of the term ‘Navadwip’ would be ‘new island’ rather than the theologically inspired ‘nine island’ name tag. The ‘new island’ interpretation (although not the formation dynamics that I have elaborated here) is also held by Muslim scholars of nearby Bangladesh.

The first temple built to mark Mahaprabhu’s birthplace was commissioned by Bir Hambir of Vishnupur, who ruled from approximately 1586-1621. This small shrine was claimed by the Ganges. Later, Gaur Govinda Singh, the Diwan of the East India Company under Warren Hastings, built a second temple on the same site in 1780. This sixty foot high building with nine pinnacles in red sandstone too was washed away in floods in 1876.

In 1891, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, after much research, identified a new site as the real birthplace of Mahaprabhu on Anterdwip. This one lies between the Ganges and Jalangi. He called it Sridham Mayapur. Why Mayapur? I do not know, but possibly Mayapur represents the centre of the nine-island theological reconstruction of the Dham. Naturally, the Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavat, do not mention Mayapur and merely offers the name Nadia or Navadwip. Very likely ‘Nadia’ is the truncated version of the original name Navadwip. People tend to drop extraneous syllables to shorten names, make it easier on the tongue and so on and possibly ‘Na-va-di-wi-p’ eventually gave birth to ‘Na-di-a.’

How did Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur identify Mayapur? Well, the Thakur, it appears, had come across the 1780’s map which Gaur Govinda Singh had produced and or used. Also, he may have used an archaeological ruin mound in the region to triangulate his site. Apart from these mundane pointers, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur was guided by a grand vision that indicated this very region.

Unfortunately, I do not have the 1780’s Gaur Govinda Singh map. I do however have a much older map produced by Van der Brouck in 1660. Based on this map, the Ganges flows by the west of Nadia and the river Jalangi apparently forms its eastern border.

Now, I am not quite convinced that the river Jalangi was anywhere close to the core Navadwip area for the simple reason that it is not mentioned anywhere in the biographies of Mahaprabhu. No one is documented to have boated, bathed or got baptized in the Jalangi. Besides, had Jalangi been here, it would eminently have served as the easily identifiable landmark boundary of Nadia and we would have heard statements to the effect that ‘Nadia lies between the River Ganges and Jalangi’ or Nadia was situated at the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Jalangi. What could have been simpler? But no, we do not hear any such thing. Instead, Roop Goswami states in his Stavamala, Vol 4, Navadvipa-Dhamastakam:

sri gauda-dese sura-dirghikayas
tire ‘ti-ramye pura-punya-mayyah
lasantam ananda-bharena nityam
tam sri navadvipam aham smarami

“I mediate on Sri Navadwip that is situated in Sri Gauda Desa by the banks of a heavenly dirghika, and shines with pure eternal bliss.”

Roop Goswami tells us that ‘Navadwip was situated on the banks of a ‘dirghika.’
According to Prof. K. N. Mukerjee, Retired head of the Dept. of Geography, City College, Calcutta, a ‘dirghika’ or ‘dirghi’ (short form) is the generic term for a ‘long water body’ or ‘canal.’ He also states that a ‘dirghi’ played a pivotal role in the identification of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur’s Mayapur site.

The fact is, an archaeological ‘Tell’ or mound some 30ft high and spread over 1300 sq ft existed in this region which the locals called by the name ‘Ballal Dhipi.’ Ballal Sen was the king who ruled this region between 1160 and 1178. In 1980, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavated the Dhipi and found it to contain ruins of an edifice, the nature of which they yet to have determine.

Now, to my knowledge, there is no mention of a separate ‘dirghi’ here. Therefore, my guess is the Prof. K. N. Mukerjee got his ‘dirghi’ is by tweaking the term ‘dhipi.’ Archaeologists in general, by the way, are notorious for doing this manner of tweaking and then off they go and anchor some fanciful theory or the other with it! This ‘dhipi tweaked to dirghi’ was conjectured to be the dirghi or dirghika mentioned in the above-mentioned Roop Goswami’s verse, which then would read, ‘Nadia extended from the Ganges to the ‘Ballal Dirghi.’

There is another thing that worries me. As mentioned earlier, the Jalangi is conveniently situated to the east of the currently accepted birth site, and would ideally have served as its eastern boundary. It also happens to be just stone’s throw away from the so-called Ballal Dirghi. So, the question is, why would Roop Goswami have chosen the Ballal dirghi (which is no long there) over Jalangi, a perennial river to mark the boundaries of Nadia? Certainly, Roop Goswami could easily have seen that a more permanent landmark would have been the better choice here than a dirghi however celebrated, for the very practical reason that the dirghi could get obscured in fifty or a hundred years down the road whereas a river is likely to remain almost forever.

Also, the Ballal Dirghi does not offer much in terms of a demarcating boundary. What is needed is a landmark that offers an extended ‘line’ boundary, rather than a ‘point’ on a map. The Ballal Dirghi, even with its purported 1 kilometer length, does not offer a ‘line’ boundary by which to conveniently demarcate Nadia’s eastern boundary. Furthermore, the Ballal Dirghi as depicted in maps, was in fact perpendicular to the Ganges! This further reduces its usefulness as a bounding boundary. In short, the Ballal Dirghi seems contrived and hardly suitable as the eastern boundary of Nadia.

But make no mistake. The Ballal Dirghika was celebrated, had ambrosial, crystal clear water and so on and appears to have been a much appreciated body of water. Even the Muslim scholars parrot these qualities in an unusual show of solidarity. Yet somehow I find it… a bit forced. I mean, I can imagine such a tank being much appreciated in arid Rajasthan… But here, between innumerable tributaries, oxbow lakes and what not, and not to mention the fact that Navadwip goes under eight to ten feet of water like clockwork, who has time for a measly tank however ambrosial its waters?

Yet the fact remains that Roop Goswami does mention a dirghika and not the Jalangi which is merely a few hundred meters away. Given this inexplicable discrepancy one is forced to consider the possibility that Navadwip was perhaps not near the Jalangi and by default, the Ballal dirghi.

Faced with this daunting prospect, we are obliged to reexamine the meaning of the term ‘dirghika.’ What exactly was a ‘dirghika’? Upon reexamining the term ‘dirghika,’ I found that it basically means ‘long,’ as in long ‘e’ instead of short ‘e’ kind of thing and where the difference is often depicted by the use of an arced or curved stroke (or an inverted ‘u’) above alphabet in question. ‘Dirghi’ is also specifically used in various parts of India to denote a long canal. If you combine the two ideologies you could get ‘a long curved canal.’

Remember the oxbow lake formation that I described earlier and how this region was chock-a-bloc with such lakes? Well, an oxbow was most definitely is ‘a long body of water.’ It averaged some 10 odd kilometers in length and eminently qualifies as a ‘Dirghika.’ It is also curved and as such all the more suitable to be indicate by the term ‘Dirghika.’ In short, the term ‘Dirghika’ seems almost the tailor-made Sanskrit equivalent to the English term ‘oxbow lake.’

So the question is, was Roop Goswami Dirghika actually an oxbow lake in the region?
As if in answer to this question, another little bit of the mystery falls neatly into place. I am of course referring to the ‘Navadwip mean a new island formed by an oxbow lake’ ideology I had expounded earlier. If that is so, then we have two classical topographical formations anchoring Navadwip. One is the ‘oxbow lakes’ (Dirghika) and two is the ‘new island’ (Nava dwip) formation. It all irrefutably adds up to the fact that Navadwip was a new island that was formed by an oxbow lake that lay adjacent and west of the River Ganges.

Scanning the map, we see that we do indeed have exactly such a formation. What is more, the oxbow lake in question actually encompasses the Nadia marked in 1660 map! (See map) The map also shows numerous ghats (small ports) along the river. Three or four ghats are mentioned in the biographies of Mahaprabhu so finding it marked on this map is encouraging. I am mentioning this because one could excavate these ghats and use it to triangulate the actual birth-site.

To conclude, Navadwip Dham was exactly where the Thakur say it was. I merely submit that it was perhaps a few hundred yards further to the North-East on roughly the same longitude(see above map). The Ballal Dhipi interpretation that may be said to have created a minor confusion was almost certainly the handiwork of the ‘engineer or archaeologist’ who is known to helped the Thakur process his information.
Staying eternally under the shelter of the loving glances of all the Vaishnavas, I, Jeevanmukta Das, submit these lame arguments for the unlimited pleasure of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur.

NAVADWIP NOTES

2011-01-25T20:59:00.001-08:00

By James Rappai (Jeevanmukta Das)

Navadwip was a centre of learning. A university campus of sorts, where scholars came from far and wide to learn philosophy and religion. Everybody you met on the streets was a scholar or a scholar’s family member or support staff of this varsity. If one were to ask the family history of just about any resident of Navadwip, he or she would invariably have the same story to tell. Which is, I or my husband or father or grandfather or even great grandfather originally came from x, y or z village here to Navadwip to study… and later…we settled here.

Mahaprabhu too was in fact the progeny of such an immigrant scholar, and so were most of his friends. In short, let it be pictured and understood that Navadwip was an oasis for scholars, a magnet if you will, that had gained for itself the enviable title of being the topmost centre for learning Vaishnavism in India. Navadwip was the Stanford of the East, though far superior, for it dealt in real knowledge, and not in what passes off today as knowledge or learning.

Like all Ivy League institutions of learning, this varsity too had to its credit, various firsts. And amongst its foremost achievements was a startup that we now intimately know as Krishna Consciousness. That is right. Krishna Consciousness was the brainchild of this Stanford of the East. Mahaprabhu did not start Krishna Consciousness. That credit wholly belongs to this varsity, and to clutch of scholars whom I will briefly introduce forthwith. But yes, he certainly was this ideology’s foremost champion.

Who were these scholars? Well, the resident scholars were, Advaita Acharya, Srivasa, his three brothers, Srirama Pandit, Sripati Pandit and Srinidhi Pandit, Gadadhara Pandita, Gopinath Acharya, Chandrashakera, Murari Gupta, Sanjaya, Sridhara, Pundirika, and many others, including the women of their respective households. Isvara Puri was a visiting professor and so was Nityananda who was considered an avidhuta. An avidhuta is a mystic who has risen above worldly concerns and acts without consideration for standard social etiquette. Isvara Puri, Nitanyanda and Advaita were disciples of Madhavendra Puri, who was a prominent itinerant guru of Madhava Sampradhaya.

Mahaprabhu grew up in this scholar community. Unfortunately, while he was very young, his father passed away. To complicate matters, his elder brother soon left home and took sannyas. It is thus that we see Mahaprabhu or Nimai as he was known then, running a small grammar school for children, to support himself and his widowed mother Sachi.

Young Nimai was what one would call a ‘scholar scrapper’ whose eyes eagerly scanned the streets of Navadwip in search for verbal duets. Murari Gupta was his favorite punching doll. “Murari, Murari, stop, STOP… I say,” he would call out, “where are you running off?” Having captured Murari, he would then proceed to trap him in a verbal duel. Murari, who was a brilliant scholar, would reluctantly oblige with an accurate answer, yet invariably he would find himself publicly declared ‘wrong’ and berated for his incompetent answer. Nimai Pandit would then proceed to provide an answer that was subtly superior, one that betrayed a genius mind. Thoroughly fed up by this constant badgering, Nimai’s friends got into the habit of running away in the opposite direction whenever they saw him approaching!

At times one would see Nimai strutting about in fineries, accompanied by a group of his students. Now, this trait really was a Krishna hangover that His Lordship appeared to have quietly smuggled into this avatar as well. Sri Krishna was a flamboyant dresser, one who wore shocking colors and loved to decorate his person with peacock feather and flowers! We generally assume that this indeed was the way the people dressed in those days. Not so. It was, even then, considered odd, somewhat gypsy like, and did in fact draw the occasional amused remarks. Dear Nimai too, it seems dressed in a similar flamboyant style, and although sometimes people laughed, it nonetheless endeared him to the tightly-knit community of this varsity. I personally find it quiet enchanting and therefore mention it.

That the de facto nawab of Navadwip was actually penniless is what further endeared him to the varsity. This fatherless youngster was bravely eking out a living and supporting his widowed mother was a zealously guarded secret they enshrined in their collective hearts. Indeed, merchants and their like, often filled his youth’s hands with whatever he needed, without extracting a price.

Such being his circumstances, Nimai it seems, had also picked up a bit of guile, not to mention the muscle that invariably to go with such an art, and would get Sridhar, who himself scraped a living selling banana leafs, to give him choice plantain cores and other ingredients free of charge! Sridhar of course could well see through the youngster’s guile, and it was not love either that allow him to let Nimai take what little he had. It was fear! Sridhar was more than a little afraid that Nimai will beat him up if he tried to stop him and had merely learned to live with this bit of ‘hafta’ collection!

In short, let it sink in deep into our subconscious levels that the Supreme Lord of the universe, the husband of the Goddess of Fortune, made his living in his youth rather precariously, not unlike how a hard-pressed street-smart youth from any part of the world. But of course, it has to be borne in mind that this was a Brahminal community and the boy in question was a Brahmin youth. Poverty was something they wore proudly, as we, the truly impoverished people of the world, wear jaded ornaments. Learning, scholarship, devotion and so on, was what mattered most to them, and a bit of precariously living, which meant dependent fully on the Lord, was something they embraced without breaking into a cold sweat we do now. Once again, I am specifically highlighting the poverty bit here just so that devotees may take heart, and relearn to live… dangerously, without that is, the aid of a bank balance and assets to cushion themselves, their children and children’s children.

Secret eyes closely monitored Nimai’s every move, overheard and his every mid-street verbal duels and watched him increasingly take charge of the streets of Navadwip. They belonged to the senior scholars of the varsity and they gleamed with dark design. They could see that the young scrapper was precociously brilliant and appeared to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the scriptures. If only they could convince him to take up the Krishna Consciousness ideology they had so preciously incubated, they would have the champion they have been wanting and waiting for…one who could take their product to the world market. Thus they tailed him in turn, took their campaign into the streets of Navadwip and lost no opportunity to buttonhole young Nimai in almost the same manner as he himself operated! They blessed him, berated him, begged him and tried every other trick they had up their Brahminical sleeves to derail him from the impersonalist path that he was currently treading and turn his proud head towards Krishna the Lord of their very own hearts. The precocious scholar scrapper, the uncrowned Nawab of Navadwip thus became the centre of attention of this varsity called Navadwip.

But where exactly was varsity, this Stanford of the East? Where indeed was Navadwip?
It is clear that after the disappearance of Srimati Visnupriyadevi, the house of Mahaprabhu in Mayapur was not preserved as a place of worship. The Deity of Mahaprabhu that she worshipped was kept in the houses of her family members after she departed, but even this site was eventually lost. (My research is incomplete here). The first temple on marking Mahaprabhu’s birthplace was built by Bir Hambir of Vishnupur, who ruled from approximately 1586 -1621. This small shrine was claimed by the Ganges. Later, Gaur Govinda Singh, the Diwan of the East India Company, built a second temple on the same site in 1780-5. This sixty foot high building with nine pinnacles in red sandstone too was washed away in floods in 1876.

In 1891, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, after much research, identified a fresh site at Sridham Mayapur on Anterdwip (the one we know), and established it as the real birthplace of Mahaprabhu. Now, the original Gaur Govinda Singh Temple is said to have been around till the 1876 flood and Srila Jagannath Das Babaji, who was born a little before this event, is sure to have known of its rough whereabouts. Even so, Jagannath das Babaji, the leader of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community, fully endorsed Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur new site. We may therefore assume that neither he nor Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur thought that the old site was correct or that the whole issue warranted a fresh research from scratch. And, as we all know, he was eventually aided by a vision by which he was able to eventually identify the current site.

In 1897, Sashibhushan Bandyopadhyaya published an article that claimed the real Gaur Govinda temple site was indeed the correct one and that it was located in Ramchandrapur. Following this report, at about 1916, one Premananda Bharati engaged a government engineer, surveyed maps, dug about 700 odd holes and managed to locate a large piece of red sandstone, presumably of the old temple. A third temple was built at this site and the area named Prachin Mayapur in 1928. The temple which presumably still stands, was eventually turned over to Ramdas babaji in 1953.

The fact that Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur does not mention the Gaur Govinda site in his writings need not be misconstrued as a case of suppressing of facts. The Thakur did not endorse it and certainly had no obligation in enshrining what had become a raging controversy in his writings. Also, very likely it probably did not strike him that a 100 odd years down the road, this omission may appear to some prudes as a glaring case of omission.

So now we have two birth place sites. The change from the old to the new, by the way, was bitterly disputed and may be said to have split the Gaudiya Vaishnava community into two fractious halves. The Brahminical Vaishnava community, presumably under the leadership Bipin Bihari Goswami and others, supported the Prachin site and the new site was supported by the non-brahminincal Vaishnava community under the leadership of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur and endorsed by Srila Jagannath Das Babaji. Needless to add, this contributed to the rift between Bipin Bihari Goswami and Takur Bhakti Vinod who until that point in time, the later considered the former his guru and had shared a strong bond between them.

Such being the case, you would wonder, why on earth would we need a third now?
We do not. It is just this. I am an amateur landscape archaeologist of sorts, who has recently published a book identifying the real temple of Jerusalem, the one that Solomon built in the mountains of Modern-day Syria (read my book, The Bible Betrayed. http://www.thebiblebetrayed.com). One day, I was playing around with Google Earth and happened to zoom in very close to Sridham Mayapur and noted a clear island formation west of the Ganges opposite the current birth-place site. Zooming out a bit I was shocked to find that the whole area was terribly scarred by the virulently oscillating river. Trapped bit of river loops or ox-bow lakes were everywhere. I could indentify about a dozen or so of such lakes. (See Google Earth map)

Let me explain. At times, when the soil is very sandy or loose, rivers tend to undulate into tight loops. Invariably, some of these loops break off and form what is known as an ox-bow lake. These are essentially landlocked bit of the loop that eventually gets hemmed in, when the river migrates away.

Now, there is however a stage that may be said to be one step away from the ox-bow lake formation. That is the stage when the river short-circuits the loop. The formation that distinctly stands out at this stage is of the island trapped between the loop and where the river short-circuited the loop.

Incidentally, the short-circuiting can happen overnight so to speak. I mean, you can actually wake one morning to the cries of “dada, the river has broken though; we are now living on an island!” Such being the case, it is quite conceivable that the newly formed island would be dubbed ‘new island’ for want of an immediately available consensus name. In Bengali that would of course be… ‘Navadwip.’ ‘Nava’ means ‘new’ and ‘dwip’ means ‘island.’

Now I know very well the ‘nava’ means ‘nine’ and the nine processes of bhakti yoga represented by each of the island theology that goes with it. This ideology was first proposed by Narahari and the same was later adopted by Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Unfortunately, a cluster of nine islands, while not improbable, would be difficult to accommodate in this tight region. Besides, somehow the landscape with its innumerable ox-bow lake formations, with the necessary intermediate stage of a ‘new island’ formation, the more accurate rendering of the term ‘Navadwip’ would be ‘new island’ rather than the theologically inspired ‘nine island’ name tag. Incidentally, the ‘new island’ interpretation (although not the formation dynamics that I have elaborated here) is also held by Muslim scholars of nearby Bangladesh.

I am not of the ‘crow mindset,’ wherein an error such as this would bring into sharp and immediate focus the integrity of the person who propounded it. I am not uncomfortable at all if my theology veers slightly to the right and my archaeology slightly to the left. I could happily take in a ‘nine island’ spiritual interpretation during my Bhagavatam class, and switch over to a ‘one island’ interpretation during my geography class, without losing any sleep over it.

Not that I am actually proposing a new and third site. All I am saying is, given the viability of the new interpretation, the nature of the scarred terrain, and not to mention the new technology being used to crack this mystery, finding the real Navadwip or a new island in this region that presumably came into formation a little before 1486 AD should be quite easy. All one has to do is date the existing islands as well as the 10 odd trapped bits of ox-bow lakes in the Mayapur area. It could well be the loop that arcs in the current Antardwip site of Bhakti Vinod Takur.

Getting back to our scholar scrapper, whom we left mid-fight to resolve this minor geographical reconstruction discrepancy, we find him now in a determined mood. The constant buttonholing by seniors and running away of so-called friends upon seeing him, took its sweet toll upon the scholar’s mind, and give birth to a steely resolve. He promised to himself, ‘I will show these people, I will become such a great Krishna devotee that even Lord Brahma, Shiva will come to my doorsteps and roll on the ground!’

That promise he kept and how!

May that destitute Nawab of Navadwip—the bane of Murari—live forever in my heart!