If you know any of my writing, you know I like to put things as clear and simple as possible. …
Author Archives: Vic DiCara / Vraja Kishor
Bhāgavatam in Four Verses – Part 1: Original Absolute Oneness?
Krishna’s Birth Chart, According to Viśvanātha Ṭhākur
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Reblogged from Vic DiCara’s Astrology: The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the Purāṇa most completely dedicated to Krishna. It doesn’t give a …
Misunderstood?
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“Why am I so misunderstood?” “Because you speak.”
How Emotion Becomes an Experience (Rati -> Rasa)
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Here are the verses from the beginning of the second section of Bhakti Rasāmṛta, from my old 1998 notes:.I begin …
Westernizing Kīrtan
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Kīrtan is transcendental affair. There are many types of Kīrtan, but I would like to focus this post on nāma-kīrtana – …
Astrology, Therapy… Karma and Vaiṣṇavas
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Reblogged from Vic DiCara’s Astrology: After posting the article, Astrology is not for Vaiṣṇavas, I received a very deep and …
Real, Personal Understanding vs. Answering by Route
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What an extremely interesting śloka I had the good fortune to study this morning! Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Canto 2, Chapter 8, text 25. King …
“Kirtan is easy”? Westernized Kirtan?
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I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea often heard – “yoga/meditation is too difficult, so do kirtan.” Kīrtan is not …
Suicide
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There are many possible motives for suicide. Saintly people sometimes commit suicide to attone for some serious mistake or as …
Fearless Supersoul of the Fearful Soul
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I was able to appreciate something very, very beautiful in Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākur’s commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.47. The …
We Work Hard For The Money, So You Better Samadhi Us Right
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The commentaries on SB 2.7.31 by Viśvanātha and Prabhupāda are very interesting to compare. The verse itself is nandaḿ ca …
Knocking over Arjuna Trees, etc.
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SB 2.7.27: It’s impossible for anyone else to take the life of a huge demon, while just an infant; to kick over a big cart, while just three months old; or to uproot two huge arjuna trees just by crawling in between them. There’s an obvious meaning here, and another, not-so-obvious one. The obvious one is […]
KRISHNA: The Bright Black Master of Pleasure
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In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.26, Brahmājī introduces the avatāra named “Krishna.” It is an exceedingly deep and wondrous śloka, so I would like to avail myself of the honor and pleasure of discussing it to some extent with those of you who might chance to happen upon this page. bhūmeḥ suretara-varūtha-vimarditāyāḥ kleśa-vyayāya kalayā sita-kṛṣṇa-keśaḥ jātaḥ kariṣyati janānupalakṣya-mārgaḥ karmāṇi cātma-mahimopanibandhanāni To erase […]
RE: “Q&A with Srila Acharyadeva on Raganuga Bhakti”
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First, I would like to honor His Holiness Hrdayananda Dasa Goswami for his jolly disposition and his determination to assist his glorious master to his very best ability – which is considerably better than my own. Since he has encouraged and helped me in the past, I will attempt to reciprocate in a humble way […]
Why is the Mantra the Way it is?
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By Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s gentle arrangement, I was asked to explain as best I could why the Hare Krishna mahāmantra is the way it is – why the words are ordered and patterned the way they are. I actually answered this question in Japanese, which must have been at least semi-comical for the native Japanese audience. […]
When God Leads a Political Revolution
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This is a translation of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven, Śloka 22 Brahmā: When the hell bent government strayed from the moral path by controverting the philosophers who explained the spirit of the law, the Great Soul made them the oil in the sacrificial offering to fate. With his very sharp, terribly powerful axe, […]
iOS7 – When “Chewing the Chewed” Works
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I got tired of swiping a metallic looking thing to the right to open up my personal-universe-slash-smartphone. It got boring. But today, there is a new iOS! iOS7! Seven!!! Now I don’t have to swipe that same old boring metallic looking thing to the right. Now I have… well, I don’t really even know how […]
Was Vāmana immoral?
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Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.17 presents an interesting conversation. There, Brahmā says that Vāmana claimed the entire world from Bali using three “deceptive steps” (tripada-cchalena). This is said in the third line of the śloka. The fourth line answers the anticipated question, “How can Viṣṇu’s avatāra, Vāmana, employ deceit, an immoral tactic?” The answer Brahmā submits is that it was not an […]
What are you Interested In?
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I think it’s sort of funny (even maybe a little disturbing?) that a post about garlic gets more views that a post about Radharani.
No Garlic?
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I believe that the details of the Vaishnava diet are not solely determined by the vegetarian principle of ahimsa (non-violence). The principles of ahimsa intersect with another set of principles, those of śaucam (cleanliness) to produce the various specific morays of the Vaishnava diet. The Vaishnava eats what s/he offers to Viṣṇu – and what […]
God’s Celibacy
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Here’s a little something to whet your appetite for Volume 2 of Beautiful Tales of the All Attractive. This is the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s Second Canto, Seventh Chapter – ślokas 6 and 7. * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * 6 Brahmā: He was born as Nārāyaṇa and Nara, from Mūrti – daughter of Dakṣa and […]
Why Didn’t Krishna Marry Radha?
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Q: Why did lord Krishna not marry Radha? To understand Radha correctly you need to somewhat understand the mysteries of “rasa” and “prema” – the ecstatic experience of spiritual love. Krishna and Radharani playfully married once, as children sometimes do. They did not really marry, however, because their love is more primal, profound, and unbounded than what […]
The word ātmā
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It’s such an interesting Sanskrit word, ātmā, used in so many fascinating ways and worked into so many amazing compound phrases. Here’s one in particular that inspired this post as a part of the process of unraveling it. ātmātmany ātmanātmānam – SB 2.6.39 This compound phrase uses the word ātmā four times, with four different endings. (1) ātmā (2) […]
The Secret of Happiness
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Anyone can be happy in their life. It is the inalienable right of every living entity to be surrounded by unmitigated happiness. But practically no one realizes this right, because practically everyone looks for happiness in external objects and situations, or even if they look inward, they retain a selfish subjective viewpoint. Happiness is actually […]
A Few Words Related to “Falldowns” of “Swamis” and “Gurus”
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Everyone falls down. Gurus fall down, nobodies fall down. Men fall down, women fall down. Old people fall down, young people fall down. People who write books fall down, people who never say a single word fall down. People who practice rāgānugā-sādhana fall down, people who practice vaidhi-sādhana fall down. Brahmacaris fall down, grhasthas too, […]
To Dance in the Downpour of Devotion!
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My newest book is now available in print and Kindle editions! To Dance in the Downpour of Devotion A Summary Study of Mādhurya Kādambinī Exactly following Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakur’sMadhurya Kadambini, this book provides an inspirational and practical guide to each step along the road from ignorance to bliss. It vividly and enticingly describes each […]
Star Wars and the Force
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Here’s a little diddy I did in 1999, my dad just put it back online. http://www.dicara.com/Members/vic/Jedi/index.htm
How the Universe Became the Universe (Vedic Proto-Evolution)
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The Vedic view on primordial evolution (as for example expressed in Bhāgavata Purana, 2.5) is that time enters the material energy (which itself is a threefold energy reflecting the original threefold energy of Godhead). When time enters, things can proceed, things can evolve. The force driving the evolution is the svabhāva, which is the psychological disposition […]
Before the Universe was the Universe
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Viz. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.5.22 Time (kāla) is the primary catalyst activating the three qualities (guṇa) by permitting the progress of evolution. The psychological inclinations (svabhāva) of living beings can then stimulate evolutions (pariṇāma) within the three qualities, creating a primordial destiny (karma) for the universe, which can thus evolve into its primeval form (mahāt-tattva).
Without Hearing How Will You Chant
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We should all read Śrīmad Bhāgavatam more carefully. It is the foundation of our entire spiritual practice, for without hearing attentively and with an ear for detailed comprehension, how will we invest our consciousness into chanting? And without chanting attentively, how will we expect to make any advancement towards a transcendental goal? By winning a […]
The Oblivion Movie
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It wasn’t that good, nor that bad. It gets a B- as a movie, from a SciFi fan. If you’re not partial to SciFi, this will rank like a D- or F for you. The Bad Stuff: Tom Cruise gets a C+ from me on the acting, and none of the actors were terribly […]
Second Chapter, Second Canto – Finished
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To celebrate finishing the presentation of the Second Chapter of the Second Canto – here is an excerpt, one of my favorite śloka from this chapter 35 Parīkṣit: These yogīs you described, how do they love the All-Attractive? Śuka: They experience All-Attractive Hari by his qualities present within the core of all living beings. Parīkṣit: […]
Death of a Yogi
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This is a partial excerpt from the manuscript to Beautiful Tales of the All Attractive, Vol. 2 – the topic at hand does continue past the end of the excerpt. 19-21 Parīkṣit: Please explain how those yogīs actually discard the body. Śuka: They sit with the heel pressing the rectum so their life-air[1] can rise […]
The Death of a Yogi
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This is a partial excerpt from the manuscript to Beautiful Tales of the All Attractive, Vol. 2 – the topic at hand does continue past the end of the excerpt. 19-21 Parīkṣit: Please explain how those yogīs actually discard the body. Śuka: They sit with the heel pressing the rectum so their life-air[1] can rise […]
A Little More About Chanting Hare Krishna
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In Bhajana Rahasya, Srimad Bhaktivinode Thakur explains the following verse from Sri Sanatana Goswami’s Haribhakti-vilasa: manah samharanam saucam maunam manträrtha-cintanam avyagratvam anirvedo japa – sampatti – hetavah The Thakur says that this instruction applies to both nama-japa and mantra-japa (a.k.a “gayatri”). The advice here is: “Take complete control of your thoughts, making them pure and silent. Contemplate the […]
Gaṇeśa in Bhakti
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A friend recently asked me, “How come Rupa Goswami said to worship Ganesh? I saw on FB you have a Ganesh altar and since you studied Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu, I’m asking you for the tika behind that instruction of worshipping Ganesh.” (A) I don’t exactly have a Gaṇeśa altar. Once upon a time my wife […]
A Simple Gita – My New Book
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A Simple Gita The Bhagavad-Gita – with all its depth and detail – in simple, succinct, straightforward terms. Available in paperback, kindle and pdf here: http://www.vicdicara.com/gita
“Just Hear” the Name???
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Krishna’s name is a noun, a transcendent noun. Nouns are words, sounds that carry meaning. When you hear a word in a language you don’t understand – it is only sound. But as you repeatedly listen with curiosity and intelligence the meaning becomes clear. When you understand a language, hearing the sound of a word […]