Author Archives: Vraja Kishor

Here are some remarks people apparently still encounter from senior people in ISKCON when they talk about their intention to deeply study Śāstra and Sanskrit. I will add my brief replies: “Srila Prabhupada has already translated all the relevant Sastras, so why would anyone need to learn Sanskrit? Just study his translations!” If his translationsContinue reading ““Don’t Learn Too Much (You’ll Find Out we Don’t Know what we are Talking About)””

Originally posted on Vic DiCara’s Astrology:
Monism (“Oneness”) is basically a positive outlook on life, because it is aditi – unifying – and therefore results in peace and love. Dualism (“Twoness”) is basically a negative outlook, because it is diti – dividing – and therefore results in competition and violence. What is surprising, though, is that either outlook…

QUESTION: Does God answer prayers? We perceive/experience God to three extents: as brahman (the fundamental “energy” of life and existence: consciousness itself, pure and without any adjunct), as paramātmā (a distinct conscious entity who sustains all the world’s subjects and objects), and as bhagavān (a blissful infinite personality enjoying consciousness to the fullest, in relationships with infinite other consciousContinue reading “On God and Prayers”

QUESTION: If Prakriti is changeable then why can’t we change the situations that emerge for us? You can change them. Remember chapter 8, bhūta-bhavodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-saṁjñitaḥ – “karma is the immediate cause of all manifestations.” You change your manifest reality by changing your karmas. You can’t change the karmas you have already performed – so you can’tContinue reading “Questions and Answers about “Aham brahmāsmi”, Ego, Humility, Karma, Good Karma, Ātma, and Brahman, from chapter 13 and 8 of Gītā.”

Question: If Manas is Mind, Buddhi is Intelligence, and Ahamkara is Ego, then what exactly is subconscious mind? Not every memory stored in buddhi is directly accessible by manas. This is one aspect of what psychologists are referring to with the “subconsciousness” concept. Another aspect is that the mind has patterns of operation,” mental habits,” as a resultContinue reading “Self-Help, Subconsciousness, and Unconsciousness”

Question: In Gītā’s Chapter 11 Krishna shows Arjuna his universal form. Does this set a benchmark? Because many people claim themselves to be GOD. If someone poses as such,  can we request him to show this universal form? Even if that guy says that, “I am showing but you are not able to see,” weContinue reading “Am I an Avatāra?”

Question: Since we are part of Krishna, and since Rādhārāṇī is also part of Krishna, does that mean we have part of Rādhārāṇī in us? No. Bhāgavatam explains that we are different parts. Rādhārāṇī is the what Bhāgavatam describes as bhakti-śakti, and we are what Bhāgavatam describes as taṭastha-śakti.  There is an intrinsic relationship betweenContinue reading “Is Bhakti Dormant in Us?”

QUESTION: Bhisma is considered as one of the 12 Mahajana, which means he is a pure Vaisanava, so how come he fought against the Pandavas on the side of the adharmi? He made a vow to protect the throne of Hastinapura, so he was bound by that vow. To break it would be adharma. AtContinue reading “Bhishma, Dharma, Aparadha?”

Nārada asks where the world, full of so many amazing specifics, comes from. Brahmā says it comes from Brahman (“Great Being”) – and the fascinating thing is that this great being is “beyond specification” (“Beyond qualities” – nirguṇa) – because if it can be specified or qualified, then it must be delimitable, and then its greatnessContinue reading “Can Plurality Come From Unity?”

Originally posted on Vic DiCara’s Astrology:
Love IS beauty! Anurādhā bestows love, and therefore bestows lovability. Love IS virtue! Anurādhā bestows virtue. Vic DiCara explains Anuradha Nakhshatra by discussing her devatā, Mitra – and thus reveals the importance of Bhakti (love) in Vedic culture.

Q: For Gaudiya Bhakts what is the Parampara? Very many descendants of Mahaprabhu are there and each professes to be the correct link to Him. Your use of the preposition “the” in the phrase “each professes to be the correct link” isn’t exactly correct, because “the” means “the only one” or “the most important one.”Continue reading “Paramparā?”

What is reality? What is consciousness? What is God? How are they all related, and how can we realize it all, firsthand? In this class we explore practical, deep, inspiring answers to these questions from Jīva Gosvāmī’s brilliant exposition on Bhāgavata, the Tattva Sandarbha. We will see the vision of reality Vyāsa himself saw inContinue reading “The Definition of Reality”

We have a significant problem on our hands: the Vedas are very clear that Śrī Guru is an absolute necessity, the very foundation of every educational and developmental methodology; yet gluts of cults knowingly or unknowingly exploit the guru principle for gross and subtle wealth. Searching from Harlem to the Himalaya, it is difficult toContinue reading “Gurus, Surrender, Cults… and the Real Thing”

QUESTION: I heard people saying that the eater absorbs the consciousness of the cook. Is that true? First of all, what is described as “consciousness” here is really referring to the “mind.” Yes, of course, the mind is influenced by everything it experiences – so eating food cooked by a greedy person will make yourContinue reading “Magic Food”

Q: Does the maha-mantra by itself unfold Jnana or would you have to get some Jnana to chant the mantra effectively? If you have no impediments, then the mantra alone will allow you to directly experience the full reality: Krishna loving Rādhā in Vṛndāvana. However, if you are like the rest of us, you have impediments…

Bhāgavata defines reality as jñāna.1 Most people think jñāna means “knowledge.” OK, fine, but what is knowledge, anyway? Prathamam pramāṇam pratyakṣaḥ – Knowledge is experience. Knowledge is not stuff in a book. Those are words, which are a part of gaining knowledge; a part of the educational process, śabda. You know something when you experience it firsthand. There are other ways of…

प्रतिष्ठः सूकरविष्ठा pratiṣṭhaḥ sūkara-viṣṭhā “Ego is Pig Shit” The roots of our ego are in our homes, homeland, upbringing, culture and religion. Tell anyone that their culture or religion has some good point, and they will think you are wise. Tell anyone that their culture or religion is not so refined or evolved, they will…

Q: How can we know that the Vedas are really the recorded experiences of the supreme being and not just an ancient document of strong philosphy that humans came up with? Be more concerned with the content than the author. By knowing the content, you get to know the author. The more deeply you dig into…

Every Veda has four parts: 1) It’s core – the “saṁhita” part  It’s explanatory appendixices:  2) explanations – the “brāhmaṇa” parts 3) essentializations – the “āraṇyaka” parts 4) philosophy – the “upaniṣad” parts Each saṁhita has branches (śakha), and each branch is supposed to have a brāhmaṇa, āraṇyaka, and upaniṣad. Over time many have been…

Q: OK, “Vyāsa had a perfect perception of reality and recorded it in the Veda,  especially the Bhāgavatam.” However, he establishes his credibility as an āvatāra in the same work. This seems like circular logic to me. The depiction of Vyāsa as an avatāra is in Bhāgavatam 1.3.21, which was spoken by Bhāgavatam’s 2nd narrator, Sūta,…

QUESTION: Even if we accept the Vedas as a flawess source of transcendent knowledge, there still is the flaw of misinterpreting this source, because we have to use our own flawed intellect and experience to comprehend it. So there seems to be no way to really get flawless knowledge. This is a very good point, and really needs…

Originally posted on Vic DiCara’s Astrology:
Hold on to your pants, because this video is going to blow away your misconceptions that Vedic culture is anything like Judeo/Christian/Mulsim culture in terms of sexuality and perception of the male/female dynamic. Learn the essence of how to use Purva Phalguni Nakshatra in interpretation. The nakshatras and…

Rūpa Goswāmī, and practically every ācārya in the history of the world, makes it very clear that we need “good association” if we want to make progress in spiritual life. The principle is very simple and universal. If you want to get more involved in Soccer (to pick any example), then hang around with people who…

QUESTION: From my association with ISKCON and its likes, I very strongly got the point that for Krishna’s service one should be willing to sacrifice everything and sever all connections with parents, spouse and children and more so if they are non devotee category.  It’s not a nice thing for me to say, and it’s not…

Originally posted on Vic DiCara’s Astrology:
QUESTION: I want to practice the magic spells from Atharva Veda, can you advise me on a good translation that’s really simple and explains things “for dummies.” You might benefit from doing Atharva Veda spells, but the benefit would be mainly due to psychological and psychosomatic effect. The real,…

Our concept of male and female is limited to our experience of male and female. We have only experienced incomplete, flawed males and females. Therefore to say that God is either male or female is seriously problematic, because it implies to our minds that God is like something flawed. On the other hand, to say…

QUESTION: I totally see where you are coming from with the notion that “love is the spontaneous reaction to beauty.” But how do you discern beauty — Is it in the object or in the subject?  Beauty is neither in the object nor in the subject. It is in their combination. Beauty is the link between the…

QUESTION: I’ve heard that the cannabis plant is offered to Shiva in certain rituals, and I’ve also heard it is offered to Kali. They say cannabis is the healing of the nations. In a few words, what is your take on that? As far as I know, it’s Rastafarians who say cannabis is “the healing…

QUESTION: Is the life post liberation as per the philosophy of Advaita-vada kind of Ghostly? No. Ghosts are entities who are blocked from taking their desired form. They are riddled with incessant unfulfillable desires. Existence in Brahman is nothing like this at all. It is nirvāna and śānta – without disturbance and perfectly peaceful. There are…

I’ve made this video to give you an inside look into my course on Śāstra and Bhakti, “The Role of Sacred Text in Gauḍīya Bhakti.” There are four different ways you can take the course: by self-study, guided-study, group-classes, or private classes. All four include PDF notes for each session. These notes are also shown…

QUESTION: Can you please clarify which type of food can be offered to Krishna, and the correct procedure, so that Krishna accepts our offering and makes it as a Prasad for us. The wording of your question reveals a very significant flaw in how you approach the whole subject, but first let me try to address…

Most of the time we try to chant a certain number of “rounds” (mālā of 108 beads) in a day. Most of the time most all of those “rounds” are rubbish, and we are just trying to get the “rounds” finished. So, here is a different approach. The goal is to chant one mālā of manasika japa (i.e. the mantra is contemplated…

The most thoroughly accepted Gauḍīya exact definition of bhakti is from Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī in Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11 अन्याभिलाषिताशून्यं ज्ञानकर्माद्यनावृतम् । अनुकूल्येन कृष्णानुशीलनं भक्तिरुत्तमम् ।। ānyābhilāṣitā śunyaṁ jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam anukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir-uttamam “The ultimate bhakti is expression of affection for Krishna, without ulterior motive or occlusion by extraneous elements.” The extraneous motives and their means…

People have such a hard time understanding Vrindavana Krishna! Even if they figure out that the specificity of paramātmā is more infinite than the indefinite abstraction of brahman, they still have to figure the mystery of bhagavan: that the specific personhood and form of divinity does not exist merely for our sake, but has it’s own intrinsic desire and purpose that we…

We have to sort out the negotiable differences from the non-negotiable differences. Otherwise we will spend all our energy debating and arguing debates and arguments that don’t really need to be debated and argued. For example, we can waste days, months and years trying to prove the earth is flat, thinking that we are championing…

The Veda itself is called śruti for two reasons. (1) It was heard (śruti), not “authored.” This is why it is called apauruṣeya (unauthored). Accurate perception of reality (“knowledge” / Veda) exists intrinsically with reality itself, it is not separately created. (2) The sound (śruti) of it is very important, and very strict grammatical rules are in place to insure that any changes…

After studying the 14th chapter of Gita someone very feelingly asked, “I see people take to bhakti or other yogas very unnaturally, fanatically, and they wind up extremely depressed and stressed out. How can we follow bhakti or any spiritual path more naturally – not full of repression and artificial stuff?” What is Natural for Conditioned Souls? Natural is an adjective from…

Gauḍīya’s cite a verse we claim identifies Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the avatāra for Kali-yuga. Those who do not like this criticise us as giving a “sectarian interpretation” of that verse. Whether or not it is “sectarian” is not a concern, but let us see whether or not our interpretation is reasonable. The Context The…

Ātmā is jñāna-mātra / cin-mātrā (which means that the most essential quality of the “soul” is that it is the “substance of congition” – consciousness). Ātmā is consciousness, but what is consciousness (cit)? It is inseparably related to reality (sat) and bliss (ānanda), for it is the ultimate substrate of reality (aka. “sat” – it is the…